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Old 15 Nov 19, 01:18 PM  
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minnie52
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'The One Where They Do Disney' - Day One

I woke up around 7 when my alarm went off and the others were still sound asleep. I had slept really well – the beds were comfy, and the room was really quiet compared to the Premier Inn the night before. The pillows were tiny but puffy! I woke up to this view.





The girls were up not long after me at about 7.15 and Leah read for a bit while me and Ellie got ready. I had my top on that inspired the trip report title.



And the girls had matching Minnie tops on.



Dan woke just after 7.30 and we were all ready to go down to breakfast just after 8. There were only two or three people in front of us in the que for breakfast, later when we came out it was huge.

The breakfast room was busy and we were seated a way away from the buffet which was quieter but a pain if we forget anything – which we did drinks and cutlery!

There was a good selection at breakfast – a variety of croissants, baguette and ham and cheeses, yoghurts, fruit, popcorn () and some cooked items too – scrambled egg, potato circles, streaky bacon and little sausages. We had a slow leisurely breakfast and headed back up to the room at about 9. I sorted the bags out for the day and any snacks and drinks we wanted to take, made sure we had the tickets and we were ready to go.



We got the shuttle bus at around 10 – there were quite a few people waiting and we were packed in like sardines but we managed to get the first bus. The kids thought it was great fun – why do shuttle bus drivers always take corners so fast though! It was a leg workout trying to stay on my feet

But we made it without too many falls! When we got there the park had just opened so the ques for bag check looked fairly long – but they moved quickly and we got our first view of the big pink hotel. It is iconic of DLP that I would love to stay there one day! It would be so easy after watching the fireworks as well!



We exchanged our vouchers at the machine and headed through the turnstiles. We were walking down main street by 10.30. Not bad. The park was all decorated for Halloween and we weren’t in a particular rush to get anywhere this morning so we took a slow walk, taking it all in, it looked so pretty and we even had a bit of blue sky. I loved the Halloween decorations!







We took some pictures in front of the castle while the weather was nice.



By this point Ellie was desperate to explore inside the castle as this is something you cant do in WDW. We wandered around inside taking some pictures and headed onto the balcony to check out the view. Ellie loved this and wanted to go back and do it again but we never found the time unfortunately. The stained glass windows were my favourite!







And the view with the thorn bush!



We didn't really have a plan for any of our days (which is a first for me) so we decided that our first ride choice was Big Thunder Mountain. When we got there the standby que was 70 minutes so we grabbed a FP for 12.30 – 1.00 – it was perfect timing for our lunch reservation at 1.30. Two of my tickets wouldn’t give me a FP as it said they hadn’t been used to enter the park this morning, but when I explained this to a CM he wrote something on the FP’s so we could all use them later.

I checked the Disneyland app now and saw Pirates of the Caribbean was only a 5 minute wait and it was close by so we headed over. On the way we saw Jafar and Hook meeting – the kids were so excited about the amount of villains they saw around the park. The que was slightly longer than 5 minutes but it wasn’t long before we were boarding our boat. The kids sat in front with the adults behind. I enjoyed this ride – there are three drops which I think is more than WDW and I preferred it to the WDW version This was a common theme throughout the trip – there were a few rides I preferred this side of the pond!

Some more brilliant theming!



After we had come off we headed round into Fantasyland where the kids wanted to explore Alice’s maze. There was a short que to get in and then they split into two teams and were off! It was good fun and we had some lovely views from the castle in the middle.



When we came out we saw the Queen of Hearts meeting round the corner so we jumped in line. She was a brilliant meet, she made all the kids bow to her before she would sign there autograph book which they thought was hilarious.



By the time we had finished here it was time for our BTM fastpass so we headed back to Frontierland. This again, was a better ride than Florida – faster and I was terrified haha but also much smoother. Ellie loved it! (Not sure how well the ride picture will come out on here but she was in the front of the cart)





It was nearly time for our Inventions reservation, but we wanted to hotfoot it over to try and get a FP for hyperspace mountain before we went and we managed to get one for 3.20 – 3.50. The girls weren’t tall enough to ride so I volunteered to sit that one out!

We headed to the exit and asked a CM where to find Inventions and they pointed us in the right direction. I’d never been inside the Disneyland hotel before, and it looked lovely! The shops had Christmas displays in the window even though it hadn’t even been Halloween yet!



There was a que to check in which took about 10 minutes but the kids amused themselves watching the characters come and go. Once we got to the front we were seated right away. There was a long que for buffet food which I thought was disappointing – especially at a character meal – the kids were so worried they would miss someone.

We met Pluto, Mickey, Eeyore, Gepatto and Donald (I missed Geppatto because I was getting pudding!). The character interaction was good though and didn’t feel rushed at all. They had some cute themed desserts as well. The total was 229euros for 2 adults and 2 children.





By the time we had finished here it was time to head to the Space Mountain FP. Before they headed on, we all grabbed a FP for Buzz for later. I asked the girls what they wanted to do and they wanted to see the dragon. I enjoyed this and glad we made time to see it.



Then they wanted to do the carousel which was a 15minute que as they were still on Space Mountain I agreed– but the que didn’t seem to take that long. This ride seemed really short though!





Next up we met up with the others and headed back towards the castle to que for Maleficient. It was probably about a 30minute que but the kids entertained themselves playing clapping games and made friends with a couple of other children. She is obviously a super popular meet because when we got to the front – there was a family trying to push in before us and then really ranting at the CM who asked them to move back.

Then there was another man who jumped in behind our kids when they were having their autograph books signed to try and get his done too – thankfully the CM there were really good at controlling the situation and managed to remove him – I don’t think ours kids even noticed. After we had our meet, they had to take her in until they had given up and moved on to someone else no doubt! She was a brilliant meet! I’m so glad we got to do it.



Next, we decided to head to it’s a small world but on the way stumbled across a good parade spot – as it was only 20 minutes until it started we decided to sit down and have a rest and wait for it to start.

Just a few parade pics;









It was good but to me it’s not as good as Festival of Fantasy . Once it had finished we joined the scrum headed for it’s a small world. Again, I preferred this to it’s a small world in Florida!





When we got to the end of the ride we seemed to be at a standstill and an announcement was made that we would need to be evacuated. Leah thought this was brilliant! But backstage is not pretty – it wasn’t very disneyified at all but we did pass Ariel which was pretty exciting!

It had started to get dark by this point and everything was looking so pretty all lit up.



The others wanted to ride Star Tours but Leah didn’t want too – She wanted some new earrings so I said I would take her to have a look. It was lovely to spend this one on one time with her. We just wandered around main street – we didn’t find any earrings but we did share a Mickey shaped treat and she said she could do this all night with me This time was really special to me and I’m so glad we got to do it.









Another pretty Christmas display:



When we were finished we headed to Star Tours and played Top Trumps while we waited for them to come out. Once they had finished it was time to use our Buzz FP – I love this ride but always do so badly! But we had fun and that’s the main thing. It was bizarre to hear Buzz speaking in French in the que area though!



Once we had finished on Buzz we decided it was time to head home – it had been a pretty full on first day but we had had an amazing day!

The buses back weren't busy and we managed to get a seat and we were back in the hotel room at about 9. Ellie was asleep within minutes. It had been busy in the parks but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would have been and I was happy with what we managed to get done. Only thing left on our must do was meet Jack!
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Edited at 01:23 PM.
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Old 15 Nov 19, 03:21 PM  
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Lisa_Lollipop
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What a fab day, reading this has got me so excited for our trip next year! I love your Friends inspired t-shirt and the girls looked adorable in their matching Minnie jumpers!

I am in complete agreement with you about POTC, IASW and BTMR... I think the DLP versions are better than WDW too! How exciting to be evacuated off IASW world too, that's definitely not something that happens every day!

I welled up at Leah's reaction to time just the two of you, such a precious Mummy moment.

Such a fab read, thank you for sharing!
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Old 15 Nov 19, 05:52 PM  
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theCMG
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Great first day, I've never noticed the balcony inside the castle before the maze looks a lot less busy than we were there, tried so many times to do it but it always just seemed to be a queuing experience
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Old 16 Nov 19, 12:33 AM  
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A good first day. You have got me excited for our first visit in March. Love your ears girls 😊
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1st time DLP March 2020
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Old 16 Nov 19, 11:07 AM  
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minnie52
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Originally Posted by florida girl View Post
A good first day. You have got me excited for our first visit in March. Love your ears girls 😊
Thank you ah that will come round so quick and lovely to look forward to after Christmas!
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Old 16 Nov 19, 11:13 AM  
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minnie52
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Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop View Post
What a fab day, reading this has got me so excited for our trip next year! I love your Friends inspired t-shirt and the girls looked adorable in their matching Minnie jumpers!

I am in complete agreement with you about POTC, IASW and BTMR... I think the DLP versions are better than WDW too! How exciting to be evacuated off IASW world too, that's definitely not something that happens every day!

I welled up at Leah's reaction to time just the two of you, such a precious Mummy moment.

Such a fab read, thank you for sharing!
Thank you!

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I was quite excited about it - we even had to walk past the dolls

It will be one of my favourite memories I think - and will try and incorporate it into each trip now I know how special it is for her. It made me realise as well that it's not always about rushing to do as many rides and characters as possible!

Thank you

Originally Posted by theCMG View Post
Great first day, I've never noticed the balcony inside the castle before the maze looks a lot less busy than we were there, tried so many times to do it but it always just seemed to be a queuing experience
Thank you for reading!

Oh really - it was busy but no where near as bad as I was expecting!

it's so easy to miss things when there is so much to see!
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Old 28 Dec 19, 08:35 PM  
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caitlinsmummy
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I absolutely love the top (another Friends fan here too! )

The girls look adorable, but so grown up. Inside the castle looks amazing. I've heard so many people say the rides at DLP are much better, apparently BTM and Space Mountain are too.

The floats in the parade look amazing and so different. I can't believe how much you managed to fit in such a great day xx
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Old 29 Dec 19, 07:10 PM  
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minnie52
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Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy View Post
I absolutely love the top (another Friends fan here too! )

The girls look adorable, but so grown up. Inside the castle looks amazing. I've heard so many people say the rides at DLP are much better, apparently BTM and Space Mountain are too.

The floats in the parade look amazing and so different. I can't believe how much you managed to fit in such a great day xx
You cant beat friends!

I had heard and didnt really believe it to be honest 🤣 yes BTM and Space Mountain (according to DH because I am not brave enough for that until the girls make me go on! Lol!) were better too! I tried not to compare but it was hard not too lol!

The floats were really lovely in the parade! I had avoided watching any videos of it beforehand so it was nice to not know what to expect next! It was a busy one but I was so pleased with how much we got done and is one of my favourite ever Disney days! Xx
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Old 22 Jan 20, 07:12 PM  
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Jaimepef
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The One Where They Do Disney Day One

Great day. Glad the viz is getting better.

I still cant get over how far the platform jug was dragged by the ice. Had to be over 300 ft. Guess that gives us something to do Sunday.
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Old 18 Oct 20, 08:15 AM  
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Fantastic first day... we've been twice and can't believe we haven't been upstairs in the castle yet or in the maze! Definitely on our list for next time (fingers crossed 2021).

Your girls are gorgeous, so cute with their Minnie tops and ears.
I was really hesitant about doing DLP after 30yrs of WDW trips but I must admit I agree with you and there were many aspects that were better - especially some of the rides and the fireworks.

My DS (age 3 in December) asks every day when we're going back and it's been almost a year since we were there.

That special time with your daughter sounds lovely, fab memories for you both xx

Edited at 08:17 AM.
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