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[-breeno-]

Wow that many characters in one day!? :shock:

Great update PD, can't wait to read the rest of it (honest, sometimes in school i'm sitting there thinking "i wonder if PD will update his trip report tonight?" when i should be doing something about these GCSEs :?   )

[Annet]

I love all the character photo's, you've met a lot in one day!
And your little girl makes a beautifull butterfly.

[SophieD]

another great addition to your trip report PD
I love Elisha's butterfly make-up I would love to meet Jack Sparrow Its great that he spent time talking to Joshua like that. Thats what makes the Disney magic

[DLP-Photos.com]

Another great report with some great photos - and extremely many characters

These pictures describe the magic of Disneyland - everyone is having the time of their lifes. Look at those smiles:

[dagobert]

Thanks for the great trip report so far.

[Pete's Dragon]

Thursday 17th Sept.
"Donald, Donald. Where for art thou Donald?"

Once again another forecast of heavy rain, courtsy of the BBC World service (hotel channel no.13). Once again completly false  :?
Was really worried again about breakfast and the whole 'closed restaurant fiasco' on Tuesday. And sure enough when we got down there, one of them was closed. We joined the queue and started to snake our way round, when a manager came out of the closed restaurant and started telling people to go in. Sweet, the buffet had finished, but they still had sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs left over ! So quick as a flash, I filled 2 plates worth and so did Jasmine, Sam and my mum. Now that's what I call Karma. Needless to say everyone else realised what was going on, and all the hot food was gone within 5mins.
Now with a really full tummy we headed off for Discoveryland, as the kids had been dying to go on Autopia. We joined the queue at 9.30am when my mum said the most unexpected thing - she wanted a go on Space Mountain !!! So off me and her went. To be honest, she didn't scream as much as I thought she would, probably because she didn't know what was happening. I personally didn't find it as bumpy this time, due ti the fact I pushed myself hard into the seat the entire time.
When we got off it was 11.10am and everyone else were nearly at the front of the queue by now. We both ran for it, and then had to crawl on our hands and knees below 2 lines of people. Everyone was in hysterics at the sight of my mum crawling underneath the barriers. We got our cars : Mum and Joshua, Sam and Elisha, while me and Jasmine got a car each for once (hoo-ray, no fighting with the kids over who was diving)


Next it was off to Fantasyland for another go on IASW. As we cleared the Castle Stage, I saw something off in the distance ....... Characters ! And more importantly Chip and Dale, Together !!!!!! I ran, and the kids followed. The kids got photos first as I realised I had to wait for another grown-up to appear and take photos of me with the giant chipmunks




"That's it, play it cool. Don't go crazy, or they will call security"


Next we got Tweedle-Dee or Tweedle-Dum. I sure some eagled-eyed Forum member can tell them apart.


Then it was Prince John. Joshua refused to kiss the Royal Finger, and Prince John got very upset. So eventually I bent Joshua over my knee and Prince John gave him a Royal (yet very gentle) spanking


Then Friar Tuck and Smee.




But still no Donald. Where was he ? It's not like it's hard to miss a giant, 6 feet Duck dressed like a Sailor. Anyway, off to IASW, then Alice Labyrinth, Peter Pan and then Pirates. We then took a walk through Adventureland towards Phantom Manor.
Along the way we bumped into the.....


Another first for me, as I'd never seen them perform before. After 10mins we walked on. Got 6 Fastpasses for BTM, then went over to Phantom Manor. And lo and behold - more characters and another first for me as I'd never seen either Jack or Sally (though I have a feeling they haven't been out and about for long)




This was a really weird encounter. Jack kept telling everyone who he was, like he'd presumed no-one knew who he was supposed to be. And Sally never spoke once. By the time I'd taked photos I noticed everyone else had walked on. No problem I thought as there was be a bit of a queue. I got to the front gate and it daid 5mins ! I looked up and there was Jasmine waving furiously from the front door of the Manor. Eeeek, I ran as fast as a could, knocked 2 children and and old granny over (kidding   ) and reached them just as the doors opened.
Afterwards we headed to BTM. As Elisha and Sam didn't fancy it, we used 4 Fastpasses for my mum, Joshua, Jasmine and I. Then straight after Jasmine and Joshua went back on. As we were waiting at the exit, a CM came down to talk to some of his friends. So when Jasmine and Joshua appeared I walked over to him and said 'babyswitch'. He then led me and Joshua back up for another go. Lucky little sod, 3 go's in a row !
My mum and Sam decided they were gonna have a quick look around the shops then head back to the hotel for a rest. Later they would tell us they saw more of the park than they meant to, having wandered into Adventure Isle and getting lost for over an hour. And after me telling them to head towards Le Chateau if they got lost, honestly  :roll:
With the old people out of the way, we decided to trek over to the Studios for another visit to Stitch Live. We reached Main Street just as the Party Train arrived. Instantly Elisha saw Donald Duck. Me and Jasmine both groaned at the thought of fighting our way through the crowds to see him, but Elisha was primed for full tantrum mode. So we strategicaly positioned ourselves at the entrance to Adventureland as we hoped this was were Donald was heading to. How wrong could we be, he waddled off to Discoveryland. [strike:1a4xmdqc]Not one to disappoint my daughter[/strike:1a4xmdqc] Not wanting to listen to Elisha crying I picked her up and ran. Luckily no-one had this idea and we were second in the "queue" (if you can call it that. I perfere organised chaos).


Fee-yooo. Hopefully that was all the characters she wanted to see.... ....... wrong! As we were leaving, she saw Jessie. So ......


Honestly, at the start of the holiday we had decided not to go looking for characters due to the scrums, and that the 6 at Cafe Mickey would do. But at every turn, whether in a lightly used corner of the park or on a main pathway - boom - characters ! Having said that, as we made it to the Studios the Stars and Cars parade started  :?




We watched the parade until the board said 20 spaces and 10mins to Stitch. If my maths are orrect this was the 6th time in total we'd seen Stitch Live, and it was by far the worst. The guy wasn't that funny, and he spent so long trying to get answers out of an Italian child who was shy and not very good at English that he dropped about 75% of the routine.
By now everyone was looing for a little snack to keep them going. So I suggested we give the revamped Blockbuster Cafe a try. But, of course we bumped into someone along the way


Then another one


And 2 more. We were 2nd in line for a photo, but 2 Spanish families arrived after us and barged there way to the front, with no reaction from the CM's. If I knew how to have an argument in Spanish, I would have  :x


OMG, the cafe was deserted. I dont know if its because RnRC is closed, or if they were waiting for the Stunt show to finish, but there was a total of 1 staff member working. I must admit, I perfer to HSM to the Pirates section. The POTC area is too dark and dimly lit, even if the themeing is better.


We left and went over to the Snow/Ice Queen's throne when Elisha spotted Pluto again. She was away so quick, I had to take photos of her from about 40meters away


Over to the Magic Carpets, no queue in sight. Actually the whole Studio looked empty, with Crush's Coaster saying 20mins ! Headed over to Cars Rally (still only 1/2 working) when we saw Emile at the Toon Studio Photo Place, and the poor rat was crying on the CM's shoulder. Awwwwwwww, no-one wanted their photo with him. I told this to Elisha and she ran as fast as she could. She tapped him on the leg until he turned around, then she gave him a big giant hug. Joshua too. It was funny because at the time none of us could remember his name


After Cars we headed over for some Screaming and climbing over Mike Wazowski, then decided to leave. But of course with our luck being what it was on this vacation, we bumped into more characters (*sigh*)


Couldn't get near the Stitch, the Spanish were going crazy !
NB This is not Spanish-bashing, these are the facts. At every turn, at every character, at every ride, the only nationality I encounted that were pushy, arrogant and rude were Spanish. I'm sure the majority of Spanish visitors are lovely and pleasant, and do their country proud. Sadly I seemed to be a magnet for the bad ones.
This meant that Elisha had a new must-see character, but our time was running out.

We got to the Village, and made the biggest mistake of the holiday. We gave into the kids moaning and pleading and hired one of those peddal cars thingies. OMG it was pure torture. After 4 days of walking, the last thing my tired little legs needed was 20mins of cycling around Lake Disney (which isn't at all flat !!). Jasmine wasn't much help as she could barley reach the pedals

Yeah, I'm smiling now. I wish I had a photo after I'd finished


Met back up woth my mum and Sam and went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Would have liked to have tried somewhere else, but if they were paying I was following.
Back to the room for more Disney TV. Some of us watched more than other ......



..... everyone apart from Joshua fell asleep. Poor little boy got lonely and knocked on the door joining us to my mum's room. Apparently he spent a good couple of hours in there getting cuddled before he came back in. No-one realised until my mum told us the next day.
Tomorrow everyone was having a lie in, as we'd planned to visit the Sea Life at the Val D'Europe before hitting the parks for our last full day .

To be continued ...........

[DLP-Photos.com]

Another great installment with some great photos...

You seem to be true character magnets Great to see you and your family having a great time

[Pete's Dragon]

Another great installment with some great photos...

You seem to be true character magnets Great to see you and your family having a great time

Yeah, also during the parade Princess Jasmine, Aladdin, Mushu, Dopey and Snow White all came over to us. The crowds heaved back and forward so much I didn't get photos.

[The Butlin Boy]

Another great update PD, I'm looking forward to reading what you got up to on your last day of the magic

[Soap]

What a lovely pictures Pete! You've got some sweet little ones  

[Gareth]

Amazing teip report and WOW that is a heck load of character cant wait for more glad you had fun

[bigrossco]

another great TP from you PD and loving the photos cant wait to see more!

[-breeno-]

Another great part to the TR PD /

Is it just me or did DLP management know you were going when you did, and purposly got all those characters out at that time.  Maybe they're been following your posts on here :mrgreen:  

Looking forward to the next day

[Annet]

Wow indeed you attract characters by the dozen! :lol:
I had to smile again seeiing your happy face with Chip and Dale haha.

And I love Sulley, so ofcourse I love this photo:

[Pete's Dragon]

Friday 18th September
"For a clown fish, he's not that funny."

After worrying about the weather all week, I woke up to this


Nice! And more importantly the Balloon was finally in operation today, so after breakfast we went straight down and queued. There was still a breeze and it was quite noticable as the balloon was swaying really far from the central mooring, so only 4-6 people were allowed on at one time.
And now for the most annoying part of the trip. Ahead of us were 2 Spanish families, the first one was an old(ish) woman and her husband, then a group of 2 adults and 2 kids. Now just before the second family was going to pay, 2 more joined the first family. Basically they pushed there way through the queue. The father from family No.2 wasn't a bit happy, because he now had to wait another 15minutes for his go. But the woman from family No.1 was a right mouthy cow, and so a full scale shouting match erupted. The 2 newcomers got fed up and went and sat down, which calmed the situation. But the woman paid for 4, which started things off again. Then the 2 who'd sat down came barging through again at the last second and on the went.
What followed was a shouting match between guy No.2 and the poor young girl in the cash desk. She kept saying she hadn't seen them jump the queue, even though everyone else in the line tried to signal that they had (by pointing at their eyes like Robert De Niro in Meet the Parents).
I can understand why the guy was upset, because it meant he had to wait a bit longer. But I see the first's family's point of view also. Anyway it was eventually our turn.













Jasmine doesn't like heights and didn't let go or even move once the balloon started lifting. At least she done better than Sam, who sat out the whole experience.
Next it was to the train station and off to Sea Life. OMG was a price. If memory serves me right it was about €13-15 each and that was for 2 OAP's, 2 sudents and 2 kids. In total I think we paid €85 to look at some fish  :?


The kids seemed to enjoy it, but once they'd seen a fish like Dory, they spent the rest of the visit running around looking for Nemo





When we got outside the weather was fantastic. I wish I'd worn my shorts and was tempted to go back to the hotel and change, but that would mean less time in the park, so I endured. Sam really, really wanted to see Cinemagique again so we headed to WDS. And oh what a surprise, we bumped into some characters along the way


And more importantly for Elisha, Stitch. I must confess that this was the only time I joined in with everyone else and pushed her to the front instead of waiting patiently like I usually do.


We were a bit early for the showing so we sat and had a coffee across the way. Nearer the time a saw people coming up to the CM and then leaving, not a good sign so I went to investigate. The show was due to start in 5mins but I kept hearing the French for 15. But just as everyone was about to leave the CM's phone rang and then he let everyone in. Hoo-ray, problem solved ! While we sat and waited inside, I fianlly noticed the guy dressed like Martin Short come in and sit down. I must have seen Cinemagique at least a dozen times, but this was the first time I'd spotted him arrive.
Sadly they hadn't fixed the problem completely. Just as they swing out of the Death Star and into the field, we lost the sound  The strangest thing was nobody seemed to care, everyone sat in complete slience which was a really spooky experience (but in a really good way). But sadly the CM's stopped the show before the whole sword-ripping-the-screen bit, which was met by groans from the audience.

Elisha was very sleepy now (2pm) and it was around that time for my mum and Sam to disappear, so they took Elisha back to the hotel for a little sleep. Joshua and Jasmine went for a bit to eat, and I rushed off to ToT for the final time.
Afterwards we headed over to Frontierland for some more BTM. I really wish RnRC had been open, I'm 100% sure that Joshua would have loved it. Then we headed to Fantasyland vias the castle. As we were leaving Joshua noticed the wig-wams and asked could you see them. I showed him that the gate said CMs only. But then I had a quick look around and saw absolutely no-one around, so I turned to Joshua and shouted RUN !!! which he did.


We went to see if Casey Jnr was open and it was, for another 15 mins. Honestly, they close this bit all week and then open it for 5 hours on a Friday, why? Is it really that much of a hassle for the park staff to have this bit at the very back of the park open? We had one quick go, and then rushed over to Le Pays des Contes de Fées. On the way out we bumped into Belle and Gaston (not surprised anymore) but didn't take any photos because we didn't want Elisha to find out and get all upset.

Headed back to the hotel to find out our daughter hadn't slept at all, and had bounced on the beds for the last 3 hours. Decided to head into the Village for dinner, as I fancied a change, but my mum stayed in the hotel. Elisha wanted her Minnie Mouse -esque dress on and I finally got a pair of shorts on. So we set off for the Rainforest Cafe at 6.30pm. (always make a point of eating in the Village before 7pm to avoid the crowds)



The food was pretty good, even though I ordered the Chilli Bacon Burger and the waiter forgot the chilli (which I eventually got when he came to ask if everything was ok). Decided to have a Margarita, which was yummy. I wanted another but we'd promised another trip to the swimming pool. Finished dinner at about 7.30pm, back to grab our swimming gear and into the pool just after 8pm and stayed ther until nearly closing time.
Back to the room, only a little Disney Channel tonight as I wanted to get up extra early for Extra Magic Hours (really hadn't used them so far). The kids watched one epidose of the Suite Life while me and Jasmine tried to squeeze everything back into the suitcases. Arranged to meet my mum tomorrow at the hotel around 12.30pm, and then headed off to bed.

To be concluded ...............