The Tri-City Tour November 2021: Travel Day 3 - London to DLP

[Gill H]

<<London Days 1-2

Monday 15 November

So you left us falling into bed at about 11:30 pm after our last day in London. And you may remember we had the alarm set for 3 am. So did I sleep, you may ask? Oh yes, absolutely. By 2 am I had just dropped off… but who needs sleep on a Disney travel day?

We got ready quickly and threw down a cup of coffee while packing up the last remnants of our stuff. By 3.50 am there was a call from the taxi driver, and we hastened downstairs with our case. We sped through a silent West London and it wasn’t more than 20 minutes before we were pulling up outside Terminal 5 at Heathrow.

At this time of the morning the terminal was pretty quiet. Bag drop was automated – not sure whether this was because of covid or staff shortages, but it was easy enough to do. And for once, neither of us had any issues going through security. Usually at least one of us bleeps for no reason, but not today. We were airside before 5am.

So, what to do now? As we walked past the usual shops, I noticed that there were adverts for the lounge, which was due to open at 5am and would cost Ł24.99. Our flight was 7.15 so wouldn’t be boarding for ages yet. Could we justify the cost? Well, probably not, but we thought we might treat ourselves. So we headed over there, only to find it closed, with no lights on and no signs of being about to open. A lady in front of us said she had just asked someone and been told it wouldn’t open till 6am today. Ah well. We ditched that idea, and instead headed to Pret a Manger to grab some coffees and pastries. We found some seats, charged our phones (which we hadn’t had time to do last night) and took it in turns to have a little wander round the shops.

It wasn’t long before our flight appeared on the board, and we discovered we would need to take the shuttle over to the B gates. This wasn’t a problem but we were glad we had given ourselves plenty of time. At the entrance to the shuttle we were surprised to find a virtual member of staff welcoming us! We had encountered one of these before in Madrid, only this time there were no delighted children clustering round her. It felt very futuristic!

The shuttle took hardly any time to get to the B gates and it wasn’t long before we got to gate B45. About ten minutes later our flight was called and we soon boarded. As usual, I quietly requested an extender belt as we stepped into the plane, and as always it was provided discreetly with no problems.

The flight took off on time and was smooth and trouble-free. We even got a small snack, which was a surprise as we weren’t expecting any freebies on short haul any more.

Once we landed and were off the plane, there was the usual slight panic waiting for cases, as everyone seemed to have got there before us and there was a long gap before ours appeared. But eventually it did, and Peter grabbed it from the carousel, before we headed through the passport check where we had to show our covid pass. No-one wanted to see our ‘sworn statement’, presumably because all our info was saved on Verifly. I checked my phone and found a text message from our driver at RS Transports, whose name was Maathulan. His text said he was waiting for us at ‘Depose Minute 5’ – which after a quick Google we discovered meant the quick drop-off area. So we headed out there, looked around and shouted ‘Maathulan’ (or at least our best guess at how to pronounce it) and he soon waved us over to his car for the 40-minute drive to DLP. Usually this is a very boring drive which is mostly on the motorway, but today for some reason we ended up going through several little villages, which at least gave us something different to look at.

OK, so finally we are coming to everybody’s favourite part of the trip! At this point perhaps you would like to take a break, make yourself a cuppa or pour yourself a glass of something nice. I will be here when you get back – assuming I have finished dancing round the living room with sheer joy at the memory of being back in our happy place.

[Gill H]

Welcome back everyone, hope you are all suitably refreshed and ready to rejoin us as we move on to the best part of the holiday – our first time back in DLP since September 2019!

We pulled up outside the Hotel New York – Art of Marvel (which from now on in this trippie is going to be called ‘the hotel’ because I am no longer a student trying to increase her word count in an essay). Maathulan helped us with our case and we waved him goodbye and headed towards the hotel.

We were immediately flagged down by some CMs stood at a table outside, who had the unenviable task of checking everyone’s covid passes before they could enter the hotel. Despite the cold weather and the boring task, they were keeping up a cheerful flow of conversation and making it as easy as possible for people. Soon we were issued with a coloured wristband which would enable us to get into the hotel that day, and told we would need to come back for another tomorrow before going to breakfast.

This done, we headed through the doors for our first glimpse at the newly remodelled interior of the hotel. (Don't worry, there will be more photos later!)

Our first impressions were simply ‘Wow’. The lobby was sleek and sophisticated, and while there were plenty of Marvel-inspired touches, this was definitely somewhere you could still enjoy if you didn’t know your Iron Man from your gasman. From the outset, it felt like we were stepping into a new and luxurious world. Even the check-in process, usually an annoyingly bureaucratic part of a DLP hotel stay, was professional and smooth.

As we had expected, our room wasn’t yet ready, so we left our suitcase and carry-on luggage in the baggage room. And this is where we made a very silly mistake. You see, it had been warm in the airport and on the plane, and we hadn’t bothered taking our sweatshirts out of our carry-on bag. This, as we were soon to find out, would be an extremely bad decision.

For the moment, though, we were enjoying our stroll towards the parks. We took a little time to admire the huge character statues which had previously been in Studios, such as this one of Black Panther.

Panoramagique was, as always, looking lovely.

On reaching the security tent, we discovered that our coloured wristband wasn’t enough and we needed to show our covid passes again, to a man standing at the entrance to the queue. Then it was on through the tent, emptying our pockets and putting everything in the tray as usual, to be scanned. The security staff were bemused by Peter’s camera, asking him what it was, so he had to explain it to them. Then we were on our way, through the Village, listening to the Christmas music on Disney Village Radio, until we reached the entrance to Fantasia Gardens.

As is our usual habit, we had decided to save Disneyland Park for our first full day, and so we headed left towards Walt Disney Studios. At this time of day it was quiet, and we soon dug out our annual passes and were through the turnstiles and into the park.

[Gill H]

As is our usual habit, we had decided to save Disneyland Park for our first full day, and so we headed left towards Walt Disney Studios. At this time of day it was quiet, and we soon dug out our annual passes and were through the turnstiles and into the park.

Our first stop was Guest Services. As I mentioned earlier in the trippie, I have recently developed arthritis in my knees, and standing for long periods really adds to the pain. I hadn’t managed to get a letter from my GP, but my physiotherapist had written one for me, and we went to see if I could get a pass to help with queues. They were happy to give me an orange pass which was for people with a temporary condition. This would enable me to be given a time to come back to a ride if the queue was long, so that I wouldn’t be standing for long periods. (I know the system has changed since we went and you now have to apply in advance – do check the rules if you think you’re going to need any sort of help).

Once this was sorted we headed through Studio One and straight to Place de Remy, for the Winter Food Festival.

It was now about 11:30 and breakfast had been a long, long time ago, so we grabbed a galette – a filled buckwheat pancake. Peter had the duck breast fillet with Emmental cheese, and I went for the ham and cheese.

To accompany them we got ourselves some steaming hot mulled wine.

This was definitely a necessity by this point. It was getting extremely cold by now and my thin raincoat wasn’t doing a great job of keeping me warm.

While we were having our early lunch, we checked the app to see what shows were running at what times. We hoped to get into the Frozen singalong show in the Animation Celebration building, but when we got there, they had just closed the doors for the next show. We asked what would happen if I wanted to use my orange card for the next show, and were told that I could wait in a separate place, but Peter would have to wait in the regular queue. We decided to try later (but in fact – spoilers! – we never made it).

Instead we took a place at the outdoor stage where the ‘Funny Snowy Winter’ show was about to start.

This show involved Donald and Goofy getting ready for Christmas. Maybe it was because I was getting really tired and cold by now, but I wasn’t impressed. I wish they had brought back the Goofy one they did a few years ago with projections on the Tower of Terror, which was excellent. This was over before it had really got going, and left us underwhelmed.

We decided to move on to the new version of the Tram Tour, now renamed ‘Cars Road Trip’. The new walkway starts by the little blue shop in Toy Story Playland. On the way there were some fun new photo spots to be seen.

[Gill H]

The area around the attraction had evidently been rethemed to fit with the new storyline – but don’t go expecting anything along the lines of Disneyland’s ‘Cars Land’. This was very minimal and felt pretty much like a placeholder for something else.

This snack stop features such delights (?) as, um, vegetables with cheese.

The trams were the same as ever (apart from now having plexiglass between the rows) but the video now featured the Cars characters Cruz Ramirez and Sally, who talked us through the sights placed along Route 66.

These included the World’s Biggest Lugnut (add your own joke here).

Then there were billboards for the Ghost Garage and the Copper Canyon Traffic Maze.

These last two were not even shown – just the billboards for them. Yes, that’s the level of theming we’re talking about, folks.

Catastrophe Canyon – renamed Cars-tastrophe Canyon (ouch) was still there, but the oil tanker was now a Dinoco tanker with eyes and a voice, so it felt in rather poor taste to be sitting there watching him be set on fire, even if only temporarily.

The other good section of the previous ride – the Reign of Fire London set – had of course been completely removed, and instead we got some lengthy exposition about Mater’s attempts at art, culminating in – wait for it – the I-Fuel Tower. Yes, really.

Don’t get me wrong, the Studios needs every attraction it can run until the Marvel Campus opens. But this was very obviously put together on a shoestring and entirely lacked the ‘ka-chow’ factor.

[Gill H]

After our road trip we made our way out of the park, stopping off in the Village to visit the Earl of Sandwich for a nice hot coffee and a yummy bread pudding.

And soon we were back at the hotel, collecting our cases and heading up to our room. Don't you love our room key?

We were in the Gramercy Wing on the 3rd floor. Even the carpet in the hallway was cool.

If we thought the lobby was luxurious, nothing prepared us for the room. Despite – or perhaps because of – the Marvel touches, this was unquestionably a room in which adults would feel at home.

As one of the first to stay at the hotel, we had been given a specially designed print by artist Matt Ferguson.

The TV and the walls featured Marvel characters.

Even the hotel guide was in the form of the Daily Bugle.

And joy of joys, there was a coffee machine! Those who have stayed at DLP hotels will know that you usually need to ask at reception for a kettle, unless you are staying club level. But in this hotel even standard level gets a coffee machine. Let’s hope they roll this out to the other hotels in time.

Even the toiletries in the bathroom looked stylish.

The word 'Stark-itechture' has been thrown around in descriptions of this hotel, and I have to say, Tony Stark would definitely feel at home here.

[Gill H]

The beds were incredibly comfortable, and after making ourselves a cuppa we soon sank down on them for a much-needed nap.

And this is the point at which the day took an unexpected turn.

I woke an hour or so later feeling the usual pains in my legs, but with an upset stomach into the bargain. I kept feeling like I was going to be sick, but wasn’t. I was also completely exhausted.

Peter went out for a walk to give me more time to rest, but by the time it got to about 5pm I knew I wasn’t going to feel any better that evening. We had a booking for 6pm at Downtown (the hotel’s buffet restaurant) but I simply couldn’t face food. So Peter had a chat with the lovely people at the concierge desk, and moved our booking to the next day, cancelling our existing booking for the Steakhouse.

As I was basically going to be spending the evening asleep or in the bathroom, I suggested Peter go out to get himself something to eat and maybe take some photos.

He went to the good ol’ reliable Earl of Sandwich. Yes, again.

And then spent some time exploring the hotel.

So much art everywhere - the hotel is well named. You can find information about all the artists and even book a tour with a CM.

By the time Peter came back to the room, he was pretty much ready to turn in after such a long day. I was still feeling bad and just wanted to sleep. So we were both soon in dreamland, hoping for a good start to tomorrow.


>>DLP Day 1

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[Lizzim]

Sorry you felt ill Gill but great start overall.

[P&S]

Such a great travel day and the hotel looks amazing! What a shame you ended up ill Gill but nothing wrong in 2 visits a day to Earl of Sandwich

I hope you were better the next day

[MrsBC]

I love the print you were given! Great souvenir. Hope things improved for the rest of the hol.