Trip Report Disneyland Paris, for the first time in forever

Ok, here we go. There are a few background things you should know before reading this. I am a snarky person, but generally positive. It's hard to make me angry (unless you do something to one of my kids) and I am pretty relaxed. Even when things go wrong, I am more likely to laugh about them, so while I may make a snide comment about it, it does not mean that it was a bad experience for me. It may SOUND like I had a terrible time, but I assure you that is not the case...all the little mishaps are just things that made me remember it, but didn't detract from the overall experience.
Number 2, I have a different way of looking at things...I'm originally from a a tiny town in podunk nowhere, Wyoming. I now live in the Netherlands (What I did for love, what I did for loooooove) in a town that is huge by my standards, but small for anyone else. (It actually has STOPLIGHTS!!) Living in Europe has changed my perspective on many things and has helped me see other points of view...so that may color my stories.
Number 3, I have a musical background....be forewarned, I may break into song at any moment.
Number 4, I am a planner. I make copious lists, and while I am not a commando park goer, I do want to know a general amount about what we'll be doing...I want to have a plan for several contingencies. Disneyland Paris is NOT a park for which this is a conducive planning style. You can not do anything online...dinner reservations must be made by phone or in person either at your hotel or at the restaurant. Fastpasses are available exclusively at the kiosks on the day of your visit. Menus for buffets are not available as they change from one evening to another, so they give a general idea of the KINDS of food they have, but not an actual menu. This gave me a very panicky feeling, especially since DS is EXTREMELY picky. The one ace in the hole at DLP is that they have a McDonalds in Disney Village....it was a life saver. But if you are someone like me who makes lists of possible choices, wants a general itinerary, and like to have all your information organized and at your fingertips, DLP just may give you anxiety.
Now that we got that out of the way: the fundamentals are in order.
Who: Me, my DH, my DD (11) and my DS (9)
Where: Disneyland Paris
Why: A lot of reasons. My dad died in March and I was stuck back in the US for several weeks without my family and feeling very alone and sad and I needed something to look forward to, and I knew I would need some R&R when it was all over. We couldn't afford another trip to WDW, and Paris is within driving distance. We had never been to DLP before and I had always wanted to see how it was the same and how it was different. There were killer deals for the 25th anniversary. And last, we have just had a HORRIBLE year and the last month has been the worst yet. DS was just diagnosed with Autism a few weeks ago, and he has been bullied for years and it finally reached a point about a month ago where we felt he was in danger and have pulled him out of school until we can get him into a school where he is safe and has the extra resources he needs. So in the midst of dealing with all of this, we NEEDED a vacation. Fall break couldn't have come at a better time.
When: October 17th-20th, plus one day in Paris itself...well, half day.

Day 1, Tuesday October 17th:
We got up at about 3:15 in the morning to get on the road by about 4 to beat traffic as it was a weekday. Google Maps said it's about a 6.5 hour drive....totally doable, and then we'd be there in the early afternoon (including stops for food and bathroom breaks) and we'd have park time on day one. I had washed everything and packed the day before, before my choir rehearsal so it was ready to be loaded into the car. Preparations:
Homemade Minnie Ears.
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(Yes, my daughter is homemade too!) The idea was that DD and I would have enough to wear a different pair of ears for each day...4 days, so 8 pairs for us, and some to give away to little girls in the park to make their day a bit more magical. These aren't all of them...you will probably see some different ones in the pictures to follow.
Fingernails:
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Jewelry:
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I made the earrings in 3 different colors so we could match them with outfits/ears.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1 (continued....)

So we got on the road around 4:20 am and made it through Holland, and were almost out of Belgium when we stopped for our first break to eat the breakfast we brought with us. We crossed into France and were almost immediately sent to a backroad by the GPS. I don't know what was going on that day, but from the moment we hit France, there was this dingy yellow mist that smelled awful hanging over everything. The WHOLE DAY. I don't remember the name of the town where we made our other stops, but I had to go pretty badly and we were strictly on backroads going through tiny towns...we finally found a gas station, and there was no bathroom there. So we had to backtrack and go about 10 minutes out of our way to get to a McDonalds. Unlike McDonalds in the Netherlands, French McDonalds do not serve regular menu items in the morning. DS, who will not eat a McMuffin, eggs, bacon, sausage, or really ANY breakfast food except chocolate muffins, french toast, and pancakes with whipped cream (he won't eat syrup) always orders chicken nuggets. The ordering kiosks let us order and it wasn't until after we had paid and were waiting for the order that they told us they didn't do anything but breakfast at that time. Then why did you let us order it? Rather than trying to speak English, they went ahead and made chicken nuggets for him and a wrap for my husband. The bathroom reeked and the door....there were gouges in the door all around the lock/door handle that suggested someone had gotten locked in and dried to dig their way through to remove the lock. But, I was desperate.
We got back on the road and made it around lunch time to our hotel.
Sequioa Lodge:
I was surprised to have to put our bags through an airport-security-like machine. Is this a new thing? I remember reading about metal detectors at the WDW parks in Florida, but not at the resorts or Disney Springs, and in DLP, you had to go through and have your bag scanned before you entered the Village AND the hotel reception area. (Weird story, at some point, maybe when we came back from the pool? we were coming in and there were people stopped there and they were asking another employee if he spoke English because the father had some huge knife in his suitcases and while his wife and daughters were allowed to go in and check in, he needed to talk to security and answer some questions. I wonder what kind of knife it was! I had a pocket knife and that didn't cause any problems in my luggage going into the hotel.)
While we checked in, there was an employee speaking in a Donald Duck voice with the kids, playing with them...they thought it was great, though there was a sticky moment when DS didn't realize he was joking about taking his balloon at first. Our check-in went smoothly and they spoke English well, and sent us to the Concierge to confirm our dinner reservations and to transfer vouchers for the Buffalo Bill Wild West show (which was NOT what we were told on the phone when I booked it...they told me to go to the show with the vouchers. Glad our check-in person knew what she was doing and we got our tickets beforehand. Saved so much time.) And then we had to get our luggage from the car and take it to our room. We had reserved a Montana room because it seemed so much more convenient to have a room in the main building where the facilities were, in case it was raining, etc. In hindsight, I would not do this again. It was not worth the extra money. We were put in the furthest possible room from all facilities, bar one. There was one more room on our other side at the end of the hallway and the hallway was on the opposite side from the Pool, which was in a separate building outside the other end of the resort. We literally could not have been farther from the facilities we paid extra to be close to. Even the rooms in the other buildings were closer to the pool than we were, and no farther from the restaurants/bar/giftshop. So for that price, the rooms better be really nice. They were ok, but nothing special. There was only one outlet besides the one in the bathroom, and the one outlet was mounted in a desk and while we had brought a power strip, the plug part was too big to fit in the space and because the French outlets have a little spike coming out, you also can not turn the plug to make it go the other direction. So everything had to be plugged into the bathroom outlet. I wish hubby had listened to me and brought our USB port plug so we could have at least plugged all the phones in in the main room. Oh well...it all worked out. But everything was really run down and pretty musty smelling. Our room at CBR in 2016 was SOOOO much nicer. We dumped our stuff and headed into the park to eat lunch and catch a couple of rides. The walk from the hotel to the parks is BEAUTIFUL....it was sooo nice. Which is a good thing since I had to turn right around and go back to the hotel to drop off the pocket knife (it was my dad's, so I wasn't going to let them destroy it. @figmentfan423 understands exactly how much my dad's knives mean to me) that I had forgotten was in my backpack and hadn't registered at the hotel. So I got to enjoy the walk again.

Next up, We're finally in Disney!!!
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am sorry it has been such a rough year for you, hopefully 2018 will be amazing.
I love the ears you made and what a super sweet idea to bring extra to give away!
Where in the Netherlands do you live exactly, somewhere in Brabant?
We live in Gelderland, close to the German border.
And thank you...we loved the ears and they were pretty fun to make, though we found there IS a learning curve. We were glad our strategy was to start with our least favorite materials so that if we messed up, it wouldn't be with our favorites. It turned out to be the right choice.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am glad that after such a rough year you were able to escape to a Disney park
I have been to dlp once in 2011
Looking forward to your report
A musically inclined American living in the Netherlands going to France to visit a Disney park for the first time?

Sounds intriguing to me!!!

Max
Well, I can't promise it was the first time in forever that a musically inclined American living in the Netherlands visited DLP, but it was MY first time there! And it was a great escape!
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1, (continued...)
So I realized I actually DID take pictures of the room, so we're going to backtrack just a bit before moving on.

Out front before check-in.
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The room:
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DD made Mickey/Minnie ears for their stuffed animals. Lady was supposed to be mine, but I put her in the corner of the crib and when DD was about 8 months old, she rolled over and grabbed Lady by the ear and reeled her in and no matter how many times I put her back in the corner, DD would just grab her again and wouldn't sleep without her...so she became DD's and Lady has gone with us everywhere since then. Mike the sheep is DS's...he LOVES sheep and we adopt one every spring at a community ranch so he gets to cuddle one and name it. It's his favorite animal. So he has several stuffed sheep, but "Mike" is the one that goes everywhere with us.

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The path from our wing to the main path around the lake.
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The back entrance where the restaurants are:
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This is taken from the main level looking down into the entrance below by the restaurants
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The main lobby, looking back toward the check-in area:
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Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1 (continued...)

DH and the kids had gone ahead into Disney Village while I ran back to the hotel to drop off the pocket knife, but we forgot he had all the tickets, so he couldn't go into the park or I'd be stuck outside. So they did a bit of shopping and then I got a text that they were in the Lego store. So I met them there and we went into a couple of stores and then headed to the main park.

The walk to the parks:
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Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1 (continued...)
It had taken a lot longer than we expected to get checked in and get our stuff to the room, not having known about the bag screening and the fact that our room would be so far away. It was now something like 4pm and we had plans to do the Buffalo Bill show that evening and DS wouldn't eat any of the food there, so we were going to have to get him something to eat. I don't remember why, exactly, but for some reason, DD and I went into the park together without DH and DS and they caught up to us a bit later, but it wasn't long enough for DS to eat, so I don't think that was it. In any case, I don't have any pics of them at the gazebo.
We went in and walked through to the Gazebo and took a few pictures:
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The sign, for @MinnieM123 :
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We went into a few shops and then the boys caught up to us. We have a rule in our family that everyone gets to have fun. You don't have to do any rides you don't want to do, but that doesn't mean the rest of us don't get to do them. If you choose not to go on one, you can't expect the rest of us to skip it and only do what you want to do. So, we walked through the castle, trying to decide what to do first. DS was a bit apprehensive. He didn't want to do anything scary and the only thing he was familiar with was Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, which he had LOVED in WDW. We were willing to do it again, but we were right next to Pinocchio, and we wanted to do that. DS agreed to try it out. It was cute, but it goes SO fast through the scenes and it is very jerky and uncomfortable. It was a one and done for all of us. I was reluctant to let DS on Snow White, remembering on our honeymoon at WDW that there was a little boy who was so terrified by the ride that he was afraid of everything. DH and I were sitting next to his family during the electrical parade and the little boy kept crying every time a villain came by and his aunt was complaining about how there should be a sign saying it might be scary...there was, they just hadn't looked. So I was remembering that and thinking, DS doesn't do well with scary...he has had a fear of elevators ever since he went on ToT at WDW, and we had to remove him, screaming, from It's Tough to Be a Bug. I was saved from making a decision when DS announced he didn't want to do it at all. He wanted to do Buzz Lightyear. DD and I wanted to do Carrots of the Pirabbean (we have called it Carrots since DD got her tongue twisted around her eye teeth so she couldn't see what she was saying, and accidentally called it Carrots of the Pirabbean. It shall be hereafter just called "Carrots") So we split up and DH took DS and I took DD. We weren't sure if or when they would take our picture, but there were 2 drops and when they didn't do it on the first one, I thought there would be no picture. Then they did it with the 2nd drop and DD put her hands up and I reminded her that it's not the best idea because then whoever is behind you has your hand in their face and they don't get to see their picture...this happened to me in WDW in nearly every picture. Someone's arm was always in front of my face. Fortunately, she was positioned just right and no one was blocked.
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We LOVED DLP's version of carrots. I don't know if it actually IS longer than WDW's, but it seemed like it was, and it was cool that you get to go by the restaurant. It's our favorite ride.
We got out of Carrots and dicided to check out Snow White....boy was I glad DS hadn't wanted to try it. He would have been screaming. The witch is in nearly every scene, cackling and sinister looking and the ride was even more jerky than Pinocchio. It was a one and done for DD and I and a "not on your life" for DS. DH didn't mind missing it. We got an app from DH that Buzz was down, so they were going to do Star Tours instead, but then DS changed his mind and didn't want to do ANYTHING. He wanted to go back to the hotel. DH decided it would be the perfect time to get something for him to eat before the BBWWS, since that didn't start until 9:30pm. There was a parade blocking them off so they couldn't get to us and we couldn't get to them. DD and I decided to explore the castle a bit and we found a dragon!
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Unfortunately, I do not have the photography skills of @fractal , so it's not the best picture. But it was very cool.

Up next: shopping and the BBWWS.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 1 (continued...)

DD and I decided to do some shopping while the boys went to eat and rest at the hotel. We went to World of Disney and got autograph books for them and then we were pretty hungry and our dinner show was still a few hours away. We really didn't feel like eating McDonald's again...DS would eat there for every meal if he could, but it's not our favorite! So we hopped over to Rainforest Cafe for a snack. We didn't have to wait too long...maybe 20 minutes or so. Again, we were glad that the boys weren't with us because as amazing as the theming is, it is LOUD, and DS doesn't do loud well. We loved it though.
We were seated right by this guy:
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Around a corner from this guy:
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We just ordered onion rings (something we love but can't get here in the Netherlands) and a toblerone desert to share.
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Just as we were leaving, DD started complaining that her legs hurt. I thought maybe growing pains, but she said it was in her calves. But her calves were cramping up and it started when she was sitting down, so it wasn't from too much walking. Poor girl ended up in tears the whole rest of the evening, but she very bravely said no, she didn't want to skip the BBWWS, maybe it would be a good distraction. So off we went. We had to be there an hour before the show and we had a few minutes, so we stopped and took a few pictures. I took a picture of some Disneyland Paris Dryer lint for @Tuvalu .
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And then one of DD with the Halloween decs: This was a hard one to get. There was a couple taking pictures of each other, but there was a guy who was really...off. I don't know if he was completely trashed, or if he was just mentally ill, but he kept stepping into this couple's pictures, so they were waiting for him to leave, which he wasn't leaving. There was no one with him and he was wearing spandex leggings and a plain tshirt and sashaying in front of the person having their picture taken. Then he'd just start giggling and posing. The couple managed to get their pictures and left, so it was our turn, but the guy just walked back and forth in front of the decorations like he was trying to force us to take a picture of HIM if we wanted a picture at all. So DD was ready to jump in as soon as he left...he went and got a little baby cloth thing...the kind kids hold while they are sucking their thumbs...I had never seen them in the US and I don't know what they are called, but somewhere, he found one, picked it up and put it on his head and started sashaying like he was on a catwalk again. And just giggling and cackling. So we waited. He really didn't seem like he was all there and I felt kind of bad for him...there was obviously no one with him. If I was sure he was just drunk, I could have politely asked him to step aside while we took a few pictures, but I don't even know if he spoke English or what was going on...FINALLY we got this picture:
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We went to the show and got in line and waited for the boys to join us. I didn't take any pictures because it was too dark for my camera to take decent pictures. We were put in the Wyoming section, which I was stoked about! HOME!!! Of course I know Buffalo Bill was from Wyoming, the town of Cody being named after him and I have been to the museum there. But it was cool that of the 4 areas we could be seated in, we got the Wyoming section. We were all the way in the back and pretty much the last to be served, but it was ok...we had had our snacks so we weren't TOO hungry. As we suspected, DS wouldn't touch any of the food...that just meant we got to eat his. I loved the potatoes. I even liked the chilli, much to DH's disappointment as he would have liked to have my portion, too. I wasn't quite sure what to expect...I thought it was a sort of buffet, but it was just a set menu and they brought everything to your table. The people across the aisle from us seemed less than impressed. They got their food and had not been given drinks yet...they were very angry. They left before the end of the show and were visibly disgruntled. We were skipped with dessert at first and then someone finally came by, apologized, and gave an apple crumble dessert to DD, because she hadn't wanted the Popsicle that came with the kid's menu. It was the only thing she ate....she still wasn't really feeling well. But they had an absolute blast!! They loved the show and while neither of them ate, they were glad we did it and it was one of their favorite parts of the trip. Thank you to @ajrwdwgirl for the suggestion. It was so worth it! It was a bit confusing when we first entered...we weren't sure if we were going to get drinks or if we had to order at the bar and take them up with us, and there was a preshow and we didn't know before where we were supposed to go up. It could have been a tad more organized, but it turned out awesome and we were glad we decided to splurge. I also loved that they did everything half English, half French so everyone could take part. The only bad part was that by the time we booked, only the late show was available, so it was around 11pm when we finally got out of there and back to the hotel. Having gotten up at 3:15am to drive to Paris and then spent the whole afternoon and evening there, we were EXHAUSTED.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2!!! Wednesday October 18th:

Our hotel had a character meet and greet every morning in the lobby starting at 8:15 and EMH started at 8:30. We went to see who we could meet that morning, the kids armed with their brand new autograph books.
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I had been told that EMH are crucial at DLP, at least for certain rides. We were all very curious about Ratatouille, so we headed to Studios to be some of the first on it that morning.
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We got there just as the park was opening and had to figure out where we were going. I don't know what was wrong with DH, but he was being a colossal jerk. I was following the crowd of people, thinking we'd most likely find Ratatouille by going where everyone else was heading. He got out his phone to load the app, but it was taking a while and rather than stop in the middle of a path, I just kept walking, which made him angry at me and he was in a nasty mood the rest of the morning. He was obviously upset that I didn't wait for the app to load, and it wasn't worth a fight, so I waited while he looked it up and confirmed what I had been thinking...follow the crowd of people. By the time we got there, there was a 25 minute wait. The weather had been PERFECT the day before and it was supposed to be almost as nice this day, so we had told DS he wouldn't need his jacket, because we knew we'd just end up schlepping it around all day. But it was actually a bit chilly in the morning and DS was not happy, so I kept having to wrap him up in the flaps of my shirt to keep him warm. It was finally our turn..right at 25 minutes. While the concept and the ride are really cool, it was a one and done because both DD and I were nauseated by the motion of it. It's a great ride, but not one we can do repeatedly.
Since DH was being so surly, I decided it was time to send him off to do something by himself, so we headed toward RnRC through toy story land. The kids and I were enjoying looking at everything and DH was getting impatient and snapping at everything and finally just announced he was taking off and I could find my own way to catch up to him. I told him to just go, we'd find him later. I took the kids and we took our time walking through the giant toy land.
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Then we got to the Slinky dog ride and the kids were SO excited to see it said it was only a 5 minute wait time. I was happy to see that they were old enough to go on it by themselves and I didn't have to go, because I had not taken my dramamine and I'm sure it would have made me sick.
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Since RnRc was also supposed to be only a 5 minute wait, we thought we'd better head that way before DH got out and was angry that we weren't waiting for him. So we started walking in the direction he had pointed...and got lost. I had the app, but it was backwards from how we were actually walking and some of the pathways it showed didn't seem to exist and others were in a different place, so it wasn't working well. I also have ZERO sense of direction. If there is more than one entrance to a store, I will get lost going out the wrong exit and not be able to figure out where I came from. The main park wasn't too bad because it is set up a lot like MK and having gotten pretty good at finding my way around there in 2016, I was able to maneuver DLP pretty easily. Studios was a completely different story. I don't even know how we did it, but we found RnRc and were waiting for DH, but by now it said 25 minute wait...we had no idea how long it would be. So we stood there and listened to the music, which confused me because it was not Disney music. They played the themes from Harry Potter and Top Gun, among other things. Not what I expected. DH came out after about 5 minutes and we decided to go get some breakfast. Our package included vouchers for a counter service breakfast, which had been explained to us at check-in was only redeemable either at Au Chalet de Marionette in the main park, or in the hotel bar. There was nowhere in the studios that would take the vouchers. They were only good until 10:30...it was past 10. There was no way to get to either place by the time the vouchers would still be valid, so we decided to just pay for breakfast. Hubby was still in a foul mood despite having just done an amazing ride that he said was AWESOME. I thought perhaps food would improve his attitude. So as we were making our way back out, we found a place that didn't look too bad...it had breakfast sandwiches, croissants, pain au chocolate, juice, etc. So we get in line and we order our meals, but the lady wasn't paying attention and when we said pain au chocolate, she typed in hot chocolate. So when we got to the counter, the gal there wasn't understanding that that wasn't what we ordered, BUT they were out of pain au chocolate, which was the ONLY thing DS would even try...so now he had nothing to eat, and they gave us croissants instead of pain au chocolate, and an extra hot chocolate which the girl was refusing to fix for us. DS started to have a meltdown, so we assured him we'd get him some chicken nuggets at McDonald's. We went found a table and sat down, I bit into my sandwich...yuck...they had smeared some sort of buttery concoction so thickly on it...I don't like butter unless it is melted and this was not. It was slimy and greasy and just inedible....no problem, I'll wipe off the schmear with my napkin...oh wait....they didn't give us napkins. So I went on a pilgrimage to find napkins. Apparently they keep them behind the counter where customers can't get them themselves, but they also don't give them to you with your order...I found a nice CM who grabbed me a stack and I went back and doctored up my sandwich so I could eat it. It wasn't terrible once I got the goop off...hubby disagreed...he thought it was disgusting anyway. DD ate the croissants that came with our meals because she hadn't wanted a breakfast sandwhich and DS wouldn't touch it if there was no chocolate on it, and DD also got the extra hot chocolate. We left pretty unsatisfied, stopped at McD's on the way back to our hotel where we hoped swimming would salvage the day and get us back on track.
We realized just how far our room was from EVERYTHING when we went swimming. We made it to the pool and the water was sooooo cold. They won't allow children under 12 in the whirlpool, nor pregnant women (thank goodness I'm not expecting!!) because of the heat. Heat? Really? My bathtub is warmer! Feelin' cold cold cold. Even the whirlpool was only luke warm and there was a glass screen so you could supervise your children from the whirlpool, but it was so filthy that you couldn't see through it, so I didn't spend much time there as it made me nervous not to be able to see DS. He can swim, but he's pretty lazy about it and would rather hang on to one of us, so I was nervous that I couldn't see him. But, as warm as the whirlpool was not, the regular pool was frigid, so I got out and decided to read my book instead. I could sit in a lounge chair and read and see the kids at the same time. They got bored pretty quickly. The outdoor part wasn't open because it wasn't warm enough and there were leaves in the water, so the only thing for them to do was go down the slide over and over again. We got out and decided to go get some lunch. DD was diddle-farting around in the hotel room instead of getting ready to go, so we got on her and she was grumpy by the time we got to the village and she was doing her pre-teen shoulder shrug that says "whatever. I don't care." DH and I had seen the Earl of Sandwich sign and it showed a pasta with meatballs that looked good, and ribs that DH wanted to try. We got in, tried to order...they don't start serving those until 6. So DH took DS to McDonald's again and DD and I split a meatball sub and some brownie pudding.
By this time, DS was really upset that he hadn't gotten to do Buzz yet, and we explained the rules again...he WOULD get to do Buzz, but that didn't mean the rest of us were going to skip everything else. So DH took him to do Buzz and DD and I headed to Phantom Manor and grabbed a candy apple to share, which I have never had and always wanted to try, on our way. It was delicious.
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Ok...so the theming of the wait line in WDW is WAY better...this was pretty sparse. But the actual ride, DLP is way creepier. While there was nothing really scary in WDW's version, this would have been too much for DS, especially since the ride stopped for several minutes. We had fun though. Since we had time, we decided to head to Carrots again. We got stuck on the way by a parade, but it was just a very short one. I've reached my limit of pictures with this post, so we'll have to carry on from here later.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 (continued...)

DD and I made our way to Carrots and it was quite difficult. Remember that bit about me having zero sense of direction? Well, it was never more apparent than here. I don't know what I did, but I got pretty hopelessly lost and we ended up going the wrong way and I thought we were heading the right way, but we ended up at adventure Island and I went across a drawbridge that I thought would take us right to Carrots, but took us to another pathway. I don't speak french and while there are signs that tell you where you are headed, they were all in French and I couldn't understand them. We did finally manage to find our way and it was only a 5 minute wait, though some kids had been playing with the wait time sign and had changed it to say 20 minutes. (Where were their parents, I wonder???)
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When we came out of Carrots, we decided we wanted to do Peter Pan because the wait was relatively short and it's right there by the Fantasy Land/ Adventure land boarder. I LOVED the attraction...so much cooler than the one in WDW, which I also love. Everything is closer up. The only problem is that the ships are old and again, really jerky. There were a few times where it dipped so fast we thought we were going to fall. But overall we liked this version better than in WDW.
We came out and there was a short line to meet Gaston, DD had her autograph book, so we got in line. We finally saw someone with unique Minnie Ears that might possibly be homemade. There was a girl in that group wearing the same tshirt as DD, so she said "Nice tshirt!" to the girl, who was just a bit older than DD as it turned out. So I asked the mom if she had made her ears and she said no, she bought them online, but they WERE homemade...just not by her. And I told her I wondered because I hadn't seen anyone else with the same kind and she asked if we had made ours and we said yes and she admitted she was not a crafty person and was impressed that we had managed to make our own. Her daughter had accidentally dropped a pair of theirs in a fountain and ruined them. DD and I saw an opportunity to give out some of our extras. We asked if she'd like a replacement. No thank you, very sweet, but they had enough others. They were from Scotland and very nice and fun to talk to, but alas, we still had all our ears.
DD got Gaston's autograph and I took a picture:
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I asked him if he could handle two women and he said of course, and one of the handlers said "Or 3 or 4!"
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The boys were done with Buzz so we met up with them and went to IaSW.
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Feeling right at home here:
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