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[Sulley's Arms]

Once upon a time a young family decided to go on a trip to Disneyland Paris.  It was 2007 and there was a limited offer where kids under 7 go free and two of ours just happened to be under 7 ["let's do it; this is a once in a lifetime opportunity..."].  We had the most amazing time during those 4 days, including quite simply the best fireworks display I'd ever seen, over Lake Disney .  As we left on the last day I made a point of getting the kids to say goodbye to Disneyland as we won't be able to come back again (after all, it was only that brilliant free kids offer that allowed this trip to happen!).

Four years later, almost to the week, we surprised the (not quite so young anymore) kids with the announcement of our 4th trip to DLP!!  What we forgot to mention to them ( :lol: ) was that we were going to buy Dream Annual Passports.  Woohoo!  Our plan was a simple one - to be able to experience Halloween, Christmas, Mickey's Magical Celebration & the 20th Anniversary, in one amazing Dream Year.

Day 1:
Day 1 was mostly, well, driving!  A 4 hour journey to Eurotunnel, the crossing itself (with Disney music playing in the car, of course!), plus the 3 hour drive to, firstly, the hotel (Kyriad, Torcy), where we checked-in, threw our bags in the room, and jumped back in the car for the 20-ish minute drive to The Magic!  Since we didn't yet have our APs (which offer free parking) and didn't fancy paying the 15€ car park charge for bearly 4-hours (even if it was a Magic 4 hours!) we headed for the station multistorey (only 7€) and from there around to the Park, specifically the Guest Relations desk, but not before digging out the Tigger hat I'd bought in February (that trip was also the "last time we'll be able to come here" for at least a few years!!).

It was here that, as we queued behind the two people already being served, that the children began to ask questions   - the board at the window only shows Annual Passport prices and of course they were expecting we would be buying day passes, or similar.  Oops!  Surprisingly though, despite all the questions, only our eldest worked it out without having to be told!

My 'Grand Plan' had always involved us arriving, buying the passes and then stepping back out of the Passport Bureau just as the Once Upon A Dream Parade was coming past - I saw this as one of those moments that you simply wouldn't forget - a moment to savour, the grand 'welcome back' .  As it was, the parade sailed past as we were taking it in turns to have our photos taken & cards produced.  Gutted  :cry: !  Still, after a whole day travelling, and having factored everything I could think of into the equation to try to get this right, we only missed it by 5 or 6 minutes - I should be pleased that it was so close!!

What we hadn't realised about the dates of this trip (just because we hadn't researched it) was that the whole of France, as well as the UK, was on school holidays, so DLP was, at that time of day, very busy and all the rides had 40-60 minute queues at least.  Although this wasn't something we'd expected (if we'd have realised, we'd have still come though!) we didn't mind as we said we would spend the evening soaking in the atmosphere, watching some of the remaining shows that hadn't finished for the day, and maybe even buying a few snacks .

This is how Day 1 panned out - it was truly awesome to be back and I knew we were all going to make the most of this trip.  After all, it's bound to be our last!!!

More to follow....

[Sulley's Arms]

Day 2:

So, one of the main reasons for getting a Dream Pass in particular was for the Extra Magic Hours  .  Of course this means getting up very early (not usually my first choice activity on a holiday!) so alarm set for 06:30, showers all round, cereal & pastries, and then into the car.  Or at least we would if the hotel had unlocked it's front doors yet!  A quick search of the lobby area gave us the key-holder we needed so off we drove...

Never arrived at DLP in the dark before.  We love the drinks vending machines near the travelators that play tempting thirst quenching sounds!  Not tempted at that time of day though   !  We would have raced along the travelators if the right hand one wasn't still out of service!  Still, isn't it fantastic to walk / march along to the Disney music floating around your ears?

We've never been early enough to need to queue outside the park gates either!  5 minutes later and we're staring at the clock (with illuminated hands, no less), then passing through the turnstiles ("Welcome",...,"Welcome",...,"Welcome",...!).

Main Street USA never disappoints first thing in the morning - almost totally empty, music in the air, the castle at the end catching the morning's first light.  Brill.  This is how it starts every day for us and the effect never lessens. From here - Buzz Lightyear.  Twice.  At least.  I was rubbish at it!

We did all of the EMH rides for the 2 hours, then made a very welcome return visit to POTC before heading over to a ride we've never even seen before, let alone ridden on - Casey Jr.!  How we've managed to miss it before is beyond me (maybe it was always closed?).

Within the next hour we'd made our way back across to Discoveryland, where who should appear but one Darth Vader.

Now I always enjoy the character meet & greets around the park but they are always for the kids and I just take the photos!  Not this time  :thumbs:  OMG, it's Darth Vader.  That one will definitely go on the wall!

The BIG dissapointment of this trip was the fact that BTM was out of service for the entire time we were there and it's a favourite of all five of us.  However, chalking up Vader's autograph definitely lessened the pain!!

After lunch we drifted on over to Frontierland and walked straight into Jack Skellington - OMG again!  What's going on - all of the coolest characters I assumed I'd never ever meet are here! /  Good chat with Jack and then we met Dr Facilier.  I'd always assumed that the very broad smile was purely animation - how wrong can you be??  this guy's got one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen  :mrgreen: .

Later we had a frosty encounter with Jafar, who nearly snapped my wife's fingers off (in a nice way, of course) but gave us a fantastic photo - truly one for the album and after that (and some more snacks - donuts, Cacao Viennoise, etc. - nom-nom) the boys met each of the Ugly Sisters, who each wanted to marry their signee!  Bot hthe boys were mortified, to the point that they thought it was real!!  Kodak moments!

Later it was off to Bella Notte for tea....  We ate here on our first ever trip in 2007 and it was closed for refurbishment last time around, so we wanted to make sure we got to go again.  It's the usual fayre - pizzas, pasta, garlic bread, etc. (I think it's essentially the same as Colonel Hathi's but the ambiance is great, with decor to die for!).

By early evening we were flagging a little after the busy day & early rise....

[BlackPearl]

Hi, sulleysarms,
great report so far. Can't wait for the next days  
I'm sorry that BTM was closed when you visited. But it seems that you had a great time nonetheless.

[jamieclayton9]

Top Notch Trip Report!! :-)

I can't wait for the next parts. I am interested to know what you thought of Halloween, because we are going for our first ever Halloween trip in oct.

Many Thanks

[Sulley's Arms]

Hi Jamie

We really enjoyed our first ever Halloween trip last year, although I realised it was totally different to previous years, from trip reports & photos I'd seen before we went.  It was largely just a normal park but with 'Mickey pumpkins' here & there.  The best part of the Halloween experience for me was that the character meet & greets were, for the most part, villains we had never seen before, so our autograph book got a lot fuller!  The pinnacle of this was about an hour before we left on the Sunday, but more about that when I can find time to continue my report...!

Since 2012 is the 20th anniversary celebration, and since Disney appear to be on a cost saving drive, I'm not sure whether the Halloween shows will have as large a presence this year?

Still, whatever the outcome you'll have a great time, because it's Disneyland!

Sulley's Arms

[Sulley's Arms]

Day 3:

Saturday already!  Up at silly o'clock in time for more EMH.  Sunrise on the Castle looked great this morning and if I knew how to include pictures into this I'd share it with you!  

So after the usual fun fix of Buzz, SMM2, Dumbo, Tea Cups, etc. it was time for our first venture into the Studios Park.  First thing to notice was high queue times - nothing changes with regard to Crushes Coaster (woah, Dude) and it's overlong queue time - already over an hour long and the park has only just opened!  In that case let's forget that, pick up Fast Passes for Tower of Terror, and then go on Cars Race Ralley.  Love this ride - I always try to get an 'action shot' of the guys in the other car (we simply don't fit into one car!) as it whizzes past   .
Toy Story Playland is the next logical destination, and my first time on Slinky Dog (more just to say I've ticked that one off!), then usher the kids on to the parachute drop (it's not really my bag) and then brave RC Racer once more.  Now it's time for the Fast Pass  - Tower of Terror.  Got there and the Fast Pass queue was out of the building!  What's going on??  However, within 5 minutes or so we were standing outside one of the sets of library doors, waiting to be escorted through to our doom...  It's great that the introductory video for this is dubbed into French with English subtitles, as the name of the ride is clearly not nearly the same in French as the writing on the screen!!  Still effective though, particularly the thunder & lightning effect at the 'windows'.

After the onward queue through the bowels of the hotel, interacting with the zombie bellboys, and then onto the ride itself (I have to do this ride before lunch!!) we just had time to run (read: hobble) back over to the Playland in time for the arrival of the Green Army Men.  They were very funny, even in French, as you could clearly tell what they were up to as they went around the Playland playing jokes on innocent passers-by :thumbs:.  Our boys joined in with the group activity as well, having to copy what each of the Soldiers in turn were doing.  I was glad I decided to video this, as it turned out to be the first and only time we saw them (and I believe they don't appear any more ) .

By now it was time for a spot of lunch, then time to see the shows & parades through the afternoon, before returning to the Disneyland Park in time for the Once Upon a Dream Parade at 5-ish.  we got a good view, half way donw Main Street USA, but every time the parade stopped for the dancing & interaction, we found ourselves almost exactly in the middle of the last float and next float (about 30m away from each!), so we didn't get the full effect on this occasion but not to worry.  

Time for some tea by now (even though we stocked up on donuts & cookies before the Parade!) and therefore over to Fuente del Oro Restaurante for chilli, taquitos, Mexican fries and, most importantly, churros (nom).  Re-fuelled & re-warmed, we made our way around the park for the evening , with the Tea Cups a particular favourite in the dark (the lanterns look amazing when they're actually lit!).  The queue times were all still enormous, so once again we wanted to stroll around and take it all in.  We did manage to go on Small World, Snow White & Pinnochio though before we left at the end of yet another very long but enjoyable day, so that was a bonus!

All that was left tonight was getting back to the hotel to get warm again, pack our stuff and prepare for our last day of this Halloween trip.

[Sulley's Arms]

Day 4:

This is the day the clocks changed by an hour, so we had an extra hour in bed.  Yay!  Or at least we would have done if I didn't have to get up earlier than normal to pack the car as we were leaving the hotel... :| .

Made it to the gates shortly after 8am.  I know, what were we thinking, being late like that?!  We get stopped for the 3rd time in 4 days to be told by a CM we must have a Disney hotel Easy Pass to get in for EMH.  Once again we explain that the Dream AP gets people in without needing to be staying at a Disney hotel.  The CM says, 'let's see, shall we?' in a smug 'you guys are about to get egg on your faces' kind of way, until we march through the barriers with confidence and a smile! /

This morning was v. busy from the beginning of EMH - Buzz Lightyear was 30 minutes long at 8:10, Peter Pan had a 40 minute queue before 8:30 and Dumbo was over 30 minutes at that time.  It didn't improve either  :shock: .  By 9 o'clock the whole park was utterly packed and whilst queueing for Tea Cups, some people in the line told us how they'd opened the gates to everybody at 9:00 instead of 10:00 (did they possibly not realise the clocks had changed overnight??).

Anyway, we headed over to POTC, to join the 30 minute queue (there are some things you just have to do!) and after that there was only Small World that we managed to get on during the remainder of this trip (people had even been queueing for Peter Pan Fast Pass tickets more than 30 minutes before the Fast Pass machines opened!), as we spent our time watching the shows, parades and meeting more characters.

One that made us laugh was the 'Alice and/or Mad Hatter' appearance - it was always "or"!!  Never any sign of Alice, which was a shame for us as we've never seen her before.  Still Dum & Dee were there casuing their usual mayhem & laughs.

After lunch (Toad Hall for burgers & chips - tasty, filling but oh, so expensive!), we only had an hour or so left before we had to leave so we did the last of our shopping, saw Rapunzel & those Ugly Sisters again and went on over to Discoveryland to see what it was like there.

On the way down to Star Stores (or whatever it's called), I glanced across and saw none other than Chewbacca.

Off of Star Wars!!

In real life!!!

I hadn't noticed the Falcon coming down to land or anything.  Still, that was it - I can't meet any better characters than this.  It's that simple  /

Game over, job done.  Thank you and good night.  Photos and autograph secured, there was nothing more I could do on this trip than drift around in a daze!

After that, it was time to leave Disneyland at the end of the first trip in our Dream Year.  It had been brilliant to experience a 'theme' within the park and, despite it being hugely busy, was still great being there.  If you can avoid the half term week, this would be all that, plus without the queueing!

Magic.

Can't wait until Christmas...

[Sulley's Arms]

Great!  I've finally finished this post!! LOL.

I've found a renewed desire to sit and put our trips into words, in the hope that it entertains, and maybe even helps somebody, with little bits of info that might point people in the right direction for their next trip!

I'm also pleased I've just posted the second part of our Dream Year - Christmas.  I just hope it's not long before I can get Part 3 under way as well!