(Complete! 12/23) "But Your Back is Broken!" WDWers do Disneyland Paris - Sept 18-23, 2022

[Araminta18]

Auberge de Cendrillon - Tuesday September 20, 2022 (part 2)​

So, we got there at 12:13, only to find a line to check in. Womp womp.

Pretty view while waiting in line, at least?

It was not moving very fast (I don't know why?) but we didn't actually get checked in until 12:20. They let us check in (yay!) and told us to wait and that we'd be called back shortly. So we sat down and started looking around at the lobby. It was really pretty - lots of fun Cinderella touches.

I especially loved this window, with the faint village and castle there.

After a few minutes though we noticed that people who'd checked in after us were getting called back already...and then paid more attention and saw that people were being called back to their tables within a minute or so of checking in. We didn't actually get seated until 12:40ish - the cast member at the podium even went up to us again to ask us for our name. So either we didn't actually get checked in the first time or that's what happens when you're late. *shrugs* Oh well! I was just glad we actually got seated, despite being late.

The dining room is really pretty - lots of gorgeous murals all over the walls. It's basically their version of Cinderella's Royal Palace, only not inside the castle.

Our waiter brought us the amusebouche first: cheese madeleines and the royal cocktail: strawberry drink, cherry and blackberry nectars.

The royal cocktail was good but THOSE CHEESE MADELEINES. Guys, these were one of the best things we ate at Disneyland Paris, and possibly one of the best things I ate on the whole trip. I'm literally craving them right now. So good. I'd had sweet madeleines but with cheese?! Oh my gosh. I should have asked for more, but instead Trevor just let me have the extra one.

Before we'd gotten our appetizers, our first princess stopped by: Sleeping Beauty! She's my favorite.

Yes, I realize I'm all decked out in Beauty and the Beast garb...oh well! But Sleeping Beauty - I loved her costume and her crown. It was a pretty good meet - a good start to the meal.

Then out came our appetizers.

Well, and drinks. Trevor got the Fruit Delight mocktail: blackberry - green apple - grape - lemon drink. I just liked the 30 on the fruit slice.

I got the duck, pear and chestnut pate en croute with fig and meaux mustard chutney. This was...not good. I think I just don't know what pate means! I should have gotten the pumpkin soup. Dang.

At least there was bread! This was yum.

Trevor had a similar brain freeze and got the warm scallops and cauliflower in a creamy lemon and thyme sauce. He doesn't like scallops, so I was surprised when he ordered this. And then when it came he was like "yea, not sure what I was thinking!" The cauliflower and the sauce were good...he just ate around the scallops

So overall, appetizers were a bust. Would the main course redeem it? Well, before we could find out, another character showed up at our table: Perla!

I didn't realize we could meet Cinderella's mice so I was super excited to meet Perla.

It was a fun greet, despite no talking.

Pretty soon after Perla, Snow White showed up.

Kind of an awkward photo, but there wasn't a lot of room - Trevor did great considering.

Then it was time for main course! I got the Roasted Supreme of Chicken, Morel Sauce, and Glazed Carrots.

Trevor got the Pan-Fried Turbot Fillet in a Champagne Sauce, Braised Leeks, and Asparagus.

Trevor liked this, but I wasn't a huge fan of the chicken. It was fine, just nothing special. The other options were beef casserole and "pea and herb finger" - I assumed the beef casserole would be like the roast beef/pot roast we'd had the night before at Captain Jack's, which is why I didn't get that. Oh well! At least Trevor liked his. On the other hand, all the main dishes came with "cheesy mashed potatoes":

The mashed potatoes were delicious - I ate all of it! So not totally a loss.

Then, before dessert, Rapunzel showed up!

This was probably the best meet - she loved my ears and we talked about having a craft day to make ears. Also, I loved the detailing on her dress - very nice!

Then, desserts! Trevor got the Celebration cake: white chocolate mousse, strawberry, and almond shortbread.

The presentation was awesome! It tasted good, though a bit too sweet.

I got "Cinderella's dessert" - I'd been seeing chocolate slippers filled with chocolate mousse and was hoping that would be Cinderella's dessert, but it was not.

It was a fruit and nut bar of some sort. It was good, but not quite what I was expecting. I did love the brightness of the orange mango sauce there - I wanted more of that!

So yea...overall, not my favorite meal food-wise, though there were definitely some bright spots (those cheese madeleines). I probably wouldn't do it again, but I'm very glad we did it this time. Just seeing the theming and meeting the characters was great!

We couldn't go yet though because we had yet to meet Cinderella herself! The rotation was pretty easy to figure out for all the other princesses, but Cinderella they seemed to be doing something different...I never did quite figure it out. But after dessert we got to meet her!

She was great!

We had seen Suzy around meeting, but she didn't come into our room, so we just assumed that you got to meet either Perla or Suzy, but not both. So we were just waiting for the check, when one of the security guys (like really - jeans, black polo...really looked like security) asked if we'd seen everyone and I went for it and said we hadn't met Perla. And he said "ok, hold on". And about 5/10 minutes later, they directed Suzy right to our table!! I was so psyched to be able to meet both Perla and Suzy...it was awesome.

Poor Perla - her hoop skirt made it hard for her to navigate around but she made it!

And with that, our meal was actually over. It really was awesome - the food wasn't my favorite but the characters more than made up for it. Trevor was clever and started filming the interactions, so I stitched all those together:

So yea - definitely eat at Auberge de Cendrillon if you go. A couple final pics:

I made Trevor take a selfie with me with this mural.

And then outside, they have a great sign for the restaurant.

I just love the metal carriage on top of the sign, honestly.

And then in the outdoor courtyard, the carriage itself!

A family came in while we were trying to do a selfie and took a picture for us.

Love it!

After lunch, Trevor decided to go back to the hotel and rest, but I was ready for more rides! I started to head over to Discoveryland and decided to buy the Premier Pass (for only [*only* *sigh*] 5 euros!) for Orbitron. I like Astro Orbitor and assumed I'd like this one too. And benefits of premier pass here is that I literally walked on to the next round.

Next up: I decided to do single rider for Hyperspace Mountain!

It was posted at 25 minutes, so I figured why not.

The single rider line gave me this great view of the launch tube. I really do like the steampunk/Jules Verne theming of this ride...I kind of wish I could ride the original theming, but still cool.

The single rider line is just above the boarding area, and so while you wait you get to watch people getting loaded on and off the ride, which I find more interesting than just waiting in a line. I ended up waiting 23 minutes, so the posted time was right on.

While I was riding Space Mountain, Trevor was taking pictures of the cool art back at the hotel on the way to the room.

This hotel is awesome.

Anyways, back to meeeeeeeeeeee.

After getting my picture from Space Mountain, I headed around the back of Space Mountain (cause I got turned around lol) and decided to ride Star Tours, cause it was posted at 10 minutes.

The theming was identical (as far as I could tell) to the WDW version.

Though I did like this map thing.

It took about 15 minutes to get on the ride, so a bit longer than posted. I was not the rebel spy...and yes, it was in French. It went to Kashyyk, and then...Naboo! Cause it's freaking always Naboo. Even in Paris. LOL.

At this point, it was about 4:05. I looked around the gift shop for a bit, and found one of the few cast members with a pin trading lanyard and was able to trade for a Mary Poppins pin! Huzzah! I didn't end up buying anything though.

At this point, it was about 4:30. I wanted to see the 5:30 pm show of Mickey and the Magician 'cause I'd heard the show was good and figured this would be as good a time as any to see it, especially cause Trevor was kind of "meh" about seeing it. But as I headed out of Discoveryland, I found a photopass photographer, so of course I stopped.

It turned out pretty good!

I also remembered to stop at City Hall on my way out: why? Well earlier, when we were looking at the mobiles and exploring the hub (before lunch) we'd wanted to go see the dragon under the castle, but it was closed!! And on the app it was supposed to be open, and on the posted wait time signs, so I wanted to ask City Hall what was going on. I didn't really find anything out - the CM said it was open and I said that no, it really wasn't (it was completely blocked off on all sides) and the CM was like "oh, well its supposed to be. Maybe there was a technical problem, but it should be open tomorrow". Which wasn't really a response that inspired confidence LOL but thankfully we had two more days to check and try and see it.

Also, I just realized I forgot to put in this video of the 30th anniversary mobiles of the princesses! Aren't they neat?

 

[Araminta18]

Illumination! - Tuesday, September 20, 2022 (part 3)​

I got over to Disney Studios to see the Mickey and the Magician show and got in line at 4:48 pm (yay for picture time stamps!). They hadn't opened the theatre line yet, so I was feeling good about my odds of being able to get a seat. Some of the posts online were saying you had to get there super early or you wouldn't be able to get a seat at all, so I was...slightly nervous. They let us in the line itself a few minutes later, and then opened the theatre itself probably around 5:15? I stopped taking pictures so no time stamps. I got a good seat in the center.

There was a row of reserved seats in front of me, and no one ever showed up to sit in them, so I got a lovely unobstructed view. It was a really cute show - Mickey spoke French and most of the other characters spoke English, so it was easy to follow the plot. Which wasn't too much of a plot - Mickey does magic when he's not supposed to and characters show up and sing songs? It was mostly just fun watching the effects and the songs - during the Lion King sequence they had the animal puppets walking through the audience and being "petted" by the kids. I wouldn't pay for reserved seating, and I probably wouldn't show up this early again, but it was definitely fun to see, and some fun special effects.

It got out a little after 6, and I didn't really have anything planned or that I wanted to do - all the lines were kind of long, so I decided to go get a croque monsieur for dinner and then camp out in the hub and get a good front and center spot for the fireworks...which you're right, wouldn't start until 9 pm. Though as I left Disney Studios, the low headache I'd had for a bit started to come back stronger so I stopped at first aid and got some tylenol. First aid spots at Disney are nice - I've never used them before but I definitely wouldn't hesitate.

So I got my food (croque monsieur, a cookie, hot chocolate, and water) and was walking to the hub when a guest stopped me and was like "hey, do you pin trade?" cause I had my lanyard on. And I was like "YES!" cause I wanted to trade pins but there really wasn't a lot of CMs with which to trade. So we did a nice trade but I was balancing all my food at the same time and inadvertently spilled some of my hot chocolate on my sleeve Oh well! I got a pin.

I got to the front of the hub and grabbed a seat leaning against the fence on the left side.

My view!

Food!

Croque monsieur - ham and cheese and bechamel sauce with cheese and sauce on top. DELICIOUS. I love croque monsiuers anyways at home, so I of course had to try it here. Yum.

Another attempt at a Disney Food Blog shot - the 30th cookie. It ended up having nuts in it (boo) but it was soft and chewy so I went with it.

While I was waiting, I got to see this random "show" where they played "Um Monde que S'Illumine" and did the fountains. Fun!

I also did a timelapse:

I really had a fun time just sitting there, people-watching and soaking in the atmosphere. Is camping out 2.5 hours early crazy? 100%. But it was fun - I enjoyed it.

I was texting Trevor and he was saying that he'd iced his back and taken a nap so he was feeling "good", and he would come join me for the fireworks. Yay! But as he headed out, bad things happened. Disneyland Paris has a reserved spot for APs and those with the disability pass to watch the fireworks. And at 7:30, the cast members came around to start setting up for it, and where was it? RIGHT WHERE I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR AN HOUR. I'd even googled and tried to find where that spot was so I could be sure I wasn't in it, but I couldn't find anything. And of course, it was where I was. So I got kicked out and had to move over to the right side, which was already populated. BOO. I'd initially moved to the center hub but the view wasn't great and I was pretty far back, so when Trevor joined me, he stayed there at the hub and I went on the right side to investigate/try and find a spot. I found a spot on the curb, right in front of the trash cans. Not as good as my original spot, but decent.

See? Not too bad, but I was still pretty disappointed that I'd been kicked out of my nice spot with a backrest.

Selfie of our new spot!

Fun fact: those trashcans are not quite as sturdy as you'd think...I could lean on it but not put my full weight on it. But still, better than nothing.

At this point we were just sitting around talking and waiting. The castle was gorgeous as it became dusk and the lights came on.

So pretty!

As it got close to the start of the show, everyone was still sitting down, and I started to get my hopes up that we'd all stay sitting for the show.

See? how nice is that?

But it wasn't to be. One idiot stood up and that was it, we all stood up. BOOOOOO.

I decided to film the show (I know I know) but I knew we'd definitely want to watch the drone show again, and maybe the fireworks. Unfortunately, the idiot in front of me was facetiming someone whose background was a white wall or white ceiling, so that was SUPER distracting. I don't mind people filming when what you see on the screen is what is actually happening (the dark fireworks) but a bright white wall was SUPER DISTRACTING. And she kept holding it up right in front of me - so rude. Again, I get it - we're all crowded, we're all filming, but if you're gonna facetime, pay attention and realize the BRIGHT WHITE WALL is super irritating to everyone behind you. No, I don't have strong feelings, why do you ask?

Unfortunately I hit the wrong key or something near the end of the video and it stopped the video but didn't actually stop it the right way, so I couldn't download the video to my computer - I had to upload it to youtube (which worked, oddly enough?) and then downloaded a lower quality copy of it to my computer and stitched it together with the other video I took of the rest of the show.

(if you want the higher quality video that cuts off near the end, here's that one - 'cause I'm a giver guys. )

I have feelings about this show: 1. they should NOT have used the live action Beauty and the Beast - boo. 2. it's not a fireworks show - it's a projection show with fireworks accents. 3. the fountains are neat. Overall, I was glad I got to see it again, and from a prime spot. And I just wish the idiot girl hadn't facetimed her friend right in front of me.

ANYWAYS. I know, I'm horrible.

After the fireworks show they project a "30" on the castle and have lasers going and fountains and they play "Um Monde que S'Illumine" again - best part!

We thought about heading over to Disney Studios and to Avengers Campus, but decided to head back to the hotel instead. We stopped at the Candy Palace on the way out and bought a bunch of treats to take back to friends and to our offices.

Isn't this gazebo gorgeous? The colors of the lights change, which is awesome.

And how gorgeous is that train station? The answer is SO gorgeous.

As we walked back through Disney Village we were definitely (well, I was) doing some shopping, and as I was looking around Trevor got some snacks:

Waffle with caramel

Chocolate filled beignet!

These were both delicious. Trevor was hanging outside the one store while I bought a DLP 30th shirt and two guys got into a fight and almost started throwing punches right by him, right outside the store. So that was kind of exciting! Not sure why, but there you go. Never seen people almost come to blows at Disney before: DLP, full of new experiences.

And then back to the room to rest and relax. What to do tomorrow?! We'd had a great day, and even with Trevor's back, it was not feeling as bad as he feared, and seemed to be getting a little bit better. Thankfully! So...would we rope drop?! You'll have to see (and honestly I can't remember what we did...I'll have to look at my pictures!)

 

[Araminta18]

Meeting Mary and Bert...Maybe!--Wednesday, September 21, 2022 (part 1)​

We decided we wouldn't plan on being up for rope drop today - we'd just get up when we got up. That ended up being around 8:30, and so we were on our way into the parks at a little after 9. I decided this was my favorite - we were still ahead of the regular crowds, and so the line for security and to get into the park wasn't too bad.

Also, I finally remembered to screenshot the "you are here" part of the Disneyland Paris app - you can see just how close our hotel room was to security/Disney Village.

The red dot is us in the hotel room; the security line is right there in the pathway before you get into the Disney Village. It was seriously so convenient every morning.

We were in the park at 9:19 am, and Mickey and Minnie were out on the train station again.

But today there was Chip and Dale too! They were off to the side. You can see them playing around in my video of this from the other day (cause I like to stitch clips together). Chip and Dale are always hilarious.

Our plan this morning was to rope drop the dragon! Since it was closed yesterday, I definitely wanted to make sure that we saw it, and it was (per the app) supposed to be open, so that's where we were headed. I was actually hoping that on the way we'd see a photopass photographer out so we could get another shot in front of the castle with less washout, but no luck. Oh well.

My disappointment about the photographer didn't last too long because the dragon was OPEN! Yay! And it more than lived up to my expectations. It's a huge animatronic and so creepy - like I was legit scared. Especially cause it's quiet and doesn't do much for a minute or two and then it roars and growls and moves around...super super neat.

There's an upper level to see the dragon - this picture is from there.

Video of the creepiness!

Honestly though - one of my favorite things. Highly recommend.

We then went up inside the castle and looked around the glass shop there for a while (I totally bought a glass rose in the dome from Beauty and the Beast ), and then I showed Trevor around the Sleeping Beauty gallery upstairs in the castle. But I saw new things with Trevor! Which I guess goes to all the neat detail Disney puts into it.

I just love this tapestry so you're getting it again.

Pretty view, without so many people! Definitely rope-drop the castle - it's totally worth it.

I didn't realize last time that there were lights in this tapestry, representing the 3 fairies! You can kind of see them glowing there in the middle above the bed.

The stone crow!

It was really nice to be able to walk through without feeling like there was a crowd all over and pushing us and hurrying us along.

After the castle, we decided to head over into Discoveryland - we wanted to ride some of those rides and Trevor wanted to ride Space Mountain! I kept asking about his back to make sure he felt up to it, but yesterday being a fairly light day (ride-wise and walking-wise) and the other pain meds were all helping I guess, 'cause he kept saying he was fine and ready to try it. Huzzah!

We headed that way but we (I) got sidetracked - had to take more selfies with the pretty castle!

Heading into Discoveryland we passed a crepe stand with basically no wait, so...duh, we had to stop and get Trevor a Disneyland Paris crepe.

Yum! Also I didn't realize you could see my shadow with my ears there lol.

Buzz was right there and only had a 15 minute wait (per my notes ) so we got in line. It was 9:52. We got on the ride at 10:01, so a 9 minute wait. Not too bad! The queue was fun too - I liked hearing Buzz in French.

Also the queue theming was great fun.

Sadly, we did not do very well on the scoring. We didn't look up any high value targets or anything at all, so we were just going blind and kind of based on which targets seemed hardest to hit. Trevor won with 87900, and I got 22100. We were both "Pilote Interplanetaire". Lots of fun though.

Serious business, saving the galaxy!

Next up, we wanted to ride Space! It was 10 am, the park was open, but...womp womp, Space was down. So we decided to go and meet Darth Vader instead - he meets back there near Star Tours and Space Mountain, and Trevor wanted to meet him but there was no fast pass and on the other days there was always a long wait. But I was like "hey, since Space is down, we can meet Vader instead and hopefully he doesn't have a long line". Well, when we got there, he did not have a long line, but that was because it wasn't open yet. Womp womp. At least the dragon had been open! The CM said that the app was wrong and it would open at 10:30, so it just wasn't open yet, not "down" (though what "down" would mean for a character meet and greet...I dunno). So we decided to hang out and wait, since we were second in line. And then after a few minutes, we saw that Star Tours was posting 10 minutes and since Trevor hadn't ridden it, I encouraged him to go over and ride it and I'd hold the spot in line. We actually ended up buying the fastpass for him (5 euros) cause we figured if standby was 10 minutes, fastpass should be basically a walk on, and that plus the length of the ride - he should get out just before 10:30 to meet Darth Vader with me. So off he went, and I ended up being interrogated by the Spanish family next to me in line - did I know Robert Downey Jr, etc etc.

(Star Tours picture! He got Tatooine pod-racing and Naboo [IT'S ALWAYS NABOO] but at least this time there was a rebel spy - when I rode on the first day, there was no rebel spy. I forgot to mention that)

I started to get a bit nervous when it was 10:30 and Trevor wasn't back yet. Initially we were waiting outside the actual queue for Darth Vader (forming our own queue and telling people that we were already queueing, please don't try and cut and bunch up at the entrance), and then at 10:30 they let us into the actual queue. And I really started panicking (also side note by 10:30 the line was pretty long - 50-75 people already!) cause Trevor still wasn't back. But it all worked out - right as they brought in the first family in line, Trevor came up and was able to get in with me right before they brought us in to meet Vader.

It was a slightly disappointing meet - I'm literally just now realizing that it may have been a language barrier! But at the time I mostly felt really really rushed through - we walked in, he looked at us intimidatingly, and then took the photo and then we were done. It was cool, just a bit disappointing that we didn't get a more substantive interaction. Still, cool pictures!

We got out and Space was still down so we (I) decided to ride Autopia, since it was right there, and always had a huge line. We bought the fastpasses (5 euros each ) and even with those, it took about 15 minutes to get on the ride. Autopia loads slowly! But it was a gorgeous sunny day so doesn't even matter.

I was going to be ahead of Trevor! I've already won!

Selfie in the cars

Trevor thought he was funny taking this picture: basically, when you leave off this side, you go down kind of a steep ramp. So I took my foot completely off the gas 'cause it was going much faster than I expected, and when I did, the engine completely died. I was stuck! The car wouldn't move, and there was nothing I could do. After a minute the CMs came down (since it was just 10 feet away from the loading area) and restarted the engine and I was off and running. You see all the people there in line on the bridge? Yea, they totally applauded after I started moving again, and no it wasn't embarrassing at all. LOL

Ending selfie!

It's a pretty fun little ride - I like it better than Tomorrowland Speedway but I still don't understand the huge appeal overall (literally, this was always one of the rides with the longest waits).

We got off at 11:10 am ... what to do next? Was Space finally open or would we need to find something else to do?!

No, Space was open!! I got the notification literally as we were walking out of Autopia. Sweet! We hustled over to the Premier Access entrance and by 11:15 am we were waiting to get on the ride!

Seriously, isn't this fun theming? Nothing at all to do with Star Wars, which does nothing for the harmony of the ride and the story, but so pretty.

Trevor was definitely nervous, but excited! Trevor is afraid of heights, as well as a little bit of claustrophobia. So a launch coaster that goes upside down with extra straps that press you down into the car (aside from the normal over the shoulder restraints)...he was a bit nervous. But as he discovered in California Adventure when he rode Incredi-coaster, he likes really well-themed coasters. And he likes Star Wars, so...probably worth it.

And it was! He's definitely a bit nervous in this photo, but he really liked it. It is a great coaster - fun launch, great effects...definitely one of our favorites. I just had to make sure to tuck my long hair into my shirt so that it didn't get pinched by the restraints!

It was 11:20 at this point, and I had plans: Mary Poppins and Bert were meeting at the gazebo on Main Street at 12 noon, per the app, and I wanted to meet them! We had a lunch reservation at 1:15 at Bistrot Chez Remy, and I didn't want to take the chance of there being a huge line and us missing our reservation or missing Mary and Bert. So we headed for the gazebo! There was another person there obviously waiting (they were dressed up ), so we basically formed the line. Actually, Trevor formed the line and I ran to the ladies room and passed the Candy Palace and there was a short line so...I got snacks.

Chocolate praline cakepop. It was kind of weird - not my favorite - if I'd realized it was praline I probably wouldn't have bought it but it is cute!

Chocolate banana fudge. This was good! I did like this.

When I got back with the fudge, Trevor mentioned that someone had said that Mary and Bert weren't meeting here but were meeting over at Disney Studios instead. So I went over to City Hall and asked the CM, and she said nope, it's definitely here, at noon. Phew!

Gazebo selfie!

But by 11:55 there was no CMs or anyone there - nothing to indicate that there would be a meet and greet, and there was quite the line - maybe 40 people? Noon came and went and no Mary...we figured hey, maybe they're just running late - smooth logistics isn't exactly Disneyland Paris's strong suit. But by 12:10 with nothing, and the line getting longer, I went back over to City Hall, and asked again, and they were like "oh no, it's over at Disney Studios...not sure where, but just look around." Are you kidding me?! The app said at the gazebo, the previous CM said at the gazebo, there was 50 people waiting and no one thought to come over and tell us, or post a sign, or something? I was not pleased. At all. I went back over to tell Trevor and since there was no CM or anything, I just announced it to the line.

We booked it over to Disney Studios, and luckily didn't have to look very far to find Mary and Bert - they were right out front. Unfortunately, there was quite the line.

This was the view from the end of the line. A good view of Mary and Bert at least, and the penguins were with them! That was an unexpected bonus. No photopass photographer though.

I was pretty irritated/disappointed, honestly. We purposefully got there at 11:30, did all our due diligence, only through no fault of our own to be way at the back of the line. I was worried that we'd end up being late for our reservation but this was the only day we could meet them - the next day we had a lunch reservation at 11:45 and Mary/Bert only meet from 12 to 2, and having an overlapping lunch reservation wouldn't let us meet them. So it was today or nothing.

At least the line gave me time to cool off so I wasn't still irritated (well, too much ) when we met them? We did have to wait through their break, so we didn't get to meet them until about 1:06. But on the bright side, by meeting at the start of their set we got to meet them with the penguins, and not everyone did since the penguins took more frequent breaks than Mary and Bert.

Anyways, it was finally our turn to meet them!

I also got some pictures with Mary and Bert by myself.

We took a couple videos - putting them in for completion's sake.

So yea, didn't start out very well, and we ended up waiting much longer than I wanted and cutting it rather close for our lunch reservation, but I was glad we got to meet them. And the penguins!

We finished at 1:10, and with our reservation at 1:15, we made our way into Studios and back towards the Ratatouille area. But...we saw a photographer out with no line!

Next up: lunch at Bistrot Chez Remy!

 

[Araminta18]

Bistrot Chez Remy! - Wednesday, September 21, 2022 (part 2)​

We finally made it back to the restaurant, right on time.

So pretty! Too bad the ride was closed. But we made it to the restaurant and took a celebratory selfie.

Bistrot Chez Remy!

The lobby was super crowded and there was a line to check in - we probably waited 5 minutes to check in. But the theming in that area was awesome!

Loved this little Remy on the door.

Fork selfie!

I also tried to take a video of some of the theming - all the awards Remy won, etc. It was a bit hard with the glare, but still fun.

After about 5 minutes we were led to our table, and got to see the restaurant. It's so cute! We're shrunk down to Remy's size, and so all the tables and chairs and everything is oversize.

Seriously, so adorable.

Giant fork! (and Trevor ) - I loved using the plates as booth dividers. Trevor said it was only fair he got to take a picture of me since I take them of him so often.

You have to get the prix fixe menu here, but we got the one that included dessert cause why not. Treat yo' self, for you Parks & Rec fans.

I got hot chocolate to drink.

Trevor got the 30th anniversary Fruit Delice mocktail - the same one we got the day before at Auberge de Cendrillon.

We both got the same appetizer - soup of the day with laughing cow cheese. I don't like peas, but the other appetizers didn't look super yummy (another duck pate and I wasn't gonna do that again or a salad) and cheese is always good. Despite the little bit of a skin on top, this was really good. Smooth and yummy and the cheese added a bit of creamy brightness. YUM.

More random theming...saw this on my way back from the bathroom (which I guess you needed to know). Those things/seats in the front are wine corks.

Then main course!

We both got the steak as well, which came with ratatouille (not sure why there's a big tomato on top). This was...interesting. Not sure how to describe the cut but it was weirdly stringy or striated - like a bunch of fajita cuts all stuck together? Not bad, and the taste was delicious, just an unexpected texture. I got brie sauce and while I put a little bit of it on the steak, I mostly used it for the French fries. Also the ratatouille was more like the normal way, and not the thin slices from the movie which was kind of disappointing. But I learned I don't much like ratatouille. Good to know.

Then dessert!

I got the Remy Delight: Flaky Pastry, Crispy Vanilla Cream Puffs, Whipped Cream and Red Berries. This was interesting - a bit hard to eat, and I wanted more fruit, but it was filled with cream so...still good.

Trevor loves bread and brie, and one of the desserts on the menu was that, so he got it, despite his misgivings about it being "mixed fruit loaf".

He loved the brie but the bread was a miss for him. Luckily though he got the waiter to bring him more of the complimentary bread (baguette rolls) so it all worked out.

I'd read a lot of...not-great reviews online over the past few months, so I was a little wary but I wanted to see the theming so was gonna keep the booking regardless. But we really liked it! The theming is fantastic, obviously, but we really enjoyed the food here.

Anyone Can Cook!

After eating we spent some quality time in the Remy gift shop...and while we found stuff we didn't want to carry it around so we decided to come back on our way out of the park for naptime. But at the moment we were ready to kind of finish the rides at the park. We headed back to ride the Cars Road Trip - it was a walk on, so why not?

On the way back there we passed these fun Toy Story themed photo ops.

We got to the ride right as they were loading up a tram so we didn't have to wait at all. Awesome!

It was a cute ride - they had some adorable billboards.

Seriously, I love this.

This maze actually sounds awesome.

The main part of the ride was the earthquake/flood simulator, so of course we filmed that. Cause I know you definitely want to watch it.

That part seemed kind of basically exactly identical to the subway set part of the Studio Tram Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood. *shrugs*

So yea, cute, not worth waiting for and I probably wouldn't ride it again. Though I did find this AWESOME poster.

He did WHAT in his cup?! Seriously I was a little punchy 'cause I kept repeating that and laughing and Trevor was like "you know its not that funny right" and I'm like "nah you're totally wrong, it's hilarious."

The plan here was just to make our way through the other rides in the Toy Story area...no fastpasses here, sadly. Slinky didn't have too long of a line, and this type of ride is one of Trevor's favorites, so why not!

We waited almost exactly 15 minutes, which wasn't bad.

It was a fun ride - and the centripetal force didn't hurt Trevor's back!

This angle of Slinky cracks me up.

And of course, we had to take a picture with the Luxo ball! You can kind of see Trevor flagging there, so we decided to skip the last ride (Toy Soldier's Parachute Drop) cause it had a long line (like 45 min) and Trevor doesn't like heights anyways. The plan was to head back to the hotel, but the path out took us right by the parachute drop ride, and their single rider line was posting just 5 minutes! So I decided to do it, and Trevor decided to wait for me ('cause he doesn't like heights).

I only had to wait for one cycle, so that was awesome.

It's a fun little ride - it didn't drop fast enough for me to really feel it in my stomach, but at the top there were awesome views. Like I say at the end of the video, it made me realize how close the parks are - from here, Big Thunder Mountain is like right there.

We also had fun with the little photo op.

Ok, now it was definitely time to go back and rest at the hotel, thought we wanted to stop back at the Ratatouille gift shop first. But we passed more cute Toy Story theming so of course, picture!

Cute!

We stopped by the Ratatouille gift shop and got a few things and then Trevor was an enabler and we ended up getting the purchase with purchase too: the mickey-shaped soap dispenser! Couldn't resist. And on the way out, I noticed this cute street sign on the outside of the gift shop.

Rue Auguste Gusteau! Adorbs.

On the way out, I ducked into Guest Services near the exit ('cause there wasn't a line) and expressed my disappointment with how the Mary Poppins meet and greet location move was handled. The CM was great, and I appreciated her listening. And the offered fast pass for Tower of Terror wasn't too bad either. We were hoping to get a fastpass for Crush or for one of the Avengers Campus rides but...oh well.

Back at the hotel, we took a little nap and then headed back to Disney Studios for dinner: we wanted to see Stark Factory! But on the way in, we had to take pictures with the Avengers Campus sign.

You'll notice Trevor is rocking a new Avengers jacket! We saw a guy wearing it earlier that day, and were both like "cool!" We'd assumed he'd gotten it not during this trip, because we hadn't seen it for sale anywhere. But as we walked into the park after our nap, we noticed that one of the stores there had a bunch of Avengers Campus merch, so we ducked in and there it was! So of course we got one. And it was a little bit chilly so he put it right on.

We made our way down to Stark Factory and right as we walked in, got a good look at the robot suit thing.

It's SO BIG.

But as cool as the robot was, that wasn't the main reason I wanted to see it - there was a different bit of theming we really wanted to see. But first, food!

Actually we weren't super impressed by the food. They had huge slices of very bready pizza and Trevor said he wasn't too hungry so we got a salad to split, and then that white thing for dessert. It looks like a shortbread cookie right? But it was like molded mousse - it jiggled. It was weird. This was not a successful dinner. I would not recommend it - the salad was fine but nothing exciting.

 

[Araminta18]

Closing Down Disney Studios - Wednesday, September 21, 2022 (part 3)​

But what did we really go to Stark Factory for? Peggy Carter's office!!! We wanted to eat in here, but it was blocked off. The CMs were nice enough to let us go in and look though.

The hat and the shield! I'm still sad that Agent Carter only got two seasons.

The office has her desk and everything!

And this note on the door - such a good touch.

I filmed, but since I was trying to be quick 'cause it was technically closed off it's a bit...swoopy.

We took turns ducking in and looking since we didn't want to leave our food unattended, but after we'd been eating for just a little bit, we started to see a crowd gathering around outside. And you know what that means, when a crowd starts to gather in Avengers Campus...characters! I told Trevor to go and look (since he obviously wanted to) and I'd stay and finish the food. What was going on outside?

Guardians of the Galaxy show! Gamorra is hilarious. This was really fun - one of the only times we didn't feel super crowded in Avengers Campus, despite the crowds. It was great.

At this point, the lines for the Avengers Campus rides were still too long for our taste, so we decided to use my Tower of Terror fastpass. The line wasn't long, so I really didn't need it, which was a bit of a bummer (I hate "wasting" fast passes) but hey, whatcha gonna do. Trevor decided to go with me through the line to see some of the theming, and I took a video of a little bit of the theming in the library.

I got front row and not a great picture - what a waste! Oh well.

After a fun ride into the Twilight Zone, it was time for our Crush's Coaster fastpass! We'd decided earlier we wanted to ride it one more time but the fastpasses were all gone...I kept refreshing (shades of change party days...) and one popped up! Huzzah!

Mine mine mine! I remembered to tuck my hair in my shirt this time so i could see -- such a fun ride.

At this point it was getting close to park close, and we decided it was time to go back to Avengers Campus! So we headed that way, passing the food booths on the way as well as the bathrooms. Trevor decided he had to go to the bathroom, which left me unsupervised and so I got churros!

Yum! The guy forgot to put sugar on them initially lol. Obvs, with my sweet tooth, I reminded him.

Then it was time for Flight Force! Trevor decided he was ready to ride it, so we got in line. I took another video of the Iron Man animatronic cause it's awesome.

Then it was time for the ride! Trevor was definitely nervous, but again, he liked Marvel and wanted to see the theming.

Despite how it looks, he liked it! It was a little intense for him, but fun. Again, I'd heard lots of complaints online about how the ride itself has bad theming and such, but we really liked it. I was glad Trevor got to ride it.

We got off the ride at about 8:50 pm - 10 minutes til park close. Since Avengers Campus was open til 10:30, we decided to make a last minute run for one other ride. Well, I did - Trevor was still a recovering from Flight Force, so he declined to run over to Tower of Terror with me. We did think about running for Crush's Coaster, but the line was still posting over an hour so yea...that's a no.

Tower of Terror was just 5 minutes, so that worked out well.

I really like this version of Tower of Terror - I think it may be my absolute favorite version, with the creepy little girl that says something different each time. I never did get Trevor to ride it with me but oh well - his loss.

Then back over to Trevor in Avengers Campus and we decided to go for Web Slingers. But I got off Tower of Terror just slightly too late and we ended up in line behind a big group of people. Darn it. It ended up being about a 25 minute wait. I took a bunch of queue pictures.

The theming in Web Slingers (especially post-preshow) is fantastic. I really want to do Retro Roller Skating!

Miles Morales's locker! (Side note: if you haven't seen SpiderMan Into the SpiderVerse - you should! It's really good!) Also, I love this map of Avengers Campus map! We ended up buying it and it's now hanging in our laundry room with a jerry-rigged frame made of acrylic, cardboard and gaffer tape that doesn't look half bad.

39 days since potato gun malfunction. I made Trevor take this pic since I took the same one of him in Disneyland California.

Once on the ride, we had a full bench of adults, so that was nice - let's see how high a score we could get! We didn't do half bad overall: total score of 727,500. Trevor got 204,900 and I got 242,400. Bwahahahaha

The line for SpiderMan was still pretty long when we got off, so we decided to do Flight Force one more time - Trevor was even up for it!

Hard to capture the Flight Force sign, but we tried! It was a 5 minute wait, so pretty soon we were on the ride.

We both really like this ride as is - if they do shut down in Jan/Feb to re-do the interior theming, I'd be excited to see how it improves, cause again, we thought it was great as is. Honestly, you know it's awesome 'cause Trevor was willing to ride it again the same night. (also a sign that his back was definitely doing better, thankfully!)

We decided that would be our last Flight Force, and headed over to test our skill on Web Slingers. We were truthfully a little bit sick of the pre-show at this point, so we decided to try the single rider line in hopes of skipping the pre-show (like at Flight Force, for example - if you do single rider you skip the pre-show with the Iron Man). Sadly, that was a bust - you get the pre-show but you stand in this little cordoned off area. Oh well! Worth a try.

And single rider got this fun pair of photos.

You can see Trevor has a full team of adults; my car was a little kid and his parents or grandparents? I'm sure it will come as no surprise then that my team's score was 463,200 and my score was 357,000 of that. Trevor's team got 812600, and he got 190,800. Nice!

We got off the ride at about 10:25, and with only 5 min left before park closure, we decided to go back around for one more ride! A minimal wait, obviously. We had a full car which kind of surprised me, but I'll take it! We got 870,600; I got 270,600 and he got 196,200. It really is a such a fun ride. I put together a bunch of the video clips I'd took of the theming and one of the pre-shows:

We got off and Avengers Campus was closed. It was so pretty all lit up!

Pretty Quin Jet!

We slowly made our way out of the park and through Disney Village. I decided to get some more chocolate-covered strawberries - you only live once, right?

Delicious.

We stopped by the McDonald's there in Disney Village 'cause it's one of Trevor's favorite things to do in other countries: what's the menu like at the McDonald's? We didn't actually get anything but Trevor had fun looking at the items they had - they had a bakery with macarons, next to the quintessential McDonald's apple pies which is hilarious. They also had a "Croque McDo" which looked like the McDonald's version of a croque monsieur, but kind of like an egg mcmuffin? We thought about getting it but the line was SUPER long so we didn't end up getting anything.

Back at the hotel, two paintings caught my eye as we headed back to the room.

So neat! They really did an awesome job with the artwork at Hotel New York - highly recommend a visit, even if you don't stay here.

Back in the room, we packed up a little bit - we were switching rooms the next day 'cause of the way I'd booked it, and so we had to leave our bags with bell services in the morning. We were going to try and have them keep us in the same room but when we checked they said no. Bummer. ALSO! If you're not an EU citizen you can get the VAT refunded to you when you leave, if you have the store fill out a form and do a thing - and all the various Disney shops count as one retailer, so we just kept our receipts and when we hit the 100 euro mark (cause you have to have spent at least a hundred euros to get the refund) we were stopping at World of Disney. But today a CM told us that they could do it at the concierge desk at our hotel, so we stopped there at the end of the night, only to be told that they couldn't do it at the hotel. *sigh* By this point in the trip I was getting a bit frustrated with the inconsistencies in information from CMs - nothing to be done about it but basically if you go to DLP don't trust anything any CM tells you.

The next day - our last day in the parks - our plan was to do Disneyland Paris and hit up all the things that we'd missed, including Skull Rock/Adventure Isle. Too bad Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse was still closed - but we were still excited to play around on Skull Rock.

 

[knewton64]

only half way thru page one and I'm HOOKED!!!
LUV yer TR!!

1 quick question:
1) did I hear correctly that I can take care of my VAT tax refund(s) at World of Disney?? is that WOD only or can it cover my 4 days prior receipts from when I am in Paris?
*
2) Telling the Tower of Terror CM this is my first time experiencing the DLP TOT (I'm from Dallas, Texas)..... GOOD TO KNOW!


Me?
First time visiting France come April -
and TIA!


T..T.F.N.

 

[Teamubr]

@Araminta18

Fantastic TR. I know this is from over a month ago, but we are going in June for the first time and this really put a lot into perspective.

Thanks!

j

 

[Araminta18]

only half way thru page one and I'm HOOKED!!!
LUV yer TR!!

1 quick question:
1) did I hear correctly that I can take care of my VAT tax refund(s) at World of Disney?? is that WOD only or can it cover my 4 days prior receipts from when I am in Paris?
*
2) Telling the Tower of Terror CM this is my first time experiencing the DLP TOT (I'm from Dallas, Texas)..... GOOD TO KNOW!


Me?
First time visiting France come April -
and TIA!


T..T.F.N.

@knewton64 welcome! I'm so glad you're enjoying it - makes me feel a little bit better about being so verbose if at least someone is finding it somewhat enjoyable

re VAT: yes, you can do the VAT form stuff at World of Disney. To your other questions there's a bunch of rules about it: purchases from ONE retailer have to equal more than 100 euros, and you have to have the form done at that retailer, and then the purchases have to be from the last 3 days. So you couldn't do your receipts from other shops at Disney. But at Disney, all the Disney shops count as one retailer for this purpose. So save your receipts, and when you hit 100.01 euros (within 3 days) you can go to World of Disney or the Town Hall in Disneyland. If you google there's lots of blog posts and things walking you through it. We found it super easy, and got about 80 dollars back.

re: Tower of Terror - as always, your mileage may vary. I didn't intend to tell the CM, I was just there at the split and we got to chatting a bit and it came out.

Have fun! it's a great park! We had a great time!

@Araminta18

Fantastic TR. I know this is from over a month ago, but we are going in June for the first time and this really put a lot into perspective.

Thanks!

j

@Teamubr thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Hope it helps you plan - I found DLP to be a bit frustrating for planning since I'm used to DisneyWorld, but it really worked out. And if you have any questions let me know!!

 

[Araminta18]

Last Morning at Disneyland Paris - Thursday, September 22, 2022 (part 1)​

Our last day at the parks! Sadness. We had to pack up and drop our bags at Bell Services, 'cause we were switching rooms today. But first, we stopped by the hotel gift shop to get the last few souvenirs we wanted (like the hotel lobby fragrance spray, a book of small posters of some of the artwork they have, etc) - that would bump us up to the 100 euro threshold so we could get the VAT refunded to us. But that didn't take very long, so by 9:07 we were on our way to the parks.

As we were walking to the turnstiles, I noticed the weather vane on top of the Disneyland hotel:

It's Tinkerbell! Love it.

We ended up entering the park at 9:20ish - just a few minutes before the extra magic hour ended, but that still meant we were ahead of the main crowd. Sweet. We decided to head back towards Fantasyland by way of the arcades on the sides of Main Street.

Had to take a picture - these arcades are great.

We wanted to head to Fantasyland to do the last few rides there we hadn't done yet, but going through the castle we (ok, really me) got distracted by the sword in the stone!

We had a little bit of a wait to take the pictures 'cause other people beat us to it, but it wasn't too bad. Sadly, neither of us was the chosen one! It was fun looking around and playing though.

Small World under scrim...I'm still a bit disappointed it was down for refurb, but the part we could see was pretty! Look at those colors!

We decided to go for the tea cups.

They don't have the teapot with the dormouse inside the ride, but rather outside.

But it blows actual steam!!

So fun.

We really were just kind of going slow and enjoying the moment and all the theming, so when we saw a fun photo-op right next to the teacups, we of course stopped.

Fun fact: the mad hatter hat is not hollow all the way up to the top - it's only a couple inches. I definitely bonked my head on it. And it kind of hurt.

Rather than build off the photo-op theme, we decided to head back to Casey Jr and the Storybook boats - they'd just opened up and we figured their lines would build but the line for the Alice in Wonderland labyrinth would always be just a walk-on. So back to Casey Jr we went.

I like that sign - super fancy.

There was basically no one there so we got our pick of cars - the caboose! I love riding Casey Jr in the caboose.

I feel like this Casey Jr is a bit faster/slightly more intense than Casey Jr in Disneyland California, but maybe that's cause the train was empty and didn't have people weighing it down.

The CM offered to let us ride again but we saw that the Storybook boats had literally just opened, so we decided to head over there.

We got our own boat ride! Benefits of going right when they opened.

I think I like Disneyland California's version better, where you have a slightly bored CM narrating the whole time. But that version doesn't have the Wizard of Oz, so pros and cons. I will say the giant storybook that they had out front was desperately in need of refurbishment - all the paint was peeling and it just looked bad. Which is a shame - it's a cute little ride and it deserves better.

Then it was time for Alice's Curious Labyrinth! I love mazes and labyrinths, so I was excited for this one. I'm not a huge Alice in Wonderland fan, but the weird, unreal aspect of it does lend itself to a labyrinth.

The squeakers! They had several of these in the walls of the labyrinth in the one section - some big, some small.

We wandered bit, through some false starts, and then found the caterpillar! Had to take a picture with him.

We kept going and then found a very large Cheshire Cat face. I loved that they had the one bird conductor guy (whose name I don't remember but I still think is cool).

The labyrinth is really fun - lots of cute little theming touches all over. You could spend a lot of time there looking around, especially if you're a fan of Alice in Wonderland. There's a lot of fun photo ops too.

Like this one! We're painting the roses red...

We made our way through the maze and finally made it to the Queen of Hearts' castle!

It's kind of a fun little castle.

With an amazing view!

There's not a lot in the castle besides climbing the stairs to see the view, but that's still pretty awesome.

You could spend a lot of time in the labyrinth - we only spent about 20 minutes, but you could spend a lot longer. I filmed some of the fun little effects.

With that, the only ride we hadn't done in Fantasyland was the carousel, but I wasn't willing to wait in line for it - it looked pretty long! We decided to head to Big Thunder Mountain instead. Cause it's the BEST Big Thunder Mountain ever. On the way, we walked by the side the castle and the back entrance to the dragon's lair - look at this great lamp!

I love all the little touches.

We bought the fast pass for Big Thunder and got on fairly quickly.

I'd pointed something out to Trevor right as they took the picture...oops! And now I don't even remember what it was that I'd pointed out!

The next plan was Phantom Manor - it was right there, so of course we had to go ride it. But as we headed over, we checked the gazebo: before our trip I'd seen posts online of Mickey dressed in a Phantom Manor costume meeting guests there in that gazebo. I'd checked to see if he was there on Monday and Tuesday but he wasn't there and the sign at the gate (that I'd seen online) saying that he was meeting and the times was gone too, so I just assumed he wasn't out meeting. But as we headed over today, we sung by, and guess who was there!

Phantom Manor Pluto! It's not Mickey, but I'll still take it. And the line wasn't even that long, so that was nice. I don't think we've ever met Pluto before.

I like his little cape and hat.

Great way to start our visit to Phantom Manor!

Also look at that creepy sign - that dude on top is super freaky.

I really love Phantom Manor.

 

[Araminta18]

Lunch at Walt's - Thursday, September 22, 2022 (part 2)​

After the ride, we walked down to Boot Hill and explored the cemetery.

They had the funny tombstones, as well as the funny pet tombstones.

These tombstones had a a funny but also creepy message...

On the left is "Jasper Jones": Loyal Manservant who "kept the master happy"; on the right is Agatha Jones: faithful chambermaid who "kept the master happier". Ick!

And then the tombstones that tie back to the Phantom Manor story -

Martha and Henry Ravenswood - the parents of poor Melanie, the bride who wanders Phantom Manor. And Henry is the Phantom himself.

It's a really nice little graveyard - down by the water and you can even see some of the geysers from there. And all throughout the graveyard you can hear the beat of a heart that seems to be coming from one of the tombs. The theming is awesome!

At this point it was about 11:15, and while we had a lunch reservation at 11:45, we were a little bit hungry...snack time it was! I'd read that one of the quick service restaurants that sold pizza also sold garlic bread, so we headed that way.

Colonel Hathi's!

The theming inside here was amazing - there was a tree inside!

I think they'd only just opened...the lines were moving a bit slow. But eventually we got our garlic bread.

And it was AMAZING. Definitely worth the wait. So good. If we hadn't literally been heading right to lunch I would have gone back and gotten more.

As we were walking from the restaurant to our lunch reservation, we passed Jafar walking to his meet and greet area!

Kind of fun just to see him walking around.

But back to our lunch reservation! Where were we eating?

Walt's! This is their fancy restaurant on Main Street, with all the dining area on the second floor. If you get lucky, you can get a table at a window and overlook Main Street as you eat. We got there about 5 minutes early and politely requested a window table, cause that sounded awesome.

And we got lucky!

The view from our table!

I was pretty psyched - I love peoplewatching at Disney and this was a great and unique vantage point.

Then it was time for food.

I got a Shirley Temple, which they had listed as their only non-alcoholic cocktail.

Trevor got orange Fanta.

Walt's is another prix fixe menu - starter, entree, and dessert. I honestly almost canceled this reservation because none of the food really appealed, but I decided that the experience would be worth it. So far yes - getting seated at the window was awesome. And then they brought out the bread!

With Disney butter! It was yummy, though honestly I don't have a very sophisticated palate and it just tasted like yummy butter to me.

Time for starters! The choices were Sweet Corn Soup, chicken pot pie, waldorf salad, or fruit slaw. Nothing really stuck out at me, so I decided to go for weird and get the Sweet Corn Soup with Isigny Creme Fraiche, Smoked Popcorn, and Pastrami. I figured if nothing else it would be interesting. The description in the menu said "One of Walt's favorite meals topped with crispy bacon. Today's version comes with smoked popcorn (Walt loved to snack on popcorn in the parks), pastrami, and Isigny creme fraiche, a nod to the Disney family's French roots."

It was unexpectedly DELICIOUS. The popcorn in the soup was this great savory pop, and the soup was smooth and creamy and just really good. I was very pleasantly surprised. My only nitpick was wanting more popcorn!

Trevor likes pot pies so he got the Chicken Pot Pie with a crunchy vegetable salad. Per the menu: "A classic American dish first devised by Bessie Postalwaite (a Disney family cook) and updated here. The Mickey crust is a reference to Walt's favorite recipe served with a savory biscuit."

Mickey cracker! Trevor really liked this. I didn't, cause chicken pot pie is gross, but the Mickey crust cracker thing was cool.

While we were eating our appetizers, the Dream and Shine Brighter cavalcade started! And we got a great view from our window.

Isn't that great? We got to see them head up Main Street and then later head back down Main Street. And YES I filmed it cause of course I did!

All of us at the windows were waving frantically when the floats were going back down Main Street. Most characters didn't see us (or ignored us) but Peter Pan saw us all and waved! He acted all surprised that we were up there - you can see it in the video.

Anyways, back to food. After being pleasantly surprised by my starter, I was excited for the entree. Choices included Chili con carne, Roast Chicken Breast, Mac and Cheese, Cajun-Spiced Arctic Char, or Thelma Potato. I was not wanting another chicken entree, so I decided to go for the Chili, again - an interesting description. "Chili con carne, Tortilla chips, cheddar and Isigny Creme Fraiche, Red Onion, Coriander, White Rice, and Kidney Beans. 'The two are inseperable,' said Ron Miller, Walt's son-in-law. He loved chili, and his favorite recipe was served at Chasen's in Beverly Hills. This deconstructed version comes with a can of chili which was another of Walt's firm favorites. The delicious Isigny creme fraiche is a little nod to France."

My own Mickey cracker! The chili was in this glass "can". Then on the plate was the rice and beans and the creme/onion/cheddar toppings. It was a little weird to figure out how to eat it, but I eventually just dumped the chili on the plate and mixed it all in. It was a bit spicy, but really good! I enjoyed it a lot. Yum.

Trevor got the Cajun-Spiced Arctic Char, Wild Rice with Corn and Coriander, Isigny Butter Sauce. "Born in Missouri and raised in Chicago, Walt was also a big fan of freshwater fish. The sauce made using Isigny butter is an homage to the Disney family's French heritage".

Trevor said this was really good, but it was a HUGE piece of fish. He couldn't finish it.

We were pretty full after this but I mean we're not going to skip dessert! Though again, none of them really appealed. Lemon Meringue Pie, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Flower Street Sundae, Warm Giant Chocolate Chip and hazelnut cookie, or the same 30th celebration cake we'd seen all around. I don't like nuts or lemon or pineapple, so I opted for the Flower Street Sundae: "a nod to the Disneyland Paris address of Walt's an American Restaurant on 1401 Flower street, but it's also the address of Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale California".

It wasn't quite what I expected - I think one of the ice cream scoops had oatmeal or something in it. But it was still good.

Trevor opted for the Lemon Meringue Pie: "For dessert, Walt preferred pies to cakes. Lemon Chiffon Pie was one of his faves, a lemon tart with a particularly airy filling".

Super cute!

So overall, a really great meal - unexpectedly great which made it even better. We got the 30th anniversary Walt's pin too, cause apparently I'm a pin person now. We also poked around the restaurant a bit - most of the rooms are themed to one of the lands in Disneyland Paris, so we wanted to see some of the theming. It's a little bit weird to take pictures cause the restaurant is kind of small so I didn't, but they had some great pictures up and some awesome models around. If you go to Disneyland Paris, eating at Walt's is a must-do! Highly recommend. And it was way cheaper than our meal at Captain Jack's, for example. Definitely request a window seat if you can - that was awesome. Trevor loves timelapses so we also made a timelapse while we were eating.

Goodbye Walt! Thanks for lunch!

We were feeling happy and full after our lunch.

As we left, I grabbed a picture - that window above is where we were seated!

Where to now? Skull Rock/Adventure Isle! We definitely wanted to explore this area, since it's unique to Disneyland Paris and some of the videos we'd seen made it look super cool. I think as we headed over there we got pictures in front of the castle, but I'm not sure. Either way - I have photopass pictures and NO idea when we actually took them so I'm going to drop them in now.

This "blowing confetti" picture didn't turn out as well as the one I took by myself, but I had to try it with Trevor!

I was glad this picture in front of the castle turned out better than the one the other day!

Next up, Skull Rock!!

 

[Araminta18]

Skull Rock, Adventure Island, and Our New Room! - Thursday, September 22, 2022 (part 3)​

Ok, Skull Rock! We got over there and realized that the pirate ship was sadly closed.

You get a selfie with it - this was as close as you could get on the gangplank.

It actually turned out ok that it was closed - there was SO MUCH to see anyways! I don't even really know how to describe it - it's a bunch of caves and twisty passages, on multiple levels, and it's SO dark in there! We definitely got lost a few times, and I have no idea if we saw it all or not.

Picture from behind the skull

I tried to zoom in so you can see through the skull's eyes - you can see the ship out the right eye and "Le Chalet de Marionnette" out the other eye.

This is a good example of the caves - stalactites and then a creepy skeleton in there with treasure. Though this part was well-lit, and most of the caves were SUPER dark, though not sure how much of that perception is driven by it also being afternoon with full sun, so my eyes were having troubles adjusting to the dark.

We wandered around for quite a while...there's no map or anything that we found. But eventually we found this:

A bridge that links up to the Swiss Family Treehouse over there. Too bad the Treehouse was closed (I am really not having good luck with the Disney treehouses--this one was closed, Disneyland California closed Tarzan's Treehouse like 3 days before we got there...). Its a fun photo op spot though.

We did wander around to see what we could see of the treehouse, which admittedly wasn't much. But a fun bridge! And then as we kept wandering around, we ran into this awesome thing that I'm pretty sure is also unique to Disneyland Paris:

its the boat that the Swiss Family Robinson was on that shipwrecked, and that they cannibalized to build their treehouse! That's cool. I wanted to go on it too but it was blocked off.

As we kept looking around, we saw this fun little statue/thing - Carl and Russell getting ready to explore!

It's a fun little easter egg that you can only see from near the tree house - you can't get any closer to it down on the side of the river where it is. It's totally blocked off. Just a fun thing to view from afar. #thewildernessmustbeexplored

As we kept exploring, we found a fun little waterfall with a rainbow!

Really, we had a fun time wandering around. There is so much to explore! It's crazy. I wish there was some way to keep track of the areas we'd been so we could make sure to see everything...maybe I just need a better sense of direction!

At this point we were about done exploring Skull Rock and Adventure Isle, so we started to head out and towards the front of the park. But we got distracted by cool things...I mean, to be fair, we weren't trying very hard to head out. First up, we saw Hook out and about on the upper level of Pirates.

He really liked Trevor's mustache - you can kind of see it in the picture. He's gesturing to his mustache! I got the very end of it on video - him saluting Trevor.

We found the cannons too.

I want to point out that Trevor was the one who said "take my picture!" He's squatting a little bit weird because his back was broken, but hey - at least he could bend! He wouldn't have been able to do that on Monday!

We ended by going around to get a view of Skull Rock from the front.

Seriously, freaking cool theming. And this is why we/I go to Disney, despite the dumb and the prices and everything - the theming is second to none.

Our plan now was to go back to the hotel, but with a quick detour to Avengers Campus. I'd seen on twitter late the night before that one of the DLP "news" blogs had found the limited edition Avengers Campus pins still available for purchase - they looked like the entrance sign to Avengers Campus. I wanted one, but had assumed that they were sold out, and a brief look at the gift shop earlier in the week hadn't revealed them, so... *shrugs*. But after seeing that tweet I wanted to duck in and look one more time. So over to Avengers Campus we went!

And who did we see there?

Mighty Thor and Captain Marvel!! There were a bunch of people stopping them to take pictures, but I lacked guts to do that. Trevor followed and took a video.

At the gift shop, I was disappointed - I didn't realize you had to ask at the counter for the limited edition pins (otherwise I would have done so earlier in the week) and by this time of day they were all sold out (or that's what the CM told me...and knowing at this point what I know about logistics and such at DLP there's a decent chance there were still pins but the CM at the cash register didn't know). So that was a bummer, But it worked out - they had restocked the pin that was the Avengers "A" with DLP and 2022 on there. I think I like that one better anyways. So it worked out

Now it was time to head back to the hotel for a nap. On the way out, we saw the Wasp come out to meet and greet. We didn't want to wait in line but she waved at us! So calling it a win.

On our way out of Disney Studios, we saw the Brown Derby!

I like the one in Hollywood Studios better. This is just a facade - one way (of several) to enter their quick service over there.

Back at the hotel, we got to see our new room! It was room 105, which you're right - just a few doors down from our previous room 110. This room was smaller though, and didn't have the terrace or the bathtub.

See, no tub - another shower like the one I had in Paris with not a full door and water can just leak out. Such a weird design. Trevor was really grateful that our previous room had a bath, 'cause it really helped his back. Such a blessing that his back was feeling better enough that he didn't need a bath to help it.

I captured one of my favorite pieces of art as it scrolled by on the tv.

Also it greeted me by name! Nice.

We unpacked a bit, and then we headed over to SuperHero Station to meet another superhero. Once there, we got to meet Black Widow!

This is such a fun perk. SuperHero Station is great.

But now, time for a nap!

Well lies, more pictures.

They had a small exhibit of Avengers Campus concept art - had to take a picture of them with Trevor.

Ok, now a nap! Short nap though. We headed back to the parks a little bit before 5:30 pm. As we were walking through Disney Village we stopped to take a picture with a photo op.

Trevor made me pose...only fair 'cause usually I'm the one making him pose! Also I didn't realize how much I kind of blend into the background. Oops!

This time as we headed into Disneyland we got to go in through the center entrance! Just for fun.

It's so gorgeous!

As we were walking in and up to the hub, we caught the Disney Stars on Parade parade heading down Main Street, so we stopped to watch it a bit since Trevor hadn't seen it.

Cute! Trevor took some clips:

We then headed over to Discoveryland - Hyperspace Mountain! But on our way I saw this adorable Wall-E statue, so we took a picture.

Isn't that cute? Also, that staircase in the back left is the fastpass entrance.

We paid for our fastpasses and hopped in line.

And had a great time! Such a fun ride.

We really had no plans for this, our last night in the parks, so we were just going for whatever we felt like. We decided to head over to Frontierland and Big Thunder Mountain.

We got this view as we headed towards Frontierland. Isn't it cool, with Space Mountain and the submarine right there? Yes, yes it is cool, says Trevor.

I also made Trevor take a picture in the Autopia car photo op.

Over in Frontierland, they'd really started putting up the Halloween decorations - lots of sunflowers, oddly enough. But such cute scarecrows!

They had a bunch - this is just one set!

Big Thunder was still posting about an hour wait, so we bought the fastpass and hopped in line.

https://youtu.be/60kupFnQArI

I love how the queue takes you over the tracks.

I kind of got Mike Wazowski'd, but not too bad. Also, my hair is doing an epic streaming thing. At least this time we're both looking at the camera?

We kind of wanted to ride again, but I felt bad paying another 26 euros for it, so we decided to wait and hope the line would go down. Instead, we decided to take a ride on the Molly Brown! Which is hilarious to me because we've never ridden either of the boats at DisneyWorld or Disneyland California, but...*shrugs*.

 

[Araminta18]

Last Night at Disneyland Paris - Thursday September 22, 2022 (part 4)​

We didn't have to wait very long, which was nice. And we got a great spot up on the top deck, at the back - started with an awesome view of Phantom Manor. There were a ton of gnats around which was not great, but overall, it was fun, with great views. We got a great view of the geysers!

You can even see the Phantom Manor graveyard in the video I took.
Creeper shot!

Isn't it gorgeous?

Once off, I literally have no memory of what we did. Looking back through my pictures, it looks like we meandered back to Discoveryland via AdventureLand and Fantasyland. No idea why...maybe just looking around and enjoying the theming? The downside of writing this 3 months later...

This was near Big Thunder - Diego!

Once we were in Fantasyland, I noticed they had this little pathway open, with a sign that was pointing to Discoveryland, so of course we headed that way.

And it was indeed a shortcut right there! Saved us like 10 minutes of walking.

The line for Hyperspace Mountain didn't look too bad, so we decided to brave the standby line to see if the queue was any good.

Aside from these fun photo ops outside, not really. Inside was just a few hallways with posters of TIE fighters and other Star Wars ships. But we made it to the fastpass merge point after only nine minutes, so I'm glad we didn't pay the 26 euros for fastpasses again.

We got off at 8:15, and we were kind of hungry, so we stopped off at the quick service there in Discoveryland, but the line was bonkers long and it wasn't moving, so we bailed. We figured we'd go to the Market House Deli on Main Street and get the croque monsieur again instead.

There was a bit of line, but Trevor got us a great seat outside there so we could people watch, and I grabbed the food.

Trevor got the Mickey sandwich...and that's a chocolate muffin up there in the corner. We also got a soda and hot chocolate. I got the croque monsieur.

Isn't that view gorgeous? It ended up being a great meal. It was just low-key and yummy and we got to people-watch and eat yummy food. And I didn't spill hot chocolate on myself this time, so definitely a win.

We finished at about 8:45, and decided to head out 'cause we had to pack up and leave the next day pretty early. And we also needed to stop and do the VAT refund so we decided to try that at City Hall, hoping that the line would be short. And it was! With most people waiting for the fireworks, we didn't have to wait at all.

When we came out, the Disney DeLight drone show had just started, and since that was the best part of the night time show anyways, we stopped there at the gazebo and watched it.

Honestly, this was the best way to end our night - watching the drone show, singing along to the awesome song, no crowds...it was awesome. I couldn't think of a better way to end our night.

As we headed out, I noticed this cute little lamp detail for the first time.

Tink!

Goodbye Disneyland Paris! Gorgeous, even with that crane there. Love it. We had such a great time.

As we were leaving, Trevor was asking if I wanted to go back into Avengers Campus one last time, and while we thought about it for a minute, we decided to head back and pack up, since we'd ridden all the rides there already and didn't really feel the urge to ride them one last time or anything.

The place really is gorgeous all lit up at night.

The hotel across the lake.

ALSO! About right here actually, Trevor got a text from an unknown number, saying that he had won the Hamilton lottery and could buy two tickets for $10 each!!! So, context: I'm a big Broadway/musical theatre nerd, and Hamilton was currently playing at the Kennedy Center. Everywhere Hamilton plays, they have a lottery where you can win the chance to buy one or two tickets for $10 a piece. I'd been entering the whole time, but no luck. I'd entered both Trevor and I for this week too - they do the lottery a week ahead of time, so I figured that if we won, we'd be back home and able to see the show. But I didn't expect to win! And then we did!! Yay!!! That was a nice little cap to the night.

Anyways, back to the trip report.

Last view (slightly lopsided) of Hotel New York at night.

I did make Trevor take pictures in the lobby, since we hadn't yet.

The Skyline Lounge/Bar that we never actually went in...oops!

We stopped in at the gift shop one last time though I really have no memory of why! But while there, I decided to ask one last time if they had the special 30th anniversary sweepstakes chocolate bars. No other shop had had them, and a few of the CMs had said it was sold out everywhere. BUT! This is why I have trust issues with DLP CMs--they had some!

I didn't win anything, but I got them! #worthit

Back in our room, we commenced the sad task of packing up...had to figure out how to get everything in the suitcases, under the weight limit, and not break anything! Luckily we had plenty of space, and the weight wasn't a worry either since I had my handy-dandy portable suitcase scale.

One suitcase was full of gummys and other treats. #noshame

And this is where my biggest regret of the whole trip happened. We were packing up, almost done, and all of a sudden we started hearing fireworks go outside our window. We could see a little bit of it too. And it was a little after 10:30 - the Disneyland fireworks were long done, and Disney Studios didn't have a night time show, so what was happening? I hopped on twitter ('cause I was following like 4 or 5 DLP "news" accounts) and what I found out made me really sad: they did a special one-night-only redo of the Avengers Campus opening night fireworks and drone show. Apparently there was a travel agent convention or something...some reason for it, but Avengers Campus was open to anyone who had a ticket, and if you were there you got to see it. And we missed it! And we were *SO CLOSE* to having seen it - we almost went back to Avengers Campus! But we didn't, and because DLP sucks at notifications and logistics, we had no idea. And we missed it. I'm still super bummed - the drone show at Disneyland was awesome, I can only imagine what it would have been like in Avengers Campus. If I have one complaint about Disneyland Paris as a resort - it's that: they suck at communications and logistics.

I mean, I guess I shouldn't be upset--we didn't expect to see it, and we didn't. But just to find out we were SO CLOSE to having seen it and we missed it...we were bummed.

But we got our suitcases all packed at least?

That disappointment aside, it was a great last day. No rush, no pressure, just hanging out and enjoying the awesome park. A great time. Tomorrow we fly home - leaving the hotel at 7:45am. Blergh.

 

[Teamubr]

Nice wrap up to your trip. Sorry you missed the show over Avenger's Campus. That would have been some serious pixie dust if you had stumbled into it.

Because I'm a weird geek on "secret passages", of all the pics you posted, I'm curious where this walkway started and stopped.



Did it go where I drew the red lines?



I love wandering around AK finding these shortcuts. Or at MK when the have the back streets opened after fireworks. We got to take the one rarely used behind Crystal Palace that comes out by City Hall once.

j

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I've really been enjoying your trip report! I've just started to write my own, except we went in early December so it's so odd to see all of your nice weather pics.

And I CANNOT believe there was a Phantom Manor dressed Pluto!!! We had Jack Skellington meet in the gazebo when we were there (probably for Christmas).

Also, I had that same soup at Walt's, with the couple pieces of popcorn, and it was oddly good.

Also, nice weather time has waaaay more photopass photographers. We did not end up seeing one outside of a character the whole time we were there. I'm still glad I bought the package, even if just for attractions, but still, envious of all the ones you found.

 

[Araminta18]

Nice wrap up to your trip. Sorry you missed the show over Avenger's Campus. That would have been some serious pixie dust if you had stumbled into it.

Because I'm a weird geek on "secret passages", of all the pics you posted, I'm curious where this walkway started and stopped.

View attachment 726363

Did it go where I drew the red lines?

View attachment 726364

I love wandering around AK finding these shortcuts. Or at MK when the have the back streets opened after fireworks. We got to take the one rarely used behind Crystal Palace that comes out by City Hall once.

j

yep, you have it right on with the red lines! It was kind of fun to just run into it. I've never seen the one behind Crystal Palace at MK!

I've really been enjoying your trip report! I've just started to write my own, except we went in early December so it's so odd to see all of your nice weather pics.

And I CANNOT believe there was a Phantom Manor dressed Pluto!!! We had Jack Skellington meet in the gazebo when we were there (probably for Christmas).

Also, I had that same soup at Walt's, with the couple pieces of popcorn, and it was oddly good.

Also, nice weather time has waaaay more photopass photographers. We did not end up seeing one outside of a character the whole time we were there. I'm still glad I bought the package, even if just for attractions, but still, envious of all the ones you found.

Oh thanks for reading! I'm glad you're enjoying it - I'll have to go find yours! Ooh Jack Skellington was in the gazebo? How fun!

LOL about the photopass photographers - I really felt like there weren't very many but I guess that's still a bunch more than none! I wish DLP had more photographers out, or that they lowered the price of the package. There's so few photographers that for one of the shots we literally waited in line for 35 minutes!

 

[Araminta18]

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig - Friday, September 23, 2022​

Departure day! Sadness. Our flight left from the Orly airport at 11:55 am, so I wanted to be at the airport at about 9 am. Which means we needed to leave the hotel at about 8 am. And that's why we were up and dressed and walking through the hotel at 6:55 am, heading to breakfast.

There was no one around...made for some pretty pictures.

I loved these comic panels around the doors in the main lobby.

Lobby Panorama

Breakfast was in the Manhattan restaurant dining room, but I think it was the same buffet food in both Manhattan and Downtown - they just sat you wherever. So we grabbed a seat underneath the fancy chandelier! And then off to grab food! They had a pretty good selection, but it was a basic standard hotel breakfast. Pastries, eggs, sausage, juices...

Avengers waffle! It wasn't good though. Also, even at Disney, very very soggy eggs.

Chandelier selfie!

Trevor was more moderate than I - pancakes and one sausage.

Round two - look at that adorable mickey in the pound cake! Note the grapes, which were again not seedless.

We finished breakfast at about 7:30 and then grabbed our luggage and headed back to the lobby to call a taxi. We waited out front, and saw this fun bit of theming we'd missed when we'd arrived:

Old-style New York taxi! Adorbs.

Our taxi came within 5 minutes, which was awesome. I love it when everything happens right on schedule - does wonders for my travel anxiety. There was a bit of traffic on the way to the airport but not too bad - we arrived at 8:45am, so a tad early but not bad. It actually worked out well - we had time to find the customs/VAT refund area and get that all done, and then do a little bit of shopping - my little brother had asked me to buy him some of the Lego magazines that came with Lego minifigures, so I bought a few at the news stands, and then used up basically the last of my cash euros buying another bitter almond macaron from the LaDuree shop there at the airport. I wanted another one and Trevor needed to try it!

We then headed through security - there was a bit of a line, but eventually we were through and into this super tiny secure part with like 8 gates and not much going on. Not many shops or food places to distract us. Eventually we started boarding and I don't know what the hold up was but they scanned our boarding passes and let a bunch of us in, but then they hadn't actually opened the plane yet so we were just standing on the jetway for like 30 minutes? It was weird.

But eventually we got on the plane and realized our seats were exit row - huzzah! Though TAP had a weird thing - if you're sitting in an exit row, you can't put anything underneath the seat in front of you. Weird. But soon enough, we were on our way to Lisbon, where we had our layover.

So pretty! Too bad we only got to see the airport. We landed around 2 pm, and then our flight back home didn't take off until 5:10 pm, so after we went through customs (got a Lisbon stamp in my passport!), we had a bit of time to get some food before heading to our gate. There wasn't a ton of options, and so after walking the length of the terminal, we just ate at the place nearest us at that point: a kind of odd English pub. They were super backed up, but we grabbed a seat and waited. Eventually (about 30/45 min after ordering), the food showed up.

I got a roast beef sandwich that looked better than it tasted; Trevor got a bacon cheeseburger...also looked better than it tasted. So yea, take this as a tip that there is not much food in the international terminal in the Lisbon airport.

We headed to the gate and hung out for a bit, before they cleared us all out and did a passport check before they let us back into the gate area? It was kind of odd, but they didn't look in my luggage or anything, just let us through, so whatever. And while we were waiting to get back into the gate Trevor found a vending machine that took credit cards and got his last European fanta before heading home.

Once on the plane, we ended up with an empty middle seat between us, which was AWESOME! This was the long flight, so having an empty seat was a real blessing.

Pretty view!

The flight was a bit over 8 hours, so we got a couple meals, though the quality wasn't great. The mango pudding was decent though!

Right before landing we got a pastry-like breakfast thing but it was not very good.

But we landed on time, and were in our friends car and on our way home by 9 pm. We unpacked a bit, and fell into bed. And with that, the trip was officially over. We'd had a wonderful time - ate all the yummy things and saw all the beautiful sites, and even though Trevor's back was definitely not 100%, it improved significantly over the few days so that he was able to ride all the rides he wanted to. It was such a great trip...I want to go back! Thank you for following along and letting me share!! I'll leave you with our souvenir pics...we bought waaaaaaaaaay too much.

and our haul of soaps and toiletry kits

 

[jgl130]

Were you able to hold multiple Premier Access passes at one time? Or did you have to wait to use the PA before you could purchase another one? Trying to decide if we should buy the Unlimited for our whole trip or if we should just wait til we’re there, judge the crowds and buy one offs. We’re going at the end of February, so I don’t think the crowds will be unmanageable…

 

[knewton64]

Hi there!
its me -
Ok ... have to ask -
1) is it fair to say leave your cell phone 'On" while in the parks?
fair to say set it to the parks wi-fi?
2) good to know about HOW to redeem the VAT tax - got it... bring your receipts with you daily.
3) YES - good to know about Hyper Space Mtn with all those straps because thats the number one attraction i want to see....
*
very nice TR -
*
T.T.F.N.
& Cheers Y'all

 

[Araminta18]

Were you able to hold multiple Premier Access passes at one time? Or did you have to wait to use the PA before you could purchase another one? Trying to decide if we should buy the Unlimited for our whole trip or if we should just wait til we’re there, judge the crowds and buy one offs. We’re going at the end of February, so I don’t think the crowds will be unmanageable…

So, I want to say yes? I know for sure we had a "multiple experiences" pass (for when a ride went down) and an actual one at the same time; I'm like 90% sure we had multiple Premier Access passes at the same time, I just can't quite remember. I would definitely just wait til you're there and then buy one offs - the Ultimate gives you Premier Access for some rides that you 100% don't need it for (Cars Road Trip for example, you definitely don't need it). And then you wont' feel like you're wasting money if you buy two or three premier access passes for say Big Thunder Mountain and never use/ride Orbitron or Buzz Lightyear.

Hi there!
its me -
Ok ... have to ask -
1) is it fair to say leave your cell phone 'On" while in the parks?
fair to say set it to the parks wi-fi?
2) good to know about HOW to redeem the VAT tax - got it... bring your receipts with you daily.
3) YES - good to know about Hyper Space Mtn with all those straps because thats the number one attraction i want to see....
*
very nice TR -
*
T.T.F.N.
& Cheers Y'all

I left my phone on, and I set it to the park wifi - the park wifi was surprisingly good for me. No issues. My plan was to buy a data pass from my carrier (TMobile) but I ended up not needing it. Space Mountain is awesome! I hope you enjoy it!

 

[jgl130]

I would definitely just wait til you're there and then buy one offs - the Ultimate gives you Premier Access for some rides that you 100% don't need it for

Super helpful, thanks!! I’m a WDW pro, but Paris is leaving me like I haven’t prepared enough! We have reservations at Remy, Walt’s, PYM and Auberge de Cendrillon, so we’re set for food. Your trip report gave me the push to do the Auberge! Have our airport transfers booked. We’re club level at Newport Bay, so don’t need breakfast. My parents have their Paris tour booked. I feel like I’m missing something obvious…