(Long!) Trip Report - Feb 2017 - with the parentals! (finally with photos added)

[seraphelle]

So this trip was myself, my husband, our 2 daughters, my Dad and my Stepmum.
We've never been on holiday together before, in fact the last time I had a holiday with my Dad and Stepmum I was 13  so this was going to be a new experience all round.

Day 1 ~ Friday 17th Feb 2017

Woke up at 5:30am, got up and dressed and woke kids up. Text my Dad to make sure they were up and made plans to meet at airport (they live closer to it than us). Inhaled breakfast, checked bags and documents ready for pick up by friend at 6am (we're lucky that my friend is a teacher at a school not far from 'local' airport, so she usually drops us off at airport).

We load the car up and check the house over make sure all is well and then off we go to the airport. Uneventful 
45 minute drive and we arrive. We say our goodbyes to my friend (who is a huge part of our family and god-mother to our daughters) and she surprises my girls with 25 euros each for them to spend on our trip (lucky madams!).

We meet up with my folks and head straight to security and through to departures (I'd already checked us in online and we only take hand luggage). We have some much needed caffeine and I am mocked relentlessly for the printout of information I give to my folks such as hotel info / transfer info / return journey info / travel info if they want to visit paris etc etc (I like to be organised!)  Soon it's time to board and we are sat on the plane ready for take off. We're up in the air shortly afterwards and munching on free croissants and coffee (love Air France) and then we begin descent into Paris (flight is around 50 mins from Birmingham).

Through security quite quickly despite the queue being the longest I have ever seen, and then a text comes through from transfer driver advising us where to meet him outside. We arrive at hour hotel within 45 mins. The staff are amazing and instantly upgrade my parents who I had booked a studio apartment for to a 1 bed apartment with a huge bed. We're on the same floor but a few rooms apart. My husband takes my Dad to the Auchan supermarket in the shopping centre for essentials (we're staying in Sejours & Affaires Rive Gauche Apartments in Val d'Europe) while the rest of us quickly unpack.

Soon we are all sorted and on our way to the parks on the free number 50 shuttle bus. I show my parents where to get the bus back to the hotel if they need a break at any point and again remind them that I am excitable to the point of annoyance whilst in Disneyland so I won't be offended if they tell me to calm down at any point (they didn't do this once, they just laughed at me and joined in).

We went to Disneyland Park first after taking the obligatory photos outside the Disneyland Hotel - and I think they were shocked by the scale of everything. Photos never do the parks justice do they? I mean, you know there is a castle, but seriously, before your first visit you have no real concept of how big it is do you?
Their reactions were priceless 

I took my stepmum to City Hall to get her birthday badge and a very important phonecall from a very important Mouse  and then hubby took kids to IASW while I took the folks to get their annual passport documents turned into proper passes. This was our biggest queue for the whole trip and took ages to sort out despitr selecting the option to use the computer kiosks inside rather than wait for a Cast Member. This annoyed me a bit as I could see the excitement slowly being replaced with frustration on my folks' faces - plus - ignorant people shouting in French at CM's did not help the experience. Some people really need to mind how they conduct themselves in public. We were all in the queue, did they really think shouting was going to help them in any way? So my parents initial experience wasn't the best

After this we crossed Central Plaza and went through to Frontierland so I could show my Dad the theming (he loves wild west stuff). The queue for BTM was huge and no fastpasses left, so we went to Phantom Manor which had a 40 min wait (I was secretly pleased this was our first ride as it's my absolute favourite). We loved it and they loved it, then we went for a mooch around Boot Hill that is now open again. It looked fantastic and we had a giggle at some of the tombstones and I explained the Ravenswood history and the whole Frontierland back-story.

Following this I realised it would soon be time for Magic on Parade, so we had a slow walk round to IASW where we got a great spot on the hill to watch the parade once it began. I'll never get tired of this parade or the music. There were a few changes that I noticed from other times we've seen it (***stop reading now if you don't want spoilers!***):
The 3 fairies were walking - not on segways. The blue fairy and fairy godmother and Merlin were all on foot and not on initial float. Instead on the first float was Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White. There were no 'horse' drawn carts with princesses in.
I think all the other floats were the same but there were no princes aside from Flynn with Rapunzel as usual.

As soon as the parade finished we joined the short queue for IASW and surprisingly my folks really liked it (although later on said the song was STILL in their heads lol). Following this we were all absolutely exhausted as we'd been up and busy for over 12 hours, so we decided a little trip to Cafe Fantasia was a good idea and we had some delicious cocktails and spent a lovely couple of hours listening to the live piano music and chatting about what we'd seen so far and what we wanted to do in the coming days. We decided we were far too tired for anything else so opted to go back to the hotel and relax and have some food ready for the next day. We'd been surprised to find menus for a few restaurants in our hotel rooms that would deliver to our apartments, so we were going to take advantage of this.

However, despite checking the bus timetable and seeing that a bus was due, we arrived there and sat down along with other passengers, only to wait for almost 45 mins because the scheduled bus never arrived and we ended up catching the second one. There were many annoyed passengers (including myself - we could have stayed and watched Dreams after all had we known the bus would not arrive!) - and I felt embarrassed yet again that my folks first day had gone pretty rubbish and been full of let-downs and delays. We got back to the hotel and ordered a bunch of food and we rescued the evening by having a lovely time in our apartment before my folks went off to their room and we got the kids off to sleep.

[seraphelle]

Day 2 ~ Saturday 18th Feb 2017

We didn't get up until around 9am today (everyone was pretty sleepy). I went out to Auchan to get munchies for breakfast as Dad and hubby had only bought important stuff the day before (like coffee and beer  ). I loved how much easier and closer the supermarket was to this hotel from the entrance at that end. When you enter from near the tapas restaurant (Places de toscane is it? With the giant plantpots?) it seemed to take forever to walk to the supermarket! The folks went for a walk around La Vallee Village (they're big label-lovers) and had a look in the fancy boutiques.

Once we were all done we headed to the parks and decided to go into the Studios first. My stepmum saw Goofy and wanted a photo with him so we queued to meet him. There was a rather large rude family towards the front of the queue who took forever having individual photos and group photos with Goofy - so much so I think the cast member even said something to them to hurry up. I'm ashamed to say these people were English and seeming to be deliberately difficult and obnoxious to the staff.I felt like apologising on behalf of my country when we got to the front of the queue but the CM was lovely and apologised that we had been made to wait. We had some lovely photos with Goofy and he signed the autograph books and gave my stepmum a special birthday hug which made her turn bright red 

After this we went through into Toon Plaza and queued to meet Buzz. Thankfully no rude people in this queue and again great photos and autographs given. Buzz gave my tshirt a thumbs up (I had a 'Team Bad' tshirt on with the villains heads shown) which made me laugh. Although afterwards my sarcastic (and crude) Dad said 'fancy him giving your b**bs his approval'  and I almost died with embarrassment because it *could* have seemed that way to onlookers LOL. My husband was howling with laughter 

Following this we walked around the studios so they could see the Ratatouille area as well as ToyStory land and find their bearings, and then we waited for the Stormtrooper march (at which my youngest daughter and her Dad almost turned inside out with excitement at). I have to admit it was pretty cool seeing them marching around conversing with each other in *that* voice that they have in the movies.

After this, it was 20 minutes until an English version of Stitch Live - so we jumped into the queue as my eldest is a huge Stitch fan. My folks really enjoyed this - it's hard to describe to people who haven't seen it but the weird interactivity is just hilarious.

We left the studios and I showed my folks the Disney Village and I popped into Rainforest Cafe to see if we needed to book for an evening meal and they said we would be fine to just turn up at the time we required as they didn't get busy until after 8pm, and we had a bit of a mooch in the shops. We decided to pop back to the hotel to freshen up before going to have our evening meal in Rainforest Cafe (I neither confirm nor deny that I need an afternoon nap like a toddler). We all had showers and got changed and headed back to the village only for my husband to realise he'd left his annual pass in his other jeans so he ended up going back to the hotel (thankfully the bus was still in the station) to collect it.
We headed to Rainforest Cafe only to be told by the young woman outside in the plastic elephant that we would not be given a table until all of our party were with us. I was a bit miffed as she was very rude, simply said 'No, not possible until all 6 of you are present' and then turned her face away. I must have looked shocked because a member of staff inside the door came out and asked me what was wrong, I explained and he said 'of course you can have a table, please follow me'. In the meantime, stroppy madam in her elephant still hadn't looked back at me. I don't know who she was or why she clearly didn't like me but in the many visits I've had she is the only member of staff at RC that hasn't been lovely! We were sat at a lovely table by the golden dude in his waterfall (Atlas?) and had some rather lovely coronaritas (not the kids! they had apple juice lol) whilst we waited for hubby to join us (which he did in record time).

The food was amazing as per usual, the staff (apart from stroppy elephant girl) were awesome, the coronaritas delicious *hic* and the place is just phenomenal. When the thunder started and the elephants trumpeted my Dad and stepmom were absolutely flabbergasted 

After this, we headed into the Disneyland Park and found a prime spot for Dreams. What can I say about this? Those of you that have seen it know how wonderful it is and it never gets old or loses it's magic. Those that haven't seen it? See it. Seriously!!! My stepmum cried at the end and said it was amazing (which made me cry - curse you coronaritas!  lol). My Dad just kept shaking his head and saying 'wow, that was just amazing'.

We caught the bus back to the hotel and headed to bed, planning for an early start the next day 

I'll add more tomorrow!

[seraphelle]

Day 3 ~ Sunday 19th Feb 2017

So this morning we were all up super early (well, 7ish) - got ourselves fed and a light lunch packed and headed off to the parks.

When we arrived, we had a slow walk down Main Street and then headed straight to Buzz Lightyear - it was a 25 min queue so we jumped on. My folks are big Toy Story fans and this ride went down an absolute treat! They loved it  We didn't get photos at the end of this ride for some reason (despite standing waiting for a good 5 minutes for them to appear on the screens) which I was a bit gutted about, but we said we'd try again another time.

After this we headed through the castle and down to Peter Pan where I grabbed fastpasses for later on, then we walked around to Indiana Jones and my hubby, stepmum and eldest went on that whilst I grabbed fastpasses for them to go on again later on and we had a wander around Adventureland admiring the scenery. By the time we met up again it was time to head back to Peter Pan for our fastpass ride, so we wandered back down there. My parents were big fans of the Fastpass system but thought it a little odd that you were limited to 2 'active' ones, I'd not really thought about it before but 2 is a bit of a random number. Surely 3 or 5 would be better? Anyway...

Everyone loved Peter Pan (we're big fans) and my folks loved the tiny cars moving on the London roads and the lava inside the volcanoes 

Once off this ride it was close to fastpass time for the others to go back to Indi, so they headed back there and I took Dad and the little one on Snow White - we arranged to meet back at the sword in the stone in the castle courtyard. This sparked a deluge of 'shiiiiiiiiiiiny pomme!' in creepy voices throughout the rest of the holiday  Whenever someone mentioned being hungry, my Dad would usually say it in his scary voice making the kids squeak and giggle 

We waited in the courtyard only for my husband to appear through the castle shouting us to come quick! I was worried so took off ahead, moving as fast as I could through the castle to Central Plaza to see a massive collection of characters right in the centre! My Dad and daughter caught up and were as astonished as me but glad to see it was a nice surprise rather than something bad (told hubby off for worrying us at this point!). There were: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Jasmine, Aladdin, Genie, Chip, Dale, Baloo, King Louis, Goofy, Pluto, Pinocchio, Tigger Eeyore, Pooh, Woody, Buzz, Mary Poppins, Alice, Wendy, Peter Pan, Ariel, Aurora, Belle (!!!!), Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White. It was wonderful! They just seemed to be standing around and twirling and dancing a bit, it was very strange. They were there for around 10 minutes and then waved to everyone and were gone. I asked a CM if it was going to be a regular thing and he said that it was just for today for some promotional material - so we were very lucky indeed to have seen it quite by accident!

After this - Dad and stepmum decided to pop to Paris for the afternoon (she has never seen the eiffel tower) so off they went to the train station. The girls had seen some bits and bobs they wanted to get with their holiday spends, so Dad took them shopping in Disney Village and I had a nice stroll on my own round to Sequoia Lodge where we were going to meet for a drink. I was having such a lovely time but I did enjoy being by myself for a bit and just having some time to not have to speak or interact (I have anxiety issues and am significantly medicated on a daily basis just to cope). It takes a lot out of me being 'switched on' around people constantly so it was nice to curl up in a corner of Redwood Bar and just relax in the quiet for a while. They arrived soon after and the kids were exhausted so we decided not to go to Paris as well (we'd been toying with the idea of joining the folks doing a touch of sight seeing) but opted to pop back to the hotel for a nap and a bath to re-energise for the evening.

We arrived back at Disney Village around 5:30pm so where else would you head at that time apart from King Ludwigs  We got a table and some happy hour beers and soon after were joined by the others. We had a lovely meal and the folks told us all about their afternoon in Paris. We had some time before we needed to be in the WDS for the Star Wars show so we went into Disneyland Park  for a while. The kids took the grandparents on Autopia, and hubby and I headed to Frontierland for Phantom Manor and some spooky photos  We met up afterwards by Buzz and then headed together to WDS.

We found a great spot for the show and were suitably impressed, however, it broke! The sound kept jumping and the visuals disappeared twice, and then an announcement came through that they were going to end it there for tonight and they were sorry. Technical difficulties. I've never seen my husband look so disappointed! It was a shame as we'd all been enjoying the show so much, even my Dad who has an aversion to all things Sci-Fi!

We decided to go back to the hotel ready to attack the rides early the next day - we had noticed a lot of people with suitcases leaving that day so hoped for a quieter day in the parks. The kids were soon fast asleep - so hubby and I drank our bargain Muscadet (4 euros in France, 15 quid in UK) and went to sleep.
 

[seraphelle]

Day 4 - Monday 20th Feb 2017

Today we were up early and out on our way to the parks before the sun was even properly up!

We got into the park and headed straight to Buzz - and managed to get photos this time around  Yay!
After this, we circled Fantasyland and I grabbed Peter Pan fastpasses and then we did Snow White and Pinocchio one after the other (shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny pomme?) 

After this - the ropes were dropping so I headed to Big Thunder Mountain to get fastpasses, the queue was enormous! But thankfully we got some for a bit later on. In the meantime, we all went on Phantom Manor again before heading back to Peter Pan for our FP time slot.

Hubby then took the AP's and ran over to WDS and got some FP for Ratatouille later on.
The Tower of Terror ones had all gone by the time he walked past on his way back, as he was just looking out of curiosity - so maybe we had been wrong in our assumptions of a slightly quieter day! He joined us back in the park and we went on IASW (I'm surprised that my folks liked this ride, but they did!).

Finally it was time for our Big Thunder Mountain fastpasses - and I'm so glad we got the slot that we did. The queue was 90 mins at this point, so fastpasses really helped us out (15 mins queue at most) - and the ride broke down about 5 minutes AFTER we had been on. Lucky or what?
And the ride? WOW.  I loved it before, but since the refurb, my God it is awesome. The new bits inside, the decorations, the effects, the turns, all just amazing. We loved it! I got the photos at the end of it, too, yay!

We sat and munched our dinner at this point, and then headed down to Chapparal Theatre for the Frozen sing-a-long.
***Stop reading now if you don't want spoilers***


When it started to snow at the end and the screen moved to reveal Elsa, my stepmum grinned like a big kid, it was ace  We sang our socks off lol.

We made our way slowly across to the studios as it would soon be time for our Ratatouille fastpasses. It was a little quieter in the WDS and it was nice to have a walk around without having to constantly moved around people. We headed to the ride and the folks looked at how Disney themed the whole area and confessed they haven't seen the film ( ). They promised to watch it as soon as they got home, and after we had come off the ride, they seemed genuinely keen to watch it. Ratatouille was a huge hit, my Dad said it puts other 3D to shame!

We strolled round to Playland and the adventurous 4 went to go on RC whilst Dad and me sat by Slinky watching everyone scream on RC and the Parachute Drop. Hilarious! My stepmum came off a bit greener than when she went on lol. Then it was time to head round to Moteurs Action! I do love car and bike stunts and never get tired of this show. I wish Lightning McQueen was in it more though.

After this we needed a snack so we decided to go back to Disneyland Park and get some Mickey meringue heads and cookies. We sat and munched our treats then I took everyone upstairs in the castle to see the gorgeous stained glass and decorations. This was a big hit with everyone and my Dad took tonnes of photos.

Time was getting on at this point, I checked the app and found Phantom Manor was only a 5minute wait, so we quickly went and did that again, then headed across to WDS for take 2 of the Star Wars show, we found a good place to stand and my stepmum and eldest went on RockNRoller Coaster (twice) then come found us at the end.

WOW! I really really really really liked this. The combination of the screen / projections / live characters was just ace - and with no technical difficulties at all  It was phenomenal. Our feet were really hurting by this point, so me and hubbs and the kids decided to head straight to Inventions as we had a reservation. The folks popped back into the park to watch Dreams for the last time - we were sat in a great spot by the windows in Inventions and could see all the fireworks. I was a bit apprehensive about Inventions after reading that so many of you have been disappointed lately, but we had a perfect evening.
My folks arrived soon after we had been seated and had our drinks brought to the table, I had sneakily told the waitress it was my stepmums birthday trip and ordered the cake for later on. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Geppetto, Mr Smee, and Tigger - then at the end of the meal Minnie bought the cake out and everyone clapped and cheered and my Stepmum cried 

It was an amazing last day - we did so much and it couldn't have gone any better.

[BeautyandtheBeast]

Wow!! Your trip sounds amazing. I've really enjoyed reading where you've been and what you got up to. Glad to hear inventions didn't disappoint. 👍

[Lavi]

It'a always a delight to read your trip reports!
Looking foward for the pics!

[WOOKIENOOKIE]

Wow, great report. Sounds like an action packed trip, and your good prep work paid off.

[BlackPearl]

Great trip report, thank you for sharing it! 

[Elbow777]

I was there on Sunday  - I think the promotional thing could have been filming - I saw signs in the park saying they were filming that day, unless this just something they always say?

[seraphelle]

Thanks everyone, hopefully have photos up later today 

[pialykke]

I took my stepmum to City Hall to get her birthday badge and a very important phonecall from a very important Mouse 

Hi Seraphelle,
Loved the first day - gonna read the rest in a bit.. I just have to ask about this phonecall - I knew about the birthday sticker - but never heard of a phonecall?? (And I thought I had done my research... I am very organised, like you... ) Can you tell me about it?! Going for eldest 11th in May, and he would love that.
Thanx!
Kind regards, Pia.

[seraphelle]

OMG I have only just seen this reply I am so sorry! I hope you got to have the phonecall - if not, just ask next time in City Hall when you enter the park. 

[seraphelle]

Finally! Thanks for looking 

[ilovemainstxxx]

Loved reading your report..great as always x

Could i just ask what the crowds were like
Really want to go for the 25th but went for our first time to WDW for my 40th in aug and really can't afford it but would love to try and Feb school holidays would be the only time we could go
Heard it was really busy last year and my two don't really like crowds though they do handle them better at Disney than any where else ...
Thanks