The Topps Gear Challenge to DLP, Sept '09 - DAY 3

[JamelUK]

Pre-Trip Day Zero Day 1
Day 2 Day 3
Day 4
Day 5


Day 3 -Saturday 19th September

I slept well last night, right through to the morning.

This is helped enormously because, after yesterdays alarm fiasco, I had turned everything off and completely forgot to set my own iPhone!

I eventually come round about 8:15, thanks to Mel’s snoring. I wouldn’t say my wife’s snoring is loud but she makes the Yeti in Expedition Everest sound like a kitten.

I quickly dash into the bathroom to complete my required 3 Sh’s and on my return I am glad to find that a brave Dan has woken Mel up because he wants to go back to his Mum & Dad next door. This puts us back on track – great news as if we are ever later for breakfast we’ll never hear the end of it from Lindsay.

Maybe it was because I didn’t eat too many of the rather poor ribs at Planet Hollywood last night, but I make a note that I ate a lot for breakfast this morning. I manage to down a bowl of frosties, 3 croissants and 4 choc au pains. Katie also worked her way through 4 mini fromage frais, and this prompts me to go fetch a strawberry yoghurt. It is full fat and deliciously thick and creamy. Again my notes here remind me I should have another tomorrow!

Being a Saturday I am of course well aware that the parks will be busy. Not to worry – extra magic hours are available to us from 8am. Which is why we are eating breakfast at 9am, and the Topps have decided to go swimming this morning. :angry:

Now Mel and I could kick up a stink about this horrific deviation from The Plan but, as the kids wouldn’t even go near water less than 2 years ago, this is only to be encouraged.

We agree that we will all do our own thing this morning and hook up at Central Plaza in Disneyland Park after lunch. The weather today is more blue skies and sun, and ends up being just as warm as it was yesterday.

On our way through Disney Village Mel and I nip into Cafe Mickey to “sort something” for our reservation there tomorrow. While I’m booking a celebration cake, Mel earwigs a wonderful example of why us Brits don’t help our own reputation sometimes.

A British woman is complaining to the Manager how she has waited 30 minutes for the Character Breakfast (no, she didn’t make a reservation) only to see characters she could have seen for free in the Parks...

Mickey, Minnie and Pluto were in there. What exactly was she expecting? A private audience with Roy Disney?!

Mel and I head into the park a little after 10:15 behind BIG queues of people. As we do we witness a stunning display of the tight security protocols now in place.

They have installed an X-Ray scanner for one of the bag check lines and, through no fault of our own, Mel and I ended up in it. Unfortunate, as we are both well practiced Disney goers and so carry nothing more than a camera. There is no “Clever People who didn’t feel the need to bring their luggage with them” queue.

Everyone else is asked to place their bags on to the conveyor belt. The French woman in front of us has a pushchair laden so heavily with baggage that there is hardly room for her child. When it comes to her turn she removes from her shoulder possibly the tiniest handbag Gucci sell and places this, and only this, on the conveyor belt. She then walks on, past the machine, with her bags still on the pram!

Now whether it was as a result of the huge queue behind her, or just sheer laziness Im not sure – but the security guy didn’t bat an eyelid. If it ensures my safety in the park I am quite happy to stop for 2 minutes for a bag check. A black mark there Disney – very poor.

We move on into the park and it is PACKED L

[JamelUK]

In an effort to avoid some of the claustrophobia of the crush down main street, Mel spots the double decker bus, and we hop on for a trip up to Central Plaza.


I take a picture of Mel, adjusting my exposure to make the best of the poor lighting...

And she takes a picture of me, not knowing a thing about exposure... J


Soon after, we get off the bus again as it breaks down! This may be the start of things to come today.

Minnie arrives with her train full of characters, so we stop to take some piccies.





As this is working well to keep the majority of the crowds occupied for a while, we escape up main street and stop at the Information board to check queue times. Its only about 10:30 and yet pretty much the entire park is already into double figures. Space Mountain is running at 90 minutes. This is bad, as it’s on our ToDo list today.

I run ahead and gets two Fast Passes for Big Thunder, and then catch up with Mel to do Phantom Manor as she didn’t do it yesterday.

[JamelUK]

There is already a 20 minute queue to get into Phantom Manor, but it is moving well. I take the opportunity to send Lindsay a text telling her as soon as she gets in the park to go grab Fast Passes for Space Mountain. We need to think ahead, as its going to be a long day...

We enjoy Big Thunder Mountain which, even with our Fast Passes, takes us nearly 15 minutes to get on. The Standby Queue however is winding around the entire building, and we know from past experience that’s a good 60 minute wait.


There is only the two of us and, as the park is busy, we are both in full Park Commando mode and march quickly on to Pirates of the Caribbean.

There is a MASSIVE queue outside, but we are assured by the piratey CM that the posted queue time of 20 minutes is correct.

We shrug our shoulders and head in. It quickly becomes apparent that the queue outside is a collection of stupid people who can’t make their mind up if they want to ride or not as we walk straight round to the loading area.

Full marks to the CM crew in here who are working hyper efficiently on this busy Saturday. They are loading from all stations, and we are very quickly on board and away.

Just as we are passing the Blue Lagoon (a beautiful looking restaurant I would really like to try, but Mel aint a fish fan) I get a text from Lindsay.

They are already in the park and are riding Buzz Lightyear. It turns out the Sequoia Lodge pool is closed for refurbishment. Strangely not on any of the lists I checked before we left, and definitely not on The Plan.

We dash over to DiscoveryLand and hook up with them. It’s around 12ish and Lindsay has managed to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain for 3:15.

The kids try to impress me with their pitiful Buzz Lightyear scores. I assure them I will defeat them easily in battle later in the day.

Bill and Christine have also joined us by now and so we decide to do Honey I Shrunk The Audience.

On the way, the kids grab an autograph from Chip and Dale.



Dale makes his way over to Christine especially and makes sure she gets an autograph too.


Chip has a black nose by the way, so you can tell him part from Dale. I often think that Ant and Dec should adopt a similar scheme.

[JamelUK]

We are quickly ushered into Honey I Shrunk The Audience pre-show area with Christine’s wheelchair by an attentive CM.

This is where we all agree they have one of their dafter Disabled areas.

On the right hand side of the pre-show is a raised gallery. The idea is to give those in wheelchairs a good view of the proceedings over the heads of the rest of the crowd.

The thing is, it’s ridiculously narrow and, having no sooner squeezed Christine into this area, the pre show was over and he had to reverse her chair to get out. There is no room to turn a chair around easily.

Next the CM directs Bill to take the wheelchair to the disabled areas at the very back of the auditorium and the rest of us sit on the standard seats one row in front.

This is unfortunate. I wonder whether it is as a result of these seats being reserved for those with special needs, but there appears to be no effects on these two back rows. No rumble, no mice, no water spray – nothing.

The rest, as virgins to this ride, wouldn’t know any different but Mel and I were disappointed.

Katie on the other hand was near to hysteria. She has ridden Tower of Terror, wants to repeat ride Big Thunder at any opportunity, yet a three dimensional python on a cinema screen freaks her out and brings her to tears. The world is a strange place.

A quick pitstop is made into Star Traders so that Dan can make an excellent purchasing decision. He uses his holiday money to buy a Jedi Mickey. The force is strong with this one.

It is decided that some food is required, and so they suggest the nearby Pizza Planet. It’s not my favourite eating area in DLP by any stretch of the imagination as the food in here is generally of iffy quality. However, the park is bursting at the seams and as many pass by or avoid it, this might be a good idea.

Having both had a good breakfast neither Mel and I are that hungry, so while the rest head for garlic bread and chips (the now tried and tested solution to the lunchtime Food Fiasco) Mel waits by Star Tours and I explain that I will quickly nip to Main Street for a Ben & Jerries and a bottle of water to share.

You can see how busy the park is from this photo.


30 minutes later, according to my notes, I return to my lovely DW. An annoyed Mel assures me it was somewhat longer than 30 minutes. I get THAT look and we quickly make our way to catch up with the rest of the party.

It’s still nowhere near Space Mountain fast pass time, so we all agree to ride Its A Small World at Christine’s request.

Once in the disabled access queue we are quickly seen to by the CM on duty. He is lovely, and very friendly, but a bit dim.

You see Christine cannot transfer from her chair without a struggle so we need the wheelchair boat.

There are many others waiting for us in the special needs queue, most able to stand. I fully appreciate that there are many Disney guests with requirements meaning they cannot wait in the normal queue or who do need a boat to themselves, but these people could have been seated in ANY boat.

Alas, the CM on duty has determined that anyone in this queue MUST ride in the wheelchair boat. And there is only one. And as the park is busy, they are running all of the other 24 boats. I know. I counted them. Three times! :angry:

Eventually, as we are beginning discussions about giving it up as a bad job, a crew shift change takes place. A new female CM quickly takes hold of the clipboard and control of the situation. She asks each party exactly what they require and they are seated in boats appropriate to their needs.

Finally we all get on board and relax.

As it’s another required photo challenge, and Lindsay’s earlier efforts are, by her own children’s standards, frankly rubbish, I take a shot of Slinky for Ben.


Having waited an eternity to ride something which often seems to last an eternity, it is now time for our Space Mountain fast pass slot.

[JamelUK]

As Katie is too short, and Dan is a definite no for this, we suggest they should go with Nana and Grandad. However, Katie is still feeling a bit clingy to her mum after the HISTA Python incident, so we suggest child swap.

Matthew, Ben and I are quickly waved through by the Fast Pass CM as Lindsay, Mel and Katie are still trying to explain to him that they want to do child swap.

Some translation problems later and “Alas Madame – you will need to go to the ride exit and wait there”. This confuses Lindsay, but Mel grabs her by the hand and we separate.

In the dark (and frankly too long for a fast pass) queue a nervous, but happy Ben is asking intelligent questions about how dark it will be inside, and how much quicker than Big Thunder is it.

All seems well until we turn into the section which walks along the brake run. As a train quickly arrives at speed and with the inevitable ratchet noise Ben breaks down, panics and tells his Dad “I don’t want to do it!”

I point them both at the nearest exit, but tell them I should stay with this queue as Ill need to meet Lindsay at the other end. (And I never miss a ride on a coaster if I can help it!)

Whilst waiting, I try to send Lindsay a text to tell her what’s happening, but I can’t get any reception inside the building. As I walk down the steps into the loading station I see the rest of my party waiting on the exit side of the ride. Lindsay is flapping her arms and mouthing something to me. Mel sticks up 4 fingers of her right hand. This makes about as much sense as the Tetley condom (1000 perforations in every one? I’m here all week...)

When my turn comes, I tell the CM that I am with “that lot over there” and make my way to the front row of the train. Luckily the CM is well trained and when the next empty train arrives I take my seat and Mel hops in next to me. As we move around to the launch Mel explains that Lindsay is trying to reinvent the child swap rules, but the CM has it all under control!

Dont get us wrong, we love this ride, and agree it is riding smoother than our last visit. However it is a crying shame that they gave it its Mission To Mars makeover.

The original theming of the ride is Jules Verne. It is based on the story From The Earth To The Moon. He was, of course, a great French author. It even still says this on the giant Columbiad gun. The old Jules inspired theming inside, coupled with the far superior sound track just made this ride unique and very special.

Now, the external theming simply doesn’t match the internal futuristic effects. It’s wrong and very unlike Disney.

BOO! BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL SPACE MOUNTAIN! Please? Thanks.

We hop out, grab the kids by their hands and Matthew and Lindsay hop in. Mel has assured her sister that she will enjoy the ride, and after some pressure from her kids she had agreed to ride it.

We hear a blood curdling scream as Lindsay hits the launch tube, on the front row.


Now I appreciate that this CM was only doing his job, but he jumped right in front of my shot as they returned to the station. You can see Matthew, but what you miss is Lindsay mouthing the words “IM GOING TO KILL YOU!”

It turns out that when the train stopped in the gun she though it had broken down and panicked! She then spent the rest of the ride with her eyes closed. This is the worst thing you can ever do on a coaster as you lose your vision, and an important part of your motion detection system. No wonder she felt dizzy and hated it!

After a quick giggle at Lindsay’s on ride photo, which I wasn’t quite quick enough to get a snapshot of (it resembled something by Van Gogh) the Topps head off to find Nana and Grandad while Mel and I make use of the spare fast passes and grab another ride.

[JamelUK]

We had agreed to meet everyone by City Hall, remembering a “best place to watch parades from” tip Id picked up from fellow DIBBers.

Its a mighty fine spot too and gave a much better view than the Disabled Area opposite which Bill was offered, but declined.

We’re all there at 4:30, and people are already assembling for the one and only parade today at 5.


Our allocated Crowd Marshall Sabine was very insistent about nobody putting their feet onto the street beyond the kerb. She had clearly done this many times before and fully understood that with this crowd if you give an inch, they’ll take a mile. When we all eventually scooped our feet up she exclaimed “Magnifique! You are experts!” and spent the rest of her time amusing all the kids making silly faces.


As is the norm, a Spanish family turn up with about 2 minutes to spare and try to squeeze in front of us. After a polite “Im sorry, we were here first” doesn’t work, I slowly wheel Christine’s chair back towards their mother’s toes and that seems to do the trick.

The parade is excellent, and the kids think it’s wonderful.






The animatronic Scar on the Villains float was particularly good and very life like.

I try to catch Belle’s eye. That off the shoulder yellow number she always wears gets my vote.

But she’s far more interested in the Beast and turns her back on me. What’s he got that I haven’t? Except hair. Actually, he has a LOT more hair...

We were all delighted that any characters who weren’t on floats made a special effort to come and shake hands with Christine. She was getting more attention sitting here than those opposite in the disabled area. It’s on the angle of the corner and if I’m honest I’d say they had a restricted view of the parade running in this direction.

[JamelUK]

The park is open until 10 tonight, but we hop out for some food at this point. The Plan says we should be doing Annette’s again tonight.

However, on his way into the park Bill had spotted a sign outside King Ludwig’s offering Happy Hour 2 for 1 on beer. Like a moth to a lightbulb...


Mel and I have never eaten before in King Ludwigs. Its original menu was all Sauerkraut and German sausage. We certainly didnt fancy it and knew the Topps wouldnt go near it, so had struck it off the list.

However, they have completely changed their menu, and I have to tell you – its BRILLIANT! I cannot recommend this restaurant highly enough.

The service was quick, polite and efficient. The food was excellent.


All adults except me had the Leak and Potato Soup for starters, followed by Steak in an onion gravy sauce.

I also had the Steak. I declined the soup as this was the set menu and I had opted to have a dessert instead. Wish I’d had the soup too though, as I pinched a bit of Mel’s and it was lovely.

Dan was ordered Garlic Bread & Chips and even though he was given an enormous portion he finished the lot! I think Ben and Katie had chicken nuggets or burgers – I cant’ remember they ate it so quick.

For dessert the kids enjoyed enjoyed a strawberry/vanilla ice cream swirl thing, and I had a Giant Profiterole with chocolate ice cream. Yum!

The only wobble in the proceedings was the 2 for 1 offer we had gone in for. It seems Bill didn’t have his glasses on and hadn’t read the small print...

“Not on Saturdays sir”

Not to worry. The three men drunk well anyway, and for any Best Bitter drinkers out there, I suggest you give the Konig Ludwig Dunkel a try. A brown ale that goes down a treat.

Bill went for a Large one...


After our great meal, which really made up for what so far had been a good but frustrating day, the kids wave goodnight to Nana and Grandad. Bill and Christine head back to the hotel for an early night as the rest of us head back into the park.

[JamelUK]

It’s Saturday night and it’s still busy.


I love the atmosphere Disney parks get at twilight and after the sun goes down.
We head to Pirates as I think the theming around this area works particularly well at dusk.


It only has a 10 minute queue. Again Dan grips the handrail, but we all have a good time.


We try for Peter Pan but at a posted 45 minute wait, and a queue line that looks somewhat longer than that, we skip it and head towards the carousel.



Mel and I have an in joke about this ride. As you may have read in my earlier report, thanks to a bad experience on a Waltzer at Cleveley’s fun fair some years ago, I’m not big on spin and spews.


One of the very few rides I have ever declined to ride with Mel whilst at Disney is the Carousel. I would like to add that this was in Orlando, and I was suffering the effects of sun stroke at the time, but she has never let me forget it.


As Uncle James rides EVERYTHING, it is not long before Mel, Lindsay and the kids are giving me much ribbing and so I stride confidently towards the scary horses.


The queue is posted at 15 minutes but doesn’t seem that bad.


However, just as we are watching there seems to be some commotion. The ride has broken down and everyone is asked to get off. Oh dear. That’s a shame. I stuff the agreed €10 in the CM’s hand and we move on.


Dan is really wanting to do Buzz again as it’s his favourite ride. As he has been far braver than his parents expected, and has been no trouble waiting while his brother and sister ride other stuff, this seems only fair so we head round to DiscoveryLand.


Its a 50 minute queue but then everything seems to be really busy tonight, and as Dan is very keen to see what score Uncle James can get inside, we lump it and join the queue.


Just as we shuffle up to everyone else it starts to drizzle. It’s a lovely warm evening though so we are soon giggling with the kids to keep them amused, talking about Hidden Mickeys and watching Space Mountain launch up the cannon.


The queue seems to shuffle nowhere for over half an hour, then suddenly starts to move quickly. Matthew and I figure this is probably as they have been clearing out the last of the Fast Pass tickets 9-9:30 and we’re all that’s left!


I manage a respectable 200,000 plus, easily beating the kids who do well to get several thousand. A lucky Matthew however manages to get THAT lucky shot on Zurg and thrashes me with a 50,000 bonus for the one single strike.


Ben is a little disappointed that we don’t get to ride Big Thunder again tonight, but I’ve been taking a glance at the info boards any chance I got and the queues have been well over an hour all night.


The kids have done well all day and we take the hint that exhaustion and grumpiness may be about to set in so we head out.


We’re all in bed by 11, with Katie taking her turn in our room tonight.


Tomorrow – Back to the Studios and Cafe Mickey!


Pre-Trip Day Zero Day 1
Day 2 Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

[Gill H]

Yay! The parade is great, isn't it? Still singing that song.

"Come a little closer..." (but not over the pavement...)

[moolie19]

another fab day, I agree with you too dh and I love king ludwigs there food is great and much better value for money than some of the food in the parks