The Fab 4 Assemble: DLP August 2022 - Day 1

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Index can be found here

Thursday 18th August

It was a good night sleep for us all with Cody only waking up once at 3am (given what a terrible sleeper he normally is this was somewhat of a miracle… must be the Disney magic!). My alarm went off at 7am, I allowed myself one snooze and then got myself up for a shower whilst the boys were still asleep.

After getting myself ready I tried to wake Charlie up, but he was very resistant to get up, telling me he wanted more rest! Not the Disney attitude young man, we have extra magic hours to get to!

After some gentle persuasion I finally managed to get all three boys up and out of bed. By 8:15am we were all set and leaving the room to head over to the parks.

We hadn’t booked any sort of breakfast on this trip so to keep them going for now I brought both boys some cheerios to eat in the pushchair on the walk. We made the long walk out of the hotel, arriving outside to a beautiful bright morning. The view of that lake never gets old.

We made it to the security tent at 8:30am and despite a bit of a queue we were through pretty quickly (we put all the loose bits we needed under the pushchair into a tote bag so it could all be grabbed together to go through the scanner… such a time saver!)

They weren’t offering extra magic hours in Studios during our trip (due to Avengers Campus so recently opening) so our first port of call was Disneyland Park! We were very excited to see Mickey and Pluto up on the train station waving everyone in!

We did the obligatory walk down Main Street towards the castle, enjoying that it was that bit quieter being so early in the day. On making it to the castle we stopped for some quick photos, before swinging a left and making our way down the side of the castle to get into Fantasyland. I love the view of the castle from this angle, it’s great for getting an undisturbed background too!

On making it through to Fantasyland we headed straight to Peter Pan, as just like in WDW it always has crazy long wait times throughout the day, so this was our best shot at getting on it without too much hanging around!


There was no standby wait time out front but on checking the app it said 15 minutes, so we headed on in. The queue is pretty dull as just a windy line outside, so we made the most of the time by taking some photos! Luckily being so early on in the day the boys were in great spirits, so the wait wasn’t an issue at all.

The app clearly wasn’t quite accurate as it actually took us 25 minutes to get through. On boarding our ship Paul and Cody sat in the back and Charlie and I rode up front. As I always say for this ride, it’s lovely but definitely doesn’t warrant the crazy long queues that it generates!

By the time we made it out extra magic hours was pretty much over so we headed straight over to the Casey Jnr. Train which was just about to open. We were the only ones over there so ended up being the first ones in the queue and having the whole train to ourselves! Charlie rode up front with Paul and I sat with Cody in the carriage directly behind.

This little rollercoaster was actually much faster than I remembered, but it has no height requirement so Cody was technically fine to ride it with us… but let’s just say he wasn’t too much of a fan! I think his face makes it out much worse than it actually was, I think being so early in the day and being pretty tired had a lot to do with his reaction here! No child was harmed in the riding of this rollercoaster, I promise!

Thankfully it is a pretty short ride so we were soon off again (Cody was fine!) and from there we headed straight over to the storybook boats which are right next door. It was still super quiet, so we walked straight onto these too!

Since our last trip to Disney Charlie has developed a bit of a fear of dark tunnels so I was a little concerned he would be a bit scared going into the cave section of this ride but thankfully he took it all in his stride and was absolutely fine!

Next up was the teacups which was a nice and short 5 min wait (although actually was probably less than that as we just had to wait for the current ride to finish and then we were straight on). Knowing that Charlie was likely to spin the teacup like crazy I opted to ride with Cody in our own cup!

On leaving the teacups we decided to head out of Fantasyland and made our way through to Adventureland. We took some time to explore the area here, checking out the pirate ship and looking in some of the caves in Adventure Isle. It’s not an area we normally spend much time in so this was fun!

We spotted that Pirates of the Caribbean only had a 15-minute wait so we parked up the pushchair and headed in (and we only ended up waiting 8 minutes, most of which was spent walking through to the actual ride!). Charlie has ridden this before, but I was a little concerned how he would react now he is that much older and knowing… the queue area is very dark and the actual ride is pretty scary with all the skeletons! My concerns weren’t unfounded as he came out in tears as was pretty terrified by the whole thing! We tried to make light of it and told him how brave he was in hope he might try it again at another point in the trip!

Thankfully Charlie’s tears dried very quickly, and he soon forgave us for taking him on such a terrifying ride! Next up was the Frontier Playground, an area I never even knew existed prior to this trip! It’s a lovely little area and wasn’t busy at all so Charlie had a great time on the slides and climbing frame.

There is also a lovely view of Big Thunder Mountain across the water!

Cody was getting tired and cranky by this point so we headed over to Fuente del Oro so I could sit down and feed him in the shade. Once plotted up in the lovely little courtyard there Paul popped away with Charlie for a toilet break and then headed inside the restaurant which had just opened and grabbed a coke and some fries for us to share. The lunchbox full of snacks also came out as Charlie was also feeling puckish so he tucked into some veggie straw and raisins.

By now it was 12pm and despite having milk Cody was still awake but very irritable and in need of a nap so we popped him in the buggy and took a stroll, by 12:10pm he was sound asleep!

Whilst Cody was sleeping Paul and Charlie headed into the Legends of the Wild West, another area that we had never explored before (it’s amazing what new little gems you find when visiting with kids!). I stood and waited with Cody whilst they went off to explore, and Paul did me proud by getting some great snaps of Charlie whilst in there!

Once they reappeared, we heard some commotion coming from the direction of the castle so we headed over to investigate and found that the Dream and Shine Brighter parade had just arrived. We didn’t have the best view as has arrived late but stood for a while trying to sneak a peek (we ended up seeing the parade several more times in the coming days with a much better view thankfully!)

Once the parade had headed back up Main Street we took a stroll closer to the castle to admire the fountains that were currently running, so pretty!

Charlie was starting to flag at this point, I think the late night the day before and the early start that morning had started to catch up with him! So we made the decision to have a little stop for lunch to refuel and recharge! Our destination for this was Café Hyperion in Discoveryland.

I headed to find a table with the boys whilst Paul joined the queue for food. This of course wasn’t the quickest of feats, as let’s face it… the French aren’t known for speed when it comes to food are they?! We loaded up on some burgers and fries and Charlie had chicken nuggets. We always stop here for food on our trips, and it never disappoints!

Feeling refreshed and recharged with lovely full bellies we headed back out at 1:50pm. My patience was tested at this point as trying to weave through tables with the double buggy was no easy task, not helped by countless rude French people that just refuse to move in the slightest to help you out (I admit some swear words were muttered in their direction!

Finally making it back outside we wandered back through Discoveryland towards the castle. I love this whole area, the views across to the castle are just stunning.

We wanted to have a look in a few of the shops, so we made our way towards Main Street, stopping for a few more photos along the way, is there anything prettier than Disney in the sunshine?!

By 2:30pm we were heading out of the park, stopping at the coin machine under the train station as I spotted a 30th anniversary one that I was keen to have for the memory box.

Cody was getting rather grumpy in the pushchair so I transferred him to the baby carrier in hope that would perk him up (he is pretty heavy so just carrying him freely is a killer on the old arms).

As we made our way through Disney Village we stopped in a few more shops… including the Pixar store (where we found an imposter Lightening McQueen) and the Lego store.

Charlie was beyond exhausted at this point, so we coaxed him into the pushchair for the walk back to the hotel. It was pretty hot at this point, and we have a baby that refuses to wear a hat so there was nothing for it… the umbrella had to come out to keep him in the shade! I quite enjoyed the break from the sun too!

We made it back to our room at 2:30pm and despite our encouragement Charlie refused to have a nap but he did agree to rest up on the bed for some chill and TV time. Paul enjoyed this downtime to have a little snooze! Whilst there I also bathed both boys ahead of another evening of park fun!

By 5:30pm we were all freshened up and ready to head back out… not an easy feat to be fair and I made a comment to Charlie in the battle getting out of the door that he was exasperating… to which he replied “thank you”, not sure he quite understands that word yet!

Our destination for this evening was Walt Disney Studios Park, the first visit of this trip!

We made it through the turnstiles at 5:50pm, by 6pm Cody was sound asleep! That boy just can’t handle the excitement of entering a park for the first time it seems!

Our first port of call was of course Cars Road Trip for our Lightening McQueen mad boy! As we made our way round past Worlds of Pixar we stopped to make the most of the cute photo opportunities.

Cody was still sound asleep but we all wanted to ride this one together as it was the first time for us all so I got Cody out from his pushchair and carried him through the queue and managed to load onto the tram with him still asleep. As you can imagine, Charlie was buzzing with excitement at all the Cars theming!

We started making our way through and once we got to the explosion and water eruption Cody woke up as it was pretty loud! Thankfully he wasn’t too upset despite it being a pretty dramatic interruption to his slumber!

I know this ride gets pretty awful reviews, but we loved it, and seeing how much Charlie enjoyed it totally made it all that much more special! The Cars theming is lovely, and it was so wonderful seeing him spot all his favourite characters from the films!

On leaving the tram we decided to keep with the Cars theme and walked round to Cars Quatre Rous Ralley. Cody was too small for this one (it says it has no height restriction, but we knew from trying to take Charlie on in the past they don’t let children under one year old ride, which is pretty understandable as it does throw you around a fair bit), so I stayed with Cody to watch whilst Paul took Charlie on.

Charlie absolutely loved this ride and was in absolute hysterics the whole time at how much it was spinning him around… how he managed to hold onto Lightning the whole time I will never know!

From there it was time to head over and check out the newly opened Avengers Campus! I had seen in previous weeks that people were having to queue to get in this area of the park but we walked straight in. I must add a disclaimer here that as a family we aren’t too familiar with anything Avengers but regardless we were super impressed with the theming of this area!

Walking down to look at Flight Force it was hard to believe that this was ever Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster now, the retheming looked amazing! Due to limited time we decided against trying to ride anything today but we had full intentions of coming back so this was just classed as an initial glimpse into what was on offer!

It was now fast approaching dinner time, so we decided to head out to the village in search of food! We had intended on going to Rainforest Café but on arrival out front we were greeted by a hefty queue and were told by the host it would be around a 40-minute wait for a table, and with two hungry children in tow that didn’t sound realistic! From there we decided to give Vapiano a try as we had been there on our first trip back in 2017 and had a lovely meal, so off we headed past security to the outer skirts of Disney Village. On arriving it didn’t look too busy but on approaching the host we were told they only had high tables available any time soon which weren’t suitable for a highchair, so this was also a no go! A little frustrating as we now had to go back through security to get back into the main section of the village!

Back inside the village our next attempt was Planet Hollywood. We had also eaten here back in 2017 and hadn’t been overly impressed at the time, although I think the main issue had been arriving there so late and it was end of service so there was very little atmosphere! But we were short of options, so we were willing to give it another go! Paul quickly nipped up the stairs to check on wait time for a table whilst I waited with the boys. Thankfully they had tables available immediately, so we headed inside… by now it was gone 8pm and we were all very hungry!

We were seated in the downstairs area of the restaurant which was very busy and bustling! We parked up the pushchair in the buggy area and were quickly sorted with a highchair, so we were able to get the boys settled in no time.

The server came over pretty quickly and we made our orders, including a glass of wine for me (which arrived much smaller than I expected!). Charlie had been given some colouring which was keeping him occupied and I got some snacks and toys out of the bag to keep Cody happy whilst we waited for our food.

Whilst waiting for our food to be delivered a photographer came round and took some photos of us all. Now I am a sucker for a photo as you have probably guessed so when I saw them printed out I couldn’t’ resist! They initially wanted €50 for the 4 images but I managed to get them down to €40 (you can’t put a price on memories, right?!)

Our food soon arrived… a huge pizza for Charlie, noodles for Paul and the LA Lasagna for me which I shared with Cody along with some fries. The food was actually surprisingly good, much better than we were expecting, and this visit definitely restored our faith in the restaurant… not that we will be going back given that it is permanently closing!

Charlie had a fruit salad for dessert, and we settled up the bill so we could get going. By now it was 9:20pm.

On leaving Planet Hollywood we made our way back over to Disneyland Park, stopping outside to admire the beautiful entrance all lit up at night. It really is so beautiful!

On arriving inside the park Charlie was keen to ride Buzz Lightyear again so we headed towards Tomorrowland. I don’t think photos will ever do justice to how beautiful this park is all lit up at night. It gets me every time!

We made it out the front of Buzz and it was posted a wait time of 30 mins but in reality it only look 10 minutes to loading, happy days! Charlie again rode with Paul whilst I took Cody for a less competitive ride!

Paul beat Charlie again but thankfully he was a much more gracious loser this time! Leaving Buzz we then headed into Videopolis for a toilet and nappy stop. By now it was 10:20pm so I also took the opportunity to give Cody a feed as we were hopeful he would be ready to go to sleep very soon! Although he seemed far from sleepy and was much more interested in climbing up at the chairs!

Next stop was Star Tours for Paul and Charlie. Whilst they headed inside I took several laps around Tomorrowland in attempt to get Cody to sleep. He fought it for a while but finally at 10:45pm nodded off! The Star Wars theming in this area is pretty lost on me given I have never seen a film but there is no denying that it looks amazing lit up at night!

Paul and Charlie soon returned, and Charlie was absolutely buzzing as he had loved the ride so much (and it became the firm favourite of the trip!). We headed over to Space Mountain where we found the wait time only 10 minutes so I took the opportunity to have a ride. This was my first time entering through the main queue as I have always ridden single rider where the queue skips it all as you go round the side of the building. It was very cool to get the full experience. It turned out to be a walk-on and I even rode in a car on my own as it was so quiet.

As I left Space Mountain and met back up with the boys the fireworks had started which we were able to see from where we were in Tomorrowland.

We made our way back towards Main Street although now the fireworks had started it was of course very busy! We had no intention of watching the show on this first evening, however we couldn’t resist a little sneak peak as we made our way through! Charlie was absolutely exhausted by this point so had plotted himself up in the pushchair for a much-needed rest!

As Charlie was struggling with the crowds and the noise, we decided to make our way out of the park, making it to the exit at 23:45pm. By the time we were at the top of Main Street Charlie was sound asleep, missing Mickey waving goodbye to us all!

We started the walk back to Newport Bay, stopping at one of the kiosks in the village for a Nutella crepe for Paul (€9) and some macarons for me (7 for €9).

As we passed McDonalds Paul couldn’t resist the temptation to run inside for a couple of Cokes (€6.60), so we enjoyed this on the walk back to the hotel.

We made it back to our room at 12:25am… phew it had been a long first day! We managed to transfer Charlie easily to bed but Cody woke up in the commotion although after a quick change and feed was soon asleep again. After a little pottering around we both finally made it into bed at 1am. Exhausted but very happy!

[sheluk]

What an INCREDIBLE day! I’m continually amazed by how well you guys can push through and carry on. What a magical day and evening for you all.

Can’t believe space was a walk on!

Defo with you in the less spinning cup, makes me feel ugh just thinking about it!

Had no idea about the play ground either. Must have walked right past it!

Poor Charlie on pirates. It’s just good conditioning - I hope it didn’t bother him for too long!

Can’t wait for the next day xx

[redemma13]

Wow,that is an epic day! Well done on the kids for lasting so well! The pram must have been a god send! Looks like a great day! The food at planet Hollywood looks nice.

The macarons also look delicious- I love a macaron!

The kids look delighted with all the rides they did. Fab day!

Em

[Ilovedisney]

Loving your trip report. We are off to DLRP in March, havent been for several years and this report is making me excited.. so thankyou..

[Redrach1903]

Cody clearly loves a hotel sleep eh? There's your answer to restful nights – move into a hotel hahaha!

Aww Cody's wee face on the rollercoaster, bless him. And poor Charlie on Pirates. Reminds me of Jake at that age!

Loving all the wee gems you found for the kids

Can imagine the stress of trying to manouvre a double buggy round the park and restaurants etc! Not fun!

Dying at Charlie saying thank you to being called exasperating! HAHAHA!

Cody still sleeping being transferred to a ride! WOW! Gracie would never hahaha!

Such a fun and packed first day! I can't believe how late you all lasted! Hopefully the boys slept well! Will find out tomorrow

xx

[Guest]

Wow what a lovley long first day! You all had an amazing time, your report brought back memories of our trip in June and how fantastic it was, we didn’t fit as much as you did in a day though!

Agree DLP is a beautiful park and the Pirates ride and area is definetely better than WDW.

Interested to know what time you got up the next day!

[kadypants]

Wow, what an amazing first day!

We have just booked a trip for a few weeks time. Very last minute for us and I’m feeling out of the loop with DLP, so your report is getting me excited!

I can’t believe how much you managed to fit in on your first day! Can’t wait to read the rest. Thanks for sharing.

[HelenJNT]

Absolutely brilliant first day. I have missed your TRs so much.

Loved Cody’s first coaster - poor thing! I’m sure he’ll find his ride legs in due course.

Very impressed that Lightning/Flash McQueen has been with you the whole time. Hope I’m not tempting fate!

Absolutely gutted to learn Planet Hollywood is closing. I know it’s not fine dining but I really loved that LA lasagne. Sad times. Gorgeous photos they took of you all there.

Can’t believe Hyperspace was a walk on in August! No ride pic of you on your own though, boo.

Can I say chop chop for the next day now please…?!

[WIGGYSMUM]

Another full packed day !
I laughed at your comment about Charlie needing more rest , so Mary Poppins
A delicious looking dinner to fuel the last part of your long day!
Ps , I loved your skirt / tee shirt outfit 🥰

Emma x

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Originally Posted by sheluk

What an INCREDIBLE day! I’m continually amazed by how well you guys can push through and carry on. What a magical day and evening for you all.

Can’t believe space was a walk on!

Defo with you in the less spinning cup, makes me feel ugh just thinking about it!

Had no idea about the play ground either. Must have walked right past it!

Poor Charlie on pirates. It’s just good conditioning - I hope it didn’t bother him for too long!

Can’t wait for the next day xx

See more...

Haha our stamina has still held strong... these boys have no choice but to keep up!

That playground was brilliant, such a lesser known gem!

Originally Posted by redemma13

Wow,that is an epic day! Well done on the kids for lasting so well! The pram must have been a god send! Looks like a great day! The food at planet Hollywood looks nice.

The macarons also look delicious- I love a macaron!

The kids look delighted with all the rides they did. Fab day!

Em

See more...

I honestly don't know how we would have made it through without that double buggy... I think Paul would have ended carrying up Charlie back and forth from the hotel a lot!

Originally Posted by Ilovedisney

Loving your trip report. We are off to DLRP in March, havent been for several years and this report is making me excited.. so thankyou..

See more...

So pleased to add to the excitement... you are going to have the best time! We absolutely love DLP!

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Cody clearly loves a hotel sleep eh? There's your answer to restful nights – move into a hotel hahaha!

Aww Cody's wee face on the rollercoaster, bless him. And poor Charlie on Pirates. Reminds me of Jake at that age!

Loving all the wee gems you found for the kids

Can imagine the stress of trying to manouvre a double buggy round the park and restaurants etc! Not fun!

Dying at Charlie saying thank you to being called exasperating! HAHAHA!

Cody still sleeping being transferred to a ride! WOW! Gracie would never hahaha!

Such a fun and packed first day! I can't believe how late you all lasted! Hopefully the boys slept well! Will find out tomorrow

xx

See more...

Haha he does historically seem to sleep better in hotels... this might be the only option to getting this boy to sleep! Yet will then stay asleep when going on rides... there is no logic to that boy!