DISNEYLAND TRIP

The above photo is of Hotel Disney - bit expensive to stay there!

Well I thought I'd better get started. If you click on the flickr album on the links section to the right, you can see some of our Disneyland photos.
Ok... so...
Monday July 9th 2007
Dad came to wave us off at the bus station. He had phoned to say that he wasn't going to make it to see us off, and then he came round the corner laughing, lol.
The coach was a few minutes early - one hour late at Christmas! So that was a good start. We had one pick up at Cambridge, then we hurtled down the motorway and over the Elizabeth Bridge crossing The Thames. It's a lovely bridge. There was a gprs system on the coach which every now and again, gave a little tune and told us something about the area we were passing. It would have been more interesting had we of been able to see what they were on about, but all we could see were trees. We hurtled a few more miles, and then stopped at the Maidstone Services. After that, it was on to Dover.
We had to get off our lovely Silver Service loadsa leg room coach, to board another one at the interchange. This one was going to take us onto Disneyland once off the ferry. The weather then turned. We stood under a shelter in a thunder and hailstorm!
We boarded the 2pm ferry to Calais. We stood outside while we left England. You could see the French coast in the distance. It soon got a bit windy out at sea, so we went and sat down inside.
About an hour and 15 minutes later, we went and found our coach again and soon settled into the four hour drive to Paris. We stopped once for a comfort stop, so it was a wee and coffee we had there, lol.
We got to Disneyland around 9.30pm and started dropping off at the hotels. Ours was the third drop off at the Sequoia Lodge. We were in Sierra Lodge, room 312. It was the lodge that's the furthest away from the main hotel!! Still... it was a free hotel upgrade so mustn't grumble, and it was lovely inside. The Sequoia grounds are lovely, all wood and stone buildings set amongst sequoia trees, very tranquil.
After signing in at reception, and ordering the much needed kettle (we'd took our own supplies to go with that!) we found our hotel room, and the kettle was already there!! How's that for fast service?! We unpacked all our clothes and left our hotel room for Disney Village, walking the five minute walk around Lake Disney. We had a McDonalds at around 11.30pm, lol. Disney Village stays open until around 2am, and there's music constantly playing.
We went back to our hotel around 12.30am, Justin made us a cup of tea, lovely. Bed around 1am and everyone was still wide awake, and I had to keep listening to Justin and Darryl quoting lines from "The Fonejacker".

Tuesday 10th July 2007
We got up around 7am, and into breakfast for 7.45am. It was a continental breakfast, so I had cereal, jam on toast, yogurt, orange juice, and a cuppa tea. After brekkie it was straight to Disneyland.
It was lovely to walk back into Mainstreet again, though not quite as magical as it was at Christmas time... but still lovely. I was taking lots of photos.
The first ride was the Caroussel in Fantastyland, I went on that with Matthew. Other rides we went on was the new Cars ride over in Disney studios, that was a bit fast for me. We also went on Buzz Lightyears laser blast, Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom Manor... and I can't remember what else. Justin and Darryl went on Space Mountain: Mission 2. Justin pulled a muscle in his shoulder on there, lol. Lunchtime we ate in Pizza planet.
We stopped in the afternoon in Studio 1 for a coffee and look round the shops. There's so much stuff to buy!! There were more characters around than there was at Christmas.
We went back to the hotel around 3pm for an hour or so's rest and a cuppa, then it was out again in the evening until 11pm.
We fell asleep much quicker tonight.

Wednesday 11th July 2007
Up early again, for pretty much the same breakfast, and then onto the parks again. At 10am we were queueing up outside Frontierland for Justin and Darryl to be one of the first in the queue for Thunder Mountain. One of the rangers or whatever you want to call them, took them to the ride and gave them a VIP pass for the day. That meant that they could go to the front of the queue as many times as the wished for the whole day!! And they only used it twice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We went to a show in the afternoon. It was the Motors Stunt Show. Absolutely fantastic!! We took lots of photos and video. We all loved this show. We also went on the Studio Tram Tour again, that's brilliant also. Love the fire and water on the tanker!
Dinner this night was at Planet Hollywood! The meal cost us 130 Euros!!! Justin and me had bbq spare rib rack, with chips. Matthew had chicken nuggets lol. He actually fell asleep up the table before finishing it. Darryl had half a roast chicken with mash and veg. For desert we had triple chocolate brownie with ice cream and cream. Poor Matthew missed out on that as he didn't wake up till it was time to go. Back into the parks until the castle was lit at 11am. Matthew really enjoyed the castle being lit up. He adores the castle. Tinkerbell sent fairy dust out over the crowd.
Back to the hotel again around midnight, and straight to sleep after a cuppa of course.

Thursday 12th July 2007
Our last full day was spent doing things for a second time, like Autopia car ride, Pirates of the Caribbean again, and the Phantom Manor. My money went on a Tinkerbell bag and purse, plus charms to hang off it, lol. Justin bought mainly t-shirts for himself, and Darryl even spent 40 Euros on a hat! Justin and Darryl went on the new Crusher's Coaster. Justin said it was so fast, and isn't a ride for kids, but as there's no warnings people were taking their kids on it, and it's nothing like the advert for it. We did go to go in Armegeddon again, but I had to take Matthew out this time, as he was getting too hot. I went on the tea cups with Justin, lol, and I also went on Peter Pan's Flight too! I walked across a rickety bridge, and we all had a wonderful time... here's to the next visit!!

Friday 13th July 2007
We had to be up at 6am to go for breakfast and be ready to be picked up at 7.45am. We stopped at Calais and had some chips like last time, and then on to the port. We had to be there 2 hours before the ferry left due to British customs being tight at the moment. The ferry crossing was good as it was going. We got home at around 6.45pm... worn out. Thank goodness I had the weekend off.

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The following is from the first trip to Disneyland brought across from my other blog... I didn't want to lose it... I never actually finished it.

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Our Trip to Disneyland Paris - December 15th - 18th 2006
I thought it was about time that I started writing about our trip to Disneyland just before Christmas... so here goes...

DAY ONE
I was nervous about the trip, mainly because I am nervous, lol. I was worried about leaving the dogs and the house, was the ferry going to sink etc... I needn't have worried. This was our first family holiday...awwww.
We set off for the bus station at 10.20am. The coach was picking us up at 10.55am. Dad met us at the bus station - he was there because he wanted to wave us off. Well, we were still sitting there at 11.30 so I phoned Leger, the holiday company, up to see where they'd got to. I was told that the coach had only left Peterborough 10 minutes ago!! Dad ended up going home, he had to get on with something, can't remember what that was though now...
Anyway, the coach turned up at midday, and on we all got. Justin sat with Darryl, and I sat with Matthew. Matthew was such a good boy on the coach. I happily sent text messages to dad all the way to Dover. It was a good journey. We arrived at Dover at 3pm, after a 20 minute stop in Maidstone. The French customs wanted 6 people to get off the coach and have some of their luggage checked. So, the moral of that is, if you have a gun in your suitcase, don't get off the coach, simple! I told Justin to get off coz not many people were volunteering. I watched him being frisked and one of our suitcases checked, it was the one with all my hair weapons in it... straightners, hairdryer etc.
At the end of the customs episode it was too late for us to board our ferry, so we had to wait until 4pm to board the next one. We were supposed to go by P & O, but it was Sea France instead. We boarded the ferry, and it was all very exciting, I was loving every minute of it, so was Matthew! We left the port at 4.30pm it was almost dark then. Once we'd got out of the port the sea was rough. We were swaying all over the place walking, and the chefs in the restaurants were having trouble serving... I thought the end was nigh! Once we were half way across I was fine though, and happy to see the lights of France getting closer. Clocks were put forward and it was 7pm when we got off the ferry.
The most boring journey I have ever been on now took place... Calais to Paris is the most mind numbing journey. I was beginning to get indigestion/trapped wind, lol.. I get it every single day, and can normally lay down for half an hour to sort it out, but a bit difficult when sitting upright on a coach. Every so often I kept hearing people saying that it was just another half an hour... just another half an hour... oh if only I could have burped I wouldn't have cared! Anyway... finally the driver said he could see the lights of Disneyland!!
We dropped off the first lot of people at The Sequoia Lodge, and had to wait on the coach for them to be checked in. Then it was to the Cheyenne, then to our hotel, Hotel Santa Fe (The cheapest!). It took about half an hour in the lobby to get that sorted, and as we arrived at our hotel block I thought I was going to throw up... but didn't.
We got to our hotel room (block 46, room 026) and it was freezing!!! Couldn't work out how to turn on the radiator either. We unpacked our clothes, me and Matthew went to bed, and Justin and Darryl went into the hotel bar. Darryl had been chatting up the coach hostess, Lindsey, so they met her for a drink.
Justin came back about 1am and couldn't believe how cold the bed was. We had two double beds, and Matthew shared his with Darryl. Justin felt sorry for Matthew as he didn't have anyone to cuddle up to, lol. Darryl came back at about 3am (so he informed me in the morning), and had been the first to visit Disney Village...
DAY TWO
We started getting up about 7.30am. We went to the main part of the hotel and had breakfast... a continental breakfast. I'm not too sure I like these. Anyway. I had some cereal and a crossant, along with orange juice, and I think we had tea as well. Matthew had some cereal and a chocolate crossanty type thing. After breakfast we decided that we wanted a kettle in our room as it would have been lovely to have been able to have a cup of tea when we'd arrived last night. We ordered the kettle. Justin paid €30 (Euros) deposit for it, and €11 for tea, coffee, milk and sugar, working out at almost 2 cups each lol. We were standing there ages waiting for this kettle - they couldn't decide what lead it wanted... they hand out hundreds of these kettles. We were also watching Mickey Mouse have his photo taken with various children. After about 20 minutes we got fed up with waiting and left for the free shuttle bus.
There didn't seem to be a queue as such, so we just got in it and waited. The shuttle arrived a few minutes later, and there seemed to be hundreds of us trying to get on. Me and Matthew got a seat.
The shuttle bus takes five minutes to get to Disneyland, only picking up people from your hotel and going straight to the parks. We got off and made the short walk to the park entrance. The first entrance is where any bags you're carrying are checked, then the second entrance is beneath the wonderful Disney Hotel - must cost an arm and a leg to stay there!
This is where you get your first glimpse of Disneyland... WOW! I shall never forget the feeling I got when I stood inside Mainstreet for the first time. It was stunning, and at the bottom of the street stands the castle.
We had a look inside one of the shops and as we were coming outside again, the snow that they have falling every 20 minutes was just stopping. Matthews face was a picture of awe and wonder. So beautiful and magical. The annoying thing is, we never timed it right for the rest of the time we were there to see it snowing again...and Darryl didn't see it once! Stunning Christmas tree there too.

We walked down Main Street and entered the first land...
There are four lands, Adventureland, Discoveryland, Frontierland, and Fantasyland. All equally wonderful, though I have to say that Frontierland was my favourite in decor. It was like walking into the midwest USA.
Our first attraction was The Haunted Mansion. Loved it! You go into a room that's sort of hexagonal in shape and then the floor drops slowly, really strange as the paintings get longer, lol. Then you're plunged into total darkness and hear a maniacle laugh. Bit of a shame all the dialogue was in French though, but I suppose when in France, etc. You then walk through a dimly lit corridor and onto your seat thingie. You're then taken on a tour of the mansion and it's fantastic. At the end of the ride your car/seat thingie faces a mirror and above your seat is a skeleton holding on to it, scary stuff!!
Our next ride was The Pirates of the Caribbean. Loved this as well, it's sort of like a boat ride on a tour, lovely it was.
There is a wonderful place in Disney Studios (studio one) that looks like a street when you're inside. We loved it in there. One side is shops, the other side a cafe, but they have numerous shop fronts on them, stunning, and all the Christmas lighting everywhere was gorgeous.
I can't remember what else we went on this first day, I remember that Darryl went out at night with the girl who was our coach assistant tea lady, lol. Me, Justin, and Matthew went bowling just outside Disneyland. We passed a wonderful market that was still open very late at night, all the stalls were little houses and I didn't take one photo of them!! There were also some men dotted about a walkway that were selling flashing eiffel towers lol.
We went back to the hotel around 8.30pm, it was very very cold. I texted Darryl to see if he knew our kettle was in our room, he texted back saying it was. Good. We decided to eat in the hotel, we'd had MacDonalds for lunch as the food elsewhere is soooo expensive, or you can't get a seat. We went to the Hotel's dining room, the Cantina, and got our food. It was all you could eat for 22 Euros, and Matthew was something like 15 Euros... added up to quite an amount for the four of us.
We went back to our hotel room. Darryl bought a can of drink out of the machine outside our room. Darryl and Justin couldn't stop laughing about it when they tried it. I was sitting up in bed and was told to taste some, they were killing themselves laughing... it was coffee flavoured coke and disgusting!
We put the telly on in bed, lol. Matthew was fast asleep. On the telly they have a loop of Disneyland and what to do etc, then we found BBC World Service, wooohooooo, we left the telly on all night - it's surprising how much you miss the English accents when away from home lol. It was still freezing in our room coz we'd still not worked out the radiator...
That's all I wrote...