So this is the first time I've attempted something like this but i quite wanted to share some photos, there are quite a lot.
DAY 1 SUNDAY 30TH AUGUST
This was the first time we'd driven to Disneyland (we'd taken Eurostar the last two times). This trip was the second part of my summer holiday, we'd just spent 10 days by the Med. We had to drive from Bourges in Central France on Sunday morning. The Sat Nav almost got us lost at Val d'Europe but luckily there were signposts for us to trust. We were staying at Hotel Cheyenne in the Geronimo building, the furthest possible away building from the Disney Parks. :roll:
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We headed for the parks straight away and picked up a baguette on the way from New York Sandwiches in DV. First up was Disneyland Park and to start we walked all the way down Main Street (taking the obligatory Castle shot on the way down) and into Fantasyland.
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We started with Snow White, which had a nice short 25 minute wait. We got on and the ride broke down!!! Not exactly a great start but it was fun being stuck on a ride for 15 minutes because it's never happened to me before. We did Pinocchio next and I'm sure they've sped up this ride and Snow White since last time we went in April 2007; we wizzed through all the scenes. Afterwards we hopped across to Adventureland for a ride on Pirates; always one of my favourites, it never lets me down. :D
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On our way out there was a huge scrum for a chance to see Captain Jack so we didn't bother with that. Instead we headed for Alice's Curious Labyrinth. As far as I could tell everything was in super condition and this was the first time we'd been when all the water features were switched on and working. We got very wet. The top of the castle was extremely crowded with toddlers but I managed to still get a decent view.
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We queued for the tea cups then by the time we'd finished on them all the characters came out. We dodged the fight for Winnie the Pooh and headed for It's A Small World; despite me swearing that I would never hear that song again, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. I took quite a lot of pictures on the ride but don't worry- no flash!
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We picked up an ice cream on the way to Discoveryland (it was a 30 minute wait just for one scoop of vanilla!). Discoveryland was great and we headed over to my first ever ride on Star Tours. Walking across the multi-coloured floor patterns was the closest we got to seeing It's Dance Time... it wasn't shown on any of the days we were there, even though it was still August, but perhaps that's a good thing. I didn't know what to expect from Star Tours, I genuinely thought the fake Star Tours messages on the speakers was a cast member saying that it had broken down. I loved queuing and I loved the actual ride, which left me wondering why I'd never been on it before. After that we headed out of the park to Disney Village. I spotted these on the way.
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Bit early isn't it? Especially as it's celebrating TSPL, Buzz & Woody have now joined Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. One thing we'd vowed not to missed this year was King Ludwig's Happy Hour and we enjoyed having 2 for 1 beers. We did a spot of shopping afterwards and I went to check out the new Starbucks which was heaving with people after their frappuccinos. I'm sure people have said this before but that side of Disney Village is a MILLION TIMES BETTER than the Disney Store side. It was a brilliantly sunny evening in the village as we headed for Rainforest Cafe, another new experience for me.
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The restaurant was great especially as we sat next to some very entertaining gorillas :) After we were all filled up with spare ribs we headed back into the park for my first ever night time visit. I suppose from hear on in I'm representing just an average Disney guest experiencing everything for the first time. We walked down Main Street as the sun was setting and It's Party Time... was playing.
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We went back into Discoveryland and made the most of the fact that the queues on Buzz Lightyear had shrunk considerably. For some reason I can't quite get the hang of this ride, always finishing with a measly score and giving up 3/4 of the way through just to watch what's going on. When we got back it was fast approaching 10pm- parade time, but we still thought we could squeeze a ride on Orbitron. We were wrong. With ten minutes to go we left the line half way through and it seems other people felt the same because we seemed to have sparked a mass exodus of people leaving that queue and heading for Fantalusion. We grabbed the last seats by the stage by the Castle (What's that called again? Not the Central Plaza stage the other one), although I don't why people bother getting seats; everyone's up on their feet the moment the parade starts. TBC...........
That's a snazzy T-Shirt, will be looking for that on next trip 8)
Looks like imageshack has let you down a little :( but I loved the SW pic, started whistling the theme tune already :-" :wink:
Yeah you could say that :x I'm working on it, give me ten minutes :D
A magical picture of SBC :D/ Thanks for sharing that one =D>
Great trip report and nice pictures.
We have also been to King Ludwig's Castle nearly every day during happy hour on our previous trip. :D
Great report so far, I'm glad you had a great trip. Great observation there on the T-shirts too :wink:
I love your pictures, charlied =D> Hope we get to see more of them :)!
loving the pics the images ont he tshirt look just same as the images for the 2010 logo but yes tooo early yet!
Great start to your picture report charlied! Can't wait to read/see more!! :D
i love your photos and the castle always look beautiful and the whole park just looks fantastic at summer :D
Day 1 Continued
Where was I? Oh yeah, this was the first time I'd ever seen Fantalusion; and as a first timer I loved it. Sorry about the photo quality though. :?
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Once Fantalusion had ended thousands of people were herded into the central plaza to get a view for the fireworks. This was also the final night of the summer; the last night the fireworks and the parade were being held. So we watched the final show and as a newcomer to the night time I did think they were brilliant.
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It was now approaching 11pm although it felt later! So with the prospect of walking from the Castle all the way out of the park through Disney Village to Hotel Cheyenne; and looking forward to using Extra Magic Hours tomorrow; we decided to call it a day.
great report so far! I love the 2 photos from your first post showing the panoramagque ( i can never spell it) - air balloon up in the air, I think it's fantastic! I love spotting it up in the air from different places in the park! :D :D :D :D :D
Terrific report and photos, I especially like the last photo, very magical :)
Love the Report so far charlied, nice photos.. :D/
Keep it up you're doing brilliantly.. =D>
Great TR and photos! :wink: