Chilling at DLP Day 2

[spencem]

Day 2, Monday, December 4th


I'm going to start today with a touch of background, you see, we're in one room and mum has to get up at 05:15 to take medication. Unfortunately, this means that she also has to actually get up and stay up. This caused a brief argument about lights being on which in turn wakes me up. Further, despite me using my ear plugs for work which are designed to block out jet engines, dad's snoring was still audible, so I've not had a great night’s sleep. You'll see why this is important later and in other days.


Also, I'm sorry for the delay in getting this written. You would have had this sooner, but a combination of illness and work, has delayed us in getting this written.

Back to today though. The plan was Studios, but as mentioned yesterday there was no way we'd be trying for early entry. The only issue with this, is that the parks are now in winter hours and so closing at 18:00 for Studios and 19:00 for Disneyland.


We eventually left the hotel around 10:45 and made our way through the murk. Yep, new day, same rubbish weather. At least it was mildly warmer.


Murky entrance.


One day dad will frame this picture properly, but not today.


Someone is happy to be here.


That blooming duck, see our 2009 WDW trip report for an explanation.


Once in, our first calling point was Tower of Terror. Here we headed through the gift shop to the exit door. Here you have to take a wheelchair into the loading area to bring it back out to the elevators. I can see why they make you do this, as not to ruin the immersion for others, but it's a complete faff. Also in Paris the cast members will not touch ECV's or wheelchairs. On the whole, Paris is not setup as well as the US; guests with reduced mobility seem to be an inconvenience for them (As it does for France on the whole in my experience). If they adopted some of the practices of the US, the experience would be much better for all involved.


Terrifying in the gloom.


Back to Tower of Terror though, this one is random and almost on par with Florida. Unlike Florida though, there is only the one elevator shaft, so you don't get the little drive, which for me does add something to the ride. At least the drop sequence is random.


From here we made our way to Rock 'n roller coaster. There was a 25-minute wait or 25 minutes till the next fastpass window. As it would be just me and Dad we grabbed fast pass’s and went into Armageddon. Which is supposed to be a look at behind the scenes of special effects.


This is completely over the top as you'd expect. I'd love to know the plot to this but on account it was in a mix of French and Russian I've no idea. I think it had something to do with meteorites hitting the space station we were in. Some English here would help.


At least it was warm.


Having survived whatever that was, our fast passes for rock n roller coaster were ready. The track layout is identical to that of Hollywood Studios. However instead of trying to get to a show, you’re instead testing a ride Aerosmith are building. This is one of only two rides for me where the Floridan version is better; mainly because it's better themed and suited to the ride.


The cardboard cut out theming won’t be too hard to change when this goes Marvel.


Lunch was calling and unfortunately the place opposite was shut for refurbishment, which is a shame as I'm told the food in here is really good. Instead we went back to Studio 1 and ate in there. I think we all had the grilled chicken sandwich. Again, these were decent; although for me and dad the chicken tried on multiple occasions to escape the bun! I also had the hot chocolate that everyone raves about. I can't see why, it’s run of the mill vending machine hot chocolate.


Quick Partners snap on the way to lunch.

Post lunch the 05:10 start caught up with me and I'd had enough so went back; agreeing to meet up at 16:20 at Micky and the Magician. Unfortunately, when I got back to the room the key card did nothing, so I had to go back to reception to get a new one. This was an ordeal as my hotel pass was with Dad in the park! To further confuse the poor girl serving me, she couldn’t understand that we'd checked in yesterday and that I wanted another key card as this one didn't work; or that the other card was in the park and that we already had park tickets! Eventually after 10 minutes of security questions, (names, room number, the dimensions of the moon) and explaining again that Mum and Dad were in the park I was issued new cards for all three of us. Had the booking not been in my name, I would have had to have called Mum and Dad back.


Meanwhile Mum and Dad had come out of the park and gone to Starbucks. This I was unaware of as during my nap my phone crashed. Thankfully I woke up a few minutes after my alarm anyway, so made it back into studios in time. However, the text from Dad telling me they were in Starbucks was only delivered after I entered the park. No worries, I went and waited at the entrance for them to come back in, where we headed to the show.


I’ll interject here in my son’s narrative and fill you in on mine and Julia’s activities while he was napping.

First of all, we went and rode the studio tour thing, while it is not the most exciting ride in the world it did serve to settle our lunches. The two set pieces are very good, but the ride between them could be more interesting I feel.

Why does the truck move before the water hits it?

Next on our agenda was Ratatouille, which Julia is more than happy to ride multiple times. This is a very clever ride with a great mix of physical sets and projection screens. I can see it attracting huge queues when it opens at Epcot in a couple of years time.


Look the sun almost came out!


Little details, if you look up, this on the arch into Toy Story.

We were already thinking of going out for that coffee Edward has told you about, but decided to exit via the Toy Story area and as we did so thought we would brave the paratrooper drop ride. As some of you know I’m not a fan of drop towers normally, but these being aimed at the pre-teen crowd I’m ok with. Having said that the ride is perhaps more intense than you’d think and there were a few upset little ones around it.


Little drop with a big drop behind.

As Edward said we then came out of the park in search of a decent cup of coffee and somewhere warm to enjoy it and so had a relaxing hour or so in Starbucks in the Village before re-joining Edward in the park.


Bubble man providing some entertainment on the Village stage.


Re United; we headed into Mickey and the Magician, this is a very clever show and if made slightly longer, wouldn't be out of place in the West end. The cast must be shattered by the end of the day with 5 shows and a tight turn around between them. The Genie sequence has to be my favourite. Very cleverly done, and the guy who plays him must have a ridiculous amount of energy. This was their 5th show of the day, and they played it like it was their first. The dancers are also very good and unlike the main characters, of the few times we watched this, they were the same dancers, where as some of the main parts changed.


Off to the ball.


Time for dinner.


Who are vous?


You’ve never had a friend like him.


Nearly finished.


Go away now and take this mess with you.

From Mickey we made our way over to Ratatouille; to go and cause chaos in a French Kitchen. The ride here is similar to the penguin encounter ride at Sea World; except it’s rats and not penguins. I was a little skeptical of this ride due to the 3D but was assured I’d be fine as it’s far gentler than Star Tours. Well, my skepticism was confirmed as once again my brain was utterly confused with what to do, so gave up.


Very Parisian.

Despite the 3D’s best efforts to end the night, I soldiered on round to Toy Story, where me and Dad rode RC Racer. This should have been a quick 15-minute wait but turned into 20 due to the fact it takes about 20 people at a time. Personally, I wouldn’t queue for this unless it’s got a 15 minute or less wait. At least we secured the front row.


You could almost be in Radiator Springs, if it wasn’t so cold.

Due to RC racer taking longer than advertised, we missed the start of Goofy’s Christmas Show. We stood around and watched a few minutes of this but decided it was pointless watching the rest as we’d missed the first half. Planning to come back another night, we headed over to Disneyland to catch the nighttime 25th Anniversary show.

As it was within an hour of the show Main Street was already packed with people staking out a spot for the show. Thankfully the route up behind the shops was clear and we were soon looking for the entrance to the disabled viewing. After some faff, we were soon inside waiting for the show to begin. Unfortunately though, the disabled viewing is offset to the center, so everything is at a slight angle.


The arcades make a great bypass to a busy Main Street.

I have to say that this show is very cleverly done with how it is put together, and the projection onto the castle is crystal clear. In comparison to the US, there is little pyro used, and it just goes to show that you don't need lots of pyro to put on a good show. I think, I'll let the pictures do the talking.


Waiting for the show to start.


The Christmas pre-show.


Some of the bigger pyro used.


Some of that crystal clear projection.


Let’s not forget the flame projectors.


Letting one go.


The first of the walk out projections after the show.

Show over, thoughts turned to dinner. So we let the majority of the people go, before following them out; and headed to the pasta restaurant just outside the secure zone.


Quite a few people need to get out of our way.


Dad insisted on taking photos on the way out, I just wanted my dinner.

Unlike other restaurants, in here you are given a card each and then go to whichever counter you want food from. So, we went two ways with Mum heading to the salad area to get some Bruschetta; whilst me and Dad went to one of the counters with the Chefs. You simply tell them what you want, and stand and watch whilst they cook the food. They then scan the card which is then scanned again at the register at the end, which tells them what you’ve ordered. I went for something with Salmon and Prawns whilst Dad had something with Chicken. Whilst the food was excellent, it took an age to get it with all the waiting around. I think it was about 30 minutes from when we joined the queue to eating.


Dinner venue.

By the time we came out it was gone 20:00 so we headed back to the hotel for the night. But not without one last hiccup. The battery on Mum’s ECV had gone flat coming out of Studios, and hadn’t sorted itself out in the warmth of the restaurant. This saw Dad having to pull the ECV through the hotel, much to the bemusement of passersby’s.

Tomorrow would see us back in Studio’s first thing but again, the idea of early entry was soon discarded.