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[MinniesBestPal]

What about Dad's and brother? I dragged my brother on its a small world twice, but he made us all stand in an hour long que for pirates!

[never2old]

Ok, next installment in my never ending report...

So it's about 10:45, sun is finally out ( / ) and we're on our way to Fantasyland!

Of course, couldn't pass the castle without taking a few pictures... I had hardly taken any the day before, since it was all so grey, but now, with that beautiful light...

 

Then straight to Snow White, which we hadn't done yet. Of course, paid our respects to the Queen first...



Then straight in! And you know, in all these years, I had never actually noticed how beautiful the sign at the entrance is... Those carvings are beautiful!!



Shame on me  :oops: ... But then I always discover a new detail on each trip. So much to see!! (so little time...)

After Snow White, straight to the Castle!

Hidden Mickey (and Winnie...)



Pictures of the statue and window... check!



Picture of the don't-you-already-have-the-same-picture-100-times partner... check!



Fantasyland, as empty as it was going to get for the day...



And the beautiful rooftops:



And of course, before leaving...





After that, my husband wanted to go on the ToT again, so we decided to head towards the Studios. Not without one last pic, for the road...



(honestly, people see you're taking a picture, couldn't they just keep out of it  :wink: ?)

Visit to the Studios, next...

[never2old]

What about Dad's and brother? I dragged my brother on its a small world twice, but he made us all stand in an hour long que for pirates!

lol  

[never2old]

OK, to the Studios !

By that time it was a really lovely day, and the park was filling up, everywhere...

Anyway, we went straight to the Studios,



just in time to see Lilo & Stitch!



Impossible to get too near though, they were completely surrounded! So instead we went straight inside.



And we also got to try the Bluetooth system! (I hadn't dared take my phone out under the deluge the previous day; I've already lost a mobile because of it getting wet...) So I can tell you that at 11:50, waiting times were as follows:

Armageddon       5 min
Art of Disney       5 min
Tapis Volants       10 min
Studio Tram Tour       15 min
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster    20 min
Tower of Terror       35 min
Cars          40 min
Crush's Coaster       120 min

I bet you were ALL just dying to know that  :roll: ....

Queues for Crush are ridiculous. How can people stand in line for 2 HOURS  :shock: !!! Honestly, unless they do something about that, I don't think I'll ever manage to ride that coaster ever again!! Anything over 45 minutes, it's just too much! But 2 HOURS  :shock:  :shock: !!!

Anyway, we went straight for Tower of Terror (VIP fastpass coming in handy)



Ah, just love it! So much fun! Simply brilliant  / ! Whoooo!! You go down. Wheeeeee! You go up. Whooooooo! And down again. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeehheeeeeeeeeeeee! Down! Oh, it's excellent!! What a great ride  =D> !!

After ToT, we decided (well, my husband decided... I wasn't too convinced) to head to towards another fastpass ride, the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster...



I'd only been on it once before. All I remembered was that when it starts it starts fast. Really fast. Rest of the ride was a total blackout (probably also because after that fast (really fast) start, I had kept my eyes closed all the way, screaming for my life  :oops: ). So after that wonderful first experience, I had kept away from it... But now, with the fastpass I didn't even have the excuse of the queues, I had to say yes...

I had dreaded the first time on ToT, because I didn't know what was coming. I was terrified about RnRC, because this time I knew!!

So anyway, we went in, before I could change my mind we were seated in the train, quickly round the corner facing that countdown, and then wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Off we went.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that I loved it... But I didn't hate it. It is a really fast ride, and some bits are quite terrifying  :shock: . I did keep my eyes open (most of the time...) but I had taken my glasses off, so I couldn't see everything... I think there was some smoke there. Definitely saw lights. And I definitely screamed all the way through. But it wasn't as bad as the first time around.... So I could consider, in the future, going on it again  :wink: ...

Still, after that, I had enough emotions for one day, so after some more pics around the Studios (just love what they've done with the place), we went back to DLP...





To be continued....

[Pete's Dragon]

Great report. Cant believe there's still more to come. All this inside 2 days !!!

[never2old]

All inside 2 very tiring days, I confess  :wink: ....

Next chapter...Back to Disneyland Park!



As much as I like the Studios, they're still miles away from DLP. It's not just the number of rides, the magic is just not the same... And half of Europe (and most of Spain) must think the same, because if we thought the Studios were busy, that was nothing compared to the crowds in DLP. It was mad  :shock: !

We went towards Adventureland, with Pirates of the Caribbean in mind (taking pictures on the way...)



There were some scary clouds around.... but they just stood there.... Fortunately there was no rain at all!

When we got to POTC, though, there was a 45 minutes queue. Now, by this time, I confess, our feet were starting to hurt (ever so slightly...) and the prospect of 45 minutes just standing up wasn't very inviting... At all.

So we decided to leave that for later, and head to Fantasyland. And OH MY GOD was it busy!! People everywhere!!

Peter Pan, forget about it. The wait time screens (and fastpass screens) were not working, so you can imagine the chaos by the fastpass machines. And the queue was so long that it was coming out, all along the side of the building, towards Adventureland – so you had to fight to get into the fastpass queue... Where there was also a queue. And there seemed to be a few slightly annoyed people around, so we decided to skip that for now and go towards Alice's Labyrinth, since we hadn't done it yet.

And guess what? There was a queue for the Labyrinth  :shock: . I hadn't seen a queue for that in years. So we skipped it... This was to be the first time in years that I visit the park and don't go in there   . A bit upset about that, but on the upside, when I go back in October, it should be all nice and fixed up   ! (and hopefully open!)

Everywhere you looked, people and more people!!

So we went to the Fantasyland station. Once you managed to get near the station (access was blocked by the queue for the Winnie show), the Station itself wasn't too bad, and they only advertised 15 minutes wait. There were at least two families in front of us who didn't even know what they were queuing for (the woman in front of me actually told her husband that she'd seen a queue and just went to join it  :roll: ). I'm guessing she was not the only one, because as soon as the train tracks were fully visible a few people left the queue...

Anyway, we waited for the 15 minutes, then for 5 minutes more, and finally were able to board the 3rd train to pass the station



I love those trains... They're so beautiful!! It's a shame there's always such a queue to go on them, otherwise they'd be the perfect way to move around the park. And, in our case, it was just wonderful to sit down for a bit...

We had lunch booked at Walt's at 14:00, which meant that we had just the time to go from Fantasyland to Main Street, and get off there. We were dreading a bit the restaurant, other times we've been there it was a bit mad at the door, with lots of people waiting and delays and everything... But this time it was actually perfect. We got there, handed in our reservation ticket, were told to go up immediately, and very soon we were sitting in our table, in the Adventureland area, by a window. Perfect!







We had the halfboard vouchers, so we had a starter, main course & dessert.

my starter:



my main course



and the desserts





(I'll spare you the comments made by my husband when I started taking pictures of the food  :roll: ....)

It tasted as good as it looked, and by the end of the meal we were feeling great! Very pleasant meal indeed! Delicious food, wonderful setting, and great music (all the Disney classics, of course). Just perfect.



More to follow soon... (don't worry, I think it should all be over in a couple more posts  :wink: !)

[Clarebelle]

We had that exact table in Walts! I can't wait to see the rest of the restaurant (the fantasyland room  :wink: )

[MizzRabbit]

Is this the first time you've taken pictures of your food on your dlrp trip?

[never2old]

Is this the first time you've taken pictures of your food on your dlrp trip?

no.... and every time I get the same look from him  :roll: I think he was upset because he wasn't allowed to try his food until I'd taken my picture  :lol:

We had that exact table in Walts! I can't wait to see the rest of the restaurant (the fantasyland room :wink: )

I know, same here!! I wonder if you can ask to be seated in a particular area... Maybe next time I'll go I'll ask  

[Clarebelle]

I'm hoping so, for my birthday I want a seat in the fantasyland room (please no one put pictures up! I want it to be a surprise lol)!! I think we will try for the library in Dec! hmmm maybe if I go early enough they will let me have a look around (by look I mean take lots of photos hehe  [-o<

cant wait to see more photos!!

[never2old]

Next chapter...

After lunch on Saturday, weather was wonderful, nice and warm and sunny, and the park was really busy... Really really busy ! We tried again POTC, and went to see how PM or the boats were doing in Frontierland, but there were long queues everywhere  :shock: ...

So we limited ourselves to the fastpass rides (mostly Buzz and BTM, went a few times on them...) and of course Adventure Island, since there at least there's no queue...

One of the times we were doing Buzz, I run into a colleague from work... It is a small world, after all    (I guess my cover as a serious girl in the office is blown, though... not sure he was expecting to run into me wearing Minnie ears   :ears:  )







This is what Frontierland looked like...



Around the Island

 



Just a few people there...













Around Fantasyland









And on the way to Main Street...



By the end of the afternoon, we were exhausted. Feet and legs very very tired, and the thought of having to do another queue was torture!! So we went back to the hotel, to have a drink (and some cakes) in the Castle Club...



(that chocolate cream.... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm very thick, very tasty, very yummy!!)

And the view from the window:



A very well deserved rest!! And a very nice break away from the crowds...

Last update, coming soon.

[Javey74]

Wow, brilliant report N2O  /  /

I really enjoyed reading that report, since I've just got back recently from holiday myself, I've just read through it and I must admit I'm pleased in one sense I read it late since I could just read and read and read and read, without having to wait and wait and wait for each instalment... :mrgreen:

Just the last part to view which I'm really looking forward to...

Brilliant... :mrgreen: Thanks for sharing, by the way I love the close shot of It's A Small World external figures.. :wink:  

[never2old]

Thanks Javey!  

And here's (at last) the final part of the report...

After our break in the CC lounge, we were a bit more rested... and some people had began leaving the park, and those who were staying where filling up Main Street to see the parade, so we went towards Discoveryland again.

After one last go on Buzz....



We went to see the other Nemo, fathoms below in the Nautilus





I can understand that maybe next to SM, it's not so exciting (and I remember how dissapointed I was when we first went in many many many years ago and it was not like the submarine in Florida, that actually took you for a ride). But the Nautilus is so beautiful! So many little details, so very well done! It's a shame so many people don't even seem to know about it! I actually felt a bit sad, going through the long walkway planned for the queues, which will probably be never be full....

After Nautilus, we went for Star Tours (which we'd just realised we hadn't done yet). A great fastpass line, went straight in to the doors of our cruiser!

There were some people in with us who were really enjoying it, they were screaming in all the right places, and it really felt like it was their first time... So the atmosphere was simply brilliant in there! But, after SM, after ToT and RnRC, and of course multiple rides in BTM, THIS was the first ride where I felt sick :sick: !! If it had lasted anything longer, I would have been actually sick... And I've done it many times before, and although the last few times I had felt it a bit more, it was nothing like this! I didn't enjoy it, at all   ! I don't understand what wrong with me... I hope it was just because I was more tired than other times...

So after that very unsuccessful ride on ST, we went back to Adventureland, past the Castle again...



And straight into POTC, where at last the queue was down to a more manageable 20 minutes



By then, dinner time... We had booked for 20:00 (mistake, BIG mistake!!) at the Silver Spur. We got there, and of course it was packed. A big mess by the reception, a big queue outside, horrible. After waiting for 15 minutes we managed to sit down while we waited for our table. It was noisy, felt smoky, I was exhausted, and was starting to get a headache. If I had been a few years younger, I would have started to cry to get some attention... After a while we realised that people who had gotten there after us were being seated before us  :x  so we went to complain (which I hate doing) and it turned out that they had lost our ticket! By then we had been waiting for almost 1 hour (1 hour where I could have been doing lots of rides!!!), I was in a bad mood, and had a horrible headache.  At least, after we'd complained, they very quickly found a table for us (which seemed to have been ready for some time... along with a few more empty tables around it  :evil: ).

Food was OK, I wasn't even hungry anymore, but the meat was very tasty and tender. But with the headache and all I didn't enjoy the meal very much, I had trouble focusing my eyes so I felt a bit blind in there, and I just wanted to get out and get some fresh air... Not the best experience, really...

After dinner it was getting on to 22:00. All the negativity of the evening dissapeared as soon as we left the restaurant, nothing like a view over Frontierland & BTM at night to lift all spirits!!

So we headed to Phantom Manor again (by this time no queue at all)



Same pic with different exposure...



Thoroughly enjoyed PM. Don't think I'll ever get tired of it...

And to make the night complete, followed PM by a trip to BTM... Which we had never done at nighttime, and it was so good  =D> !! It felt like it was going even faster. And going from the caves to the outside felt really nice (since I didn't get that small blinding feeling from going from dark to light). Brilliant!! Everyone should go on this at night! And even though the VIP fastpass didn't work anymore, the normal queue was nice and short (15 minutes) so it was perfect! Loved it, loved it, loved it!!

On Friday we had spent some time taking night pictures around Frontierland, so we now did the same with Discoveryland. Managed to cross before Fantillusion started, and here are some of the results...













We then went to wait for the Enchanted Fireworks, which time time we saw from halfway down Main Street.

The first time I saw them, I was amazed. The second time, it was even better. Now I don't know if it was because we were too close, or there was too much smoke, or what it was, but the first time, I hadn't actually seen most of the projections  :shock: !!! The roses flying down, the hearts, the writing at the end... All that I'd missed (and didn't know I'd missed)!! So it felt like I was seeing the whole thing for the first time! And if the first time there were some tears, this time around they were flowing freely... For those magical six minutes, I was alone in the park with my husband, completely taken by the whole thing...

After that, my husband had to drag me away from the park, straight to the car and then to the Elysée hotel, where we had booked for the night. Didn't like it much, to be honest, but it had a bed, where we collapsed in exhaustion, so it was all we needed. Sunday morning we went to Paris to see an exhibition (the Chinese Terracotta army), then by 12:00 we headed back home to Luxembourg. Sunday wasn't a particulary good day. My legs were in agony, my feet were crying for mercy, and I was a bit sad after leaving DLRP (first day away is never a good day...)

It was a wonderful trip. Despite the rain on the first day and the crowds on the second, and despite the pain in my feet and legs... Wouldn't change any of it  

And it's been wonderful re-living it all and sharing it with you   So thanks to you all!!!

[Pete's Dragon]

Phee-yoo  :? !! What a cram-packed 2 day report. I fell like I've just spent a fortnight in the Park !!!! Thanks for sharing N2O, loved the photos especially of the castle. The night-time ones are great   . Maybe one day, I'll brave the peak-season although the queues would drive me insane  :evil: ( no patiences )

[Elaine]

You really are a very talented photographer - I could just look again and again at those pictures  =D>  =D> .

Elaine