Mum to Belle
<font color=royalblue>Thinks she may know someone
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
Trip Report Just The Two Of Us
Monday 28th July 2014
Why is it that although my alarm is set ridiculously early at 3.30am I find myself wide awake at 1.30am? Despite my best relaxation techniques nothing worked and I was still awake when the alarm went off. Bleary eyed everything seemed to take longer than normal so that when the taxi arrived at 4.30am I was still upstairs sitting on the suitcase trying to get it to close! I then strained a muscle in my back lifting the case to take it downstairs! We had a smooth journey and arrived at the airport with plenty of time for breakfast before our flight.
One my contacts at work (Paul) had asked me for some tips about DLP (knowing that Ive been once or twice before) and I was more than happy to oblige! Our conversations often veered away from VAT returns and onto dining reservations & Fastpass tickets... Imagine my surprise however, when it turned out that we had booked to go to DLP at the same time, on the same flights and staying at the same hotel! We met up with Paul & his family at the airport and the kids got chatting straight away Isabelle was also keen to share her Disney knowledge with the boys!
The flight itself was uneventful and we arrived at Orly early, unfortunately there were no marshalling staff in sight and we then had a 10 minute wait before the plane could be parked (is that the right word?) and we could disembark. Isabelle was easily pacified with the free chocolate though!
Ezyshuttle were waiting for us in arrivals and whisked us off as fast as the traffic would allow to the Sequoia Lodge. Check in seemed a little haphazard and I had to request my meal reservation tickets to be printed off for me, on the upside our room was ready. We opted to head to the park first though!
We headed out towards the lake and turned right only to see that the bridge across to the Hotel New York was cordoned off and there was a digger on it. It would appear that the walk to the park would have to be via the Newport Bay Club! Im not sure if I was more cross about the detour or about the fact that nothing had been mentioned about this when we checked in!
We made the most of it and took some photos and admired the fish in the lake on our way to the Village. After the extra long walk we were in need of a cold drink so first stop was Salon Mickey for a chocolate doughnut and avoiding any queues!
Stepping out into the park we skipped round to the Information board to check on the ride times as we had to be back at Cafe Mickey for lunch at 1.30. We decided on Pirates as the wait time was showing 5 minutes hoorah! We noticed that the pirate wasnt swinging, the cat in the water was missing, some of the band were missing and the girl wasnt popping out of her barrel. Not that any of this detracted from our enjoyment - we love this ride!
As Isabelle was on a mission to try some new rides we headed over to Space Mountain (eeekkk) only to find that it was closed (shame!
) so we wandered round to Star Tours which had a 70 minute wait time (not on your life!) before deciding on Casey Junior which was only 15 minutes! Then it was time for lunch.
I ordered the chicken Caesar salad and Isabelle had the cheeseburger. As with our last few visits I was disappointed with my food, my salad was drowned in dressing to the point that I had to leave the leaves (lol!) and just eat the chicken and garlic bread which was a shame. Isabelle was waving over my shoulder and it turned out that Paul & his family were sat at the table behind us. They brought over some of their birthday cake for us to share which was lovely and saved buying dessert!
We met Mickey, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Goofy & Eeyore while we were there. When I came to pay I realised that I had been given the ID Only Easy Pass and not the charge card that I had requested, fortunately I had a credit card with me, unfortunately it wouldnt work the first time they tried it, fortunately the second time it did! Phew!
After a not-so-quick stop in the lego shop we headed back to the hotel. Our luggage was waiting in our room but sadly soap wasnt, nor were the plastic toothbrush mugs... After a little lie down listening to Fairy Tales on the TV we got changed and then I stopped by the Golden Forest reception to mention the missing items and also to get my charge card sorted out. Then we waited for the bus back to the park. We met a couple on the bus who were going home and they very kindly gave us their VIP Fastpasses which were valid for the rest of that day! Thank you! We headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain and rode this twice before our dinner reservation at the Silver Spur Steakhouse.
Isabelle had the fish & chips and I had the prawn cocktail, steak & chips and the crème flambee! Love this restaurant and our waiter was lovely. Isabelle was quite taken with the chair backs and stroking them!
Suitably stuffed we headed over to Studios to use the VIP Fastpasses on Ratatouille!!! The line was almost a walk-on and we collected our glasses and climbed into our little ratmobile which looked a lot like Emile! Im not a big fan of 3D glasses or glasses in general (they give me a headache) but I wasnt going to miss out on this ride. Or was I? The ride started and it was amazing totally exceeded anything that I had expected despite have read all the reviews & been on youtube until it stopped! Then we sat and waited, and waited, and waired. Then the lights came on & we had to leave the ride with a Fastpass ticket to use another day which was a bit of a let down really.
We consoled ourselves with a little romp with Slinky Dog before heading over to Rock & Rollercoaster another of Isabelles new rides, and for me too! I was rather nervous as I had no idea what to expect and its probably just as well or I wouldnt have got on!! When it did the countdown and set off I was wondering what on earth I has let myself in for and would Isabelle still be alive at the end...????? I managed to yell over the music Are you ok? and got a positive reply so I relaxed a bit, until I found myself upside down in a loop-the-loop that is!!! I was hanging on for dear life!!!!
I was feeling rather wobbly when we climbed out at the end, Isabelles verdict....Awesome! Can we do it again? Not today...
Next new experience was Armageddon which I was unsure about given the loud noises & fire, but Isabelle liked the idea of being filmed and that seemed to do the trick and got rid of any of her nerves! We came out about 9.15 just as Studios were closing and headed back to the main park.
As if it wasnt enough that Id hurt my back, ridden BTM twice and gone on RNRC, Isabelle now wanted to ride Space Mountain. So off we set. I was slightly less nervous now as Id survived RNRC but this was to be false optimism, I thought I was going to be shaken to death on that ride. I could barely keep my eyes open because I was concentrating so hard on stopping my head from getting bashed around! Id read about keeping your head pressed back into the seat but that seemed to make it worse... Yucky. Never again. We came off and Isabelle had a tummy ache and I felt like Id been hit by a car. We sat down and didnt move for a few minutes. Then for good measure we rode Star Tours!
Completely shattered and in some amount of pain we made our way back to the bus station and off to our beds (noting that the soap still hadnt arrived)......
Night night, lie in tomorrow!!
Monday 28th July 2014
Why is it that although my alarm is set ridiculously early at 3.30am I find myself wide awake at 1.30am? Despite my best relaxation techniques nothing worked and I was still awake when the alarm went off. Bleary eyed everything seemed to take longer than normal so that when the taxi arrived at 4.30am I was still upstairs sitting on the suitcase trying to get it to close! I then strained a muscle in my back lifting the case to take it downstairs! We had a smooth journey and arrived at the airport with plenty of time for breakfast before our flight.
One my contacts at work (Paul) had asked me for some tips about DLP (knowing that Ive been once or twice before) and I was more than happy to oblige! Our conversations often veered away from VAT returns and onto dining reservations & Fastpass tickets... Imagine my surprise however, when it turned out that we had booked to go to DLP at the same time, on the same flights and staying at the same hotel! We met up with Paul & his family at the airport and the kids got chatting straight away Isabelle was also keen to share her Disney knowledge with the boys!
The flight itself was uneventful and we arrived at Orly early, unfortunately there were no marshalling staff in sight and we then had a 10 minute wait before the plane could be parked (is that the right word?) and we could disembark. Isabelle was easily pacified with the free chocolate though!
Ezyshuttle were waiting for us in arrivals and whisked us off as fast as the traffic would allow to the Sequoia Lodge. Check in seemed a little haphazard and I had to request my meal reservation tickets to be printed off for me, on the upside our room was ready. We opted to head to the park first though!
We headed out towards the lake and turned right only to see that the bridge across to the Hotel New York was cordoned off and there was a digger on it. It would appear that the walk to the park would have to be via the Newport Bay Club! Im not sure if I was more cross about the detour or about the fact that nothing had been mentioned about this when we checked in!
We made the most of it and took some photos and admired the fish in the lake on our way to the Village. After the extra long walk we were in need of a cold drink so first stop was Salon Mickey for a chocolate doughnut and avoiding any queues!Stepping out into the park we skipped round to the Information board to check on the ride times as we had to be back at Cafe Mickey for lunch at 1.30. We decided on Pirates as the wait time was showing 5 minutes hoorah! We noticed that the pirate wasnt swinging, the cat in the water was missing, some of the band were missing and the girl wasnt popping out of her barrel. Not that any of this detracted from our enjoyment - we love this ride!
As Isabelle was on a mission to try some new rides we headed over to Space Mountain (eeekkk) only to find that it was closed (shame!
) so we wandered round to Star Tours which had a 70 minute wait time (not on your life!) before deciding on Casey Junior which was only 15 minutes! Then it was time for lunch.I ordered the chicken Caesar salad and Isabelle had the cheeseburger. As with our last few visits I was disappointed with my food, my salad was drowned in dressing to the point that I had to leave the leaves (lol!) and just eat the chicken and garlic bread which was a shame. Isabelle was waving over my shoulder and it turned out that Paul & his family were sat at the table behind us. They brought over some of their birthday cake for us to share which was lovely and saved buying dessert!
We met Mickey, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Goofy & Eeyore while we were there. When I came to pay I realised that I had been given the ID Only Easy Pass and not the charge card that I had requested, fortunately I had a credit card with me, unfortunately it wouldnt work the first time they tried it, fortunately the second time it did! Phew!
After a not-so-quick stop in the lego shop we headed back to the hotel. Our luggage was waiting in our room but sadly soap wasnt, nor were the plastic toothbrush mugs... After a little lie down listening to Fairy Tales on the TV we got changed and then I stopped by the Golden Forest reception to mention the missing items and also to get my charge card sorted out. Then we waited for the bus back to the park. We met a couple on the bus who were going home and they very kindly gave us their VIP Fastpasses which were valid for the rest of that day! Thank you! We headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain and rode this twice before our dinner reservation at the Silver Spur Steakhouse.
Isabelle had the fish & chips and I had the prawn cocktail, steak & chips and the crème flambee! Love this restaurant and our waiter was lovely. Isabelle was quite taken with the chair backs and stroking them!
Suitably stuffed we headed over to Studios to use the VIP Fastpasses on Ratatouille!!! The line was almost a walk-on and we collected our glasses and climbed into our little ratmobile which looked a lot like Emile! Im not a big fan of 3D glasses or glasses in general (they give me a headache) but I wasnt going to miss out on this ride. Or was I? The ride started and it was amazing totally exceeded anything that I had expected despite have read all the reviews & been on youtube until it stopped! Then we sat and waited, and waited, and waired. Then the lights came on & we had to leave the ride with a Fastpass ticket to use another day which was a bit of a let down really.
We consoled ourselves with a little romp with Slinky Dog before heading over to Rock & Rollercoaster another of Isabelles new rides, and for me too! I was rather nervous as I had no idea what to expect and its probably just as well or I wouldnt have got on!! When it did the countdown and set off I was wondering what on earth I has let myself in for and would Isabelle still be alive at the end...????? I managed to yell over the music Are you ok? and got a positive reply so I relaxed a bit, until I found myself upside down in a loop-the-loop that is!!! I was hanging on for dear life!!!!
I was feeling rather wobbly when we climbed out at the end, Isabelles verdict....Awesome! Can we do it again? Not today...
Next new experience was Armageddon which I was unsure about given the loud noises & fire, but Isabelle liked the idea of being filmed and that seemed to do the trick and got rid of any of her nerves! We came out about 9.15 just as Studios were closing and headed back to the main park.
As if it wasnt enough that Id hurt my back, ridden BTM twice and gone on RNRC, Isabelle now wanted to ride Space Mountain. So off we set. I was slightly less nervous now as Id survived RNRC but this was to be false optimism, I thought I was going to be shaken to death on that ride. I could barely keep my eyes open because I was concentrating so hard on stopping my head from getting bashed around! Id read about keeping your head pressed back into the seat but that seemed to make it worse... Yucky. Never again. We came off and Isabelle had a tummy ache and I felt like Id been hit by a car. We sat down and didnt move for a few minutes. Then for good measure we rode Star Tours!
Completely shattered and in some amount of pain we made our way back to the bus station and off to our beds (noting that the soap still hadnt arrived)......
Night night, lie in tomorrow!!
Enjoying your trip report! 
). She is looking so grown up now! Looking forward to the next part of the TR.
needless to say we got the bus a lot!
