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[Annet]

I had lots of time today to write, since I'm not feeling well.
So I hope you don't find there's too much text in here

Day 1.





My brother, sister-in-law and both of their daughters arrived at my place around 08.15 that morning. Of course I was already up and awake for quite a while, so we could leave straight away! It's quite a long drive up there, 5 hours, so we stopped 2 times. But the kids took it well, they hardly complained about being in the car for such a long time. When we finally saw the signs, not only the kids got more and more excited, but I was also almost bouncing up and down in the car. And then, around 14.30 we we're finally in the line for check-in, we we're so happy altogether. Little did we know that luck wasn't by our side in line...

While standing in line, two different employees came to ask us if we we're interested in staying one night at hotel Elysee (in Val d'Europe), we would get a free diner. We told them we weren't interested, having to make another drive with the kids wasn't our idea of fun. When it was finally our turn however, they told us that there was no room for us in Sequoia, so we HAD to leave to Elysee for that night, we didn't even have a choice. Of course we didn't agree right away, we had made our reservation somewhere around march/april, how could there be no room?! We didn't get that quite clear, they kept saying something about a computer problem... However, after almost half an hour of disagreeing to leave, we were told that if we wouldn't take the room in Elysee we would have to sleep outside on the street. So eventually we agreed to leave, after they had promised us that we would get a lake view room for the other 3 nights and also they would get us breakfast at Café Mickey's, instead of diner vouchers. After all, sleeping on the street with 2 children isn't a good choice either.

We we're really bummed out after this incident, it was definitely not the magical start of our trip that we had in mind! We made a stop at the travel agency, who have a counter at Planet Hollywood, to make sure we could file a complaint. They agreed with us, thought it was really weird and also kind of rude, they gave us everything we needed to file a complaint later on back home. After this we decided to forget about everything and just head to the park to let the magic begin, we would stay in the park and check in to the other hotel at night, so we wouldn't have to keep on driving back and forth.





Fortunately the sight of Main Street and the Castle always makes me forget about everything, it's magical. Which is not what I can say about the ugly skull with the goblins that's there in the front, but I just ignored that hideous thing. We headed towards fantasyland, because my niece is totally crazy about It's A Small World, so she had to go there first. After this we did the Carroussel and some other rides in Fantasyland, then we went to get a meal at Au Chalet de la Marionette. We got a hamburger and fries, which was quite tasteful after our long drive up here. After this it was getting dark, which I think is always a beautiful sight with all the lights and stuff. We went into the Teacups, Pirates and Phantom Manor. The last two didn't fall in good taste with my oldest niece (she's 6), who found everything scary. The youngest (she's 2) however found everything lots of fun.











We walked around for a while and when it was around 21:00h we decided to go look for the other hotel. They couldn't give us an address at Sequoia, so we we're glad to have found someone who could give us the name of a street nearby. Fortunately we had a navigation system, else we would've never found it. It turned out to be not so far away, when we looked out of our window we could see the Studios in the distance. We checked in and it turned out that Sequoia should have given us papers to check in, they told us we didn't need anything. Fortunately they were really understanding and helpful at Hotel Elysee, so we could check in after all. It was quite a nice hotel, but when you book a Disney hotel it's just a shame when you get send to Val d'Europe. We made the best of it however, we were all pretty tired from the long day, so we got a good night sleep here.

[Annet]

Day 2.

The next morning we had to be at the Village at 09.30h for breakfast, but we were all up early. Since we also had the opportunity to get breakfast at Elysee, we packed up our stuff and went downstairs for a cup of coffee. After this we headed towards Sequoia again, we left our stuff at the car en went to the Village. Since we we're half an hour early, we went into some stores to check out what we wanted to buy later. After this it was time for breakfast at Café Mickey's, which is always tasteful I think. Unfortunately we we're the last batch I guess, cause they no longer filled the buffet, so some things were all gone when we went to get it. We had a good time though, we saw Tigger, Mickey, Pinochio, Scrooge,  Mr. Smee and Prince John, my niece was very excited. The oldest one, the youngest was scared to death from these characters and hid beneath the table the entire breakfast. Scrooge tried to cheer her up, but that only upset her more. She was definitely glad when we headed towards the park an hour later.













After strolling around Main Street, we went to Frontierland, were Jack and Sally we're posing for photos. My nieces thought they were scary, but my brother and I really wanted a picture with them. The queue wasn't long, so we joined. Unfortunately Sally left, so we got a picture with just Jack, but he was really good in character. When we walked further, we noticed a whole bunch of characters at the Cowboy Cookout Barbeque. My niece started running already, then Mickey and Minnie came out and all the other characters were almost alone. So we headed for pictures with Chip, Dale, Goofy and Pluto.











After this we walked through Adventureland towards Fantasyland again. I had never been on Casey Jr. or those boats next to it (with the hard French name), so we went over there. After having done some more attractions my niece wanted to go on It's A Small World again. Since there was a queue and my legs really started to hurt I decided to wait for them outside. Since I have rheumatics, I took my crutches but I was planning on leaving them in the hotel at night. When I use them too much, my arms start to hurt, and besides that they just bother me sometimes. The weather was, like mondag, really sunny again, so I didn't mind sitting in the sun a little more.













After they had come back it was 14.30u, so we got ourselves an ice cream and stayed around to wait for the Halloween pre-parade and the Once Upon A Dream Parade. It started at the other side of the park this time, so it took a while before it had reached us. The Halloween pre-parade could be bigger, but I liked it anyway. And though I've seen the Once Upon A Dream Parade many times now, I still like it. This time the parade-stop was by the first float, so we got to see Chip, Dale, Pluto and Goofy dance. It was nice, but my favourite stop is still the one with the princesses dancing.

































After the parades we went back to Sequoia Lodge to check in and get our luggage from the car. We also got a VIP breakfast sticker cause of the inconvenience with the first night. Which was nice, cause we didn't have to make reservations now. We were told to get a lake view room, but when we looked out of the window we saw the parking lot. That was a bit of a bummer, but we decided not to make a fuss about it. After all you don't spend all day looking out of your hotel window, and we had to get ourselves ready for the Not So Scary Halloween party! My nieces had their Minnie Mouse dresses on, my sister-in-law painted their faces in Halloween style. She dressed herself up as a devil, my brother went dressed as 'The Crow' and I had gotten myself a witches outfit. When we went out of the hotel, to the park, people looked at us very strangely... Some people also stared at us in the park, many adults apparently thought it was strange that we were also dressed up and not just the kids. We had a lot of fun getting dressed up though, so we didn't mind.











We hadn't eaten yet, so we got ourselves diner at Casey's first. After that we went towards Frontierland, which was a great entrance with all the smoke in different colours. The old hag from Snow White came to us and offered us apples, which of course no one wanted. My niece got an autograph from her, but didn't dare to have her picture taken with the old witch. She did ran fast towards Minnie though, who was nearby. There was no queue, so we took pictures there. When we wanted to walk away I noticed Jack and Sally were in front of Phantom Manor. Since Sally left that morning, my brother and I wanted to take a new chance at a picture with both of them. It was more crowded there and there wasn't a queue, so I jumped in after having waited a while. My brother isn't as cheeky though, so he wanted to leave. But I knew how much he wanted that picture with Sally, so I told him to keep waiting. Sally, who was watching us for a while (probably since we were the only people there with painted faces), noticed it and called to my brother: 'No wait, don't leave! I'll come with you in a minute.' That persuaded my brother to stay and wait, and indeed. After having taken the other picture, she winked my brother and said: 'You sir, please come over.' Jack responded very funny to it by shouting: 'Wow... Sally is picking people from the crowd now!' My brother was happy with his picture and I must say, Sally does seem very happy on it too!










I was laughing reall hard here cause my hat kept getting stuck on Daisy's hat, so she was just acting really funny. It makes me look a bit stupid though

After this we walked towards Big Thunder Mountain, but it was closed. Just when walked further, we saw people running, so it had opened. My brother and I ran towards it, we had to wait for 10 minutes while my sister-in-law stayed with the kids and had met some more characters. I must say, I love Big Thunder Mountain in the dark, it's even more of a thrill! After this we walked towards Fantasyland, on our way over there my brother and I hopped in on Pirates of the Caribbean, which didn't have a queue at all. I think it's very funny on the on-ride picture to see us sitting there between all the 'normal' people. After this my sister-in-law took their oldest daughter on Peter Pan, the youngest one had fallen asleep in the stroller. My brother and I stayed with her outside. I saw Jack Sparrow, so I wanted to have a picture with him, but unfortunately he had to go when we got there. I must say, the way he talked and moved, he definitely was the best Jack Sparrow I've seen in DLRP.







We did some more rides in Fantasyland, of course It's A Small World too, while we took turns of waiting by the stroller. When I was waiting, a bunch of characters came by and all took a look in the stroller, it's a good thing my niece was fast asleep. It would've scared her probably. When we walked towards the Castle, Merlin and his witch academy were outside so we stayed and watched that.









After this it was already heading towards the end, so we walked through the Castle (which was also filled with smoke) and found a spot on Main Street to watch the Stars 'n Cars cavalcade. It came by really fast, I could hardly take pictures, so we already regretted that we waited for it. But when we walked to the exit, all of the characters were there to take pictures, we didn't know that. Though it wasn't crowded in the park at all, at the end around the characters, it definitely was! Of course my niece didn't want to leave anymore, so we took pictures with the least crowded characters: Esmeralda, Cruella and Sulley. When we walked by Belle, my youngest niece saw her and didn't seem scared of her. Since we thought this was a real breakthrough, we went to take a picture with her. It was really great, cause when she came to us it turned out she was Dutch. So the children could really understand her and talk to her, they were absolutely in heaven and still talked about it the entire trip!

[Annet]

Day 3.


A lovely sunrise in the morning.

This day we had planned for the Studios. Since the Not So Scary Halloween Party was over really late, we let the kids sleep a little late today. When we got down for breakfast at 09:00h it was pretty crowded. We stayed in line, but an employee came over to tell us that with our VIP sticker we didn't have to wait in line, that was a nice surprise!


Our view from the room, no lake there.



After breakfast we went to the Studios Park. My brother and I wanted to go on Crush's Coaster, but the line was already 120 minutes when we got there at 10:00h so we went back to my sister-in-law and the kids. They were already on the Flying Carpets of Agrabah, so I climbed up to take some pictures of them. After this we went to Cars, which wasn't crowded at all. When we wanted to walk in, we saw Emile standing there, with absolutely no one around. So we went to take a picture with him first and then went over to Cars. When we came out of the cars, Remy was standing there, also with hardly anyone around. So again, we headed over for a picture. I love those rats, I think they're really cute and fluffy.









My brother and I went to get fastpasses for the Tower of Terror then, which weren't valid until 14.55h. We went to see if Mickey Mouse Playhouse Live was starting in English, but since it was in French first, we went to get fastpasses on the other 2 tickets for the Rock 'n Rollercoaster in the meantime. After this we went back for Mickey Mouse Playhouse Live, which my nieces were really excited about. I must say, for children I think it was a great show. Even for adults it's nice to see how it's all put together. My youngest niece didn't think the little characters on stage were scary, so she had a blast and was jumping and clapping all the time.





After this it was time for the Rock 'n Rollercoaster, which my brother had never been on. We had to wait about 10 minutes, my sister-in-law went for the Flying Carpets again in the meantime. I always get sweaty palms before riding a thrill ride, but when I get out of it, I always want to ride it again. Especially the countdown on the RnRC breaks my nerves, but I managed to keep my eyes open at all times this time. My brother had his eyes shut though, and wasn't as excited as me, but he survived. We went back to the rest of the family when we saw Eeyore. It's one of my favourite characters, but in my previous trips I never managed to get a picture with him. So I was happy as a child when I did get a picture this time.



We headed over to Stitch Live now, a show I didn't manage to see on my previous trip. I didn't have a clue what it would be like, but it was great! How they interact with the audience, and of course just the Stitch jokes, he's hilarious. After the show the Stars 'n Cars parade would soon start. We got ourselves a place, but then I noticed it was already time for our Tower of Terror fastpass! We got in line, but had to wait for 10 minutes or so. When we came near to the library, my brother chickened out! He asked me if I was okay with it but he wasn't looking well at all, so I let him go and stayed in line alone. It's more fun when you have someone to talk too, but I didn't want to miss this ride and I'm glad I didn't. I absolutely love it! Though I'm too afraid to keep my hands loose, I always grab on to something as soon as it drops. The chicken-thing runs in the family I guess...





My brother sent me a text message that they were at the photo shop with the kids, were you can have your picture inserted on a Disney photograph. I went over there and was glad I could sit down for a moment, my back and legs were killing me. After a while the computer crashed, they had to start over so I went into the shop where I bought myself a new wallet. When it was done we went back to the Flying Carpets, for my nieces it's the 'Small World' from the Studios Park, they can't get enough of it. At the end of the day we went to see Animagique, which is one of my favourite shows. Since we were on the front row, my youngest niece was a little scared at first. But at the end, when she was sure they weren't coming of the stage, she was also clapping along with the music.

After this we went to Annette's Diner, we never skip this restaurant on our trips. To finish of the meal we always get an Elvis, which we split by the 3 of us, it's tradition. It's a load of cookies, brownies and ice cream, finished of with lots of whipped cream. Really delicious! We had a little discussion about going back to the park or not, but since the kids were tired and I was simply in too much pain, we went back to the hotel instead. When we passed Café Mickey's I saw that the characters were dancing on 'Think' by Aretha Franklin as well, I thought they only did this at Annette's. It fits in the theme there, seeing Goofy going crazy on this song was funny but also a little weird... At the hotel we went to the bar for a drink and when we were back on our room, I fell fast asleep while watching the Disney Channel.

[Annet]

Day 4.

We got up early today, so we could finally get something out of our Extra Magic Hours. It was quiet at breakfast today, so we were ready to leave nice on time. While I was waiting for the others outside at the lake, the man next to me started throwing bread into the water. So the birds all came racing down and scared the shit out of me, since I'm really scared of birds. My brother of course laughed at me when he saw this. I know it's foolish, but I can't help it.





When we were at the park I got over the birds already, we headed to Buzz Lightyears Laserblast. I love this attraction, although I suck at it. I was alone in a cart, so I tried shooting with both the guns, it only made my score even worse When I wanted to get out, the cast members told me to stay seated, cause of my crutches. It's just for support though, so I wanted to get out of the cart anyway, but then the both of them started shouting at me to sit down. I know it's for the best, they want to help you, but I don't like being treated differently. We also went into Dumbo, Snow White and the Tea Cups. The queue for Peter Pan was already quite long during the EMH, so we decided to get fastpasses for that later. My brother and I wanted to head over to the Studios to ride Crush's Coaster and (for me) maybe the Tower, but since I had too much pain to stroll up and down so much, we skipped this plan.









When the EMH were over, we went into Alice's Curious Labyrinth, where I did some strange poses with my crutches. Ah well you better make the best out of dragging those things around!  After this we strolled around the park a bit, went on the Pirates on more time, dit Peter Pan (which had an enormous queue...why?), sat down to rest now and then and met a lot of characters. Rafiki was picking his nose with my nieces pen and started picking flees out of my hair, he was quite funny.















We decided to watch some shows today, starting with the Witches Dancing Spells Show at Frontierland. When we got there, it was all full for the show of 13.00h, so we went to grab lunch at the Cowboy Cookout Barbeque first. When we walked out Chip and Dale walked in with a menu, acting pretty silly as they are of course.













Outside we got ourselves a seat for the show, so I wouldn't have to stand so much. I thought it was a nice show, especially the end with the skeleton-microphones. And I like the song they sing at the start of it, it really sticks in your mind. After this show we walked towards Discoveryland for the next one, It's Dance Time with Stitch! I heard so many negative reviews on this one, that I was really curious. And I must say, I don't really get all the criticism. Okay, the dance-along part is a little far fetched, but I thought it was quite entertaining. As did my niece, but like me she also loves to dance.





The only show left to see was It's Party Time with Mickey and Friends, but we wanted to catch the show with the villains. So in the meanwhile we did some more rides and watched the Halloween pre-parade and Once Upon A Dream Parade again. This time we did see the Princesses dance during the parade stop. Also I read about the floats being scented often, but this was actually the first time I smelled it! Very strongly too, a bit too scented you could say. During the parade my batteries gave up, I had some more in my bag but they didn't work unfortunately. I already saw and photographed the parade, but still it was frustrating not being able to make pictures. My youngest niece was getting used to the characters in the meanwhile, she stood in the front the entire parade and when the princess float was in front of us she didn't stop waving to all of them, so sweet!

After the parade we had diner at Pizzeria Bella Notte, pizza and garlic bread. It was okay, but not the best meal I've had in DLRP. After diner we went for another ride on It's A Small World, but on my way out I noticed that one of my crutches was loose. The thing that holds the two parts together had fallen of and since I wasn't far from the boats, it was probably in the boat! I didn't know the boat number though and was rather upset, cause without that part the crutch is useless. But the cast members were very helpful and checked every blue boat until they fortunately found the missing part!

My brother wasn't feeling very well, so after this we went to catch Mickey's show on Central Plaza and he headed back to the hotel. I tried to make nice pictures with my sister-in-laws camera, but their camera has less functions so I only got a few decent ones. After the show Ratcliffe and Frollo came down at our side to hand out candy to the kids, my nieces almost got crushed cause lots of adults tried to get in front too...really, grow up!











We headed back to the hotel now, but made a shopping stop in the Village. I got myself a Stitch keychain, which is now actually hanging from the rearview mirror in my car. I also got two more Christmas balls for myself, one golden one with Mickey ears and bells inside, and one of glass with Chip and Dale inside. Besides that I had to do shopping for 'Sinterklaas'. It's what we celebrate here on the 5th of December in Holland, instead of Santa Clause who brings presents with Christmas in most countries. My brother has 2 daughters and so does my sister, so I had to get 4 presents. I got jewellery boxes for my brothers daughters, one of Tinkerbell and one of Belle. Of course they couldn't see this cause the presents will come from 'Sinterklaas', not me. For my other nieces I got a Tinkerbell photo frame and a glittery Jack Skellington in which you can put a small candle, my oldest niece loves A Nightmare before Christmas.

All the things I bought:







Back in the hotel I made my brother laugh again cause there was some sort of beetle on my back, which I tried to kill. I'm not a big fan of bugs either My sister-in-law had bought my brother a small statue of a knight at King Ludwig's, he collects that sort of things, so he was happy too. And of course my nieces had gotten lots of things, they had also brought their savings, so they could go crazy in the store.

[Annet]

Day 5.

Our last day had arrived already, time flies when you're having fun. It was a rather foggy day though, so after 4 sunny days were we didn't need a coat by day we felt lucky to be leaving today. We got up early again, put all our luggage in the car and got breakfast, so we could catch the Extra Magic Hours again. We planned on going home around 13.00h today, cause it's a long drive home.

When we got at the park, our tickets weren't valid. We had to get other tickets today, the text said 5 days, but apparently it was only valid for 4 days. After this we headed for Buzz again, were I did a little better today with only one gun. After a stroll around Fantasyland my brother and I went towards the Studios Park, cause he really wanted to ride Crush's Coaster. We went in line at 09.10h and we could get into the coaster at 10.10h, so we still waited in line for an hour. But still it's better than 120 minutes, and it's been 2 years since I last went on it. I didn't get a fastpass for the Tower of Terror anymore, even if I could have gone on it before 13.00h, I didn't have the energy to walk up and down to the other park again.







Back at the Disneyland Park we searched for my sister-in-law and the kids, they were on Central Plaza taking pictures with all characters and pumpkins from Minnie's Party Train. My brother wanted a picture with a pumpkin girl too, so we took a picture before finding the others again. We walked to Frontierland to see if there was a line for Phantom Manor, which was pretty long, so we got a cup of coffee at Fuento del Oro. After finishing that, we went for a walk through Aladdin's Enchanted Passage and Sleeping Beauty's Castle. When we walked out of the Castle, Sleeping Beauty's show had just begun so we stayed to watch that. Even my youngest niece was really excited to get autographs of the princesses by now.





We decided to start walking home, but of course we had to make a last stop at It's A Small World (seriously, I don't get these kids ) When we were on our way out we saw a few more characters, so I got my picture taken with Gaston who was really good in character. 'I would like to take a picture with you.' *big Gaston smile* 'Of course you do!' My youngest niece even went for an autograph to him and to Maleficent, but when we saw other characters she was scared again. When my oldest niece and my sister-in-law went to the bathroom, Tweedle Dum was standing in front of us and suddenly my youngest niece said she wanted to give him her autograph book. So she did and she even went on the picture with him and also with Tweedle Dee. So we call them 'the chosen ones' now









After this we headed towards the exit, sad that it was over but also looking forward to a good nights sleep in our own beds! On our way out I got two Halloween-Stitches to give to my other nieces, who weren't on this trip. I also bought my mother a cookie jar with cookies, cause she took care of my rabbit at home The drive home seemed much longer, but I managed to stay awake to keep my brother, who was driving, some company.


More presents.

When I got home I barely could walk the two steps up to my apartment, clearly the rheumatics have gotten worse since my last trip. But it was definitely worth it, the magic of Disney makes you forget about the pain and brings you lots of magical memories to drag you through other rough days

[Aveen2008]

Great trip report so far! And fabulous photos! I love your minnie top you wore at the studios! I want it haha!
I think you all looked brilliant dressed up!  

p.s oh just realised youve added more hehe yay!

[Elaine]

I loved reading that, and all those character photos - fantastic     !

[Annet]

Thanks! Since I was sitting here sick around the house all day, I just wrote the entire report at once

[brenjo]

Really enjoyable trip report and such lovely photos.  Well done you for keeping your cool about the mixup with your room on the first night - i cant believe they did not even manage to give you the promised upgrade of lake view the next day - I would have been hopping mad.  I hope you lodge a complaint with whoever was responsible for the mixup.

[Masamune]

So many lovely pictures. I'm so jealous of everyone who's gone to DLRP this October!

[bensmum]

wonderful report and pictures. you seem to have coped with some quite major iritations and still enjoyed yourself even though you were in pain.  =D>
hope your next trip will be hiccup free and just as enjoyable.

[The Butlin Boy]

Thanks for sharing your fantastic trip report and photos with us, I've really enjoyed reading through it all. I'm sorry to hear about the mess up with the hotel and the pains that you had the crutches for, but I'm glad that you all had a brilliant time overall

[Aurora]

Great trip report! Thank you.
I loved the pics. I think one day i`ll go for Halloween.
Aurora

[DLP-Photos.com]

Thanks for a lovely report with some fantastic photos and it does sound like you have had an amazing trip in spite of room-mix-ups and your crutches (I'm glad that the CMs was so helpful to you when they broke, although I do understand you regarding the special treatment on Buzz - my mum had crutches during a previous trip of ours too and she didn't like the special treatment either.)

Thanks for the report once again

[king_spoon_ian]

When it was finally our turn however, they told us that there was no room for us in Sequoia, so we HAD to leave to Elysee for that night, we didn't even have a choice. Of course we didn't agree right away, we had made our reservation somewhere around march/april, how could there be no room?! We didn't get that quite clear, they kept saying something about a computer problem... However, after almost half an hour of disagreeing to leave, we were told that if we wouldn't take the room in Elysee we would have to sleep outside on the street.

I don't think I can describe in words quite how wrong that is. That Disney said something like that to you is really, really poor. I think a stern letter to management is needed.

If they can't get you into the hotel you've booked into, I'd actually expect to be offered an upgrade, not a quite substantial downgrade (cost wise). Even if you did get offered a lake view room for the rest of the days, they should have done more to compensate for the inconvenience.