September at Sequoia: Day One

[Ellen-Marie]

Hello! This trip report has been a little delayed because pretty much as soon as we came back from Paris, I went to Africa for a couple of months. If you’re wondering who on earth I am or want a little more background on our trip please check out my quick pre-trip report:

September at Sequoia pre-trip report

It was an early start from home to catch the 9:24 train to Gare du Nord. We planned to get the RER from there to DLP. It wasn’t a great start because our train was delayed 20 mins.

Mum used the time to do some last minute work (classic).

Finally we were on the train and off to Paris!

We arrived at Gare du Nord at about 13:15. I always try and move our seats to the front of the train so we can make a quick getaway! We headed for the RER, following the signs through the station.

We bought tickets from this office, paying 30€ total for 2 return tickets to DLP.
First we took the E towards Tournan, then switched onto the A towards Marne la Vallee (DLP) at Val de Fontenay.
It was a very easy change - we just walked down some steps onto the A train platform. The journey took about an hour in total, so we reached DLP at about 14:30. Overall, the journey was pretty straightforward and very good value - I definitely recommend this route to DLP.

Here’s Mum looking overjoyed to be in our happy place again!

As you can see it was a bit of a grey day, but that wasn’t going to put us off!
We decided to walk to our hotel, Sequoia Lodge.

Oktoberfest celebrations were in full swing in the Disney Village. We bought crepes from one of the many food stalls, which were also decorated in honour of the 25th anniversary.

There was even a stage set up, and we passed some live music here later in the week.

We continued our walk around Lake Disney, with Newport Bay Club looking lovely.
Since we walked to the hotel, we arrived at the back entrance. Having never been to the hotel before we thought reception was pretty hard to find - they could do with some more signs!
We were pleasantly surprised to find no queue at check-in. Since our rooms were ready, we decided to do a quick bag drop and freshen up before heading out to the parks…

Our dinner reservation was at Chez Remy so unusually for us we headed to the Studios park first. We made it there at about 4pm.

We passed Goofy doing a meet & greet in his director outfit - love it!

After grabbing a cup of tea, we were just in time for Star Wars show. I’m sorry to say it was pretty underwhelming.
First there was a pre-show - the “First Order March” - featuring Captain Phasma march. It was cool to see the stormtroopers marching through the park, but it was very basic with a few pyrotechnics.

The main show - “A Galaxy Far, Far Away” - was basically clips from the Star Wars movies interspersed with characters walking on, saying a few lines, and walking off.

You did get to see the main characters onstage which again was pretty cool but there was no attempt at any storyline. I’d have thought it was pretty easy to come up with something for Star Wars? They could have the goodies trying to undertake some kind of secret mission with the baddies chasing them? It wasn’t up to usual Disney standards. (Rant over, sorry!)

We picked Ratatouille as our first ride. I really like the new(ish) Paris area. It’s the only part of Studios with a really coherent theme, and it works. Today the single rider line was a walk on, and we loved the ride as always.

We didn’t have long until our 5pm dinner reservation, so we decided to have a sit outside.
As you can see, Mum had already made the first purchase of the trip - a souvenir mug. It was definitely worth it because every time she bought a tea and asked them to put it in the mug, she got double the amount of a normal takeaway cup. (Tea makes for a happy Mum and is necessary to keep up the pace!)

About 10 mins after our reservation time we were sat down in the pretty empty restaurant (although they were apparently full for our sitting). I guess the kitchen can’t cope with too many people.

I love the theming of this place! You really do feel little beneath the giant fairy lights.

I’m kind of jealous we didn’t get to sit in one of the cool booths!
As we were on the Plus dining plan, we both had the Emile menu and paid for some extra wine (not the recommended pairing, which the waiter said was bad value). The wine was pretty pricey, but was quite nice.

We both started with the cheese salad, which was quite tasty although I’m not really one for salad.

Then the steak with ratatouille, which was really really good. (I’m getting hungry just looking at that photo!)

Finally Mum had chocolate mousse with a cute 25th anniversary wafer.

I had “Gusteau’s Dessert”. The waiter had been calling me “Princess” during the meal and this was written on my plate hehe! The dessert was two stacked choux buns with patisserie cream inside and raspberry sauce - it was so so good!

Overall we really enjoyed our dinner and would definitely go again.
After dinner was a bit weird. We’d seen a group starting to build up by the door and it turned out we all had to wait to leave!

Mum wasn’t best impressed! Because the studios park had closed by the time we finished eating, of course we all had to be escorted out, but it was odd that they had to wait for such a big group.

We headed over to the Disneyland park, which was looking beautiful in the evening sunshine.

Of course I had to blink in the traditional “front of DLH” photo

More smiles at all the decorations - it’s Tinkerbell!

I’ve never noticed this plaque before - what a lovely detail.

We walked up Main Street and happened to catch the Princess Waltz show at 19:00.

This was very dreamy, pure Disney magic!

I was waiting outside the toilets for Mum when the Princes and Princesses came by off the stage (at speed, hence the blur!) Aladdin told me he liked my ears!

I managed to catch a couple of shots, but I was mostly caught up in waving back like an awkward 5 year old! It was really fantastic to see them up close as Mum and I aren’t up for queuing for hours to meet characters. I can definitely recommend waiting here after the show if you want to see them and say a (very quick) hello.
Next it was time to head to our traditional first ride of the park - what else than….

…It’s a Small World!
It was a fairly quick queue. We were waiting when an entire family (and when I say entire I mean Uncles & Aunts, cousins, the whole shebang) decided to push past!

Mum was horrified by such flagrant disregard for queue etiquette!
Still, nothing can ruin the magic of It’s a Small World (does anyone else sing along?)
Next up the ride we were potentially most excited for…

…the new improved Star Tours!
We waited about 15 minutes, which passed really quickly checking out all the new stuff in the queue. We loved everything about the update, especially the inclusion of C3P0 and the surprise endings.
Afterwards we went on Buzz Lightyear - another firm favourite!

At some point it had gotten dark. We had a mooch through the shops and admired the lights.
I’m too tiny to take any decent photos of the fireworks (it’s hard enough to see them myself!) but we really enjoyed them. There didn’t seem to be a storyline in the same way as Dreams but it was very good all the same, especially the Pirates of the Caribbean section with the fire!
And that was the end to a long but brilliant first day at DLP!

[spencem]

Sounds like you had a great day. How very odd, being escorted out of the park like that after dinner.

[Smilesonfaces]

Can’t believe you did all that in one day ! You have some lovely photos !
I can’t do with queue jumpers not even for it’s a small world !