Beyond the Sea: Day 3 - last day at DLP

[Gill H]

<<<Day 2


As usual we are up at 6.30 and get ready over a cuppa. Today we also finally manage to get the coffee machine in the hotel to give us our freebie – but not before we’ve pressed pretty much every button we can find! To be honest the coffee isn’t great, but hey, it’s nice that it’s free.

We reach Disneyland Park gates at 7.45 and there is already quite a large queue to get in. We’ll know in the future not to assume every country goes back to school when we do…

Nevertheless we are soon in the park, and decide to head straight for Donald. If there is ever going to be a time to meet one of the main characters with the shortest queue, it’s now. And we’ve never met Donald in DLP before, whereas we have met the rest of Mickey’s friends previously at various times.

Even now, there is a reasonable queue, and of course Donald takes a good amount of time with each family, posing for pictures with each member of the party individually, and interacting with each of them too. Which is lovely … but it does make for a slow queue! Still, it’s great fun seeing how much he gets away with, particularly with the adults. He’s evidently had coffee for breakfast, because he’s really high spirited and loves to wind up the guests! Of course, being Donald, he flirts outrageously with the women, even those who are clearly not interested in dating a duck with anger management issues. It’s really funny to watch.

In the end it only takes about 25 minutes for us to get to the front of the queue. And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as we do, Donald has to go on a break. It seems to happen a lot to us – I wonder if they try to time it so the breaks happen when the next party is all adults, to avoid upsetting the little ones? Anyway, Donald gets every inch of fun even out of going for his break – he keeps popping his head out from round the corner and waving cheekily. But eventually he’s gone, and we settle for a chat with the people next to us while we wait. Like many people in the parks this week, this group are from Ireland, and we learn that the Irish schools are still off too.

Only a few minutes later, Donald is back. And as often happens – well, let’s just say he’s a little more subdued. But still fun!

We tell him we are about to go on a big ship, and as he is an expert on the water, we ask if he can show us his swimming technique. So the three of us do crazy swimming moves! It was definitely worth waiting to meet Donald, he deserves his status as Number 1 Duck.

We now decide it is Peter’s best chance to do Hyperspace Mountain while it’s quiet, so he goes off to do that, while I take a seat in Videopolis where I’ll meet him afterwards for breakfast.

When he comes back, he reports that he really liked the ride, and although the Star Wars overlay doesn’t fit with the Space Mountain theming at all, it was fun to do, and a much smoother ride than the previous version.

Breakfast is the same as yesterday – savoury option for Peter, sweet for me. We’re getting a bit bored of watching the Star Wars animation clips in here now, but at least there are plenty of places to sit.

By the time we finish breakfast it’s about 9.45 so Peter decides to get in the queue for Star Tours. However, we then realise that neither of us has the camera! Peter gave it to me while he went on Hyperspace Mountain, and I must have left it at my seat when we went to queue for breakfast.

We spend a panicky few minutes searching around the area we’d sat in, and asking fellow diners if they have seen a camera, with no luck. So we head over to the counter, where a jolly CM says yes, they have the camera. Phew! I thank him profusely, calling him ‘mon heros’ (my hero) which makes him laugh. Crisis averted!

[Gill H]

Peter gets in the Star Tours queue, which is long but hopefully should move quickly once the ride opens. Meanwhile I head over to BTMR to get him a Fastpass for later. I reach the gates with about 5 minutes to go till opening, so join the smaller crowd outside the ‘secret passageway’ into Frontierland. Soon we’re through and I have the coveted FP, with a 12.55-1.25 slot, so I walk on into Adventureland – spotting two intrepid adventurers in the trees, Kaa from Jungle Book and Zazu from The Lion King!

I’d arranged to meet Peter at POTC, but on the way I spot Genie with a very small queue, so I join it, and text Peter to tell him to join me. As I get near the front of the queue, I start to make plans about letting others go first so he has a chance to get there. The two women behind me are German, and in my rusty 30-year old school German I explain that I’m waiting for ‘mein Mann’ and if he doesn’t appear then they can go first. But then immediately ‘mein Mann’ appears! We have a great meet with Genie, who is up for busting a move or two.

Then we have a quick look at the nearby cart selling pineapple whips – a new thing for DLP since we last came – but it’s not open right now.

Finally we reach POTC and there’s only a 10 minute wait, which in real terms means it’s a walk on. We’re at the front pretty quickly, although we do have time to notice that some of the queue has had a wash and brush up during its long refurb. We are very excited to do this ride as we’ve heard so much about the changes and additions which have happened since we rode it last. But just as we get to the front of the queue, the ride goes tech. Wouldn’t you know it? The people who are in the boats are escorted off and given a Fastpass for later. Meanwhile we are taken back through the last part of the queue and across the bridge to go out. I decide to chance my luck and ask (nicely!) if we can have an open Fastpass too. I figure that since we were literally going to be the next ones on the boat, we deserve one! The CM goes to check with her manager, who says that’s fine, and she writes us an open Fastpass for any time that day. We smile and thank her warmly (it can’t be easy dealing with getting so many disgruntled people out of the ride), and move on.

It’s now about 11.15 and we realise that we never got round to organising a reservation for today’s lunch. We had intended to cancel Silver Spur, but last night they said they couldn’t see that reservation on their system, so we didn’t bother doing that today. So, as we’re passing Café Agrabah and it’s due to open soon, we decide to try there. As with Remy yesterday, they won’t let us in yet, so we have a little look round the shop (Treasures of Sheherezade) which mostly consists of dolls and accessories for them. It’s eerily empty, but will probably be full of little girls later on – but there’s nothing here for us. So we go across the way to La Giraffe Curieuse (The Curious Giraffe) an under-rated little souvenir shop where you can often find things for sale which aren’t in other places. We dither about one of the rather nice Simba t-shirts for Peter, but decide against it in the end.

[Gill H]

By now it’s 11.30 and Café Agrabah is open, so we go in and ask for a walk-up reservation, which is no problem. We go in and pay with our vouchers, choose our soft drink, and are taken to almost the same table we had last time, just near the Mint Tea bar.

This restaurant is a real gem for theming nuts like us. Around every corner there are little touches of Aladdin-style theming, and you really feel transported to Agrabah. We take it in turns to hit the buffet, which seems to have cut back its menu a little since our last visit, but which still has plenty of interesting hot and cold options. As you might expect, much of the food is Middle Eastern in style – chickpeas, hummus, vine leaves etc, as well as a ‘make your own kebab’ counter.

Unlike our last visit, this time everything is fresh and hot – a bonus of getting here when the restaurant opens! For dessert there are some traditional items such as baklava, some nice pistachio shortbread stars (those 25th anniversary stars again!), a prune tart, and most delicious of all, their famous chocolate sauce. I don’t know what they do to make it so creamy, but it really is worth saving room for. I go for some of the pistachio sauce as well, which is a nice change.

As with our last visit, we decide we’d like to finish the meal with a traditional mint tea, so Peter goes over to order and pay for this, as it’s not included with the voucher. He uses our room charge card, which we’ve been using for pretty much everything. This is a great addition to DLP and I hope more functions are added to it soon.

The mint tea arrives in a beautiful silvery pot with little decorated glasses to drink out of. Very light and refreshing, and a nice way to end our meal.

It’s now almost time for Peter’s BTMR Fastpass, so we go over to Frontierland and he joins the FP queue while I take some footage of the ride. He seems to be gone a very long time, and eventually I decide to go right up to a spot where I can get a good view of the carriages coming through, to get some close up footage. By pure chance, the first one to come through has Peter riding in it! See if you can spot him in the video. When he gets off, he explains that someone left their bag behind on the ride, and everyone had to wait until it was thoroughly checked. Good to know they are hot on security – and since I left the camera behind in Videopolis this morning, I am in no position to point fingers at anyone.

Looking at the DLP app, we see POTC is still down, so we decide to go and watch the ‘Princess Starlit Waltz’ show on the castle stage, which will be starting soon. We decide to go via the Adventureland gate, and as we pass the food cart selling pineapple whips, we see it’s now open – so we grab one to share.

It’s the first time we’ve tried DLP’s answer to the legendary Dole Whip and we’ve heard mixed reports. It is most decidedly not trying to be a Dole Whip, as several of the ingredients of that refreshing concoction aren’t allowed within the EU! Instead, it’s vanilla soft serve ice cream with pineapple juice and pineapple syrup. And as such, it tastes perfectly OK. Just don’t expect it to be anything like its American cousin, and don’t expect to see people wearing t-shirts singing its praises any time soon.

[Gill H]

And so to the castle stage for the first of this afternoon’s double bill of shows, the ‘Princess Starlit Waltz’. We arrive just a few minutes before it’s due to start, and although there are plenty of people gathered to watch, many of them are sitting down, and we easily find a place to stand at the back where we can see and aren’t obscuring anyone else’s view.

(Sorry, I have no photos of either show, but they feature heavily in Peter's videos, so check those out.)

Let’s put it out there right away. This is squarely targeted at fans of the princesses (or indeed fans of fans, as you’ll see in a moment!) The audience is at least 50% little girls dressed as Belle, Aurora, Elsa and the like. If your party is princess-phobic, this probably isn’t the show for you. But on its own terms, it’s a very well put together little show. The stage is a glittery blue with a huge silver tiara, and blue castle turrets (which seems a bit strange as we’re next to Aurora’s big pink castle – but it does fit with the anniversary colours, and perhaps the fairies were fighting about colour again). A statuette of a blue and silver Tinkerbell crowns the stage. The story features a man and a woman who are organising some kind of fairytale themed party with fans for each princess. The man hasn’t read the fairytale book he was supposed to read in preparation, and hence when the princesses arrive, he doesn’t know which fan to give which princess. We have to assume he is also colour blind, because it’s not difficult to figure out – Cinderella’s fan is blue, Belle’s is yellow and so on, to match their dresses. Somehow the princesses are all given the wrong fan, and have to do a complicated little dance to ensure all end up with the right ones. And, er, that’s it really. It’s not War and Peace, but it’s a nice little show, and if the constant ‘you can be a princess’ songs start to get too syrupy, you can just admire the dancing. By the way, in case you’re puzzled by the ‘starlit’ title, it doesn’t mean it takes place at night! Instead it’s yet another reference to the 25th anniversary ‘stars’ theme.

Once the show is over, we nip up to a great spot at the balcony overlooking the stage, and have a perfect viewing point for the next show. Which goes by the cumbersome name of “Mickey presents: Happy Anniversary Disneyland Paris!” Try getting that on a fridge magnet. However, if the name isn’t catchy, the song certainly is. Wisely figuring out that not much rhymes with ‘Paris’, the songwriters have given us a maddeningly memorable refrain of “Happy ann-i-ver-sa-REE, Disneyland Pa-REE” which we’re singing at odd moments for days afterwards.

The show takes us on an imaginary journey round the park, starting on Main Street with a barbershop style song and dance featuring Goofy. Then Max joins in and there are dancers in the signature 25th anniversary colours, leading into an ode to Frontierland with Woody, Jessie, Chip and Dale. We move to Adventureland with Baloo and King Louie, who are joined by Peter Pan and Smee, and dancers with pirate hats. Fantasyland is next, represented by the Mad Hatter, Alice, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and for some reason Duffy, before Pluto comes along to join in. And by now the dancers are sporting oversized top hats. Of course, the final land is Discoveryland, represented by dancers in cute ‘little green men’ hats, ushering in Buzz and then Stitch.

Once we’ve gone round the whole park in song and dance, they all start to sing about how someone very special is missing. Some of the characters even come down in front of the stage to ask the audience about it. “But who?” they sing? “Mais qui?” and then start to chant “Mais qui, mais qui” which turns into “Mi-ckey Mi-ckey!” Don’t say my trip reports aren’t educational...

Anyway, of course the main mouse himself appears in his special anniversary outfit, to round off the show. And in a rather nice final touch, all the characters go to each side of the stage and pose for a group photo. The crowd absolutely love the show, as do we. It’s one of the best character shows I’ve ever seen in DLP, and for any fan of the park it should be a must-do.

From the castle stage, the logical place to go (for me anyway) is IASW!

Following which, we decide to spend a few relaxing moments at March Hare Refreshments. Peter finds a seat and I go to get a coffee, but once I spot their speciality drinks, I know we have to try these. Moments later, I am in possession of two 25th anniversary hot chocolates, topped with cream, silver stars and blueberry syrup (which I guess is a nod to blue and silver). These are not cheap, but my goodness, they are yummy.

Incidentally, this is the first time we’ve been to March Hare Refreshments since our first ever DLP visit – a day trip back in 2000! We sit for a while and enjoy the hot chocolates, while checking the app to see if POTC is back up yet – which it isn’t. Are we ever going to get to do this ride?

Instead we head to our old favourite, Phantom Manor. Again, it’s quite busy but the queue moves reasonably quickly. Once at the door, Peter spots a group of people who are running up the steps straight into the queue. We decide to be charitable and assume they have queued with the rest of us and just went down the steps to take some photos of Big Thunder Mountain. But we do have a sneaking suspicion they might have just gone straight up the steps and jumped the queue!

Once inside, the spooky atmosphere is somewhat spoiled by a group of annoying teenagers who have decided this the perfect place to have a very loud conversation. The crowd shushes them, which just make them shush back and shout louder, laughing and completely drowning the CM’s instructions and even the Ghost Host’s introduction. This is really annoying. OK, so maybe you can’t understand what is being said, but please shut up so that we can all at least hear it!

Once we have bid farewell to the manor, we check the app again and see that POTC is at last up and running, with a queue of 30 minutes, so we head through Adventureland and use our open Fastpass to go for a pirate voyage. And oh, my goodness, it was worth persevering. There has been so much done to this ride. Not only has Captain Jack Sparrow been added in several places (with Johnny Depp voicing the character in both English and French) but a ghostly Barbossa appears too, and several new scenes and characters have been added. The Paris ride is also the first version to change the ‘auction scene’ so that instead of bidding for the women, the pirates are after weapons instead. I know there are mixed views about this change, and I’m not going to get into a debate about it here. Suffice it to say the scene works very well. The ‘redhead’ is now a dashing pirate herself, and her animatronic is really well done. In fact all the animatronics look great – they’ve taken the opportunity to renew most of the figures, so that the new additions don’t stand out too much. If you haven’t done this ride since the refurb, do make it a priority – it’s superb.

Once out of the ride, we make arrangements on Messenger to meet up with Facebook friends later tonight. Karen and her daughter Charlotte are staying at Sequoia Lodge, and we arrange to meet them in the Redwood Bar after dinner.

[Gill H]

We decide it’s time to head out of the park, before Main Street gets thronged with parade crowds. On our way out we drop into a shop I don’t think we have ever investigated before in all our years of visiting DLP. It’s on the left hand side (facing away from the castle) just before you go under the station bridge. We’ve spotted some blue and white anniversary beach towels, and decide to buy one. It might be useful on the cruise, but if not, it’s a nice thing to have anyway. There’s an offer in this shop – you can get a rather nice canvas tote bag free when you spend over a certain amount. Even after shareholder discount, the towel is twice the amount, so we end up getting two free bags as souvenirs for our mums.

And thus we say goodbye to both parks for this trip, as we’ll be leaving first thing tomorrow. We pop into World of Disney and get our final purchases – an anniversary magnet for ourselves, and a Ratatouille magnet for GopherLass’ son Poot, who is a connoisseur of good food and particularly cheese.

We get back to the hotel, tired and a bit frazzled after our busy day. We ask at the concierge desk if we can move our restaurant booking to 8pm instead of 7pm to give us some time to crash, but have to compromise on 7.30pm. One downside of having the full board vouchers is that we just don’t want a large lunch followed by a large dinner. (And yes, I know you can eat lightly at a buffet … in theory … but I’ve never managed it yet!) I think next time we would choose to stick with half board, but pay for hotel breakfast.

Anyway, we rest in our room over a cuppa, and then do a bit of sorting and packing ready for tomorrow. Then we go down to the Yacht Club restaurant for our meal.

I mentioned GopherLass earlier (and if you haven’t read her trip reports, do give them a look – fascinating and fun!). In one of her trippies she describes a meal as ‘pleasantly disappointing’ and I think that is the best way to sum up our experience at the Yacht Club. It’s not that there is anything hugely wrong with the food. It’s just that the whole experience – service, food, atmosphere – is sadly average at best. As usual, we choose to stick to the Plus menu rather than pay extra for more expensive options – but this is the only restaurant where we really wish we had splashed out on something a little more exciting.

The restaurant itself is elegant and charming, full of reminders of its New England theme. Even the place mats and the menu fit in with the theming.

We’re shown to a table which seems to be just out of the eyeline of every available server! It’s a shame all the seats overlooking the lake are full, but never mind, we will be walking out there later.

[Gill H]

Things start OK, with fresh bread rolls and the signature D’Isigny butter (from which region the Disney family are said to derive their surname).

Then Peter’s starter arrives. The menu describes it as a ‘goat’s cheese tart with tomato and rocket’ but I think ‘tart’ is a bit of a generous description for what is basically slices of goat’s cheese and tomato, laid on a piece of pastry. Peter says it tastes fine, though not exceptional.

I have the ‘Yacht Club style mussels’. The menu says the sauce is ‘lightly spiced with curry powder and a hint of green apple tartness’ and is supposed to evoke Marco Polo’s voyages, or some such thing. Frankly, the sauce is rather overpowering, and I would rather have had a classic French ‘moules mariniere’ sauce, or alternatively something creamy to suggest New England clam chowder? The mussels are nice enough, and the generous slice of focaccia served with them is good – but again, I file under ‘trying too hard’.

Peter’s main course is ‘fricassee of free range chicken with mushrooms and pearl onions’. So, you’d expect pieces of chicken, perhaps in a creamy sauce, studded with little mushrooms and onions, right? Er, no. What arrives is a big hunk of chicken in a broth, with a huge potato and some veg. And if those spring onions are supposed to be pearls, I wouldn’t want to buy a pearl from the person who wrote that menu! Peter says it’s OK, but again nothing special – but very different and much more ‘homely’ than the menu suggests.

I’ve gone for the ‘fillet of cod with tempura, French fries and tartare sauce’ – basically fish and chips. And here we hit our first real snag. My fish is cold. The chips are OK (though pretty tasteless and not as crispy as I’d like them) but the fish itself is not just vaguely warm – it’s gone completely cold. It seems to take ages to flag down a server, so meanwhile I eat the chips. When someone does come over, they apologise and then it’s a good 15 minutes before they bring me a fresh one. Still, when it arrives it is fresh and hot, and I eat it gratefully. Again, though, not much flavour.

Throughout the meal, we’ve both had the nagging feeling that everyone else is having nicer food than ours. The selections on the Plus menu really are rather boring, and feel like an afterthought put together for those poor souls who can’t afford Premium or a la carte. By contrast, the Plus menus we had in Captain Jack’s and Remy’s were fine and I never felt short-changed there.
For dessert we both choose the ‘chocolate fondant and spiced poached pear’ (the other options being vanilla ice cream or sliced fresh fruit – see what I mean about making us feel second-class?) This turns out to be the best course of the meal – the chocolate fondant is rich and luxurious with a deliciously oozy centre, the refreshing poached pear is a nice contrast, and the presentation is beautiful.

Funnily enough, the last time we ate in the Yacht Club was 2011, and the dessert saved the day that time too. I think that, for me, this restaurant is just trying too hard to impress. For me it's the Hyacinth Bouquet of DLP restaurants – desperately trying to be classier than it actually is. I generally like the more expensive restaurants at DLP, and have had great meals at California Grill, Walts and the Manhattan. But I don’t think Yacht Club will be on our list again for next time.

[Gill H]

Having finished our meal, we stroll over to Sequoia Lodge and have a quick look in the shop, where we meet up with Karen and Charlotte and chat over our various purchases before settling down in the bar. Karen has a non-alcoholic version of the anniversary cocktail, and Charlotte goes for a pineapple juice. Peter has a beer and I have the obligatory glowtini. We chat for a good hour or so about life and Disney, and our various adventures. It’s good to catch up with them again.

As we head for bed, we remark on the contrast between Newport Bay and Sequoia Lodge. Not that Newport Bay isn’t lovely. It is – and its long refurb has definitely paid off. Our room is beautiful, and it’s been a great place to stay. But the woodsy feel of Sequoia Lodge instantly makes us feel we’ve come home. Oh, the DLH is superb for location and old fashioned elegance, and Cheyenne and (to a lesser extent) Santa Fe are fine for a more budget trip. And I’m sure the New York has its charms too, though we have never stayed there yet. But for us, Sequoia Lodge hits that ‘sweet spot’ where you want something more than a budget option but don’t want to spend silly money on a hotel. Maybe next time we could even afford Golden Forest level? Here’s hoping.

Back at the Newport Bay we once again pop into the shop for a bag of crisps and a bottle of Coke so Peter can take his tablets, and then go back to our room for some more packing, before enjoying our last night’s sleep in DLP. Tomorrow is the start of a whole new adventure!

INDEX

>>>Day 4

[Melanie R]

Nice report Gill - hope Karen and Charlotte are doing ok, haven’t seen them in ages

[jandlsmum]

Love your trip report so much detail to enjoy thank you for sharing

[Guest]

I've been h-anchoring to read more of your trippie, Gill.


Thank you for such thorough descriptions of the new castle shows - they sound...intriguing, to say the least! I tend to really like the DLP music (and am very glad I picked up the two discs that were available when we last visited. I so much appreciate the sometimes clever/sometimes awkward Franglais)!

And mad props to whoever came up with "Mais qui?" "Mick-ey". So much of the French's love of word play gets missed by English-speaking visitors (though obviously not you, you tri-lingual star...). It's a shame.


Hehe...pleasantly disappointing. The Yacht Club looks like it falls in that category. When the le pain et le beurre is the best part of the meal...oh, dear. But you know my feelings on DLP food in general (take car to France so one can drive to Meaux for dinner).