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Old 12 Jan 19, 10:49 PM  
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#6
Gill H
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VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Jan 08
Location: South Wales

theDIBB Guidebook
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This done, we grabbed a Fastpass for Peter at Star Tours, and went to see the newly installed Philharmagic show – or as it’s called here, ‘Mickey and his Philharmagic Orchestra’. This has taken up residence in the old ‘Honey I Shrunk The Audience’ theatre in Discoveryland, which was later used for ‘Captain Eo’ and then for a succession of film previews, before hosting the Pixar short film festival. It’s nice to see it being used for a proper show again, and it’s certainly the first time we’ve seen a queue outside that theatre in many a year.

Discoveryland is an odd place to put this show. Yes, it’s an empty theatre and is already set up for some 4D effects. But apart from a video on the screens, there was zero theming in the pre-show area and nothing has changed in the theatre itself. That said, it was still a great show. The usual mix of French and English which DLP likes to use was no problem here, as we all knew the songs anyway. And the audience were clearly wowed by the 4D effects (though there were no smells in this version). However, the biggest disappointment is that they haven’t altered the theatre for the show’s ending. Spoiler alert in case you haven’t seen the show… at the end, Donald is blown out of a tuba and goes flying over our heads – and when you turn round, you can see Donald sticking out of a hole in the wall. Well, several people in the audience at DLP were obviously expecting this, because they turned round and … nothing. I don’t know if this is going to be a permanent home for this show – it feels like a stopgap while they figure out what to do. Still, it’s nice to see the show again, particularly now we don’t have the Animagique show in Studios any more.

Coming out of the theatre, we noticed that the standby queue for Star Tours was only 15 minutes, so Peter decided to do it there and then, rather than come back later and use his Fastpass. This left me looking for someone to give the Fastpass to. Always an interesting quest at DLP, due to the mixture of languages. Not to mention, I needed to find a party of one to give it to – not easy. But before long an American man in a Miami Dolphins shirt walked up to the Fastpass machine, so I offered him the unwanted FP and he accepted with a “Thank you ma’am!”

This done, I headed into Videopolis to warm up and get us some hot drinks. Again, I was caught by the lack of indoor venues selling drinks only – as usual, Café Hyperion had long queues that moved incredibly slowly, and everyone seemed to be buying enough BB8 burgers to feed a whole troop of young padawans.

As I’m originally from Wales, my ears tend to prick up when I hear someone who sounds like they come from the proper side of the Severn Bridge (ahem). And the guy behind me was as broad Newport as you can get. I grew up in Cwmbran, just down the road from there (and if you want to know about Cwmbran, Goldie Lookin’ Chain’s ‘Fresh Prince of Cwmbran’ tells you all you need to know. Check it out, but not while the kids are watching!) So of course I got chatting to him and his family while I waited in the queue. As it turned out, they were staying in the Cheyenne and had arrived on Thursday just as we had, in torrential rain. They had come on a coach trip with a group, and it was their first time at DLP. And yes, he was the second person this trip who proudly boasted about making up sandwiches at breakfast for later. Oh well.

Meanwhile, Peter had arrived from his Star Tours voyage, and between us we managed to pass on a few tips to the guy from Newport – in particular about EMT and Fastpass, neither of which he knew about. We should charge, really we should. And then we got talking about the app, and how to look up wait times…

Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for the best Disney Epic Fail in this trippie. Not the only one, by all means, but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to hear about my very own Epic Fail. It’s still not as funny as this one though. Are you ready?

So the guy got out his phone to look on the app. His friend had recommended it to him, and he’d downloaded it, but he was a bit confused because he couldn’t seem to find some of the rides he’d been on.

Drum roll please…

He had the WDW app. He’d been looking at it for ages on the coach journey, and it hadn’t dawned on him that DLP seemed to be lacking such features as Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Blizzard Beach.

Fortunately we managed to show him the right app, although by then we were just about to be served at the till, and we didn’t speak to him after that as he was sitting with his family. I do hope he isn’t still wandering around trying to find the Carousel of Progress.
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DLP: day trips 2000, 2003; Cheyenne Sep 2009, Feb 2011, Nov 2018; Sequoia Lodge June 2008, May 2012; Elysee May 2012, Jan 2013, Sep 2013; Disneyland Hotel Mar 2015, Santa Fe Nov 2016; Newport Bay Sep 2017, Ibis Sep 2019, Hotel NY Art of Marvel Nov 2021
WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14
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