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[seraphelle]

Hi folks,

We arrived yesterday and everyone is currently still fast asleep so I thought I'd take advantage of the peace and wifi and start this now.

There is myself, my husband, and our 2 daughters (the youngest will turn 8 while we are here) and we're in Yellowstone Building of the Sequoia Lodge.

Day 1
We all got up early and quickly got dressed and waited for our friend to pick us up as she had kindly agreed to take us to airport. We got to the airport and checked our bags, then headed to Frankie and Bennys for some breakfast. Once we'd scarfed that down, we said farewell to our buddy and went through to departures and bought some bits and bobs in duty free, then headed to the gate for boarding. We barely had time for a game of eye spy once up in the air before we were descending into Paris (love how short the flight is from Birmingham to CDG!)
CDG wasn't as frightening this time around as we knew where we needed to go, so we grabbed our bags and headed for the VEA. By my reckoning we would have just missed one and would have to wait the full 45 minutes for the next, however when we got outside we saw there were a few buses playing a sort of game where they kept driving off empty and then coming back after just driving off the carpark and then back down the entry slope, very odd! Anyway, we ended up on one of these after 15 minutes so that was cool, and arrived at the Sequoia at around 1:30pm.
I have to say, it might not have the 'ta-daaaa!' of the DLH but it's a beautiful hotel. We checked in fine and the lady on reception gave my youngest a voucher for a free autograph book for her birthday which we thought was lovely, and then we headed to our room.
I think the rooms are gorgeous, and honestly aside from a slightly different bathroom and a touch more space and a mini bar, not really all that different from the DLH rooms!
I managed to unpack in a record 14 minutes (it took me 4 hours to pack!!! How is that possible?) and we went to the hotel shop for autograph goodies and then headed to the parks.
We strolled through the village and I made a mental note of things I hadn't paid attention to last time, and we headed into the Park and straight to City Hall for a parade time leaflet.  The park was pretty busy as we knew it would be, so we just decided we would stroll about and maybe do a ride or two before the parade and then get back to get ready for BBWWS that evening.
We went and found the secret walkway first (cheers guys!) and the kids and I went to see the dragon, then we headed to Its a Small World as we'd wanted to do it last year but it had been shut for maintenance, the queue said 30mins and the line looked huge but did move really quickly, and the ride was lovely (although the singing dolls freaked me out a bit lol).
After that it seemed to get really quite cold all of a sudden, so we decided to go and buy some merch sooner rather than later and we were soon toasty warm in hats and gloves.
We went and looked round Discoveryland properly so we knew where everything was (aside from Buzz we had neglected this land last time), then it was time to get a place for the parade.
Finally we managed to find an empty nook for the girls to see from, only for some french lady to come and 'pardon' and push herself and her kids right infront of my girls. I have to say by the end of just the first day I got a bit sick of 'pardon' being used as a way of saying 'just let me screw you over, ok?'. I'm quite a confident woman but I've had a hard time lately and am on meds for anxiety, so the confrontation possibility was like an axe over my head, but before I even had chance to say anything a lovely little grey haired woman told the french lady what-for in french and she went and stood elsewhere, then the grey-haired lady turned to me and said in a proper Yorkshire accent 'manners cost nowt do they?' - I was gobsmacked!  So if anyone knows that lady, she's brilliant! 
After the parade (once we'd calmed the youngest down after getting a wave from Rapunzel and Elsa and Tink) we headed to Space Mountain.
Some of you may remember last year my eldest had not been tall enough and had broken her heart (which is why we'd avoided Discoveryland afterwards) but the CM had given her a special card to basically say come back when you are tall enough and jump the queue... So she walked up clutching her card and showed the CM, and he was great, he did the whole 'oooh I dunno....' about letting her on, then  measured her height and said 'ok then' lol! Never seen her move so fast! So her and Dad went on that and the little one and me went to Cable Car to get Pause Gourmands for us all. By the time we got back to Space Mountain they'd been on and were waiting for us, and she'd loved it. Well worth the wait!
We munched down our muffins sitting on the wall in Discoveryland and then decided to head back to get ready for BBWWS.
We got there nice and early this time and certainly got our money's worth of the free beer (hic!) and the kids loved it again. We had planned on glowtinis afterwards but we were so tired we just came straight to bed.
We have a VIP Fastpass for today and tomorrow... So fingers crossed it works. Off to brekkie shortly!

[Aurora1]

Have a lot of fun! We`ve been back for 3 weeks now and I soooo want to go back!

[pialykke]

Wow Seraphelle! What a great day (apart from the obnoxious Frenchy... Jeeez...!!).
Can I ask - did you tell the hotel about your daughters birthday before you arrived? Or did you just tell them at reception when you checked in? We are going for DS6's birthday in 2 weeks, and it would be such a lovely surprise for him to get a special treat from the hotel too... (Staying at Santa Fe though - don't know if it's only the "expensive" hotels that do treats like that.... ?)

[seraphelle]

Wow Seraphelle! What a great day (apart from the obnoxious Frenchy... Jeeez...!!).
Can I ask - did you tell the hotel about your daughters birthday before you arrived? Or did you just tell them at reception when you checked in? We are going for DS6's birthday in 2 weeks, and it would be such a lovely surprise for him to get a special treat from the hotel too... (Staying at Santa Fe though - don't know if it's only the "expensive" hotels that do treats like that.... ?)

Hi Pialykke,

I had asked when booking if we could have something 'extra' as it was dd's birthday, but my TA never got confirmation, nor did I get a response when I emailed the Sequoia direct a few months back. I even packed a couple of little soft 'Sven' toys to pop on the beds to make it look like they'd been given something, but during check in the woman called my dd forward and asked her to choose a prize from a list, then gave her a voucher for a free one from the hotel store. Later in the stay we also came back to the room to find some gold coins and a printed card for her too from the staff, so I think they do do things, its just not publicised or anything so just ask as many times as you can and you never know!

Day 2

Breakfast surprisingly great at the Sequoia, I think we'd been worried by some reports but it was never overly busy and staff we very polite and organised. Although I could do without eating any more pain au chocolat for a few years 
We went into the park and headed straight to Buzz, then the eldest and hubby did Space Mountain, we all did Buzz again then headed to Star Tours. It was our first time on Star Tours and was my last! I felt so sick afterwards, I don't know if it was because it was so hot in there or because we were in the front row, but I had to close my eyes half way through! I thought the ride itself was great though, just a shame it had made me go motion-sickness-crazy 
After that (and the necessary photos by the X Wing) we headed to Frontierland. We just started down the steps queuing for BTM when the ride broke and everyone had to leave, so we headed to Phantom Manor instead.
Now I don't know if there have been permanent changes to this ride, or if we were just unlucky during our trip, but the lighting in PM seemed different to last time, and there were no faces above the chairs in the mirrors at the end. No big deal, but it was one of my favourite bits of the ride and I was a bit disappointed at the end not to see the ghoulish grins.
After that we headed to POTC, and hubby went off and did Indiana Jones by himself and we met up by the ship afterwards. The youngest was having Buzz withdrawal by this point so we headed back there and did that twice, then we went to Peter Pan and had a look in some shops. Hubby went off to get the muffins today and we went on Buzz again, then round to Its a Small World. Then hubby and eldest did Space Mountain again and it was time to head to Inventions for food. We got there a bit early so I finally had a Glowtini in Café Fantasia, yum!!! In Inventions we saw Gideon, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Gepetto, Minnie, Mickey, and Pluto. The food was gorgeous and the queues not that bad despite the restaurant being quite full.
We went back into the park for a few more rides (2 of which were, you guessed it, Buzz!) then we went and got some hot drinks and found a place to watch Dreams before the crowds got crazy. Yet again I found myself getting wound up at people insistent that despite the fact we had stood and waited patiently, they could turn up at the last second and try to basically shove my kids out of way. But my eldest behaved admirably, she's had so many confidence problems and we've really tried to help her build her self esteem and confidence levels and she quite firmly told one woman, yes a fully grown woman who was trying to push her aside to stand infront of her and my husband, 'No!'. We'd all been looking up at the castle naturally and I heard her say No and turned round to see this woman blink in shock and then move away, my husband and I were blown away. My eldest said she was holding the rope and looking up at the castle and this woman had pushed her hand along the rope to move her out of the way, so much so she'd got a little friction mark on her hand afterwards! I hate to say it but after that we were very much indignant wherever we stood to watch a parade or queue for autographs, it was very much a case of 'elbows out and stand your ground!'. I don't mind so much when its just excited and enthusiastic kids, but fully grown women pushing a child to get a better view for themselves. No way!!!
Anyhoo, after that little fiasco, Dreams started and it was superb as ever, my youngest even forgot she doesn't like loud fireworks  and was loving every second. Once it finished we made our way back to the hotel through the village and had a little look in a couple of shops and bought a few bits and bobs. There's something quite lovely about the walk back to the hotel after Dreams with everyone else leaving the park. Like you're all sharing a special secret  We all collapsed into bed as soon as we got back to the hotel, exhausted.

Day 3

This morning we had an earlier breakfast time, so we were in the park earlier than yesterday, Buzz first (shocker, right?). Then we went and waited for Snow White, and then went straight on Pinocchio afterwards. Then we high-tailed it to Central Plaza for the Villain Promenade which was, for me, absolutely amazing. Maleficent and the queen from Snow White are just the best as far as I'm concerned, and to see them both was marvellous. I'd gotten a glimpse of Maleficent last year but hadn't been able to get near her, but this year she had her own little float (which included Hades, Ursula and Scar, I believe) and the other villains did a lap in front of it round Central Plaza. The guy playing Facilier was fantastic and Cruella had me in stitches. She was brilliant.
After this, I had booked a surprise make-over in the Princess salon in DLH for the kids, so we headed there under the pretext that we needed to go to the shop in DLH for something specific. How shocked were they when they got there LOL  My eldest was more excited that the little one which shocked me (she's usually quite the tomboy), and soon instead of my little madams I had a Cinderella and a Rapunzel  They loved it and I found myself wishing several times they did it for grown ups too! 
After this we headed back to Fantasyland for Peter Pan, only to see yet more bad guys in the courtyard by the thorns, we hung around here a while then headed to the Pavillion as the Princesses wanted to see a Princess. The sign outside said 90 minutes but I think we were maybe in there an hour in reality so not too bad really, and we met Snow White, we'd just missed Cinderella apparently but I knew we'd got reservations for Auberge the next day so I wasn't too concerned even though my eldest was sad for a minute or two.  Then we did Peter Pan and Buzz again before having our muffins and drinks. I arranged to meet hubby and the kids in Frontierland and they went off and did Star Tours again, then we all did Phantom Manor, BTM, and then POTC. I had my Glowtini fix in Café Fantastia and we went for tea in Inventions again, this time we saw Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Gideon.
After food we pretty much ran to Frontierland because we knew today was the last day of the fastpass we'd bought, so we did BTM 3 times in a row, went to POTC and walked on because we knew everyone was heading to find a space for Dreams, and then back to BTM twice more before we were told the rides were closing now. We snuck through the walkway back to main street and had a dance to the Dreams music (so if anyone was there and saw a crazy family dancing to the Genie segment....that was us) and then headed back to the hotel.

I'll ad day 4 and 5 tomorrow and hopefully the photos!

[seraphelle]

Forgive the delay in finishing this, had laptop Vs coffee issues (whoops!).

Day 4- Hallowe'en

Could we have been any more excited today? We were all up mega early and went for our breakfast slot and inhaled some breakfast faster than we've ever eaten before 

We headed into the park and went straight to switch our tickets for the party that night for our wristbands (I still have mine on  ). We decided on spooky first so headed to Phantom Manor and when we came off, we went right back round and got on it again 
We wanted to do BTM next but the queue was pretty heavy already, so we headed to Buzz, then IASW. The villain parade was then starting so we watched that again (have I mentioned how much I loved this???), then it was time for lunch at AdC. As we were heading there we saw Rapunzel and Flynn and Flynn took my youngests' hand (wearing her Rapunzel dress) and twirled her around and she squealed with delight.
Lunch was amazing, my veggie eldest struggled a bit, but we had a wonderful time. Cinderella, Snow White, Suzy, Perla, and - much to the birthday girls delight - Rapunzel & Flynn were the characters present. At one point we became worried that they were leaving, but they were back after 10 minutes or so. When it was time for the cake to come out, Rapunzel and Flynn were the ones to bring it over and I have never seen my daughter smile so big. You'll see on the photos, she was in her element and will remember it forever 
After lunch we went to BTM, then IASW. Then we watched the Magic Everywhere parade and headed to the courtyard and had photos with Maleficent  She said 'ahhh, you're a fan I see, come here!' 

After this we went back to the hotel to get our outfits on for the party. The kids were Anna and Elsa, and hubby and I were Jack and Sally, and I enjoyed waving at all the other Sally's for the night  The party itself was bizarre, but brilliant. We had no idea what to expect really, so were pleasantly surprised by all the 'extra' stuff that was on. We got herded into Discoveryland by CM's as we entered the park, so we went on Autopia (lots of fun in the dark!!), then when we could get across we went to Frontierland and did Phantom Manor again. When we came off we went to Molly Brown and had photos with Tiana and Naveen on the boat, which we all agreed was super cool. After this, we decided it was time for some dancing, so headed to Star Tours area and we spent the rest of the night here! The music was great and the kids had a whale of time, Stitch and Angel were DJ'ing when we got there, then Buzz took over after a while. It was so much fun we laughed and danced for ages. The kids were a bit spooked by the giant weird robots on stilts walking round but soon calmed down and had fun. Hubby wanted a photo with Chewbacca but was enjoying himself so much he didn't want to go and stand in the queue for however long it would take!
We danced until we were exhausted then headed to watch the last Hallowe'en cavalcade.
After this the kids said they were starving, and it was almost midnight so we decided to head to the village for some grub on the way back to the hotel. We were expecting to just grab and go but hubby ran into Rainforest Café and came out saying they had plenty tables and could seat us so we headed in there. Wow! I wish we had eaten in here sooner, such good value for money and the food was gorgeous, plus the place itself is gorgeously themed. We had hallowe'en cocktails with those little sweetie teeth floating in LOL. We'll definitely visit here again without a doubt.
After this we headed to the hotel, got all our facepaint off and collapsed into bed.


Day 5

The last day 
I got up and packed what I could while everyone was getting dressed, we got out breakfast and came back to the room and I finished off the packing in record time. We ditched the cases at the luggage thing and then headed to the studios for EMH. We went straight for Ratatouille and joined the queue, only to be told after twenty minutes that it wasn't working and wouldn't be open for some time. Hubby and the eldest headed for RC, and the little one and me went to Slinky. Afterwards we went back to Ratatouille and yay it was working, the queue was long but we decided to brave it. After 45 minutes of queuing, the exit doors were thrown open and people came out from inside, the CM's came through asking us to leave 'for your safety'. So that's twice we'd queued and twice it had broken! We were pretty miffed as it was our last day and we'd wasted so much time so decided to cut our losses and went into Disneyland and did our souvenir shopping, we went to see the waterfall and the dragon again and did one more go on Buzz. Then headed through the village buying a few more bits and bobs and back to the hotel to collect the bags and wait for the bus.
Now, at this point I got nervous. Last time we visited the bus had been late, then there had been traffic jams and huge queues at passport control and we'd barely made it to the gate in time. So this time, we went to go for the earlier bus. A few more people came and waited with us. Then a few more. Then a few more. The bus was late. Then very late. Then when it came he only had a certain amount of spaces left on there! Thankfully we got on, but there were a few families left behind for the next bus, I hope they made their flight in time! Thankfully traffic wasn't too bad and passport control was a breeze this time, so we had time for a mooch around the fancy shops and bought my friend who had looked after our dog some fancy macaroons as a thank you. The flight was very turbulent and both kids clutched their sick bags for the whole flight but thankfully didn't need them in the end. We got home without problems and the little one opened her presents and we had some pizza, then we all went to bed and slept for about 12 hours straight LOL.

[seraphelle]

Photos 

[seraphelle]

That's all of them 

[RockNRoller]

Loving it, almost makes me want to go at Halloween rather than Christmas. The party looks awesome

[daddyof2]

We ARE going next October Half Term, so these photos have made me and my wife very excited already - and now she's asking to eat at Auberge De Cendrillon....

[seraphelle]

You'll love it  I know Auberge is pricey, but honestly the interaction you get is worth it in my opinion. Halloween there is just superb. If you're there when the party is on I'd fully recommend it 

[Aurora1]

great photos! And two sweet princesses!

[BlackPearl]

Great report and wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Your two little princess are so cute!

[seraphelle]

Thank you xxx 

[samuelvictor]

Lovely photos and great to read your report. Thanks for sharing! Really excited now (less than a week till we go) 

[Fairytale]

Your daughters are adorable! Great photo's! going to read the report now