A Tale of A Thousand and One Trips - The Never-Ending Trip Report

Maybe you should look into cruising on a Mein Schiff or Aida ship, I would be surprised if they don't offer it somewhere on these ships! :goodvibes Not sure you want to be on a ship full of Germans though... (I have to admit, I would not, I prefer the more international atmosphere of English speaking lines).

I have to say that I prefer a more international demographic. I was in heaven on our first ever Royal Caribbean cruise as it was so cosmopolitan. If I ever did go down that route, then it would be Mein Schiff over Aida.

Corinna
 
Day 3

I got up at 7:00 again and got ready. I must have been slightly slower that morning as I managed to just miss the bus. So I did not make it to the beginning of Extra Magic Hours. I was not too worried about this as there was actually very little I wanted to do during that time. I had seen all the characters that are out during Extra Magic Hours the previous day and as I found out the day before, there are not actually that many rides open. I took a leisurely stroll down Main Street taking photos of the ghosts that I had missed the day before and then I headed to Discoveryland. There was one thing that took my fancy and that was doing Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast as many times as I could in a row. I did get side-tracked though. I noticed that Orbitron was operating and it looked like there was nobody there. So I decided to head there first. I thought it would be kind of neat to ride all by myself. In the end there were two other people there, but it was still pretty neat. I have no plan to do this again anytime soon as getting into and out of the ride is a little difficult due to the design of the ride vehicle. I suppose I don’t get any younger either.



























After this, I went back to the original plan. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast was a walk on and I managed to do it four times in a row in quick succession. After the 4th time, I decided to have a quick look around the shop that the ride exits into. They already had a lot of Christmas stuff and I am sure if luggage space had not been at a premium, one or two things would have followed me home. I then headed back to the ride, this was still not very busy, but a bit of a line it formed. It turned out that the reason for that was that the ride had broken down. Most people left the line. Fortunately they were able to fix it relatively quickly. While I was waiting for the ride to restart, I checked my emails and had a special offer for our regular hotel in Champs sur Marne for December. As I have three days off just before Christmas, the idea was born that maybe we should have a sneaky trip to Paris then. The ride continued to be a walk on even after the park had opened to the general public. I ended up doing the ride a total of 10 times that morning. For the most part my score was between 80000 and 90000, but I got my personal best for this trip with 238400. I was pretty pleased with that.


Shortly after the park had opened to the general public, I crossed over into Frontierland. I stopped at the hub for a couple of quick photos. One of my priorities in Frontierland was to take photos of the Pumpkin People. Like with the ghosts on Main Street, I kept on finding more. While I was taking the photos, I did my good deed of the day. There was a couple with a little girl that looked completely lost. They were trying to find somebody who spoke English and did not have much luck. When I noticed their issue, I went over and asked if I could help. They wanted to know what attractions there were in Frontierland and also how to get to Fantasyland. It then turned out that they had left the buggy for the little girl at Main Street station and had no idea how to get back there. I provided them with directions and the information that they had asked for and they were very grateful.























 
I then headed towards Phantom Manor. The line for Jack Skellington did not look too bad so I decided to get in it. I had a lot of fun again. Jack had been trying to scare people. When his escort called me forward, he was preoccupied with something and looking in the opposite direction. When I went up to him, I crept up behind him and went “Boo”. We had a nice chat about all things Halloween and then he took me inside the structure that was the backdrop for the meet and greet.







One I had said goodbye to Jack, I headed for Phantom Manor. This was again a walk on and I enjoyed it very much. I then headed over to the opposite end of Frontierland where some character meet and greets were taking place. Woody was there and he turned out to be rather mischievous. He kept hiding stuff. He hid the autograph books of two kids in the rim of his hat and the pen of another child in his boot. It was nice to see Woody. I then headed over to the farm where Mickey and Minnie in their Halloween costumes were meeting people. The line was not all that long, but it was as slow as molasses. At some stage a band set up opposite and they were entertaining us. They were dressed up as scarecrows. Eventually I did get to see Mickey and Minnie.

















I then crossed over into Adventureland. There were 4 character meets and greets there. When I came to the spot where Chip and Dale were meeting and greeting, they had gone to get some acorns. So I pushed on and met Baloo. He had a pretty short line and was also in a mischievous mood. He had a bit of an obsession with my ears. When I came past Chip and Dale's meeting spot on the way back, they were out again. They did not have a special costume and as I had seen them the day before, I carried on walking.





 
By now it was high time for lunch. I had not actually eaten anything yet that day. I headed back to Frontierland and to Fuente del Oro Restaurante. This is actually kind of ironic. We had lunch there on my very first visit to Disneyland Paris for my birthday in 1996, but have never been back. This is a shame as the food is actually pretty nice for a theme park counter service restaurant. However, this is often closed during off peak times. I ended up having mini vegetable taquitos and onion rings with salad, salsa dip and Mexican rice. I also had a Coke. I enjoyed lunch. I decided to be good and not have dessert as I finally wanted to try the pineapple whip. So after lunch I headed back into Adventureland only to find the kiosk selling it closed. I suppose it was pretty cool that day and not really ice cream weather.



I headed a bit further into Adventureland. Jafar was heading in the opposite direction. I decided to check out his line knowing that he would be back shortly. The line was not very long with just 5 families waiting so I got in it. Jafar took his own sweet time to return, but once he was back, it did not take long until it was my turn. In the meantime I was entertained. Jafar did not think much of Minnie ears and there were quite a few people in line wearing them. Most of them just had standard ones and he took them off and put them to one side. There was somebody in front of me wearing Halloween ears and he did not seem to object to them. Indeed, when it was my turn, I was allowed to keep my ears on.





When I had my audience with Jafar, I headed up towards Pirates of the Caribbean as I knew that Captain Hook was in that area. The line was again very short, but about halfway through, Captain Hook went in for a break. He had an issue with Minnie ears, too. He even pretended to through one pair in the water behind him. With him, the fact I was wearing Halloween ears did not safe me either. He took them off me and hit them. I did get them back though when he said goodbye to him.



I then cut through Fantasyland back to Main Street. There was still a little bit of time until the final Halloween parade of the day. I used the time to go to the bathroom and to browse a bit in the shops. I had promised somebody that I would try to find a pair of Minnie ears for her that she had been trying to get and I took care of this. It had started raining. Rain was forecast for later in the day. Initially it was supposed to arrive around 17:00 and at that point the forecast had actually changed with the rain supposing to arrive around 19:00. Sometimes the weather forecasters would be well advised to look out of the window. I was worried that the parade would be cancelled, but it went ahead as planned.

The weather had kept people away. Even though I only stepped out of a shop at the last possible minute, I got a front row spot. I am not normally a parade person, but I have absolutely loved every single one of the seasonal parades I have seen at Disneyland Paris over the past 12 month. I think this one was actually my favourite of the lot. This time I was in a better spot for taking photos and the fact that it was overcast made taking photos easier. Piglet came right up to me and a few of the performers came up to where I was standing as well dishing out “high fives”. At one point I accidentally took some video instead of a photo and wished that I had thought to video the whole parade. Here is a recording I found on You Tube.

























 


After the parade had passed, I ducked back into a shop for a bit. Then I decided to check out if the villains show was going ahead on the castle stage. It was. I found myself a spot at the back of the area as I wanted to take some photos. I was standing behind the last row of benches. Halfway through, a family arrived and the father told his three kids to stand on the bench right in front of me. After this, I could not see anything. The show was pretty short. Afterwards, about half of the villains came down to mingle with the crowd. Each villain went to a different spot and people formed a circle around their chosen villain. The villain then picked who they wanted to see. I was lucky enough to get to meet Dr Facilier. I had never seen him in any of the parks before. I noticed that Judge Frollo hardly had anybody waiting for him so I headed over there next. Unfortunately when there was just a couple and me, the villains were called backstage. I was not too upset about this, as I had met him at Disneyland last year.









The next show was due to start shortly after the villains had gone in. Cast members were sweeping up the water that had pooled on the stage. I managed to get a spot quite close to the stage. This show was different. The first show was hosted by the Evil Queen and this one was hosted by Cruella de Ville. The Tremains, Jafar, Captain Hook, Dr Facillier, Gaston and Cruella de Ville featured in both shows, but the Evil Queen was replaced by the Old Hag and Judge Frollo was replaced by the Queen of Hearts. Jafar and Captain Hook met and greeted after both shows, but instead of Judge Frollo and Dr Facillier, Gaston and the Old Hag were out. I headed for where the Old Hag was meeting and she was so much fun. I did get lucky again and was chosen by her as the last person of the set.





The next show was cancelled due to the weather. I decided to head over to Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. It has kind of become a tradition that this is my last ride. However, the posted waiting time was 15 minutes and the line looked longer than this. I was cold and wet. I also had done this ride plenty of times that day. So I decided to pass and headed for the exit. I picked up a couple of postcards for somebody and then I headed to the bus stop. I did not have long to wait for a bus.

When I got back to the hotel, it had stopped raining. They have a mini farm at the hotel with ponies, donkeys, alpaca, rabbits and guinea pigs and I decided to go and check this out as this was not far from my room. The animals were all sheltering from the weather so I headed to my room. I dried off and snuggled up under the quilt for a bit, reading and catching up online. Once I started to get hungry, I put some extra layers on and headed back to the bus stop.

I had pretty much stuck to counter service all trip and decided I fancied a proper meal. There is one restaurant in Disney Village that I wanted to try for years, but we have never got around to going there. This is La Grange at Billy Bob’s Country Western Saloon, which is a Tex Mex buffet. So I decided to head there for my dinner. I did not have to wait long for my bus once I got to the bus stop. The bus was pretty full. After we had dropped off people at the next hotel, I did get a seat though. By the time I got to Disney Village, it had fortunately stopped raining.

I walked over to Billy Bob’s Country Western Saloon and found quite a long line at the podium. I started to get a bit worried when they turned people away. They were all larger groups and one extended family had missed their reservation by an hour and was having a bit of an attitude. I figured there was only one of me so there was no harm in asking. It did pay off. A manager who had been called for the family kicking off phoned the restaurant and then sent me up. I was quite surprised that they had sent all those people away. Yes, the restaurant was quite busy, but there were still plenty of tables available.

I followed the instructions that I was given. Most of the building is a bar and a concert venue. The restaurant is on the top floor. After navigating staircases that were something out of Harry Potter, I came to another podium where I ordered my drink and paid. A soft drink was included I asked for a Coke. I was then asked to wait to be seated. The host showed up shortly afterwards and gave me and a couple of families a quick tour around the buffet areas. Then he escorted us to our tables. I put the receipt that showed my drink order on the table and headed off to get some food. For my first plate, I had some Chilli Con Carne with guacamole and sour cream, some roast veal with pepper sauce, potato gratin and some cornbread. The cornbread was some of the best I ever had. I then went for a second plate, which consisted of Mexican rice, ribs, fajita meat and meatballs. After this, I decided to have some dessert. I had a mini crepe, marshmallows, chocolate cake and Mousse au Chocolat. I was just getting to leave when they put out rocket ice lollies. I had to have one of those and then I really left.







I wandered back to the bus stop and the bus pulled in shortly afterwards. When i got back to the hotel, I packed, called Graham and then read for a while before getting another early night as I had an early start in the morning.
 
Another fabulous day!

Dr Facillier was quite the likeness to the cartoon. You got some fabulous photos of characters.

I really like the ghosts and pumpkin people. They are all so well done.

How fun to ride your favorite that many times in one day.

Dinner looked quite good.
 
Dr Facillier was quite the likeness to the cartoon.

It was amazing to meet him. He was wonderfully creepy.

You got some fabulous photos of characters.

I was really pleased with this haul.

I really like the ghosts and pumpkin people. They are all so well done.

They definitely know how to decorate for Halloween at Disneyland Paris.

How fun to ride your favorite that many times in one day.

It definitely was.

Dinner looked quite good.

Dinner was delicious.

Corinna
 


How lucky to ride your favorite so many times!

I really like the pumpkin people; there is such a variety.

You did a great job in seeing the shows and characters!

That buffet looks delicious!
 
How lucky to ride your favorite so many times!

I could not quite believe my luck. This is one of the more popular rides at Disneyland Paris and does tend to draw quite a crowd.

I really like the pumpkin people; there is such a variety.

I loved all the Halloween decorations. They really go all out at Disneyland Paris.

You did a great job in seeing the shows and characters!

That is the pleasure of being able to go so regularly. I can just pick and choose what I want to focus on during each trip without having to worry about not getting value out of it. This time round, it was all about the Halloween decorations, entertainment and the characters.

Corinna
 
Day 4

My alarm went off ‪at 6:00. I got showered and dressed, but the last odds and ends in my bag and after a quick look around, I left my room for the last time. I headed over to reception and checked out, which was very quick. I then headed to the bus stop. There was a beautiful ginger cat patrolling the area. I did have to wait long for the bus and had a smooth run to the station. The bus station is right next to the part of the station where the TGVs leave from so that was nice and easy. I decided to go and see if I could find something to eat. I did not have any luck. There is a bakery in the station, but that was not open yet and the two convenience stores had nothing to that took my fancy. They had quite a nice selection of Disney souvenirs and I had a look at those.

When I came out of the second shop, I looked at the display to see if a platform was listed yet for my train and my heart sunk. The train was running at least 90 minutes late. That would mean that I would miss my plane back home. I went to an information desk and he told me that I could get my ticket refunded at a ticket office at the opposite end of the station. I headed there and there were a number of people in the same position. Initially there was just one member of staff there, but they soon opened another window. She did cancel my ticket, but as I had ordered it via a third party, I have to request the refund via them.

I then headed over to the RER part of the station and got a ticket to the airport from the ticket machine. For the first part of the trip, everything went swimmingly. When I got to the platform, a train was sitting there and left shortly afterwards. This was an express train that skipped a few stations, which also helped. When I got to Chatelet Les Halles, where I had to change, the train I needed to change to pulled in on the adjacent platform shortly after I got off my train. This is where the luck ended though. The second train was moving at about the same pace as a snail. I started to wonder if I could actually walk quicker than we were moving. After a while, we were moved to a siding to let a train behind us past. I sat there helplessly watching time running out. Missing my plane suddenly became a real possibility and there was nothing that I could do about it. I went online on my mobile and checked what the earliest flight would be that I could get out on flying standby if the worst came to the worst. There was one that would get me to Manchester ‪at 13:30, which was when I was due to start work, but it was better than nothing. My trial was not over yet. As we were getting closer to the airport, there was an announcement in French only. Fortunately some gentlemen sitting nearby were able to translate for me. The airport has two stations and the one I needed was a second. Unfortunately for some reason the train would now terminate at the first station, which is at a different terminal and quite a way from where I needed to be. That was not what I needed at this present moment in time.

Fortunately the next train was only about 5 minutes behind the one I had got off and it did not take long to get to the right terminal. It was still cutting things mighty fine. I then managed to somehow take a wrong turn and ended up at the wrong end of the terminal. When I was finally in the right place, I had 5 minutes until the gate was due to close with the flight showing as on time. When my boarding pass was checked at the entrance to security, I asked the person there if there was even any point going through. He looked at my boarding pass, smiled and told me I should be OK. Security was quite quick and then I powerwalked the length of the terminal. Of course, inevitable my gate was about the furthest away from security. I did make it to passport control quite quickly, but there was faced with a long line. I had the feeling I was waiting forever. Fortunately the gate was right opposite passport control and when I got through, there was still a long line. It looked like they only just opened the gate even though it should have been closed by then. I was by far not the last person either. Once everybody had the boarding passes and passports checked; there was still some time until they started to let people on the plane. I have to admit, I was never so relieved to be on a plane before.

This time the plane was not full. I had three seats to myself, which was nice. I read my book for the duration of the flight. The flight was quick and smooth. Even though we left Paris late, we landed in Manchester pretty much on time. Passport control was pretty quick as well. I even bumped into a former colleague, who now works at Manchester airport. Once I was through passport control, I headed to the station and made my way to work.
 
Wow! What a trial to get home! Glad you finally got it all sorted out.
 
Oh my goodness, what a stressful last morning! I can imagine your relief to be on the plane, wow. I was stressed just reading.

What a lovely trip to DLP though. Each time you post about it I want to go even more.
 
Wow! What a trial to get home! Glad you finally got it all sorted out.

I was so relieved when I was finally on the plane home.

Oh my goodness, what a stressful last morning! I can imagine your relief to be on the plane, wow. I was stressed just reading.

I could have done without that stress. I was never so happy to sit on a plane.

What a lovely trip to DLP though.

It was a truly magical trip.

Each time you post about it I want to go even more.

Disneyland Paris is very special. If you do get the chance, I will be happy to be your tour guide.

Corinna
 
Great updates Corinna.

Day 3 was magical. It was nice not rushing for you this morning. You must see enough of sparks on your heels on days you work.

Orbitron sounds a bit of a young persons experience!

How wonderful you got to ride Buzz 4 times then go back another 6 then get a PB score. Congrats.

I just love those Ghosts and the affect how some of them are floating above the ground.

That was nice seeing the Pumpkin people plus how kind to use your expertise to help the lost family.

Lovely character photos. Cute Mickey and Minnie and funny the characters that did not like the standard Minnie ears but the Halloween ones passed the Villain test.

That parade looks something else. I was very impressed by that by both your photos and Youtube.

That is nice they offer two kinds of Villain show. Same the second was rained off but at least the rain held off for most of the day.

That is exciting to get the Hotel offer for Christmas and dinner buffet at the Tex Mex looks very inviting. Lucky to sneak to table with it being so busy.

I love the idea of animals at the hotel. Nice to phone Graham and settle in for the night

Early start day 4. A bit of rollacoaster with planes, trains and not so many automobiles. I am so glad you eventually made the gate but your blood pressure must have been through the roof! I am glad you got back to Manchester safe.
 
I meant to ask the western saloon restaurant that you went to did this use to be the Wild Bills West Show that was there? I recall Jo and I went to that. It had horses and cowboys etc in the middle whilst you ate. The food looks similar. Maybe they got rid of the show and it's in the same building?
 
You must see enough of sparks on your heels on days you work.

You can say that again.

Orbitron sounds a bit of a young persons experience!

I think you are right. The design is just not very clever between slanted sides and rather strange seating arrangements.

That parade looks something else.

It was truly amazing.

I am so glad you eventually made the gate but your blood pressure must have been through the roof!

I don't even want to think about this.

I meant to ask the western saloon restaurant that you went to did this use to be the Wild Bills West Show that was there?

No, Wild Bills is still there. This right next to the cinema at the bottom end of Disney Village and the buffet is about halfway up.

Corinna
 
That last day was a real nail biter! So glad you made your plane. I can't even imagine riding Buzz Lightyear 10 times in a row! Congrats on your personal best score. Again lots of great character meets. It seems that they have all the more rare characters out at DLP!
 

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