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Old 25 Feb 18, 09:59 AM  
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clochette
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Another Trip to DLP? Oh, go on then! Feb 12-16 2018

Day 1 Monday 12th February

Will we make it through the snow?


The Cast

Me, DD2 and DSis. This will be DSis' third trip, all made with us in Feb half term and DD and my 9th or 10th trip - but who's counting? DD and I went last August with DD1 to see the 25th (see trippie "Is it ever warm at DLP!) and we weren't going to go this year, as I am trying to save up to go back to WDW but DSis wanted to go again and her DH wouldn't dream of visiting the Mouse, so we made the supreme sacrifice and booked another trip.

We would be travelling on the indirect Eurostar via Lille on Monday 12th February and returning via the same route on Friday 16th February on the late train which is 18.52 from Disney. We were staying at the Cheyenne on the 2 nights free deal which suits us better than the free dining. It meant we had a day longer than we would usually have so we were planning a day in Paris as well.

DSis had travelled down on the Saturday before we left as we would be up bright and early on the Monday morning. Because of the time of year and the risk if bad weather, I booked us on the slightly earlier train so we were up at 5 and at the station by 5.45 for our 6am train. I am glad we were on the earlier train (the next one goes just before 6.30) as the train before ours had broken down so all the trains were running late - luckily only 10 minutes late for us but that was enough to stress me slightly. Luckily, once the train arrived, we managed to get to London without incident (though we were delayed again just outside St Pancras due to congestion). The train was really empty, maybe because everyone had got on the late running previous one. I was going to try to get 40 winks but I spent the time watching DD put her face on instead. No wonder she has to get up so early for school!

We finally got to London at about 7.30, which gave us nice time to collect our tickets, use the facilities and grab a sandwich from M&S. We managed all this without incident this time (see previous trippies for less trouble free arrivals in London!) and even had time for a quick browse in Cath Kidston (I just love that shop!) before heading through Passport Control. There was a slightly bizarre incident here when the French border control waved the chap in front of me through before he had registered what was on his screen. He then glanced down and obviously saw something to concern him because he went dashing off to look for him! I don't know what the problem was or whether he found him but we were waiting a good 5 minutes before he came back. We just had time to get a coffee from Pret a Manger (what's happened to Caffe Nero?) and then it was time to board the train.

We had a fairly uneventful trip to Lille. The only slightly interesting thing to happen was a man tripping on his way back from the buffet and spilling his coffee all down my arm. He was very apologetic and it didn't really hurt, as it wasn't very warm. I was surprised to see that there were a few spare seats on the train; even though it was indirect, I had expected it to be full because of half term but it was very quiet. We got to Lille at 11.25 French time, which gave us an hour and a half to wait for our next train. We have always just kind of loitered in the station in previous years but after eating our sandwiches, we decided it was far too cold to just sit around - why are railway stations always so cold? - so we headed over to the shopping centre in search of Primark.


We come all this way and you want to go to Primark?


Striking the first of many poses

Lille Europe station. Don't be deceived by the sunshine; it was freezing!

Wow, why have we never visited this place before? We went in Primark, where we were tempted by a couple of things but didn't buy them in the end. We also popped into Nyx. There was a Sephora there but I wouldn't let Elinor go in otherwise we would have missed the train. There were loads of other shops such as H and M, Foot Locker, New Look, Zara and plenty of places to eat or grab a coffee. We spent as long as we dared over there and then walked through the beautiful sunshine to spend 70 cents each on going to the toilet, not that it was worth it as they were a bit grim really.

By this time our platform had been announced so we went on down to the platform. I have to say I love how there are displays on the platform telling you whereabouts to stand; it makes life so much easier. However, we could have done with more luggage space. All was well until we got to Charles de Gaulle when a man got on and said we were sitting in his seat. He was right - we were but we were in the correct seats so it had obviously been double booked. However, there were a few spare seats so he was happy to sit somewhere else, particularly as we would be getting off in 10 minutes anyway.

We arrived at Marne la Vallee at 2.15. We were right at the end if the platform so it seemed like we were walking for miles before we got to the steps. We got to the bus stop just in time to see a bus pulling away so, as it was a sunny and the bags weren't too heavy, we decided to walk through the Village to the Cheyenne. This was very pleasant and it also meant that there was no queue to check in. It took a while to check in as we had a trainee receptionist and she was very thorough; I didn't have the heart to tell her that we had been umpteen times before and I knew what I was doing. Elinor was thrilled as she is 15 now and so had to sign the checking in forms; she felt very grown up! I told her that meant she had to pay for the room because she was a responsible adult now and she suddenly didn't feel quite so grown up anymore!

We were in Billy the Kid (Block 19) which I think is a preferred location as it is very close to Reception and the Chuck Wagon Cafe. Now that breakfast isn't included, though, we rarely go to reception and would probably be better with a room further from reception as that would put us slightly closer to the parks. DSis hasn't stayed in the Cheyenne since it has been refurbished and she was quite impressed with the room, particularly the Woody border and the "wooden" floor and walls in the bathroom. Mind you, I think she was most impressed with the welcome message on the TV! We had a quick drink and chucked a few things in drawers and DSis phoned her DH for about the fourth time since we left home (my DH is lucky if he gets a text saying we have arrived, lol!)



The room!


Our welcome message on the TV

As the sun was shining, we took a few photos on the way to the parks, mostly for DSis, as we have loads and loads of photos by now.



Downtown Cheyenne. You can see the ice on the river

We arrived at the parks about 4pm and after the obligatory photos in front of the entrance, we headed for Star Tours to see if there were any FP left.


Got to love a Disney filter


Unfortunately, there weren't and the queue was 45 minutes so we decided to leave it until later. Buzz was a 60 minute wait so we went over to Adventure land to try out Pirates of the Caribbean, as that is DSis's favourite ride. The wait there was 30 minutes, which is more than we have ever waited before but it was moving quite quickly and it was probably only about 20 minutes until we got to the front. We were on the very back row of the boat and there was a Muppet at the front who was taking flash photos all the way round. Why do people do that? The photo was dreadful.

We were off the ride by 4.55 so we hotfooted it to Fantasyland to see if we could get a spot to watch the parade. We managed to find a space on the wall by the gelateria opposite IASW. We realised when we had managed to climb onto the wall why the space was still available - it was behind a tree. The view wasn't as bad as the photos make it look so we decided to stay there just in case we didn't get another chance to watch again, as I was fully expecting it to snow or rain hard for the rest of the week. (Spoiler alert - we did watch again with a much better view - decent photos to follow!). Just as we had managed to position ourselves as best we could, a child was lifted/pushed onto the wall by his parents, almost knocking DSis off the wall. DD and I had to grab her to prevent her from overbalancing! The child then decided that he couldn't see (because of the tree) and proceeded to trample all over the flowerbed trying to get a decent view. Luckily, he was told to move by a CM but not until he'd managed to trample on every single bit of the flowerbed! We enjoyed the parade and DSis was most impressed by the dragon but she said it seemed quite short compared to what she remembered about the other one, which is what I thought when I saw it for the first time last August.

Better photos to follow later in the trip - honest!

As we were close by, we headed to IASW next which only had a 10 minute wait. It was, in fact, a walk on. I spent most of the time watching a small boy in the boat in front trailing his hand in the water; I'm surprised he didn't get frostbite! I was even more concerned when his arm was still in the water as we were coming in to dock; I really thought his arm was going to get trapped between the boat and the wall but his dad finally noticed what he was doing and told him to put his arm inside the boat. I was most relieved!


You can never have enough castle photos


I try every time to get a clock photo

It was snowing when we came out of IASW so we looked for the place with the shortest queue so we could get inside. PP was 65 minutes and Pinocchio was 35 minutes so we went for Show White as that was only 10 minutes and the whole line was undercover. You can't beat a bit of Classic Disney! It was probably closer to 20 minutes by the time we got to the front but we were out of the snow so we didn't mind.
Next we headed back to Star Tours which had a 40 minute wait time posted but as it was still snowing, we decided we could cope with waiting in the warmth. In the end it was only 25 minutes or so. DD and I experienced the new Star Tours last year but it was the first time for DSis. Like me, she is not a huge Star Wars fan but she enjoyed the ride and found it much smoother than she remembered. We had a browse in the shop when we came out. I really like the light up Star Wars Mickey ears they have in there but they look really uncomfortable and anyway, they aren't as nice as my Robberific ears.


Waiting for Star Tours

It was just after 7 by this time and we were going to watch the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show so we took a slow wander to the village via the shops on Main Street. I had ordered our tickets from Attraction Tix and had paper vouchers and I wanted to make sure that I didn't need to exchange them for "proper" tickets so we arrived quite early at Buffalo Bills. I thought the show started at 9 but it didn't start until 9.30 which meant we weren't just early, but super early so after checking that our tickets were okay (they were) we went window shopping in Disney Village to waste a bit of time. DSis was looking for some new gloves but we could only find children's gloves which was a bit annoying.

We were back at the theatre by 8.15 to see quite a queue was forming so we joined the end if it while it was still undercover. I didn't fancy queuing outside as it was bitterly cold by now. The doors to the pre-show opened at 8.30. We went in and were allocated our seats. We were asked whether we had any allergies which we don't (or so I thought!) and were allocated front row seats in the red team. We watched the pre-show which was quite entertaining, though we couldn't see much (those Mickey balloons get everywhere) and then we took our seats for the show. We really enjoyed the show. I thought it was well done and there was lots of audience participation.



Before you go into the show

You get a meal with the show, a starter of chili and corn bread, sausage, chicken, ribs and potatoes and apple crumble and ice cream. I enjoyed all the food, particularly the chili and cornbread but Elinor could only eat the chili because she was finding it difficult to breathe. She was obviously allergic to something, be it the cattle or sawdust but we had no idea that she was. I was actually quite concerned at one point and thought I might have to take her out but she was okay. However, I would say that if you are even slightly asthmatic, you don't sit on the front row! The servers were very attentive and our glasses were refilled several times.





Not very good photos I'm afraid but the lighting was poor


We were back in our room by about 11.15. Elinor was still finding it quite difficult to breathe but we gave her all the spare pillows to prop her up and she gradually started to breathe more easily. We went straight to bed as it had been a very long day!

I was going to how many steps I had walked at the end of each day's report. However, according to my phone, I only walked 204 steps today. Strange, it felt like more! I don't know what went wrong, maybe the time change but I promise to do better tomorrow.

Read Day 2 here:https://DIBB.in/13105613

Edited at 10:43 PM.
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Old 25 Feb 18, 09:12 PM  
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MrsSilverStar
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Glad you've started! Sounds like a very busy first day, with lots packed in.
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Old 26 Feb 18, 10:49 PM  
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clochette
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Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar View Post
Glad you've started! Sounds like a very busy first day, with lots packed in.
Yes, we don't hang around! Thanks for reading. Looking forward to the rest of yours.
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Old 27 Feb 18, 11:56 PM  
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How scary for Elinor, I'm glad she recovered quickly. How did you find sharing a room with your Sister? Did you find it was big enough? Looking forward to the next day. X
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Old 28 Feb 18, 07:49 PM  
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clochette
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Originally Posted by DizzyDisneyMum View Post
How scary for Elinor, I'm glad she recovered quickly. How did you find sharing a room with your Sister? Did you find it was big enough? Looking forward to the next day. X
We have shared a room with DSis before and never had a problem, but I have to confess 4 days was long enough! I was considering asking her if she wanted to come to WDW with us next time we go (nothing planned yet unfortunately) but I don't think I could cope for 2 weeks. I don't think that's the room's fault though.
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Old 3 Mar 18, 10:38 PM  
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Wow, what a jam packed first day.
We did the same stay last year (Mon-Fri in the Cheyenne in Feb) so I am thoroughly enjoying reminiscing reading your trippie. (We have also just booked the same for next Feb, but in the Santa Fe)

Looking forward to the next part.
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Old 3 Mar 18, 11:57 PM  
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Glad it's bringing back happy memories. No doubt I will book another trip soon. Enjoy planning your next one!
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