The Duchess Does DLP - Day 3 The Day the Magic Returned

[Melanie R]

The Day the Magic Returned

I woke up quite early this morning, so for once was actually up and ready fairly quickly and ready to head down to breakfast. I was taken straight through to the lounge and was being shown to my table when I spotted Anna & Rachel waving at me, so I joined them and headed for some pastries. I wasn't feeling like hot food today, so was quite happy with some juice, croissants and pain au chocolate.

Once I had eaten, I headed back up to my room and pottered around getting ready for the day and packing up my rucksack for the day. I was planning to head to the main park for EMH, then had plans to meet with Anna & Rachel in the studios, but by the time I had finished pottering, I had missed most of EMH!

I headed out and had a pleasant walk around the lake, through the village and headed to the Studios for a quick look around until it was time to meet up, then at 11 headed over to Tower of Terror to meet the girls. As I passed through the park entrance, the cm took the time to welcome me addressing me as Minnie (I had my ears on) and telling me that Mickey was already hard at work inside the park – it was at this point of the trip that I felt the magic start to return for me and it was such a small thing to say but really was the turning point of my trip!

It had been a long standing joke that we were going to ride Tower of Terror together as poor Rachel was terrified and needed the extra support, so once we had met up and exchanged hugs, it was time for Rachel to face her nemesis!

We headed into the queue (using our hotel fastpasses so that Rachel didn’t have too long to worry in the queue ☺)and were very quickly at the front and being ushered into the library for the pre show – the cast members on this ride are amazing and keep in character very well. I think they have a sixth sense for those who are a little nervous and kept shouting out making us all jump as he was stood right behind us at the time! The cms at DLP can get a bad press from some, but I’ve never experienced any of the rudeness others complain of, and I think the ones working this ride are fantastic and go the extra mile to make it an experience to remember.

We were soon heading out towards the lift, and Rachel’s walk was getting noticeably slower, but the inevitable arrived and we were soon taking our seats – Anna and I on either side of Rachel.
The cm performed all the safety checks and waved us off with an air of one who knew we were all doomed – at this point Rachel gripped mine and Anna’s hands and didn’t let go until we were off the ride! This is one of my favourite rides and we were soon heading up and down the lift shaft, Rachel’s screams ringing out throughout the lift – I’m sure those over the other side on Ratatouille would have been able to hear the terror in her voice, but it was soon over and we escorted a shaking (but laughing) Rachel into the gift shop to recover!

Then it was my turn to start with the nerves – I had agreed that if Rachel would ride Tower of Terror, then I would ride Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster with them! I have ridden this ride on multiple occasions without issue, but I have claustrophobia which can flare up with no notice, and can get myself worked up about being restrained and unable to get out, so always have some nerves riding these types of rides. However, it was on my list of things I needed to overcome and as I am no longer with my ex, I needed to find a way to be able to continue to ride these types of ride, as I do enjoy them, so was really pleased to be able to have my first ride on here with some company.

We headed over and joined the short queue, and before too long were climbing into the car – Rachel returned the favour and held my hand throughout the ride, and we were very soon being launched into the darkness. I think all 3 of us screamed the whole way round, but I came off the ride with a smile on my face – so thanks to both Anna & Rachel for helping me through yet another of my “firsts” at DLP ☺

As we left Rock n Roller and headed back towards the front of the park, we noticed that Push the talking trash can was entertaining the small crowd which had gathered! It’s such a shame this has been removed from WDW, but it’s great to still be able to see it at Paris – he was wheeling around asking for rubbish, so Rachel obliged and posted some tissues from her pocket - he thanked her very nicely and we were all a little star struck!

Push started to head off, so we turned to go back towards the front of the park – we noticed that Stitch Live had an English show due to start, so we headed in and were soon seated. This is a cute little show, similar to Crush’s Turtle Talk in WDW (which if I’m honest has the edge for me) and relies on audience participation – we had a good show and people joined in well which makes all the difference.

As we headed out, we spotted that Cinemagique was due to start, so decided to head on in – with hindsight I am so glad we did as this attraction has now closed for good and I would have been gutted to have missed a last showing as it is one of my favourite attractions in the Studios. I know that times change and things need to move on, but I think it’s a real shame that the attractions unique to DLP are closing (such as this and Animagique) when there is already not enough to fill a full day in the park. Animagique had been replaced by Mickey and the Magician, but this seems to be dark for several months of the year – with Cinemagique now gone for at least a year without a replacement, it will only take 1 or 2 other rides to be down before there is very little to do in this park, which is such a shame!

As we exited Cinemagique, Anna and Rachel set off in pursuit of a cup of tea, and I decided to head back into Disneyland Parc via the shops in Studio 1. As I headed through, I spotted some mugs which took my fancy, and as it was my last full day, I knew I needed to buy them as I saw them if I wanted to take advantage of the hotel delivery service – well I don’t need much persuading, so was soon handing over my Euros and had them shipped back to the hotel.

Continuing my shopping theme, as I headed into Disneyland Parc, and wandered through the shops along Main Street – it wasn’t long before I was stood in Harrington’s in front of the cabinet which held the mickey statue I had already bought, when I spotted they had an Elsa statue in the same style. I stood for a while looking at it (I don’t know who I thought I was kidding – I knew deep down as soon as I saw it I would buy it!) and debating what to do, when I decided I would go find some lunch and think about it! I had a tip from Gill H to try the Lucky Nugget Saloon – it was somewhere I hadn’t visited before, so I decided as I was so close it would be ideal, so headed in that direction. I was soon placing my order and was shown to my seat as the puppet show on stage started – this is an unusual mix of counter/table service – it’s a little more expensive than the usual counter service places, but once you have ordered, you are shown to a seat and your food is brought to you when ready. I had the fish and chips and it was served hot and was very tasty – I would definitely put it on my list to visit again! The puppet show also provided a distraction whilst I ate, so no need for my Kindle ☺

As I left the Lucky Nugget, I headed towards Phantom Manor as I hadn’t yet made it over there this visit – this was another ride which held some memories, so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but at least it was dark so nobody noticed my tears! As expected, it wasn’t an easy ride, but it did allow me to lay some ghosts to rest (pun intended!) and I’m hoping the next time I go and ride this it will be much easier – small steps, but they are all leading in the right direction ☺

I didn’t really have anything else particular I wanted to do today, so I just has a little wander around Frontierland and soaked up the atmosphere – I had already used my hotel fastpass for today, and there was no chance I was queuing for 80 minutes for Big thunder Mountain, so I slowly meandered back via the castle and back down Main Street – stopping back in Harrington’s for another look at Elsa.

I have to give top marks to the sales lady in this shop – she came over to chat when she noticed I was interested in the statue and conversation turned to the reason for my trip and the fact that I collected these statues – she very casually pointed out that Elsa’s motto was “Let it Go” and what could be more appropriate than this to mark my trip – I had no answer to this other than to get out my hotel charge card and arrange for Elsa to be sent back to my hotel!

I made a speedy exit before I spotted anything else, then headed into Lily’s boutique – I totally forgot at this stage that I had already bought some mugs earlier, so I knew I wanted some mugs and bought some more! (Luckily no duplicates!)

I was starting to get really cold by now, so decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel via the station – I was returning home the following day via Eurostar, and had arranged to collect my tickets at the station. I thought it may reduce the stress on leaving day if I already had the tickets, so headed in to pick them up – very simple process and I soon had the tickets in my hand. One more thing less to worry about tomorrow

As I left the station, there was a hotel bus just pulling in to the stop, so I hopped on and was soon back at the hotel – I then realised I would need to go through hotel security as I had left “the bubble” by going via the station. I joined the small queue of Brits who were clearly checking in and waited patiently to head through the scanner. The family in front of me was a couple with 2 children – the wife and children headed through with no issues, as did their luggage, but as I was about to put my rucksack on the belt as the dad was passing through the body scanner, the security guard asked me to wait and went to the front to join his colleague. I saw them remove a rather large knife from the jacket pocket of the man in front and he wasn’t at all pleased when he realized they were confiscating it. I’ve no idea of the outcome, but he was asked to go to the office with one of the guards and his wife and children were told they could not go with him – struggling to understand the logic of wanting to take such a thing on a Disney holiday – I could understand a penknife type gadget which he had overlooked, but this was most definitely a knife!

Drama over, I was quickly through and decided to head to the Golden forest lounge for some snacks and a drink. As I entered and took my seat, the steward headed straight over and asked me if I was having my usual coke – the staff in here really do go the extra mile for you!

I chilled for a hour or so with my Kindle, then I had a headache forming so headed back to my room, took some painkillers and had a quick lie down – I had an evening planned with Anna & Rachel so set an alarm to make sure I didn’t fall asleep and miss it!

Headache gone, I got showered and changed and headed over to the Hotel New York to meet Anna and Rachel – we had a reservation for the Parkside diner this evening.

I was a little early arriving at the hotel, so checked out the hotel shop – I had forgotten how small it is in the New York hotel, so that didn’t take very long at all, but as I was leaving and heading towards the restaurant, I spotted Anna & Rachel arriving, so went over to join them. We headed down to the podium outside the Parkside diner, and Anna checked us in – as she did, she mentioned we were all on the dining plan. At this point, the guy checking us in asked if we were guests of the New York Hotel, and on learning we were staying at Sequoia Lodge, asked Anna for her room number. She paused for a second and as quick as a flash, the guy clarified saying “I need it for the computer, really, look I’m married” – and he waved his wedding ring under her nose! It was all done in jest and his female colleague was joking that he uses that excuse all the time

He escorted us all to our table, referring to us as Princesses and bade us Bon Appetit and left us to our server, who quickly took our drinks order, before ensuring we knew how the buffet system worked.

We had a lovely evening here, and our friendly check in guy popped over mid meal to check we were all enjoying our meal – I’m not usually a huge fan of buffets, but I really enjoyed the food and ambiance in here and would definitely recommend it to anyone

Once we had all consumed as much as we could, just fitting in “one more desert” we headed out of the restaurant, saying goodnight to the check in staff – we then asked the lady at the podium if she would take a picture of the three of us – she was more than happy to oblige, but then we kept being joined by members of staff in the pic so each one had an extra member in! When we were finally joined by our friendly check in guy, his female colleague joked with us saying he needed a copy of the picture “for the computer” and suggested we should also send a copy to his wife via Facebook

We wandered back over to Sequoia Lodge and headed into the GF lounge for cocktails – well it would have been rude not to! Rachel decided that following her wrong choice the previous evening, Anna & I should choose for her this time, so we picked a Melontree for her, which Anna also had whilst I had a Woodcutter – all 3 were delicious and are definitely on my “must have again” list!

As we were sitting drinking our cocktails, Anna presented me with a pressie – we had been discussing tea towels the previous day and how we were guilty of keeping things like this “for best” and never using them, so it was given with strict instructions that it was to be used! (Anna if you’re reading, it has been used and is hung up neatly in my kitchen!) As we were talking about kitchen items, I remembered I had bought mugs earlier, but couldn’t remember which ones, so I was sent off to the shop to collect them so we could have a look. When I collected them, it was at this point that I realised I had actually bought 2 lots earlier in the day so had more than I expected! I also collected my Elsa statue and repeated the sales lady’s “Let it Go” sales pitch which they were both impressed with (after the drinking we had done, we were all easily impressed )

After a while, we noticed the staff had turned on all the lights and were clearing up around us, so we took it as our hint that they would quite like us to leave so they could close up and go home, so we headed out and took the lift to the 6th floor.

We had lots of hugs and goodbyes out on the corridor, as I was heading home the following day and we had no further plans to meet up, and I then headed to my room.

I looked around at all the bags of shopping I had, looked at my case and decided the packing could wait until the morning and headed to bed happy that I had ended my last full day with some fun and good memories.

[emmabanana]

Sounds like you had a great day and you can never have too many mugs!

[jocat]

Glad to see that you've carried on with this report.

It sounds like a great day spent with friends, where you could help each other out on rides which made you nervous. Glad you were able to lay some ghosts to rest, and get some of those firsts out of the way. There will be no stopping you on future trips!

[Melanie R]

Originally Posted by emmabanana

Sounds like you had a great day and you can never have too many mugs!

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My kitchen cupboards would respectfully disagree!

Originally Posted by jocat

Glad to see that you've carried on with this report.

It sounds like a great day spent with friends, where you could help each other out on rides which made you nervous. Glad you were able to lay some ghosts to rest, and get some of those firsts out of the way. There will be no stopping you on future trips!

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Thank you - I was always keen to finish, but this year has just disappeared with a very busy time at work.
It will be finished soon so that I can plan my next trip

[JudyC]

Great to hear you had a good day.

[Guest]

Neat report Mel and hopefully, very cathartic for you. You moved on. Good on you gal!
As you know Darrin and I will be there in a week's time so we'll give it your love.

[Guest]

Sound like a great day.

[Melanie R]

Originally Posted by JudyC

Great to hear you had a good day.

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Thank you

Originally Posted by geoffa

Neat report Mel and hopefully, very cathartic for you. You moved on. Good on you gal!
As you know Darrin and I will be there in a week's time so we'll give it your love.

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Thanks Geoff - leave it as you find it - I'm going back soon

Originally Posted by stitch99

Sound like a great day.

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Thank you

[Hels80]

Yay so glad to read this!
sounds like a great day, with lots of mugs and hugs. Love the Elsa statue.
Looking forward to hearing your next lot of plans x

[Taffy1959]

Good to see you enjoyed your last full day and I'm looking forward to reading your next installment