Adventure Is Under Construction - April 2024: Day 1

[Gill H]

<<Travel Day

Wednesday 1 May

As comfy as the bed was at the Ibis, and as long as our travel day had been, I still didn’t sleep very well. Our ‘pod’ bathroom had a door which really needed a bit of welly to open and close, and the bathroom light was very strong. Whenever either of us got up to use the loo, it felt a bit like being kidnapped by an alien spaceship.

Nevertheless we were up about 7am and down to breakfast about 7:45. The breakfast selection at the Ibis is not massive, but the quality of the food always surprises me for the price. The bread and pastries were fresh, and the delicious little madeleines were still warm from the oven.

After nipping back to the room for our stuff, we left at 8:45 and after a brief train journey and a short queue for security, we were making our way to Salon Mickey. For those who don’t know, Salon Mickey is a perk for members of the former Shareholders’ Club.

It’s a nice little lounge where you can sit in peace and enjoy free coffee, juice and pastries.

It also means that afterwards you can walk through the door and straight into the park without having to bother with turnstiles. I always love the quizzical looks we get from people trying to work out how we got in!

After a relaxing half hour with juice, coffee and a pain au chocolate, we headed into Disneyland Park just in time to wave to the train.

I can’t say we were big fans of the ‘springtime’ décor, but it was interesting to see the different characters appear in the rosettes.

We waved to Mickey and Minnie of course.

And then headed up our beloved Main Street.

Obligatory castle shot.

[Gill H]

We headed for Phantom Manor first of all, but were distracted when we saw Pluto meeting nearby, wearing a Phantom Manor outfit. Not only that, but the queue was surprisingly short, so we decided to join it.

Nice to see Phantom Manor from a different angle.

Once we got to meet Pluto, we suggested that we all pretend to be ghosts to pose for a photo. Pluto immediately ran away and had to be persuaded to come back! He was great fun.

Then we went to join the 999 happy haunts. I don't know what my favourite Phantom Manor pic is, Maybe the ride itself (which I think is the best looking in the world, properly Scooby Doo spooky).

Or maybe the views of Frontierland you get while waiting outside the door.

Phantom Manor was as good as ever – it’s one of our favourites and a must do every time.

[Gill H]

We picked up a couple of bottles of soft drink in Frontierland (using our shareholder discount of course) and then had a quick look at the new statue of Miguel outside what is now the ‘Casa de Coco’ restaurant.

We then headed out of Frontierland and noticed that a crowd was gathering for the first “Million Splashes of Colour” parade of the day, so found ourselves a spot.

The parade was nowhere near as good as the ‘Dream and Shine Brighter’ version which came out for the 30th anniversary, but it was still fun to watch.

The random assortment of characters made us smile. Where else could you see Snow White hand in hand with Timon?

[Gill H]

After the parade had moved on, we made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean, but again we were waylaid by a character meet with a short queue. This time it was Captain Hook, who was hamming it up delightfully, bowing and kissing my hand.

I made a joke that I was sure he wouldn’t mind if I shared the photos on Facebook or YouTube, but I knew he wouldn’t want anything to do with … Tik Tok! Yes, that is of course the name of the crocodile who got his hand. He reacted perfectly, shrinking back in horror. When he saw Peter’s phone case, which had PETER printed on it, he wasn’t very happy either!

Usually we find the queue for Pirates very short, but today it was 30 minutes. We decided to go for it, and this meant we experienced the new queue area for the first time. There were some interesting views.

I'm sure this covered area is new - perhaps since they added PoTC to the Premier Access system.

[Gill H]

After a fun trip with the pirates we had a quick look in La Giraffe Curieuse, one the best shops, but there wasn’t anything we fancied.

As we had now had two character meets, we discussed the possibility of buying the photopass. We hadn’t intended to as this was such a short trip, but we decided to see what magic shots were available. Knowing there was often a spot outside Plaza Gardens for magic shots, we went to have a look, but this time it was only Pluto and we’d already met him. So instead we headed into Victoria’s Home Style Restaurant for a drink and a snack.

Victoria’s seems to vary wildly in what it serves (and indeed when it opens). On a previous trip we’d had character milk shakes there, but at the moment it was only serving a small selection of drinks and some Mickey waffles.

We were surprised to find our server wearing a Gryffindor lanyard – that definitely wouldn’t be allowed in the American parks!

I chose the lime and mint iced tea, and Peter had a coke.

We both ordered Mickey waffles with whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate sauce.

After our delicious snack we went down the arcade and popped into Flora’s to find out the price of the photopass. On hearing it was 85 Euros, we decided to wait and decide tomorrow whether we’d had enough photos to make it worthwhile.

In the meantime, we headed out of the park and across to Studios, as we were on an errand! We’d already talked about the possibility of buying ourselves some of the lovely plates from Chez Marianne in Place de Remy, which are the same ones they use in Bistro Chez Remy. Since we were travelling on the train there was no worry about them getting broken in transit or being too heavy. So we’d decided to nip over there for a light lunch, get the plates and take them back to the hotel with us when we went for a rest.

As usual, the chalets in Place de Remy were an excellent place for a quick lunch. We went to the Breton chalet for a savoury crepe each. Peter got duck breast with Emmental and I chose ham and cheese. Along with two sweet Breton ciders, these made a nice lunch for us.

While eating, we decided to see whether there was any availability at Walt’s for dinner. Yes, this was supposed to be a budget trip… but hey, you have to treat yourself occasionally. So we booked a table for 7:15 that night.

This done, we nipped into Chez Marianne and came out with two lovely dinner plates, in the classic French bistro style with the cute Remy logo. These were 10 Euros each, minus our Shareholder discount.

We left the Studios for the station, where we grabbed some bottles of soft drink and crisps in Relay for the room, and then headed back to the hotel for an afternoon snooze.

[Gill H]

At 5:30 we left the room and were soon back in the park, just in time to see the end of the parade.

We do like the parade but have seen it many times now – maybe it’s time for something new next year?

Afterwards we headed for Fantasyland for my favourite ride, It’s A Small World. Usually we walk straight on this ride, but today there was a queue. We had realised by now that the 1st of May is actually a public holiday in France – oops. The parks were certainly busy, but the queue moved fast and soon we were on the happiest cruise that ever sailed. In front of us in the boat were a party of adults from Spain, who were exclaiming delightedly at all the little details, and by the end were singing along with the song, so we joined in. Perhaps it is indeed a small world after all.

We took some time to visit the dragon under the castle. This is a must do every trip. The animatronics are so impressive and it always amazes me how lifelike it is.

It was now almost time for our reservation in Walt’s, so we headed inside and sat downstairs until our table was ready. This place is so gorgeous, full of period detail and even the lift feels like a trip into the elegant past.

As usual, we were seated in the Main Street area. Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely to be able to look out on Main Street, particularly if a parade is happening, but just sometimes I would like to be seated in one of the other rooms, which are themed to the different lands of Disneyland. Ah well, maybe next time.

[Gill H]

We ordered the usual coke and sprite, and of course the bread came accompanied by D’Isigny butter. The Isigny region of France is thought to be where the Disney family name originates from.

Peter ordered the chicken pot pie for his starter. This sounded a little heavy, but when it came it was unexpectedly light, and had a cute Mickey top as a bonus.

I went for the Waldorf salad with Roquefort cheese and lemon-thyme vinaigrette dressing. This was delicious, everything tasted so fresh.

Peter’s main course was the chilli con carne. This always feels an odd choice for a place like this, but it was one of Walt’s favourite dishes so we were looking forward to seeing how they made a more elevated version. We weren’t disappointed as this was beautifully presented. The chilli was served separately in a little can with a Mickey tortilla chip peeking over the top.

I went for the roast chicken with asparagus, sweet potato mash and jus. Very tasty.

For dessert, Peter had the chocolate and praline millefeuille.

I went for the pineapple upside-down cake.

This was a delicious meal and in all honesty, the price of 55 Euros wasn’t bad (in Disney terms at least) for what we had.

[Gill H]

After our lovely meal we headed outside as we were due to broadcast live as part of the Great British Mickey Waffle’s Wednesday show.

A thunderstorm was threatened but we hoped we would be able to avoid most of it. However, by the time we were due to go live, the rain had already started along with the odd flash of lightning. So we found a bench in Liberty Arcade, and walked through it to give our primarily American audience a glimpse of one of the treasures of DLP. We even showed them the ‘statue of liberty’ diorama behind the red curtain – if you haven’t seen it, make a point of going in next time.

We reached Main Street just in time for a short light show featuring Tinkerbell and her fairy friends, where the audio was accompanied by changing images on the decorations.

The rain had eased off, so we went through to Discoveryland for a quick walk round to show off the lovely Jules Verne theming.

The promised lightning started up again, but no thunder and initially, no rain. Once the rain came we took shelter in Videopolis, and then ran across to Constellations shop.

At this point the storm got a bit more dramatic, and we decided to sign off from the Waffle and take shelter. We left Constellations and seconds later a hailstorm began! We made it to the entrance of Plaza Gardens, where we managed to find a spot under cover, along with seemingly half the park guests!

Given the weather, we suspected that the evening performance of Dreams would be cancelled, and certainly didn’t expect the drone show to happen. It was no surprise, therefore, when an announcement was made to say the drone show would not take place tonight.

Amazingly, though, the castle projections still went ahead, although obviously not the fireworks. I don’t think many people were there to watch the show, but perhaps it plays automatically regardless of the weather.

Once the hailstorm abated a little, we dashed across to the arcade, where of course the floor was sopping wet and very slippery. The poor cast members were frantically mopping to enable guests to get out of the park. We sat on a bench and waited for the majority of the crowd to disperse, and then ran over to Ribbons and Bows in Town Square, to buy an umbrella for Peter (I had my raincoat, fortunately).

We bid a soggy goodnight to the park and squelched our way round to the RER station. All the ticket gates were open, so we didn’t even need to use our tickets – presumably this was to help with crowd control. We didn’t have to wait long for a train, and soon we were drying off in our nice warm room, before heading for bed around midnight.

Join us tomorrow for Wild West dramas, Parisian eats and a front-row view of an amazing spectacle.

>>Day 2

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