What a Magical party - DLRP July 09 PTR

[peep]

Tuesday 21st July

After a late night round my friend's house for his birthday I got up at around 6 am, way too early in the morning after a night out. I then got the train and tube to London's St. Pancras station. Unfortunately on this part of the journey I was alone as Jason (TPAddict) had an unforeseen injury which meant he couldn't make it. I met Patrick (Mission 2) outside the check in gates of the Eurostar station.

We then checked in and we had a small wait until we could board the train. Here is Patrick happy to be back at the Eurostar terminal..

After a very quick journey to France we had to change at Lille. We had about a 15 minute wait so I purchased a pain au chocolat, very nice. We then got on our TGV to Disney. It was a double-decker one, was so roomy and just really nice to travel on (goes uber fast). We love it...

Zoom...

After a really short amount of time we arrived at the Disneyland Resort

First we went over to catch the very pink bendy bus to the hotel to drop off suitcases and to check in...

We arrived at our 2 star Kyriad hotel. It was so much better than I thought it was going to be.

Soon after checking in and leaving our luggage we headed back to the Disneyland Park. It was so nice to be back

First things first...food We decided upon the amazing Agrabah cafe, a buffet restaurant...

The food was amazing, the staff were freindly and the theming was epic. It also plays the score of Aladdin which is full of amazingness...

We also got a free small drink because we had annual passes which is always a good bonus. We felt like going to the Studios, so we did...

As we were looking at the time board we saw Donald coming down Hollywood Boulevard...

We then sat on a bench in the shade while we waited for High School Musical. Patrick loves bench credits...

It was time to go round to where the show stops outside ToT. The sun was really hot and there was a strong wind, which was humid! I felt really sorry for the performers of the show...

High School Musical was good fun (if you like the music that is) and the dancers love it and I love the interaction with the kids near the end of the show. We then turned round and we were pretty much at the line for the next show, Stars 'n' cars. This was unusual, half parade half show. It was enjoyable but it didn't make much sense, meh...

After Stars 'n' Cars there wasn't much of a wait for Cinemagique so we went to watch that. I still love this attraction, the effects are great and it's just a very enjoyable film/show. It was also nice to have a particular cooling effect as we were so hot from the heat outside.

We then went over to Tower of Terror which had about a 10 minute wait, awesomes

The Studios had now closed so we went over to the Disneyland park and went to Discoveryland. We then rode Space Mountain: Mission 2 after about a 15 minute wait. Annoyingly most of the wait was indoors which was unbearable due to the heat, was like being in a sauna, did not want. However the ride was amazing as always, love it

We then felt like getting some ice cream so we went to Gibson Girl on Main Street to get some Ben and Jerrys ice cream. I think this place gives out the biggest scoops I've ever seen, love it! Just look at all those flavours...

Patrick's ice cream...

Mine...

As we were having our lovely ice cream we watched Dance time with Mickey and friends again. Patrick had enjoyed his ice cream...

We went over to Adventureland and did Indiana Jones and the temple of peril. We only queued for about 5 mins which was cool. I love this ride, it's so fun, especially for an Intamin that used a Pinfari design lol.

We then went to Frontierland to do Phantom Manor which we pretty much went straight on.

It was then time to go back to Central Plaza at the top of Main Street to watch the evening entertainment. It started with another performance of Party time with Mickey and friends...

I was becoming dehydrated after the show due to the intense heat so I went to Casey's to get a couple of drinks...

Then we watched Fantillusion which was good. There was a large group of adults with kids next to us though which all stood up at the front which meant a lot of peeps struggled to see anything. Especially kids.

It was then time for the Enchanted fireworks. I loved them, the music from Enchanted is just perfect and the fireworks are so well timed (the fireworks to the right of the castle were a little off though )...

We then sat outside Frontierland to wait for the crowds to go down a little bit. We then left the park and waited ages for our very gay bus to the hotel. While we waited we sat on some rocks..

We then got back to the hotel. It didn't take too long to check in and then we went straight to our room. It was really nice, even had a nice flat screen tv. Shame there were loads of bugs invading the room when the windows were open, we opted to close them overnight...

I hope you enjoyed reading day one of my trip report. Day two will be posted soon.

 

[Brookes]

Looks like you had a good time, I love DLRP, especially Tower of Terror.

 

[james6]

It's been years since I've been to DLP and when I see TR's like this it makes me want to go back so much

Awesome TR

 

[peep]

Thanks for your comments.


Wednesday 22nd July

We both woke up quite early as we planned to take advantage of Extra Magic hours. I looked out our window to see this lovely view...

We then went downstairs to get our breakfast...

Yumm

We then got the bus to the parks. We got into the Disneyland Park about quarter past 9 (doesn't open till 10 ). The sky was very blue too so I took a pic of the castle...

We then headed into Discoveryland to ride Space Mountain...

It didn't have much of a queue and it was fast and intense as always, the soundtrack was really loud too which was great. We then opted for Star Tours but we had to wait a while for it to open up (wasn't a part of magic hours).

It's so fun, very bouncy and my bag didn't go into the holder properly for some reason so nearly flew all over the place lol. We then went to Main Street with the intention of heading into Fantasyland. We got sidetracked by Good Morning Main Street USA. if you unaware of this it's basically loads of characters hanging around at the top of Main Street. I couldn't believe how many we saw, I even managed to get my photo taken with Abu from Aladdin (Patrick has that pic). Here are some other characters that we saw...

It was really cool, Patrick then realised that he had to get his Annual Pass replaced as it had broken slightly so we headed into the Annual Passport office...

They played Cars on the TV screen in French so I sat on this comfy sofa while Patrick got his pass sorted out. Good times. We then went to Fantasyland. Oh I forgot to mention, it was really really hot outside (making the Space Mountain queue quite horrific again) so under one of the entrance arches to Fantasyland they had mist spraying, we had to go under it...

It's a small World didn't have a queue so we hopped onto that, was nice and relaxing...

Was funny while sitting in the boat queue waiting to get back into the station as there were some ducklings swimming about...

We then walked through the rest of Fantasyland and went straight to Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland...

Pirates was great as always and some of the effects have been fixed and the two having a sword fight are now in time with the sound effects and look so much better Afterwards we took a stroll through Adventure isle..

We ended up going to Robinson's treehouse...

This is the view from the top...

Wouldn't want to fall down there...

Pigeon...

We then wanted to go to the Studios so we made our way down Main Street. When we got to the bottom of Main Street I noticed these guys...

YAY! The DLP Band was coming out to play some tunes...

They were awesome, it was also a different song list to when we last saw them. One of the songs we didn't get till half way through, then we realised it was this...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ViTc7vn5SA[/youtube]

Hell yeah, a special version of the main theme from Pirates! After their awesome performance we continued over to the Studios. We wanted to check out the make-over of the cafe opposite Rock 'n' Rollercoaster. It's now called 'Disney's Blockbuster Cafe' and has been themed to High School Musical 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean (still being put together). I got as far as taking this picture when...

...High School Musical decided to come out, we watched them go by...

We then headed inside for a drink and to judge the new theming

Not good...

Anyway I got my favourite Fanta Still drink while Patrick got the same drink and a slice of cheesecake

On our way to the cafe we had noticed that Rock 'n' Rollercoaster was down This was a major disappointment as this was one of the reasons we went into the park. I went over to a Ride Host and he informed me that it was going to be down all day but re-open tomorrow. Hmm, we would be back tomorrow to ride...

Anyway the other main thing we didn't get done the day before was Playhouse Disney Live!

We just had to see it. The pre-show room is absolutely amazing, so huge I just couldn't get over it. On the screen they have different characters from programs getting you to do small activities while you wait, superb idea...

We then went into the main show room, it's so weird. You all have to sit on the floor, but it's a flat floor so hardly anyone can see above the children as they insist on jumping up and down from all the excitement Bless.

I mainly wanted to see the Little Einsteins as they are awesome, annoyingly it was hard to get a good picture...

It was such an awesome show and I would love to see it again. The whole concept of it works really well and it's enjoyable for adults as well as the kids. At the end loads of golden leaves fell from the ceiling and there was a child in front of us who just had to get them all, I'm not joking she must have collect about 60 of them!

We then headed back into the Disneyland Park.

We saw Minnie's party train or whatever they've renamed it come out so we watched it go by....

We were getting hungry so we decided upon another buffet restaurant (works out cheaper as we don't really need another major meal later on). This time we went to Plaza Gardens which was lovely. The staff were really nice, we got another free drink due to the passes and it was empty because everyone else in the park had already eaten

After our lovely meal we went into Discoveryland to see Stitch's new dance show...

Patrick gets ready to jump on the right colours...

Here comes the host of the show...

Then the dancers arrive...

I didn't know Lady gaga worked here ...

Woop Stitch has arrived in his spaceship...

Let the dancing commence...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z9gLAybBLQ[/youtube]

Well that was good fun apart from the fact that the sun was blistering hot at this time, after a while I had to go find some shade. We then got an ice lollies from a vendor outside Plaza gardens. We both got Mega Twisters, they were awesome...

My tongue kept getting stuck to it as it was so cold

As we began to have our ice lollies of awesomeness Mickey's show began on the stage so we stayed and watched it again lol. After the show we headed to Frontierland to do Phantom Manor again. Still amazing...

We then went exploring around Adventure Isle. We stood next to a few waterfalls for ages as it was cooling us down

We then went straight on Pirates of the Caribbean...

Then it was time to go on Indianna Jones and the temple of peril again...

We were walking round and found Chip and Dale taking pics etc. As we waited to see them loads of kids came out of nowhere and we couldn't even get close Oh wells. It also started to rain which was nice and cool. As we continued to walk the rain just kept getting heavier and heavier. Not good, we went and hid under some shelter...

After about 15 mins it calmed down and was just spitting. We decided to go over to Discoveryland. Surprisingly Buzz hardly had a queue so we opted for that. There were some kids that tried to queuejump but we made sure they couldn't get past.

I did better than usual. I still don't understand how I can be quite bad at this yet be amazing on Duel (Alton Towers) and Tomb Blaster (Chessington). Oh well, we both got Level 4. It was still spitting outside and Patrick was getting a tad hungry so we went into Videopolis.

Patrick's food...

I watched some old Mickey cartoons...

We then walked into Fantasyland. It was still raining a little bit but it was bearable. We found a bench and we decided to sit down while we decided what to do...

We ended up going on the Voyage of Pinnochio which I had never done (too busy)...

The queue looked long but it went down really quickly and soon enough we were on. It was a nice little ride, I was surprised at how much of the ride was based around his time at the carnival. As we exited the rain was a little bit heavier but not by a lot. The carousel had no queue so we ran over and did that.

We then took a look in some of the Fantasyland stores. I saw the three fairies above the fireplace in one store...

Wow the castle was half lit and with the evil clouds it looked amazing...

The rain then decided it was going to absolutely chuck it down, there was even thunder and lightning. I think this was about 8pm. Just running to one of the Main Street arcades from the castle got us really wet. We then decided we would spend the evening at the hotel as it really didn't look like it was going to get any better.

As we left the park gates the rain somehow managed to get heavier. Well we just had to get some cover and we ran to one of the gazebos. After about 5 mins there were about 6 of us under it wondering if it will stop raining. Patrick was getting a impatient and after about 15 mins he decided that we should leg it to at least the train station. So we did. What a mistake that was!

Most of the floor was just a lake which was so deep it went far up my leg. By the time we got into the station my top was full of water and it felt like I had a baby elephant on my back, was horrible. Somehow my shoes managed to keep my feet dry (don't understand this) but Patrick was wearing small Vans and he might as well have ran barefoot

After a little wait at the bus stop and we were on a bus back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel we watched TV. I found an episode of the X Files in English but after 5 mins I got bored and tried to find something else. This is the interesting bit! I came across a program about theme parks It was awesome (all in French but we understood what was happening). It followed construction of Blue Fire at Europa Park, how they prepared for the new shows for Mickey's magical party with extensive interviews with the Entertainment/Creative director, Kat de Blois! It also followed the day in the life of a lifeguard working at Siam Park which looks awesome and it also followed how this actor prepared for a new job in a show at Port Aventura. It was amazing, why can't there be more programs like this!?


Anyway shortly after we got some much needed sleep. Thanks for reading all of that and hope you enjoyed it, our third and final day should be up soon.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Can I say John that I LOVE the second pic you took of Indy...

I miss Disney

 

[peep]

^Thanks Benin.

Ok, well onto the last day Thursday 23rd July

Woke up to not so great weather (just clouds, but they looked mean)...

We went down and had breakfast...

We then left the hotel (leaving the room cards at reception) and got on the pink bendy bus back to the parks. We left out luggage at the Disneyland concierge. We then went into the park quite early and saw how empty Main Street was...

Yay for Extra Magic Hours We headed into Fantasyland first as I really wanted to do Peter Pan's Flight...

We didn't have to queue for very long and I still love it, then again I'm just a fan of all things Peter Pan. We then went over to Discoveryland to ride Space Mountain, not once...

...Not twice, but a whole three times ...

It was awesome, there was hardly anyone queueing for it, brilliant. It was running really well too, the half loop half corkscrew is still my favourite inversion on a ride. It had started to drizzle but we still went over to Frontierland (just opened to the public) and went straight into the queue for Big Thunder.

It was good fun and was running quite fast. We then decided to go over to the Studios to see if Rock 'n' Rollercoaster was open.

It was! So we queued and went on. The staff were running the ride really well and the queue went down very quickly. The ride itself was great, loads of smoke but not a lot of lights, though some looked really new.

We then opted for Flying carpets over Agrabah. It was quite an enjoyable ride but it was too short.

We then watched a performance of Animagique. I love this show, the music is great and it's good fun for all.

We then went to wait for another performance of High School Musical. When the sun was out it was absolutely boiling hot but there was also the occasional cloud, as demonstrated by these two pics of ToT taken within a ten minute period:

And then the HSM party started...

It was already mid-afternoon so we left the Studios in search of food and ended up at Annette's Diner in the Village. We absolutely love this place and make sure we go here every trip.

I had a very yummy hot dog and Patrick had some mega burger. The staff were awesome as always and two of them were on rollerskates We then went to the brand new Starbucks for a drink/desert.

I had an awesome caramel coffee frappacino, it loved...

We then left Starbucks quite full. On our way out of the Village we noticed a very large Mickey climbing down a wall...

We then strolled into the Disneyland Park. At the top of Main Street we saw loads of characters again...

Some reason we then walked down on of the Main Street arcades and we came across probably the biggest surprise ever. Mickey Mouse was in the arcade taking photos with guests, what was even better was that no one else knew he was there and we only had to wait 3 mins to get our photo taken with him It was so amazing, we just had to go buy one of the photos, we wouldn't be able to do this for some time yet so we ended up at the bottom of Main Street and we caught the Mary Poppins show...

Then we decided to do Phantom Manor. It was great apart from the vomit someone decided to leave outside on the porch. Eww.

It then started to drizzle and we just strolled around Frontierland. I spotted this little bird which really didn't want its photo taken...

I then sat on a bench and took pics...

Then we just took a stroll around the park and ended up under the castle in the caves. This is where the fierce dragon lives. It was so cool, even its tail and claws moved!

As we were exiting the cave we noticed it was absolutely pouring down with rain. We decided to wait it out. Shortly after the sun came back out and we decided upon going round all the shops on Main Street. We noticed this dancing Stitch which I really wanted (didn't have enough money )

We also noticed these weird looking Minnie and Mickey plushes as part of the "from Hong Kong to Paris" range...

Tigger says hi...

The last shop we visited was Town square photography so we could buy our Mickey Mouse photos, here is mine :

After purchasing our pics with Mickey from Town square photography store we noticed Party time with Mickey starting at the top of Main Street so we headed up there to watch the show.

As you can tell, I loved the show, thought it was really entertaining. It is very random but good fun. We had to leave just before the end though as it was time to check in at Eurostar

Before we knew it we were back at St Pancras station in London :'(

I hope you enjoyed the rest of my trip report


Full photo albums on facebook:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

 

[Nicky]

I am so jealous.

I haven't been to Disney for ages

Looks like you had a good time other than the heat.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

I have to say this -

The new show Goofy show that replaced Tarzan is shockingly ****!!!
What the hell are Disney thinking? The whole park is now happy clappy and theres nothing to break it up like their used to be. Everywhere you go, you're bombarded with poor character shows.

Sad times.

Oh and the staff in the Studios are some of the rudest people ever. Mostly on Crushes.
That said, It's still a good few days when you're there

 

[peep]

^We didn't watch the Goofy show as we were aware of how bad it is before going. I love all the other shows they put on though, not too sure what you're moaning about to be honest.

I've only had one tiny problem with staff in the Studios and that was that they don't like you pushing your own restraint down on Crush's coaster, dunno what that's all about. Apart from that I've had nothing but good experiences with WDS staff.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

^We didn't watch the Goofy show as we were aware of how bad it is before going. I love all the other shows they put on though, not too sure what you're moaning about to be honest.

Tarzan - Gone, replacement = crap
Lion King - Gone
Dance Time - Another example of crappy character takeover
Buffalo Bill - Well disappointed with the addition of characters as it was the only authentic show left to destroy.
Whinnie The Pooh - this one is ok but nothing great.
High School wtf...

Take out Fantilusion, thats rubbish too. Bring back electrical parade

Anyways, rant over... Port Aventura is the place for amazing shows now.

When did you go btw? I met up with Karren and Phil and I was made aware that Tom was in the park too.

 

[peep]

I enjoy all the shows, dance time with Stitch is also another great addition this year. We also saw the Mary Poppins show which is good fun. We also saw the parade/show Stars 'n' cars in WDS which is ok (nothing amazing). It is a shame that Tarzan and Lion King have gone but I'm sure they have a reason for doing so, I mean the amount of money that has gone into Mickeys show must be huge. HSM is also awesome, then again I like the music

Fantilusion is good too, so is the Once Upon a dream parade (seen it too many times though).


I didn't meet up with Karen, Phil and Co because I had no idea they were going DLP, I thought they only went to Toverland. We were there Tuesday to Thursday, I believe Karen and Co arrived on the Thursday.

 

[Tom]

Good PTR peep, it sounds like you had a great time!

It seems that this last week or so has had a lot of activity from CFers. I was there and I met Karen and Co. who said that Erol was there as well. Disneyland is pretty bloody awesome.

 

[DjTommyB]

Nice PTR peep. Makes me more excited about going now which is in a couple of weeks. :--D