Charlie's First DLP Adventure - August 2018 - Day 2: EMH Fun and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Index can be found here

Friday 10th August 2018
Steps: 26,885
Miles: 11

The alarm went off bright and early today at 6:45am as we were determined to make it to the parks for EMH! I was out of bed at 7am and was most happy to see that all that pesky rain from yesterday was long gone and we were instead being greeted by beautiful sunshine and a gorgeous blue sky! (If you really squint you can definitely see that lake view we paid extra for…)

By 7:50am we heading into Hunter Grill for breakfast, and this morning we met with Paul’s Mum and John so we could all eat together. On entering the lovely CM was making a fuss of Charlie and gave him a 25th anniversary chocolate coin (Charlie doesn’t have chocolate as yet but I can assure you this did not go to waste )

The breakfast on offer was the same as what we had seen yesterday so I won’t bore you with too much detail, to be fair I must have been pretty distracted this morning as I only have a photo of Charlie’s breakfast, none of mine or Paul’s!

With food devoured we waved goodbye to Joan and John (they weren’t going to the parks until later in the day) and by 8:35am we were heading out of the restaurant and out to the lake to start our walk round to Disneyland Parc. It was such a beautiful, bright morning.

We arrived at Disneyland Parc at 8:45am, 15 minutes after EMH had started so not bad going for us!

On entering the park we made our way straight down Main Street to the castle, it was lovely making this walk with it being that much quieter.

The castle looked so beautiful with the stunning blue sky as a backdrop, I of course had to stop for a load of photos!

We only had limited time as today was Tam’s birthday and we were due to meet the rest of the group at 10am to do cards and presents so our plan of action was to head straight to Fantasyland and tick off some rides there whilst it was nice and quiet. To get there we headed straight through the castle.

First up was Dumbo, which was only at a 5 minute wait. This was always pretty busy so we were glad to get on with a nice short wait. After parking up the pushchair we joined the queue with Paul holding Charlie, the early start was clearly catching up with him as he was very tired and giving Paul lovely cuddles whilst we waited!

After riding Dumbo (which Charlie seemed to enjoy!) we headed over to Peter Pan’s flight which was only a 10 minute wait. On leaving there we popped Charlie back into his pushchair and within minutes he was asleep! We took that as a sign that it was time to make our way back to the hotel to meet the rest of the gang.

We made it back to the room at 10am and after a quick turnaround were back downstairs in the bar area to meet Tam for her birthday morning celebrations. It was lovely all being together to watch her open her cards and presents, what a great place to celebrate turning 40… the cogs were already turning thinking about when I come to celebrate this milestone! (I have a fair few years yet but it’s nice to think ahead!)

Everyone started to disperse at about 11:30am, heading in various different directions. We decided to make our way to Walt Disney Studios and spend a few hours there (other than the quick trip in last night we had definitely been neglecting this park up until now!). By 11:50am we were making our way through the entrance.

The first stop was into Toy Story Land where we met up with Tam, Craig and the kids. They were going to ride on Slinky Dog as it was only a 15 minute wait. Charlie had fallen asleep again by this point so Paul went on to ride with them whilst I went for a stroll with Charlie to keep him sleeping soundly.

Whilst I had some time to kill I made my way over to Ratatouille with the intention to pick up some FPs but on arriving there the return time was too late in the day and would clash with when we needed to be at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (we were booked for the 6:30pm sitting but had to be there an hour before).

With that plan scuppered I slowly made my way through the park over to Tower of Terror. It felt much busier today, you could definitely see the difference in crowd levels from yesterday. On reaching ToT I found the return time for FPs at 1:05pm which seemed more achievable! I had Joan and John’s cards too so I got FPs for all of us with the thinking that I would let Paul ride with them whilst I waited with Charlie and then could give my FP to someone else. On making it up to the machine I couldn’t get the cards to scan so the CM manning them kindly took all the cards to another machine and did them for me!

As Charlie was still asleep I continued walking, but Studios isn’t a huge park so I found myself going back on myself a few times! I eventually caught back up with Paul and the rest of the gang, the wait time for Slinky Dog had been closer to 30 minutes rather than the 15 posted!

With some of the group heading off to ride Ratatouille with their hotel FPs (if you are staying in Golden Forest you get one extra FP a day that can be used on any ride, just not between 1-4pm) so we, along with Joan and John, decided to go and grab a drink from Blockbuster Cafe.

On making it over there we bumped into Paul’s Dad and Val who were stopping for a coffee. On mentioning that we had FPs for ToT they kindly offered to sit with Charlie so all four of us could ride it together. So off we headed to check in to the Hollywood Hotel! This was such a lovely turn of events as back when we visited WDW together John hadn’t wanted to ride so had sat it out, I was so happy we were getting another chance to ride it all together now!

Despite having FPs the queue was very slow moving… possibly it felt more so as I was very conscious about getting back to Charlie! We entered the FP line at 1:14pm and eventually were loaded onto the ride at 1:42pm.

I am happy to report that John loved it and assured us he would be riding again when he returns to WDW! On leaving ToT it was straight back over to the Blockbuster Cafe to relieve Alan and Val of their Charlie babysitting duties! He had been a little angel for Nanny and Grandad and had made his way through a load of crisps and rice cakes!

Waving goodbye to Alan and Val we decided it was time for some lunch and Joan and John decided to join us as they too were feeling peckish. As quick service food options are pretty few and far between in Studios we headed out of the park and made our way to the Village, settling on the Sports Cafe as it was lovely and quiet in there so we found a nice booth near the back. By now I was 2:30pm, breakfast felt like a long time ago!

The food offerings in the Sports Cafe are pretty simple but perfect for what we were needing. I opted for the chicken nuggets and chips which I shared with Charlie and Paul had the chicken burger and chips. We both got a Coke and Paul got a beer too.

We left the Sports Cafe at 3:15pm with a plan to quickly pop back to Studios as I wanted to visit the gift shop by the entrance… it seemed ludicrous to me that we had got this far into the trip and I was yet to buy anything! Absolutely unheard of for us!

I soon out it right though after having a mad dash picking up various things! I was torn between two jumpers, I loved both of them so after trying both on and still not being able to decide I came to the only possible solution… buy both! These were €39.99 each, which felt pretty reasonable given the lovely quality… I’m excited for the weather to get cooler so I can wear these!

With jumpers for me sorted I also wanted to pick up some bits for Charlie so also into the basket went a Mickey Mouse plate, bowl and cutlery set (I didn’t note the price of these, sorry!) and also a set of 6 figures for €19.99 (these are supposed to be bath toys but we aren’t using them in the bath as I don’t want the to go all mouldy, they are far too lovely!)

Just as we were about to leave the shop I realised I was missing something most important… my Minnie ears! I had taken them off when trying on the jumpers! On returning to where the jumpers were they were no where to be seen! I asked a nearby CM and thankfully they had been handed in and put out back… luckily I was wearing Luby and Lola ones, had they of been DLP ears I am not sure how I would have ever proved they were mine!

Feeling much better after a little spend up we left Studios to make our way back to the hotel, exiting the park at 3:50pm. We were back in the room by 4:10pm and then set about getting ourselves showered and changed for the evening.

We had made a plan with the rest of the group to meet outside Buffalo Bills at 5:30pm. On the walk there Charlie had fallen asleep in the pushchair (his nap times really were all over the place on this trip but at least he was clocking up some snooze time as we went along so that’s all that mattered!)

Once everyone had arrived we headed in and joined the queue for category 1 seating.

On checking in we were allocated to the green team (there are four teams of green, red, blue and yellow) and were given our colour coded cowboy hats… these of course made for great photo opportunities!

It was at this point the news was broken to me that there are no high chairs available for this dining experience. To be fair I should probably have done some research prior to arriving so I was already aware of this, but as it took me totally by surprise I was a little panicked! Due to the stadium style seating around the arena it made sense that high chairs wouldn’t really work but given it was a family show I just assumed there would be some sort of work-around. You also aren’t able to take pushchairs in (understandably) so I was very concerned about how we were going to make it through a 90 minute dining experience and show with no option but to hold Charlie the entire time!

On making it into the arena my concerns escalated on seeing the set up of the tables and benches… the tables were very narrow and packed full with plates, cutlery, drinks and tortilla chips. Now Charlie is a very active and inquisitive baby… if we were to sit with him on our lap in front of that lot it would all be swiped to the floor within minutes!

To make life a little easier we sat at the end of our row with the plan that we would take it in turns to sit on the steps with Charlie on our lap… away from grabbing distance of everything! And in reality it actually worked out ok as Charlie was an absolute superstar and sat perfectly the whole time just watching the show and taking it all in!

Now aside from the slight stress of the no high chair situation, I cannot fault this dining experience… it as brilliant! The food on offer is Tex Mex so a selection of chilli, cornbread, ribs, potatoes, sausages and chicken and then apple crumble and ice cream for dessert. There is also unlimited water, Coke or beer served throughout the meal. Apologies for the serious lack of food photos, we were rather distracted juggling eating and holding Charlie! The chilli was absolutely delicious!

The show was also great fun! Sadly I couldn’t give it my full attention but what I did see was brilliant. I wouldn’t hesitate to do this dining experience again, but I will most certainly wait until Charlie is older and able to sit independently!

The show finished at 8pm and before leaving we managed to get a half-decent photo of the three of us (all looking at the camera, it’s a miracle!)

We were back out in the village at 8:10pm and after hanging around for a few photos with the rest of the gang we decided to move on into Disneyland Parc.

On making it into the park we headed straight to IASW as Joan and John wanted to ride with Charlie to make up for not all being together on his first ride the day before.

It was only a 5 minute wait so we practically walked straight on… well we would have walked straight on if it hadn’t been for some stupid family who had failed to leave their pushchair at the entrance and instead were trying to load the boat with it! After a bit of commotion with the CMs trying to politely explain to them they needed to leave it outside they eventually settled on collapsing it and putting it in the boat… not sure what was so precious about this pushchair that meant they couldn’t just leave it at the side and pick it up once they got off… there truly are some strange people out there!

After that baffling debacle we were loaded into the next boat in the front row and our way!

On leaving IASW we decided we wanted to ride POTC again after enjoying it so much the day before so we headed straight in that direction.

On arriving it was showing a 20 minute wait so in we headed. On seeing the ride photo at the other end I was a little annoyed with the guy in front as by putting his arms up he had completely blocked Charlie’s face! Now I don’t like to be a spoilt sport but the drop on POTC really doesn’t deserve this much of a reaction, it’s tiny (Ok I have my hands up, but to a much lesser extent!)

On leaving POTC Charlie was becoming rather unsettled due to be so tired so we made a stop outside Hakuna Matata so I could give him a quick feed with the hope he would then fall to sleep in the pushchair. This didn’t quite go to plan as despite having a full belly on leaving the park at 10:30pm he was very upset. There was only one thing for it… Say Hello to the Sun had to be played! As always it worked it’s magic and during the walk around the lake he drifted off to sleep.

We were back in the room by 11pm, I managed to change Charlie’s nappy and get him into his Pjs without him waking but on trying to get him into his sleeping bag he woke up. After another quick feed he was soon back to sleep and down in the cot.

Paul had heard from Tam and they were down in the hotel bar having a drink. He quickly popped to the ice machine down the corridor to fill up the ice bucket for me and then headed down to join them. With ice now available I popped some wine I had brought with me in the ice bucket to cool (yes that is sparking wine in a can, don’t judge me… it’s really nice!). If I couldn’t join them for drinks downstairs I would have a little tipple up in the room on my own!

Once I was in my Pjs I climbed into bed with my wine and a bag of Twirl bites… living the dream! I was down to sleep at 12:20am with Paul still downstairs. Once again I didn’t hear him come in so I have no idea what time he got back!

So that brings our second full day to a close, an early start for EMH and a fun evening at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show (no highchair drama aside!). Tomorrow sees us experiencing our first ever character dining experience, eating lunch at Annette’s and Charlie watching his first ever parade!

Day 3 can be found here