Dee8197
<font color=indigo>Those blinking rats get me ever
- Joined
- May 21, 2005
Day 1 of our trip report. 16th July
We get up early and go for breakfast - which is delicious!
We had spent the night at the Holiday Inn Central in Ashford. Really nice hotel and nice rooms only draw back no lifts. A night stay inc. full English breakfast and parking for the car for 4 days had cost us £58. Money well spent!
We return to our room and collect our cases, then sit in the foyer to await our taxi (Booked via the free phone connection to the Taxi firm in the hotel foyer) At exactly 9.15 the taxi arrives and off we go to catch Eurostar a very short journey, taxi fare was about £5
DS is very excited and can't wait to get to DLP. His older brother who we had visited the day before and very kindly (NOT) fired up his enthusiasm for the big fast rides, Indiana Jones, Space mountain ect, when I protested about this misplaced encouragement (I didn't want to do the rides) my elder son informed me that his DB could do the rides on his own and that I couldn't deprive his little brother of this pleasure just because I didn't want to do them. (25-year-old sons, don't you just love them!) Of course younger DS thought this was a great line and very quickly adopted it. The point is that my 25 year old hates fast rides and wouldn't ride one if his life depended on it (well, I guess he might then, but not under normal circumstance i.e. for fun) Seeing our elder son and his girl friend was brill, and added to the holiday but it did have its disadvantages
Ashford International was pretty much as I expected it to be. We passed through departures very quickly and sat in a cafe with a pot of tea and soda .The children were called to the desk and were all given a Disney activity pack, - kept DS fully occupied on the Eurostar journey.
Time comes to board Eurostar and again that all goes to plan and we are soon in our seats- DH's seat is right beside and behind a family whom he later described, as it turned out "The family from hell! " One of the children screamed for the entire journey (poor little thing - she was so distressed) the other two children climbed everywhere and didn't stay in their seats (just being boys I guess) but the lady who was I assume the grandmother was so loud! Poor mum sat there like a little mouse while MIL and dad attempted to control the kids - a lot of assumptions here, but I love people watching. (Is that a polite description for being nosey?) Eventually my DH who is far more tolerant than I am moved to the vacant seat next to mine and DS sat on my lap. We are checked in on board Eurostar and given our park passes and the info regarding the surprise treat for our DS (a training session at the Manchester United Football School) I quickly motion to the guy giving me the tickets to shhhhhh, he realised immediately that this was a surprise and quickly changed the subject. Phew! The train came to a stop at one point and so our arrival at DLP was delayed by 15 mins.
Arrive in DLP (very exciting) make our way to the Express luggage service to drop off our bags and its full steam ahead to the parks. Well that was the theory. As we went out of the station the heat hit us, and we soon realised that our full steam ahead would be very short lived, it was soooooooo hot! We enter the parks but have to have our bags searched first - a jolt back to the real world, and it becomes clear that on this visit we are not going to be able to fully escape the reality of the real world! We head to BTM and are surprised to find FP's are still available. We grab one and head off to POTC, no wait so we walk straight on. Our DS for the first time ever loved this ride, in the past it had always scared him, but he loved the drops and just wanted to get wet. Both of us got wet bums, I had light trousers coloured trousers on so my wet bum was evident to everyone (not one of my assets (not!) that I want to draw attention to. However it is so hot outside that it dries off very quickly. Time to go back to BTM for our ride, only to find BTM is not running, told to come back later. DS was having a "Can I have" & "Can we do " afternoon and it was doing my head in, plus the heat was just too much so we decided to head off to the Sequoia Lodge to get room sorted out and have a look around the hotel. We take a walk via Disney Village -(another bag check) and around the lake, it is clear straight away that work is being done on the Sequoia lodge - the scaffolding and netting is apparent from a long way off even with my eyesight. DH and I are pleased that we did not book a Montana room with a lakeside view, very off putting if you were given a room looking out at the scaffolding and netting. The balloon is in the air, the boats are on the lake, the little train is waiting for more passengers and the bikes are going around the path so it is more of the same from DS " Can I have?" & "Can we do?" We say no to all and soon arrive at the hotel. Such a relief to get into the shade. Check in is very uneventful and we are given our room number, we collect our bags and off we trot to our room.
The room is in one of the lodges, not far away from the pool, on the ground floor, with a pleasant walk way view (I have a pet hate of looking out onto car parks and is nicely decorated and clean, it is also larger than the room in the Cheyanne and feels bigger than the room we had previously at the NPB, but that may not be the case.
We unpack our cases; check out the pool and head back to the main building. The sofa in the bar look very inviting and so we sit and people watch for a while with cups of coffee and slush. Eventually we feel duly rested and head off to the park again to watch Wishes, and to see the parades. It was sooo hot still so we decided to take the bus.
We struggle to watch the 7 pm parade, it is still so hot, and DS is a bit miserable, the heat is getting to him. We decide to go for something quick to eat and drink in the shade. We decide on Au Chalet de la Marionette the chips and drink are fine but the Bavarian sausage in the bread did not float my boat. We decide to wonder across to BTM the FP entrance is closed so we have to queue. 15 minutes later we are on the ride - fantastic!
We walk back to Main Street and have a coffee and a cake, watching Fantillusion pass by - the park is so crowded by this time it was nice to escape into somewhere that was quiet. Then its off to battle the crowd in an attempt to watch Wishes from a reasonable angle. We find somewhere that will do, at the top of Main Street although the view may be a little restricted and wait - and wait - and wait. Obviously a problem but no announcement, people around us eventually start a slow handclap but still we wait. Suddenly an announcement and Wishes begins - a huge cheer from those around us who are very demonstrative with their emotions - not very British! Wishes is great although not on a par with WDW but hey this is DLP! It is very clever and DS is very impressed with the lasers, I am pleased that a lot of the commentary is still in English. The images on the castle are really good but the castle seems quite a small backdrop (I personally think that Cinderella's castle at WDW is much better and more impressive and therefore a better backdrop) the firework display is not anything like as good as at WDW but the display over all is still very good, DS loved it and we were very pleased to be there on the first night, albeit soooooooo crowded. Wishes end to a huge cheer and loud clapping, I think Disney can be very pleased at how well everything went. We head out of the park - very slowly- because of the crowd and walk back to the hotel, tired but very happy. Has we drop onto pur beds we wonder how we are going to get up for the Fantasy Land breakfast later, it is already a quarter to 1 in the morning (Wishes ran so late) we decide not to worry and to sleep until we wake. Goodnight
We get up early and go for breakfast - which is delicious!
We had spent the night at the Holiday Inn Central in Ashford. Really nice hotel and nice rooms only draw back no lifts. A night stay inc. full English breakfast and parking for the car for 4 days had cost us £58. Money well spent!
We return to our room and collect our cases, then sit in the foyer to await our taxi (Booked via the free phone connection to the Taxi firm in the hotel foyer) At exactly 9.15 the taxi arrives and off we go to catch Eurostar a very short journey, taxi fare was about £5
DS is very excited and can't wait to get to DLP. His older brother who we had visited the day before and very kindly (NOT) fired up his enthusiasm for the big fast rides, Indiana Jones, Space mountain ect, when I protested about this misplaced encouragement (I didn't want to do the rides) my elder son informed me that his DB could do the rides on his own and that I couldn't deprive his little brother of this pleasure just because I didn't want to do them. (25-year-old sons, don't you just love them!) Of course younger DS thought this was a great line and very quickly adopted it. The point is that my 25 year old hates fast rides and wouldn't ride one if his life depended on it (well, I guess he might then, but not under normal circumstance i.e. for fun) Seeing our elder son and his girl friend was brill, and added to the holiday but it did have its disadvantages
Ashford International was pretty much as I expected it to be. We passed through departures very quickly and sat in a cafe with a pot of tea and soda .The children were called to the desk and were all given a Disney activity pack, - kept DS fully occupied on the Eurostar journey.
Time comes to board Eurostar and again that all goes to plan and we are soon in our seats- DH's seat is right beside and behind a family whom he later described, as it turned out "The family from hell! " One of the children screamed for the entire journey (poor little thing - she was so distressed) the other two children climbed everywhere and didn't stay in their seats (just being boys I guess) but the lady who was I assume the grandmother was so loud! Poor mum sat there like a little mouse while MIL and dad attempted to control the kids - a lot of assumptions here, but I love people watching. (Is that a polite description for being nosey?) Eventually my DH who is far more tolerant than I am moved to the vacant seat next to mine and DS sat on my lap. We are checked in on board Eurostar and given our park passes and the info regarding the surprise treat for our DS (a training session at the Manchester United Football School) I quickly motion to the guy giving me the tickets to shhhhhh, he realised immediately that this was a surprise and quickly changed the subject. Phew! The train came to a stop at one point and so our arrival at DLP was delayed by 15 mins.
Arrive in DLP (very exciting) make our way to the Express luggage service to drop off our bags and its full steam ahead to the parks. Well that was the theory. As we went out of the station the heat hit us, and we soon realised that our full steam ahead would be very short lived, it was soooooooo hot! We enter the parks but have to have our bags searched first - a jolt back to the real world, and it becomes clear that on this visit we are not going to be able to fully escape the reality of the real world! We head to BTM and are surprised to find FP's are still available. We grab one and head off to POTC, no wait so we walk straight on. Our DS for the first time ever loved this ride, in the past it had always scared him, but he loved the drops and just wanted to get wet. Both of us got wet bums, I had light trousers coloured trousers on so my wet bum was evident to everyone (not one of my assets (not!) that I want to draw attention to. However it is so hot outside that it dries off very quickly. Time to go back to BTM for our ride, only to find BTM is not running, told to come back later. DS was having a "Can I have" & "Can we do " afternoon and it was doing my head in, plus the heat was just too much so we decided to head off to the Sequoia Lodge to get room sorted out and have a look around the hotel. We take a walk via Disney Village -(another bag check) and around the lake, it is clear straight away that work is being done on the Sequoia lodge - the scaffolding and netting is apparent from a long way off even with my eyesight. DH and I are pleased that we did not book a Montana room with a lakeside view, very off putting if you were given a room looking out at the scaffolding and netting. The balloon is in the air, the boats are on the lake, the little train is waiting for more passengers and the bikes are going around the path so it is more of the same from DS " Can I have?" & "Can we do?" We say no to all and soon arrive at the hotel. Such a relief to get into the shade. Check in is very uneventful and we are given our room number, we collect our bags and off we trot to our room.
The room is in one of the lodges, not far away from the pool, on the ground floor, with a pleasant walk way view (I have a pet hate of looking out onto car parks and is nicely decorated and clean, it is also larger than the room in the Cheyanne and feels bigger than the room we had previously at the NPB, but that may not be the case.
We unpack our cases; check out the pool and head back to the main building. The sofa in the bar look very inviting and so we sit and people watch for a while with cups of coffee and slush. Eventually we feel duly rested and head off to the park again to watch Wishes, and to see the parades. It was sooo hot still so we decided to take the bus.
We struggle to watch the 7 pm parade, it is still so hot, and DS is a bit miserable, the heat is getting to him. We decide to go for something quick to eat and drink in the shade. We decide on Au Chalet de la Marionette the chips and drink are fine but the Bavarian sausage in the bread did not float my boat. We decide to wonder across to BTM the FP entrance is closed so we have to queue. 15 minutes later we are on the ride - fantastic!
We walk back to Main Street and have a coffee and a cake, watching Fantillusion pass by - the park is so crowded by this time it was nice to escape into somewhere that was quiet. Then its off to battle the crowd in an attempt to watch Wishes from a reasonable angle. We find somewhere that will do, at the top of Main Street although the view may be a little restricted and wait - and wait - and wait. Obviously a problem but no announcement, people around us eventually start a slow handclap but still we wait. Suddenly an announcement and Wishes begins - a huge cheer from those around us who are very demonstrative with their emotions - not very British! Wishes is great although not on a par with WDW but hey this is DLP! It is very clever and DS is very impressed with the lasers, I am pleased that a lot of the commentary is still in English. The images on the castle are really good but the castle seems quite a small backdrop (I personally think that Cinderella's castle at WDW is much better and more impressive and therefore a better backdrop) the firework display is not anything like as good as at WDW but the display over all is still very good, DS loved it and we were very pleased to be there on the first night, albeit soooooooo crowded. Wishes end to a huge cheer and loud clapping, I think Disney can be very pleased at how well everything went. We head out of the park - very slowly- because of the crowd and walk back to the hotel, tired but very happy. Has we drop onto pur beds we wonder how we are going to get up for the Fantasy Land breakfast later, it is already a quarter to 1 in the morning (Wishes ran so late) we decide not to worry and to sleep until we wake. Goodnight
