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[Masamune]

I seriously don't know where to begin with this. I saw so many wonderful things, and this was easily my best Disneyland Paris trip ever. :lol: I'll try to ease off the emotes as I go along, as there's bound to be plenty of places to use them.

I think I'll do a day-by-day report, and then an in-depth one about the Once Upon a Dream Parade and other new things. :oops: I just hope I don't miss anything out!

Day 1

The day didn't start off very good, as our plane was delayed by 45 minutes. It wasn't too bad though, as we made up a bit of time in the air so we arrived in Paris only 30 minutes late. :roll: Unfortunatly, we had just missed the Vea coach, so we had to wait another 30 minutes for the next one. Again though, it wasn't too bad, as we met this lovely English family who was staying in the same hotel as us ( the Santa Fe ). It was their first trip to Disneyland Paris, so me and my mum were happy to tell them everything we knew.

Once the coach had arrived, it only took about 40 minutes for us to reach the Santa Fe. Our room was available ( yay! ), so we went to it and unpacked. The room was lovely as always, and we had a great view of the river and one of the bridges that lead to the Cheyenne. Once we had done all that, it was time to get something to eat, so we went and got the Santa Fe shuttle bus.

After a quick stop at McDonald's ( :lol: yes, we eat there ) we were heading off towards the Parks. The whole time all I was saying was "OMG we're finally here!" and "OMG I can't believe how big the Tower of Terror is!".

As always, we spent the whole of Day 1 in the main Park. When we got in at about 1:45pm, the Character Parade was just starting, so we watched it on one of the corners before following it up Main Street. I couldn't believe how beautiful everything looked. The banners running down Main Street were magnifique, and the Castle was incredible! The statues are much bigger in real life than what they look like in pictures.

Since we had literally just got there, we decided to go and get FastPasses for Big Thunder Mountain before doing anything else, then we returned to Main Street. Casey Jr had parked up, and all the various characters were scattered about, surrounded by people. I took the oppertunity to get my picture taken with the only character that was crowded; :lol: Casey Jr.

After that, we walked over to Discovery Land. :x It's there that we discovered the new rule about FastPasses, which means you can only get one at a time, no matter what ride it's for. Since our return time for BTM wasn't for a while, we then headed to Fantasy Land. The weather was boiling, but a nice cool breeze would blow past occasionally, so it wasn't so bad.

In Fantasy Land, first we went on the Story Book ride, and then Casey Jr. I love the Story Book ride, and was more than happy to tell the English couple who was sitting behind us what each story was. :lol: They didn't know what Peter and the Wolf was, and they didn't know who Chernabog was either.

The que for Casey Jr was quite long, but most of it was shaded by trees. When we finally got to the front, we were placed right at the back of the train on the seats that face backwards. Casey Jr is SO much fun going backwards! It's funny, because for most of the trip we either ended up at the front of a ride or at the back.

By the time we had done both those rides, it was about 3:25pm, so we decided to head back to Main Street to decide where we would sit for the Once Upon a Dream Parade at 4pm. We ended up parking ourselves along the rope that blocked off the route as it turned the corner to go down Main Street. Again, we ended up chatting to an English family, who told us about Crush's Coaster and Cars Race Rally. :lol: They said Cars wasn't even worth waiting 5 minutes for, and they qued up for an hour for it. And they said Crush was really good, but they were surprised at how much like a proper coaster it was. One of their kids got really scared, as they had thought the ride would be more like a kiddie coaster than a proper one.

Waiting 30 minutes for the Parade to start sucked, as the wind had died down completely and the sun was right in front of us. I couldn't even sit on the floor because the ground kept burning my hands, so I ended up standing the whole time. Strangely, we encountered hardly any pushy parents on this trip. In fact, we countered many polite ones! A French man politely asked my mum if his kid could stand in front of her and he said thank you like 3 times when mum said yes. This trip was all about pleasant surprises I think.

( o_o I've just realised how much I've typed so far. XD Eek. )

When the music finally hit and I could see the golden sun of the first float in the distance, I got really excited. I LOVED THE PARADE MUSIC! As soon as that music got into full swing, all my fears and doubts about it not being as good as Dancin' were long gone.

The Parade itself was everything I dreamed it would be and more. The floats were all beautiful, the performers were amazing and the characters were all really enthusiastic. I still haven't been able to choose which float I liked best out of the Dream of Power, the Dream of Adventure and the Dream of Romance: Part 2. ( I'll type up a more in-depth review of this Parade later )

After the OUADP, it was time for us to return to Big Thunder Mountain. We only had to que up for about 10 minutes in the FastPass lane, which was great. As always, BTM was hilarious. That ride just makes me laugh so much because of how excited everyone on board is. Everyone's screaming and laughing and WOOOOOOOOO-ing. :lol: And I love waving to people in the Phantom Manor que and on the Riverboats. The best thing about BTM is that it's a long ride. You're not on and off it in a matter of seconds, you have time to see a bit of scenery and have a lot of fun. My mum hates roller coasters, but she loves BTM, so I don't know what that makes BTM.

After that, it was back across Main Street to pick up a FastPass for Buzz. That was at about 5pm, so after we picked up the FastPasses, we went down to the bottom of Main Street to pick up our wristbands for the Extra Magic Hours that night. The Cast Member who give us ours was very charming, and he went down on one knee and took my hand so he could put the wristband on it. :lol: It was embarrasing because people were watching, but it was sweet at the same time. It's Cast Members like that who really make my day.

Rather than risk queing up for something before Candleabration at 6pm, we decided to have a look around the shops down Main Street and do a bit of pin trading. I got really lucky with pin trading this year, as I traded for about 10 really nice pins. Some were even from America!

Whilst we're on the subject of America, I have to mention this. :shock: There was SO many Americans at DLRP whilst we were there. Seriously, the whole trip we were hearing American accents every so often. I hope all our American friends had a blast. I was tempted to go up to some of them and ask what they thought of DLRP, but I thought better of it incase they compared it to WDW, which isn't really fair.

At about 5:40pm, we went to stand in front of the gates in front of the 15th Anniversary stage. Baloo's website recommended we stand there, and now I recommend it too! The show was fabulous! I imagine it would be better if it were darker, but not by much, as the show was brilliant even in daylight. I had to fight back happy tears when the music for that show began, and when Mickey was lighting up the candles. It was all very magical, and I loved every minute of it.

By this time our feet were aching like mad, so we decided to sit down for a bit before returning to Buzz with our FastPasses. I scored 97100, which is my best ever score! After that, we decided to leave the Park to get something to eat at McDonald's. :lol: It's funny, because we NEVER eat McDonald's at home, but at DLRP, that's pretty much all we eat, as it's better value for money than anything in the Parks.

After that, we returned to the Park just before Extra Magic Hours were due to start. This system is brilliant, and they should definatly carry it on after the 15th Anniversary is over. We got on so many rides without having to que for more than 10 minutes! We went on Star Tours, the Tea Cups ( twice, as they let us stay on! ), the Carousel, Pinocchio and Big Thunder Mountain ( also twice, but we had to que up again ).

When it got to about 9:30pm, we decided to head out. We took loads of pictures of the Castle, as we could finally see the candles lit up as the sky got darker. Main Street looked amazing with all the banners lit up. Even though my feet were killing me, I just wished we could've stayed there all night!

It was a fantastic day, which I didn't think could be beaten. But then Day 2 came along. I'll type up my Day 2 report later on. :lol: I hope my mass amount of text hasn't bored you all to death.

[fly_with_me_dumbo]

hasnt bored me to death, got me excited actually!!  

[RnRCj]

I can't believe I read all of that Sounds like you had a great time on day 1! I can't wait to hear what you thought of Crush's Coaster!

[giorgio1712]

Sounds like a really good day, its getting me excited for my trip now!!! Hurry up with day 2 i want to read lol  :lol:

[TowMater]

That report never bored me, It also sounds you had a great time and I love to hear what you think about WDS, It's my first time in the studios, While we went there for the first time, they were just finishing it off.

[Nicholas-c]

sounds like you had awesome fun! and that was only on your first day!!!

[Japper]

Good Tripreport!

Nice to hear what the people think of Crush and Cars! I don't get why those people say it isn't worth a 5 minute waith , I mean , you can see the ride from outside , you know what it is.. How can it dissapoint you after riding it?

[Masamune]

Aww, I'm glad everyone's liked my report so far!

@ Japper - Well, like you say, you can see what the ride is without going on it. *Will discuss the Cars ride in the Day 3 report* Time for Day 2!

Day 2

:x On Day 2 we woke up a bit late, so we had to rush to get to the Park in time for Good Morning Fantasy Land. We're usually the first guests in the Park ( literally! ), so we were a bit gutted that we didn't actually get in till 9:10am. It was OK though, as there was still very few people around, so we took our usual picture of Main Street.

After filling up on cereal, orange juice and cheese, we were off! We went straight to Peter Pan ( one of mum's fave rides ) and got on it without having to que. And they actually let us stay on it, so we got to ride it twice. That's the beauty of Good Morning Fantasy Land; no queing and double rides! We then went on the Dumbo ride ( we rode this twice, but we had to que up a little the 2nd time ) and then we went on the Carousel. After that, we decided to head towards It's a Small World... :shock: and lucky us, there was a group of characters right there!

We had gotten lucky in April 2005 at this same spot, the large area at the side of It's a Small World, right next to the big gates that lead backstage. There was Eeyore, Pluto, Friar Tuck and Chip and Dale. There wasn't many people around yet either, as the Park hadn't opened yet, so I got some lovely pics taken. Then, one of the doors in the big gate opened... :shock: :shock: :shock: and Snow White, Cinderella and Prince Charming walked out! :lol: I'm sorry, but this moment deserves all those :shock: emotes. Seriously, everyone there just stood staring for a few seconds! Then of course, everyone made a run for them. I still couldn't believe that they were even there! :oops: This was the first time I'd ever seen Princesses outside of a Parade, so I didn't know quite what to do at first.

Since Snow White didn't have as much of a crowd as Cinderella and Prince Charming, I headed over to her first. Gosh, she was absolutely stunning. She was easily the most beautiful Princess I had ever seen, and she had a rounded face and rosey cheeks just like Snow White herself! Thankfully, no one was being too pushy. There was a few parents there that wanted their kids to hug Snow White and get pictures ( obviously ), but no one was rude about it. I finally got my picture taken with her and got her autograph, and she said "have a nice day" as I was leaving. :cry: I was soooooo happy!

After dragging myself down off Cloud 9, I walked over to Prince Charming and Cinderella. The group of people around them was still big, so at first I only managed to get a picture with Prince Charming. :wink: This guy was GORGEOUS, and his accent was so lovely! He really was very charming, and he asked if I had an autograph book. After quickly nodding my head like an excited child, I pulled it out for him to sign. Then he nudged Cinderella and passed it to her! Whilst Cinderella was signing, I asked if I could get a picture with them both, and they happily agreed. Cindy was very pretty, and I felt really special stood between the two of them. It was one of those magical moments where all I was thinking was "I'm stood here with Cinderella and Prince Charming and I think I'm gonna cry." Cry in a good way of course. Thankfully I held it in, and we then headed to It's a Small World as the crowds started to grow. That was probably my high point of the whole trip.

By the time we had come off It's a Small World, the Princesses had gone. We then decided to head towards the Snow White ride ( I have a new love for Snow White ). As we got close, we could hear music playing, and it wasn't coming from the Carousel. It was actually a full brass band, much like the Bat Boys that played during Halloween, only bigger. I love this kind of thing, so we stopped to watch the show. All together we heard them play 8 songs in full, all of which were brilliant! They played Beauty and the Beast, the song from The Sorcerer's Apprentice part of Fantasia, Pink Elephants on Parade, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, Heigh-Ho, Whistle While You Work and two others that I can't quite remember. One was from Hercules I think ( the song that plays near the beginning that has no lyrics ), but I could be wrong. Either way, it was a fantastic show, and yet another unexpected Disney treat.

By the time we had finished watching this, the que for Snow White had gotten massive as the Park had been opened to everyone before we even got to the music show. Because of this, we ended up heading to Frontier Land to get yet another FastPass for Big Thunder Mountain. It was as we were coming through the Castle that we noticed Aurora, Prince Philip, Belle and her Prince having photos taken on the stage! We did get in the que, but after like 20 minutes we had only moved a few feet so it didn't seem like a good idea to spend over an hour in that que. Also, they swapped with Ariel/Eric and Jasmine/Aladdin, which sealed it for me as I wanted a pic took with Aurora and Philip more than the others. I was happy though, as at least I had gotten Cindy's, Charming's and Snow White's autographs earlier.

We realised that Alphabet You Are was due to start soon, so we decided to watch that before going for our BTM FastPasses. It was such a funny little Parade. I loved the letters that were represented by Donald and Daisy Duck, as they were the most detailed. Even if you don't plan on seeing this show again, you should definatly see it at least once.

After getting the FastPasses for BTM, we went back to Main Street to wait for the Character Parade. A few characters on the train today were Stitch, Timon, Pinocchio, Baloo and Captain Hook. I managed to get my pic taken with Stitch and Timon ( after A LOT of patience ), and I got their autographs too. :lol: I then got a pic took with Hook after he had already got back on the train, as he bent down to try and grab me with his hook.

Straight after that we returned to BTM with our FastPasses. :shock: The normal que for BTM is almost always insane, so I'm glad that FastPasses are available. After coming of BTM we headed to the Tarzan show at the bottom of Frontier Land. Before the show started, a Cast Member named Alan ( or Alain ) was performing magic tricks. He was really good, he had the whole audience in stitches.

The show itself was brilliant. There was a bunch of people dressed up as monkeys, but one of them had a white wig instead of a grey one. I'm guessing this was because he was meant to stand out, as he was the one who was seriously entertaining. :lol: He was making monkey noises and making funny faces, which really made the show for me.

As soon as the show finished, we made a mad dash for the train. We had to wait about 10 minutes for it to arrive, but we did manage to get a cart that only had one other family in it. I think they were Spanish. The two kids of the family kept trying to catch mine and my mum's attention by making silly faces. Then, they started copying each other. :lol: This was seriously a lot funnier than what it sounds. When the little girl touched her brother's nose, he would touch her nose and so on. In the end, the little boy pulled his sister's hair, which was hilarious as he didn't do it hard but it totally surprised his sister. I'm telling you this because it was just one of the funniest things I've ever seen, and it's only at DLRP that I would find kids so amusing and cute.

We rode the train round a couple of times before getting off at Main Street Station so we could head back to the hotel to change shoes and get something to eat. The day had started off a bit rainy so we had both come out in rainy-weather shoes, but the day brightened up soon after so we needed to change. After yet another trip to Maccy D's, we headed back to the Park for the OUADP.

This time we decided to stand right at the back of the Park where the Parade actually starts. I had a feeling that a Princess stop would occur there, and I was right! :lol: Unfortunatly, we stood a bit far down and the Ariel/Jasmine float parked right in front of us. It was OK though, as we could still see the Princesses dancing on either side. And we got a big whiff of the flowery scent that accompanies both floats.

After the Parade had left that area and the path between Fantasy Land and Discovery Land had been reopened, we speed walked all the way to where the Parade finishes, just in time to watch it all over again! :lol:

Finally, it was time to do something I'd been waiting to do; run around Alice's Curious Labyrinth! :shock: For the first time ever I actually forgot how to reach the Queen of Heart's castle, so I was quite ashamed of myself. We found it eventually though, and took some nice pics before heading back down.

For the rest of the day, we had a proper look around all the shops in Main Street, Fantasy Land, Discovery Land and Frontier Land. All the 15th Anniversary stuff is gorgeous, and all of it is pretty reasonably priced, so we bought quite a few things. Before leaving the Park, we ended up queing for the Snow White ride, and I picked up a last minute FastPass for Space Mountain to be used between 7:40pm and 8.00pm. I managed to get on just in time before they stopped letting people on.

Day 1 was great, but Day 2 was even better I think. I can't wait to get the pictures back. :lol: We took almost 200 pictures over the 3 days we were there, so hopefully there'll be some really magical ones. I'll probably wait till tomorrow to type up my Day 3 report and my in-depth look at the OUADP. Again, I hope no one's eyes fell out whilst reading all this.

[Angela]

reading your story makes me wanting to be there myself.. and I have to wait another week before going there... but I'll manage... lol... it is great to hear you had so much fun.. and I really do hope I can have loads of pictures to from the Disney characters... by the way.. did you go in a weekend?

[fly_with_me_dumbo]

your report is the best one i have ever read on this forum =D>  :cheshire_bounce: i hope you'll put some of your photos up!

[Masamune]

@ Angela - 1 week isn't much longer! :lol: I'm jealous because I wish I could go back! Be sure to keep checking that area beside It's a Small World, just incase you get lucky and there's some characters there.

June 20th-22nd fell on a Wednesday to Friday. We've never actually been on a weekend, as I don't think we could deal with the extra crowds very well.

@ fly - Aww, thanks! I'll be sure to post all the best ones once we recieve them. Mum's posting off all 6 films tomorrow, and it says on the envelope that it can take up to two weeks to recieve the pictures as we're also getting them on disc. That way I can put all the pics on the comp without having to scan them.

[DisneyBud]

Wow! I'm loving your reports, sounds like you had a brilliant time, and making it all seem like a reality for those of us who don't have any planned trips yet!! I look forward to the rest of the report!

[15MagicalYears]

Loving the report, can't wait till Day 3 and the pictures !

[Nicholas-c]

great report of day 2 aswell!

[Riebi]

WOW! Sounds like a lot of fun! It´s good to hear that crush is more a prober coaster than a little one. I´m excited about the pics wich will follow