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[ilovedisneylandparis]

Hi everyone! We've just got back from a magical five days at DLP I'm missing it already but thought that the best way to cheer myself up might be to start my trip report. Actually, it might just make me miss it even more, but it's worth a try

I have a bit of a tendency to ramble on these reports so I'll try and keep this year's a little more concise! But I do find that writing all this down is a good way for me to reflect on my trip, especially as a long-time DLP fan, so I hope you don't mind if I get a bit chattier at times!

Highlights: Going on Ratatouille and Molly Brown for the first time (why we haven't done MB before I do not know), meeting Mickey, Disney Dreams!, being back in the magic and enjoying our usual favourites.

Low points: Guest behaviour (surprise, surprise ) and a couple of random things along the way.

DAY 1:

We woke up at 4am ready for our 6.30am flight - the flight went really smoothly and we landed in Paris almost 45 minutes ahead of schedule! A VEA (or Magical Shuttle, as it's now called) journey later and we were in the DLP grounds. I love staying at the Cheyenne cos it means you get to look at the Newport Bay Club, the Sequoia and the Santa Fe before you get to your hotel - it's nice to have a little nose! There's still a LOT of scaffolding on the NBC but the finished areas are looking really good.



We arrived at the Cheyenne and I got butterflies in my stomach as I saw the buildings and the reception - I think it's such a special hotel and the theming is just perfect. Russ waited outside with the bags while I went to check in.



I noticed a few changes in the check-in system this time around - firstly, the CMs said "Howdy, yee haa, hello!" to get people's attention when they were ready to check them in (So cute! Is this new?! I've never noticed it before!) and secondly, the rooms were 100% not ready until 3pm. I think in the past we've been told 2pm, but our room has been ready almost every time and we've always been able to go in from about 11am with no issues. But this year, the lady who checked me in didn't even mention the room - it was only when I brought it up as she went to say goodbye that she said "Oh, it's 3pm check-in, you'll need to use the luggage storage area." They've never really seemed to enforce the afternoon check-in thing before but maybe they're feeling the need to nowadays? Who knows. Even when we went back at 2.50pm the lady still looked a tiny bit peeved and said "Well, it should be 3pm really, so your room might not be ready..." It wasn't a problem, just interesting as we've been so many times, I guess.

As our room wasn't ready, we decided to walk straight to the parks - it was about 11.30am by this stage. It was lovely to walk along the Rio Grande again - we only took the bus once this whole holiday! I find the shuttle can be a pain to wait around for and cram onto, and with the weather as nice as it was, it made sense for us to walk everywhere.

It was so exciting to be back in Parc Disneyland - hearing "Welcome" and then walking through onto Main Street was as magical as ever After I'd had a little cry, we went for a walk around Fantasyland and decided to have lunch at Au Chalet. They've changed the menu slightly - the beefburger now comes in a bagel instead of a burger bun! It sounded a bit odd but tasted really good, haha.

Russ asked me which ride I wanted to go on first and I chose Pirates. Yo ho It was great to be back on it and the swinging pirate was working, which made me happy :')



Next was It's a Small World, another favourite. Just waiting in line for this ride is magical - the queue loop is one of my favourite things to hear, ever. The tick-tock wasn't working on this first day but luckily it was back every day after this. Phew!

We saw a lot of characters around the park as we were on our travels, and this continued while we were there. They were mostly in Fantasyland and Central Plaza, but we were still really impressed because there've been years where we haven't really seen any characters at all! Just on this first day we saw Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Smee and Hook :')

After a quick browse on Main Street, we decided to head back to the hotel to check in and have a rest. I took a few photos on the way:

















We were able to check in properly this time and receive our room key - we were in Billy the Kid (where we were last year, too!) which is a Rio Grande building. The room we were in was right in the corner as the building bent round so all we could see from our window were other windows, and barely any light was coming in, which made me a bit sad. It was really quite gloomy

Russ went to turn on the Disney Channel for me to cheer me up (we don't have Sky or anything at home so I always look forward to watching the DC at DLP. Hey Jessie! ) but we found that our room wasn't tuned to UK Disney Channel - instead we had BBC One. There's nothing wrong with BBC One but obviously it's not very Disney-ish, haha, so Russ dropped down to reception to ask if the TV could be re-tuned or looked at. The maintenance CM wasn't able to help us and couldn't figure out what was wrong - after two checks, we were asked if we wanted to switch rooms. As I wasn't overly enamoured with our room anyway I was secretly quite glad of the offer, so we agreed, and we ended up in a room further down the corridor, with a much better view and more light





This new room didn't have Disney Channel UK either, and when we mentioned this to a different CM, she said "None of the rooms at any of the hotels have it, it hasn't been working since the start of the month." We were a bit confused as to why this CM knew this but the others didn't, but whatever. I know it's kind of dumb to be upset about the TV when you're in Disneyland, but as I said, getting our Disney Channel fix has become part of our holiday, so I was still sad that the only English-speaking non-looped channels were BBC One and a news channel. We watched a lot of Top 10 Things (my fave) and Timon & Pumbaa's Safety Smart when we were in the room after this, haha, and it wasn't until the last night that we worked out YOU CAN CHANGE THE LANGUAGE ON THE TV. So all the Disney Channel France/Spain dubs can be removed and you can watch the shows in their original language or change it to a different one. Who knew? We sure didn't, but if anyone else is going soon and has the same issue, I thought that'd be a good tip for you

After a little rest in the new room and a bit of unpacking, we decided to go and have a look in Disney Village. We ate at Earl of Sandwich (I'd definitely recommend it here - it's not overly 'magical' but the food is great and it's often quite quiet) and then browsed around World of Disney and the main Disney Store :')

As we got back to the Cheyenne, we walked through the Wyatt Earp building, and came across a newly-refurbed corridor! No-one looked to be staying there - it was almost as if they were testing it out as a potential theme for the Cheyenne refurbishment. What do you think? I like it a lot







We're always exhausted at the end of this first day and this was no exception - we were back in our room and asleep by 7.30pm We set our Mickey wake-up call for 7am the next day - I was so excited for my first Disney breakfast in a year! 

[DisneyRon]

Wonderful start to your report. Will be reading the rest certainly.

Just one question, why are there "instagram" filtered pictures mixed in?
It appears to degrade their quality quite a bit, which is unfortunate.

Hope you have a lovely stay.

[ilovedisneylandparis]

Wonderful start to your report. Will be reading the rest certainly.

Just one question, why are there "instagram" filtered pictures mixed in?
It appears to degrade their quality quite a bit, which is unfortunate.

Hope you have a lovely stay.

Thanks Ron! I'm glad you're enjoying it The photos are taken with an app called RetroCamera - I find it actually works better for me than taking photos with my actual phone camera, as the app frames them well and doesn't seem to blur like my phone camera is so prone to doing! We normally take a digital camera, I use the app on my phone and we also have a couple of disposable cameras, so we'll have quite a mixture along the way

[HildeKitten]

The check-in at 3pm definitely isn't anything new, I've had that for absolute years on end.
Sometimes you do get into your room earlier, I guess you've always been really lucky like that before, because out of all the times I've gone, I think we got into our room before 3pm just once or twice.
I can remember once for sure, but it may have been more.

[andrewuk]

We checked in at 2pm and got into the room straight away and that was only a couple of weeks before you.  I'm confused by this! Lovely report so far,  I don't think that you're rambling at all and can't wait to read the rest! Love the look of the wyatt earp corridor too!

[ilovedisneylandparis]

The check-in at 3pm definitely isn't anything new, I've had that for absolute years on end.
Sometimes you do get into your room earlier, I guess you've always been really lucky like that before, because out of all the times I've gone, I think we got into our room before 3pm just once or twice.
I can remember once for sure, but it may have been more.

We checked in at 2pm and got into the room straight away and that was only a couple of weeks before you.  I'm confused by this! Lovely report so far,  I don't think that you're rambling at all and can't wait to read the rest! Love the look of the wyatt earp corridor too!

Thanks andrewuk! Hmm, that's confusing then - it must just be that we've been very lucky over the past few years or something? It was really busy when we checked in (it had the longest check-in queue I've ever seen at the Cheyenne!) so maybe they were really feeling the strain?

I love the Wyatt Earp changes too! On the 'news and rumours' side of things recently, I'd heard that DLP had mentioned that the Cheyenne's refurb would be "something completely different", but this looks quite similar to me! I think it's enough of a modern update without taking the classic theme away. Looking forward to seeing the rooms too

[Mileto]

Great start of the report!

I like the theming of Cheyenne and am absolutely sure that we'll stay there some day. There is a refurbishment planned for this hotel, so it's certainly an example building.

[ilovedisneylandparis]

Great start of the report!

I like the theming of Cheyenne and am absolutely sure that we'll stay there some day. There is a refurbishment planned for this hotel, so it's certainly an example building.

Thank you! I'm hoping to get Day 2 up today or tomorrow

Yeah I thought the same - it was lovely seeing it in person. I think the theming at the Cheyenne is fab but I do think it's time for it to have a refurb and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

[ilovedisneylandparis]

DAY 2:

We woke up to our hotel phone alarm and I got very excited at the prospect of hearing Mickey's wake-up call at the other end of the phone. I can now pretty much recite that word-for-word... "Hiya pal! Time to get up - we've got a lot to do! Have a great day - see ya real soon!" AW :') I wish I'd recorded it!

It was lovely to be back in the Chuck Wagon for breakfast - I can never get enough of the fruit salad and the bread rolls as you can see







After a quick shower, we walked to the parks ready for our first full day at the resort. It was so nice and sunny by this point and we were feeling very content as we walked along the Rio Grande :') We got into Parc Disneyland at about 9.40am and decided it wasn't worth trying to get on any EMH rides - instead we waited at the Frontierland entrance nearest Casey's Corner, so we could try and get on Big Thunder Mountain!

When it hit 10am, I was really impressed by the way the CMs dealt with the crowds. In the past, it's been a case of "Okay-I'm-going-to-pull-the-rope-back-now-please-don't-crush-each-other-ahh-no-running-please-MONSIEUR!-NO RUNNING!-EXCUSE ME!" as the poor cast member tried but failed to control the crowds, haha. But they were much calmer and more authoritative this time and they actually walked (with the rope) in front of the crowds, making sure they kept at a really slow pace. When we reached Fort Comstock, the CM from the main Frontierland entrance took over and walked slowly to BTM, making sure no-one ran or overtook other people. I thought it was a much better way to do things

Hang on to them hats and glasses, cos this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!



I enjoyed BTM a lot but for some reason I spooked myself a little this time and when we got to the top and looked down I felt a bit scared I always prefer the non-rollercoaster-y rides but normally I'm fine with BTM (it was my entire family's favourite ride when I was small!) but this year I just felt a little more jittery than normal. It was still a lot of fun, though, and as the first ride of the morning it really woke me up



We kept to our usual BTM tradition of heading straight to Phantom Manor afterwards - eek! What an amazing ride, it never ever ever fails to disappoint me :') As soon as we saw the picture of Melanie I just felt so happy. I always feel really at home in PM, which is potentially a little bit weird. But whatever









We usually speed through Phantom Manor a little, as we know where to stand in order to be first out of each room (and therefore first onto the doombuggies!). But this time we decided we'd hang back - I felt kind of bad that we always rush and don't get to appreciate the queuing area, especially when Russ said he'd never seen the stretching pictures of Melanie on the other side of the room because we always stand on the side nearest the door! We had a nice little wander through the corridor this time at a far more leisurely pace

As per the norm, PM was great. The thing I love about this ride is the fact that I always see something new when I'm on it - I am a little bit obsessed with the story behind it and as we were going along on the ride I was there saying "LOOK! LOOK! THE WEDDING CAKE WASN'T EVEN EATEN! LOOK AT THE UNOPENED PRESENTS ON THE TABLE! OH THAT NASTY PHANTOM" and Russ was pointing out potential references to horror movies. We had so much fun :') Plus, the phantom is back appearing over your doombuggy at the end of the ride and this was the first time we'd experienced this since our first trip together in 2011, so we were really chuffed with that.

After a little look around Boot Hill (an inquisitive-sounding American couple mentioned the tombstones and I was going to go all Boot Hill tour guide on them but felt it best not to) we walked back into Thunder Mesa for a quick stop-off in the shops.





After this we decided we'd head on over to Discoveryland - Star Tours and Buzz were calling! How have you guys found the so-called 'GreenFencesland'? I expected it to be really bad but I actually didn't notice the fences a massive amount - they have attraction posters on them which definitely looks a little better. The scaffolding on the Hyperion wasn't looking great but I guess it's hard for them to hide that? I don't know.

The rides were great - Buzz was a 15-minute wait and Star Tours was 5 minutes, so we felt really lucky They're both favourites of mine, and going on Star Tours meant even more to me this year because I knew it'd be our last visit to DLP while it was still in its original set-up. I love that ride, I really do. When you first walk through and you see Admiral Ackbar and co I could just cry :') (I usually do).



We walked back over to Frontierland - we'd decided to try the Silver Spur Steakhouse for lunch. We'd never been here before so we were both really excited, and it didn't disappoint. Russ had the steak (duh ) and I had the chicken as I'm not a massive fan of steak and I was glad there were some alternatives. We thought it was lovely and the theme was beautiful - I'd definitely recommend it.



On our way out we walked through Fort Comstock and actually went upstairs, as this is something I've either never done or have done so long ago I can't remember it (do you get that too?). It was a lot of fun and I loved the little scenes for you to see as you walk round. Sorry I don't have any photos of this to hand - half of our pictures are taken on disposable cameras and we're still waiting on the processing!

We headed over to Fantasyland for a sit and an explore, and on our way we bumped into the Tweedles and a few other characters!



















What a lovely surprise! It was really hot by this point so when we walked past Fantasia Gelati and saw it was open (it never normally is when we go) we stopped for an ice cream. The boy who served us was quite obviously new and when we went to order in English he looked terrified which we felt so bad about. He went over and spoke to his manager, obviously asking for help, and she was really snappy at him - even though we couldn't quite understand what she was saying to him it still was really sad because it was clear how abrupt and unhelpful she was being and he looked like he was going to cry





We sat with our ice creams for a while and then decided we'd get the train to Val d'Europe - Russ wanted to buy some water in bulk so we wouldn't have to keep spending 3 euros a pop on the smaller bottles in the resort I don't know what it is but going to Val d'Europe these days just makes me feel a bit gloomy - I stayed there in 2006 with my mum and dad and I remember us really liking it, but when I visit now it just has a weird vibe to it and I don't feel particularly safe. I don't know if that's just me?

We got the train back to the hotel and played a few of our Disney card games This is always a magical part of our DLP holiday and we have many fond memories of playing Happy Families and Toy Story snap on the bed at the Cheyenne, haha. We decided we'd head out to Disney Village after this - we went to the Rainforest Cafe for an evening meal and then on to Disney Fashion and the Disney Gallery, two of my favourites.

(Sorry, we're getting a bit thin on the ground on photos now!)

Later on in the evening we got ourselves set up in a good spot ready for Disney Dreams :') I was really excited to see the Frozen addition, and just to see the whole show again, really - I think it's amazing. I did like the Frozen section a lot and ended up having a little cry at Let It Go but I almost felt like it hadn't been made for DLP - the rest of the show fits in so well with the castle and feels quite obviously tailored for DLP, whereas the Frozen section felt like it'd been grabbed from something else and slotted in, if that makes sense? I don't know if that's just due to the vastness of the actual scene, though. Hmm.

As usual, it was brilliant I was again really impressed with the CMs - they've been given a hard time in the past for 'not doing anything' when people stand on the flowerbeds etc during Dreams!, and this may have been true, but nowadays I think they're doing a fantastic job. There were CMs practically patrolling Central Plaza all night, and when some young children climbed onto the landscaping near to the control booth, the CMs actually shone massive torches onto them and shouted for them to move. They also shouted at their parents too (not like HOW DARE YOU but just like MADAME! MADAME! to make their mum or whoever aware) which I thought was good.

After Dreams! we were out of Parc Disneyland like a shot to make sure we weren't in bed too late We find that with the show being on so late in summer we don't get back to the room until midnight, and then with EMH etc it can lead to grumpy Sophie and sleepy Russ, haha. Before we knew it we were back in Billy the Kid and asleep, ready for day 3

[HildeKitten]

When I was there last October the CMs were also doing a splendid job keeping people from stampeding into Frontierland, I'm glad to hear they've kept that up!
i remember that Thunder was closed at the beginning of the day due to some kind of failure, and he actually told people that sprinting to BTM was off no use because it was closed. I think that was a huge part of people's motivation not to try and bolt anyway

That's so sad that manager at Fantasia Gelati was so mean! Not just for the poor new CM, but also for guests, it's just no fun to see some kind of rude snapping CM, even if its not directed at you! It's not only unprofessional (there's better ways to communicate you're displeased) but it also ruins the atmosphere I think.

I'm very stoked that when I go in September the scaffolding around Hyperion will be gone. I wonder whether it'll still have all it's original colours or whether it'll be repainted in different ones like they did with the Jolly Roger a few years ago.
I'm also really looking forward to a last trip with Rex the forever rubbish droid pilot

[andrewuk]

I'm loving reading this!  'Potentially a bit weird' ho-ho really made me chuckle! 

It's good to find new things to do there, and like you I can't remember if I've been upstairs in Fort Cornstock or not. I'm sure there must be plenty of details and great views up there so I'll have to make sure it gets done next time!

I agree green fence land wasn't too bad, but I'll be happier once the work is done and they're gone!

Love the rolls and fruit too! And PM straight after BTM sounds like a great idea, I'll have to try that as well!

[ilovedisneylandparis]

When I was there last October the CMs were also doing a splendid job keeping people from stampeding into Frontierland, I'm glad to hear they've kept that up!
i remember that Thunder was closed at the beginning of the day due to some kind of failure, and he actually told people that sprinting to BTM was off no use because it was closed. I think that was a huge part of people's motivation not to try and bolt anyway

That's so sad that manager at Fantasia Gelati was so mean! Not just for the poor new CM, but also for guests, it's just no fun to see some kind of rude snapping CM, even if its not directed at you! It's not only unprofessional (there's better ways to communicate you're displeased) but it also ruins the atmosphere I think.

I'm very stoked that when I go in September the scaffolding around Hyperion will be gone. I wonder whether it'll still have all it's original colours or whether it'll be repainted in different ones like they did with the Jolly Roger a few years ago.
I'm also really looking forward to a last trip with Rex the forever rubbish droid pilot

It was sad seeing the poor guy being told off when he hadn't done anything wrong - it was definitely unprofessional on his manager's part

Haha, Rex is so cute - I love his little nervous laugh when he tells you it's his first flight too :')

I'm loving reading this!  'Potentially a bit weird' ho-ho really made me chuckle! 

It's good to find new things to do there, and like you I can't remember if I've been upstairs in Fort Cornstock or not. I'm sure there must be plenty of details and great views up there so I'll have to make sure it gets done next time!

I agree green fence land wasn't too bad, but I'll be happier once the work is done and they're gone!

Love the rolls and fruit too! And PM straight after BTM sounds like a great idea, I'll have to try that as well!

Aw, thank you so much! Haha I'm glad it's making you laugh! :') I just feel a very strong bond with PM for some reason I'd really recommend Form Comstock, it was a lot of fun, plus it was a good place to go to get away from the crowds for a bit!

PM after BTM has gotta be done I feel like they link together perfectly!

[DisneyRon]

PM after BTM has gotta be done I feel like they link together perfectly!

They have a shared storyline if I recall correctly. So they should fit together.

[msRavenswood]

PM after BTM has gotta be done I feel like they link together perfectly!

They have a shared storyline if I recall correctly. So they should fit together.

They do have a shared storyline. Henry Ravenswood, the owner of the Big Thunder Mining Company was also the owner of the manor on the hill, known to us as Phantom Manor.

Lovely trip report so far! You should have given those Americans a Boot Hill tour.  Can't wait to read about how you spent the rest of the days!

[ilovedisneylandparis]

PM after BTM has gotta be done I feel like they link together perfectly!

They have a shared storyline if I recall correctly. So they should fit together.

Exactly!