Disneyland Paris September 2019

As I mentioned earlier in the week, during my blogging hiatus, myself and Sam went to Disneyland Paris with my parents for the 100 characters Annual Pass party. We went Friday-Monday, and because it was such a busy but short trip, I thought I’d put it all in one trip report, instead of splitting them like I usually would. So, here we go.

We arrived at Disneyland Paris on Friday afternoon, so we went to check in to Hi Park, got changed, and headed to the Disney Village for food. We ate in Planet Hollywood, which was very nice indeed, and then we headed towards the park to get in the queue. We queued for about 2 hours to get in, and as soon as we got in all hell broke loose and people were running everywhere. Sam and I headed over to Phantom Manor to meet the Ravenswoods, and that was about the most successful part of the night. 

After walking around in the pitch black and getting turned away from the Tarzan and Pocahontas queues, we got in the Lion King queue hoping to get the hyenas. DLPs one photo and move on rule broke down when the rare characters came out, and so we got Timon. After that we found out the Betty Rose/Jimmy Ocean queue was short, so we went to get in that, but only met Betty as Jimmy had gone. Fast forward past us not being able to meet others as their queues were closed, we met Lumiere, and then went back to meet Jimmy and Betty together, and then that was it. We then watched the final show, which was really good, but we, like so many others, left the party with a bitter taste in our mouths.

Saturday morning we had a little bit of a lie in after not getting to bed until 4am, so we went in the parks and got a BB-8 burger. The parks were insanely busy, so we got the LE pin I wanted, watched the Jungle Book Jive twice, went on Star Tours, looked around some shops, and went back to the hotel early via Earl of Sandwich, for a lovely bubble bath and an early night.

Sunday was a bit more productive. We went to the park, met Donald and Scrooge, went on Casey Jr and the Teacups and caught some Turtwigs (it was community day on Pokemon Go) before getting in the queue for Rhythms of the Pride Lands. The show was amazing, and it made Sam all emotional, so I’d say it was a success. We then went over to the Studios and checked out le Rendezvous Gormand for lunch, and we also met Parisian Minnie.

We then headed back over to the Disneyland park, where we went on Small World, Star Tours and Hyperspace Mountain, got another BB-8 burger (Sam loves them) watched the parade, and went to Cafe Fantasia for one of the seasonal cocktails. Mine was delicious and I’m glad we made time to go get them, as we sat outside on our own, so it felt like we had our own private balcony. We then went and looked in the shops in Disney Village, and went back to the hotel to pack and sleep before our 5am airport pick up on Monday morning.

All in all, it was a bit of a busy trip, but Sunday definitely saved it from being an absolute write-off. As always, I enjoyed the magic of Disney, and the atmosphere, but not the sheer amount of people.

Nic

xx

Walt Disney World Days 11 and 12

And just like that, we were at the last full day at the parks. We decided we had to end the holiday at Magic Kingdom, so we went there first thing after our Disney Hotel breakfast, and went on Carousel of Progress and the Peoplemover, took some purple wall photos, bought a load of pins, and soaked up some of that wonderful Disney atmosphere. We then went to meet Grace in EPCOT to say our goodbyes to her (and to have a pineapple Fanta) and Sam got some Disney wall photos of his own. We then went back to the hotel for a wander round and a swim, and we spent a lovely couple of hours at the Flippin Fins pool, before getting changed and heading back to Magic Kingdom, where we instantly went to get Casey’s hotdogs and watched the Dance Party parade. We then went on Big Thunder, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and It’s A Small World, before deciding to opt out of watching the fireworks and having a nice quiet evening at the hotel.

Our last morning in the parks had come, so we sadly went and checked out of our suite, stored our cases and went for one final time to Magic Kingdom, where we went on Buzz Lightyear, the Peoplemover, Dumbo and the teacups, before going to our final two fast passes of the trip; meeting Rapunzel and Tiana and Mickey and Minnie. On our way to the princesses, we saw the FairyGodmother was meeting, so we also did that and it was perfect. We then met the princesses, took a slow walk down MainStreet, watched the dapper dans and met Mickey and Minnie, before heading back to the hotel to get lunch and pick up our cases, and then heading to the airport to come home.

It was honestly the most magical 12 days ever, and I can’t wait to go back. In fact, Sam and I are already planning our next trip, so it wasn’t a goodbye really, it was a see ya real soon.

Nic

xx

Walt Disney World 2019: Days Nine and 10

I’m back with my last two trip reports. I can’t believe they’ve taken me all the way up to September (but I also can because of how unfocused I’ve been lately) but we’re on to the final two posts now, so, here goes.

Day nine was our last day with the Page family, and our last day at Animal Kingdom, so Sam and I headed there in the morning, we saw Kevin straight away, and then we went on Everest, where we were front row! We then went and hid in Flame Tree Barbecue from the downpour, which seemed to go on forever, and then we went on Dinosaur, which I hated and will never ride again. After that, we headed over to EPCOT, went around the world and on The Three Caballeros and Frozen Ever After, and then, as we had a reservation at Garden Grill with everyone else, we took a slow walk over and on the way Sam bought me the most gorgeous Alex and Ani bracelet. We got to Garden Grill where we got seated early, met Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale, ate absolutely amazing steak, and even had Mickey and Chip join us for dinner. Once we’d finished eating we all went to watch Illuminations together, which was a nice thing for the Page family to do together on their last night, as it’s a Page family favourite.

Day 10 was check out and check in day. We had to leave the villa as Sam’s family were heading to California later that day, so the goodbyes started early. First to Sam’s sisters, who were heading to Magic Kingdom for the morning, and then to Sam’s parents, who were heading to the beach. We dropped our stuff off at Art of Animation, where we were staying until the end of our trip, and then went to Hollywood Studios. We met Woody and Bo Peep, went on Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers, had lunch at Woody’s Lunch Box, and went on Rock N Rollercoaster.

After that we decided to go check in to our hotel, where we got upgraded to a Lion King Suite as our room wasn’t ready, so we went and chilled in there for a couple of hours, before getting a pizza and heading back to Hollywood Studios, where we went on Star Tours, watched One Man’s Dream, built a lightsaber for Sam, and watched Fantasmic and the end of the Star Wars fireworks, which was a perfect way to end the day for both of us.

Nic

xx

Walt Disney World 2019: Days Seven and Eight

On day seven of our trip, we all decided to have a barbecue in the evening at the villa, so we went into the parks early and went to Hollywood Studios to go on Toy Story Mania, which Sam absolutely loved. We also went and saw the Frozen singalong, and then realised we still had a couple of Fastpasses from our DVC talk, so we headed over to Magic Kingdom, watched a bit of the parade, and went on Splash Mountain and Space Mountain before heading back to the villa for our barbecue.

The next day we went to EPCOT first thing, went on Figment and met Joy and Sadness, and went over to the other side of the character spot to meet Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. After that, we had some lunch, went on Soarin and went on Test Track again, where we came first, yay. After that, a miracle happened and a fastpass for Flight of Passage popped up, so we got the bus over to Animal Kingdom, had some food at Flame Tree Barbecue and went on Flight of Passage, which was breathtaking and we then went on it again with Laura. We ended the night by watching the show on the Tree of Life.