Monday June 13th 2005
Cast: Me (23) and my girlfriend Claire (25). In the photos, I'm the blonde with glasses, and she's the brunette.
NOTE: Click the little thumbnail images to see larger versions of the photos! I'm having to post the reports in sections as I have too many images! The board won't let me post more than 20 at once!
Although we had planned to go swimming this morning, we woke up at 8am and realised there wasn't really time, so we had a relaxing start to the day and wandered down to the Disneyland Park for our 9am Good Morning Fantasyland breakfast. We followed a couple of families who were also clutching the breakfast vouchers, and were directed to turn right just before the turnstiles and queue up there. (There were signposts saying "Breakfasts".) We queued for about fifteen minutes, and some people seemed to get very restless indeed! We were then let into the park as usual, by putting our tickets through the turnstiles and showing our breakfast vouchers. Once we got into Main Street (which was lovely and empty!), we were told to make our way to Au Chalet de la Marionette in Fantasyland.
We arrived there for 9.25am and handed our breakfast vouchers to the lady at the door, who took them off us. The breakfast buffet was laid out at the back of the restaurant, and had exactly the same food as the buffet at Sequoia Lodge. The only difference here was that we got plastic cutlery and paper crockery! I then made the most hilarious mistake I made all holiday. I'd chosen a little bread roll and a small portion of butter, and I was looking for a knife to spread the butter with, so I went over to one of the cast members and asked, in French, if he had any knives. He didn't understand me and looked quite disturbed, so I repeated the word several times, explaining that I needed a knife for the butter. "Do you have any knives?" I kept repeating. In the end, he just said that he really didn't understand, so I asked in English. He pointed the knives out immediately. "What is wrong with my French?" I asked myself.
We got our knives and sat down. After about five minutes, it dawned on me. I hadn't asked if he had any knives. I'd asked if he had any <em>brains</em>. Oh my goodness. Yes, instead of <em>couteaux</em> (knives), I had asked that poor, defenceless Disney cast member if he had <em>cerveaux</em> (brains). I can't believe that I have a degree in French. I honestly wanted the ground to swallow me up, but I was too busy crying with laughter. I did actually cry!
After that moment of absolute hilarity (which will probably haunt both me and the cast member for the rest of our lives), we enjoyed our breakfasts and then headed outside to see if any rides were open. Peter Pan's Flight wasn't yet ready, so we wandered over to Dumbo as I knew I wouldn't feel like queuing for it later. We were on the ride within a few seconds and I decided not to make our elephant go up and down because it felt incredibly unsafe, and kept creaking! Claire was very scared again, and we've decided that these spinning rides are not for us!
Peter Pan's Flight was open once we got off, and so we queued for a few minutes. This ride was always in my top five, but for some reason, I didn't enjoy it as much this time. It may have had something to do with the fact that Claire was scared of the little ship's mechanisms breaking (and I was getting used to her fear by this point), but it just didn't seem as magical as it used to.
By that point it was 10am and the park had opened, so we headed over to Frontierland and got in the queue for Phantom Manor. The wait time was about five minutes and although I enjoyed the ride, Claire didn't seem to like it that much and said it was scary! I think she was more scared by the part where you have to sort of "jump" into your doom buggy at the beginning of the ride; she's never been a fan of escalators, and it may have reminded her of that. After that, we had a wander around Boot Hill Cemetery.
At 10.30, we wandered over to the FastPass machines at Big Thunder Mountain and to try out the system for the first time. We managed to get FastPasses for the 11.50-12.20 timeslot, and then decided to have a go on Indiana Jones. To my great disappointment, once we reached the ride, there was a cast member there telling people it was closed for renovation on the Monday and Tuesday, i.e. our two final days. I've done the ride several times before, but Claire never has, and I always did enjoy it. It's a shame because we wanted to try to do every ride if possible!
After that, we went inside Le Ventre de la Terre and got thoroughly confused. We assumed this was the entrance to the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, as the signposts seemed to claim, but we kept wandering around and couldn't find anything except for a bit of hidden treasure! I also noticed that it smelt a lot like a public toilet down there, and Claire remarked that people probably use it as such, considering it's quite secluded. Lovely! So we gave up on trying to find the treehouse, and walked across that terrifying rope bridge! I was not impressed by the fact that lots of people (adults included!) felt the need to jump up and down on it when I was crossing. I was very nervous indeed and glad to get to the other side. Claire then took a photo of some people working on Indiana Jones.
After exploring Adventure Isle a bit, we sat down and tried to make a plan of action for the rest of the day. We got out our park maps and ticked everything we'd done, circled everything we wanted to do (or do again!) and crossed out anything we couldn't do, such as Indiana Jones or the Molly Brown. We then had a little wander around near Captain Hook's ship, and at 11.20, had another go on Pirates of the Caribbean (finally spotting the entrance to the treehouse on the way in!) which had virtually no queue at all. The ride gets better every time.
Then it was back over to Fantasyland (spotting Mickey on the way) for another attempt at the Storybook Land Cruise. The queue today was not too bad and we decided to go for it as Claire had been whining about it all week. (I sound like I'm talking about a five-year-old!) Yet again, she didn't seem to like the part where you have to "jump" into the boat on the revolving platform, and I think she probably spent the whole ride worrying about having to get off at the end. Deary me!
By this time, our timeslot for Big Thunder Mountain was open, so we headed back to Frontierland (this time bumping into Eeyore!) and into the FastPass queue. We still had to wait for about fifteen minutes, but it was well worth the wait and even better this time. It's still my favourite ride! After that, we dragged ourselves all the way over to Discoveryland to queue for tickets for the Legend of the Lion King show, only to find that we'd misread the park map (not for the first time!) and they wouldn't be available until 3pm. Oops.
After that, we were ready for some lunch, and so we wandered back to Fantasyland and decided to have a pizza in Pizzeria Bella Notte. We ordered the Pizza Orientale to share, one portion of garlic bread, and drinks for us both, which came to 15 Euros. We were served in five minutes and really enjoyed the pizza. There was plenty for both of us as we're never that hungry at lunchtime.
Cast: Me (23) and my girlfriend Claire (25). In the photos, I'm the blonde with glasses, and she's the brunette.
NOTE: Click the little thumbnail images to see larger versions of the photos! I'm having to post the reports in sections as I have too many images! The board won't let me post more than 20 at once!
Although we had planned to go swimming this morning, we woke up at 8am and realised there wasn't really time, so we had a relaxing start to the day and wandered down to the Disneyland Park for our 9am Good Morning Fantasyland breakfast. We followed a couple of families who were also clutching the breakfast vouchers, and were directed to turn right just before the turnstiles and queue up there. (There were signposts saying "Breakfasts".) We queued for about fifteen minutes, and some people seemed to get very restless indeed! We were then let into the park as usual, by putting our tickets through the turnstiles and showing our breakfast vouchers. Once we got into Main Street (which was lovely and empty!), we were told to make our way to Au Chalet de la Marionette in Fantasyland.
We arrived there for 9.25am and handed our breakfast vouchers to the lady at the door, who took them off us. The breakfast buffet was laid out at the back of the restaurant, and had exactly the same food as the buffet at Sequoia Lodge. The only difference here was that we got plastic cutlery and paper crockery! I then made the most hilarious mistake I made all holiday. I'd chosen a little bread roll and a small portion of butter, and I was looking for a knife to spread the butter with, so I went over to one of the cast members and asked, in French, if he had any knives. He didn't understand me and looked quite disturbed, so I repeated the word several times, explaining that I needed a knife for the butter. "Do you have any knives?" I kept repeating. In the end, he just said that he really didn't understand, so I asked in English. He pointed the knives out immediately. "What is wrong with my French?" I asked myself.
We got our knives and sat down. After about five minutes, it dawned on me. I hadn't asked if he had any knives. I'd asked if he had any <em>brains</em>. Oh my goodness. Yes, instead of <em>couteaux</em> (knives), I had asked that poor, defenceless Disney cast member if he had <em>cerveaux</em> (brains). I can't believe that I have a degree in French. I honestly wanted the ground to swallow me up, but I was too busy crying with laughter. I did actually cry!
After that moment of absolute hilarity (which will probably haunt both me and the cast member for the rest of our lives), we enjoyed our breakfasts and then headed outside to see if any rides were open. Peter Pan's Flight wasn't yet ready, so we wandered over to Dumbo as I knew I wouldn't feel like queuing for it later. We were on the ride within a few seconds and I decided not to make our elephant go up and down because it felt incredibly unsafe, and kept creaking! Claire was very scared again, and we've decided that these spinning rides are not for us!
Peter Pan's Flight was open once we got off, and so we queued for a few minutes. This ride was always in my top five, but for some reason, I didn't enjoy it as much this time. It may have had something to do with the fact that Claire was scared of the little ship's mechanisms breaking (and I was getting used to her fear by this point), but it just didn't seem as magical as it used to.
By that point it was 10am and the park had opened, so we headed over to Frontierland and got in the queue for Phantom Manor. The wait time was about five minutes and although I enjoyed the ride, Claire didn't seem to like it that much and said it was scary! I think she was more scared by the part where you have to sort of "jump" into your doom buggy at the beginning of the ride; she's never been a fan of escalators, and it may have reminded her of that. After that, we had a wander around Boot Hill Cemetery.
At 10.30, we wandered over to the FastPass machines at Big Thunder Mountain and to try out the system for the first time. We managed to get FastPasses for the 11.50-12.20 timeslot, and then decided to have a go on Indiana Jones. To my great disappointment, once we reached the ride, there was a cast member there telling people it was closed for renovation on the Monday and Tuesday, i.e. our two final days. I've done the ride several times before, but Claire never has, and I always did enjoy it. It's a shame because we wanted to try to do every ride if possible!
After that, we went inside Le Ventre de la Terre and got thoroughly confused. We assumed this was the entrance to the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, as the signposts seemed to claim, but we kept wandering around and couldn't find anything except for a bit of hidden treasure! I also noticed that it smelt a lot like a public toilet down there, and Claire remarked that people probably use it as such, considering it's quite secluded. Lovely! So we gave up on trying to find the treehouse, and walked across that terrifying rope bridge! I was not impressed by the fact that lots of people (adults included!) felt the need to jump up and down on it when I was crossing. I was very nervous indeed and glad to get to the other side. Claire then took a photo of some people working on Indiana Jones.
After exploring Adventure Isle a bit, we sat down and tried to make a plan of action for the rest of the day. We got out our park maps and ticked everything we'd done, circled everything we wanted to do (or do again!) and crossed out anything we couldn't do, such as Indiana Jones or the Molly Brown. We then had a little wander around near Captain Hook's ship, and at 11.20, had another go on Pirates of the Caribbean (finally spotting the entrance to the treehouse on the way in!) which had virtually no queue at all. The ride gets better every time.
Then it was back over to Fantasyland (spotting Mickey on the way) for another attempt at the Storybook Land Cruise. The queue today was not too bad and we decided to go for it as Claire had been whining about it all week. (I sound like I'm talking about a five-year-old!) Yet again, she didn't seem to like the part where you have to "jump" into the boat on the revolving platform, and I think she probably spent the whole ride worrying about having to get off at the end. Deary me!
By this time, our timeslot for Big Thunder Mountain was open, so we headed back to Frontierland (this time bumping into Eeyore!) and into the FastPass queue. We still had to wait for about fifteen minutes, but it was well worth the wait and even better this time. It's still my favourite ride! After that, we dragged ourselves all the way over to Discoveryland to queue for tickets for the Legend of the Lion King show, only to find that we'd misread the park map (not for the first time!) and they wouldn't be available until 3pm. Oops.
After that, we were ready for some lunch, and so we wandered back to Fantasyland and decided to have a pizza in Pizzeria Bella Notte. We ordered the Pizza Orientale to share, one portion of garlic bread, and drinks for us both, which came to 15 Euros. We were served in five minutes and really enjoyed the pizza. There was plenty for both of us as we're never that hungry at lunchtime.
.
I think it will be safest if I limit my French to "Bonjour and Merci"!!!
I laughed so much my daughter who comes home for dinner, asked me what was wrong.
you have no reaction at all. Or at least she didn't this time!!
From what you've said it sounds like she would now be quite happy to do this!! 
