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-   -   When You're the Best of Friends - Glowtini Girls do DLP Jan 2019 - Day 5/Final Day (https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1120300)

Beaker7929 18 Mar 19 03:57 PM

When You're the Best of Friends - Glowtini Girls do DLP Jan 2019 - Day 5/Final Day
 
It’s the last day :cry:

My alarm went off at 6.45am, and after another late night the night before I dragged myself out of bed. Usually on my last day I feel really down, but possibly due to how this trip had turned out, and also having added an extra day I felt ready to enjoy my last day before heading home, only the smallest tint of sadness at once again leaving my happy place.

I showered and started packing, today Thumper would be accompanying me into the parks…



We’d arranged the night before to meet Grant outside the Golden Forest Lounge at 8am for breakfast and just as I was about to head down I received a message from Mel to say that she wasn’t feeling to great and was going to spend the morning in her room and would let us know when she was heading into the parks so that we could meet her.

Grant and I enjoyed our last Golden Forest breakfast, I can highly recommend the scrambled eggs :tongue: and he made himself comfortable on the sofa’s outside while I popped back up to my room to finish packing.

With bags packed and one last check around the room I was ready to set off. First job was to leave my bag with the Golden Forest concierge, you can ask them to collect your bags from your room but I have trust issues….:pgig:

While at the concierge I asked them to date yesterday’s hotel fast passes for today as we hadn’t used them, this is a really good tip to know :spin:

With that all done it was time to pick up Grant from the sofas, where he was looking far too comfortable ;) and get into the parks!

It was very chilly this morning, so wrapped up against the cold we strolled around the lake and through Disney Village. As we approached Disneyland Park we took a quick selfie to share with our fellow Dibbcast pals.



Then we had an idea….with just one push from my finger, we could be rid of the ugly chimney once and for all :pgig:



The park was lovely and quiet, as we’d managed to catch the tail end of extra magic time. After a quick discussion we thought we’d pop into Discoveryland to ride Buzz but found that it was closed.

Back towards the castle we went and decided that we would go for a stroll around Fantasyland and see what took our fancy. Through the castle we went, in the distance we could see the Tea Cups running, a ride that Anna hates, but that Grant was more than happy to go on, yay :d:





After Tea Cups we walked up towards Snow White which looked like it was a walk on, which it was. I’m very disappointed that Snow White no longer ‘waves’ at the end of this ride, her particular style of waving would have me in stitches everytime ;)



After Snow White it always makes sense to do Pinocchio, as long as the queue isn’t crazy long, which thankfully it wasn’t. Grant and I had a good chat on this ride about how the film scares the bejeezus out of me :pgig:

After those rides I was in need of a comfort break and with it being early in the day I was happy to use the toilets opposite Peter Pan (any later in the day and I avoid these like the plague, they get rather ‘overused’ by the many many children who frequent Fantasyland!)

While Grant waited for me he spotted that Hook was meeting, his favourite character :spin:

He sent me a message to say did I fancy meeting Hook, and to let me know where he was. I arrived to see that Hook had no queue, fantastic! This was another great meet, we had been so lucky with our meets this trip!





I particularly love the way that the photographer lined the photo up perfectly to include Skull Rock behind.

Just after we met with Hook we got a message from Mel to say she was on her way in, yay :)

We decided to hover around the hub in front of the castle waiting for her, it was then that I realised just how cold it was today, the shrubbery had frost all over it!



Mel soon arrived and given how cold it was we thought we could do with warming up. We headed over to Victoria’s with the plan to get hot chocolate, but sadly it was closed :( I suggested that we try the Cable Car Bakery instead, knowing that their hot chocolate is just as nice (just minus the cream). We spent some time thawing out and having a natter and when finished decided it was high time that Grant went on It’s a Small World!



Now back on Monday, when us girls had ridden IASW we’d joked at the end why the ducks never swim inside the attraction, they always float around on the water in the loading area. Well low and behold, as our boat exited, for the first time ever, we saw ducks swimming into the show building! Not only that, but against the current too, imagine if you could go for a swim around IASW whenever you liked ;)



With no real plan in mind (totally still adjusting to this ;)) we wandered around Fantasyland and soon came across the Queen of Hearts meeting just outside Meet Mickey. I’ve never met the Queen of Hearts before so Mel and I decided it was a must do, especially as there wasn’t a long queue. As always with us though she decided to take a comfort break just after we joined the queue line…..typical!

While waiting for her to return I spotted Panaramagique in the distance and got this great photo of it above Fantasyland.



About 5 minutes later the Queen of Hearts returned and soon it was our turn to curtsy for the queen.



She is rather a formidable lady it has to be said! She was rather taken with my Cheshire Cat backpack :d:

Knowing that we had 2 sets of hotel fast passes burning a hole in our pockets we made a plan (whoop whoop) to ride Peter Pan, Mel had forgotten to get her fast pass from the day before stamped at the Golden Forest Lounge, so we snuck it in amongst mine and Grant’s, thankfully the Cast Member didn’t check them so we were in, phew!

Keeping an eye on the time (we needed to lunch before heading to our respective trains home) we decided to end the trip with Big Thunder Mountain, given it had been our first ride when Grant joined us this felt like the last ride. Fast passes in hand we made our way onto the ride, but frustratingly noticed that a Cast Member was splitting the stand-by queue and sending people into the Fast Pass queue…which meant that the fast pass wasn’t as fast as it could have been….but still faster than the standby!

We’d had a rough plan to have lunch at the Lucky Nugget as Mel had eaten here on her last trip and really enjoyed it, and I hadn’t eaten there since 2008! But on arriving there were signs saying it was closed, drat! We dithered for a moment trying to think where else we could eat and settled on Annette’s.

So off out of the park we headed, stopping at the Main Street Railroad to take one last look at the castle, and have an emotional group hug….but it wasn’t over yet! Time for lunch!





We queued for a little while for a table as a hen party of about 10 were in front of us (looking rather miserable it had to be said, come on ladies, you’re in Disney! ) Once they were seated though we were next and were shown to a booth by the window. I’ve always found my Annette’s experiences a bit hit and miss, and this was another one to add to the list.

We placed our orders in good time, and waited for our food to come….we waited a bit longer, and a bit longer….I popped to the loo as that usually means food arrives doesn’t it? No. We waited a little longer….both Mel and Grant started checking the time as their train was leaving before mine….then hooray, we had food!



The food was delicious! I had a vege burger that came with a kiwi and wasabi sauce, which was divine! I’ve been craving it ever since.

With lunch consumed it was time to say our farewells, Mel and Grant were heading back to their hotels to pick up their bags before getting the train to Lille and then the Eurostar back to London. We had another group hug just by the exit to Disney Village, which was even more emotional. I can’t thank Mel and Grant enough for truly being the best of friends, their support on this trip was everything I needed it to be, not even knowing I would need it!

So with them walking off into the distance I was once again on my own, eek!

I had a plan though, of course I did :pgig:

The plan was to head into Studios to treat myself to another Pandora charm that I had spotted earlier in the trip and was in the sale, result! So off I set.



After a very quick transaction in the Pandora store (well I knew exactly what I wanted) I had my charm.



This is such a cute charm, this one and Dumbo will forever remind me of this trip.

So all on my own, and with at least an hour to fill, now what do I do!?! I didn’t want to do any thrill rides (not that there are many in Studios!) so I headed over to Ratatouille, but unfortunately it had just gone technical. I had a quick look at the app and toyed with the idea of popping back over to the Disneyland Park as Pirates was a walk on, but it didn’t feel right going back to that park following the lovely farewell we’d given it before lunch.

I decided to pop into the shop in Place de Remy as it is a lovely shop and nearly spent a load of money on stuff I didn’t need, but knowing that I’d have to carry it as my bag was already packed was enough of an incentive to put the bits back on the shelf :d:

On leaving the shop I quickly checked Ratatouille again, just in case, and it was open, yay. Obviously being on my own I did single rider and walked straight on.

However, it was soon apparent that Ratatouille was still not quite feeling itself, the first room we entered had the house lights up! With the house lights on all you can see is a white screen and a ghostly outline of the film being played. After a few moments the lights went off and it played as normal, but then it kept happening as the ride continued, in each of the rooms.



You can just about make out Gusteau in the middle and Remy to his left (or bottom right as you look at the photo)

I can’t imagine how disappointed you would be if that had been your first ride, you would have thought it was rubbish! And of course, typical that something that cool would happen when I have no-one to share it with :pgig:

So with Ratatouille done, I still had about 30 minutes to fill, I wandered through Toy Story Land and took a selfie with Rex (a trip tradition), I considered doing Parachutes but figured it wouldn’t be as fun as last time so decided to give it a miss. I wandered around aimlessly for a bit enjoying the fact that I had no-ones needs to consider other than my own, how novel!

Eventually I made my way back through Studio One, and out into Production Courtyard, I took a stroll through the shop here as it is another one that I really like, then on leaving the shop saw that Producer Goofy didn’t have much of a queue. Could I really do a meet on my own? Yes, yes I could!

In the queue I got and waited just a few minutes till it was my turn. Goofy enveloped me in the biggest hug, turning me round in circles which ended up in us dancing around and around. Which gave me the biggest smile for the following photos, it was like he knew I needed a little high to end my trip on.







And then it was time to leave Studios.



I walked slowly over to the station, taking in the atmosphere one last time, before exiting Disney Village.

Now to the part of the day that I was dreading. I don’t like doing the journey to and from Gare du Nord when I’m with Anna, and now I was to do it on my own.

First though I collected my bag from Disney Express, which was easy enough as there wasn’t another sole around.

Then I headed down to the RER, last time Anna and I did the return trip there were hundreds of people queueing to get tickets, but today, thankfully, there was no-one around. After 3 attempts to get a ticket machine that would let me select English (does anyone else hate those silly roller things you have to use to navigate!?!) I selected the ticket I needed, momentarily confused that the price wasn’t high enough….of course, I was only buying one ticket and not two, silly me!

Down onto the platform I waited a few moments for a train to arrive, de-disneying while I waited (basically swapping my new Disney scarf for a plain one) once boarded I was convinced that I was on the wrong train, it was only when it pulled up at Val D’Europe that I relaxed knowing I was on the right train.

Probably due to the time of day (around 4.30pm) and it being a Friday the train got very busy very quickly. I decided to move out of my seat and down to the doors at the stop before Chatelet Les Halles which was a good shout as even more people got on which would have made it very difficult with my case and backpack.

Thankfully on arriving at Chatelet Les Halles there was a train for Gare du Nord waiting on the opposite platform which meant no hanging around holding onto your belongings for dear life, phew!

Just 5 minutes later I had arrived at Gare du Nord and began the slow walk, with the masses, to the concourse above. I managed to walk a little bit too far along before taking the escalator up to the main train station which meant I needed to double back on myself to find the Eurostar escalator but after a momentary ‘where on earth am I’ it was found and I was through security and into the safety of the Eurostar lounge….aaaaaaaand relax! I had done it, with a huge pat on my back and a Costa coffee in hand I settled down with my book to wait for the train to be called.

We boarded the train on time, and without Anna with me I had a spare seat on which to spread out, which was handy as the train was packed (silver linings and all that). The journey was smooth and without issue and before I knew it I was disembarking at Ebbsfleet. It felt very strange being back there, it felt like a life-time ago that Anna and I were there all full of excitement at our trip ahead.

It took just over 5 minutes to walk back to the car with my suitcase, down the hill, then up the hill (urgh!) and I was back at my car. About an hour and 15 minutes later I was pulling up outside my house just in time to say goodnight to Gerard who had only just gone to bed.

So, goodness, how to wrap up this most unexpected of trips? I think by saying, through difficult circumstances, that I found a part of myself I didn’t know was there. A part of me that stepped into the unknown and turned a negative into a positive, and who realised that she has amazing friends, all thanks to the wonderful world of Disney :heart::mickey::heart:


HappyPanda 18 Mar 19 05:12 PM

What a lovely ending to a great trip report - it was lovely seeing how you learned to just go with the flow and definitely made the most of the trip despite the unfortunate setback.

I always secretly think I'd love a solo trip to DLP but not I'd be brave enough to go fully solo; your trip had the best of both worlds!

Beaker7929 18 Mar 19 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappyPanda (Post 13740415)
What a lovely ending to a great trip report - it was lovely seeing how you learned to just go with the flow and definitely made the most of the trip despite the unfortunate setback.

I always secretly think I'd love a solo trip to DLP but not I'd be brave enough to go fully solo; your trip had the best of both worlds!

You're absolutely right it did :d: I think I'd actually really like a solo trip, I just don't think, between the kids and friends, that I'd be allowed to get away with it :pgig:

Melanie R 18 Mar 19 06:31 PM

Still love the pic of you and Goofy - sums up your whole confidence boost 😊
Solo trips are a lot of fun, but semi solo ones are the best - especially with Disney friends xx
So proud of you for overcoming the fears, and looking forward to sharing new adventures with you in the future 😂

Lisa_Lollipop 18 Mar 19 06:54 PM

This got me a little teary! You was super brave for making the most of your trip when being completely thrown out of your comfort zone... I know I wouldn't have stayed so calm!

Thank you for taking the time to write, it's been a fab read (as always!) and I hope all is well with Anna now :)

Hels80 18 Mar 19 07:38 PM

Ah so glad you got this finished! Was a little eye watery at the end there!
Loved that Grant joined you too. Hope Anna is ok, and that you get planning another trip pretty quick!
Thanks for sharing xxx

kadypants 18 Mar 19 09:10 PM

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. I look forward to hearing about the next one ;-)

mrsdjh 18 Mar 19 09:53 PM

You should be so proud of yourself, particularly with the journey back - it may not have been the trip you'd planned but you made the best of the circumstances and look like you had a great time. The photo of you with Goofy is great.

Hope Anna is OK x Thanks for all the tips I've picked up, and I and look forward to following along with your future trips.

Gill H 18 Mar 19 10:38 PM

What a lovely note to end on. Glad you had a good time.

I laughed when you said about the Queen of Hearts going on a break. We often find characters go on a break when we are next in line. I think it's because they would rather disappoint adults than children!

I like the Pandora charm. Did you know there is a Pandora counter in the Village too? it's in the clothes shop. That's where I got my charm.

I didn't know you could do Disney Express when you're going to Gare du Nord. That might be useful knowledge for the future!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us and here's to the next one!

Beaker7929 19 Mar 19 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop (Post 13740600)
This got me a little teary! You was super brave for making the most of your trip when being completely thrown out of your comfort zone... I know I wouldn't have stayed so calm!

Thank you for taking the time to write, it's been a fab read (as always!) and I hope all is well with Anna now :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hels80 (Post 13740674)
Ah so glad you got this finished! Was a little eye watery at the end there!
Loved that Grant joined you too. Hope Anna is ok, and that you get planning another trip pretty quick!
Thanks for sharing xxx

Aww you guys, you're making me well up reading your replies! So glad you enjoyed reading along, I've really enjoyed writing this trip up and I'm so glad I did as I wasn't sure at one point if I would :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsdjh (Post 13740976)
You should be so proud of yourself, particularly with the journey back - it may not have been the trip you'd planned but you made the best of the circumstances and look like you had a great time. The photo of you with Goofy is great.

Hope Anna is OK x Thanks for all the tips I've picked up, and I and look forward to following along with your future trips.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kadypants (Post 13740883)
Thank you for sharing your trip with us. I look forward to hearing about the next one ;-)

I can't wait for my next trip, just me and my daughter, some proper mother/daughter time...and of course there will be a trip report :d:


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