Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris TR

[Jade+3]

Thanks for your comparison of the parks. One day I may be able to visit them all......

Mr Photographer is doing a great job with the camera!

 

[kylieh]

Really enjoying - thank you.

 

[PrincessInOz]

No food porn?




Love the pictures of PotC.

 

[queenie82]

No food porn?

I was too busy eating...

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I was so obsessed with taking food porn that my kids were totally brainwashed. They knew not to touch those plates until mummy had whipped the camera out .

The food photos are some of my favourites from the whole trip. It's clear why my waistline is no longer visible with priorities like that right

 

[queenie82]

I was so obsessed with taking food porn that my kids were totally brainwashed. They knew not to touch those plates until mummy had whipped the camera out .

The food photos are some of my favourites from the whole trip. It's clear why my waistline is no longer visible with priorities like that right

I love seeing the pics you guys take but I just haven't gotten into it.

I did take a photo of my lunch in Hong Kong if that makes you feel better...because I've never gotten that kind of food from QS at Disney before

 

[queenie82]

Next morning…back to the Studios…

So while the breakfast is quite good…there is another lovely place in the Disney Village. Starbucks So on the way to the studios we stopped in for a Chai Latte each. YUM!

All Chai’d out we proceeded into the Studios. We got fastpasses for Rock n Roller Coaster…

(this photo taken mid-morning does show indeed an 80min wait!!!)

…and proceeded to Armageddon special effects show.

This is actually quite good in part because it is actually a proper ‘studios’ type attraction. It is a bit corny…with the obligatory ‘forced’ audience (sorry…actor) interaction. Q&A etc. In the pre show.
The CM speaks in French. But the spiel is translated into English and follows along on a screen. Michael Clarke Duncan speaks on the screen in English though

You then proceed into a room, which is a ‘set’. The set is supposed to be a replica of part of the space station in Armageddon. Then the scene you are ‘acting’ in plays out.

“Warnings” - There ARE loud bangs and the set does move. There is a fireball as well. So if you have small children that get scared then you might not want to take them in. If they should be ok but you don’t want to be ‘right’ next to the biggest bangs stand next to the back rail on the left hand side. If you want to be closer then the right hand side middle I think experiences the most.

All and all a bit of fun

Later we went to Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular. This is where the show it started before being added to WDW. This is supposed to be the best version.
BF had spent all this time saying how he found this one much better than the one at WDW as they have tighter clearances between vehicles and so it is more exciting. Well…it might be normally. But we didn’t get the normal show.
We got the modified version.
Something had obviously gone wrong and none of the cars were doing jumps this day. I don’t know if they were the previous days but there was a lot more ‘discussion’ and adlib to cover up the changes so it was awkward but it was clear that the performers knew something was wrong. The bikes still did the jumps.

I honestly don’t know which is better. I do know that you usually get the jet ski in WDW but not here so I thought that was better. But BF has seen the show more often and he is usually right in these cases.
However he had some egg on his face…hehe… which I took GREAT delight in reminding him during the rest of the day…night…trip
We enjoyed the show though. Although at the end when they ‘put the film together’ the people in front of us were a bit confused because they were seeing the jump scenes, which hadn’t been ‘filmed’ … whoops …

Oh no!!

I think we have a problem…

Lets try a different direction…seems a bit of traffic down here

Whoops…I wonder if insurance covers that?

Yes that is part of the jump structure that got driven out. I believe it has other functions so they brought it out anyway. But this was a stretched out conversation that went on here. Talking to the ‘stars’ etc…

Coming through…

Bike jumps still happened

There really was no need for that…

BANG!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Next morning…back to the Studios…

So while the breakfast is quite good…there is another lovely place in the Disney Village. Starbucks So on the way to the studios we stopped in for a Chai Latte each. YUM!

What?? You're in Europe and you're drinking STARBUCKS??

ARMAGEDDON is RIGHT!

And Nice photos de Motors... Action ! Stunt afficher spectaculaire.

 

[queenie82]

And Nice photos de Motors... Action ! Stunt afficher spectaculaire.

There's lots more. Any special requests I'll put up but I can't put them all up...

_Next morning…back to the Studios…_

So while the breakfast is quite good…there is another lovely place in the Disney Village. Starbucks So on the way to the studios we stopped in for a Chai Latte each. YUM!

* What?? You're in Europe and you're drinking STARBUCKS??*

Here???

Oh yeah!!! BF and I ADORE Starbucks. It's something we are very much bonded over.

We sought them out all over town. That photo above is the one just near Montparnasse in Paris. There was an absolutely DIVINE ganache muffin/cake that they served warm that just melted in your mouth

I know it's blasphemy but a Chai Latte with extra Chai from Starbucks REALLY hits the spot on a cold morning or night

And Starbucks is VERY popular with locals.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Queenie....seriously???


No food porn......but you post Starbucks porn??

At least let's try and maintain some standards on the Aussie section....


And you had

an absolutely DIVINE ganache muffin/cake that they served warm that just melted in your mouth

....and still no food porn?



Any more talk like that and I'm gonna have to roll out my Mickey pancake picture AND the Aussie lamington!

 

[queenie82]

My main defense is that I was just so enjoying not being official photographer on this trip.
I do love taking photos. And I did take photos. But I didn't realize until later that I'd completely forgotten food porn.

I'm getting here very soon. But here is the best I'll do food wise.
This is where we had dinner. Inventions at The Disneyland Hotel.

I adore dessert. So there was no chance of you catching a photo of that ganache before I scoffed it.
But my BF decided to show what a pig I am...

 

[ehsmum]

Loving the trip report so far, queenie! Really looking forward to the HK part as that's where we are heading next

 

[queenie82]

Loving the trip report so far, queenie! Really looking forward to the HK part as that's where we are heading next

Thanks
HK is up soon

 

[queenie82]

Inventions Restaurant at The Disneyland Hotel.

We spent the rest of the day riding rides and watching shows before returning to our humble abode to change for dinner at Inventions. The Dinner is a Buffet Character meal.
You don’t need to dress up for Inventions. But it is an expensive restaurant and there was a consensus of smart casual around. It was 55 euro per adult and (I think) 20 for children. So yes…very expensive…but you are paying for the type of food you are getting.
The BF is a foodie and he was in his element. I have a less adventurous pallete though so I wasn’t taking advantage of the most expensive components of the meal. However the quality is wonderful and I did find plenty of tasty food.

It is divided into sections with a starter section of pates and cheeses and cold meats. The seafood section had prawns, crabs, lobster and all other types. Then a hot food section with plenty of meat and veg options - Lamb, steak, chicken, pork, pasta etc. Overall there were lots of hot and cold options available. Desserts were gorgeous too. I had lots of fun there. Doing my duty of trying everything.
A gripe is there are NO drinks included. Except tap water. You need to order drinks. I think soda was about 3 euro. I ordered a glass of Rose for about 7 euro I think. BF ordered a beer.
Now these kind of foods are complimented well with wine and you don’t get wine included at other dinner buffets. But I think something should be included.
It is kind of like an ala carte restaurant in terms of expense and the drink situation…but the food is a buffet.

We had a reservation for 8:30 and it wasn’t very busy at this time. If you have younger kids obviously you would want an earlier time and I think they open about 6pm.

The Characters do vary a bit…but we got Tigger, Eeyore, Minnie, Mickey, Gepetto and Pinocchio. I found Minnie as always to be a bit hesitant. I’m not sure if it is me…or my height…or just her being her. Tigger was bouncy but not as bouncy as I’ve had before. Eeyore…well Eeyore I think had had Tigger Juice. And I swear to god he pinched my bum Pinocchio was great. But the best by FAR was Gepetto. He was so lovely. And after posing with him he offered to take a photo of me and BF. We were a bit stunned but he took the big camera and took the lovely photo you see below.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice pic of you and BF.

Love that plate of desserts! I pity anyone else who might turn up to the same buffet as us. I sure hope they don't want dessert

 

[queenie82]

Nice pic of you and BF.

Love that plate of desserts! I pity anyone else who might turn up to the same buffet as us. I sure hope they don't want dessert

Me like Dessert

 

[queenie82]

Round up day…

So today we finished up all our rides and shows etc. and took more photos of things.
First up photos of the view (most of which I posted earlier).
In the first shot you can see the top of Newport Hotel. This is about the same star rating but with a yacht club theme. It is generally rated a bit higher than Sequoia but I think they are about the same.

In this one Mr Photographer is being very artistic turning to look down and to the left to a deck that is off the lobby. This is apparently a popular place to hang out in the summer. But as it is shaded it was a bit cool on a winter morning. I'm not sure if they put seats out in summer?

Then we went down to Check out with all our bags...too many bags…lol
After Check out we went to store our many bags. They actually have a great system here. Next to the door from the portico into the hotel is another room. This is where you get your bags stored. Storing and retrieving was a quick and painless procedure.

Then it was off to the parks. Today was much much quieter. Back to being a weekday – Monday. First stop – CRUSH’S COASTER!!!!!
Yep his time was due. BF was being dragged onto the spinning coaster. Hehehehe…
Seriously guys this is the BEST coaster. It is so much fun. You are spinning but not like in a teacup. It is just you aren’t going in a forward motion along the track. So it is less G force pulling than something like RnR. It really is more fun.

So we joined the much shorter queue and didn’t take long to get inside. It is really dimly lit here and I had attempted to take photos before. But they weren’t very good. BF used bracing against the stair rail and all sorts of things and got these results as we moved through the queue.

Mine…mine…mine mine…Moine!!!

I had TOLD the BF that although it does spin you should not get strapped in the back of the shell so the first part is facing backwards. But when they did a call for 2 people he took off. I pulled him back but off he went…sigh…
I actually don’t mind it. I’m used to this coaster now and it was ok going backwards this time. But it isn’t a good idea for this to be your first experience.
By the end of the ride I was grinning widely and BF was slightly green… But he was mostly ok. He had medicated himself earlier.

We did some more touring the studios taking photos…most of which I’ve inserted as appropriate during the previous posts. But here are some from around the park that were taken as I rode Tower of Terror alone

We agreed to meet back at the Statue.

Now just to completely SPOIL the wonderful Disney magic stories they apply to these statues found in the parks we have a different theory as to where he is pointing. We think that Walt is telling Mickey where the toilets are. You see if you turn around you will see the toilets in the main big building right in the direction he is pointing.

When I got back to the Statue BF was holding a bag. Inside the bag I found this guy –

I love Stitch…I’m obsessed with Stitch actually. And I’d spotted this earlier intending to buy it that day. But instead for having survived Tower of Terror I was rewarded with Stitchy Yoda!!!

We finished up at the park and departed to go to Disneyland

 

[queenie82]

Disneyland

First stop – Phantom Manor (I know you’re shocked…)

Which afforded these photos of Big Thunder

Some more photos of the Castle…

Space Mountain

Which is an horrific ride. BF actually doesn’t mind it. But I hated it last time and he didn’t ask to do it - perhaps a still green from the other coaster – so we didn’t ride it.
It is nothing like the ‘normal’ space mountain. This has a loop and is very jerky. Although the outside is VERY VERY cool!

A walk past Star Tours

Off to Adventureland via Frontierland

(continued below)

 

[queenie82]

Through to Treasure Isle

Treasure Isle is kind of like Tom Sawyer Island. However there is no raft to get to it. You can walk through and around it without really ‘interacting’. But there is a barrel bridge and a suspension bridge. Tunnels. Etc.

It turns into a skating rink if it is raining. But there is a remarkable amount of grip on the Barrel Bridge…as I found out. I got a little too cocky going across and wore the bruise for 2 weeks on my hip. You see I was walking backwards and bouncing it (showing off) and doing really well. But I reached the climb at the end of it too soon. Oh well…it is fun

We finished off our rides and attractions, looked through all of the shops, before sadly departing back to Sequoia via the Disney Village shops.

I really could have done with one of these –

But we had to get to Paris city where we were spending the next 3 nights.
We collected our bags and asked about getting to the train station. We went to where the buses come and one soon showed up full to the brim with people…to drop off. Obviously late afternoon/early evening is key arrival time.
They all got off and in a few minutes the bus left to go to the station.
We got dropped off and lugged our bags across the roads into the building. We were getting the RER to Auber so needed to get across to the other side of the station. We got dropped off where the TGV was I think. This was a bit of a pain as there was only an escalator or stairs down to the platform (that I could see.) But we got down and hopped on the train where we were in for more fun. You see they have trains with 2 levels like in Sydney. But NO seating on the level between which is ‘level’ with the station platforms.
So we lugged our bags up the steps figuring going down when we got there would be easier. We dumped most bags on and between facing single seats.

It worked fine. But I will tell you this. See if where you are aiming for has lift access. My experience was that even with bigger RER stations you still have to cope with stairs.

So…that was the end of out Disneyland Paris trip. It was a lovely time as it is a beautiful park. You will get frustrated by the European guests with differing ideas of common courtesy, as well as CMs working on ‘French time’ and suffering from ‘not my fault’ syndrome. You will encounter smokers throughout the park as the ‘not my fault’ syndrome means most CMs don’t care. But it is still a beautiful park and a lovely experience and ambiance. Although the crowds on the weekend really did shock me, and riding became a nightmare with queues. It was still manageable getting around the parks.

If you get the chance to visit Disneyland Paris Resort then do

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks Queenie.

Looking forward to HK!