Beyond the Sea: Day 2 - DLP

[Gill H]

<<<Travel Day/Day 1

Having set our alarm call from Mickey the night before, we are wakened at 6.30 by a cheery greeting from the main mouse, and then get ready over a cup of coffee and some strange music videos on French telly.

Look at the lovely (?) view from our balcony! But it's nice to have a balcony anyway.

We have read that you can get a free coffee from the machine once a day with your room key card, so we track down the coffee machine on our floor, but after about 10 attempts swiping, pressing, pushing buttons etc, we give up trying. Ah well.

We set off for the park, saying hello to the ducks on the lake as we pass them.

As we get into the Village we hear the PA system playing ‘Beyond The Sea’ which is of course the theme song of this trippie! Naturally we have to capture a little snippet for the video.

We get into the park, stopping along the way to enjoy Main Street, and say hello to the statue outside the Emporium, whose luxurious moustache reminds us of Tim Tracker (if you don’t know who Tim Tracker is, check out his YouTube videos of Orlando). I even try to translate his catchphrase ‘and now it’s time to pay the price’ into French – very badly as it turns out!

We wonder whether to meet one of the characters in their anniversary costumes. However, the queues are already quite long and we decide to leave it for today. Instead we head to our traditional first ride, Peter Pan’s Flight. Usually first thing during EMH it’s a 5 minute wait – in reality a walk on. But today, even at this time, it’s showing 15 minutes. This is still an excellent wait time for such a popular ride, and we head in. It still looks great after its big refurb, and it no longer jolts my tummy when we fly out of the window! Lovely ride as always.

Then over to the other ride which gets busiest during EMH – Buzz Lightyear. Again, it’s showing 15 minutes which is definitely the best we’re going to get all day. So we do battle with Zurg (and Peter beats my score, as usual) and then we go to Café Hyperion for breakfast.

This is the first time we’ve been to DLP since they changed the breakfast arrangements, and the new system is definitely not an improvement in our view. We prefer to attack the breakfast buffet first thing, and then we’re not hungry till the afternoon. However, with this booking we got free half board which we later upgraded to full board, so since we’re having two restaurant meals a day, we figure we don’t want a big breakfast as well.

The ‘grab and go’ breakfast that comes with free dining consists of a hot drink, orange juice and a pastry (so far so good) – plus, in Café Hyperion, a ‘sweet’ or ‘savoury’ addition. I go for the ‘sweet’ which is a small bread roll with butter and jam.

Peter goes for the ‘savoury’ – the infamous omelette burger. This isn’t actually a burger at all. It’s an omelette with bacon and cheese, on a burger roll spread with cream cheese. It’s not unlike something you’d get in McDonald’s or Earl of Sandwich.

Our breakfasts are – eh, okay. Not something to rave about, but not bad. I don’t know that I would bother paying for them, but as they’re free we won’t argue.

As we leave Discoveryland, we spot the characters arriving for the breakfast at Plaza Gardens, and wave to Daisy and Mickey as we go past. Plaza Gardens looks pretty busy. I think if and when we try this meal, it will be when absolutely no neighbouring countries are on school holidays!

We head over to the Studios, where we are going to spend most of our day, before we come back into Disneyland Park tonight to watch Illuminations. As mentioned, we’re on the full board plan, which means we need to have both lunch and dinner in the Studios, because it will be too late to eat after Illuminations. (I know we will be going to Spain after this trip, but having dinner at 10pm is not a custom I can get used to!)

[Gill H]

Once in the Studios we head straight for Ratatouille and grab Fastpasses for later. As often happens, the single rider queue is virtually empty, so we join it and do the ride in separate cars. Still the best ride in the Studios for me (not that I do many, so basically the competition is, er, Slinky, Tram Tour and Carpets? Yeah, not difficult to judge that one.) Speaking of Slinky, as we walk through Toy Story Playland we notice it only has a 10 minute queue, so we head in to ride. I think it does turn out to be a little bit more than 10 minutes in the end, but it’s not too long. The carriage we get into is on a very steep incline – I wouldn’t like to be a parent trying to get wriggly toddlers on the ride at this angle! And as usual, it goes at a surprisingly fast lick for what is essentially a kid-friendly ride.

Peter doesn’t feel like tackling RC Racer this morning, and Parachute Drop is down for a refurb, so we make our way out of Toy Story Playland. We have an 11.30 am reservation at Restaurant des Stars for lunch, as we could only get Bistro Chez Remy for 5pm. As we pass the Tower of Terror, we see it has a 15 minute wait time, and figure there should be enough time for Peter to ride it before lunch. Meanwhile, I take some footage of the outside, and then notice the area being roped off. I wonder whether some characters are going to come past, and decide to stay in position. After a while I hear the Star Wars music and realise it’s the March of the First Order. However, from my position outside ToT, I really can’t see a thing. I do, however, realise that it’s in French. Looking at my times guide I see the English version is at 12.30 so I figure we should be out of the buffet by then to see it. So I’m not particularly bothered.

Time ticks on, and the full Star Wars show begins. Peter should have appeared by now, and I start to get slightly concerned, so I text him. I get the reply ‘still waiting to get on’. What? It’s been at least half an hour already.

I figure it will be at least another 10 minutes, so I text that I’ll meet him outside the restaurant, and meanwhile take the opportunity to watch a little of the show. It’s just coming to an end, and the audience seems to have enjoyed it, so we will make the effort to catch the English version later.

Eventually, at about 11.40 Peter appears. It turns out that he had to wait to one side while a large group went on, but he did enjoy the ride when he finally got to it! Meanwhile we head into the restaurant, apologising for our lateness, but frankly the place is practically empty as usual, so they don’t mind at all.

Our last trip was the first time we tried Restaurant des Stars, and the food is actually pretty good. There’s a decent amount of choice for all ages, including some good desserts. However, since they stopped doing ‘little Remy’ here, the restaurant seems to have lost its purpose. Its décor – supposedly a movie studio commissary, aka a canteen – doesn’t really inspire you to spend time there. I have felt for a while now that it would be a perfect place for a Marvel character meal, which would really bring in the crowds. However, at the moment it’s just a bland beige building, inside and out.

We remind ourselves that we need to eat lightly to leave room for Remy later, and so mostly have some salad items, a few bits of cold meat and cheese, a piece of quiche and a few small desserts. Believe me, we could have had a lot more!

[Gill H]

As we come out, I realise I’ve left my sweatshirt on the back of the chair, and have to pop back in and ask a CM to pass it to me. We still get out with enough time to find a spot to watch the March of the First Order. All the places near the ropes are already full, and a lot of people are sitting down waiting – but of course as soon as things to start to happen, everyone stands up and we have to try and squeeze a view in between people filming with iPads, and people with kids on their shoulders. The family next to us have a young lad in one of DLP’s ‘19th century sanatorium’ style buggies. He looks a little old to be using a buggy and I suspect he may have a disability or special needs of some kind. He really can’t see a thing now everyone has stood up, and we move aside slightly to give him a chance. He manages by standing on the buggy and straining to watch. I hope he thought it was worth it, because personally, I don’t think either the March or the show are really that good. Then again, we’re not exactly hardcore Star Wars fans – in fact we’d forgotten that Captain Phasma was a woman! The March finishes, a few people leave and the family next to us start to make a move too. We warn them that the show is starting soon, but their other son wants to go over and meet some of the Storm Troopers who have just left the stage, so off they go.

(Sorry, no pictures of the March or the show, but they both feature in Peter's video!)

We have a slightly better view for the show, but to be honest we still aren’t that fussed. It’s mainly clips from all the films, strung together with sporadic appearances by everyone’s favourite characters. Fine as far as it goes – but the characters don’t really interact with each other much, or do anything particularly interesting. They basically pop up, get cheered at and disappear again. There could be a great show here, but this isn’t it.

It’s now time for our Ratatouille Fastpass so we go back over to Place de Remy. However, once we are in the queue, the ride goes tech. We aren’t being hustled out of the building, so figure it may only be a temporary glitch, and decide to wait it out. Meanwhile others are deciding to leave, which puts us even nearer the front of the queue. Fortunately we only have a 10 minute wait before the ride is fully up and running again, and we get another go at this great adventure.

We haven’t done Stitch Live yet, and that’s a favourite of ours. As usual, this is far from full – I really think they should make more of this great little attraction as it’s always fun, particularly when Stitch decides to go way off script! This time he sticks pretty much to the standard storyline, but the interactions with both children and adults are fun as ever.

We grab a quick coffee from a nearby kiosk, and sit on a bench to drink it and relax a little while, before going over to the Animagique theatre for the superb ‘Mickey and the Magician’ show. As always, queuing for this show is a bit stressful, as we’re herded into what feels like a human sheep-pen and have to defend our place in the queue. And of course, when we get in, everyone has sat in the middle and there are only single seats left on the end of rows. Disney really need to get their CMs enforcing the ‘move right to the end of the row’ thing here.

We do eventually manage to find two seats together, and settle down to watch this amazing show. Much as we loved the old Animagique show, this is another level altogether, and really should be a must for every visitor to the Studios. Truly magical.

It’s about 4.45 by the time the show finishes and we come out, so we head over to Bistrot Chez Remy for our 5pm reservation. Unfortunately the CM at the desk is being a stickler for the rules, and won’t even let us check in and go to the waiting area until dead on 5pm, so instead we sit outside at the tables and chairs which have appeared in the area recently. Unfortunately there is nowhere to buy a drink (perhaps this is coming?) so Peter goes over to the souvenir shop to get us some drinks. He comes back having only managed to get a bottle of water, so we share that, and do some people watching. Lots of people are going into Bistro Chez Remy in hopes of a walk-up, and being turned away – so if you want to eat here, you really do need to make a reservation!

At 5pm we go back inside and this time we’re allowed to check in at the waiting area, which as usual is really full. Eventually our name – or at least an approximation of our name – is called, and we’re taken through and shown to a table.

The people next to us are a Spanish family with an excited little girl and an overtired toddler, who they manage to keep relatively happy throughout the meal, but not without a lot of effort!

Our salad starter has changed since our last visit here. The Asian style sesame dressing has been swapped for a classic French dressing, which makes much more sense in Remy’s bistro. I do think they could do with at least one other choice of starter on the menu, but the salad is fine.

As before, our steaks are tasty and beautifully cooked, medium as requested. They have expanded the range of sauces available since last time. Peter goes for the béarnaise while I stick with the excellent chef’s sauce.

The little dish of ratatouille seems to have changed recipe too – it’s not so heavy on the courgettes as last time, and much nicer.

Our friendly server, Sarah, asks afterwards how we enjoyed our meal, and Peter says it was lovely. Sarah laughs and asks ‘As lovely as me?’ to which Peter diplomatically responds ‘No-one is as lovely as you … except my wife!’ Bullet dodged there…

For dessert we both go for ‘Gusteau’s dessert’. I gather this changes seasonally, and at the time it’s a choux pastry dessert (my pastry chef hubby comments that it’s actually a religeuse, which are supposedly shaped like a nun!) This nun is wearing bright pink icing with white iced flower petals, which strikes me as a slightly unusual habit, but looks beautiful. They are filled with crème patissiere, but unfortunately it has split slightly and tastes rather grainy. It’s OK, and we do eat it, but it isn’t the best. We mention it to our server and she apologises, but we don’t ask for a refund or anything – it’s just feedback so they are aware there’s an issue.

[Gill H]

By the time we come out of our meal, it’s about 6.30 and we decide to leave the Studios now, rather than get caught in the melee when it closes at 7pm. So we head out of the park and stroll back over to Disneyland Park.

Once there we check some wait times on the DLP app. Even though wifi hasn’t yet been rolled out to the Disneyland Park, I’m able to use data thanks to the wonderful EU ruling to drop roaming charges across Europe – nice one! Sadly there are long wait times for BTMR (75 minutes) and POTC (45 minutes) and we realise that at this time of day, once the parade is over and the stage shows have finished, everyone not in a restaurant is on the rides. However, heading into Fantasyland we see that Dumbo only has a 20 minute queue. I think this is the first time we have ever ridden Dumbo outside of EMH, because let’s face it, this is one of the most boring queues ever. We feel every one of those 20 minutes, and perhaps even a few more. But at last we are boarding our elephants and getting that lovely view over Fantasyland. Not before we’ve exchanged a few cheery words with the CM who is loading the ride – a lovely girl who is a dead ringer for Merida. We ask her afterwards if she happens to be friends with Merida, and she laughs and says thank you, but no. We say she should be!

We follow this up with a quick jaunt round the globe at IASW, which as ever has a short and fast moving queue. By the time we get off, they are starting to close Fantasyland in preparation for Illuminations, so we go and find ourselves a spot in the huge crowd. As usual we end up in front of the ‘gardening hut’ which has a reasonable view, but after a few minutes we are joined by a family with a buggy, on which is tied a huge Minnie balloon. Which is right in our eyeline. Oh dear.

We get chatting to the family, who are friendly enough, and eventually ask if they could perhaps move the balloon during the show so we can see. They try their best to stow it in a bag hung on the buggy, and everyone’s happy. Then just before the show starts, someone else with a Mickey balloon stands in front of us – oh well. It’s just one more distraction alongside the kids on shoulders, ipads in your face and people blowing smoke at you. This reminds me why we come off season! To be fair, there are now announcements made before the show regarding smoking, and also selfie sticks (a few of which are obscuring our view as well). However, the announcements are only in French and English, and since pretty much everyone around us is Spanish, this is of limited use.

(No pics of Illuminations, too busy watching it!)

Eventually Illuminations begins. This is our first time seeing it, and we have to agree with most reports I’ve read – it’s a good show, but not a patch on Dreams. Dreams was created for Sleeping Beauty’s castle, and used its particular shape for effects like the Notre Dame window, or the turrets becoming fireworks. Illuminations, on the other hand, is off the peg - a tweaked version of a show created for Shanghai Disneyland, and it shows. Much of it would frankly look better on a flat screen. It’s basically an introduction to classic characters and films, for an audience who didn’t necessarily grow up with them. That probably works fine in Shanghai, but here it feels like an unrelated barrage of clips, thrown together with nothing to connect them. In place of the ‘Peter Pan’s shadow’ storyline, we get Mickey popping up occasionally, but there is no progression or emotional journey. And it is even more heavily weighted to the newer films than Dreams was. You would be forgiven for thinking Disney didn’t make any films until The Little Mermaid.

Much has been made of the Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean sections. And yes, they look good in themselves, and elicit cheers from the crowd. But they really don’t fit alongside the animated scenes, and we feel like we’re suddenly watching a different show altogether. And let’s not talk about the section from the live action Beauty and the Beast. It feels laughably like they just cut and pasted a trailer for the film in the middle of the show. And not only did they use the rather lacklustre new song ‘How Does a Moment Last Forever’ – they cut it in a horrible place in the middle of a key change! Poor Celine Dion, she didn’t deserve that.

Don’t get me wrong, Illuminations is a good show and we’ll watch it on future trips. But whereas Dreams was a must do most nights for us, Illuminations will probably be once a trip.

After the show we hang back a little to let the worst of the crowds disperse, and emerge out of Liberty Arcade into Town Square just in time to see Mickey’s ‘kiss goodnight’. He’s standing on the viewing area next to the platform of Main Street station, looking over the railings and waving goodnight, calling greetings in several languages to the departing guests. It’s a lovely way to exit the park.

Out in the Village, we initially head for World of Disney to look for some pins and magnets. But the crowds have descended, and it’s just too busy and stressful in there to make it worth the bother. We decide we’ll come back another time. Likewise we pop our heads into the Disney Store as we pass, but again, it’s just too crowded to be enjoyable. So instead we stroll home to the lovely Newport Bay.

We decide to check out the luxurious Captain’s Quarters bar, which feels like an old fashioned gentlemens’ club (well, I imagine it does – obviously I don’t have any direct experience of such things!) We ponder whether to have a glowtini, but decide instead to try one of the specially created 25th anniversary cocktails. It’s a ‘Reve d’Etoile’ (Dream of a Star) and costs a scary 15 Euros. We’re going to take our time over these!

Fortunately they are lovely. According to the menu they consist of ‘lime and fresh raspberries, lychee fruit mix, rose cordial, Infusions raspberry Skyy vodka, raspberry nectar, fizzy sugar, ginger beer’. The fizzy sugar (aka popping candy) creates a lovely little buzz in the mouth but doesn’t mask the fruity flavours of this delicious drink. Oh, and did I mention it has a glowcube? Or more accurately a glow star! In keeping with the ‘stars’ theme of the 25th anniversary, the usual glowcube has become star shaped. Nice touch.

We check out the bar snacks available, but they are ridiculously expensive and nothing really tempts us, so when we’ve finished our drinks we go over to the shop. Peter needs something to eat to take his nightly tablets with, so he buys a bag of crisps in the shop, and also gets a 25th anniversary hat (which he subsequently manages to lose somewhere) and a resort pin.

We pop over to the reception desk, as we’ve decided to cancel our reservation for the Silver Spur tomorrow. We had such a good steak today that we don’t want to have another tomorrow, and the non-steak options on the Silver Spur menu don’t really inspire us. The CM has a look on the system but can’t find our reservation, and the concierge desk is shut now, so we decide to sort it out tomorrow.

And with that, we collapse gratefully into our comfy bed after another wonderful day.

>>>Day 3

INDEX

[clochette]

A busy day Gill. I'm with you on the breakfast front; it just doesn't seem worth the hassle, particularly when it will eat unto the reduced EMH(Pardon the pun!)

Looking forward to the next installment.

[Beaker7929]

That cocktail looks really good! I'm adding it to the list for January

[Gryff]

A long but good day

[Guest]

I loved "Animagique" - so it's good to hear that you think its replacement is actually an improvement. Unlike "Dreams", it sounds like - and that's too bad.

One of my gripes with Disney recently is the same as your poke at "Illuminations". Can we PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE get a little love for movies made before the 1989? I know this doesn't fit in with Iger/Chapek/their ilk's "synergistic marketing strategy" (vomit) - but still.


Our first DLP stay was at Newport Bay - I really liked it. The only other time we stayed on property we were at Sequoia Lodge - which R.C. likened to "an underground burial vault". He loathes dark hotels, even if "dark" is part of the theme.

And I am with you totally about one theme for the holiday. I'm disappointed to see you didn't get your nautical togs on for a little NB photoshoot!

[Guest]

Glad you liked Mickey & the Magician. I loved it but Darrin found it "cheap magic tricks" and a bit panto. I naturally disagreed with him.

[Cazzius]

Another busy day.

How odd the the 'sweet' option was a tiny roll with jam, but the savoury option was that huge omelette burger!

I haven't researched it, but I think the dining/reservations system at Disneyland Paris would really confuse me - you both seem to be doing really well with it though and have had some delicious looking meals.

A shame that they couldn't create a dedicated nighttime show like Happily Ever After, you would think with all the sprucing the park had received a new nighttime piece would be the cherry on the cake.

Despite the long queues it seems like you still had a productive day - and those special glow drinks look like the perfect night cap