Ooh la la our trip to Disneyland Paris *Finished!* About This Page:

[poohmaine]

I am really enjoying your trip report. You and Allan are such a cute couple! Can't wait to read more.

[BritDisFan]

Day 3





I had booked a wake up call for 06.30am this morning. When the phone rang, even though it was early I was delighted when I lifted the receiver and heard Goofy's voice telling me,”Hullo its time to wake up”. Why so early? Well breakfasts are included in the room rate at DLP and you can choose to eat your breakfast in the park on one morning of your stay at no extra charge. This is not a character breakfast but it means that you will be slap bang in the middle of Fantasyland when the park opens so you should be able to enjoy the attractions with hardly any queueing for about an hour.



By 7.20 we were walking through an almost deserted Disney Village towards the park gates. We entered the park and the CMs directed us to the railroad station to the Fantasyland special. The train looked full, so we rushed for seats - then waited as the CMs made sure every car was full! The train puffed round to Fantasyland giving us lovely views of the empty park. We rushed off the train and headed to the restaurant called Au Chalet de la Marionette, which is Pinocchio themed. Here we encountered the longest queue of the trip so far, a whole five minutes until we were seated.





Some great decor detail in the Au Chalet de la Marionette





For the Fantasyland breakfast you have a choice of two restaurants, Au Chalet de la Marionette and Bella Notte which is themed on Lady and the Tramp. In either the breakfast is similar to the one served in the hotels, continental style with cereal, fruit, pastries and ham and cheeses, we helped ourselves and sat down to eat. All around us we saw people with huge tray fulls of food, we were wondering how they would manage all the food, then it became clear, tupperware containers appeared and fruit, chocolate croissants, pastries etc. were all squirrelled away for later!



Fuelled up for the morning we headed straight to Peter Pan's Flight, we walked straight on, then straight on to Blanche neige et les sept nains (snow white and the seven dwarfs). I haven't been on this ride for some years and was quite taken aback how scary it is, the trees must be terrifying for young children! Our last Fantasyland ride was Pinocchio's Fantastic Journey, again this was a walk on. We didn't fancy going on Dumbo or the Carousel so we decided to head towards Frontierland to ride BTMRR.





Could be Florida? A blue sky view as we walked to Frontierland





The streets were empty in Frontierland, we kept expecting to see tumble weed.





We walked to Frontierland the park was basically empty. The queue for BTMRR was only 10 minutes. I love this ride at DLP, it is a lot faster than the one at WDW, probably because it is newer, the ride also seems to last for a really long time. We both really enjoyed our selves and we bought the ride photo – Allan knew where the camera was so had posed, so had the American guys in front so it was a funny shot. I will scan it and add it to the report at a later date.





BTMRR at DLP viewed from PM - enough acronyms?



The sun was shining and the sky was blue and we truly felt we were experiencing Florida weather. We walked through to Adventureland and saw Aladdin and Jasmine I really really liked the look of Aladdin and Allan was quite taken with Jasmine so we decided to have our photo's taken. For some reason I ended up next to Jasmine and Allan ended up next to Aladdin for the photo, not what we had planned at all. Fortunately the CM who had taken the picture was not sure the camera had worked so we asked if we could have another picture. This time I stood next to Aladdin and Allan stood next to Jasmine, I think you can see from my grin in the second picture I was more than pleased and I'm sure all you ladies will agree Aladdin was very easy on the eye!





Aladdin (Oh and Jasmine) take 2.



We headed towards the castle to take some photo's, the castle is so pretty here, it is a lot smaller than in Florida but is very elegant.





My favorite Disney castle.



Inside the castle there is a set of stained glass windows and tapestries depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty, they are absolutely beautiful, we took pictures of nearly all of them.





Magnificent Malifecent...



After we had finished taking photo's inside we headed outside to the balcony where there is a view across most of Fantasyland.



We then headed towards Frontierland to catch the 1.00pm showing of The Tarzan Encounter. This was a brilliant show, I honestly can't praise it enough, it has songs from the Tarzan Soundtrack in English and French and the acrobatics are amazing, the pictures really don't do it justice (So i've left them out!), Tarzan and Jane literally swing out over the heads of the front few rows of the audience.



Next, a guided tour of the Disneyland Park.

[Jennifer2003]

I've been waiting for another brilliant update! Thanks for some great pictures and descriptions!!!

Your American Chum
Jennifer

[wdwlovers]

Great update Karen! I just got caught up on your TR and I am thinking I may have to try at plan a trip sometime over to DLP. Can't wait for more!

[Annabel]

Hi Karen, am really enjoying your report and the photos are fab. Thanks for sharing and can't wait to read the rest.

Annabel

[chezp]

I've only just had a chance to catch up with your report so far and it's great. It's bringing back some fond memories and some not-so-fond memories (like the queuing for the characters) of our time at DLP last year. I'm looking forward to more!

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Karen Love all your pictures, the park looks deserted Keep it coming

[DrDolphin]

What a fantastic update! The weather looked lovely! I can't wait to read another update.

[statelady01]

Next time we come to see Chez and Mark, I am NOT going to skip DLP. That castle is quite lovely!

[luvnwdwgal]

Great update Karen!! I just can't get the thought of Tarzan swinging out over the audience out of my head!

Looking forward to your next installment!!

[Mickey's old friend]

I am hanging on your every word! I have to see it for myself. Now, just to decide what month to go in! Your photos are great.

[BritDisFan]

Our video camera was running very low on batteries and needed charging, we only had about an hour to go until we had to be at guest services for our guided tour. With a 15 minute walk each way to the hotel time was tight. We thought we could save time getting the bus to the hotel – with the added bonus of a short sit down and saving my poor aching feet. We got to the bus stop and waited and waited for 15 minutes. Before deciding that we didn't really have time to go back to the hotel so we headed back towards the Disneyland Park. Then Allan suggested we go to the Disneyland Hotel to get a drink and maybe find a power point to plug our camera into (how naughty). I agreed because I just wanted to sit down.



We found some lovely comfy sofas just outside the Inventions restaurant and naughty Allan found a powerpoint behind his chair and plugged in the Cam corder.. I went to the toilets asking Allan to order me an espresso. I got back and the waiter hadn't taken our order yet and Allan decided he needed to visit the toilets. I was really worried in case the waiter came over whilst Allan wasn't there and saw that we were charging our video camera. I hid the camera under a cushion and then the waiter came over (eek!!) He asked what I would like to order I meant to say 2 espresso's please but when I opened my mouth I said a glass of champagne and an expresso please, whoops!!!!!!! .



When Allan returned I was enjoying my yummy glass of Champagne and a plate of petits fours the waiter had bought over . Allan predicted that drinking during the day would send me to sleep, I assured him it wouldn't. We finished our drinks and headed to guest services for our tour. When we reached guest services we met our guide who was a lovely French lady who spoke very good English, (I forgot to write her name down, sorry and can't remember it but she was very good). We paid for the tour which was 15 Euros per person and settled down to wait on the bench as our guide told us we were waiting for one more person. After about 10 minutes a young guy from New Zealand turned up, he was only at Disneyland Paris for the day, he was doing a tour of Europe and had left the rest of his group “doing” Paris so he could come to Disney.



Normally when the guides do tours they are dressed in a business suit but our lady didn't find out until she started work that she was doing a tour today so she was dressed in full CM 1900's attire ready for work in City Hall. First of all we stopped just outside the Disneyland Hotel and she explained that it had been painted a very special pink so the hotel can even be seen on the most foggiest of days. It is a very warm pink so even if the weather is bad, as it often is in the winter in France, it is seen as a very warm shade. The castle is painted in almost exactly the same pink so it too can still be seen in the worst of weather.



We then went to Main Street USA where she explained that main street is themed on change and so has a mix of old and modern. Gas lights and electric light, horse drawn carts and early motor cars. She then pointed out some of the detailing such as the windows of the buildings where we could see names such as Roy Disney and Michael Eisner painted on as if they were business owners in the street. There is also a little shop front which is tucked away in a side street next to Walt's Restaurant named Lilly's Boutique, which was the name of Walt Disney's wife of course. She took us into the Emporium which was absolutely beautiful and showed us lots of hidden Mickeys and also on the roof there are stained glass windows which show pictures of important inventors – another celebration of change and development.





The ceiling of Emporium, you might just make out the Micky railings and the inventors on the stained glass.



Just outside the Emporium outside Walt's Resturant there is a street sign saying 1400 Flower Street, this is the address in California where the original Imagineers office is based.





Do you know Flower Street? It is just off of Main Street.

The Park was getting very busy as we headed towards Frontierland. As we walkjed our guide told us the story behind Phantom Manor. The Manor was built by one of the towns founding men Mr Ravenswood, he had a daughter named Melanie who was due to be married to one of the townsmen, unfortunately her fiance died and she never recovered or got married so now you can see herall around the manor haunting the place in her wedding dress. There was so much detail on the tour, the story behind the Thunder Mesa riverboats, the links to the gold rush etc. that I am tempted to write about but I am going to hold back as I know some Passporters are due to visit DLP in the future and I don't want to spoil it for them. (And this would be a record breaking long post!)



We walked towards Fantasyland and learned about IASW Paris. Apparently all the costumes are made out of material from the country that they are representing and to complete the process of getting the material and making the costumes took 2 years!. She also showed us that if we stood outside the snow white ride and looked up at the window we could see the evil queen peeking out over the park by parting the curtains. I have been to DLP four times and have never noticed this before and loved the detail.



We then headed towards Discoveryland where our guide shared a few secrets about Les Mysteres du Nautilus and Space Mountain. We were taken into Star Tours – but not to ride, she had a real behind the scenes treat in mind, we were taken into an observation gallery where we watched the ride from the outside of the simulator – it's very impressive, seeing a whole room being thrown around by all the sophisticated equipment.



Coming out of ST we were talking about hidden Mickeys and She told us that if we stood in Fantasyland just outside IASW and looked at Space Mountain we would see an excellent Hidden Mickey. The tour was coming to an end and our lovely CM handed us each a special pin and we bid her farewell. If you are every in DLP we can strongly recommend the tour. :-)



As we were in Disccoveryland we thought we would sample a couple of attractions here, we both really fancied going on the Autopia cars but the queue (As ever!) was about an hour and a half and we didn't feel like queueing for that long. The queue for SM was 30 minutes so we decided to go on that. Whilst we were waiting I removed my earrings remembering the painful experience I had encountered before. We were behind a teenage girl and her middle aged mother who was dressed in traditionalMuslim clothing. From what we could gather the girl had told her Mother that the rollercoaster didn't go upside down. The Mum saw the safety video and told her daughter she did not want to ride, Allan and I were trying to convince the lady in our terrible french to stay and said that the ride was very good, she stayed for a while and we were trying to have a conversation more by gesture than anything else , then Mum saw the safety video again and told her daughter she was going to wait for her outside, we bid her goodbye. She looked very relieved to be leaving!





SPace Mountain, DLP style. If you know what too look for you can see a hint of a hidden Micky that is only visible form near IASM.



We had a very good ride and having taken precautions my ears weren't so painful this time also the music was working this time much much better all round :-). We then headed to Le Mysteres du Nautilus, whilst we were walking there we saw the Mum and daughter and their whole family taking a picture outside SM, the Mum waved at us and was explaining to her sons that we were trying to convince her to go onto the ride, the whole family (there were about 20 of them!) waved and smiled at us, how sweet. :-)



We enjoyed Le Mysteres du Nautilus but we were behind a very sweet little boy who was walking round with his older sister, he was petrified of the giant squid, he was screaming and crying and his poor sister was trying to cuddle him and comfort him. It shows how good the effect was though! After all the waling we both felt like we needed a break so we headed to Walts on Main Street, where we sat outside at a table in the sunshine, I ordered a cappacino and Allan ordered the afternoon special which was a cafe au lait, a muffin and some chocolate mousse, I tasted a little bit of the chocolate mousse and it was very very yummy Sitting down and snacking made us relax, then we realised how tired we were so decided to head back to the hotel. On the way I bought an Eeyore for Cheryl and I tried to buy a Stitch that I had seen earlier on in the day in the Emporium but they had all sold out. :-( We headed out of the Park and walked through Disney Village to the Sequoia Lodge. When we got there Tigger was in the lobby bouncing around so we took a quick picture.





Tigger at Sequoia Lodge.



We swung by guest services to make a resevation for dinner at Hunters Grill in our hotel which had been highly recommended to us by Chezp and her hubby Mark when we met. We made the reservation for 8.30pm so we had time to go back up to the room rest and shower.



The restaurant, it was very busy and our waitress was rushed off her feet, she took our drinks order, guess what I ordered , yes a glass of champagne, this is getting to be quite a habit . We both had salad to start, it was delicious - salad leavesa poached egg and bacon with a delicious dressing. After that a server brought up the meats, they were so yummy we had pork in a delicious seasoning, chicken and beef, ooh and pineapple, this was accompanied by pototoes that were very garlicky. For dessert I had apple crepes with cinnamon icecream, they were really tasty and I was stuffed. Allan had icecream for dessert, we both thoroughly enjoyed our meal and we would highly recommend this restaurant. After dinner, we gave up on all thoughts of drinks in the bar and headed up to our room we were both shattered. Zzzzz....

[statelady01]

What another great installment! Tour sounded lovely!

[chezp]

Another great update Karen - I was fascinated by your description of the tour. We must do that if we go back to DLP.

I'm so glad you enjoyed Hunter's Grill, especially as you went on our recommendation and I can't wait to see the latest addition to the Eeyore collection! Thank you so much for that...

[GoofyMom]

Another day packed chock full of action! I'm loving all your details and photos!

Would you mind giving a clue on where to look for that hidden Mickey on SM? I just can't seem to find it.