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[samuelvictor]

Hi all. Never got round to writing proper trip reports for the last two trips, so slightly making up for it by writing ones now, to join to a pre-trip report for our latest trip starting this December 18th - can't wait! I must admit a lot of this is to jog my memory and build excitement for the coming trip. I'll probably type quite a lot, don't worry if you dno't want to read it all!

A little background information: We're a married couple in our early 30s with a 14 year old son and 12 year old daughter. We first went to DLRP in March 2011 when they were 11 and 9. I'm afraid I won't be adding pictures of wife or kids, as I have quite a public work life (film & tv producer & director) so we try to keep our private life private where possible.

Our first trip: 23rd - 27th March 2011 (5 days, 4 nights)

Pre-trip
I must admit, originally I wasn't that keen on the idea of going to Disneyland Paris (of course, I was wrong and quickly changed my mind once there  ). When my wife was young she was very lucky and went to Disney World in Florida every year, and it was a huge part of her childhood. She'd wanted to take our kids there every year since they were born, but I'd always been reluctant as I thought it'd be expensive and would mean booking time off work. My response was always "we'll do it soon, we'll be better off next year". Yeah, I sound like a complete Scrooge I know. Really, my motivation was I wanted to do it "properly", when we could afford to go for a couple of weeks at least and have enough spending money to make the most out of our time there. My intentions were pure, however one day my wife pointed out that the kids were rapidly getting older - they were 11 and 9 and before I knew it they'd be teenagers. She persuaded me that we should take them whilst they were young enough to still get the "magic" for the first time, and suggested that instead of Florida, we went to Paris, as it would be cheaper and easier to travel to.

I'd "been" to DLRP once before, on business in the late 1990s for just one day, and my memory of it wasn't positive. I remembered there being hardly any rides, lots of concrete, and mostly shops selling expensive Disney merchandise. Turns out what I had remembered was actually Disney Village and Hotel New York and I'd never actually made it into the parks in my one day of business meetings! Of course I'd seen adverts for DLRP and was aware of it, but my general opinion was that it was a poor alternative to Florida and I wasn't convinced. However, my wife essentially said she was going to go and take the kids anyway, and it was up to me if I wanted to come or not. Of course I wanted a holiday with my family, so I agreed to go.

As a side note in my defence: The adverts and brochures didn't help my opinion there was very little there. Only really footage of the castle and Dumbos, and character greets. To this day, DLRP have not released a brochure which mentions just how many rides and shows are in the Parks. I really feel a great strength of DLRP is just how much there is to see and do, all within easy walking distance - it annoys me how little of this is shown in their official adverts and print material, they really don't show the parks in their best light...  Fan websites and videos do a much better job in my opinion 

Its also worth noting that I've always been a huge Disney fan in general - I'm VERY into animation (studied traditional animation with Don Bluth for years, and he taught me so much about Disney history, artists etc). I just felt that the parks were likely to be very crassly American and commercial, and therefore thought the best way to "experience" the parks would be in America, with a lot of money to spend. However my wife was entirely right, kids grow up fast and it was important that we let them experience it when younger to get the full "magic" experience.

Our budget was very limited, but my wife found out the cheapest possible deal for us, with both kids going free, and 2 nights free. I was very pleased to hear that all the shows and rides etc were included in the price, and we planned to use every single hour that the parks were open wisely to get the very best value that we could, and experience everything thet we wanted to. I think my wife thought this may be the only time we ever went, so wanted to really make the most out of it.

This was in March, which she told me would be not very busy, so we wouldn't have to queue much. We couldn't afford meal plans, but the breakfast was all you can eat, so we planned to stuff ourselves at breakfast and just eat snacks in the evening (she'd wisely stocked up on cheap noodles, powdered soups and other things we could take with us and eat in our hotels in the evenings. We allowed ourselves 20 euros each to spend on what we wanted, and advised the kids not to spend it on the first day, but think wisely over each day, and decide what they wanted most over the following days, as this would make their final choice that much more special. Thankfully our kids are exceptionally well behaved and never ask for extra money or stuff we can't afford. I must admit, despite my initial fears, for the whole holiday we NEVER felt hard-up - there was so much to see and do and we didn't spend much time wanting to visit shops and restaurants anyways! We wanted to go on more rides!



First Day
The one "luxury" we'd allowed ourself was the Eurostar, rather than a coach. We were staying in Somerset at the time and a coach all the way across would have taken something silly like 17 hours. We didn't fancy turning up and being exhausted and feeling sick. We also loved that the luggage would be taken straight from the train to the hotel and we could go straight into the parks, making the most of our time there.

We got a train down to London, then made our way to St Pancras. The wife and kids were SO excited and I must admit at that point too, so was I. I'd made a promise to them and myself to forget all about any cynical or Scrooge like tendencies, and not to compare to Florida, but just enjoy the experience for what it was. I wasn't expecting to love the parks, but was expecting to have a wonderful time with my family My wife had done everything possible to make it exciting for everyone, she'd made little packs for us all with Disney sweets, activities and socks from the pound shop, and Disney t-shirts and even underwear from Primark. It was great to be all "Disney'd up" for our journey to the Parks.

I absolutely loved the experience of the Eurostar. St Pancras International felt exciting and luxurious, and the surroundings, service and atmosphere at the Eurostar lounge were exceptional. The train wasn't too busy or noisy, it was lovely to see so many excited families and happy children. I liked the implicit understanding that everyone there was going no the same holiday and everyone was looking forward to it 

We arrived at the Disneyland station around 1pm from what I remember, and I was hugely impressed with how when we stepped out of the station, we could literally see the entrances to Disney Village, Disneyland and the Studios Park right ahead of us. So convenient and felt really special. The area was clean and well presented, and the three different areas were very impressively themed. I was amazed by the sheer variety in architecture and styling, and attention to detail. I'd not got that impression from any of the brochures we'd looked through. Already I felt that the attention to detail was higher than I'd seen in Florida, and everything was so clsoe together! We don't drive, and my concern was that in Florida the parks are so big and so far away from each other. The open triangle of entrances in-front of me really interested and excited me. I know it sounds a little thing, but my first impressions were brilliant.



My wife suggested that we went to the Studios Park first, as she figured it would be less busy, and a good way to ease me in - also being in the film industry I was very interested in the movie theming. I was amused and excited my the Earful Tower and the Studio lots, having been on the real Buena Vista and Paramount lots in America. I was very impressed by the style of the architecture. Walking through the entrances and then Lot One I was instantly converted and loved everything about it. The kids looked practically overwhelmed, but in a good way. I don't think they'd ever been somewhere with such a wide variety of things to look at and experience. I was going a bit mad taking hundreds of pictures of everything that interested me - all the different Hollywood themed stuff, all the statues of Walt, Mickey & the characters and looking for hidden mickeys and nice theming.



Our first stop was Tower of Terror, one of my wife's favourites in Florida. She was excited to show us the theming of the hotel and the attention to detail inside. Our kids love "scary" gothic stuff and haunted houses so she thought they'd be fine with it. They loved it, up until the actual lift drop - they'd not done any big "thrill" rides before and were overwhelmed by how scared it made them feel. We found it a little funny and cute how scared they got and how much they clung to us afterwards, though of course we were concerned for them. We assured them that there were lots of rides and shows that weren't so extreme and we'd keep things simple from then on.



We went on the Studio Tram Tour, which the kids absolutely loved. They insisted we went on it at least once every day, and found new things to look at and notice each time, with all the vehicles, props, costumes etc, and of course Reign of Fire and Calamity Canyon. They particularly loved the fire and water effects, so our fears that we'd spend 5 days just only on Dumbos and Small World were eased!



We walked through the Toy Story and Cars land areas, and I was hugely impressed with the theming of everything - I love the attention to details and the scale that makes you feel a part of both worlds. The kids loved running round and exploring. We didn't yet go on the rides there as the queues were very long and they looked like simple fairground rides, so we wanted to experience something more uniquely "Disney" first - however, when walking past the Flying Carpets we noticed it was essentially "walk on" so we did that first. It was simple but fun, the kids enjoyed it.

We then watched Stitch Live, which we all thought was absolutely brilliant, the interaction between Stitch and the audience was great. Then we went to Cinemagique which I couldn't be more enthusiastic about, one of my favourite shows at the park.

When the studios Park closed (earlier than the main Park) we decided to go check into our hotel, to avoid the inevitable crush when the main park closed. We were staying at the Hotel Santa Fe, because at the time it was the cheapest Disney hotel. We decided to walk, to see if it was a reasonable time walking, or if we'd need to use the shuttle buses. We found it a pleasant walk through the Village, past the lake and alongside the river. All flat and not at all hard going. I really enjoyed soaking in the impressive variety of buildings in the colourful village, and the beautiful view of the lake and Panoramagique. I should point out that all day the weather was fantastic, so this obviously helped! Check in to the hotel was easy and quick, great friendly service, and we found our room with no problems. One added benefit of the Santa Fe is that because its all multiple small buildings rather than one big hotel, it feels quite secure and isn't at all noisy, as you've only a few people in the same building.



We hadn't heard great things about the Santa Fe before going, but just thought of it as "somewhere to sleep" and didn't see the sense in paying for a fancier hotel when we'd be spending all our time in the parks. However, we were pleasantly surprised by our room - it was a decent size and had literally just been refurbished and was clean and pleasant. I loved the subtle touches of the newly installed Cars theming, and the new flatscreen TV and electric safe were much appreciated. We were excited by the Disney themed toiletries and welcome chocolates - little touches, but it made it feel special. The beds were comfy, and after some sandwiches and instant noodles the kids fell straight asleep. Not long after myself and my wife followed suit. The last thing my wife did as she fell asleep was turning to me, holding my hand and saying "I'm glad you're here", which was really nice. We'd had a really great day and I'd had a fantastic first impression of Disneyland Paris. I was definitely a convert and couldn't wait to explore the "main" park!

[samuelvictor]

Second Day
We got up early and all had showers, then made it down to the Santa Fe for breakfast as soon as it opened. The queue was almost non-existent and there was plenty of food to go around. I loved the "all you can eat" aspect and the wide variety of breads, pastries, cereals etc. Though there was no hot food, it still felt very opulent to us to be able to have multiple things and really pig out on a wide variety of stuff. We made sure to take advantage of the EMH and got to Disneyland Park as soon as it opened.



We spent all day looking round the Disneyland Park, I was excited to see everything there was to see. We went down Main Street and towards the castle. Unfortunately the lower half of the castle was being serviced so it was blocked off with wood, but it was nicely painted and didn't spoil the look of it too much. I loved the experience of walking down Main Street and through the castle for the first time, again the theming and architecture was all great and it felt really special. Only Fantasyland and Discoveryland were open for EMH and not everything was running, but we went on Peter Pan, and Dumbos (which unexpectedly made me really happy - I think because I remember seeing them on TV as a child). We then did Pinocchio, Snow White, Mad Hatters Teacups and Alice's Curious Labyrinth, then Its a Small World. All comparatively simple attractions but I really enjoyed them all, especially the little attentions to details. The outside of the dark ride buildings seemed "nicer" than the Florida ones and I was impressed with how the different European architecture, design styles and historical/cultural touches were added to each attraction. The children were really getting into the Disney spirit of things and had fun at all the attractions.



Once EMH were over we went to Adventureland & Frontierland, and I think this is when I started to realise the full scale of just how big the parks were and what was there. The whole Thunder Mesa and Pirate areas were just so impressive to me - walking accross that big rope bridge and seeing the landscaping, plants, waterfalls, lakes, mountains etc was just amazing to me, and exploring through the pirate caves, cowboy towns, arabian areas etc was really great, both myself and the kids had never been to anywhere with such varied but detailed theming, it felt like walking round multiple film sets. We went on the huge paddle steamer and took in the sights and again I couldn't stop photographing everything. The kids were really, really in awe of the size and scale of everything and kept pointing stuff out to us!



We took them on Phantom Manor, which they absolutely loved every small detail of. My wife also loved Phantom Manor, being a huge fan of Haunted Mansion in Florida, and appreciated the differences and the unified story with Big Thunder. The kids were a little unsure of whether Big Thunder Mountain would be too scary for them, but they loved the design of the train going round the mountain in the middle of a lake, so we decided to risk it. This was the first ride we'd had to properly queue for, but it was only about 40 minutes and none of us minded. My son absolutely loved it, my daughter was a little unsure, but thought the design of it all was "really awesome". Only negative part of any of this was that Pirates of the Caribbean (one of my wife's favourites in Florida) was closed for refurbishment, but overall impressions of the Park were very high at this point.



We headed to Discoveryland, and I was hugely excited to check out Star Tours, as I'm a huge Star Wars fan, as are both our kids. We absolutely loved everything about Star Tours. The queuing area is almost better than the ride itself, the theming and attention to detail actually feels like you're in the movies. The huge X-Wing outside is just awesome to me as well - was always my favourite ship as a kid, and to see a life sized one up close still floors me every time. We did Orbitron as the queue wasn't too bad - a basic ride but really cool design. We also went into the arcades and Videopolis where they were showing retro Disney cartoons, which was cool.



Little touch, but I was also really pleased to see the Wall-E and Eve statues which had been newly installed. We all love that film, so that was a big photo-op. Then it was time for the parade, so we found a good spot and watched it. The kids and I were really into all the Disney characters and were impressed with the size and intricacy of all the float designs. My wife enjoyed it, but felt it was not as impressive as the Florida parades she remembered. However, we all really liked the "Just Like We Dreamed It" song, which got instantly stuck in all our heads, but in a good way!



Autopia and Buzz Lightyear both had very long queues, so we did another walk around the whole park finding things we hadn't done and were walk-ons. We went through the cute Aladdin area and then did Storybook land boats and Casey Junior - really loved all the miniatures, again lots of stuff to photograph!



We stayed into the park until it got dark and everything was about to close. Seeing everything lit up really made it feel like a whole different park! We went on the teacups and this was so much cooler at night, with the lit up lanterns above us. Walking back we accidentally passed through the castle via the Dragon, which none of us knew was there, and we thought was soooo cool! Its finding little things like that which really made the Disneyland Park feel special to us all, its like you're discovering it all for yourself.



Walking back to the hotel through the Disney Village was awesome, love how it looks when all the neon is lit up against the Dark Sky. We decided to explore our hotel a bit more and found the awesome Drive Thru cinema style entrance, which looked so cool with the new Cars picture (I know some people miss Clint but I don't think my kids would have found it anywhere near as exciting as the Cars picture). Personally I love the fact that Sally is on the picture with Lightning, she's my favourite character in the film and I was annoyed she got left out of the sequel. We discovered the Tigermarket at the garage just in-front of the hotel, and found that the prices of snacks and drinks were MUCH more affordable there, so we treated ourself to some Coke, chocolate and Lays crisps (which reminded my wife of America!). Again we went back to the hotel, and the kids had showers then went straight to sleep with no fuss - after all that walking they were exhausted. My wife & I stayed awake for a little while and planned what to do the next day.



Third Day
We fitted in an insane amount of stuff this day, as it was a weekday, not in the school holidays and out of season! Again we got up straight away and ate a huge breakfast, then went down to the main park for EMH. We headed to Buzz Lightyear, which had huge queues the day before, but we could walk straight on to. We all absolutely loved Buzz, definitely one of our favourite attractions. The animatronic Buzz in the queuing area is definitely one of the most impressive I've seen, and the fact that during the attraction you have control of both your gun and the rotation of the car feels super hi-tech compared to the dark rides. Of course, my wife and I were super competitive about who got the best score - I won first time round. We decided right away to go straight back onto the ride a second time, and again I won - that lead to a third time and she finally beat me - she's really good at planning out strategies and working out which targets give the most points! The kids didn't mind doing it three times in a row, they were amazed by the attraction. We then went to Fantasyland and did Peter Pan again, and rode on the beautiful vintage style merry-go-round.



Once the studio Park was open we went back there, and I was super excited to go to Art of Animation. I liked the main shows with the compilation of clips and then the Mushu section, but I was much more excited and impressed with the pieces of real animation history in the pre-show and after show area. I was especially interested in the Multi-plane camera and the Maquettes. The kids are really interested in animation techniques as well and I got to do my "being a proper dad" thing and try to teach them stuff!



There was then a drawing lesson and my daughter and I loved learning how to draw the various characters - especially as we got to do it on "real" Disney branded animation paper with the peg holes. We'd subsequently do this many times over and learned to draw 5 different characters. My son and wife aren't into drawing but they enjoyed all the interactive computer exhibits in the Art of Animation building. Also one of our favourite shops, with all the cool models, artwork and books.



We then went to the Moteurs Action show, which was fantastic. All the effects and sections of the show were running as they should, and I was genuinely surprised by (spoiler) when the car comes through the building at the end. We then did the Studio Tram Tour again - one of many times the kids begged us to do that one again, really a crowd favourite seemingly! We watched Animagique which we were all really impressed with and became a firm favourite. We saw the Stars and Cars "parade" which was even shorter than the main parade, but it was cool to see the characters and the theming of the cars was really cool. After that we headed to Cars Rally, which is simple but cool, and once again I was impressed with the theming and scale of it all. I really love the first Cars film so its cool to pretend to be in Radiator Springs - I was overly excited to see a sign for Sally's Cozy Cone hotel, and the Piston Cup ("he did what in her cup?!"). We did the Slinky Dog ride, and I thought the queuing area inside the retro game box was a really cool idea and Slinky himself was really cute. We then did Crush's coaster which had a pretty long queue, but I liked the part with the seagulls. The actual ride was waaaaay more extreme than we'd imagined, and my wife and I were concerned that the kids would have found it too much, but to our surprise, our daughter who had found BTM a little scary absolutely love Crush's Coaster, its one of her absolute favourites!



We then headed over to the Main park, and back to Discoveryland as the kids wanted to do Star Tours again, which was just as cool the second time. After that we went through the Nautilus which was really nicely themed, but slightly underwhelming as we were expecting there to be an actual ride! We then queued for Autopia and the kids drove a car each, they had a lot of fun. Afterwards we decided to get a train all the way around the park to see the sights. I love the American steam train style of them. We got off at Fantasyland, and saw people queuing to meet princesses. My daughter and I joined the line and my wife took my son to look round the shops and get a drink. The queuing for the princesses was probably our first negative experience, as back then the queuing system wasn't very regulated and many people were pushing and shoving. My daughter got elbowed in the face by several adults! However, when we got to the princess (it was Cinderella) it was wonderful, she was so lovely with her, and really made time to talk with her and make her feel special. We saw Belle over at another queue and decided to try and queue and meet her too, though she changed to Tiana part way through queuing, which was fine by us, but several people were audibly disappointed that they'd queued specifically for Belle and she'd left. We got right to the front of the queue and were just about to meet Tiana when the cast member with her announced that the time was up and she was leaving, and she walked off and ignored the kids trying to talk to her. It was a little unprofessional and upsetting for the kids, I'm very glad they've recently made big improvement to the queuing systems, and introduced more specific times and areas for characters to fix these problems.



We met back up with my wife and son and they suggested that we head back over to the studio park, as they wanted to do the Tram Tour in the dark. We headed over, and noticed that Playhouse Disney was a walk on, so we checked it out. It was a little young for my kids but I must admit I absolutely loved it - the design of the puppets and the storybook set was just brilliant. We then headed over to the Tram Tour which was brilliant in the dark, the fire effects and explosions felt much bigger and more impressive. When the studio park closed we headed over to the main park again and did Star Tours again, before heading back "home" to our hotel.



Fourth Day
I can't remember exactly what we did this day, as it was mostly stuff we'd already done before and therefore I took less pictures! Again we jumped between both parks quite a lot. I do know that we did Armageddon for the first time and though the props outside were cool, we were slightly underwhelmed by the actual show, especially after the pre-show video built it up so much. We did Captain EO for the first time, which was good in a retro kind of way, but the 4D effects and 3D glasses weren't working quite properly. We did the Tram Tour, Animagique, Cinemagique, Buzz Lightyear, Star Tours, Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain again - I don't think we could ever get bored of those. We bumped in to Pluto and my daughetr got some great pictures with him (my son wasn't interested in photos with characters, maybe too "grown up", or perhaps just shy).



We also spent a lot of time looking through everything in the shops around the parks and main street, with the kids trying to decide what to buy. I bought a fantastic book on how to draw Disney characters from Art of Animation, my wife bought a cool Christmas decoration from the shop in the castle, my daughter bought some Minnie ears and a really cool set with Minnie Mouse and loads of clothes and accessories to dress her up in from a large shop on main street, and my son bought an awesome Star Wars light gun. We pooled all our remaining money and bought a variety of pins, pens, chocolates and other smaller, cheaper items that we all liked. Again we went back to the Tiger Market at the garage and got some snacks before bedtime - a really amazing find for those with limited cash to spend!



Fifth Day
As it was our last day, we had a slightly more leisurely start, and signed out from the hotel. This was made slightly less sad by the fact that Donald Duck was there and took pictures with my daughter and entertained the kids We then headed to the Studios Park (funnily enough we seem to enjoy that park slightly more than the main one, I think because we love all the shows there, and it feels a little more leisurely) - and Minnie Mouse was there taking pictures. I queued with my daughter (again, other parents were being very pushy) but it was worth it as Minnie was absolutely brilliant with her, and made a big fuss of her Minnie Ears and T-shirt which had Mickey on Of course, we then did the tram tour again, because apparently the kids can't get enough of it!

By 1pm we were very excited as a friend of ours and her daughter arrived in the park. The girl is pretty much a sister to my kids, they're all really close. It was really sweet to see them running round the parks telling her all the cool stuff she was going to see and do. The girl's daughter isn't too good on thrill rides, so my wife was very glad to have an excuse to take her to do Space Mountain and  Rock n Rollercoaster, ride which our kids had been afraid to do!

By 3pm we had to get to the Eurostar and make our way back home. We were all very sad to leave, myself included. We'd had a wonderful time and I couldn't imagine why I ever didn't want to come. In fact, whilst my wife had thought this would be a "once in a lifetime" trip, I missed it so much, we booked another trip for next year almost immediate after getting back!

[samuelvictor]

Our second trip: 8th - 11th March 2012 (4 days, 3 nights)

Instantly upon getting back from Disney in 2011, I instantly started trying to plan how to go back! Big turnaround from not being convinced I wanted to go at all!

We liked going during March before, as the weather was good - not to hot or cold, and the fact it wasn't during peak season or school holidays meant that it was nice and easy to get on rides without much queuing and really make teh best of our time there.

When I looked into it I saw that they do a "Welsh Festival" which lasts for 3 days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) in March, and this cemented in my mind that this is when we should go. I am proudly Welsh, and my wife part Welsh and we regularly visited Wales for day trips and short breaks. We were hoping to move to Cardiff, and to get media work there for the 2012 Olympics (we eventually did both ), and we wanted the kids to know more about Wales, so a celebration of all things Welsh sounded fab.

We could only afford 4 days, 3 nights, one less day than before, but because we had spent so much time there before and had gone on all the rides and shows the kids wanted to multiple times before, so we thought 4 days would be ok. We travelled via the Eurostar and stayed in the Santa Fe with breakfast only again.

I won't write a big long report like the last one, firstly because you'd all find it boring, and second because I genuinely don't remember each day separately, it was all so much of a blur, and I didn't take as many photos (just of new/different stuff) so I can't track the days and times that way.

Things that were different
Though 2012 was the year of the 20th anniversary and Disney Dreams, this all hadn't started yet. However, the new queuing system for character greets had been brought in, and Princess Pavilion had been added to queue for Princesses.

We had better character interaction because of this, and saw Mickey multiple times, Mickey and Minnie together in their Welsh costumes, Duffy Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Jessie from Toy Story (which was especially great as my daughter had decided to spend all her money on a plush Jessie just beforehand!), and Belle in the Princess Pavillion. I really liked the Princess Pavillion building, with all the different windows and displays inside. Yes we queued for about an hour, but there was no pushing and shoving, you were sheltered from the rain, you had stuff to look at, and you were guaranteed that you would get to see a princess and have dedicated time with them. Belle was absolutely lovely and made my daughter feel very special She was also very pretty - I wish I'd have taken a picture with her too! 

The renovation work on the bottom of the castle was now complete and we could see the full, uncovered castle in all its glory. (Presumably part of the work on the bottom half had been preparing the fountains, fireworks canons, and re-painting ready for dreams which would start in a few months.) The castle looked beautiful. We also got to go up inside it for the first time, which was really cool.

Lightning McQueen had been added to the Moteurs Action show. Whilst it was cool to see a "full size" Lightning, he didn't really do very much in the show - probably for fear of damaging him. It seemed like the show had a little less effects than the year before, though it was still basically intact and very enjoyable.

The Santa Fe's refurb was now fully complete, and in addition to the new Paint, carpets, Cars themed bedding and wall boarders etc from the year before, there were cool new traffic cone style table lamps, wall lights, and themed mirrors etc. It was still comparitively subtle and tastefully done to feel like a "family" room rather than a "kids" room. We liked it.

Though we still only had breakfast and no meal plans, we had a little extra spending money, so tried some food, namely two meals at Billy Bobs (because there was entertainment on there for the festival) and snack foods in the market. It was all great food and not too pricey. We definitely want to try some other meals in our next visit 

The Welsh Festival
The Welsh festival was a really nice addition, with extra entertainment and decorations.

There were several shows with male voice choirs and Welsh school choirs, including one in the Chaparral Theatre each day - it was cool to see the theatre being used, there were 3 half hour shows a day from what I remember.

Disney Village had a Welsh themed market, similar to a Christmas market with wooden huts painted in green and with Welsh flags. There was a really nice variety of Welsh businesses in these huts, from crafts to foods. There was some exceptional Welsh cheese from the Blaenafon Cheddar Company, genuinely the best cheese I've ever eaten, and some really fantastic Welsh cakes (lots of varieties) and some fantastic Indian food from a Welsh Indian business.

The area near the Chaparral Theatre & what used to be Woody's Roundup was Welsh themed with decorations, and Mickey and Minnie mouse in full Welsh costume taking photos with people.

There was a "Pre-parade" which was an additional Welsh themed car with Mickey and Minnie in Welsh costumes before the parade.

Excitingly, there was a full (and very impressive) fireworks show over the castle. This was really lovely and something which my wife had said felt "missing" from the last Disney holiday, as of course in Florida they have fireworks much more often.

On the Friday night, there was the Monophonics, a Stereophonics tribute act in Billy Bobs. We ate there and watched the show, and it was very good. That food was really cheap (for Disney) 12 euros for a main, desert and a drink. I had a half chicken & chips, and a brownie. It was good quality, hot and really tasty. Paper plates and plastic cutlery, so not fancy dining by any standards, but it tasted good and 12 euros for dinner and a show was really good!

On the Saturday night, again in Billy Bobs there was Welsh rock band Kane'd, who were absolutely fantastic. We were making a film at the time, and instantly decided there and then to get them to do a song for the soundtrack. I have subsequently mastered their album and made 5 music videos for them - a fantastic, super talented band, and really nice people. Their set in Billy Bobs went so well they have been asked back to perform multiple times  We also ate there again that night, again for 12 euros each, and I had Chilli with cheese sauce, again, very tasty, would definitely eat that again.

On the negative side, there was absolutely NO Welsh Disney merchandise for sale - not even pin badges, posters, post cards, plushes, nothing. This is especially strange as there are plenty of Scottish and Irish gifts... we heard plenty of Welsh punters (whole coachloads came, and many Welsh school trips) saying they wanted to buy a Welsh Mickey plush or similar, but nothing was there to buy. Especially as this is a three day festival, Disney seems to be missing a trick here!

General overview of holiday
On reflection, though 4 days was plenty of time to do everything we wanted to, we did feel significantly more rushed than 5 days. That said, we had an absolutely brilliant time and did favourites like Tram Tour, Buzz Lightyear, Star Tours, Phantom Manor, Big Thunder Mountain multiple times. If anything the park was slightly cleaner and more tidy than before, a lot of re-painting had been done ready for the 20th anniversary.

Even though the kids were a year older, they both still loved it. My daughter remembers this trip significantly more than her first time. Only real negative point was that again Pirates of the Caribbean was shut, so we've still never seen it in Paris On the positive side we had fractionally more spending money, and had enough to eat out a couple of times, so didn't feel quite as restricted as the first visit The weather wasn't quite as good as the first time, it rained (briefly) a couple of times but this really didn't bother us in the slightest. We loved the extras Welsh entertainment and theming, and were really pleased to have seen fireworks at Disney We had an absolutely brilliant time as before, and made many happy memories! 

Since then...
Of course, I wanted to go straight back. I kept looking at prices for Christmas, then March 2013, then Summer 2013, etc... trouble was the prices were significantly more expensive (for various reasons, including the kids being older) and it was difficult for me to book time off work, I was working on multiple projects at the same time. Also, we were planning on moving house so couldn't really afford to spend money anyway.

My wife suggested that we save up and go to Florida, and perhaps California in 2 or 3 years (I really want to go to California Adventure and especially Cars Land and World of Color), and not go to Paris again for a while, but I really wanted to see Disney Dreams, Ratatouille, World of Disney and the Lego shop, as well as finally get to see Pirates! I also wanted to do it "one last time" where we had more spending money, could try some more restaurants, and stay a little longer so as to feel we'd had a proper "goodbye". I also thought it was a shame that the kids had been to "Paris" twice, and never actually gone into "real" France, so I was sure that there was value in booking at least one more trip before Florida (which we've now decided to do after my sons GCSEs) if the time & price was right...

[Coming soon, some pictures of the second trip, and a pre-trip report for our latest adventure!]

[daddyof2]

Nice reports, looking forward to reading your pre trip report

[BlackPearl]

Thanks for sharing your report. I'm looking forward for more pictures. 

[seraphelle]

Lovely reports