The Tri-City Tour November 2021: DLP Day 1

[Gill H]

<<Travel Day 3: London to DLP

Tuesday 16 November

We woke at 7am and I felt a lot better. Clearly my creaky old bod is no longer used to the amount of rushing around we usually fit into a holiday!

We got ready over a cuppa from the coffee machine, and headed down for breakfast. As we approached the lobby we realised we had forgotten our masks, so went back up in the lift to get them.

Then back down to the ground floor, towards the lobby - and oops, remembered we needed our phones to show the covid passes and get today’s wristband. Back to the room again!

Then it was down to the lobby and outside to the table where the CMs were giving out the wristbands, and back inside.

At the entrance to the restaurant we needed to show our covid passes again. The easiest way was to use the Tousanticovid app which checked us in when we scanned a code. This meant we didn’t need to enter details every time, so much less faff.

We were soon shown to a table and took turns to help ourselves from the plentiful buffet. The CMs were only allowing you to go one way, so we had to make decisions and stick to them as we couldn’t go back without joining a long queue! Note the Captain Marvel waffle, nice detail.

After we had enjoyed all we wanted, we went back to the room one last time to get our coats, before heading out at last.

There was a very long queue for security but it moved quickly. Peter was again quizzed about his camera, it seemed quite a novelty!

[Gill H]

By the time we got into the park it was 9.20 am. That’s a late start for us as usually we like to be there for the start of EMT, but we had deliberately taken things slower this morning.

The first thing we saw was the characters doing their morning greeting above the station.

The song they were dancing to was strangely familiar, and we realised the music was ‘Brand New Day’ from Tokyo’s 35th anniversary celebrations, which we had seen many times on video. The previous ‘welcome back’ song that DLP used was a version of ‘Sunny Bunny Land’ which also originated in Tokyo, so they are obviously looking to the Eastern parks for entertainment lately. I only wish they would get some ideas for merch and snacks from Tokyo as well, the range of stuff available out there is amazing.

Once the song finished, we made our way through Liberty Arcade, having decided that the queue was too long to meet Winnie the Pooh …

… as was the queue for Eeyore.

At the top of the arcade we took the ‘secret entrance’ into Frontierland, where Big Thunder Mountain was showing a 5 minute wait, so Peter went on it.

Meanwhile, I popped back to Town Square and into City Hall to ask whether there were any special arrangements for the ‘Rhythms of the Pridelands’ show if you had an orange pass. The CM said there weren’t, but she did ask if I had a Mastercard. So obviously the ‘preferred seats for Mastercard holders’ system was back in operation. Sadly, my Mastercard was in my room safe, so no point in trying that today.

I met up with Peter, to find that he’d had a great ride but the Photopass picture didn’t seem to have added itself to our account yet. We decided to check later, and walked through to the hub, stopping briefly to take a picture of the festive trolley.

Then it was into Discoveryland, to Buzz Lightyear’s Laser Blast. The queue was only 5 minutes, so a walk-on in practice. As usual, I was rubbish at this, even though we e-stopped for a few minutes (it’s one of the best rides for this to happen as you can get more shooting done!)

At the end of the ride we looked for our photo but didn’t see it, and on checking at the booth, it didn’t seem to be on the system.

Meanwhile, Star Tours had now opened and the queue was short, so Peter went to ride it while I rested my legs on a bench outside. My dodgy knees were beginning to worry me – usually we could do pretty much all the EMT rides and still have plenty of energy for the rest of the park, but this time I was flagging already. In my defence, the cold and miserable weather wasn’t helping.

[Gill H]

Next we decided to go and see the Let’s Sing Christmas show in Videopolis. We had hoped to grab a drink from the vending machines first, but they weren’t in operation at the moment, so we just found ourselves a spot on the bench seating and settled down to enjoy the show.

It was well up to the usual high standard of DLP character shows. It opened with people in Victorian costumes and a choir singing ‘Wonderful Winter’s Night’ which you may have come across if you’ve ever been in a Disney park during the winter season. It’s such a joyous song but it makes me cry every time! So magical.

Then Mickey entered to conduct the singers in ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’. This one always makes us smile, remembering the mime at Seaworld who led the crowd singing this, only to reveal that the second line of the song is ‘blah blah blah…’ Not this time, however, because the lyrics now began to appear on the screen for the audience to join in. I’m not sure how many did, but we certainly gave it a good go.

Minnie then came on stage to lead a song, and from the intro we were expecting it to be ‘Christmas Wrapping’ by the Waitresses. But the song was actually ‘O Christmas Tree’ mixed in with the ‘Merry Christmas’ chorus from ‘Christmas Wrapping’. Sounds odd but I promise you it worked – and soon Donald joined the cast as well, adding a snazzy dance routine to the proceedings. Daisy then arrived to conduct a song we didn’t know. It seemed to be called ‘All I want for Christmas’ but not the Mariah one, a totally different song, which I can’t seem to find anywhere.

All of this was leading up to the ‘big surprise’ the characters had been mentioning throughout the show, which was the arrival of Santa Goofy. The show finished with a reprise of ‘Wonderful Winter’s Night’ and again the lyrics came up for the audience to join in. And darn it, my eyes were watering again. What a great show. OK, I could have wished for the inclusion of the superb ‘Chante, C’est Noel’ which doesn’t get used enough nowadays at DLP. But otherwise this was a suitably festive celebration and sent us out with a song in our hearts.

By now Peter was starting to flag, and suggested going back to the room for a rest. However, we had only got as far as the entrance to Plaza Gardens when we spotted Santa Stitch doing a meet and greet. Now Stitch is a favourite character of ours and always worth meeting, so we joined the surprisingly short queue. As expected, Stitch was great fun, and we went on our way feeling a bit more lively.

To warm ourselves up we popped into Cable Car Bakery for a hot chocolate each and a chocolate doughnut to share. Thank goodness for Annual Pass discount – we were certainly making the most of that so far.

A group at the next table were watching a Disney vlog together, so we got talking to them, and told them we were members of the Great British Mickey Waffle podcast and would be broadcasting live from DLP and WDW the very next evening. I don’t know if they tuned in, but we gave them a badge to remind them of us!

[Gill H]

It was now almost 1 pm and we decided we would follow our earlier plan of going back to the hotel for a rest.

Unlike yesterday, the Panoramagique balloon was flying today.

Once back in the warmth of the hotel, we decided to pop into the Bleeker Street Lounge for a soft drink and a snack lunch. We were the only people in there, but the CM could not have been more welcoming, and soon had us settled with the menu.

Classy napkins!

We decided on the roast chicken wings with hot sauce, carrots and celery, and ordered a portion each, accompanied by a Coke for Peter and a lemonade for me. This is what arrived.

The bill for this was 32 Euros! And sadly no AP discount available. Lesson learned – it’s a nice enough place but we’re not having lunch there again!

After this we popped back to the room for a much-needed nap, and went back into the park for about 4.30pm. So lovely to see the Christmas garlands beginning to light up.

[Gill H]

We decided to make for Pirates of the Caribbean as we hadn’t done it yet, but on our way we noticed there was a magic photo shot happening in Adventureland. It was themed to the newest Disney film, Encanto, which hadn’t even been released at that point so the theming was rather lost on us at the time. But here we are with the iconic yellow butterflies...

And of course the toucans and a capybara!

Pirates had a very short queue and we were soon boarding the ride. I wondered if my knees would give me any problems but thankfully there were handy rails to hold on to when getting in and out. As always, we made sure to shout ‘Bon appetit’ to the diners in the restaurant – it’s a tradition!

Yet again, Photopass didn’t seem to work on the ride. However, on coming out of Adventureland and walking through the Hub, we did spot another magic shot location and had some photos done there. Here we are with Tinkerbell.

Shortly afterwards we checked our account to see whether these had come through, and noticed that our Buzz photo from this morning had turned up also.

By now we both felt we could do with a sit down somewhere warm, a cold drink and something to nibble on – let’s face it, those chicken wings hadn’t exactly been a substantial lunch. So we went to Caseys – somewhere we hardly ever go. Peter got a hot dog with crispy onions and cheese.

I wasn’t hungry enough for that and instead ordered a salad, which turned out to be surprisingly nice.

[Gill H]

It was time to find a spot for ‘Mickey’s Dazzling Christmas Parade’. This ran twice a day, but from everything we had read, the later version would definitely be the one to go for. So we found ourselves a place in Town Square at about 6pm, and admired the tree while we waited.

The usual Main Street Christmas music was playing, and of course every time it got to the songs from the Muppet Christmas Carol, we sang along enthusiastically. Well, you just have to!

The parade started at 6.15 and by the time it reached us, it was about 6.30. Seeing the brightly-lit floats was truly magical. Not quite a return to the good old days of the Electrical Parade, but the next best thing.

Photo overload alert...!

After the parade we dodged straight into the bookshop next to City Hall, to avoid the hordes of people who would now be streaming out of the park. As usual these days, there wasn’t a great deal we wanted in the shop, but I did buy this lovely Sorcerer Mickey mug as he’s my favourite character.

Once the crowds had died down we left the park and went to have a look in World of Disney, where we bought a Stitch pin.

[Gill H]

Then it was back to the hotel. I'm sad they got rid of the skating rink, but look at the lovely tree!

And the front of the hotel looks so cool in the dark.

The Christmas theming was everywhere!

We chilled in the room for a while before going down to dinner.

Tonight we ate at Downtown restaurant, which is the buffet restaurant that replaced the Parkside Diner. It was busy and noisy, full of excited children and bemused diners who were trying to navigate a one-way queuing system while choosing food from the three stations.

Many people were sent back to the end of the queue for trying to go the wrong way. This is unfortunate, because the stations weren’t arranged in starters, mains and desserts, but instead as three different cuisines – Chinatown, American and Italian. These represent three of the main cuisines of New York (what, no shawarma?) and I have to say, the selection was pretty impressive. Here’s a snapshot of my first plate – after that we were too busy eating to take photos!

We did manage to get a pic of the desserts though. This was really the only place where Marvel theming came into play. The cute little Groot biscuit was sitting in some delicious chocolate mousse.

After dinner we considered going to the Skyline bar for a coffee, but the queue was too long. Instead we visited the hotel shop, where we bought this cool pin.

We knew that hotel guests were entitled to a special Spiderman meet and greet and some photo ops, which had to be booked on the DLP app, so we made a booking for 2pm tomorrow. Then we headed back to our room and phoned for some extra milk for the coffee machine, which was soon delivered.

While relaxing over a cuppa, we managed to cast Disney+ on the TV, and watched the ‘Olaf Presents’ shorts, which were very funny. Deciding that a Marvel film would be an appropriate way to end the day, we rewatched ‘Thor Ragnarok’ before turning off the super-cool lights and going to sleep.

Join us tomorrow for dancing lions, Spidey meets and dinner under Asgard’s chandelier.

>>DLP Day 2

INDEX

[P&S]

A great day although it seems hard on your knees but lots of rides and attractions done

The lunch! I cannot believe the quantity and price!

The parade looked fabulous and the hotel looks amazing