loladelorean
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2010
This is one long overdue trip report – sorry DISers! The sudden realisation that October was nearly over, with less than a month to go til my next DLP trip, reminded me that I still hadn’t written this.
To refresh your memory – my sister, my cousin and I squeezed a stop at DLP into our big trip to France for our first family wedding in Toulouse.
The Cast
Me – Lisa – 24
Sister – Samantha – 19
Cousin – Janice – The birthday girl! Turned 27 during our trip
Day 0 – The Journey – Sunday 9th Sept
The moment of truth – just how horrendous would the £5 Megabus journey from London to Paris be?!
Victoria Coach Station, in the unseasonably roasting sun of London, was suitably horrendous, especially navigating 2 large suitcases. But when we boarded our Megabus at 9am we were pleased to nab the 3 seats at the back together on our big airy coach.
We watched Princess and the Frog on the laptop and before we knew it we were at the port in Dover.
The weather was even better there! We stretched our legs and sunned ourselves, then it was time to get back on the bus and onto the ferry.
The ferry was also a pretty nice experience, big and modern and lots of duty free shopping to be done.
So far we were delighted with our £5 journey!
It dragged a bit at the other side due to major traffic jams outside Paris (even though we watched Tangled) – we arrived over an hour late at the city centre coach stop. I won’t lie, we were pretty frazzled and grumpy by this point, but we were in Paris! Definitely too grotty and luggage-laden to drag ourselves around Paris as we’d originally planned, so we went straight for the train to Marne La Vallee.
We checked into the Explorers – I was impressed with the lobby and we got checked in quickly. We were relieved to get to the room and get showered and changed – but it was disappointingly small and dingy, as were the corridors of the Explorers.
We got ready as quickly as we could and got the little shuttle to the Village. By this time it was about 9.30pm and we were HUNGRY. I was gutted to see a massive queue at Annette’s….of course, the parks were just coming out. The attendant told us the wait would be over an hour – no chance, we would definitely faint by then.
I’m not good with changing my meal plans, but King Ludwigs were able to seat us right away so in we went.
We foolishly lined our stomachs with steiners of beer before inhaling our mains – I had a huge, tasty burger, Janice had macaroni cheese (the joys of being a vegetarian in France) and Sami had a steak – we all loved our meals, but it is kind of hard to judge how good it truly was given that we were so hungry by that time we’d have eaten anything.
A bit tipsy after the steiners, we looked into the shops, and walked all the way back to Explorers. Didn’t take too long at all!
Day 1 – Monday 10th September
I dragged the other two up with the birds to get us out of Explorers and into the magic! We ate a quick breakfast in the hotel (pretty good) checked out, and decided to walk to the Cheyenne. It was lovely and sunny and the walk didn’t take long, but I must say, I really didn’t like the feeling of being out of the bubble. Yeah, you’re not far away but it is quite plainly the “real world” – our brief stay in the Explorers has convinced me that the Disney hotels are worth the extra money. I’ve already booked the Radisson for our next trip and kind of regretting it, but never mind.
The queue to check in at the Cheyenne was pretty long, but staff were super helpful. We did the usual thing of only booking the room for Janice, and paying the room taxes for Sami and I. I had forgotten to tell the hotel it was Janice’s birthday beforehand, so I mentioned it at checkin, but the receptionist told me there wasn’t much they could do as the room was ready.
We were in the Geronimo building, pretty much as far as can be from the facilities! But we just LOVED walking through the cowboy town of Cheyenne and once inside our building we loved it even more.
Our room was AMAZING – I always expected the theming to be great at the Cheyenne, but the whole standard of the place was higher than I’d hoped, for the low price we paid. Very happy!
It was about 11am by the time we finally made it to the park. Returning after such a short time, it felt like we’d never been away, even more familiar than usual. Janice, who hasn’t visited since she was a kid, was really really excited!
We squealed our way down Main St, through Frontierland and into Adventureland, where our first stop was Pirates (after picking up BTM fastpasses, as I always do). After a fun ride (Janice got a shock at the drops) we booked Blue Lagoon for later that night (of course…)
We then wandered through Fantasyland, enjoying the sunshine and the low crowds. We made a snap decision to ride the Storybook ride, as it had no wait. Don’t always manage to get on this ride, so a nice surprise.
When we came off the ride, we were surprised and delighted to see a host of characters in Fantasyland – a big change from our June trip, when we saw no random characters at all. We saw Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Tweedles, Gideon, Pinocchio, Gepetto, Suzy and Perla. We only met the ones that it was easy to get to – as big kids, meeting characters is fun, but we aren’t about the shove the real kids out of the way to do it.
We wanted to ride Space Mountain next but it was closed with a technical error so we went on Star Tours instead. I still get flashbacks to being 6 years old on our first ever visit, when this ride petrified me!
Then it was time for our BTM fastpasses – yeeha for the wildest ride in the wilderness! This ride will always be my favourite – of course we all came off giggling.
After BTM we saw a little country band playing at the entrance to Frontierland – a nice touch! We paid a visit to the dragon and the castle shops.
Then it was time to visit the Studios. I think maybe we had lunch on the way but I can’t for the life of me remember where! In the Studios front lot we spotted Goofy in an orderly meet and greet with only a small queue, so decided to wait and meet him. What can I say, our pal Goof was a bit flirtatious with us, and was particularly taken with Janice! Naughty Goofy….it really did make us laugh though, and became one of the running jokes of the holiday.
We were in a daft mood by then and proceeded to ride Cars Quatre Ralley and Slinky Dog amidst much hilarity.
We then went on RC Racer and the Parachutes (as single riders, barely any wait). I was delighted to have hit all 3 TSPL rides in a short time – and by that time our ToT fastpass time had come around. It was as spooky and wonderful as ever.
We took our time wandering back to Main St and checking out the shops. I bought 4 bits of my favourite fudge (had been having serious cravings for it since June) and we found a spot to watch the parade outside the sweet shop. I’d been disappointed by it in June (don’t love the song quite as much as Just Like We Dreamed It) and had warned Janice not to expect much. But she LOVED it! I must say I enjoyed it much more this time around too, the characters were all fab and we got lots of attention.
We had about half an hour after the parade until our dinner booking, so we squeezed in a ride on Space Mountain. Why has it always got just 5 mins wait time – it’s so awesome!
We were seated straight away at Blue Lagoon, at a waterside table for the first time ever! We got alcohol free cocktails as aperitifs with our APs, and our waiter Vincenzo was very helpful. All 3 meals were great – my favourite dish ever, the Surf n Turf; Janice’s vegetable voyage; and Sami had the veal. We knocked back a bottle of wine too, which I’m sure only added to our hyper mood.
It was odd to emerge and find the sun still out – we walked off the big meal exploring the Caves and Pont Suspendu, then paid a visit to Phantom Manor just as the sun set, spooky!
When we came out it was properly dark, and nearly time for Dreams so we nabbed a great spot near Frontierland. WOW – it’s still just as good when you know what’s coming. I cried at all the same ridiculous places, we hugged….a great end to a great first day.
Well, not quite the end. We managed a wee nightcap at the Red Garter Saloon on our way to bed – nice bar and the prices are pretty reasonable for DLP. Another plus for the Cheyenne!
Day 2 – Tuesday 11th September
We had managed to fit lots of things into our first day, and as crowds were low and we knew we wanted to spend all of Janice’s birthday (Wednesday 12th) in DLP, we decided to spend most of Tuesday in Paris.
Janice wasn’t for getting up early but Samantha and I are seasoned EMH professionals. We had breakfast at 7.30 (eek, the breakfast scrum at Cheyenne and limited choice of food is the one thing that I didn’t like about it) and made it to the park not long after 8.
We rode the Carousel, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Buzz and Space Mountain, then dashed to the Studios to make an attempt at Crush for opening time. Alas, it was down with technical errors. We were gutted – this seems to happen to us on every trip.
RnRC was down too, so we rode ToT then glumly left the Studios to head back to Cheyenne and get Janice. It was about 11 and we were hungry so stopped at Starbucks for a mid morning snack and to use the wifi. We had a quick change at the Cheyenne, and all 3 of us headed to the train station around 12, ready to go to Paris. Wait, make that 4 of us – Janice’s newly acquired friend Minnie came too.
By this time, the lovely weather was a thing of the past. It was raining when we left DLP but when we reached Paris it was pouring. We weren’t dressed for it, and weren’t sure what to do in such horrible weather – it really threw our sightseeing plans. We decided to have lunch at Chatelet les Halles while we waited to see if the rain subsided. It was a delicious 3 course feast, which meant we didn’t end up eating dinner later.
Well, the rain got progressively worse but we enjoyed a very nice meal and bottle of wine. My map told me we weren’t far from Notre Dame so I insisted that we brave the rain and walk.
I put a good face on it but it was miserable! We dripped round the inside of the Notre Dame, then decided we may as well keep walking around as we were soaked anyway.
On the way to the Louvre, the warm lure of an Irish pub was just too much to resist. And of course, there’s no way we could walk past a Scottish pub called the Highlander without stopping by.
I’m ashamed to say we spent the afternoon in Paris really rather drunk, DISers, but I must say it makes the disgusting weather a lot more bearable! I must stress that we also indulged in the local culture by including a Parisian wine bar in our travels. That’s where it all got too much for Minnie.
The rain eventually died down but never quite went off, and I literally had to throw out my shoes when we got back to the Cheyenne at about 9pm, they were such a sodden smelly mess from our adventures!
To refresh your memory – my sister, my cousin and I squeezed a stop at DLP into our big trip to France for our first family wedding in Toulouse.
The Cast
Me – Lisa – 24
Sister – Samantha – 19
Cousin – Janice – The birthday girl! Turned 27 during our trip
Day 0 – The Journey – Sunday 9th Sept
The moment of truth – just how horrendous would the £5 Megabus journey from London to Paris be?!
Victoria Coach Station, in the unseasonably roasting sun of London, was suitably horrendous, especially navigating 2 large suitcases. But when we boarded our Megabus at 9am we were pleased to nab the 3 seats at the back together on our big airy coach.
We watched Princess and the Frog on the laptop and before we knew it we were at the port in Dover.
The weather was even better there! We stretched our legs and sunned ourselves, then it was time to get back on the bus and onto the ferry.
The ferry was also a pretty nice experience, big and modern and lots of duty free shopping to be done.
So far we were delighted with our £5 journey!
It dragged a bit at the other side due to major traffic jams outside Paris (even though we watched Tangled) – we arrived over an hour late at the city centre coach stop. I won’t lie, we were pretty frazzled and grumpy by this point, but we were in Paris! Definitely too grotty and luggage-laden to drag ourselves around Paris as we’d originally planned, so we went straight for the train to Marne La Vallee.
We checked into the Explorers – I was impressed with the lobby and we got checked in quickly. We were relieved to get to the room and get showered and changed – but it was disappointingly small and dingy, as were the corridors of the Explorers.
We got ready as quickly as we could and got the little shuttle to the Village. By this time it was about 9.30pm and we were HUNGRY. I was gutted to see a massive queue at Annette’s….of course, the parks were just coming out. The attendant told us the wait would be over an hour – no chance, we would definitely faint by then.
I’m not good with changing my meal plans, but King Ludwigs were able to seat us right away so in we went.
We foolishly lined our stomachs with steiners of beer before inhaling our mains – I had a huge, tasty burger, Janice had macaroni cheese (the joys of being a vegetarian in France) and Sami had a steak – we all loved our meals, but it is kind of hard to judge how good it truly was given that we were so hungry by that time we’d have eaten anything.
A bit tipsy after the steiners, we looked into the shops, and walked all the way back to Explorers. Didn’t take too long at all!
Day 1 – Monday 10th September
I dragged the other two up with the birds to get us out of Explorers and into the magic! We ate a quick breakfast in the hotel (pretty good) checked out, and decided to walk to the Cheyenne. It was lovely and sunny and the walk didn’t take long, but I must say, I really didn’t like the feeling of being out of the bubble. Yeah, you’re not far away but it is quite plainly the “real world” – our brief stay in the Explorers has convinced me that the Disney hotels are worth the extra money. I’ve already booked the Radisson for our next trip and kind of regretting it, but never mind.
The queue to check in at the Cheyenne was pretty long, but staff were super helpful. We did the usual thing of only booking the room for Janice, and paying the room taxes for Sami and I. I had forgotten to tell the hotel it was Janice’s birthday beforehand, so I mentioned it at checkin, but the receptionist told me there wasn’t much they could do as the room was ready.
We were in the Geronimo building, pretty much as far as can be from the facilities! But we just LOVED walking through the cowboy town of Cheyenne and once inside our building we loved it even more.
Our room was AMAZING – I always expected the theming to be great at the Cheyenne, but the whole standard of the place was higher than I’d hoped, for the low price we paid. Very happy!
It was about 11am by the time we finally made it to the park. Returning after such a short time, it felt like we’d never been away, even more familiar than usual. Janice, who hasn’t visited since she was a kid, was really really excited!
We squealed our way down Main St, through Frontierland and into Adventureland, where our first stop was Pirates (after picking up BTM fastpasses, as I always do). After a fun ride (Janice got a shock at the drops) we booked Blue Lagoon for later that night (of course…)
We then wandered through Fantasyland, enjoying the sunshine and the low crowds. We made a snap decision to ride the Storybook ride, as it had no wait. Don’t always manage to get on this ride, so a nice surprise.
When we came off the ride, we were surprised and delighted to see a host of characters in Fantasyland – a big change from our June trip, when we saw no random characters at all. We saw Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Tweedles, Gideon, Pinocchio, Gepetto, Suzy and Perla. We only met the ones that it was easy to get to – as big kids, meeting characters is fun, but we aren’t about the shove the real kids out of the way to do it.
We wanted to ride Space Mountain next but it was closed with a technical error so we went on Star Tours instead. I still get flashbacks to being 6 years old on our first ever visit, when this ride petrified me!
Then it was time for our BTM fastpasses – yeeha for the wildest ride in the wilderness! This ride will always be my favourite – of course we all came off giggling.
After BTM we saw a little country band playing at the entrance to Frontierland – a nice touch! We paid a visit to the dragon and the castle shops.
Then it was time to visit the Studios. I think maybe we had lunch on the way but I can’t for the life of me remember where! In the Studios front lot we spotted Goofy in an orderly meet and greet with only a small queue, so decided to wait and meet him. What can I say, our pal Goof was a bit flirtatious with us, and was particularly taken with Janice! Naughty Goofy….it really did make us laugh though, and became one of the running jokes of the holiday.
We were in a daft mood by then and proceeded to ride Cars Quatre Ralley and Slinky Dog amidst much hilarity.
We then went on RC Racer and the Parachutes (as single riders, barely any wait). I was delighted to have hit all 3 TSPL rides in a short time – and by that time our ToT fastpass time had come around. It was as spooky and wonderful as ever.
We took our time wandering back to Main St and checking out the shops. I bought 4 bits of my favourite fudge (had been having serious cravings for it since June) and we found a spot to watch the parade outside the sweet shop. I’d been disappointed by it in June (don’t love the song quite as much as Just Like We Dreamed It) and had warned Janice not to expect much. But she LOVED it! I must say I enjoyed it much more this time around too, the characters were all fab and we got lots of attention.
We had about half an hour after the parade until our dinner booking, so we squeezed in a ride on Space Mountain. Why has it always got just 5 mins wait time – it’s so awesome!
We were seated straight away at Blue Lagoon, at a waterside table for the first time ever! We got alcohol free cocktails as aperitifs with our APs, and our waiter Vincenzo was very helpful. All 3 meals were great – my favourite dish ever, the Surf n Turf; Janice’s vegetable voyage; and Sami had the veal. We knocked back a bottle of wine too, which I’m sure only added to our hyper mood.
It was odd to emerge and find the sun still out – we walked off the big meal exploring the Caves and Pont Suspendu, then paid a visit to Phantom Manor just as the sun set, spooky!
When we came out it was properly dark, and nearly time for Dreams so we nabbed a great spot near Frontierland. WOW – it’s still just as good when you know what’s coming. I cried at all the same ridiculous places, we hugged….a great end to a great first day.
Well, not quite the end. We managed a wee nightcap at the Red Garter Saloon on our way to bed – nice bar and the prices are pretty reasonable for DLP. Another plus for the Cheyenne!
Day 2 – Tuesday 11th September
We had managed to fit lots of things into our first day, and as crowds were low and we knew we wanted to spend all of Janice’s birthday (Wednesday 12th) in DLP, we decided to spend most of Tuesday in Paris.
Janice wasn’t for getting up early but Samantha and I are seasoned EMH professionals. We had breakfast at 7.30 (eek, the breakfast scrum at Cheyenne and limited choice of food is the one thing that I didn’t like about it) and made it to the park not long after 8.
We rode the Carousel, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Buzz and Space Mountain, then dashed to the Studios to make an attempt at Crush for opening time. Alas, it was down with technical errors. We were gutted – this seems to happen to us on every trip.
RnRC was down too, so we rode ToT then glumly left the Studios to head back to Cheyenne and get Janice. It was about 11 and we were hungry so stopped at Starbucks for a mid morning snack and to use the wifi. We had a quick change at the Cheyenne, and all 3 of us headed to the train station around 12, ready to go to Paris. Wait, make that 4 of us – Janice’s newly acquired friend Minnie came too.
By this time, the lovely weather was a thing of the past. It was raining when we left DLP but when we reached Paris it was pouring. We weren’t dressed for it, and weren’t sure what to do in such horrible weather – it really threw our sightseeing plans. We decided to have lunch at Chatelet les Halles while we waited to see if the rain subsided. It was a delicious 3 course feast, which meant we didn’t end up eating dinner later.
Well, the rain got progressively worse but we enjoyed a very nice meal and bottle of wine. My map told me we weren’t far from Notre Dame so I insisted that we brave the rain and walk.
I put a good face on it but it was miserable! We dripped round the inside of the Notre Dame, then decided we may as well keep walking around as we were soaked anyway.
On the way to the Louvre, the warm lure of an Irish pub was just too much to resist. And of course, there’s no way we could walk past a Scottish pub called the Highlander without stopping by.
I’m ashamed to say we spent the afternoon in Paris really rather drunk, DISers, but I must say it makes the disgusting weather a lot more bearable! I must stress that we also indulged in the local culture by including a Parisian wine bar in our travels. That’s where it all got too much for Minnie.
The rain eventually died down but never quite went off, and I literally had to throw out my shoes when we got back to the Cheyenne at about 9pm, they were such a sodden smelly mess from our adventures!
. 
.
If you think its good having wine in a Disney restaurant, at Parc Asterix you can get beer with your hamburger meal deal
