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Old 2 Mar 15, 07:30 PM  
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Gill H
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Hello, bonjour (that’s your actual French) and bore da (there’s a tidy bit of Welsh for you)! And welcome to our pre-trippie. No, don’t worry, I won’t be doing the whole thing in three languages.
You may have read some of our previous trippies – to DLP, WDW and various other places too – but if not, let me introduce you to the cast:

Peter: forty-something, turning forty-something-else on our holiday. He’s originally from Preston, he’s a chef and he works for a certain retailer who is never knowingly undersold. This is important, as they will more than likely feature in our trippie! He’s a big fan of Stitch, and his favourite DLP attractions include BTMR and ToT. As both a foodie and a fan of elaborate theming, he’s most looking forward to trying out the Ratatouille ride and Bistrot Chez Remy.



Gill: forty-something-else already, originally from Cwmbran in South Wales. I’m a PA in the Civil Service. I’m a massive fan of Fantasia, and I’m already planning a relaxing cocktail in the Fantasia Bar one evening. I’m also Queen of Team Wimp, and as such, my favourite ride is IASW, closely followed by Peter Pan’s Flight. I’m also looking forward to the Ratatouille ride as it seems this is Team Wimp friendly!



This is our ninth visit to DLP (counting two day trips we made during holidays in Paris). We’ve stayed offsite (at the excellent Hotel L’Elysee just 15 minutes away) and onsite at the Cheyenne and Sequoia Lodge. On most of our trips, we’ve visited the Disneyland Hotel for a meal. We love its beautiful, elegant theming, its gracious service, and most of all, its proximity to the Disneyland Park. And without fail, as we’ve left the hotel we’ve looked up, sighed, and quoted Aladdin, “Some day, Abu…” but we’ve never been able to justify the expense.

Now, back in January 2014, with almost 11 months to go before our epic WDW trip, we started looking at the DLP website, as you do. The ‘4 nights for 2’ offer was being advertised – but for Spring 2015, at Spring 2014 prices. This meant we could do 4 nights in March 2015 in Sequoia Lodge for £600, which seemed a pretty good deal. We were saving up Avios for our Eurostar tickets, so travel wouldn’t cost anything. So we jumped on the phone and booked for 4-8 March 2015. These dates do, of course, break Rule One of DLP, which is ‘Never go on a weekend’. But this particular weekend is a very special one. And not just because Peter’s birthday is on the Saturday. Or indeed because it’s an early celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary (which is actually in June, but any excuse…) It’s also the DLP Welsh Festival, which means that I get to celebrate the customs of my homeland, as exemplified by massed choirs, giant daffodils and Minnie wearing a stovepipe hat. And, of course, to celebrate those great Disney films set in Wales, like, er, um … The Black Cauldron? Maybe not.

Then back in May, I happened to pop into the bank and ask about PPI claims. Without going into all the boring details, a few weeks later we had a nice cheque in the post, and also a nice little amount paid into our bank account! So suddenly we had a little bit more money to do things with. Thank you, PPI Fairy!

So we thought, what better way to celebrate than by upgrading to the Pink Palace itself, the Disneyland Hotel? We checked online and the same offer was still on, meaning that the price would be £1,120 – OK, so nearly twice the price of SL but hey, the money was there, heck, let’s do it! After all, it is a celebratory trip.

So it was that we found ourselves booked into the DLH. Some day, Abu, we’ll be (temporarily slightly) rich, stay in the Pink Palace … and never have any problems at all? Well, we’ll have to wait and see about that last one.

The next task was to snag those Eurostar tickets. After several frustrating phone calls, we learned that when the Avios website says tickets are ‘from 9,000 Avios return’, they mean ‘usually a very long way from 9,000 Avios return’. Yes, you don’t have to pay any taxes with Eurostar, unlike with air fares. But because of the crazy way Eurostar release their cheap tickets to Avios, we would have had to wait until nearer the time to book, or use all our Avios plus £140 now. Which makes no sense when you can book them for £69 return on the day they’re released.

So we decided not to bother using our Avios, but to save those for a future European trip somewhere (more of which will be revealed later this year!) Instead, we’d let the PPI Fairy pay for our transport! So in August, on the day the £69 returns were released for our dates, we found ourselves sitting in John Lewis café in Cardiff waiting to book. I should explain that we were visiting my parents, who aren’t on the internet and live in a bit of a 3G desert, so we’d gone into Cardiff for the day. However, for some reason the Eurostar website was playing up, so we ended up phoning instead! Good job we did though, as all the £69 returns were gone by later that day.

So, that’s everything booked – all that’s left is to let you know the rough plan for our visit. Which is:

Wednesday 4 March:
Arrive 2pm on Eurostar, check in at DLH (yeah baby!)
Late lunch at Walt’s 3pm (it’s not open any later that day, annoyingly)
Parade 5pm
Probably do some rides, maybe grab a hot dog from Casey’s before…
Dreams 8pm
Stroll home to the lovely DLH, and maybe stop off for a cocktail in the Fantasia Bar

Thursday 5 March:
This is our ‘20th anniversary day’. Haven’t decided yet specifically what we will do during the day, but I expect it will involve the following…
EMH (can’t beat having Main Street to ourselves)
A visit to Salon Mickey for their amazing pain au chocolat
Over to Studios to use our hotel Fastpass on Ratatouille
Our evening meal is at California Grill, and we are definitely going to dress up a bit for this one!

Friday 6 March:
No plans for the day yet, but in the evening…
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (early birthday celebration for Peter)

Saturday 7 March:
Peter’s birthday.
Also the Welsh Festival, so we will base our day round the special concerts, pre-parade and fireworks before Dreams. No restaurant booked as we’ll see how the time goes.

Sunday 8 March:
Checkout day, boo hoo.
Lunch at Bistrot Chez Remy
Eurostar leaves at 5pm

We also want to make time for the ‘Swing Into Spring’ celebrations which have just launched at DLP. There’s Goofy’s Garden Party, which is a lively promenade around the castle and the hub. And also Welcome to Spring, which is a medley of Mary Poppins songs done on a suitably springlike Castle Stage. And of course, as ever, there’s the character train, currently called Minnie’s Little Spring Train, which has an Easter theme and lots of rabbits!

So that’s it for now. Keep an eye out for the trip report, and in the meantime, please join me in a chorus of “We’ll keep a welcome”. Goodbye, au revoir and da boch chi!

>>Highs and Lows

INDEX
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WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14

Edited at 09:30 PM.
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Old 2 Mar 15, 08:04 PM  
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jono74656
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Looking at that countdown, I'd wager you're a wee bit excited

Hope you have a fantastic time.
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Old 2 Mar 15, 08:11 PM  
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HFJohnson
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How exciting - that's one great looking ticker!

Just to pre-warn you though...the last few times I've visited Salon Mickey they haven't had any of those amazing croissants Just regular muffins and cookies. Fingers crossed they've started stocking them again (and I'll be checking your TR prior to my trip in April) but you might not want to get your hopes up too much.
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Old 2 Mar 15, 08:13 PM  
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minnie moomoo
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Blinking heck you've kept this till the last second lol. Hope you both have a fab time. I've started a bit of a chart to see how to fit all the extra M&G and shows in. Looking forward to your TR and all your gorgeous photos.
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WDW, Port Orleans Resort, Grande Villas Resort, Cabana Bay Resort. Aug 2022 DLP, Davy Crocketts Ranch. Aug 2023. Les Alicourts Resort 2023
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Old 2 Mar 15, 09:24 PM  
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clochette
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Have a lovely time. I just love DLP.
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Old 2 Mar 15, 11:18 PM  
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Melanie R
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Have a Glowtini for me in the Fantasia Bar

Have a great time and hope the Disneyland Hotel is everything you've dreamed it would be
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Old 3 Mar 15, 01:51 PM  
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Beaker7929
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Have an amazing time both of you
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Old 3 Mar 15, 02:55 PM  
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LufcDeb
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Have a great time! I've stayed in the DLH once and loved it!
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Old 4 Mar 15, 11:14 PM  
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Gill H
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Dibbing from the DLH - loving it so far!
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WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14
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Old 4 Mar 15, 11:30 PM  
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Disneyloverz
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Glad your having a good time, looks like you've got some lovely things planned

Enjoy that gorgeous hotel x
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