ErikM
05-03-2007, 10:49 PM
Trip report Disneyland Resort Paris 19–22 of April
Cast:
Erik 29 years old: Disney-dweeb from birth
Sandra 31 years old: Likes Disney a lot especially since she hooked up with me.
Lisette 33 years old: Likes the resort but definitely not a Disney-dweeb.
Debby 32 years old: Same as Lisette.
Sandra en Erik both veteran Disneyland Paris visitors: more than 20 multi day visits since 1995 and still counting
Walt Disney World: First visit June 2005 off site with a 7 day magic your way ticket.
Second visit November – December 2006 on site with a 10 day magic your way ticket.
Future: Disneyland Resort Anaheim, 5 days at the Disneyland Hotel from 26th till 30th of September 2007.
Debby and Lisette: This is their fifth time visiting Disneyland resort Paris.
This is our second trip report on this site and I hope you are going to like this one.
This trip to Disneyland Paris was actually planned for the last weekend of march but Debby was having troubles physically so a possible operation in February or March was necessary and that forced us to cancel the trip at first. A few weeks ago she heard that an operation was not necessary anymore so we came together and planned another date for our trip. Debby was very relieved that the operation was out of the window so this called for a celebration. And what better way to celebrate it in Disney style !!!
We called Disneyland Paris and made a booking for two connected rooms at the hotel Cheyenne. It was a very good deal because it was a 3 for 2 period. Tickets for the park were included so we were all set.
This was going to be our second time in Disney with Debby and Lisette. In 1999 we made a trip to Paris and stayed in a Formule 1 hotel for one night. Debby and Lisette were going to tour Europe for several months and Sandra and I joined them on their first two days of their trip. They had a bumpy start because when we woke up the next morning to go to Disney they wanted to refill the oil reservoir in the van. Little did they know that they were filling the thing with coolant………..
The stupid thing was that we all just stood there while they were filling the thing. We all made a comment about the colour of the oil, OOOOHHH that must be very good oil because it is blue !!! (how stupid is that) When the can was empty we checked the label of the can and it was coolant……………
To make a long story short, we called a garage and they came and took the van with them and fixed the problem. The rest of the day turned out pretty good.
So this was going to be the second time with our very good friends in Disneyland Paris (actually they are best friends but it is always so painful when it turns out it is not mutual) Anyway we were excited to go with our “GOOD” friends.
Sandra and I decided to leave on Thursday morning because we had the day off, and we are really dweebs of course. Debby and Lisette were going to arrive in the evening because Lisette had to work. She is a teacher and of course has obligations (what is the harm in sending those kids home for ONE afternoon……..well I think that is why I am not a teacher) It is a 280 miles (460 km) drive so that is not toooo bad.
Day ONE Thursday April 19th
Sandra and I woke up at 6.15 am and started our normal morning routine.
We packed our bags the night before so that was all set. When we leave the house to go on holiday we always have these neurotic routines. Checking the locks 20 times, unplugging the electrical plugs, cleaning every inch of the house………it is very exhausting to go on a trip. Now we were ready to leave the house, it was 8.00 am when we hit the road. Traffic in Holland is a disaster, it is just crazy sometimes to go anywhere in Holland, you almost always get caught in traffic-jams. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived at the Hotel Cheyenne around 2 pm. We parked the car in front of the reception building. This is such a nice themed resort, we really like it. We usually stay in the Santa Fe hotel but this is way better themed. The only hotel we never stayed in is the Hotel New York but we really want to in future. Of course the Disneyland Hotel is the best, we spend our honeymoon there, but this is not a hotel for budget minded people.
So we walked in the reception building and there was a huge line at the reception. The first line of the weekend, and this was not going to be the last. Margriet from Holland checked us in. She made a bit of a stupid comment when we were checked in. You come all the way to Paris for a themepark while you have a park near your home in Waalwijk ?
For everybody who doesn’t know what she is talking about, we live a few miles from Holland’s premier themepark the Efteling. Yeah, why don’t we just stick to what we know and stay home because there we have everything and we never have to go away again !!
Sounds like a good plan ?…………..don’t think so.
We made our way to the Doc Holiday building where our rooms were. We had two rooms on the first floor. They were clean and nice and they had a connecting door. We put the envelope with the tickets and ID for Debby and Lisette on their dresser and we unpacked our luggage and settled in. After a quick call to my mom to tell that we arrived safe and sound and to check on our cat and another call to Debby to tell her where to park the car and to tell her in which building we were, we wanted to eat something. When you have read my other trip report from Florida November – December you know that Sandra is very emotional and that she likes to eat chicken when she is at Disney, so keep this in mind. When we were in Florida we discovered the Rainforest café, in Paris we always passed this restaurant because we thought it was always too busy and too hectic. But since we ate in Florida we wanted to eat at the café in Paris. We walked around the resort and it looked wonderful with all the blossoms in the trees. We arrived at the Rainforest café and we checked in. They gave us a table in the elephant section. It was not really crowded at 3.30 pm so this was convenient. We had a very nice waitress and she took our orders. Sandra had the………………….chicken burger and I ordered the Tribal Ravioli. We were both very happy with our food. It was just as good as in Florida. We also wanted dessert and we both chose the Chocolate orange cake with vanilla ice cream and orange sauce. This was a delicious meal and we are going to make the Rainforest café a regular when we are at Disney. After lunch/dinner we walked around Disney village and checked out some shops. We walked to the Disneyland park because tonight it hosted extra magic hours
(great that they offer this here now!!) and we wanted to make advantage of that. We collected our bracelets under the station. By the way the refurbished Fantasia Gardens and the Disneyland hotel looked incredible !! We wandered around Main Street and entered the Emporium. The park was really busy at this point. Sandra wanted to try some shirts but we failed to find something she liked. The first attraction we wanted to ride was Big Thunder Mountain, the last time we were here in October 2006 the ride was closed so we really wanted to ride it now. Main street looked really festive with all the banners and the castle was beautiful with all the special decorations. We heard an announcement that the Candlelabration ceremony was going to start so we stayed to watch the show. This was a nice show and the theme song is very uplifting. At the end of the show confetti was shot all around the hub and Sandra just screamed a profound “Wow” when she saw that. She was also crying, again, well we are in Disney so Chicken…. check, emotional….. check. We had a good laugh about the “WOW” , Sandra was a little embarrassed but I thought it was cute.
We arrived at Big Thunder Mountain and the waiting time was 35 minutes, that was longer than expected but we really wanted to do it. Waiting wasn’t bad because we always enjoy ourselves in line. The ride was great and looked really good. We always have a few rituals when we are here, we always ride our three favourite attractions first.
They are: Big Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor and Pirates of the Caribbean. We think these three rides are way better than their Florida Cousins, don’t get me wrong we like these rides in Florida but in Paris they are extra special because they are more elaborate. Although Pirates in Florida had the great Jack Sparrow additions in the ride, I hope they are going to bring these changes to Paris someday. After these three great rides the crowds thinned and we decided to ride Peter Pan because there was only a posted waiting time of 15 minutes. I am not a very big fan of the ride, I don’t really get all the fuss. It is cute but nothing really special to me. After Peter Pan we rode Pinocchio, I like this one more than Peter Pan, maybe that is because Pinocchio was a favourite of mine when I was young. The castle was waiting for us so we took the stairs up to the first floor for a tour past the stained glass windows and tapestries depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty. We also visited the dragon under the castle, every time we see this we are amazed about how lifelike this beast is. All these extra special details and layers are the things that define this beautiful park and why it is for me the most beautiful theme park I have visited till now. It was starting to get dark but we wanted to ride Buzz. We first rode this ride in The Magic Kingdom in Florida and we were not impressed. Last year we rode it in Paris and we felt the same as we did in Florida, not impressed. Now we wanted to try it again, although it has some nice and very funny features we still feel it is not that great. We like the Animatronic of Buzz in the waiting area though. When we exited the ride I had a message on my cellphone that Debby and Lisette passed the airport Charles de Gaulle and that they would arrive in 30 minutes. We immediately went back to the hotel and when we arrived Debby and Lisette were sitting on the porch outside our building. They had some trouble with the directions but everything turned out ok. We got up to our room and chatted for a little while. Sandra and I were very tired so we said goodnight and went to bed. We had a busy but fun weekend ahead of us and we wanted to get a good nights sleep because tomorrow we had a breakfast time of 7.45 am (pfffff)
Day TWO Friday April 20th
We had our wake up call at 7.00 am. It was a funny call with the voice of Goofy. We got up and showered and did our morning rituals. At 7.45 am Lisette knocked on the door asking if we were ready. Sandra was not ready yet so Debby and Lisette went outside to smoke. We arrived five minutes later and the four of us made our way to the Chuckwagon café for the complimentary breakfast. We really like the breakfast that they serve in the hotels. The croissants are really the best you can get, Lisette agrees with me on this. We also like those cheese cubes and the chocolate croissants. In Florida the breakfast is not included in your package but that has another advantage because then you can buy those wonderful cinnamonrolls. Anyway we had a great breakfast and it was fairly quiet because we were very early so no chaos at the beverage stations and no throngs of people pushing and shoving to get something to eat. People really turn into monsters when something is offered for free or when it is complimentary. It really boggles my mind how many people pile their trays high with food to take it into the park to save a few euros. You can not blame them of course but when you see some folks walking with trays full of food and you want to get a croissant and there is almost nothing left it really gets me irritated. This time we had no such things, it was pleasant and relaxing. In the lobby of the hotel Sandra asked a castmember who was face painting children if she could also get one on her face, the woman was very friendly and put a beautiful pinkisch flower on Sandra’s cheek. At around 9.00 am we got back to our room to get our stuff for the day. Debby and Lisette brought their video camera so that was nice. Now we were all set and we walked to the parks. We like walking to the parks, we prefer the walk instead of taking the crowded busses. Our first thing on the program was a visit to the Walt Disney
Studios. This is a park that has some great attractions but what were they thinking when they build this ? It is such a contrast with the beautiful Disneyland park. But there is hope on the horizon because they are really putting a lot of energy in building new rides and adding more details and atmosphere in the studios. From what I have seen live and on concept sketches on the internet this is going to be a great park with a better line up of attractions and who knows maybe it can really rival with the neighbouring park in a few years. Point is there is some serious stuff going on there. We entered the park around 9.40 so only studio 1 was open. This is an area that turned out very good, it really sets a mood (too bad that when you step outside the rest is rather blah, but that is going to change) We wandered in the store and saw lots of nice stuff. When it was 10.00 am the gates opened and we entered the studios and made our way to Armageddon. I think this is a thrilling attraction but Sandra thinks it is stupid. Debby and Lisette…..I don’t know, I think they like it ? When we exited we were very eager to ride the Rock n roller coaster, this is one of our favourite attractions. Lisette also likes this a lot only Debby skipped the ride because she is not a thrill ride junky. This is really one of the best coasters we have ever been on. That thrilling launch at the beginning is just spectacular. The last time we rode this thing Sandra and I went on it eleven times in a row. Well that was a record we didn’t break because it was kinda sad to see Debby sitting there alone after two rides. Sandra and I really like the Animagique attraction but Debby and Lisette don’t really get it, remember they are no Disney dweebs, they even had a comment why the castle couldn’t be black…………………do I have to say more ? They were good sports so they joined us and they even retained their breakfast from that morning. Sandra and I opted to go to Cinemagique, this is my favourite in this park. But Debby and Lisette couldn’t do this, Animagique was too much for them so they stayed outside. Lisette went on a ride in Rock n roller coaster while Debby waited on a bench soaking in the sun with a cup of coffee. Cinemagique is so original and amazing but yet so simple. It always brings a tear to our eye, yes we are romantic. We joined Debby outside and we walked to the RnRC to get Lisette. It was almost time for the parade so we got a seat in front of the backlot express restaurant. We collected a couple of chairs but we had to give these up to people actually eating at the restaurant, ok that is reasonable. Thinking that the parade would start here we waited and waited and waited. Well the parade made the route in reverse so we had to wait a while. This is a nice little parade but nothing really special. At this moment we were all hungry but we wanted to do one more thing before we got something to eat, we got in line for the studio tram tour. The tour was relaxing and nice and when it ended we decided to go and eat at Annettes in the village. This restaurant is a firm favourite of all of us, so the choice was easily made.
Eating here is always nice and this time it was no exception. Sandra had the megaburger (no chicken this time, what a surprise) and for dessert she had the Donuts with ice cream. Debby had the Onion burger (I felt sorry for Lisette) and the Cheesecake. Lisette had the Veggie burger and coffee with some sweets including a very cute mini milkshake. I had the West coast salad (or east ?) with tuna and the lemon merengue pie. We all were happy and very full when we exited the restaurant. It is very convenient to eat in the late afternoon because it is never really busy and you can really relax while eating. Now it was time to go to the Disneyland park. Sandra took control over the video camera and we decided to spice up the video and to make a parody on that program on the resort channel about the 10 things to do when you go to Disneyland, you know with that annoying girl that tells you what you must really do when you are here in the resort. We decided to make a top 10 of favourite attractions (the ranking turned out a little different and we included some attractions that really didn’t belong in this line-up but it was great fun to make this video) We entered the park round 4.30 pm and it was a madhouse. The parade was up and about and I must say that it looked stunning, but we are going to see it tomorrow so now it was time for something different. We decided that Debby could choose the first attraction because she had to wait several times for us in the studios when we were in the RnRC. She chose, drum rolls please …………………………………..The Labyrinth !!……………hmmmmm?……..well ok we had that coming. Debby really likes this attraction but Lisette hates it so she waited outside while Sandra and I followed Debby in the maze. We almost never do this attraction but we had a nice time in the Labyrinth and of course Debby was ecstatic. Debby and Lisette never knew there was an area behind the old Mill and the Labyrinth with the Casey Junior train and the storybook cruise, so that was next on the list. It was a very long wait at Casey junior but we had fun. After this we were all in the mood for some serious shock therapy……It’s a small world..YEAHHH. Debby and Lisette think this is way too pink, remember they wanted the castle black…….and we call them our friends……?
Sandra and I really like this attraction, it is much more festive than in Florida. Debby made a critical comment about the way the ceiling of the attraction is very visible, she said everything in this park is so detailed and beautiful, why did they do this with that ceiling ? Maybe the reason is that when they built this attraction the workers and designers at a point were so sick of that pink colour that they had too leave it before they turned mad, just a theory. Again without major damage to our brain cells we exited the ride and decided it was time for something totally different. We left the sweet coloured Fantasyland and we entered Adventureland for a ride on Pirates. I think this was the first ride we actually all liked. It was almost closing time but Lisette really wanted to go on Big thunder mountain. We walked to Frontierland and the waiting time was still 25 minutes. Sandra and Debby skipped it, Sandra because she was very tired and Debby because she is too scared to ride. They eventually decided to go and shoot at the nearby shooting gallery. Lisette and I had a great time on the mountain and when we came back Sandra was just sitting there being tired and Lisette and Debby wanted to go and shoot some things in the gallery. The park was officially closed at this time so we made our way to the exit and Sandra and I decided to go to our room to rest and relax. Debby and Lisette stayed in the Village to do some shopping. All in all we had a great day, but it was exhausting. When we were in the room we watched some Disneychannel, some of those shows are really corny but we liked it anyway. Time for a good nights rest…..zzzzzzzzzzz
Day Three Saturday April 21th
We had our wake up call at 8.00 am so that was not as early as yesterday. We had a very good nights sleep, the bed was very good. Debby and Lisette said it was rather hard but we thought it was fine. At 9.00 am we entered the restaurant for breakfast and it was a war zone. It was soooo crowded and hectic. People were everywhere, it was a big contrast with yesterday morning. People were really pushing and shoving to get food. Those poor castmembers working at the buffet, when they refilled the baskets with croissants all those hungry people came and in 10 seconds everything was empty again. Lisette and I got our food first and found a table in the Yellow rose hall/barn. I went to get some milk for Sandra but it turned out that the milk was really funky. It tasted like detergent. The rest of the breakfast was good and everything tasted wonderful. We went to our room to pack our stuff for the day and we again strolled to the parks. I really wanted to ride the balloon because it looks nice but at a price of 12 euros per person…..no thanks. At the lake we stopped for a while to look at a mother duck and she had fifteen babies with her, that was cute. We were at the Disneyland park around 10.30 am and people were everywhere, it was just crazy.
The first thing we wanted to do was get fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain. There was already a waiting time of 80 minutes! It was a madhouse at the distributions stations for the passes, it was one big wall of people trying to get passes to ride the mountain with minimum wait. We waited for 15 minutes and then we had our passes but there were also people in line that did not have their themepark tickets on hand so when they reached the machines they couldn’t do anything. Is that stupid or what ! Did these people know what they were in line for or did they just think “follow the people like cattle”
After we got our fastpasses we got in line for Phantom Manor, it had a waiting time of 25 minutes (it was really crowded) the line stretched all the way under the conservatory with the fountain, it has been a long time since we waited here. The ride was awesome as usual. Now it was time for one of my all time favourites the beautiful Mark Twain riverboat. Nobody really likes this but I am a real sucker for these kind of attractions. We all had a great time on the boat. The theming of the Frontierland area is really beautiful with the waterfalls and the geysers. We wanted to ride Star Tours, this is a favourite of Debby, but the rest of us likes it to. First we grabbed fastpasses for Space Mountain it had a waiting time of one hour. Star Tours had only a wait of 15 minutes. We really like the theming of this ride with the station and the robots. But I do not like what they have done with the exit area of the ride, please get rid of these stupid arcade games and bring back some of those photomorph machines of the past, guess IBM took them when they ended the sponsorship of the ride…..damned sponsors!
We had some time to kill before our fastpass window opened and what better way to spend the time eating !! We wanted to eat pizza or pasta so we opted to go to Colonel Hathi’s, Sandra and I prefer this above the Bella Note, it is never so crowded and we love the atmosphere of the restaurant. But being in Discoveryland and with the warm temperatures we chose to go to Bella Note because it was convenient and we hoped it wasn’t too crowded. We arrived at the restaurant and the lunch rush was already over so that was great. Lisette went outside to get a table and we got in line to order the food. The food was really good and we relaxed in the sun. Debby had the Bolognese pizza, Lisette had the chesse pizza, Sandra also had the cheese pizza and I had the Pasta napolitana with garlic bread (Sandra didn’t like me very much the rest of the day)
After lunch we had some more time before our ride on Space Mountain so we walked around the castle and visited the dragon. It was time for Space Mountain, Debby unfortunately was too scared to ride so we sended her to get fastpasses for Buzz. We felt a little guilty about leaving Debby alone AGAIN but she had something to keep her busy and she could relax in the sun while we waited in the dark and hot waiting area of Space Mountain. I really like this ride but Sandra and Lisette have problems with the bumpy-ness of this ride. Is there something they can do about this ? Remodel or replace the trains ? When we first rode this ride in 1995 it was really smooth. The effects of this new version are better though. It was almost time for the parade so we went to Fantasyland to find a good place to look at the parade. We found a great spot in front of the Bella Note restaurant. It was really crowded but we were glad we could sit down and Debby laid herself to rest on the pavement. She almost was trampled by a very loud group of Italian girls. The parade was just amazing, after seeing all those pictures and seeing videos on youtube I knew what I could expect but it is way better in real life. This was the best parade I have seen in a Disneypark so far. You could really smell the different floats and I really liked the puppetry and details. When we got up to continue our day we ran into Sandra’s sister Esther. Esther was here with her husband and two kids and they were staying in the Santa Fe hotel. We of course knew that they were also going this weekend but we wanted to spend this weekend with Debby and Lisette because we see Esther quite often. They also had a great time at the resort, we chatted for a while and then we went on our way. We were getting very tired so we wanted to do something that was less crowded (so we thought) let’s take the train ! The train station at Fantasyland looked rather quiet, boy were we wrong, we waited for more than 30 minutes to get on a train. When we were on the train it was nice and relaxing just to sit and to look around. We exited the train at the Fantasyland station, Lisette wanted to have some Ice cream so Debby and Lisette got in line at the Fantasia gelati shop. Sandra and I were sitting on a terrace in front of It’s a small world. Boy that area music really gets on your nerves when you sit there more than fifteen minutes.
Lisette finished her ice cream and coffee, we decided to ride Pirates. I was glad to get out of Fantasyland for a while. Pirates had a waiting time of 10 minutes so that was great. Pirates love it, love it, love it, why isn’t it more crowded here ???
It was time for our fastpasses for Buzz, it was 7.30 pm so we were really exhausted but Debby and Lisette were very curious to ride it because it was new to them. I didn’t want to see Fantasyland anymore, I had my fill of that, so we walked around Adventureland passed the Bazar (why don’t they open that Bazar anymore, it was such a great area before it turned into a restaurant that is never open ?) We waited 5 minutes at Buzz with the passes. Sandra didn’t want to shoot so she took the camera. Debby and Lisette loved the ride and I must say it is growing on us too.
We had a little more time left so we voted what to do for our last ride. Debby and Lisette didn’t mind so Sandra and I opted to go to Phantom Manor (so much for democracy ?)
One more ride on the greatest haunted house in the world and time was out! We dragged ourselves to the exit and placed ourselves on a bench in front of the Disneyland Hotel. For a while we could only sit and watch the other exhausted people coming by. We were rather hungry and we wanted to go and grab a panini at the New York style sandwiches. It was crowded but manageable. Sandra had the panini with chicken (again chicken)and an almond muffin, I had the mozzarella panini and a blueberry muffin, Lisette had the mozzarella panini and coffee (she really is a coffee-holic) and Debby had a focaccia something sandwich. After dinner we walked around and I bought the 15th anniversary cd and the souvenir brochure. We all wanted to go back to our room because we were really tired. After watching some very corny but funny shows on the Disney channel we fell asleep.
Day four Sunday April 22nd
The last day arrived and we woke up around 7.45 am. We packed our bags and took showers. When we were ready around 9.00 am we took our stuff downstairs and placed everything in the cars. It was time for our last breakfast in the hotel, goodbye delicious croissants, I will miss you but we will meet again. It was much more quiet than the day before so that was nice and we had a great time during breakfast. Me and Sandra always get a little depressed when it is the last day of a vacation, but Debby and Lisette were much more positive. They had a great philosophy about last vacation days so we felt much better after the therapy. Basically they said that a last day of a vacation is also a vacation day so why would you ruin it with being depressed or sad about going to work again. You can always be sad on the day that you actually go to work. That made sense of course so we put on our happy faces and walked to the Disneyland park for the last time. It was crowded but it was not a madhouse like it was yesterday. We made a last day strategy, we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us and we didn’t want to come home too late so we decided that all four of us could choose one favourite ride and then we would have a farewell lunch at the Rainforest café. Debby, who was very patient this last few days waiting for us when we were on the roller-coasters, had the first pick. She chose Buzz Lightyear. There was a waiting time of 25 minutes but I think it was less. We found a hidden Mickey in the waiting area, it was on the map with all the planets. I always thought it was a little crazy that people were trying to find these hidden Mickeys. They even have a special guide for Disney World to find the Mickeys. When we were in Walt Disney World last November/December we discovered a few Mickeys and I must say we really keep an eye open for them when we are in a Disney park, yes we are hooked !
We all liked the ride, yes it is really growing on us, I had a whopping score (at least for me) of 200.000 points WOOHOO. Debby and Lisette did good too but Sandra had 300 points…………………….she doesn’t like to shoot, she is such a non-violent girl. She likes to look and turn the vehicle around. After this it was my turn to choose. I picked Pirates and I think we were all happy with that. While going from Discoveryland to Adventureland Debby and Lisette made that horrible comment about why the castle couldn’t be black………..I ask you, why are we in Disney with these crazy people ???
Pirates only had a 10 minutes wait so that was great and the ride was awesome as usual. Sandra wanted to choose but she couldn’t decide what she wanted. She wanted Big thunder mountain and Phantom Manor. Lisette stepped in and said she was going to choose Phantom Manor so that Sandra could choose Big Thunder. That was very sweet of her (we forgave their black castle remark quite fast) so problem solved, for Sandra that was. I thought it was a little sad for Lisette because I know this was not her favourite attraction, she really wanted to ride Rock ‘n roller coaster, but we (Debby, Sandra and I) didn’t want to go all the way to the studios to ride one attraction. Lisette we are really going to make it up to you the next time, we promise !!!
Big thunder had a wait of 45 minutes but we didn’t want to skip it. Fastpasses were already provided for 5 pm so that was too late. Waiting was not so bad and we enjoyed our last ride on Big Thunder. Debby waited with us in line and at the last minute decided to ride it with us. She was very scared and she didn’t see anything of the scenery when she was on the ride. But she didn’t hate it either, GO DEBBY !!!! Next time we will drag you to Rock ‘n roller coaster !!!! Our last ride was Phantom Manor that only had a five minute wait and that was great as usual. It now was 1.30 pm so we made our way to Main Street for some last minute shopping. As a kind of bonus the character express past us when we were in Main Street, it was a nice and uplifting little parade and that was the perfect farewell (not really farewell) to this vacation. At the storybook store I bought the Pierre Lambert book about the golden age of Disney animation. It is really a stunning book, but it is in French………..and I can not really read French………..it is a good reason to start a French course. The main reason why I bought the book is the wonderful stills and concept renderings of Disney animated features, and there are a lot ! Sandra bought two bookmarks with the 15th celebration logo on it. Debby and Lisette didn’t buy anything, there wasn’t anything black in the store.
We exited the park and walked to the Rainforest café. We were seated immediately at a table in the Gorilla section. Debby had the Chilli con carne, Lisette had the Tribal Ravioli, Sandra also had the Ravioli and I had the salad with smoked and seared salmon. Debby, Lisette and Sandra all liked their food but I personally didn’t really care about the salad. The salmon was good but the salad was not really great. It was fresh and it was a large portion but it was not really my taste. After lunch at 3.00 pm we headed towards the hotel and decided to go home. First we filled up our car at the gas-station at hotel Santa Fe. Sandra’s sister was also at the station so that was a coincidence, they were also returning home. The ride home was long but nice and we only stopped in Belgium for a break. Debby and Lisette decided to leave us when we passed Antwerp (that is the point when they know the way home) We were home around 8.00 pm, it was nice to come home, everything looks so big when you stayed at a hotel-room for a few nights. Our cat Snoes was already home, my father and mother brought her home that morning, and she was very happy to see us. Dreumes and Sammy our two bunnies were really only interested in some bunny-candy. They only like us when they get something to eat. We unpacked our bags and I called my mom to tell her that we got home safely. The vacation was officially over !!
We had a great vacation. This was our very first longer trip with friends and that is always a gamble because you never know if it is going to work. Well it worked out great ! Debby and Lisette really are “Good” friends.
Disneyland Paris looked very good. You could really notice that they refurbished a lot of rides and buildings. Sadly the Studio was one big building plot but that is going to change the next few months. I am really confident that the park will turn out good in the coming years. The new parade at the Disneyland park was just beautiful and I can’t wait to see it again. Decorations and extra shows commemorating the 15th were all very nice and good. We had a wonderful stay at the Cheyenne hotel and there was really nothing to complain about. Castmembers were really friendly and helpful but they are more reserved than their American colleagues, that is not meant as critique it is just a culture thing. Overall we had a wonderful time and Sandra and I can not wait to go again. We are even thinking about getting annual passes.
In September we are going to America and our visit will end with a five day stay at the Disneyland hotel Anaheim. We are really looking forward to this.
I hope you enjoyed reading this report and we will post again in the future.
BYE
Erik Moonen
Cast:
Erik 29 years old: Disney-dweeb from birth
Sandra 31 years old: Likes Disney a lot especially since she hooked up with me.
Lisette 33 years old: Likes the resort but definitely not a Disney-dweeb.
Debby 32 years old: Same as Lisette.
Sandra en Erik both veteran Disneyland Paris visitors: more than 20 multi day visits since 1995 and still counting
Walt Disney World: First visit June 2005 off site with a 7 day magic your way ticket.
Second visit November – December 2006 on site with a 10 day magic your way ticket.
Future: Disneyland Resort Anaheim, 5 days at the Disneyland Hotel from 26th till 30th of September 2007.
Debby and Lisette: This is their fifth time visiting Disneyland resort Paris.
This is our second trip report on this site and I hope you are going to like this one.
This trip to Disneyland Paris was actually planned for the last weekend of march but Debby was having troubles physically so a possible operation in February or March was necessary and that forced us to cancel the trip at first. A few weeks ago she heard that an operation was not necessary anymore so we came together and planned another date for our trip. Debby was very relieved that the operation was out of the window so this called for a celebration. And what better way to celebrate it in Disney style !!!
We called Disneyland Paris and made a booking for two connected rooms at the hotel Cheyenne. It was a very good deal because it was a 3 for 2 period. Tickets for the park were included so we were all set.
This was going to be our second time in Disney with Debby and Lisette. In 1999 we made a trip to Paris and stayed in a Formule 1 hotel for one night. Debby and Lisette were going to tour Europe for several months and Sandra and I joined them on their first two days of their trip. They had a bumpy start because when we woke up the next morning to go to Disney they wanted to refill the oil reservoir in the van. Little did they know that they were filling the thing with coolant………..
The stupid thing was that we all just stood there while they were filling the thing. We all made a comment about the colour of the oil, OOOOHHH that must be very good oil because it is blue !!! (how stupid is that) When the can was empty we checked the label of the can and it was coolant……………
To make a long story short, we called a garage and they came and took the van with them and fixed the problem. The rest of the day turned out pretty good.
So this was going to be the second time with our very good friends in Disneyland Paris (actually they are best friends but it is always so painful when it turns out it is not mutual) Anyway we were excited to go with our “GOOD” friends.
Sandra and I decided to leave on Thursday morning because we had the day off, and we are really dweebs of course. Debby and Lisette were going to arrive in the evening because Lisette had to work. She is a teacher and of course has obligations (what is the harm in sending those kids home for ONE afternoon……..well I think that is why I am not a teacher) It is a 280 miles (460 km) drive so that is not toooo bad.
Day ONE Thursday April 19th
Sandra and I woke up at 6.15 am and started our normal morning routine.
We packed our bags the night before so that was all set. When we leave the house to go on holiday we always have these neurotic routines. Checking the locks 20 times, unplugging the electrical plugs, cleaning every inch of the house………it is very exhausting to go on a trip. Now we were ready to leave the house, it was 8.00 am when we hit the road. Traffic in Holland is a disaster, it is just crazy sometimes to go anywhere in Holland, you almost always get caught in traffic-jams. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived at the Hotel Cheyenne around 2 pm. We parked the car in front of the reception building. This is such a nice themed resort, we really like it. We usually stay in the Santa Fe hotel but this is way better themed. The only hotel we never stayed in is the Hotel New York but we really want to in future. Of course the Disneyland Hotel is the best, we spend our honeymoon there, but this is not a hotel for budget minded people.
So we walked in the reception building and there was a huge line at the reception. The first line of the weekend, and this was not going to be the last. Margriet from Holland checked us in. She made a bit of a stupid comment when we were checked in. You come all the way to Paris for a themepark while you have a park near your home in Waalwijk ?
For everybody who doesn’t know what she is talking about, we live a few miles from Holland’s premier themepark the Efteling. Yeah, why don’t we just stick to what we know and stay home because there we have everything and we never have to go away again !!
Sounds like a good plan ?…………..don’t think so.
We made our way to the Doc Holiday building where our rooms were. We had two rooms on the first floor. They were clean and nice and they had a connecting door. We put the envelope with the tickets and ID for Debby and Lisette on their dresser and we unpacked our luggage and settled in. After a quick call to my mom to tell that we arrived safe and sound and to check on our cat and another call to Debby to tell her where to park the car and to tell her in which building we were, we wanted to eat something. When you have read my other trip report from Florida November – December you know that Sandra is very emotional and that she likes to eat chicken when she is at Disney, so keep this in mind. When we were in Florida we discovered the Rainforest café, in Paris we always passed this restaurant because we thought it was always too busy and too hectic. But since we ate in Florida we wanted to eat at the café in Paris. We walked around the resort and it looked wonderful with all the blossoms in the trees. We arrived at the Rainforest café and we checked in. They gave us a table in the elephant section. It was not really crowded at 3.30 pm so this was convenient. We had a very nice waitress and she took our orders. Sandra had the………………….chicken burger and I ordered the Tribal Ravioli. We were both very happy with our food. It was just as good as in Florida. We also wanted dessert and we both chose the Chocolate orange cake with vanilla ice cream and orange sauce. This was a delicious meal and we are going to make the Rainforest café a regular when we are at Disney. After lunch/dinner we walked around Disney village and checked out some shops. We walked to the Disneyland park because tonight it hosted extra magic hours
(great that they offer this here now!!) and we wanted to make advantage of that. We collected our bracelets under the station. By the way the refurbished Fantasia Gardens and the Disneyland hotel looked incredible !! We wandered around Main Street and entered the Emporium. The park was really busy at this point. Sandra wanted to try some shirts but we failed to find something she liked. The first attraction we wanted to ride was Big Thunder Mountain, the last time we were here in October 2006 the ride was closed so we really wanted to ride it now. Main street looked really festive with all the banners and the castle was beautiful with all the special decorations. We heard an announcement that the Candlelabration ceremony was going to start so we stayed to watch the show. This was a nice show and the theme song is very uplifting. At the end of the show confetti was shot all around the hub and Sandra just screamed a profound “Wow” when she saw that. She was also crying, again, well we are in Disney so Chicken…. check, emotional….. check. We had a good laugh about the “WOW” , Sandra was a little embarrassed but I thought it was cute.
We arrived at Big Thunder Mountain and the waiting time was 35 minutes, that was longer than expected but we really wanted to do it. Waiting wasn’t bad because we always enjoy ourselves in line. The ride was great and looked really good. We always have a few rituals when we are here, we always ride our three favourite attractions first.
They are: Big Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor and Pirates of the Caribbean. We think these three rides are way better than their Florida Cousins, don’t get me wrong we like these rides in Florida but in Paris they are extra special because they are more elaborate. Although Pirates in Florida had the great Jack Sparrow additions in the ride, I hope they are going to bring these changes to Paris someday. After these three great rides the crowds thinned and we decided to ride Peter Pan because there was only a posted waiting time of 15 minutes. I am not a very big fan of the ride, I don’t really get all the fuss. It is cute but nothing really special to me. After Peter Pan we rode Pinocchio, I like this one more than Peter Pan, maybe that is because Pinocchio was a favourite of mine when I was young. The castle was waiting for us so we took the stairs up to the first floor for a tour past the stained glass windows and tapestries depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty. We also visited the dragon under the castle, every time we see this we are amazed about how lifelike this beast is. All these extra special details and layers are the things that define this beautiful park and why it is for me the most beautiful theme park I have visited till now. It was starting to get dark but we wanted to ride Buzz. We first rode this ride in The Magic Kingdom in Florida and we were not impressed. Last year we rode it in Paris and we felt the same as we did in Florida, not impressed. Now we wanted to try it again, although it has some nice and very funny features we still feel it is not that great. We like the Animatronic of Buzz in the waiting area though. When we exited the ride I had a message on my cellphone that Debby and Lisette passed the airport Charles de Gaulle and that they would arrive in 30 minutes. We immediately went back to the hotel and when we arrived Debby and Lisette were sitting on the porch outside our building. They had some trouble with the directions but everything turned out ok. We got up to our room and chatted for a little while. Sandra and I were very tired so we said goodnight and went to bed. We had a busy but fun weekend ahead of us and we wanted to get a good nights sleep because tomorrow we had a breakfast time of 7.45 am (pfffff)
Day TWO Friday April 20th
We had our wake up call at 7.00 am. It was a funny call with the voice of Goofy. We got up and showered and did our morning rituals. At 7.45 am Lisette knocked on the door asking if we were ready. Sandra was not ready yet so Debby and Lisette went outside to smoke. We arrived five minutes later and the four of us made our way to the Chuckwagon café for the complimentary breakfast. We really like the breakfast that they serve in the hotels. The croissants are really the best you can get, Lisette agrees with me on this. We also like those cheese cubes and the chocolate croissants. In Florida the breakfast is not included in your package but that has another advantage because then you can buy those wonderful cinnamonrolls. Anyway we had a great breakfast and it was fairly quiet because we were very early so no chaos at the beverage stations and no throngs of people pushing and shoving to get something to eat. People really turn into monsters when something is offered for free or when it is complimentary. It really boggles my mind how many people pile their trays high with food to take it into the park to save a few euros. You can not blame them of course but when you see some folks walking with trays full of food and you want to get a croissant and there is almost nothing left it really gets me irritated. This time we had no such things, it was pleasant and relaxing. In the lobby of the hotel Sandra asked a castmember who was face painting children if she could also get one on her face, the woman was very friendly and put a beautiful pinkisch flower on Sandra’s cheek. At around 9.00 am we got back to our room to get our stuff for the day. Debby and Lisette brought their video camera so that was nice. Now we were all set and we walked to the parks. We like walking to the parks, we prefer the walk instead of taking the crowded busses. Our first thing on the program was a visit to the Walt Disney
Studios. This is a park that has some great attractions but what were they thinking when they build this ? It is such a contrast with the beautiful Disneyland park. But there is hope on the horizon because they are really putting a lot of energy in building new rides and adding more details and atmosphere in the studios. From what I have seen live and on concept sketches on the internet this is going to be a great park with a better line up of attractions and who knows maybe it can really rival with the neighbouring park in a few years. Point is there is some serious stuff going on there. We entered the park around 9.40 so only studio 1 was open. This is an area that turned out very good, it really sets a mood (too bad that when you step outside the rest is rather blah, but that is going to change) We wandered in the store and saw lots of nice stuff. When it was 10.00 am the gates opened and we entered the studios and made our way to Armageddon. I think this is a thrilling attraction but Sandra thinks it is stupid. Debby and Lisette…..I don’t know, I think they like it ? When we exited we were very eager to ride the Rock n roller coaster, this is one of our favourite attractions. Lisette also likes this a lot only Debby skipped the ride because she is not a thrill ride junky. This is really one of the best coasters we have ever been on. That thrilling launch at the beginning is just spectacular. The last time we rode this thing Sandra and I went on it eleven times in a row. Well that was a record we didn’t break because it was kinda sad to see Debby sitting there alone after two rides. Sandra and I really like the Animagique attraction but Debby and Lisette don’t really get it, remember they are no Disney dweebs, they even had a comment why the castle couldn’t be black…………………do I have to say more ? They were good sports so they joined us and they even retained their breakfast from that morning. Sandra and I opted to go to Cinemagique, this is my favourite in this park. But Debby and Lisette couldn’t do this, Animagique was too much for them so they stayed outside. Lisette went on a ride in Rock n roller coaster while Debby waited on a bench soaking in the sun with a cup of coffee. Cinemagique is so original and amazing but yet so simple. It always brings a tear to our eye, yes we are romantic. We joined Debby outside and we walked to the RnRC to get Lisette. It was almost time for the parade so we got a seat in front of the backlot express restaurant. We collected a couple of chairs but we had to give these up to people actually eating at the restaurant, ok that is reasonable. Thinking that the parade would start here we waited and waited and waited. Well the parade made the route in reverse so we had to wait a while. This is a nice little parade but nothing really special. At this moment we were all hungry but we wanted to do one more thing before we got something to eat, we got in line for the studio tram tour. The tour was relaxing and nice and when it ended we decided to go and eat at Annettes in the village. This restaurant is a firm favourite of all of us, so the choice was easily made.
Eating here is always nice and this time it was no exception. Sandra had the megaburger (no chicken this time, what a surprise) and for dessert she had the Donuts with ice cream. Debby had the Onion burger (I felt sorry for Lisette) and the Cheesecake. Lisette had the Veggie burger and coffee with some sweets including a very cute mini milkshake. I had the West coast salad (or east ?) with tuna and the lemon merengue pie. We all were happy and very full when we exited the restaurant. It is very convenient to eat in the late afternoon because it is never really busy and you can really relax while eating. Now it was time to go to the Disneyland park. Sandra took control over the video camera and we decided to spice up the video and to make a parody on that program on the resort channel about the 10 things to do when you go to Disneyland, you know with that annoying girl that tells you what you must really do when you are here in the resort. We decided to make a top 10 of favourite attractions (the ranking turned out a little different and we included some attractions that really didn’t belong in this line-up but it was great fun to make this video) We entered the park round 4.30 pm and it was a madhouse. The parade was up and about and I must say that it looked stunning, but we are going to see it tomorrow so now it was time for something different. We decided that Debby could choose the first attraction because she had to wait several times for us in the studios when we were in the RnRC. She chose, drum rolls please …………………………………..The Labyrinth !!……………hmmmmm?……..well ok we had that coming. Debby really likes this attraction but Lisette hates it so she waited outside while Sandra and I followed Debby in the maze. We almost never do this attraction but we had a nice time in the Labyrinth and of course Debby was ecstatic. Debby and Lisette never knew there was an area behind the old Mill and the Labyrinth with the Casey Junior train and the storybook cruise, so that was next on the list. It was a very long wait at Casey junior but we had fun. After this we were all in the mood for some serious shock therapy……It’s a small world..YEAHHH. Debby and Lisette think this is way too pink, remember they wanted the castle black…….and we call them our friends……?
Sandra and I really like this attraction, it is much more festive than in Florida. Debby made a critical comment about the way the ceiling of the attraction is very visible, she said everything in this park is so detailed and beautiful, why did they do this with that ceiling ? Maybe the reason is that when they built this attraction the workers and designers at a point were so sick of that pink colour that they had too leave it before they turned mad, just a theory. Again without major damage to our brain cells we exited the ride and decided it was time for something totally different. We left the sweet coloured Fantasyland and we entered Adventureland for a ride on Pirates. I think this was the first ride we actually all liked. It was almost closing time but Lisette really wanted to go on Big thunder mountain. We walked to Frontierland and the waiting time was still 25 minutes. Sandra and Debby skipped it, Sandra because she was very tired and Debby because she is too scared to ride. They eventually decided to go and shoot at the nearby shooting gallery. Lisette and I had a great time on the mountain and when we came back Sandra was just sitting there being tired and Lisette and Debby wanted to go and shoot some things in the gallery. The park was officially closed at this time so we made our way to the exit and Sandra and I decided to go to our room to rest and relax. Debby and Lisette stayed in the Village to do some shopping. All in all we had a great day, but it was exhausting. When we were in the room we watched some Disneychannel, some of those shows are really corny but we liked it anyway. Time for a good nights rest…..zzzzzzzzzzz
Day Three Saturday April 21th
We had our wake up call at 8.00 am so that was not as early as yesterday. We had a very good nights sleep, the bed was very good. Debby and Lisette said it was rather hard but we thought it was fine. At 9.00 am we entered the restaurant for breakfast and it was a war zone. It was soooo crowded and hectic. People were everywhere, it was a big contrast with yesterday morning. People were really pushing and shoving to get food. Those poor castmembers working at the buffet, when they refilled the baskets with croissants all those hungry people came and in 10 seconds everything was empty again. Lisette and I got our food first and found a table in the Yellow rose hall/barn. I went to get some milk for Sandra but it turned out that the milk was really funky. It tasted like detergent. The rest of the breakfast was good and everything tasted wonderful. We went to our room to pack our stuff for the day and we again strolled to the parks. I really wanted to ride the balloon because it looks nice but at a price of 12 euros per person…..no thanks. At the lake we stopped for a while to look at a mother duck and she had fifteen babies with her, that was cute. We were at the Disneyland park around 10.30 am and people were everywhere, it was just crazy.
The first thing we wanted to do was get fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain. There was already a waiting time of 80 minutes! It was a madhouse at the distributions stations for the passes, it was one big wall of people trying to get passes to ride the mountain with minimum wait. We waited for 15 minutes and then we had our passes but there were also people in line that did not have their themepark tickets on hand so when they reached the machines they couldn’t do anything. Is that stupid or what ! Did these people know what they were in line for or did they just think “follow the people like cattle”
After we got our fastpasses we got in line for Phantom Manor, it had a waiting time of 25 minutes (it was really crowded) the line stretched all the way under the conservatory with the fountain, it has been a long time since we waited here. The ride was awesome as usual. Now it was time for one of my all time favourites the beautiful Mark Twain riverboat. Nobody really likes this but I am a real sucker for these kind of attractions. We all had a great time on the boat. The theming of the Frontierland area is really beautiful with the waterfalls and the geysers. We wanted to ride Star Tours, this is a favourite of Debby, but the rest of us likes it to. First we grabbed fastpasses for Space Mountain it had a waiting time of one hour. Star Tours had only a wait of 15 minutes. We really like the theming of this ride with the station and the robots. But I do not like what they have done with the exit area of the ride, please get rid of these stupid arcade games and bring back some of those photomorph machines of the past, guess IBM took them when they ended the sponsorship of the ride…..damned sponsors!
We had some time to kill before our fastpass window opened and what better way to spend the time eating !! We wanted to eat pizza or pasta so we opted to go to Colonel Hathi’s, Sandra and I prefer this above the Bella Note, it is never so crowded and we love the atmosphere of the restaurant. But being in Discoveryland and with the warm temperatures we chose to go to Bella Note because it was convenient and we hoped it wasn’t too crowded. We arrived at the restaurant and the lunch rush was already over so that was great. Lisette went outside to get a table and we got in line to order the food. The food was really good and we relaxed in the sun. Debby had the Bolognese pizza, Lisette had the chesse pizza, Sandra also had the cheese pizza and I had the Pasta napolitana with garlic bread (Sandra didn’t like me very much the rest of the day)
After lunch we had some more time before our ride on Space Mountain so we walked around the castle and visited the dragon. It was time for Space Mountain, Debby unfortunately was too scared to ride so we sended her to get fastpasses for Buzz. We felt a little guilty about leaving Debby alone AGAIN but she had something to keep her busy and she could relax in the sun while we waited in the dark and hot waiting area of Space Mountain. I really like this ride but Sandra and Lisette have problems with the bumpy-ness of this ride. Is there something they can do about this ? Remodel or replace the trains ? When we first rode this ride in 1995 it was really smooth. The effects of this new version are better though. It was almost time for the parade so we went to Fantasyland to find a good place to look at the parade. We found a great spot in front of the Bella Note restaurant. It was really crowded but we were glad we could sit down and Debby laid herself to rest on the pavement. She almost was trampled by a very loud group of Italian girls. The parade was just amazing, after seeing all those pictures and seeing videos on youtube I knew what I could expect but it is way better in real life. This was the best parade I have seen in a Disneypark so far. You could really smell the different floats and I really liked the puppetry and details. When we got up to continue our day we ran into Sandra’s sister Esther. Esther was here with her husband and two kids and they were staying in the Santa Fe hotel. We of course knew that they were also going this weekend but we wanted to spend this weekend with Debby and Lisette because we see Esther quite often. They also had a great time at the resort, we chatted for a while and then we went on our way. We were getting very tired so we wanted to do something that was less crowded (so we thought) let’s take the train ! The train station at Fantasyland looked rather quiet, boy were we wrong, we waited for more than 30 minutes to get on a train. When we were on the train it was nice and relaxing just to sit and to look around. We exited the train at the Fantasyland station, Lisette wanted to have some Ice cream so Debby and Lisette got in line at the Fantasia gelati shop. Sandra and I were sitting on a terrace in front of It’s a small world. Boy that area music really gets on your nerves when you sit there more than fifteen minutes.
Lisette finished her ice cream and coffee, we decided to ride Pirates. I was glad to get out of Fantasyland for a while. Pirates had a waiting time of 10 minutes so that was great. Pirates love it, love it, love it, why isn’t it more crowded here ???
It was time for our fastpasses for Buzz, it was 7.30 pm so we were really exhausted but Debby and Lisette were very curious to ride it because it was new to them. I didn’t want to see Fantasyland anymore, I had my fill of that, so we walked around Adventureland passed the Bazar (why don’t they open that Bazar anymore, it was such a great area before it turned into a restaurant that is never open ?) We waited 5 minutes at Buzz with the passes. Sandra didn’t want to shoot so she took the camera. Debby and Lisette loved the ride and I must say it is growing on us too.
We had a little more time left so we voted what to do for our last ride. Debby and Lisette didn’t mind so Sandra and I opted to go to Phantom Manor (so much for democracy ?)
One more ride on the greatest haunted house in the world and time was out! We dragged ourselves to the exit and placed ourselves on a bench in front of the Disneyland Hotel. For a while we could only sit and watch the other exhausted people coming by. We were rather hungry and we wanted to go and grab a panini at the New York style sandwiches. It was crowded but manageable. Sandra had the panini with chicken (again chicken)and an almond muffin, I had the mozzarella panini and a blueberry muffin, Lisette had the mozzarella panini and coffee (she really is a coffee-holic) and Debby had a focaccia something sandwich. After dinner we walked around and I bought the 15th anniversary cd and the souvenir brochure. We all wanted to go back to our room because we were really tired. After watching some very corny but funny shows on the Disney channel we fell asleep.
Day four Sunday April 22nd
The last day arrived and we woke up around 7.45 am. We packed our bags and took showers. When we were ready around 9.00 am we took our stuff downstairs and placed everything in the cars. It was time for our last breakfast in the hotel, goodbye delicious croissants, I will miss you but we will meet again. It was much more quiet than the day before so that was nice and we had a great time during breakfast. Me and Sandra always get a little depressed when it is the last day of a vacation, but Debby and Lisette were much more positive. They had a great philosophy about last vacation days so we felt much better after the therapy. Basically they said that a last day of a vacation is also a vacation day so why would you ruin it with being depressed or sad about going to work again. You can always be sad on the day that you actually go to work. That made sense of course so we put on our happy faces and walked to the Disneyland park for the last time. It was crowded but it was not a madhouse like it was yesterday. We made a last day strategy, we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us and we didn’t want to come home too late so we decided that all four of us could choose one favourite ride and then we would have a farewell lunch at the Rainforest café. Debby, who was very patient this last few days waiting for us when we were on the roller-coasters, had the first pick. She chose Buzz Lightyear. There was a waiting time of 25 minutes but I think it was less. We found a hidden Mickey in the waiting area, it was on the map with all the planets. I always thought it was a little crazy that people were trying to find these hidden Mickeys. They even have a special guide for Disney World to find the Mickeys. When we were in Walt Disney World last November/December we discovered a few Mickeys and I must say we really keep an eye open for them when we are in a Disney park, yes we are hooked !
We all liked the ride, yes it is really growing on us, I had a whopping score (at least for me) of 200.000 points WOOHOO. Debby and Lisette did good too but Sandra had 300 points…………………….she doesn’t like to shoot, she is such a non-violent girl. She likes to look and turn the vehicle around. After this it was my turn to choose. I picked Pirates and I think we were all happy with that. While going from Discoveryland to Adventureland Debby and Lisette made that horrible comment about why the castle couldn’t be black………..I ask you, why are we in Disney with these crazy people ???
Pirates only had a 10 minutes wait so that was great and the ride was awesome as usual. Sandra wanted to choose but she couldn’t decide what she wanted. She wanted Big thunder mountain and Phantom Manor. Lisette stepped in and said she was going to choose Phantom Manor so that Sandra could choose Big Thunder. That was very sweet of her (we forgave their black castle remark quite fast) so problem solved, for Sandra that was. I thought it was a little sad for Lisette because I know this was not her favourite attraction, she really wanted to ride Rock ‘n roller coaster, but we (Debby, Sandra and I) didn’t want to go all the way to the studios to ride one attraction. Lisette we are really going to make it up to you the next time, we promise !!!
Big thunder had a wait of 45 minutes but we didn’t want to skip it. Fastpasses were already provided for 5 pm so that was too late. Waiting was not so bad and we enjoyed our last ride on Big Thunder. Debby waited with us in line and at the last minute decided to ride it with us. She was very scared and she didn’t see anything of the scenery when she was on the ride. But she didn’t hate it either, GO DEBBY !!!! Next time we will drag you to Rock ‘n roller coaster !!!! Our last ride was Phantom Manor that only had a five minute wait and that was great as usual. It now was 1.30 pm so we made our way to Main Street for some last minute shopping. As a kind of bonus the character express past us when we were in Main Street, it was a nice and uplifting little parade and that was the perfect farewell (not really farewell) to this vacation. At the storybook store I bought the Pierre Lambert book about the golden age of Disney animation. It is really a stunning book, but it is in French………..and I can not really read French………..it is a good reason to start a French course. The main reason why I bought the book is the wonderful stills and concept renderings of Disney animated features, and there are a lot ! Sandra bought two bookmarks with the 15th celebration logo on it. Debby and Lisette didn’t buy anything, there wasn’t anything black in the store.
We exited the park and walked to the Rainforest café. We were seated immediately at a table in the Gorilla section. Debby had the Chilli con carne, Lisette had the Tribal Ravioli, Sandra also had the Ravioli and I had the salad with smoked and seared salmon. Debby, Lisette and Sandra all liked their food but I personally didn’t really care about the salad. The salmon was good but the salad was not really great. It was fresh and it was a large portion but it was not really my taste. After lunch at 3.00 pm we headed towards the hotel and decided to go home. First we filled up our car at the gas-station at hotel Santa Fe. Sandra’s sister was also at the station so that was a coincidence, they were also returning home. The ride home was long but nice and we only stopped in Belgium for a break. Debby and Lisette decided to leave us when we passed Antwerp (that is the point when they know the way home) We were home around 8.00 pm, it was nice to come home, everything looks so big when you stayed at a hotel-room for a few nights. Our cat Snoes was already home, my father and mother brought her home that morning, and she was very happy to see us. Dreumes and Sammy our two bunnies were really only interested in some bunny-candy. They only like us when they get something to eat. We unpacked our bags and I called my mom to tell her that we got home safely. The vacation was officially over !!
We had a great vacation. This was our very first longer trip with friends and that is always a gamble because you never know if it is going to work. Well it worked out great ! Debby and Lisette really are “Good” friends.
Disneyland Paris looked very good. You could really notice that they refurbished a lot of rides and buildings. Sadly the Studio was one big building plot but that is going to change the next few months. I am really confident that the park will turn out good in the coming years. The new parade at the Disneyland park was just beautiful and I can’t wait to see it again. Decorations and extra shows commemorating the 15th were all very nice and good. We had a wonderful stay at the Cheyenne hotel and there was really nothing to complain about. Castmembers were really friendly and helpful but they are more reserved than their American colleagues, that is not meant as critique it is just a culture thing. Overall we had a wonderful time and Sandra and I can not wait to go again. We are even thinking about getting annual passes.
In September we are going to America and our visit will end with a five day stay at the Disneyland hotel Anaheim. We are really looking forward to this.
I hope you enjoyed reading this report and we will post again in the future.
BYE
Erik Moonen