DLP Jan 2017: The Birthday Trip! Day 1 - Bonjour Disneyland Paris!

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Index can be found here

Thursday 26th January
Steps: 22,502
Miles: 9.35

As we had travelled down to Folkestone the previous night we were walking up this morning at the Premier Inn. I have spared you from a pre-travel day as it would be very uneventful… a full day at work, a dinner at Paul’s Mum before heading off and then arriving at the hotel at 11:30pm. So with that said, let’s get back to today!

The alarm went off at 6am, and after not getting into bed until 12:40am the night before it’s fair to say we were both feeling a little on the sleepy side! The tiredness was soon forgotten though as we got ourselves up, showered and dressed and headed down for breakfast… you cannot beat a Premier Inn all you can eat breakfast, they fill me with delight ever time!

Oh and my first photo of the report… my chosen Disney socks of the day (this will become a theme for the coming days so please humour me on this!)

We were down in the connecting Table Table restaurant (The Brickfield) by 6:30 and shown straight to a table (unsurprisingly it was pretty quiet at that time of the morning!). For any of you unfamiliar with how the PI breakfast works, basically you help yourself to all the continental offering and you order any hot breakfast you would like. I’m not a fan of a cooked breakfast so always opt for the continental whilst Paul always goes for the full offering! Just to set the scene for you (and apologies how dark the photos are, it was still pitch black out at this point!)

Our first round of food involved a cooked breakfast for Paul and pancakes and a croissant for me (what can I say… I have a sweet tooth even at 6:30 in the morning!). Throw in some orange juice it was the perfect breakfast!

Second round consisted of a muffin, pain au chocolate and a yoghurt for me and fruit and yoghurt for Paul (you can see who is the healthier of the duo here!)

With that all successfully devoured it was time to get moving… we had a train to catch! We settled up the bill at the bar and headed back to the room to get our bits together and check out.

It was a quick turnaround (impressive for us, time-keeping and getting places on time never seems to be our strong point when on holiday… as you will later see many times over!) and we were heading out of the room with 10 minutes later at 7:20am. It still felt very early at this point with few people around and daylight yet to have broken!

With all our overnight things loaded back into the car we made our way over to the Euro Tunnel where we had a train booked for 8:20 to get us to Calais. It was a nice and easy 5 minute drive and on arriving we easily checked in using the drive-up kiosks, the machine printed us out a hanging sign to pop on the rear-view mirror and with that we was good to go!

As we had a little time to spare we parked up and popped into the terminal for a quick loo break. I was surprised by how nice it was in there, very much like a mini airport, complete with duty free shopping! I was even impressed enough by the toilets to take a photo (I’m really spoiling you now!)

With bladders emptied it was back to the car to make our way through passport control and security.

I really can’t stress enough how easy this whole process was. This was our first time ever travelling on the Euro Tunnel so we had no idea what to expect but it really was a seamless, stressfree operation… through British passport control, through French passport control and then through security. All from the comfort of the car! Within less than 10 minutes we were though and queuing up to load onto the train… with even enough time to spare for a quick in-car selfie!

Once onto the train we drove down, stopping to park up in carriage 20. Handbrake on, into first gear and windows open… we were all set to make our way across the channel!

Whilst we waited for the train to depart Paul surprised me with a couple of early birthday presents, my birthday wasn’t actually until the Sunday but who was I to turn down presents! I was most excited to find inside a very cute Tsum Tsum purse and some matching welly toppers (at this point I was very much hoping I wouldn’t be needing the wellies I had with me but I loved them all the same!).

Presents opened, it had now hit 8:20 am and we were on the move! Paul took this little bit of down time to quickly top up the water in the car (yes he had completely forgotten to do any pre-journey checks and on driving from the hotel we found we had no washer fluid left!). Luckily we had a small bottle of water in the car so that would do for the time being!

Water topped up there was not much else to do but sit and wait the journey out… good news we had full signal and 3G the entire way! (Now this was rather magical to us, where we live we barely get any signal at all yet deep beneath the Channel… full signal!). So this allowed for some Facebooking, posting an excited selfie on Instagram and chatting with fellow Dibbers Rach and Helen on our Whatsapp group. We also both had a trip to the loo (It’s important to check out the facilities, I can assure they were very pleasant surprisingly!)

By 8:50am (9:50am local time) we had arrived in Calais, 30 minutes after departing… it’s a miracle, so quick! Unfortunately we faced a slight set-back, a car in carriage 18 had broken down so we had to hold on whilst that was moved on out. Luckily 10 minutes or so later we were rolling on out, Bonjour Calais!

With Paul comfortably driving on the right (his ability to seamlessly drive in other countries amazes me, no fear or concern at all… legend!) we made our way out and made a stop immediately at a nearby petrol station… despite giving the windows a wipe with the newly filled water it was still pretty grubby so could do with a bit a bit of a wash down!

Obviously a top into the shop was necessary. On arriving at the Premier Inn the previous night Paul realised he had left his hat at home and with the freezing weather predicted in Paris we knew we needed to find a replacement pretty sharpish. So in we headed on the quest for a hat!

Now I know you are all probably thinking that the likeliness of a petrol station selling hats would be pretty slim but would you believe it we totally lucked out! Paul had his eye on this little beauty…

… but in the end went for a much more conservative bobble hat for a bargain price of €9.90 (this hat gets a lot of wear over the coming days so was hands down the best purchase of the trip!). I also chose a hat for myself for a slightly pricier €12 (completely pointless, with this crazy hair I very rarely wear hats and I can confirm it was not worn once over this weekend!). With a long drive ahead we also stocked up on some fluids, a bottle of water for me (€1.50) and a cherry Coke for Paul (€2.20).

By now it was 10:20am (all times now in local time, I can assure we did not spend over and hour in the petrol station!) and with a 3 hour drive ahead of us it was time to hit the road and get ourselves to Disneyland Paris! Excited face!

It was a pretty uneventful drive, Paul handled it like a pro whilst I dished out the Cherry drops (remember them?!) and the sun even came out to say hello so on went the sunglasses… loving life!

We had intended on doing the trip in one stint but someone drank a bit too much (someone being me) and we had to stop for a toilet break somewhere along the A1 about 2 hours into the journey! But on the plus side, it meant another explore in a French service station and an opportunity to check out their Haribo offering!

Shortly after being back in the car we hit the toll kiosks. I now realise that I made no note of going through them initially where we were given a card from the machine as passing through, but it was sometime shortly after leaving Calais. Now seemed to be the time we had to put said card back into the machine and pay up for our journey. As we were in a British car in France the machines were on my side of the car and here is where I got in a little flap as I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on! Turns out it was pretty simple… insert card, pay money, go. But on inspection of the machine I found it didn’t take cash so then had to rummage through my bag to find my purse and retrieve my debit card to pay up. That found and the €21.70 debited from my account the barrier came up and onwards we went. Phew!

Before long we started to see signs for Disneyland and by 1:30 we were rolling up to the entrance of Newport Bay.

On pulling in we were stopped at security who were very friendly and after having a quick look in the boot of the car we were making our way into the car park. I was so excited to see the hotel; it was absolutely beautiful… particularly in the sunshine!

We parked up and decided to head into the hotel as although we weren’t able to get into our room until 3pm we thought we would get a head start by checking in now. As we walked up to the hotel entrance I really was blown away by how stunning it was. I had read many reviews, seen many photos and watched various videos online reviewing Newport Bay but it still didn’t prepare me for just how gorgeous it was! With the beautiful blue sky in the background it was impossible to not stop and take photos before making our way inside.

On entering we were immediately stopped by security to have a body check using a handheld metal detector thingy-ma-bob. This only took a matter of second and we were soon making our way into the hotel lobby… let’s just say we were not disappointed with what we were greeted with!

We made our way over to the right and joined the line for the arrivals desk. It was only a short wait of around 5 minutes or so and we were all checked-in by 2pm. The whole process was pretty smooth and easy. We were given our park tickets and also collected our breakfast passes for the four mornings that we would be there and were told to come back at 3pm to get our room key.

As we only had an hour to kill we decided to use the time to have an explore around the hotel and get our bearings. Leaving the reception area we decided to head into the East Wing and check out the pool. On getting down there we found it was actually shut due to an earlier planned power outage but the guy on the reception said we were free to go in and have a look so we headed in to the viewing area to have a nosey. It really is a beautiful pool with a stunning nautical theme!

Leaving the pool area we headed out the back of the hotel to the lake. At this point it is worth saying that despite the sunshine and gorgeous clear sky it was absolutely freezing… with a lot of the lake frozen over! Although the weather did make for fantastic photos!

My excitements levels were through the roof at this point it’s fair to say, I was so happy to be there and I already had completely fallen in love with hotel and absolutely loved how the hotels were all located around the lake and within walking distance of Disney Village and both the parks. I was already starting to see the appeal of staying onsite and we had only been there less than area.

As it was fast approaching 3pm we headed back to the car to bring all our bags in so we would be ready to take them straight to the room once we had the key. Now this was a pretty big task in itself as we hadn’t exactly travelled light (the plus side of driving meant we were able to load the car right up!) but somehow between the two of us we managed to get back to the hotel in one trip carrying two suitcases, 3 holdalls and a large shopping bag of food! It was like a game of Buckeroo!

Once at the entrance of the hotel all the bags had to go through the security scanners and we both had to be body searched again… there is certainly no questioning their levels of security!

I left Paul on a bench in the lobby and headed back to the arrivals desk to collect our room key. It was a quick process as we had already checked in so minutes later with key in hand we headed off in the direction of the West Wing backing our way up to our room on the fifth floor.

On entering the room there were a lot of ‘oooohs’ and ‘aaaaahs’ as the room was fantastic! Before dragging all the bags in I quickly nipped in and took some photos to make sure we got evidence of it all nice and tidy! We also had to ring down to reception as we had been left a travel cot which we of course didn’t need so they sent someone up to take that away.

I was really pleased to discover we had a lake-view room too… just stunning!

It was a pretty quick turnaround as I was super eager to get down to the parks so by 3:35pm we were heading back out of the room (no time for unpacking, that could wait until later!)

We made our way through the back exit of the hotel, walking down past the lake and through Disney Village which would lead us through to the parks.

Unsurprisingly the first thing I wanted to see was the castle so Disneyland Park was where we were headed. On approaching the park I was blown away with the beauty of the Disneyland Hotel, it really does make for the most perfect view when entering the park. Of course lots more photos were absolutely necessary!

Now at this point I should probably admit I had some reservations about visiting Disneyland Paris. After 3 amazing trips to WDW I was concerned I would be disappointed and with this in mind my expectations of what the parks would be like were pretty low. As we walked through the entrance and onto Main Street I can honestly say my reservations vanished! With the music playing, the sun shining and the castle coming into view I was totally overwhelmed with that Disney magic feeling, and just like every time I enter Magic Kingdom in WDW I was reduced to tears!

One of the first things that hit me was how much quieter it was than any of my experiences of Main Street in Magic Kingdom, we were able to easily make our way down towards the castle without having to dodge too many people… it was amazing!

Making it to the end of Main Street we stopped to take in the castle… and what a beauty it is! I don’t think it could ever top Cinderella’s castle in WDW but it certainly comes close! I love how pretty it is and with the beautiful blue sky as the backdrop it couldn’t have possibly looked better.

One thing that really excited me about Sleeping Beauty’s castle is that you can walk up into it. Taking the staircase up we found a variety of beautiful stain glassed windows and then followed the walkway round to end up on the terrace at the back of the castle looking out onto Fantasyland.

Leaving the castle we made our way through Fantasyland and made a beeline for what was to be our first ride of the trip… It’s A Small World! I know this is very much a marmite ride but Paul and I both love it as it reminds us of Paul’s Mum who absolutely adores it so every time we ride it’s with her in mind (and we always take a video to send to her!).

There was a posted wait time of 10 minutes but we were on in less than 5. I love how the ride starts and ends outside here, very much like the offering in Disneyland in Anaheim.

From leaving the happiest cruise that ever sailed we made our way past Peter Pan’s Flight and noticed it was only showing a wait time of 15 minutes. Now I had read many time that the wait times, similar to its counterpart in WDW, can get very long for this ride so it seemed silly to pass up the opportunity whilst the wait was so low and it turned out to really pay off as we ended up being through in 10 minutes. I am not sure if this is exactly the same as Magic Kingdom’s version, it certainly seemed the same! A lovely ride but as I always say… totally not worth the crazy queue times it attracts!

Waving goodbye to Neverland we made our way out of Fantasyland, stopping to admire the frozen stream… Elsa really had been working her magic!

Next stop was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. In anticipation of this trip I had done a lot of research about the parks but had refrained from watching any ride videos in fear of spoiling the surprise so we really weren’t too sure what to expect from this but I was sure I had read that it went upside down so I was feeling pretty excited about what was to come!

There was only a 5 minute wait so it wasn’t long before we were strapped in and ready to go. I was definitely impressed as I do love a rollercoaster but it definitely could do with being longer, it felt like it only just started getting going and we were back at the start being unloaded! Very fun nonetheless though, particularly watching Paul hold onto his hat the whole way around!

Hat still intact we found ourselves wandering around to Frozen Sing-Along, we had no intention of watching but had a little nosey around the area and also stopped so I could take advantage of a photo opportunity with Sven and Olaf!

Moving on we made our way through Frontierland, walking past Big Thunder Mountain. I had read good things about this ride as it had only just re-opened after being refurbished so I was very excited about riding it at some point during the trip. I am assuming ay this point the wait time was pretty high which is why we didn’t attempt it at this point (I have no notes telling me so but as the wait times were crazy high the whole time we were there it’s a pretty safe assumption!)

By this point the sun was setting, perfect for some pretty photos of the Molly Brown!

We now found ourselves in front of the Phantom Manor and with this showing a 5 minute wait time we decided to head on in.

Within minutes of waiting outside the front doors we were lead inside and into the stretching room. Now I can’t tell you if this is the same as Haunted Mansion in WDW as it was in French so I had no idea what was actually being said but I am guessing it was! I must admit it certainly does lose a bit of its creepiness when you can’t understand what they are saying! I was surprised that the layout and features of the ride were actually very difference and in my opinion it was much darker than Haunted Mansion, if I had been a child riding I would have actually been terrified!

Surviving Phantom Manor we decided we had made a good start on ticking rides off the list so made our way back past the castle and up Main Street towards the exit.

It was 6:45pm at this point and the park was due to shut at 7pm and although Dreams would be starting in 15 minutes we opted to avoid the crowds and head out now and see the show tomorrow instead. At the top of Main Street we quickly popped in to City Hall so I could pick up a birthday badge to wear on Sunday, the very friendly CM was all to happy to oblige! (Photos of said badge to come later in the trip!)

By this point we were positively frozen and also feeling somewhat peckish as we hadn’t eaten anything other than some crisps in the car since our breakfast at Premier Inn at 6:30am that morning so on walking through Disney Village we made a stop in Starbucks. We knew we would be going out for some dinner a bit later in the evening so a hot drink and a snack was on the agenda!

We both went for a hot chocolate (Paul’s with a shot of caramel), I had a cinnamon roll and Paul opted for a sugar donut. Exactly what was needed to warm us up and give us an energy boost!

Leaving Starbucks we made our way back through the village, stopping in some shops along the way. I couldn’t resist making a little purchase in Disney Fashion, a lovely Finding Dory jumper which was in the sale for only €10, bargain!

We were back in the room by 7:45pm and we set about getting unpacked and organised. With that all out of the way it was a quick change of clothes and then back out at 9pm. Our first stop was at Captain’s Quarters, the bar in Newport Bay. We found ourselves a sofa to park up at and Paul headed to the bar to get us some drinks. I went for a Tropical Paradise cocktail (rum based) and Paul had a pint of Carlsberg… cheers to the first drinks of the weekend!

We made a move from the bar at 9:45pm, the cocktail was lovely but it was so cold in there I couldn’t handle staying in there for more than one! So we made our way down to Disney Village in hunt for some food. Now despite many bad reviews on here we decided to give Planet Hollywood a go. It had been on our list of restaurants to visit from the very start and we were keen to give it a try and make our own opinion (also we had a 15% off voucher from Magic Breaks!)

We were seated straight away, one perk of going out for dinner so late… the crowds had gone by this point! Our server came over and we ordered some drinks, a pina colada for me and a Magners for Paul.

Paul has a massive love for potato skins so these were of course ordered for starter and then for mains I chose the BBQ chicken burger and Paul went for a BBQ cheeseburger.

So honest review… it wasn’t amazing, although after all I had read I wasn’t expecting it to be. It probably wasn’t as bad as others had said but certainly nothing special and the potato skins could certainly have some with more topping. I’m glad we tried it for ourselves but it won’t be somewhere I would rush back to in a hurry. The service was good and being later in the evening the food came out nice and quickly but it really wasn’t worth the price tag.

We settled up the bill and made our way back downstairs to stop by the gift shop as I had a souvenir glass to pick up that had come with my cocktail… although on getting down there we found it was shut! Luckily we managed to find a member of staff who was able to sort one for us. I am a bit of a sucker for a souvenir glass and as a result we now have a whole cupboard filled with Orlando glasses (which are never actually used!) but I couldn’t resist adding one more to the collection, especially as it had ‘Disneyland Paris’ on it!

Feeling fat and fed we made the walk back to the hotel. I really loved that being onsite meant that we could walk everywhere. When we are in Orlando Paul is always burdened with the driving so as a result doesn’t ever have a drink with dinner so it was really lovely for him to be able to on this trip.

It was 11:45 by the time we made it back to the hotel and I made a quick stop by reception to request a kettle for our room (they don’t come as standard but I had read you are able to get one on request). The cheerful CM on the desk told me this wouldn’t be a problem and she would arrange for one to be brought up to the room, and would you believe it within 5 minutes of being back up there one was delivered... fantastic service!

It was then straight into PJs (lovely Bambi ones that I had bought especially for the trip) and my new fluffy Minnie Mouse socks whilst settling down on the bed with a cup of tea and the Disney Channel on the TV. As the hotel doesn’t provide tea-making facilities I had picked up some PJ Tips instant tea in a cup that included the tea granules and milk powder (as we had no fridge actual milk wasn’t an option). Far from being the best cup of tea in the world but it hit the spot, and as my sister says… ‘as long as it’s wet and warm’!

We finally made it into bed at 12:30, both absolutely shattered from a very long day of travelling and a busy afternoon and evening of getting to know our way around the parks and surrounding areas. All in all a fantastic first day and I went to sleep with excited butterflies of what was to come in our first full day tomorrow!

Day 2 can be found here

[Milpston]

Fantastic review of your first day and I'm loving all your pictures!

Please excuse me if I ask stupid questions as you go along but do they give you schedules for shows/parades etc when you check in and get your tickets?

Looking forward to days 2!

[Redrach1903]

Eeeeep this is exciting!

Loving your socks so cute!

Totally chuffed Helen & I got a mention!

The Euro Tunnel experience seems really cool and totally easy!

Oh I love cherry drops! Haven't seen them for years!

Sounds like an amazing first day all round lovely The skies are so pretty! Must have been weird doing some classic Disney rides with French commentary lol!

Not at all surprised you got the souvenir glass

xxxxx

[Guest]

Good first day! Looking forward to reading more!

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Originally Posted by Milpston

Fantastic review of your first day and I'm loving all your pictures!

Please excuse me if I ask stupid questions as you go along but do they give you schedules for shows/parades etc when you check in and get your tickets?

Looking forward to days 2!

See more...

Thank you so much, I certainly went to town with taking photos... it was all too pretty to resist!

Yes we were given park maps and schedules along with our tickets when we checked-in at the hotel but you can also pick them up at the entrance at each of the parks

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Eeeeep this is exciting!

Loving your socks so cute!

Totally chuffed Helen & I got a mention!

The Euro Tunnel experience seems really cool and totally easy!

Oh I love cherry drops! Haven't seen them for years!

Sounds like an amazing first day all round lovely The skies are so pretty! Must have been weird doing some classic Disney rides with French commentary lol!

Not at all surprised you got the souvenir glass

xxxxx

See more...

Oh of course you gals got a mention, I spoke to you both more whilst we were away than I probably did Paul

You know me and a souvenir glass... I can't resist! xxx

Originally Posted by princess_chazy

Good first day! Looking forward to reading more!

See more...

Thank you so much for reading along, I am loving reliving it already... I am totally in love with DLP now!

[plutofan1]

What a fantastic start to your trip
Can't wait to read more

[HelenJNT]

I love the fact that you have breakfast "dessert". Sterling work.

We have the same pics of us being punched by Rocky 🥊!

The hotel looks so beautiful. I knew you'd love onsite life!

[MrsSilverStar]

glad you've started your report, was looking forward to this! Sounds like a fab first day

[Guest]

Thanks for the trippie!

Now off to find the apparently compulsory Disney socks... !

[clochette]

What a great first day. Love all your photos. We've never stayed at Newport Bay in all our trips toDLP (7 times now I think but who's counting!) but it certain!y looks tempting.
Looking forward to reading more.