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[tubbsy]

Brilliant! Glad you had sucha great time

[toritinker]

Day one: Travelling 27th August 2010!

We knew today would be a tiring day, the long coach trip ahead of us, but it wasn't that bad!!

We got up at 5.30am, had a shower and ate a bit of breakfast (who is hungry at 5.30am?!?) and got very excited while we packed our hand luggage! At 6.15am my dad drove us to the train station and our coach was there waiting for our 6.40am pick up!! We had the front seats behind the driver, so we had more leg room and with the luggage on board we were off!! The coach stopped at Bristol and 3 other stops before we headed to the motorway services to allow people to transfer to different coaches. I must say this was a bit manic but luckily we were staying on the same coach all the way. We were on our way again and had a tunnel crossing at 3.50pm. It got really hot on the coach on the tunnel crossing, thank god for the little fans  [-o<  The drive to from France tunnel to the hotel went without a glitch, we made only one stop so we got to the hotel at 9pm French time.

There were 2 coaches staying at the Radisson hotel so we thought check in would be a long wait, but me being the quick thinker ran off the coach and checked in while the boyfriend got the cases. I was the first one  :thumbs: and checked in no problem, also booking a taxi for 8.30am to take us to the park (shuttle buses didn't start until 9am and the buses were tiny!) The boyfriend came in with the cases just as the queue appeared for check in! We made our way to the room and we had a surprise - we were in a business class room!



we had lush dressing gowns and slippers (way too big but comfy!)



Our bathroom:





all the goodies:



the super comfy bed:



seating area (windows over looked golf course and walt disney studios! post piccies tomorrow in the light!)



After unpacking what we wanted for the next day, we relaxed in bed and then went to sleep about 11.30pm all ready for my birthday!!!!

Day two coming up soon!

[DLP-Photos.com]

Hi

Sounds like a wonderful trip and a great start to the report - great to see others who can cope with a long coach ride :lol:

Your room seems fab and I'm looking forward to the next updates!

[davewasbaloo]

Great rooms, in much better condition that the Hotel New York. I find Radisson is a great hotel and with a dream pass, it works well (btw - you could have taken the number 34 bus that goes to the park every 10-20 minutes for 2€)

[kelly.dylan]

Glad you had a lovely trip,  your room looks lovely. Cant wait to read the rest of your report.
Kelly x

[toritinker]

ah didn't know about the bus!
We only had to pay E11 for a taxi though so we were happy to do that really, easy and nice to be driven on our own hehe!
thanks! I will try to do day two tomorrow, still got washing/unpacking to do seeing as I was in work today haha!
xx

[tubbsy]

Great room! Love all the extra bits you got there

[toritinker]

Day two: Saturday 28th August 2010 aka: My 23rd birthday!!  

Part one: The studios

We had the alarm set for 6.30am but I was awake from about 6am, I was just TOO excited to sleep any more. I read the brits guide while I was waiting for the boyfriend to wake up. He woke up with the alarm and was fairly sleepy and wished me a happy birthday! I popped into the shower and when I came out he was fully awake and had my birthday present and card on the bed waiting for me!! I had already had GHD's and a personalised teddy before we went so I wasnt expecting anything!!! Anyway here are pics of my card (really suits me haha!) and my present, I must say my boyfriend has amazing taste!!

card:



inside:
 
 

Necklace:



So after I had my amazing present (I didn't want to risk wearing it to the park though!) we got dressed and ready to go to breakfast for 7.30am as our taxi was at 8.30am.
I opened the curtain and window to see what the weather was like (sunny sunny sunny  :thumbs: ) and I had the biggest surprise, we over looked the golf course and we could see the tower of terror and the mickey tower in Walt Disney Studios!! I was so excited and even the BF thought it was rather cool to have a view like that. Sadly, I don't own a fancy camera, so this is the best picture I have but it really was better with the naked eye, could clearly see them!!!



ready for a day in the park:



We made our way down to breakfast (didn't take photo's oops!) and filled up on coco-pops, bacon rolls and an apple with a glass of yummy orange juice! They did have sausages, beans, mushrooms etc but didn't fancy anything else. Breakfast at the Radisson was by far better than the Sante Fe IMO!!

Breakfast eaten, we made our way into the hotel lobby and had a little look around as we hadn't had chance the night before. Really nice lobby area and so clean!! I really think the hotel was top notch  :thumbs:  
We went outside as we had 15mins until our taxi was due so we had look at the front of the hotel:





We saw a taxi pull up at exactly 8.30am and it was ours   we were now on our way to Disney wahooooo!!!!
The taxi dropped us off by the train station and was only E11 so we gave him E15 and were now officially in the magic  / We had about 20mins unitl our tour of the tower, so we decided to look around the village until about 8.50am. I love the village and think the window displays are amazing. They really do add to the magical feeling!!!
A few of my favourite photos:











We made our way to the entrance of the Studios.They were only letting people in with annual passes/hotel passes and we tried explaining that we were booked on a tour so didn't want access to Toystory Playland!! It was really difficult for the cast members to understand and none of them seemed to know what we were on about  :shock:
However after a frustrating 5 minutes an English cast member came to see what the matter was (think he heard me say "I'm going to cry if we don't get in" lol!) and THANKFULLY he took us through the barrier and to guest relations where we met our tour guide!!! PHEW!!!

Panic over we relaxed and enjoyed being in park early! We paid E24 for the two of us for the tour, and wow was it worth it. Not so much the tour itself but all the perks that went with it! The only area open to annual pass holders was Toystory playland so we walked through studio one and onto production courtland and it was EMPTY! what a surprise!! We got to take lots of pics of the park being empty, which was great!!!
Empty park:













We went on into the hotel and had a good look around, hearing lots of snippits of information we didn't know! I never knew that upstairs where the circle of chalk is on the wall, if you put your ear to the wall you can hear the little girl crying for her mum! Another surprise on the tour was that just before we got to go on the ride the tour guide pulled out keyrings of hotel keys (gold one, quite heavy and big with room 1313 on them) and said "hope you find your room" before letting us on the elevator! Really added to the atmosphere of the ride, which was a bit spooky being just 5 people!! We got on the lift and sat at the front (only 4 people on the ride!) for the first ride of the day. WOW!! I just love this ride!!! Everything was amazing! We left the ride and looked at the photograph - well we didn't get it because we both looked terrible! I looked like I was going to cry but honestly I loved it  
After being shown around the shop and the girl's hidden mickey in the photograph (her bag!) it was the end of the tour. It was now 10.05am and the park was looking really busy. The queue for the tower was really long and out of the entrance! So glad we did the tour, just to get the ride done without queuing!
A few photos:













Anyway, next we wanted to try R&R coaster - but it wasn't working   so we headed over to Toystory Playland to have a look! Now, I was really excited to see the new area before I went. I was really excited when I saw the huge buzz at the entrance, the domino wall, rex and the lighting, that's about it. I felt a bit "meh" about the area. I think the theming is great but everything felt squished together and none of the rides excited me enough to wait 120minutes for each ride! We didn't go on any of the rides but I did enjoy looking around! The shop though...well that was let down, it's tiny too!!! Still we enjoyed the area for what it was and it does add some much needed colour and trees to the park, so that's a plus  :thumbs:  
A few photos:

















After this we wanted to see if R&R would be working again, and yay it was!!! We queued for 10minutes for the ride which was amazing, lots of effects were working and the ride seemed as smooth as it could be lol! When we came out the queue time was showing 30minutes, so I think we must have caught it opening just in time  :thumbs:  
My favourite guitar:





We had a quick blast of the fan:



and decided to check out the Studio Tram Tour. The wait time was showing 15minutes, so off into the queue we got! It ended up being about 25minutes but still not bad going for a Saturday in the summer! This ride was good but not as good as I remember it being! I like the london scene the best, a little boy infront of us really believed that a dragon was about to pop up and had a toy sword at the ready to kill it *cute*. You can see lots of Toystory playland from the ride but that didn't matter too much.
A few photos:









We went back into Studio One after this and had a little look in the shops:





It was then time for the stunt show!! The queue was EPIC.. it went all the way past R&R coaster and there was still 45minutes until show time! We got in the queue just by the entrance to the coaster as we knew the show has a high capacity. Soon after, they started letting people in and we had a really good seat on the left hand side. The people pouring in was amazing to see and I bet the park was a bit quieter with the show full!! The show was fantastic! The stunts really are clever and the BF being a mechanic really got into the show. We saw the balloon up in the air during the show too which was cool as we hadn't seen it up before!
A few photos:







We were feeling hungry after the show and decided to have a mickey pizza in blockbuster cafe, it was sooo yummy!!!



After this we decided to head over to Disneyland Park as we had done everything we wanted in the Studios! I think it was about 2.30pm ish!

Day two part two coming up soon!
xx

[kelly.dylan]

Great first day in the parks Tori, shame you didnt get to go on any rides in TSPL, cant believe the queues are soooo long!
Photos are great and love the mouse ears too, did you buy them? Looking forward to the rest of your report xx

[yiazoo]

Great report for (from what i can tell) a great trip! The first 2 days are great, lets hear the rest!!!

[davewasbaloo]

It was very busy that day...we never did get to see MA this time as it was already full when we got out of other shows, and the family we were with didn't want to spend too much time waiting around.

BTW - the 1313, besides the unlucky for some significance, it also the address of Disneyland. The letter M is the 13th letter of the alphabet, therefore 1313=MM or Mickey Mouse!

Did they not explain the Twighlight Zone significance of the doll, or the tea set, or the library artifacts? Glad they at least explained the other dimension chalk drawing (also referenced in the Simpsons when Homer goes 3D).

We were there the same day, making use of the TSPL EMH, and walked away feeling similar to you.

[toritinker]

thanks guys!! yes i bought the pink ears kelly hehe!! i love them haha!
the trip was amazing yiazoo, loved every minute!

OOO wow I never knew that about the room number, thanks dave!
They did yes actually! But it was half in English/half French so I may have missed bits hehe!

I do like the area, just didn't excite me enough to "waste'" 6 hours on 3 rides that I spent instead enjoying the park!

[toritinker]

Day two part two: Disneyland Park and my birthday meal

After exploring the studio's we popped over to Disneyland Park. I was so excited walking through the gates and as soon as I inside I felt like a child again! This park is much more magical to me than the studios, I don't get that "awe" feeling in the studios that I get here!!!

We stopped by city hall to check on our reservation for that evening at Silver Spur and my boyfriend got me a birthday sticker!!



It was so cool to wear it as all day I had random strangers wishing me a happy birthday in various languages - very cool!! Also one CM gave me a free mickey pin, thats really made my day and makes for a good present for myself

We walked down main street, popping in the shops along the way (people who've read the "buying things ready for the trip" thread will know how much I love shopping!) but we decided not to buy anything until the last day as we didn't want to be carrying it around. The shops were busy but still had room to move about. We really wanted to get some homeware (oven gloves, apron and glasses) in Lillys I think it was? (please correct me if I have the name wrong!) and decided we would definatly need an hour or two tomorrow to shop some more!!
We had our first real look at the caste in 2 years, and it made me so happy to be there on my birthday. We had a lovely few minutes just staring at the castle before we took a look around inside. The castle was looking very good and truely looked magical inside! It wasn't very busy upstairs, lots of people were just walking straight through it so at one point we had the whole of upstairs to ourselves and so we could really take our time looking around!! Any way a few photos of the castle:







BF asked me what ride I wanted to do first, it had to be pirates!! We took a walk over to Adventure land and although there were lots of people around, the queue time said 20minutes!!



We were surprised but happy  :thumbs:  Infact we probably only queued about 15minutes in total. The ride was amazing, just as I remember it. Although some annoying man next to me kept taking photographs with his flash which annoyed me as it was flashing in my eye! I had to gesture to him to stop because it was getting so bad. Really wish people listened and wouldn't use flash photography continually on a ride!! (especially lean over someone to take it!)

After the ride we had a look around the caves,

these were quiet as well...

seems people don't realise there is so much to look at here!! BF had a shock when he looked in a dark corner and found a seat, he fell, which I captured on camera of course!!!


We had a really good look around the caves and the ship and headed towards Indiana Jones. On the way we saw my favourite, Jack!!!!!!!!!!



The ship was looking a little worn, but still great after all these years! I loved how a little boy asked his dad when the ship was leaving the water because he didn't want other pirates to steal the ship! Kids really do say the funniest things!!!



We queued for 15minutes for Indiana Jones, I'm glad we didn't queue any longer. The ride didn't really do anything for me and I wouldn't miss it if I hadn't done it.

We had about  2 hours until our 7pm reservation at Silver Spur so we grabbed an ice cream (E3.25 each) and took a wander to visit the Dragon....it took us ages to find where the entrance was  :oops: but the hunt was well worth it! I haven't seen the dragon before so I really  enjoyed it! I think the dragon was in fantastic condition and the atmospere in his lair was really spooky.







We stayed here for a while eating our ice creams and watching the dragon. Really nice to have a break from the sun too!!

Off we went next to Frontierland!! I love this area, it's my favourite! The theming is just perfect. We had about an hour and half until dinner so we had a good look around the area (and yes more shops!!) and saw that Phantom Mannor was 25minute wait time, Great! We got in the queue and enjoyed a look around the house. This is a great ride, especially as it lasts so long. You feel you get your waiting time worth out of the ride! The inside was looking amazing and the effects were great. I still love the ghost at the end, my fav!!!



After this, we popped into the toilets and got changed ready for dinner.



We got to silver spur about 6.50pm and we were seated straight away! At first they gave us a terrible table by the service area and we asked to be moved. At first they said no, then when BF said it was birthday, a table magically appeared on the raised area to the left looking at the kitchen, fantastic!!! The food was soooo good (sorry forgot to take pictures!) I could eat here all the time! Reservations were needed as the place was full by 7.30pm, with people queueing to get in! They bought loads of bread rolls to our table and it was hard not to munch these too much before our food came! The wine was very cheap for the park - E14 for a bottle of rose wine. We had the cowboy sharing platter to start - E17 (shrimp, onion rings, chicken wings, chips and dip) BF had the I - Bone steak which was HUGE and about E27, I had the sirloin steak E25 and we both chose fries, and wow did they pile the chips on!!
We were too full for a desert, the meal portions were big enough to fill even an empty stomach!!! We left about 9pm, so a nice relaxing few hours with good wine and good food!

We left feeling very full and contented and decided that a trip on It's a small world was in order seeing as the queue time was showing 5 minutes!! I love this ride, but the BF hates it haha!! I didn't take photographs as my battery was dying    and wanted to get pictures of the parade! I was promised I could do the ride again tomorrow and get pictures if I wanted...(which we did!)



About 9.15pm we made our way to Main Street to get a space for the parade. We luckily got a seat opposite Victoria's and by 9.30pm people were starting to stand behind those that were sat down! I was so so excited to see this parade, it did not disappoint! The thing that bugged me though was the people who were rude! We had sat for an hour in our spaces and this rude French woman with 4 kids and a buggy in tow tried to push the buggy infront of me and stand there!!BF was not happy and proceded to tell her she needs to move as we have been waiting a long time. A CM heard the conversation and did infact tell the woman she had to go. He escorted her all the way back!!  :thumbs: At 10.40pm the parade started, as the announcement was made a couple tried to push infront of us, we elbowed them back as the man practically pushed me out the way and I nearly fell onto the road, luckily there was another couple from the UK next to us and the man caught me before I fell (thanks if it was anyone on here hehe!) and then two men eyeballed the couple and they soon moved back! Anyway drama over, the parade started and it was all forgotten, what's the point on dwelling on the negative?!
A few photographs:












I was left in awe when the parade ended and wished I could see it again straight away!!! We made our way out of Main Street and passed on staying for the fireworks as we were SHATTERED! We grabbed a taxi and were back in our hotel by 11.20pm.We finished the day with a drink in the bar (very expensive - a pint was E8 and a malibu and coke was E10.50! but was very nice!!!)

We went to bed and straight to sleep by midnight...we were two very tired but happy people!

Day two coming up tomorrow night hopefully!
xxx

[stepintothepink]

The tour sounds really good.  How did you find out about it and where did you book it?

[davewasbaloo]

I am glad you had such a great birthday celebration. To me, the Silver Spur is one of the very best in DLP.

As for PotC, the wait is rarely long, it is not due to a lack of capacity, just due to the fact that nearly 5 times as many people can do PotC in an hour as Peter Pan or Crush coaster. And it can carry twice as many people as Big Thunder.

I am glad you liked the Dragon, she is one of my favorite parts of the park.

I was surprised you skipped the fireworks as there is only about 10 minutes after Fanti before they begin.

Look forward to reading the rest.