Celebrating my 30th Disney style - Complete and Picture heavy!

[ShellB8585]

A hop, skip…..

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“Now, once upon a time, a single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens and from this small drop of sun grew a magic golden flower. It had the ability to heal the sick and injured… Well centuries passed and a hop, skip and a boat ride away there grew a Kingdom…”

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Thanks to dedicatedtodlp.com for the map pic
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Erm Flynn, thanks for the introduction but these nice folk are here to read about a 30th Birthday celebration at Disneyland Paris not Rapunzel!​

“…. A healthy baby girl, a princess, was born with beautiful golden hair…”

Awww thanks
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“…that’s Rapunzel…”

Ok thanks Flynn for (nothin’!) helping me start this TR but I think I’ll take over from here!

So back to the reason we’re all here ….
Today is 4th May (May the 4th be with you) which means one thing – the Disneyland Paris trip is finally here!!!! Let’s rewind just a little. If you followed the link straight here from page one you might want to go back and read the first post for introductions, go ahead - I’ll wait right here…
….Ok well acquainted? Great! This is where the PTR has come to an end and the official TR commences. I am starting out updating at the end of a day or writing whilst travelling in the hope I can get this TR to you quickly as I know life will get in the way after the trip but let’s not think about that yet!!

As far as I am concerned my Holiday started as soon as I finished work on Friday! It was my brothers 28th birthday and rather than staying home he decided to come up to ours a couple days early (DH and I live about 100 miles from our childhood home where the family still live) and we went out for a meal and some drinks. Then spent all day Saturday baking – Can’t wait for a glowtini Mum and Dad arrived that evening.
We had a small Party – I suppose you would call it a tea party - at our house yesterday afternoon for my very closest family and friends to start my 30th celebrations. The party ran 13:30 – 18:00 officially but of course there were some late stayers ;-) and, of course, there was a Disney element.

I was up first this morning – 05:30 (I was excited) and we used up the bacon and cream cheese for bagels – Yummy start!

I made sure the master of the house

Had enough dry food and water to last him whilst we are away. We have been having an issue getting him used to using his cat flap so I’m a little apprehensive. At the same time we know he used it when we were away for 4 nights in Jan and again over Easter so fingers crossed he’ll work it out this time too.

We finished loading up the car:​

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And left around 09:15. (Today is a bank holiday so I anticipated a lot of people travelling back after the weekend in the Westcountry. DH did the UK stretch of driving. It's a fairly dull drive However, I always love getting near London on the M4 as you can see Windsor Castle off to the right.

We stopped for lunch at coast to coast, one of my fave american restaurants (Menus and things can be found here - https://www.c2crestaurants.com/food-drink), in Rochester before making our way to Dover.

Cheers!

We got to The Premier Inn Dover Ferry Port approximately 16:00 and could check in straight away. I booked this May 2014 for £43.00 a room. I would certainly stay here again! It's extremely close. I had packed DH and myself an overnight bag so we could leave the rest of our clothes in the car rather than getting out our big case. After the long journey we checked out our rooms which have a great view -






Mum, Luke Carl and myself went for a stroll then had some dinner - I only had tomato soup so no pics ha




Curled up in bed very sleepy by 10. tomorrow is a big day

Night all​

 

[Anemone]

Awww, hopefully by now Shelley you are having a ball in DLP. Hope it's a magical trip with lots of

Look forward to hearing all about it.

 

[ShellB8585]

Hi Anne,

Thanks for sticking around!! We had the best trip only a few lows but they didn't really impact anything too much. I will be uploading my photos tonight and hope to get started on the TR tomorrow. Will keep me going with my Disney fix until I can start doing more for our Disneyland CA and Disney cruise trip later in the year

 

[Anemone]

Yay looking forward to reading. Going to try to do my last day tonight. I will at least start it.

 

[ShellB8585]

…And a Boat ride away.

“The skies awake so I’m awake”

I was up at 04:30 this morning had a cup of tea and a nice hot shower. I then sent everyone a text to remind them to meet in the foyer at 05:40 and got DH up. In hindsight I didn’t need to get up quite so early but I was excited!!

We got in the car and drove the very short distance to the Ferry port and checked in which was fairly painless and we were on the ferry in no time at all and headed up for breakfast. The boys had a big breakfast which was around £10.00 mum had a smaller version and I had a pain au raisin and Granola with Yoghurt.

The crossing takes about 90 mins. We used this time to have a wander around the ship and get some fresh air as we knew we would be in the car for a while. DH bought himself some whiskey

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Bye England

We were back at the car at 08:00 UK time. At this point I think it’ll be best to switch to France time so 09:00. We put the beam deflectors on the headlights to set us up for driving on the wrong side of the road and set up appropriate CDs for the next leg of the drive

We were off the ferry by 09:15

I love the drive from Calais to Paris. I know it’s just more motorways but it feels more picturesque – probably just because it’s different from the roads I always drive.

The tolls cost €21.70 and it was an uneventful drive and we arrived at hotel Cheyenne just before midday

After 660 days we were finally back on Disney property. Sorry - i didn't take hotel pics until later in the week and haven't uploaded them yet.

Do you remember the bottle of whiskey DH bought himself on the ferry? Well, without thinking I put everything in the boot when we were getting off. When we arrived at the entrance to the parking I obviously had to get our documents out. I opened the boot and SMASH! Uh oh! Luckily the bottle was in a box which retained the Whiskey and I had a bottle of squash which we emptied and put the whiskey in. But ¼ of it was lost. Sorry DH!! (thankfully he wasn't angry so didn't put a dampener on the start of our hol)



Officially check in is at 3 but I have learnt it is ALWAYS worth checking if you arrive early as sometimes you can! In this case I knew that if we couldn't check in we could, at least, pick up our park tickets.


Well we were able to check in and they upgraded us to the Wyatt Earp building which is right next to the main building. We dumped our stuff and headed straight to the Magic. For reference mum and dad got the bus and me DH and DB walked – walking only took about 10 mins max and we were there a long while before them.

Now something I had been looking forward to for a long time…


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Look at this happy bunch (happy to be out of the car I think)





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Carl and Luke decided to start their holiday with the beast that is Annette’s Maxi Incredible Burger –
“600 g burger, cheese, bacon and Annette's sauce
Finish your Annette's Maxi Incredible Burger and we will give you an Annette's Shakes or Smoothie Shake”
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I can tell you now those little piggies did both finish it!!
Everyone except mum had a beer with our lunch, mum a diet coke, Dad had the Mega 50/50, mum the Euro Chick and I had the Rock n Roll burger. The menu can be found here - http://www.dlpguide.com/planning/dining/restaurant-menus/annettes-diner/. Sorry I thought I had taken pictures but I did run out of room on my memory card half way through the week so may have deleted them. But here is a picture of our waitresses footwear.

Overall we loved our first Disney meal (this is something that continued throughout the week thankfully) The service was good and quick, the burgers were delicious and the fries were seasoned perfectly!

Up next … my parents first visit to a Paris Disney park… ​

 

[ShellB8585]

Flynn – Wow! I could get used to a view like this. Hold on… Yup! I’m used to it. Guys I want my own castle.

I love that you have to walk under the Disneyland Hotel to get into the park – one day I will stay here!!! The next few posts will be picture heavy (At last you’re all thinking!!)


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And FINALLY we were back in a Disney Park!!! It was 660 days since we’d last been on Disney Property but 983 since we’d last been in a Disney Park




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My fave spot to take a group pic with the castle –​

You know the selfie stick I bought? Never used it once!

The Swing into Spring decorations were beautiful! I did take more pics later in the trip but I took these on the way to our first port of call –​

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We headed clockwise to start at Phantom manor. There was only a 5 min wait so a walk on really








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My first experience of Disney Parks growing up was watching Sing along songs Disneyland Paris on VHS with my bro and sis. So to me this is the perfect Haunted house and the one in Florida didn’t quite match up.

After PM we headed over to Thunder Mountain – This is one of my most favourite rides and I think the Paris version is my actual favourite!! It is so much longer than it looks and I love the tunnels etc.

Alas the queue was over an hour so we picked up Fast passes with a return time of 18:30 – 19:00


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Since we had a fair old wait we carried on walking and found ourselves at Indiana Jones. Dad doesn’t do rollercoasters so we left him with the bags and cameras (sorry no photo) and went on. The queue was posted as being 25 minutes but it was less than that.

Then we decided to check out POTC – I love the theming of this area!



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Unfortunately this was our first disappointment – it was down . This happened a few times whilst we were there and was one of the only real downers. Instead we headed off to find a dragon

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Something I discovered recently, and found very interesting, is that contrary to belief the dragon is NOT Maleficent! It is supposed to be either a friend of or a pet of Merlin who also lives at the castle!​

 

[ShellB8585]

Naturally after the Dragon Dungeon the only way is up

















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I had never noticed the Sword in the Stone links before (other than the actual sword in the stone) And here is Archimedes plain as day!


At this point the group broke, with about 60 minutes before Thunder Mountain Carl, Luke and Myself decided to head over to Disney Studios. Luke had never been before and fancied checking it out. We left mum and dad to their own devices…


To Be Continued…​

 

[Anemone]

Yay, you've started Shelley. We play that CD in the car. Love your photos - you have a great eye for detail. Excited to read more.

 

[ShellB8585]

Thanks Anne - have only just really gotten into photography so it's nice to read your comment Will try and wrap up day 1 today.

 

[Komble]

I love your trip so far!! It looks like you had an amazing time & the weather held out for you (so far!)

The picture of your cat made me giggle... I wouldn't trust leaving my cat at home with a big bowl of food while I was away - he'd eat it all in one sitting, hahaha!

Beautiful pictures, I cannot wait to read more about your trip! (and I hope you had a lovely Birthday!)

 

[ShellB8585]

Ah Komble thanks for the comment it's lovely to know there are people reading along! we had fantastic weather most of the trip and it was very hot! We were so fortunate.

My birthday was fantastic thank you. I want to go DLP for my birthday every year (we'll see how that pans out haha)

 

[ShellB8585]

When I left you the group had just split. Mum and Dad decided to just chill out a little with drinks and a crepe whilst Carl Luke and myself went for a wander in the Studios park

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The idea was just to look around as Luke had never been before and we only had an hour to spare until our fastpass. However, ToT only had a 15 min wait so we just HAD to go on!






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I think PhotoPass+ is fantastic value for money €49.99 gets you all of your ride photos etc and you have 1 yr to download them. We got 28 photos from rides – unfortunately we didn’t queue for any meet and greets to get more. If Space Mountain had been open we would have definitely gotten more. The ONLY downside is there aren’t any roaming photographers Like you get in the states! I would have loved a couple group pictures that way. But this is fairly new so hopefully it’s something in the works.​

By the time we had finished on ToT it was time to head back to Disneyland for our FP. There were tons of people queuing at the fastpass entrance and this is one thing I found quite annoying – most of them were not at their return time yet!! It would be so much better for everyone turned up at their allotted time rather than making those that have wait in a queue .
Anyway, grumble over!



I LOVE that ride and it got even better as there is a little pixie dust to come….
We then headed over to POTC to see if it was open – after hearing the song on the way down I couldn’t wait to ride it. Well it was still down! We decided to have a look in the shop where mum took her time buying herself some goodies for a Pirate day coming up at her work. We were glad she did because while we were waiting it opened and we walked straight on –

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It might have been worth waiting to check it out first though…
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One of the pirates heads was hanging off!!!!​

are they setting up for Halloween already !! It's not the clearest picture - I wasn't expecting it (obviously) so didn't have my camera ready so this was quickly snapped on hubbys phone it made us all chuckle though.

By now it was just after 7 and with the early start we were all starting to flag a little. Since we had a long day planned the next day we decided to meander out of the park and head to Disney Village to look in the shops and have a drink.







Bunny ears!!

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I hadn't even noticed Carl was in that photo before








I love those arcades that run behind the Main Street shops – fantastic crowd control idea they could do with in other parks!
And then out we go.
We had a look around the shops then decided to head to the sports bar for a couple drinks. As I am almost at my 20 pic limit I will leave you with my cocktails (the others had beer/similar cocktails) we stayed at the sports bar for a little while just chilling out enjoying our drinks. I had my first Glowtini



I had another one later in the trip and this one was far superior than the other. The second was much sweeter.
And a fragol rock (I think that’s how it was spelt on the menu) which was basically a mojito with beer it sound wrong but it was delicious –




The Fragol Rock was my favourite and I have no idea why I never had another one!! Feeling a little peckish we decided to pick up Earl of Sandwich sandwiches to munch on the way back to the hotel. When we got back we went to the Red Garter Saloon but I was so tired I decided to just head back to the room and get ready for bed – with 3 adults sharing we had to take in turns getting ready/changed/used bathroom etc, the others weren’t far behind.


And that concludes Day one.


Up next we venture into Paris...​

 

[Anemone]

Another exciting installment Shelley. Beautiful photos again. So glad you enjoyed your first Glowtini. I will have to try the Fraggle Rock - I tend to stick with what I know so have never tried it.

 

[ShellB8585]

Before I get to our Paris I thought I’d share some Hotel pictures. These will be out of taken order but Thought it easier to do one “review post”. I’ll start at the beginning of the day Breakfast! The Cheyenne has a continental breakfast included and on arrival we asked (and got) the first timeslot – 07:00-08:00 (all best intentions for extra magic hours!!) The same breakfast is offered at Santa Fe – I cannot comment on any other hotels – Our friends who stayed at the Santa Fe, however, said they were letting people in at anytime making for a bit of a packed canteen.
Anyway, here’s some of the offerings (some may be blurry because I was trying to keep out of peoples way sorry about that)
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Cereal –

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Jams and Nutellas –

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Here there are 2 different types of cubed cheese – cheddar and Gouda, The white stuff in the bowl (far left) is cream cheese, Then fruit salad (like the tinned stuff), Apple sauce then the packets behind that contain Butter or margarine. There was also a Garlic spread and a chopped tomato spread at the end (not pictured) . I think the cheese would have been better sliced to go into rolls or croissants, instead we had to slice the cubes and I would have preferred real fruit but I think we were all quite happy with the offerings.

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Ham and Mortadella

I feel sorry for the pig!

And last but not least mountains of Croissants, Pain au Chocolat and rolls, there was also sliced bread and a toaster​

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I didn’t get any pictures of the drink stations but the coffee was pretty good for a machine at a buffet breakfast and there was apple juice and Orange juice

And a couple pics of what the food hall and hotel look like for those interested and haven’t stayed there before
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The food hall –

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Love those saddle barstools!
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The reception –

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Some external shots –

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Finally a couple of our room (excuse mess, these were actually taken on the Thursday night when Luke and Carl were putting up happy birthday banners):​

From pictures I had seen elsewhere online I had been a little worried the room would feel cramped with 3 adults. To our surprise it was very roomy and plenty big enough even if there were 4 of us. The only downside was the bunk bed was a tiny bit short for Luke to stretch out.
For reference we were 1872

Overall we were very happy with our choice. The theming was fantastic and it was not a long walk to the parks. It did feel a little dated in some parts, when we entered the building for our room there was a musty smell and the bathrooms could do with a deep clean. We were lucky, there was a kettle in our room BUT the socket it was next to was faulty. Luckily I was sharing my room with an electrician and an electrical engineer who came up with a way around that. We brought our own coffee from home and borrowed 3 mugs from breakfast. We didn’t use it much but it was nice to have the option after a long day. If we were travelling with others again or needed to mindful of costs I would stay there again in a heartbeat BUT I would like to try out some of the other properties if travelling just us.​

 

[ShellB8585]

Another exciting installment Shelley. Beautiful photos again. So glad you enjoyed your first Glowtini. I will have to try the Fraggle Rock - I tend to stick with what I know so have never tried it.

Thanks Anne

This may sound dumbed down but if you like beer and you like mojitos I would highly recommend it!!!

My ONLY regret is not getting to Cafe Fantasia for a cocktail

 

[ShellB8585]

Confession time -

I had been nervous before this trip...

My mum and dad pretty much only go to Florida these days (they're creatures of habit) and I was worried they would enjoy this trip as much / at all even. I first took them out of their comfort zone with a week in London last year to take them to see The Eagles (their fave band) and they loved it.


.....Well I have just had a text from Luke and my dad is already pricing up his next trip to DLP AND my mum has been asking where we're going next. I think that speaks volumes for how good this whole trip was!

 

[Anemone]

My ONLY regret is not getting to Cafe Fantasia for a cocktail

Always important to have a reason to return.

Confession time -

I had been nervous before this trip...

My mum and dad pretty much only go to Florida these days (they're creatures of habit) and I was worried they would enjoy this trip as much / at all even. I first took them out of their comfort zone with a week in London last year to take them to see The Eagles (their fave band) and they loved it.


.....Well I have just had a text from Luke and my dad is already pricing up his next trip to DLP AND my mum has been asking where we're going next. I think that speaks volumes for how good this whole trip was!

Yay - fabulous. Really pleased your parents enjoyed it so much.

 

[ShellB8585]

Always important to have a reason to return.

Sadly it's not me who needs convincing and I'm not sure that's a good enough reason for DH! Although I have just started my diet again and contemplating doing the RunDisney event at DLP next year as a fitness goal so might be going back sooner than originally thought!

 

[Anemone]

I managed to somehow miss your hotel photos last night - thank you for those. Am staying in Santa Fe for the first time in January and it was useful to see the breakfast buffet. I don't think I'll starve.

Good luck with the diet and RunDisney challenge - that sounds exciting.

 

[Komble]

Still enjoying your trip report!

Like Anemone, I am also staying in the Santa Fe hotel in February next year... It was useful to show your pictures to my boyfriend to give him some idea of what we will be getting

I am so tempted to do RunDisney too, but I think I'll wait until 2017 as right now I can just about manage 5k and I have a 2.5 mile race on Sunday I'm forcing myself through, hahaha.

Look forward to the rest of your report, so happy everyone had a lovely time!!