Greetings, I decided that after many years on the forum and many trips to DLRP I would finally do a trip report. Decided to start nice and early so I could up date you all on the preparations and, if I'm honest, build my own excitement a bit as the trip gets nearer. Also thought I would share a few top tips as I went along. So here goes.....
Dates: 24th - 27th November for our 14th trip
Travel: Eurostar from St Pancras to Marne le Vallee, Chessy
The group: Simon and Sarah, Sue and Andy
Hotel: New York
Must do rides: Tower of Terror, Ratatouille, Phantom Manor, Buzz Light Year and RockNRoller Coaster
So were still over a month away but the preparations have started, for me anyway. My bag is already out on the bed and my wash bag is packed, complete with Tower of Terror face cloth from last year. The count down calendar has been printed and stuck to our kitchen cupboard door, we'll start crossing it off next Friday. In the side pocket of my bag is a list of all the pins I've seen come out in the last year that I want to buy for my collection and I've located the Euro's I had left over from last year. Yep this is going to be a good one.
Top Tip no: 1 Under no circumstances, no matter what your sister may say, give your digital camera to your 4 year old nephew so he can look at your Disney photo's before you have transferred them to your computer. Little pest deleted all my pictures from last year.
Aaaaargh - hyperventilating just at the thought of loosing all our photos...!!! :o :o :o
Looking forward to reading more about your trip. We go a few days before you (13th-17th). SOOO excited now! A month tomorrow!! Eeek! :)
Quote from: pialykke on October 12, 2014, 02:34:30 PM
Aaaaargh - hyperventilating just at the thought of loosing all our photos...!!! :o :o :o
I know, fortunately I didn't let him anywhere near the video camera or who knows what he might have done.
Hey it's exciting to think it's getting so close...we r goin the 23rd till the 27th and r very excited too..
You can use some software to recover those pictures rockNRoller from the SD-card, unless you've taken new pictures on the card already, then it might not work (still worth trying). There are free data recovery programs that can snag them back from oblivion. They're not really deleted, the card merely removed the reference to the files from its master list.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/digitalcameras/how-to-recover-deleted-photos-from-your-sd-card/1102 is a nice article to start off with.
Quote from: DisneyRon on October 12, 2014, 06:02:48 PM
You can use some software to recover those pictures rockNRoller from the SD-card, unless you've taken new pictures on the card already, then it might not work (still worth trying). There are free data recovery programs that can snag them back from oblivion.
Thanks for that Disney Ron I'll give it a go.
I will be in Disneyland from 24th till 28th november!! If you see me around the park tell me something! It would be nice to meet someone from the forum! :D
Quote from: Uragano Tati on October 12, 2014, 11:34:27 PMIt would be nice to meet someone from the forum! :D
No worries, always happy to say hello
Now I know its not exciting to most but this morning through the post I had a new pair of comfort inserts for my walking shoes. Lots of walking on a Disney trip, gotta be prepared. (Told you it wasn't exciting)
Tonight we shall start watching our holiday videos from previous years, all part of the psyche up for us.
So this morning we crossed off the first day on our countdown calendar, only 37 days to go ;D. As my wife is away for a week I let her do the first day whilst I did a drum roll on my cereal bowl. Yes I know 37 days is a strange time to start but 5 years ago when my wife first had the idea that's how many days we had to go and it's just stuck.
Top Tip No: 2 Make your own countdown calendar with lots of photo's from previous trips and also comments/reminders. Ours marks down the day we pick up our tickets, order our Euro's, start packing and travel to London. Make it really personal.
Oooh bonus time. Had a call from our travel agents today, very apologetic that they had over booked their allocated standard class seats on the Eurostar for our outward journey so would we mind if they bumped us up to first class. 5 minutes later and we've been bumped up to first class for both journeys.
Very excited, I've never travelled first calls before, I understand you get food on the train. Anyone know what you get?
Quote from: RockNRoller on October 20, 2014, 07:04:11 PM
Oooh bonus time. Had a call from our travel agents today, very apologetic that they had over booked their allocated standard class seats on the Eurostar for our outward journey so would we mind if they bumped us up to first class. 5 minutes later and we've been bumped up to first class for both journeys.
Very excited, I've never travelled first calls before, I understand you get food on the train. Anyone know what you get?
If it's anything like the Thalys (Netherlands), then the menu should be on the Eurostar website. ;)
EDIT: quick check of the Eurostar website, found the following. Will see if I can find the menus. ;)
Standard PremierOur team will serve you a delicious light meal and drinks at your seat, with a choice of two main dishes and a dessert.*
Our menus suit the time of the day that you’re travelling, so on trains leaving before 11am we serve breakfast, which includes a selection of pastries, yoghurt, juice and fresh tea or coffee to start your day perfectly.
Throughout the rest of the day, you can enjoy a choice of two main dishes and dessert with soft drinks, wine or beer, plus tea or coffee.
For younger travellers, you can also order children's meals before you travel.
Business Premier We've designed our Business Premier menus with our Culinary Director, Raymond Blanc, OBE. As Chef Patron of the two Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons and founder of the Brasserie Blanc restaurants, Raymond brings 30 years of creativity and experience to the table.
We have also worked with Raymond to choose sustainable, seasonal and responsibly sourced ingredients for our meals, and we'll continue to do so as a member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
We serve breakfast on trains leaving before 11am, where you can start the day with pastries and breads and a choice of a hot breakfast or cold meats, yoghurts, and fruit. Hot and cold drinks are served at your seat, with as much delicious Lavazza coffee as you’d like.
For lunch and dinner, tuck into a three course meal with a choice between a hot or cold main dish.* On mid-afternoon trains, you'll enjoy afternoon tea from London or a café gourmand from the Continent with a selection of cakes and hot and cold savoury items.
You can also take your pick from a wide selection of soft and alcoholic drinks at your seat, including champagne, if you’re in the mood to celebrate.
*Please keep in mind:
We'll always do our best to give you the meal you'd prefer, although we cannot guarantee that your first choice will be available
If you have specific dietary requirements you can request special meals in our Manage a booking section. We’ll need at least 48 hours' notice before you travel.
Meals are not served on journeys between Brussels, Lille and Calais.
Well, no luck on finding actual menu listings, but at least they mention hot food as being available. That was something I found quite disappointing on the Thalys, they only served cold food. There are special children's menu's available, so you may want to look at those on the site. ;)
Thanks for that Disney Ron, had a look and it would seem we get fed quite well on the train.
Only 30 days to go which means that this weekend we start watching every film that is related to a ride. So films like Snow White, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and of course on Halloween night Haunted Mansion. We love watching the films and then shouting at the telly "look that bits in the ride". Sad to say we actually keep score.
So tonight as part of the build up, and because it's Halloween, we shall be watching "Haunted Mansion". Love that film and all the references it contains to the ride at DLRP even though it's based on the Florida version.
Afterwards we shall also be watching "Toy Story of Terror", always a laugh
Top Tip No:3 If you haven't already get a copy of the book "The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies". Its a fantastic book covering the development of the ride, the differences between the versions around the world and how they went about transferring it to the big screen.
They also do one for "Pirates of the Caribbean"
Quote from: RockNRoller on October 31, 2014, 11:47:41 AM
Top Tip No:3 If you haven't already get a copy of the book "The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies". Its a fantastic book covering the development of the ride, the differences between the versions around the world and how they went about transferring it to the big screen.
They also do one for "Pirates of the Caribbean"
I've been meaning to buy this book. Is there an extensive chapter about Phantom Manor?
Quote from: msRavenswood on October 31, 2014, 12:08:48 PM
I've been meaning to buy this book. Is there an extensive chapter about Phantom Manor?
Well Ms Ravenswood I'm shocked you haven't already got it. It is well worth it for all the pictures alone, the book breaks down into 3 sections:
1) History of the ride, from sketch to reality if I may borrow a phrase. It does mention the various versions around the world, 4 pages for Phantom Manor.
2) The best bit and the biggest portion of the book, a ride through with all versions set out side by side showing the differences in each version eg the differences in the portrait chamber or the scenes unique to a particular version. As Phantom Manor is different in most aspects it has a heavy presence in this part of the book.
3) How they adapted the ride for the film.
Ive had my copy for a while now but from what I can see on Amazon there is now an expanded 40th anniversary version available.
Tonight we shall be meeting with our travelling companions just to sort out those final bits, like whose bringing the travel kettle etc We shall also be playing a round of Disney Trivial Pursuit because who ever wins gets to choose the restaurant for our first meal.
On the train we'lll play Disney snap to see who gets to pick the first ride :D. We're just 4 bigs kids really. ;D
Bonus time, just had a call from the travel agents to say our tickets have arrived ;D woo hoo
I love reading your pre-trip report! Myself and my husband are exactly the same, have the countdown timer on my phone , 12 days and 13 hours until I get on the plane! Suitcase is nearly packed and all my pins are being stuck on the handbag Im bringing with me :) Watching Ratatouille again tonight , Frozen and Brave were last week and then we start on the classics.
Quote from: AislingM on November 04, 2014, 05:56:33 PM
I love reading your pre-trip report! Myself and my husband are exactly the same, have the countdown timer on my phone , 12 days and 13 hours until I get on the plane! Suitcase is nearly packed and all my pins are being stuck on the handbag Im bringing with me :) Watching Ratatouille again tonight , Frozen and Brave were last week and then we start on the classics.
Why thank you. As the holiday approaches we start watching all the films too. The only one my wife wont watch is "Reign of Fire" as it's not really her thing, personally I have to watch it as it's in the Studio's Tour. The last one we watch on the Saturday before we travel to London will be Ratatouille just so the film will be as fresh in our minds as possible when we go on the ride for the first time. My bag is pretty much packed too and I've just loaded Chante Cest Noel onto my phone to use it as our alarm clock whilst we are there.
What I love most about this forum is how other peoples trip reports add to the enjoyment and excitement of our own.
Im playing Chante c`est noel since the start of October! Thats exactly it , the excitement of planning is nearly as good as the trip itself , and being surrounded by like minded Disney addicts!
So last night we met our travelling companions to plan and have a little competition and, no surprise to them, I won ;). In fairness I've been a Disney addict for longer than all of them put together and I did give them a handicap of 1 Trivial Pursuit segment each but they still lost. Oh well Annettes it will be for our first meal ;D, very happy with that.
Quote from: AislingM on November 04, 2014, 06:14:27 PM
Im playing Chante c`est noel since the start of October! Thats exactly it , the excitement of planning is nearly as good as the trip itself , and being surrounded by like minded Disney addicts!
Out side of the Christmas season I use the Phantom Manor Medley from one of my CD's as my alarm but come the start of November It's Chante C'est Noel all the way.
Quote from: RockNRoller on November 05, 2014, 01:24:00 PM
Out side of the Christmas season I use the Phantom Manor Medley from one of my CD's as my alarm but come the start of November It's Chante C'est Noel all the way.
Funny, I do exactly the same, but with my ringtone ;)
I watched "Reign of fire" last evening!!! Already seen "Brave" and a lot of episodes of "The twilight zone", and in the next days will be the turn of "Ratatuille", "Frozen", "Polar Express" and "A Christmas Carol", just to feel Christmas before we go!
And also my ringtones are Disney songs! At the moment I have "Let it go" and "Love is an open door" (depending on the caller)!
It's funny we all do the same things! :D
So today I picked up our tickets and Euro's and I was a bit disappointed. In the past they've always come with reams of information printed on Disney headed paper and have been as much a souvenir as anything but this year they came in a plain brown envelope with a single sheet of paper that we hand over to the cast members on the Eurostar. Booooo, Oh well time to get creative and make to ticket holders of my own.
On the plus side good rate on the Euro's
This afternoons/evenings pre-holiday viewing will be a journey into Fantasy Land. Snow White, Pinnochio and Peter Pan with Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland to follow in the week. An afternoon of Disney goodness :)
Time to hype up the trip a bit more, with only 9 days of travelling to and from work before the trip it's time to bust out the CD's of the park. With 9 in the collection thats a CD a day, I count the double CD's as 2 days.
Top Tip no: 4 Even if you can't get to the park have a look on Amazon, they have "The best of Disneyland Resort Paris" available and it's a cracking album.
So after todays crossing off on the countdown calender we are into single figures ;D woo hoo. Which means that to commemorate that tonights viewing will be "Pirates of the Caribean" followed by "Armageddon".
With only 7 days to go till we set up I am now driving my wife nuts with "This time next week we will be........" So for all you lovely people in forum land here goes:
"This time next week we shall be on a train on our way to London" :D
And this time next week we will be in our London hotel far too excited to sleep :D
Have a wonderful time!
I feel your exitement :) were going in 4 weeks and I'm saying the same thing as you, the countdown begins!
Quote from: littlebitofpixiedust on November 17, 2014, 08:29:59 AM
Have a wonderful time!
Why thank you.
Just in case you were wondering this time next week we'll be on the Eurostar driving everyone nuts with the cry of "Are we there yet"
We go this sunday (23rd) and i havent told a soul we are going yet!!! So its an internal struggle of telling myself 'this time next week...' and 'shut up' !!!!!
Which hotel are you staying at?! xx
And this time next week we'll be eating hot dogs from Caseys and getting our spots picked out to watch Dreams of Christmas", I really wish they would release that on CD.
Top Tip no: 5 Not sure if I should share this but here goes. Last year we found the best spot to watch Dreams was right next to a bin in the area where the stage used to be. Think about it, if the bin is there against the fence round the flower beds no one can stand in front of you.
Then after Dreams it'll be a wander through the Village, a few purchases and then check into the New York for 3 glorious nights
Quote from: Alioliseb on November 17, 2014, 03:28:31 PM
We go this sunday (23rd) and i havent told a soul we are going yet!!! So its an internal struggle of telling myself 'this time next week...' and 'shut up' !!!!!
How are you able to do this????? I've even been telling my patients I cant see them next week as I'll be I Disney. You have my utmost admiration. x
Quote from: RockNRoller on November 17, 2014, 06:32:20 PM
Quote from: Alioliseb on November 17, 2014, 03:28:31 PM
We go this sunday (23rd) and i havent told a soul we are going yet!!! So its an internal struggle of telling myself 'this time next week...' and 'shut up' !!!!!
How are you able to do this????? I've even been telling my patients I cant see them next week as I'll be I Disney. You have my utmost admiration. x
i wont lie, im exhausted from it! I own a soap shop so have been telling EVERYONE who's stepped foot in my shop the last few months haha xx
We're going on Monday (until Wednesday) and haven't told our daughter yet, it's killing me!! She keeps mentioning Mickey's park, and I'm just dying to tell her that we'll be there very very soon!!
And of course all my work colleagues must be quite tired by now of hearing that I'm off to Disney next week ;D
Quote from: never2old on November 20, 2014, 12:26:44 PM
She keeps mentioning Mickey's park, and I'm just dying to tell her that we'll be there very very soon!!
And of course all my work colleagues must be quite tired by now of hearing that I'm off to Disney next week ;D
On Saturday we are visiting my nephew, 4 yrs old, to drop off his birthday presents and my sister has banned me from mentioning our holiday because the last time I did he spent the next week asking my sister when he could go.
Oh and my work colleagues are fed up of me saying "This time next week....."
So.....This time next week we will be eating in Planet Hollywood as we always keep that for the last meal. No idea why it's just something that's stuck
This time next week I'll be back at work :(
Quote from: never2old on November 20, 2014, 04:27:34 PM
This time next week I'll be back at work :(
You have my sympathy. Because of where we live we have to travel to London on Sunday and then have Thursday night in London before travelling home so I do have a few days to "come back to reality".
Oh well soon be Christmas and we'll be able to put up our new Disney bauble and our new Disney tree topper and our new (insert whatever we buy whilst in DLP) ;D
Ok so this time next week.... :( Nope don't want to think about it. Ok we'll try this, this time tomorrow my bag will be fully packed and in the hall way to trip over even though we don't leave till Sunday. Much better :D
Disaster, our broad band went down yesterday so no updating. Anyway it's back today so I have time for a short update before our taxi arrives to take us to the station.
Yesterday was spent watching our videos from previous trips and my wife issued me a challenge "You use some of these pictures a lot, this year you have to take all new photo's and video so the new film is totally different". Ok challenge accepted, I can take lots of new pics, problem is I've also been told I cant set our hotel footage to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York", we always stay in the New York so it works well. Without that I am at a loss, I'm not even allowed to use anyone else's version of "New York, New York" help. Any suggestions welcome.
Anyway buy for now, the taxi will be here soon and we're off to the magic ;D. To anyone else there at the same time of going in the future have a fab time.
Try Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin - one of my all time favourite tunes
New York State of Mind? Empire State of Mind?
Looks like you're going tomorrow? Very jealous, we're going on the 18th of December and literally can't wait! Have an absolutely wonderful time :)
Btw THANK YOU for recommending "The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies", didn't know that existed - literally just ordered it now from Amazon, hope it arrives before we leave, my wife loooooves Phantom Manor & Haunted Mansion so it'll be a great Christmas present! ;D
Ok so we got back on Sunday and then it's pack bags for a work conference and this is the first time I've got close to the key board. Full report to come and pics, I hope, but lets give you a taster.
Ratatouille: Awesome, I cant say how amazing this ride is. Photo's and on ride footage cant do it justice you have to experience it. Slight warning it did give my wife motion sickness.
Dreams of Christmas: Saw it last year before Frozen was out and thought who is this Olaf, this year now we know the film and the songs and the characters it is just perfect. I have never heard Disney crowds cheer because one song came in as part of the show. You HAVE to see this.
Lots of refurb has clearly happened. The seats on Peter Pan are now well padded, lots of shiny new paint all over the place but still a lot to do.
Loving the Mickey ginger bread men in all the decoration.
One gripe, on day 1 we reported out TV not working. We then reported it every day and by the day we left still not working, not a happy Disney Bunny without my dose of Disney Channel.
Hope to write more at the weekend.