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[never2old]

Thank you all for your comments!! Working on the next set of pictures, should have the next part up later today!!

PS: I still remember, when we left our daughter with my parents the first time for a weekend. Had to hold my self back, not to run to the phone all the time. It does get easier with the time, only a little, even if they are older...

Aurora1

I think the first time I called my parents to check on Alicia (and give some last minute instructions ) was about 5 minutes after leaving her  :roll:

It was one of the hardest things, not calling every 2 minutes!!

[Pluto2011Pluto]

Hi never2old sorry for bother you but did you and your husband have and free gift of Champagne and water also how do the receptionist know when an guests  booked an standard room in the castle club for them to put an free gift(Assuming that all guests do have free gift in the room the booked at the castle club in disneyland hotel).  

If my and my mother upgrade to castle club room with  2 bedded room will we have an free gift(my mum and I don't love champagne or any other Alcohol beverage) but she does love water and chocolate but I do not love water or chocolate.

 Do you since I don't like champagne(or other Alcohol beverage), water or chocolate do you think my mum be able ask the receptionist when she phone disneyland paris themselves to for book an upgrade to an castle club standard room for my to have an disney soft toy(or will I have to Aspect the free gift that they give guests staying in the castle club in disneyland hotel).
Also what are the other gift apart from champagne water or soft toy do guests have when the stay in the castle club room.




Sorry if most the words in the Sentences are repeated.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I_zFJrCDY4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q9H02tLxfk

[never2old]

OK, where were we?

After dropping our shopping back in the room (that's one of my favourite things about staying in the DLH, I have to say... being always really close to your room!) it was time to finally go in the park!!

Mandatory shot of the 20th anniversary sign (which I love, I have to admit).


Our room!


Here you leave today...


Main Street station... Although some of the decorations have seen better days...




I'm sure you all know that special feeling, when you first walk into Main Street USA, and see the Castle at the back, and hear the music, and know you are finally where you belong... Well that's exactly how I felt!!

Main Street was looking beautiful, with all the golden banners everywhere! Plus the sun was really out by now, and wass promising us a beautiful afternoon!

Other than the 20th anniversary decorations, the biggest change around Main Street were of course the new Halloween decorations! Ghosts, pumpkins and black cats everywhere.







In Town Square Photography:








































Aren't this brilliant?? I love them. I always did like the pumpkin men, but these ghosts are a much better fit. And them having all these little pumpkins everywhere? And the black cats?? It all goes really well together, I thought. I wish I could be back next week for the actual Halloween season!!!



I was already feeling REALLY excited about being back home, seeing all the excellent new decorations, the beautiful sunshine and the most stunning park in the world, when what did we see coming up Main Street towards us?



Yes!! The horse drawn carriage!! First time EVER that I actually saw it in the park!!



So after a quick stop in Central Plaza:



(I tried to explain to Cris why we had to take the picture, he thinks we are all mad... :lol:)

we simply HAD to go and get in the carriage (even if it meant going all the way back to Town Square!)

Can you see the Castle?


Inside the carriage:















And back in Town Square!



Since we were there, I tought I could ask in City Hall about the little show with the fountains, with the music, to see whet it was. It turns out it's actually a test before Dreams, to check the synchronisation between the fountains and the music!! So they do it whenever they're ready, around 2,5 - 3 hours before Dreams!! Since on Sunday we were having dinner at 18:00 it was very unlikely that we would get to see it, so we decided to try and see it on Monday.





By now my dear husband was getting a bit impatient, it was time to get some rides done!!

To be continued...

[alternativerock123]

Beautiful photos, looking good!

Oh, btw, TOTALLY NOT JEALOUS AT ALL! *Cough* Not,.. at... all.

XD

I'm so jealous, the view is amazing, you can wave at the poor people below. Ha.

Can't wait for more!  :thumbs:

[Pete's Dragon]

I reading this whilst wearing my orange Mickey with headphones T-Shirt, lol

[Aurora1]

I love the goasts, especially the one in front of the dentist! LOL. Defintly going to end up in my camera too.!

Aurora1

[never2old]

Thank you all!!

Sorry, only a quick update tonight, we've been out all day and haven't had much time to myself!!

After leaving City Hall, we decided to start making use of our VIP fastpasses, and what better ride to start us off than BTM?

So we went straight to Frontierland, where lots of new decorations and pumpkin men were waiting for us! My hubby gave me a 'no more pictures!!' look  :roll:  and rushed me to the fastpass entrance, but before we got there we saw the line stretching almost to the start!!

Hmm so maybe not, no point in having a fastpass if you still need to stand in line for 20 minutes!!

At least that meant I could take some more pics  





Halloween in Frontierland! The pumpkin men are a great fit, but the harvest theme , with the orange flowers everywhere, it's just gorgeous!!




























The idea was that we would wait a few minutes see if the fastpass queue went down a bit, but it was not to be.... BTM broke down!



So much for that...  

So after a few more pictures around Frontierland (did I mention this is my favourite land?)









we found ourselves back in Central Plaza!





Next: Discoveryland!

(and I'll try to have the next update tomorrow morning!!)

[never2old]

Apologies, had a really busy day yesterday (my parents are moving house next week, so had to go and help pack, and rescue some books and toys I want to keep...)

Let's continue with this trip, shall we?

So by now it was almost 3pm on Sunday and we hadn't really done any rides yet (we'd been on the horse-drawn carriage, but that was it!!). And since BTM was not to be, we decided to give Discoveryland a go...

First stop: Space Mountain!



As usual there were a bunch of people with the wrong time on their fastpasses blocking the way, but we managed to push our way through, show our VIP fastpasses  /  to the CM in the entrance, and off we went!! We had to wait about 10 minutes, before we reached the station



and got a place on the next train, sitting at the very back!! FIrst time I've sat at the end, and last time. It was extremely bumpy, and I came out with a very well shaken head... But on the plus side, the sound was excellent, we could really hear the music very well (which I hadn't been able to do for some time).

Survived






Standing in my favourite spot in Discoveryland


because you get a view like this!




It's when you see queues like this that we were really glad to have a VIP fastpass...




Little Columbiad cannon


After our shaky trip to space, we decided to have an easier one battling the evil emperor Zurg. Time to take the VIP fastpasses out again...





We had a great ride, both the guns were working OK (which seems to be more and more of a luxury, in most of our rides on Buzz during the trip at least one of our guns wasn't working great...) Not exceelent scores, but not too bad for a first ride... And left some room for improvement, which we would go again and again during our trip...

Back to Central Plaza


I could stare at this Castle for days!!










Spot the Dreams equipment...


Did no one tell the ducks not to step on the grass?!?!?


At least he'll have a good spot for Dreams...

OK, one last picture of the Castle


Time to move somewhere else






Ok so maybe just one more of the Castle...


Of course despite what you may think, we were actually on our way to Frontierland, to check again on BTM... But as soon as we crossed Fort Comstock we could see (and hear) that no trains were running...  :x

A couple more pics around Frontierland...




And off to the greenest land of all, Adventureland!







Next stop: La Cabane des Robinsons.












I can still hear the organ playing...


And what's with people throwing coins everywhere?? Fountains are not enough, now we have to throw them on beds too??


Now this was the first time we were up the treehouse in a relatively clear day. And since my dear husband has a wonderful sense of direction (and a little help from the compass on his iPhone   ) we could finally figure out which way to look to see Paris!!



And the Eiffel Tower (which you can barely see but it's there, in the left)


I see Mickeys everywhere




Oh, and I can even take one more picture of the Castle!!


Running water!


The Cabane was looking great, best I had seen it in ages. I really like going up the tree, it's never too busy, you get beautiful views of the park (through the leaves, which always add something I think) and of course the theming and details in the treehouse are brilliant.

Not everything was looking great in Adventureland, though... There was no water running on Skull rock, and without it, you could really tell that some areas could do with a little cleaning...



Though it does give it a sense of authenticity...


Water was running just fine everywhere else though!


POTC was quite busy, 40 minutes I think, so we decided to leave that to Monday.

Time to admire Captain Hook's ship...






We were having an early dinner, but I was starting to feel a bit hungry... It was obvious that all the rides had quite long queues (or too long for us... anything more than 15 minutes is too much...). So instead, we decided to go for a little break in one of my favourite places in Main Street, the Cable Car Bake Shop!

Continues soon

[mickeyspal]

Great report, love all the photos particularly for halloween; enjoyed watching video over Main Street, looks peaceful with nobody about.  Looking forward to next installment. Wishing I was back already. :minnie:

[BlackPearl]

Love your report and the pictures.  =D>
 I'm already getting "homesick" for Disneyland and the Disneyland Hotel.

[never2old]

Thank you all for your comments

I have to admit, I'm not too happy with my pictures, I'm not sure what's wrong with my camera but a lot of them came out a bit blurred... My little girl loves playing with gadgets and she has gotten her hands on my camera more than once, I do wonder if she's done something to it...  :roll:

Anyway, I finally got a bit of time, so here goes the next chapter!

So, time for a little snack at the Cable Car Bake Shop...







We each had a chocolate cupcake, yummy yummy

And feeling re-energised, we decided to go for a bit of shopping...

At Harrington's





And across the street at Disney & Co









I love these posters!!



And finally in the Emporium! Quick peak at the barber shop...





Christmas at the Emporium



The parade was going to start soon and Main Street was getting quite busy; we had already decided to see it on the Monday, so we decided to escape the crowds and head back to Frontierland (and maybe finally go on BTM??)

And again it was not to be... BTM was still (or again) not running... I don't know if it didn't run at all during the afternoon or if we were just unlucky, but no rides on BTM all day?? Not too happy about this...  :evil:

So time for some silly pics...







Time then for Adventureland and Indiana Jones. No where near as fun at BTM, but at least it's always fairly quiet, and the fastpass queue works quite well there!















It's an OK ride, really. Not as fun as BTM and not as thrilling as Space Mountain (also not as bumpy), but it's really one of those rides that I can easily do without...

Time for a nice little walk around Adventureland







And to explore the Jolly Roger!!

























It's always been one of my favourite spots in Adventureland, and now that it's finally been refurbished it looks great!! Now all that it needs is Peter Pan fighting Captain Hook...

By now it was getting close to our dinner time (we were booked for 6pm at Watl's). The idea was to make our way back to Main Street slowly through Fantasyland, and maybe do a dark ride if the queues were not to bad...



However when we got close to the stage formerly known as Fantasyland Stage, I couldn't help but wanting to take a closer look... And when we saw the queue to meet the Mouse himself was 10 minutes... Well in we went!!

Temporary sign was still there...






We went straight past the theatre (where there was just 1 little girl and her mom watching a Mickey Mouse cartoon, while the rest of their family waiting (im)patiently at the other end...











For once I wished the queue would have take a little bit longer... I didn't have much time to explore all the little details everywhere!! But overall, another great addition to the park, excellent theming with plenty of references to keep you entertained for some time, and to ensure you discover something new on each visit!

Of course we were here to see one mouse...



When we got out, it was almost 6pm... So no more pictures, no more looking around, straight accross Fantasyland towards Main Street USA, and to Walt's!! We did see the fountain show was on by the Castle, but we didn't stop (for your information, you need to be rather punctual with the Dreams packages reservations, they don't hold your reservation for 15 minutes like they do for normal bookings!!)

We made it...






Now if you've never been to Walt's, please try to visit on your next trip. It's a beautiful restaurant, full on wondeful little bits of Disney and DLP history. Plus their food is delicious!!

We were seated in the Main Street USA area, in a little room (unfortunately not by a window) overlooking Main Street (just in front of Harrington's)





Now tilt your head slightly to one side and pretend the picture is straight... (I thought I had fixed this before loading but obviously not....)




To drink, we tried the 20th anniversary white wine...


Cris had the salad:


and I the scallops carpaccio:


And for the main course, we both had the lamb:


And I have to admit, that was the nicest lamb I've ever had. Pure heaven. The meat simply melted in the mouth.... Amazing.

The 20th anniversary dessert:




Who drank all the wine??


After dessert the waiter came with a couple white bracelets, he put them around our wrists, and told us to go to the VIP viewing area, in front of the green and red little house at the end of Main Street (ie the Dreams control booth!), and to show our bracelet to the CM there. He told us to keep the receipt from the restaurant just in case, but that they usually didn't ask for it (and they didn't).

We had a bit of time (Dreams wat at 9pm, and we wanted to get there with no more than 30 minutes), so after a call to my parents to check on our little Alicia (only the 4th of the day, I think we did quite well!!)  we went for a little walk around Discoveryland, which looks so good at night!











Before heading back towards Central Plaza



It was already quite busy, but fortunately the VIP area was quite quiet. There was plenty of room to move around, and we had a great view of the Castle.

Behind us:




And in front of us (no zooming at all on this picture, so that you get an idea of what the actual view was like!)






There was a great atmosphere all around, you could tell people knew they were waiting for something good, something special.

Now we only had 2 nights to see Dreams, and we wanted to make the most out of it. So that meant not worrying to much about taking pictures, and simply enjoying the show. I had thought of no taking any pictures at all, but I couldn't resist taking a few...  :roll:    Which considering I was just holding the camera in my hands, and wasn't really looking much at the camera screen but more at the actual show behind, they didn't come out too bad!!







































What can I say about Dreams that hasn't been said many many times before? It's stunning. I want to see it again and again. I can't wait to go back and see it again. I loved the music, the story, and the projections??!?! Incredible!! And the Dreams package viewing area was excellent.

What a magical ending to a great day



Time to head back towards the DLH...











Waiting for our lift


When we got to our room we saw we'd been left (with compliments ) a bottle of water, and a bottle of champagne, chilling in an ice bucket next to two champagne glasses!! I just LOVE the Castle Club!!

Plus the view from our room....




We decided to finish our day by going for a drink and some nibbles at the bar



Ah, mojito....




Before heading back to our room, for a quick shower and a well deserved rest!!



Day 2 coming soon!!

[Pluto2011Pluto]

Hope Day 2  of your trip you includes  and your husband watching Stitch Live.

[DisneyManiac]

Do you mind telling me what that piece of music is called? You know, the one from the vid?

[minnieme]

I am absolutely loving reading this report!! Your photos are great, there is so much detail. I have missed so much - probably from having kids attached to my arms, legs and neck!! I got that fuzzy tingly feeling in my tummy seeing the castle and the castle club pictures. Great report...looking forward to the rest.  =D>

[SVioletS]

Never2old, i'm loving your report! You had a great time and it shows! looking forjardes to reading day 2.
Just one question, was the wine included in the dreams package ?