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.

(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:

Jewelry:

I made the earrings in 3 different colors so we could match them with outfits/ears.

 

[Songbird76]

Day 2 (continued...)

More IaSW:

Home, home on the range!!

 

[Figgy1]

If your dh ever gives you another problem I have a few

Spoiler

you can borrow

 

[Tick Tock]

Fun trip report so far!

In your family's honor, I will be calling any Pirates ride Carrots from now on. Not sure how I'll ever get that out of my mind.

 

[Nemo14]

Fun trip report so far!

In your family's honor, I will be calling any Pirates ride Carrots from now on. Not sure how I'll ever get that out of my mind.

maybe this will help:

 

[MinnieM123]

The sign, for @MinnieM123 :

Thank you for the sign! I'll add it to my "collection" !

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Great report so far. It's interesting to see the Halloween decorations. I'm also glad that you liked the Buffalo Bill show, we thought it was pretty entertaining and the food wasn't too bad. Too many beans in the chilli for me but at least it had a decent flavor, and I thought their potatoes were good too.

 

[Swissmiss]

Your disclaimer in the first post made me chuckle; I've lowered my expectations after my first visit about some things (food, service/helpfulness) and now when I go I enjoy it much more. And while I have no problem navigating Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and going from Peter Pan to Carrots, I always get turned around trying to get from Carrots to HM (or the reverse)! And I almost never try to "find" Big Thunder but let myself stumble upon it because that seems to work better for me

 

[Songbird76]

If your dh ever gives you another problem I have a few

Spoiler

View attachment 239895

you can borrow

Ha! I don't know what it is, but he just gets like that every once in a while. When the kids were little and we went to WDW, we stayed with my friend in Kissimmee and we went to skype with his parents and suddenly he was gone. I went up later and asked why he didn't skype with us and he was pouting and said "It was obvious you didn't want me there, so I left." I was so confused...I asked what I did and he just made a sarcastic noise and said "Well, if you don't know, then I'm not going to tell you." And the rest of the day he was obnoxious. It doesn't happen often, but I've learned to just ignore him when he gets like that and let him get over whatever it was. And for some reason he's worse if he gets to sleep in. Most people are in a better mood with extra sleep. He is not one of those people.

 

[Songbird76]

Fun trip report so far!

In your family's honor, I will be calling any Pirates ride Carrots from now on. Not sure how I'll ever get that out of my mind.

Why thank you! We're pretty sure we confused many people who might have overheard us talking about "Carrots", but that's half the fun!

 

[Songbird76]

maybe this will help:
View attachment 239901

LOVE. IT!! Now I want a tshirt with that on it for our next Disney trip!! That is awesome!

 

[Songbird76]

Your disclaimer in the first post made me chuckle; I've lowered my expectations after my first visit about some things (food, service/helpfulness) and now when I go I enjoy it much more. And while I have no problem navigating Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and going from Peter Pan to Carrots, I always get turned around trying to get from Carrots to HM (or the reverse)! And I almost never try to "find" Big Thunder but let myself stumble upon it because that seems to work better for me

We found a super secret pathway later that will come up, I'm sure.

 

[Songbird76]

Day 2 (continued...)

After IaSW, we were trying to decide what to do and the Teacups are right next to it and there was almost no line, so DH took the kids. I'm not sure if DD wanted her own cup or what...I'm sure they would have all fit into one, but for some reason she went and got in her own.

It was my turn to entertain the boy child so DH could do something besides Buzz or sitting in the hotel room. He had tried to get DS to do Autopia the night before, but he refused. So DH and DD headed off for a round of Carrots and Phantom Manor. They had originally wanted to do BTMRR too, but I think it was down...either that or the wait time was insane, but I think it was down.

Before we left the hotel earlier in the day, DS had mentioned a Cars ride that he had really wanted to do, but he couldn't find it on the map. He said he had seen it when we were in the Toy Story part, coming out, so he was just sure it was in Studios and the only thing I could see there was the Bumper cars thing...no, that wasn't it. I told him that was the only one in Studios, was he sure it wasn't Autopia in the main park. No, because he saw it when he came out of Toy Story. Well, I didn't know what it would be. He wanted to do Buzz...again. So to Buzz we went. I am TERRIBLE at this game. He had been going with DH and was upset because DH was getting over 100,000 points each time and he couldn't seem to break 5,000. So we get in line and he tells me, in minute detail, all I need to know. The triangles are worth the most, the circles are worth the least, there's another shape he doesn't know the name of (Rhombus) and they are the second best. There's a robot and you have to shoot his arm. He wants to be on the left side and he wants me to control the spinning, etc...how I do that, and where the trigger on my gun will be located and I need to pull the trigger to shoot. He's so sweet. So he's given me all pertinent information and we get in our cart....I am left handed. I am sitting on the right, which means the spinning lever is on my left....which I am supposed to control, while also shooting with my left hand. It did not go well. But I also swear there was something wrong with my gun. Half the time I was shooting, no little laser light showed up anywhere on the targets. I didn't break 5000 points. DS broke his losing streak...I believe he had something like 14,000 points.

It looks like DS is shooting ME.
We came out of the ride and both of us needed a bathroom. DS said there was one next door in Videopolis, so we went there, but they were closed. We asked for directions to the closest one, made our way there and when we were both out again, DS said he found the ride he had wanted to do!! It was Autopia. The one he refused to do with DH and had told me no, that wasn't it. The line was only 25 minutes, so we got in it. Now...here's a bit of a rant. There was a mother and 2 children in front of us and no one behind us. We get through to the end of the line and suddenly there are 5 people in back of me who push past and join the mother and two children. Really? 5 people?? You couldn't have gotten in the line together?? And of course as we get up to the front, most of the group wanted their own cars. So now, instead of waiting for one car for the mom and 2 children, we now had to wait for 5 so that all the new people in their group could have their own car and the mom could ride with one child, and the dad could ride with another. If you all want your own car, the polite thing to do would have been to let us go first rather than allow the rest of the group to cut in front of us. RUDE. But...whatever, DS got to drive his car and he loved it, so Let it Go....let it go! DH and DD were now saving a place for us to watch Illuminations by a fountain. Great show, and our spot made it relatively easy to get out, even though they blocked one exit and made everyone go around because there was some special group entering through that side, but we could only see the upper half of the castle, so most of the projections were blocked by hedges in front of us.
I didn't bother to take pictures.
We had reservations at Hunters Grill in our hotel, so we hot-footed it there. It was pretty good...lots of choices and decent tasting. I ordered a Blue Glow-tini (looks green in the picture) that tasted like cough syrup. I would not recommend it. Everything else was fine.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

What I did for love, what I did for loooooove

Great you got me singing that now and I can't remember what it's from!
The kids are adorable! So far it seems that the experiences with restaurants are a huge difference with WDW.
Looking forward to reading the rest.

 

[Songbird76]

Great you got me singing that now and I can't remember what it's from!
The kids are adorable! So far it seems that the experiences with restaurants are a huge difference with WDW.
Looking forward to reading the rest.

It's from A Chorus Line. Which I have actually never seen...I just know the song.
And thank you...I agree about the kids, but I might be a tad biased.

 

[Hayley In Wonderland]

Day 1 (continued....)

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.)

I visited DLP in Jan 2016 and this was in place then. I believe this came into play after the terror attacks in Central Paris, at the Bataclan etc. I think there were threats put in at DLP so they heavily stepped up the security. When we first arrived at NPB they brought out sniffer dogs who were sniffing our suitcases, I was just so shocked at the lengths. The train station was also surrounded with Police dogs, about 7 or 8 at a time. It's a good thing they were as a few days after we came home I believe they found guns in a mans suitcase checking into one of the hotels!

 

[Cesar R M]

Some random pictures of decorations for Halloween and the parade:
View attachment 239866
View attachment 239867
View attachment 239868 View attachment 239869
View attachment 239870
View attachment 239871

I'm surprised how they went for the Dia de Muertos feel on the parade.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm surprised how they went for the Dia de Muertos feel on the parade.

That whole section of the park was decorated in that style. The program described the parade as being colored with a Mexican tint, too. Must just be the theme for this year? I don't know if they do the same thing every year. But that parade literally only lasted 2 minutes...it was a group of dancers with one character (The first time we saw it, it was a parrot, the second time was Goofy in a skeleton costume), then a van painted in that style, then another group of dancers, and then 2 people holding up a rope decorated in Halloween style between them. It was very short. But those decorations were everywhere in that part of the park.

 

[Songbird76]

Sorry....I didn't have time to post yesterday. Real life...BUT at least this time real life is headed in a positive direction, so onwards and upwards!
I left off with the Hunters Grill. The first night we ate there, they had roast beef, pork ribs, mushroom-stuffed turkey, some sort of fish dish, au gratin potatoes, green beans and carrots, and they had chicken nuggets, fish nuggets, and fries at the kids station. And various desserts...they had a chocolate pie thing, and a chocolate hazelnut pastry that tasted like Fererro Rocher, ice cream cones with pistachio or raspberry mousse, marshmallows, mini donuts, and a selection of cheeses. I loved the pork ribs...they tasted so much like my mom's used to and I hadn't had those in YEARS. Decades really. Everything was pretty good and I was STUFFED. We were impressed and glad we had booked the same restaurant for the next night as it was so convenient to just go to our room when we were done. And DS was having some issues...I think he was a bit overwhelmed and certainly tired and he didn't want to eat hardly anything, so we were able to let him go back to the room by himself. It's an option we wouldn't have had anywhere in the parks. When we got back to the room, he was already asleep.

Day 3

We decided to get up and go to EMH at the main park. We had gotten a schedule at check-in that had indicated that the only rides open for EMH at the studios were Ratatouille, Crush's coaster, and I think RnRc, but that had not been true. Everything was open, so I was confused. Well, the same schedule listed several rides in the main park, and we thought most of them would be open, just like they were in studios. DD still really wanted to do BTMRR and hadn't been able to do it the day before and didn't want to do that one with me, knowing how I feel about coasters. DS wanted to do Autopia and Buzz....again. So we headed to the park and split up. As DS and I headed toward tomorrow land, we saw it was roped off and the CM said it didn't open until 10. And then I got an app from DH that Frontierland didn't open until 9:30. So we decided to use our breakfast vouchers, which were ONLY valid at Au Chalet de Marrionette. So we met up there and headed inside. There was a Dutch (or possibly Belgian)group singing the Dutch birthday song, at the end of which it's tradition to say " Hieperdapiep....HOERA!!" (Hip hip hurrah) So as they finished the song, DH shouted over "HIEPERDAPIEP!!!" and they all shouted back "HOERA!!" and everyone in the restaurant got a good laugh. Then the "hostess" CM gave us the menu card...and it was the EXACT same menu as the one at the place in Studios that had sucked the day before. Well, we were nice and early this time...they should still have pain au chocolate. So at least DS can eat this time. And I can order my sandwich without the butter on it. (which we were informed was "cream", not butter...whatever...it was butter-like, greasy and gross.) So we get in line and we are ordering and she asked us to order one at a time, starting with the kids. The kids both wanted the sweet menu that consisted of a small baguette and either a croissant or a pain au chocolate. DS does not like hot chocolate OR orange juice so we went ahead and ordered the hot chocolate and one of us would drink it, and we had Fanta for him in the backpack. Then I went to order, and the gal was insisting there's no butter on the sandwich....husband is telling her there's SOMETHING on it that I don't want...and it completely messed everything up. The more she tried to fix it, the more it got screwed up, so she called a manager over to void the order completely and start over. But then when the order got to the front, the CM couldn't understand any of it and she was putting the wrong things on the tray...she had 4 baguettes and no pain au chocolate, even though DS had ordered one, and my meal came with the breakfast sandwich AND a pain au chocolate, and DH had ordered one too. And there were 3 breakfast sandwiches and I was the only one who ordered one. We finally got it worked out, went and ate. DS was happy...he got all the baguettes, which we somehow ended up with an extra one, and he got 2 or 3 of the Pain au Chocolates. But, we were still not impressed and decided the vouchers were all but worthless...we'd rather pay for a GOOD breakfast at our hotel. It was 9:45, so DS and I headed to Tomorrowland to be first in line for Autopia when Tomorrowland opened, and DD and DH headed to BTMRR to check the wait time and get a fastpass. We got to tomorrowland...what the CM neglected to mention is that TOMORROWLAND opened at 9:30 so you could get in line for the rides. The RIDES didn't open until 10...there were already several people in line. And this is where I get to rant a bit more. SUPERVISE YOUR CHILDREN, PEOPLE!! The line for Autopia is above the ride itself. It eventually winds down into a sort of pit. There is a fence to block off the sheer drop from outside the area into said pit. The family in front of us was French/Dutch. The father spoke Dutch, the mother French. (and it was not a Belgian accent, so I'm reasonably certain they were Dutch and French) They had 2 boys...probably 6 and 7 or 7 and 8. The two boys were climbing up onto that fence and straddling it...I was waiting for one to jump off the other side and go tumbling down. The parents weren't paying any attention whatsoever. Then the older boy decides to climb back to the right side and swings his leg over and accidentally kicks his little brother in the face. Which the parents don't see, because they aren't paying any attention. So the little boy jumps down from the fence and literally punches his brother full force, twice in the face. Which the father put his hand on his arm and gently told him 'Don't do that." Really??? That's it? You aren't even going to ASK why he's punching his brother? Or ask his brother if he's ok? As the ride opened and we snaked through the line, the younger boy was climbing on the railings that form the line. He's climbing up, hanging down, jumping off....he very nearly jumped right onto my foot. Not even a LOOK from the parents. They really did not care of their child hurt himself or someone else. You are in a public place, full of other people...you HAVE to be considerate of other people. And you have to make sure your children are being safe and abiding by rules....I'm SURE they were not supposed to climb on the fence...it's there for a reason and they could have been seriously injured if they had fallen. And with the force the kid jumped from the railings, had he landed on my foot, it probably would have broken it. Fortunately I am not an idiot, so I was watching and was able to move out of the way. But, I should not have to babysit your kids on my vacation. Not my job!! Watch over your OWN brats. Rant over.
In the time that we did Autopia, DH and DD had gotten fastpasses for BTMRR, had gone on Carrots, and on Indiana Jones, which they had not known it goes upside-down...DD had never been on a coaster with an inversion. Had she known, she would have refused. But she loved it.

Then they came over to get fastpasses for DS and I to do Buzz later, and they met up with us and we all did Buzz together. My husband had nearly 200,000...I had 4,000 something. DS beat DD, so he was thrilled. And our picture never showed up on the screens. But we did get stopped for a bit, so I think there must have been a glitch.
More later....

 

[Tuvalu]

Seems poor parenting extends across the pond as well.

 

[Songbird76]

Day 3 (continued...)

Once we got out of Buzz, DH checked the app and saw that the wait time for Star Tours was pretty low, so he headed there and I took the kids to IaSW again to pass the time until I had to get DD to BTMRR for her fast pass, and then get DS and I to our Buzz FP.

And I just realized I forgot a part of our morning...Our hotel character meet and greet!! (Love DD's smile in this picture)

We now return to our regularly scheduled TR.
So we got out of IaSW and hot-footed it over to BTMRR, where we were just in time for the beginning of the FP window....except DH wasn't there yet. It was taking longer than he thought it would. But he made it and we saw the halloween parade again. So DD and DH finally got their BTMRR in....they had been waiting for 3 days for this!!

They LOVED it, but got a bit damp. Meanwhile DS and I were shooting Aliens.

And it appears by my clothing choices that I got the 2 Buzz pictures mixed up. Well...doesn't matter...same ride, same company. This time DS was upset because I got 200,600 points and he had 14,000 something....he had beat me abysmally the first time, and beat DD, so he was disappointed to lose this time. I'm not sure how this happened and my notes aren't clear, but at some point we must have met back up with DD and DH, because I have it in my notes that DD and I went to Carrots and Phantom Manor...I think we had decided on a late lunch because we had a late dinner reservation. So we reasoned most people would be eating around noon, which would mean that wait times for rides would be lower, and the app said Carrots was a 10 minute wait? But I have no idea what DS and DH did during that time.
Anyway, DD and I decided that now we knew where the photo is in Carrots, we should do something cool. She suggested making a hook with our fingers and a pirate face. AAAAAARRHHH!

And the app had been wrong...it was only a 5 minute wait!! Then we walked across to Phantom Manor and we found a super secret pathway through Frontier land. Well, ok, it's not super secret, but no one seemed to know it was there. It was all but deserted every time we took it. There was a pathway by one of the restaurants that went behind all the shops and things on the main street. It came out right by the entrance to Frontier land from the hub. And there was a bathroom there, too, which wasn't very busy as it seemed most people didn't know it was there. So we made it to the Phantom Manor in record time and it was walk-on!! How awesome is that? Oh!! I think I know where DS and DH went during that time! We were planning on eating at Casey's for lunch, and DS didn't want a hotdog, so DH took him to McDonald's again. So we met up at Casey's. What an adventure...sometimes I wonder about the sanity of people. It was pretty busy inside and we had the kids wait at a table while we went in to order. There was a woman with a HUGE baby stroller and she's trying to fit in the line and there are railings there and the stroller wouldn't fit. So she's trying to stand in the line, but keep the stroller just outside of it and she's blocking the whole entrance with it. DH and I get in line behind her. Her husband comes in and she's having a heated conversation with him, she hands the menu card to my husband, tells him to go ahead, and she gets out of line. Then she's standing by one door, her husband by another and they are shouting to one another and it seemed to me like he was telling her to get back in the line because he's not leaving....she gets back in line, sans stroller, and resumes her place in front of Hubby and I, even though she had just told us to go ahead. And there was a younger man who had also been standing there, I thought in front of her, but suddenly she's calling a CM over to complain that this guy has cut in front of her and doesn't speak french. ???? He had been there the whole time WE were in line, she got out of line, then decided she wanted to get back in and tells the CM he cut in front of her when she had just cut in front of us. The guy just said "You know what....I'm not going to argue in Disneyland...just go ahead." So she goes ahead of him and then another CM comes up and brings a group of people to the front of the line through the exit...but it's a CM, so I know there's SOMETHING going on, and I see on the counter that this is a ordering kiosk for the handicapped and hearing impaired, and I look and one of the group is obviously mentally handicapped in some way. They have been allowed to skip the line to accommodate the handicapped person. It did not bother me....my son having just been diagnosed with Autism a week before, I am learning a LOT and since they were escorted by a CM, I knew they weren't just line jumpers. But someone in back of us didn't get the memo and she called over a CM to complain that this group had just skipped the line. I explained to her that they had been BROUGHT to the front by a CM, not skipped. She grumbled an "Oh...whatever". As it was finally our turn 5 or 10 minutes later, we start ordering and the CM that she had complained to stopped the people doing our order and instructed them that this other order had to be taken first and hands them a slip of paper....and then I see the woman who had complained about the handicapped group...the woman who was 2 or 3 people BEHIND us, and she is now getting HER order before ours. Let me get this straight....you complain about people getting to go ahead of you, but have no issue with then demanding to go before people who have been waiting longer than you, which is exactly what you complained the other people were doing? Whatever....how sad that you have so little empathy for other people and so little insight into your own behavior. Of course the CMs apologized to us profusely, knowing we've been waiting a long time and this woman is just being petty and selfish. But, we assured them it wasn't their fault and we're here to enjoy our time...if she wants to get upset over something so little, by all means...she seems to need the attention more than we do. We'll wait. DD got a Classic Hot dog and Hubby and I both got the cheddar dog with crispy onions and fries. Unfortunately they won't give you extra cheese sauce to dip your fries in...I asked. But, we got our food and thank goodness we had a table already. But guess who was at the table...or rather tables, next to us? Rude woman number one who got out of line and was shouting across the restaurant to her husband and then decided to get back in line and expected her place back. And it was a whole group of like 10 people. The little kids were all running around on the grassy area that's fenced off and they aren't even supposed to be in, supervised by a teenaged girl who keeps trying to get behind our table to keep the rugrats in line. Then the rest of them are just being loud and obnoxious. They have completely blocked off the way to our table with their stroller and their tables and were less than gracious about having to move said stroller so we can get to our table. I suppose they could have been upset about our kids having monopolized that table while we ordered because I'm sure had our kids not been there, they would have spread out even more and monopolized the whole area for their group, but they had obviously done the same thing since the woman was the only one who got in line and ordered all the food for their whole group while they found the tables. So it would be a bit hypocritical to be mad at us for that...but they were a very strange group. We did our best to ignore them and their shouting. The food was good and DD was sad she ordered the classic because she tasted mine and liked it better. She wanted to go back sometime to get her own. The only complaint I had is that because it was so busy, they had drinks and food prepared...like...they had one cup of each kind of soda already filled in case someone ordered it, so they didn't have to take the time to do it. So who knows how long it was between filling the cup with ice and soda, and me ordering it. So the drink was really watered down with melted ice, and the fries were barely warm. It might have also had to do with the woman who complained because they had already started taking our order when the CM made them stop and do hers...so it might have just been that ours sat there while she placed her order and had it filled before they came back to finish ours. I don't know, but that was the only complaint I had and really, that can happen anywhere. Not a big deal.
After lunch, DS was starting to get overwhelmed again and he didn't want to do anything. DD wanted to do Carrots again. I didn't think it was fair for her to have to go back to the hotel just because DS didn't want to do anything, so DH took him back and planned to take a nap while I took DD to Carrots and we'd see. But, my minnie ears had been falling off the whole day...I was wearing my black ones, which I had not had to re-cover in other material as I did with the others, so I had not lined them with velvet ribbon. The velvet ribbon holds it in your hair...so without that, the wind was blowing them off my head every 5 minutes. I had seen a sign on one of the Main Street shops that said something about "bangles and beads"...sounded like a crafty type store, and I thought they MIGHT have velvet ribbon I could then use to line my headband. Alas, the sign was misleading...I saw nothing resembling bangles or beads or any craft-type items at all. It was Christmas ornaments and magnets and plush toys. (Note to Disney: If you are reading this, did you know there's a whole group of people who make their own Disney crafts? You need a craft line. Ribbons, sewing notions, material, jewelry findings, etc.)
So we decided to go get ourselves a candied apple on our way to Carrots. The stand with the apples was right across from our super secret pathway on the Frontierland side. So we order some apples and a cookie. They don't accept bank passes or credit cards...cash only. So I hand him the only cash I have....a 50 euro bill...but he can't give me change. You only accept cash and don't have change?? No treats for us. Oh well...OFF TO CARROTS!!! The app says it's a 15 minute wait. We get there...it was down. We gave up...luck was apparently not with us, so we decided to go back to the hotel to relieve DH so he could do all the things he wanted to do that none of us would do with him. I apped him to tell him, but got no response. On our way out, we looked for a cart that had apples and after 3 that were closed down, we finally found one AND it accepted bank cards! DD went and stood at the counter waiting for the guy while he was busy putting some things away and a couple comes up and asks for assistance like DD was invisible. So he helped them and then by that time I was right behind DD so we got our apples and left the park. But really, just because it's a kid doesn't mean you can skip in front of them...she knew what she was ordering and she was politely waiting for the CM to take her order...and the CM totally should have informed the couple that she was first. I know he saw her there. DD runs into that a lot....people who bump into her and just keep going without so much as an "excuse me" or get in her way, cut in front of her like she's not even there. I can only think that it's because she's a kid, people think it's ok...she isn't going to complain about it, so they think they can get away with it. But, we each got one of these little beauties, so we were ok...worth the wait!

We left the park, went back to the hotel. I intended to start my trip report....but suddenly I was reading the back of my eyelids instead. Nap time! And DH decided he'd rather sleep than go back to the parks. Next up: Carrots and Illumination: take II.