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[disneyloverjessie]

Love  the trip report so far,
and that picture of TOT is really good!

[stepintothepink]

I've just got back from my trip, and I'm really enjoying reading your report! My boyfriend had the exact same experience on ToT - twice his leg was grabbed by big burly men!!

[smurfy74]

ive really enjoyed your report so far, it sounds and looks like youve had a great time /  /

[jeakat24]

Loving the trip report so far, and the pictures are great too. Mine's still a work in progress at the moment but it's interesting to see where we crossed paths. We were also in the studios on the Thursday.

[Annet]

Great report and nice pictures! Looks like you had a great time!

[laura87]

Laura 87's Trip Report Day 3 Part 2

By now it was around 4pm and we had an hour before the parade was due to begin, the park was noticably busier now as more and more weekend guests arrived. We went over to Discoveryland and planned to ride Buzz for a final time however the queue was showing around 35 minutes so we decided not to wait. I know that this is not a huge waiting time but bear in mind the majority of rides had been walk on all week so we didn't really fancy waiting for ages now. We decided to go on Space Mountain instead, the queue said 20 minutes but we were prepared to wait longer than that as we know that the Space Mountain queue times can be less than accurate at times. We got into the queue and we were pleasantly surprised as the actual waiting time was only around 10 minutes, we completed our final ride on Space Mountain for the trip and still had some time to spare before the parade. I wanted to ride POTC for a final time as I love the atmosphere and smell of the ride, I think it just sums up Disney perfectly. We got in the queue and waited around 20 mins to ride. All four lanes in the queue line were being used which I guess shows how much busier the parks were getting as there had been only 2 lanes open for the rest of our trip. After pirates it was time to get ready for the parade. By this point my feet were so wet that there were puddles inside my boots! We decided to go to Main Street USA to watch the parade so we could make our exit after the parade without getting stuck behind the masses.

Tha parade was excellent as usual, the smell from the princess float is amazing! I have to admit I had a wee tear in my eye as the princesses went past, Part Of My World always makes me cry though! I think it was beginning to sink in that this was the end of our trip and I have no idea when we will be planning our next one.






I've not got a lot of pictures from the parade as Drew spent a lot of time filming it. After the parade finished we decided to leave the parks for the day, the parade had began a little bit late so it was now around 5.45pm so we didn't have time to do anything else. We left the park and headed back to the hotel, a bit upset because it was nearly time to go home and unbelieveably wet. We got back to the hotel and we were amazed by now busy the place was. I definitely plan to keep my trips to midweek. The weekend crowds even at quiet times of year are unbelievable. We went back and layed out our wet clothes to dry and then just chilled out for an hour or so. We got ready for our 7.45pm reservation at Cafe Mickey and left the hotel about 7.35pm we planned a leisurely stroll but got half way there and the rain started to get really heavy again so we ran the rest of the way. I'm sorry to say that our bad experience began as soon as we arrived at Cafe Mickey so I'm going to get into a bit of a negative mood here.

We got to Cafe Mickey around 2 minutes early for our reservation and saw a queue of around 30 people outside. We thought this was for people who had not made a reservation so we went inside and handed over ticket, the lady who was dealing with reservations was rude and told us it was not yet time for our reservation. She then explained that the queue we had bypassed was actually for people who had booked a table. I had read a little bit about this on here before, I wouldn't mind waiting for a while in the Summer but it was pouring with rain and absolutely freezing outside so I was less than happy to be told I had to wait outside. Drew intervened here and without being rude explained that we had made a reservation and we were not standing out in the rain. The lady huffed and puffed but took our receipt and allowed us to wait the the bottom of the stairs. As the rain got worse more and more people decided to come inside and wait and the entrance are became unbelieveably crowded. It was awful especially because there was a steady stream of people from the restaurant trying to get past to access the toilets. Our wait was made worse when someone was sick on the floor which obviously wasn't very pleasant. Around 25 minutes later Drew managed to fight his way to the reception area to see when we were going to be called and they said our table was now ready. How much longer would we have been there if he hadn't approached them and asked? We were told to go upstairs where we joined another small queue to be shown to our table. We were finally sat down and were pleased to see Eeyore and Tigger were both at the other side of the restaurant and were making their way round. We waited a while for our order to be taken but by then had chilled out a bit and we were enjoying the atmosphere. I had Aurora's Choice for dinner which was lovely, it was breaded turkey with ham and melted cheese on it and it was served with a baked potato which was stuffed with sour cream and blue cheese, it was delicious! Drew got a pepperoni pizza which had only around 5 pieces of pepperoni on it which we had a good laugh about. The characters were making their way round now and Mr Smee and Captain Hook appeared as well as Mickey. There were children running around everywhere which irritated me slightly as they were stopping the characters from making their way round the tables. Mr Smee was first to come to our table and he gave me a kiss and we got some pictures.



Next up was Captain Hook, you may remember I mentioned how much I love Captain Hook earlier in my report so I was really excited at the prospect of finally getting my picture with him. He made his way round all the tables in our area and began to walk away without visiting our table. Drew motioned for him to come over and he looked right at us and turned and walked away! I was upset about this, I felt that because there were no children at our table some of the characters didn't seem to bother with us. Next came Mickey himself He took ages to get to us but this was to be expected and he happily posed for some pictures



When Mickey left our table he began to walk towards the other end of the restaurant when two children ran up behind him and started punching him in the back! Both myself and the lady at the table next to me let out exclamations, we couldn't believe what was happening! The childrens parents didn't even bat an eyelid as Mickey rushed away from them.  Tigger and Eeyore came next and we got some more pictures




After Eeyore had gone my dessert arrived, I got the huge profiterole and it was lovely!

It was too much for me though and I gave half of it to Drew. He decided to take a picture of my finishing it so I looked like a greedy pig who had ate it all myself!


We settled the bill next and left the restaurant. I have to say I was really diappointed in my Cafe Mickey experience, it may have been different if we had visited on an evening earlier on in our trip but it just seemed to be unorganised chaos. They are obviously taking far too many reservations and they cannot handle the volume of people who visit! They had a don't care attitude and the poor waiting staff were completely stressed trying to undertake 3 different tasks at once. I was also wondering if there was a system where they check the validity of birthdays? During our visit there were five different birthdays, I can't help but think people might make this up simply to get some more time with the characters. Something needs to be done about children running around, it is only a matter of time before a child is burned by some hot food as they constantly run into the waiters whilst they carry huge trays full of food. Also the children running around continually distracted the characters, the children at the table next to us sat patiently waiting to meet Eeyore but before he got to their table a rude child ran up and dragged him away. The poor wee boy next to us was devestated. I'm sorry to get into a massive rant about it but Cafe Mickey was a huge disappointment to me, when I was expecting it to be one of the highlights of our trip!

After dinner we walked round Lake Disney back to the hotel and treated ourselves to another cocktail before heading back to our room to pack.

[laura87]

Laura87's Trip Report Journey Home and General Thoughts

We had originally planned to do EMH on Saturday before we left for the airport but since the park had been so quiet we had already done all of the EMH rides so we decided just to have a longer lie and head to the airport after breakfast. When we woke up there was snow outside so we weren't too sad to be leaving as it seemed even colder than the already freezing weather we had experienced. We had booked breakfast originally for 7am but headed down just after 9am instead. The greeter at the restaurant didn't seem to mind that we were outside our time. We had to queue for a couple of minutes but it was nothing major. After we got our fill we went back to the room and packed up the last of our things before we checked out and went outside to wait for the VEA back to the airport. The bus arrived after about 10 minutes and we were soon at CDG. We had a bit of a scary experience when we arrived at the airport. Our flight home was hassle free although I do get annoyed when its time to board. We flew Easyjet and the lady clearly announced that we had not to queue as they had a boarding system in place, as soon as she announced this everyone got up and formed a queue! It drives me mad, you can't people follow simple instructions? Anyway a short flight later we were back in Glasgow where my dad picked us up and we were home for around 2pm.

I just wanted to add a couple of thoughts about the resort in general at the end. It was our first visit to Newport Bay Club as we usually opt for Sequoia Lodge. I definitely think this would be a nicer hotel in the Summer, it was freezing during our visit and I missed the warm and cosy atmosphere that Sequoia offers. Drew said he simply did not understand why Newport Bay costs more than Sequoia, the rooms were the same size and he said the long walk to the room from reception was torture after a long day in the parks! He also thought it was a little bit further away from the parks than Sequoia. The hotel could also be doing with a paint, it was turning a greeny colour which was more obvious after the rain as well. I'd like to make it clear that the holiday was lovely, the rooms had a nice nautical theme and it was nice to sit at the window in the restaurants and watch the world go by.

Highs of the Trip

* The resort was as magical as ever, I will never get tired of visiting.
* There seemed to be a lot of characters walking around randomly, we kept bumping into characters by chance which we've never experienced before.
* The parks were lovely and quiet, it was great to take our trip at a lesiurely pace, not worrying about getting everything done in time.
* Drew got his first ride of the Parisian Big Thunder Mountain, he loved the right as much as I'd hoped he would.
* It was great to get away and have some time just for the two of us in my favourite place in the world, we've been working contrasting shifts for a while now and its hard to actually spend some quality time together.

Lows of the Trip

* Our trip to Cafe Mickey did not live up to my expectations.
* Peter Pan's Flight being shut, not a major issue because we obviously knew before we went but I was still said to miss out.
* The CM who dragged Mickey away when I was the only person waiting to see him, her attitude was horrible.

All in all we both had a great time in Disneyland Paris! Drew doesn't share my Disney obsession but he is happy to go along with it to keep me happy. We also had such a great time that we are planning a trip to WDW later on in the year together! Thanks for reading my trip report and I hope you've enjoyed it! I've enjoyed writing it as it helped me re-live our trip and organise all our pictures! I thought I'd finish my report with a wee picture of me enjoying Disneyland Paris.

[Aurora]

Hi laura87,
thanks a lot for the report and the pics. I always love reading snd seeing from DLP.
Now I am a little worried about Cafe Mickey, we booked a meal there in april for the five of us. We hae it on a monday, so my hope is that the crowds are not that heavy.
Any way, I`m glad you enjoyed your trip overall.
Aurora

[bensmum]

Thanks for posting laura. We are just back from Newport Bay Club and agree with your comments. We also had a mixed experience at Cafe Mickey. Loved the photos, glad you had a good time. =D>

[carberry]

Great trip report, Laura. We are heading to the NPB in March so I'm a bit apprehensive  :? . Hopefully it will work out ok. We also had the very same experience at Cafe Mickey as you. I will never go back to it. Annette Diner is the one for me and looking forward to going back.

Carberry

[laura87]

by carberry » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:38 pm

Great trip report, Laura. We are heading to the NPB in March so I'm a bit apprehensive  . Hopefully it will work out ok. We also had the very same experience at Cafe Mickey as you. I will never go back to it. Annette Diner is the one for me and looking forward to going back.

Carberry, there is no need to apprehensive about Newport Bay Club, it is a beautiful hotel! I love the decor in the rooms and they are definitely a lot brighter and more up to date than the rooms in Sequoia. I was just stating that I don't understand why it costs more than SL. The only thing I would recommend is you could e-mail them just before you visit and ask for a room near reception as some rooms can be a good five minute walk from there! Have a great trip, I'm sure you will love Newport Bay, we did.

Also I fully agree that Annette's is the best place to eat in the resort. It is good value for money and the staff are alsways really friendly!

[loladelorean]

hi Laura, reading your cafe mickey report was like reading my own from september their booking system is outrageous!
Glad you still had a good holiday but it's a shame cafe mickey wasnt a good experience for you either, it was definitely the low point of our last trip.
Thanks for writing such a detailed report and sharing your photos

[jackieann]

Hi Laura

Loved your photos, and i do agree with you for the mickey cafe thing, i know kids get excited but when there are so many people of ALL ages that have paid good money to eat there, people should wait their turn.  My kids are 4 and 2 and we went in Sept and Dec last year and they were so so well behaved! i was proud.

In the sept we went to the lucky nugget and my 2 were waiting for pluto they wanted to ran up to him but as other kids were having there pics taken and i didnt want mine to spoil it for them, i WISH other parents would do the same.  Plusto came to my Daughter and was dancing with her and my Husband was filiming it then this horrible brat of a kid came running up and was right in the way b4 i could say anything pluto had stoped and the moment was gone i was gutted.  

GRRRRR

[carberry]

by carberry » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:38 pm

Great trip report, Laura. We are heading to the NPB in March so I'm a bit apprehensive  . Hopefully it will work out ok. We also had the very same experience at Cafe Mickey as you. I will never go back to it. Annette Diner is the one for me and looking forward to going back.

Carberry, there is no need to apprehensive about Newport Bay Club, it is a beautiful hotel! I love the decor in the rooms and they are definitely a lot brighter and more up to date than the rooms in Sequoia. I was just stating that I don't understand why it costs more than SL. The only thing I would recommend is you could e-mail them just before you visit and ask for a room near reception as some rooms can be a good five minute walk from there! Have a great trip, I'm sure you will love Newport Bay, we did.

Also I fully agree that Annette's is the best place to eat in the resort. It is good value for money and the staff are alsways really friendly!

thanks for the reassurance, Laura. 2 years ago we stayed in the Explorers and when we dropped people off at the NPB, I fell in love with the look of the hotel. Not worried about the walk to the room, its not a problem. Just one question, is there an ATM at the hotel?

Audrey x (carberry!)

[laura87]

thanks for the reassurance, Laura. 2 years ago we stayed in the Explorers and when we dropped people off at the NPB, I fell in love with the look of the hotel. Not worried about the walk to the room, its not a problem. Just one question, is there an ATM at the hotel?

Audrey x (carberry!)

Yeah I was so excited when the bus drew up outside, the hotel looks really grand! I'm not actually sure if there is an ATM at the hotel. I only used an ATM once when we were away and I used the one in Discovery Arcade. If there is not one at the hotel then there are quite a few dotted around the park and there is at least one in Disney Village as well.