First but not Last, Day 3

[spencem]

Day 3 Saturday June 24th 2017

An early start for us this morning as we used our early entry privileges to go in the Disneyland Park just after 9am, rather than 10am for offsite guests. There were a lot of people around the entrance and at first we thought we would have to wait ages to get in, but as we got closer we saw they had lanes setup for early entry and were checking eligibility before letting you into them. Tickets checked we were allowed under the hotel and were in the park a couple of minutes later.

Something I should have mentioned yesterday, when we left the Studios Park we asked about hopping the wheelchair rental over to Disneyland Park later and were told to just take it with us. When I explained that we were going to go back to the hotel for a while I was told that was no problem I could take the chair there as well. It turned out we could actually hire the chair for the rest of the trip, keep it in the room overnight and just drop it back to the park on the last day when we were done. This is much better than in the US parks where you need to return any chair you hire in a park and they give you a bit of paper to get another from your next park that day. You have to do a separate hire each day as well. This all takes time and you run the risk of there not being a chair available, as happened to us in Disneyland once.


This morning’s arrival shot.


This picture was take just 6 minutes after the one outside, very efficient entry.

Our aim this morning was to do the rides in Fantasyland while it was quiet, which was good as that was about all that was open for Early Entry. We made our way up Main Street and through the castle, pausing to admire the views along the way.


One of the statues that have gone in for the anniversary, like the star of last night’s show pictures


The castle looks great from the bottom of the ramp.


And just as good up close.

Fantasyland really wasn’t busy when we got there, so it was worth the early start. First ride of the day was the carousel, with no wait at all.


Don’t you hate crowds?


While we waited for the previous ride to finish Julia finishes breakfast.


Happy on her horse.


In danger of falling off.

First ride of the day done we moved on deeper into the land looking for rides that are unique to Paris.


We thought about breakfast here, but it was not open to plebs.

We first of all found the canal boat ride, which is similar to, but certainly not the same as the ride of the same name in Disneyland’s Fantasyland. Here they use a wide boat on a track to drag you around some miniature representations of fairy stories, where as in California it is a narrow boat driven by an embarrassed teen narrator. I think I prefer the Paris version, since it doesn’t have the cringe factor of being on the ride without the excuse of a 6-year-old child for company.


No one waiting at all.


Hansel and Gretel I believe


The Little Mermaid.


Night on Bear Mountain, staring Chernobog the devil.


Sandra looks hungry as we prepare to enter Aladdin’s cave.

Since it was right next door our next ride was Cassey Junior’s Circus Train, another ride best experienced with pre-teen children if I’m honest.


Brian is chuffed to bits to be here.


We were just down there.


Sandra finds her favourite character.

Our thoughts turned to breakfast, but as I mentioned we discovered the main restaurant in Fantasyland was for special people with vouchers only. Nowhere else was open, even the kiosks that sold breakfast type food like waffles were still closed. Rather than walk all the way back down Main Street in the hope that the café was open we instead decided to push on and eat as soon as places opened for lunch. We did try asking a couple of Cast Members about breakfast options, but were given very polite and friendly versions of “I have absolutely no idea what you are asking about.”


No food for us poor people here.


Adventureland’s signature view.

Having checked every potential food outlet on the way we ended up at Phantom Manor for another visit with Death and his friends. As with the other versions of this around the world you notice new details every time you ride, there is just so much in there.


The house on the hill, the stretching room really does move here.

Big Thunder had been down earlier on our way past and was still down now.


Sadly silent this morning.

It was getting close to restaurant opening time and we were all starving so made our way to Restaurant Hakuna Matata.


Also silent this early in the day.

I think Brian and I had kebabs with sweet corn fries, Sandra had the chicken and vegetable bread bowl and Julia had the children’s chicken sandwich. Other than the place still looking closed when we arrived dead on 11:30 and the usual lack of coffee I don’t remember any issues getting this meal. Again the quality of the food was very good and at €15 for a main, side, desert and drink I don’t think poor value either.

Breakfast complete we made our way back into Fantasyland to continue our kiddy-ride-fest.


Some wonderful details here in Adventureland that wouldn’t be out of place in Animal Kingdom.

Our first ride was on Peter Pan, which seemed just little better than its WDW cousin, having brighter paint and more animatronics I believe.


All happy that we can indeed fly.

Next up was Les Voyages de Pinocchio, a rather darkly themed dark ride, be careful with little kids in here.


Never believe a word a fox tells you.

The last of the dark rides was Snow White, again this seemed better than the old WDW version, but then I’ve not ridden that of years.


Not been turned into a meet and great here.

Now onto an attraction Julia especially was looking forward to, exploring the castle dungeons to see the dragon down there. Sandra decided to sit this one out as she was not walking so well today and didn’t fancy the steps, as it was we found a disabled lift to go down as well as up to the battlements. I think she really just wanted to sit in the sun for a while.


He moves around and blows smoke at you.


You can get outside from the dungeons for a unique view of the castle.

Upstairs in the castle there are panels and animatronics telling the story of sleeping beauty, in French only.


There are all sorts of little touches upstairs.


And a fantastic set of stained glass,

The other thing I found upstairs out on the battlements I was less impressed with, the place was covered in the ends of the fireworks igniter wires. The pyro team will be pulling these off when they set the fireworks up early each morning or late at night, why they don’t go in their pockets and not on the floor I don’t know. To be fair this was about the only place we saw any litter the whole holiday, but the sad thing is it comes from Disney staff.

Back on the ground we disturbed Sandra on her wall and after a brief bathroom break continued our exploration.




No crown for her head here in France.

While Pirates stayed down for its big and somewhat controversial refurb the whole time we were in Paris the other big refurb reopened on this Saturday, yes I’m ‘happy’ to report we got to ride Small World on its first day of operation. It quickly became apparent that one thing that hadn’t been done on the refurb was setting the clock, as it did its thing and chimed at 5 to the hour.


Only opening today, hooray.

Are you ready for the horror? IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL.


Just like London, if you’re on LSD.


Not Trump’s America.

This had done it for us, we needed a lay down and so left the park via the shops to continue my search for a tee shirt. We probably got back to the hotel about 3:30 and rested for a few hours again before heading back over to the parks for dinner in the village and an evening in the park.

I think this was the evening that we eventually settled on the bar snacks from country and western place, sitting outside with the wheel chair since they don’t have a customer lift and all the indoor seating is upstairs. There was a collection of ribs, jacket potatoes and chilli ordered. This was ok, but probably the poorest meal of the holiday. Nothing wrong with it, just not great. We declined desert and said we’d get something in the park.

For some reason here are two Disney Stores her in the Village and I looked in both for a tee shirt to buy, without success. Sandra did get various bits and had them held until closing as for some reason they don’t deliver back to the hotel. I was done in the second shop long before the others and so wandered outside to photograph the Mickey and Minnie statues there.







Eventually everyone else was done with shopping and we made our way back down the slope to Disneyland.


Another anniversary decoration.


This really is a lovely park entrance.

Back in the park we got ourselves some ice-cream from the parlour at the top of Main Street, I forget the flavours but they were all very nice. Suitably full of sugar I think we split up at this point with Julia and Brian going to gas themselves on Autopia while Sandra and I went off to Hyperspace Mountain. I suspect we waited a little longer for our ride than the other two, but it wasn’t by much. I also can’t believe we came into Discoveryland without helping Buzz defend the galaxy, but have no photographic evidence that we did.


Looking good in the evening light.

At some point one of us looked at the DLRP app on our phone and saw that Big Thunder was open at last. Deciding that this was more important than seeing the show a third time we set off across the park to get on the ride for the first time.


The sun had set while we were in Hyperspace.

Even with the magic queue jumping pass there was a long wait for Big Thunder as it had been down all day and now everyone wanted to ride before the end of the day. This was no problem at all, Julia was quite comfortable in her wheel chair and there was a bench for Sandra to shuffle along as we moved up the queue. It also gave me plenty of time to photograph the ride out on its island.


Big Thunder is just so photogenic here, it looks amazing.

WOW what a ride, this is by far the best version of any of the Big Thunders I have ridden, so fast and so long with all same theming as the rest and then some. The explosion going up one of the lift hills is particularly clever. There is so much detail all around the ride and you are travelling so fast you can ride many times and not see it all. The ride was perhaps a bit too intense for some, Julia was not at all convinced she wanted to ride it again ever, she certainly didn’t want to tonight.

I knew just what would calm my wife, Phantom Manor. When we got there and followed the disabled signs down the exit the Cast Member asked if Julia could manage a few steps, when she confirmed she could the CM invited us to go back outside and in the back door of the Manor so we would experience the pre-show. This we did, not just on this occasion but all the future times we rode as well, leaving the chair at the ride unload station.


The back door opens into the lobby in front of the stretching rooms.

Time was marching on and we needed to be outside at the Disney Store in the Village before it closed at 11:30 so we made our way out of the park via the arcade and a couple of the shops.


Main Street was rather busy with show spectators.


Look up, even in the shops, this is just inside the Emporium in Town Square.

Packages collected we made our way back to the hotel via the New York hotel and the river walk just in front of the main wave of people exiting after the show for a well deserved early night. Why were going via the New York? Well Sandra had been on one of the many Disneyland Paris Facebook groups while the rest of us napped earlier just as someone put a post up asking if anyone could make use of some spare breakfast vouchers she had. Sandra had been the first to reply and over a series of messages had arranged to collect them from the concierge of the hotel after the kind donor had set off home earlier.

We got the envelope no problem at all despite the concierge having gone for the night, they had left it with the 24-hour reception. The walk back along the canal is very nice and not very long at all, but I can’t help but think there must have been plans to put a boat service in here at some point?


Link back to the index.

[Teacherdork]

Thank you - loving the trip report. Your photos are really good.

[Mental Minnie]

Your photos are amazing. You can certainly see you are all having a great time. Loving the report. Keep em coming.

[spencem]

Originally Posted by Teacherdork

Thank you - loving the trip report. Your photos are really good.

See more...

Originally Posted by Mental Minnie

Your photos are amazing. You can certainly see you are all having a great time. Loving the report. Keep em coming.

See more...

Thanks both, I'll try to get the last day done tomorrow.

[clochette]

Another great day. I know what you mean about Pinocchio; I found out last week that DD(14) finds this really scary and always had done, whereas Snow White, which is the one everyone warns you about has never bothered her at all.

Looking forward to reading more.

[spencem]

Originally Posted by clochette

Another great day. I know what you mean about Pinocchio; I found out last week that DD(14) finds this really scary and always had done, whereas Snow White, which is the one everyone warns you about has never bothered her at all.

Looking forward to reading more.

See more...

Pinocchio had some horrible sections.

[Gill H]

Lovely day! I agree Pinocchio is not one for the very easily scared, it's dark in both senses! I love the clock scene though.

We will miss our 8am dance down an empty Main Street when EMH changes in October. We've always been in the park as early as possible and hit Peter Pan with no queue. I'm guessing we might change our strategy when it's only open at 9am.

I don't think many places are open for breakfast, as they assume everyone will eat at the hotel or offsite before coming in. It's only very recently that they have stopped including breakfast with the hotel stay. Other options are in the Vilaage - Earl of Sandwich for a quick bite or Annette's if you have time to spare (but who does, that early?)

Glad you got to go on BTMR and were suitably impressed.

You had some lovely photos from today, they are making me homesick for our happy place!

[Gill H]

Oh, as you are a fellow theming nut - I can recommend the tour of Disneyland Park. You learn so much about the theming (spot the gold snails on the castle roof!) and it really does give you new insight into the park.

The Emporium ceiling is based on Galerie Lafayette in Paris.

And next time you are at the pin counter, look very carefully at the picture on the wall. Particularly the bus. Sneakiest Hidden Mickey ever!

[spencem]

Originally Posted by Gill H

Lovely day! I agree Pinocchio is not one for the very easily scared, it's dark in both senses! I love the clock scene though.

We will miss our 8am dance down an empty Main Street when EMH changes in October. We've always been in the park as early as possible and hit Peter Pan with no queue. I'm guessing we might change our strategy when it's only open at 9am.

I don't think many places are open for breakfast, as they assume everyone will eat at the hotel or offsite before coming in. It's only very recently that they have stopped including breakfast with the hotel stay. Other options are in the Vilaage - Earl of Sandwich for a quick bite or Annette's if you have time to spare (but who does, that early?)

Glad you got to go on BTMR and were suitably impressed.

You had some lovely photos from today, they are making me homesick for our happy place!

See more...

We did get a breakfast at Annette's on our last day, but they didn't open until 10am.

Originally Posted by Gill H

Oh, as you are a fellow theming nut - I can recommend the tour of Disneyland Park. You learn so much about the theming (spot the gold snails on the castle roof!) and it really does give you new insight into the park.

The Emporium ceiling is based on Galerie Lafayette in Paris.

And next time you are at the pin counter, look very carefully at the picture on the wall. Particularly the bus. Sneakiest Hidden Mickey ever!

See more...

We did look at the Tower of Terror tour, but it was only available in French and my language skills are not up to that. Will have to take a look at some of the others on offer.

[Gill H]

The Disneyland Park tour is available in English. When we did it, there was only us and a German couple. It took about 3 hours (Julia would definitely need the wheelchair) and was a wonderful insight into the planning and theming of the park.

I have just read on another forum that there is a lift at Billy Bob's in the Village - it's round the side. I've read posts from 2 people who used it with a wheelchair. So that might be worth thinking about another time. They have live music in there too.