So in all the excitement and anticipation for Disney Dreams Patrick and I ended up booking a random weekend trip to the resort for the end of April (earliest we could do it). This happened while organising our Florida trip to WDW, yeah, this is why we shouldn't be allowed money.
Friday 27th April
As I was on night shifts at work I had the amazing fun of leaving work at 7:30 in the morning and then walking over to Kings Cross St. Pancras station to get my Eurostar train. I had ages to wait so grabbed some food and sat looking at Facebook and Twitter on my phone using the station's free wi-fi service. There appeared to be lots of people in the station in large groups with specially printed out t-shirts for their trip. Some were for birthdays and some were hen dos. Despite the waiting area feeling very busy the actual train (or at least my carriage) felt really empty. It wasn't until the two stops in Kent until my carriage was full with very annoying people. People annoy me when I'm trying to sleep after a very long shift at work, damn them to hell. Despite this my amazing neck pillow allowed me to catch a little bit of crucial sleep.
Once at the train station I hopped onto the next RER train to get to my hotel in Val d'Europe which is like a 3 minute journey. We were staying at the Relais Spa. It's a 4* hotel which opened about 2 years ago but due to some construction going on they had some amazing deals on which meant we could afford something nice for a change. WOW was my initial reaction, I'm so not used to staying in nice places on my trips (I don't even rate the Disney hotels). It was clean, modern and mega comfy. It also had a huge amount of light switches, being the curious fellow that I am I obviously had to go around the room and play with every single one to see what they turned on
Yeah, that is a kitchenette with gas hobs, microwave, dishwasher, fridge and everything else you need to use in a kitchen
So after some faffing around and sorting myself out I popped out to get some special soap my mum loves from one of the stores in the mahoosive shopping centre. So yeah that took me like forever because the shop is right at the other end of the place and people are burdenous. On my way out of the shopping mall the sound system just happen to play the Jurassic park theme tune, I thought this was the best thing ever.
So yeah, after once again sorting my life out at the hotel I hopped back onto the RER back to the resort. I decided to go into the Disneyland Parc first. At least the weather was staying dry (despite the lame clouds spoiling all the pics).
The 'new' parade was about to begin so Main Street was rammed but I liked what I could see of all the 20th Anniversary decorations everywhere. I made my way up Discovery Arcade to bypass the masses and headed into Discoveryland. I managed to grab a fastpass for Space Mountain: Mission 2, didn't feel like queuing 30 minutes. I then joined the queue for Star Tours. I was on in about 5 minutes, the queue felt like it moved really quickly, which was nice. I was sat in the front row which I've never done before, I'm usually put somewhere towards the back of the Starspeeder. It was fun as always, it'll never get old (despite really wanting Star Tours 2 to come to the park).
I still had quite some time to wait before I could use my fastpass so I just headed straight into the Space Mountain queueline, I think the board said the waiting time was like 15 minutes but it ended up to be more like 30-40 minutes due to someone vomiting all over one of the trains which they sat in the station and cleaned up so throughput really slowed down, how frustrating. Still, got on and the sound system was really loud, I love this coaster so much when that's working well. Strange how something so simple changes your perception of the ride so much. Still, it was now time for the fastpass too so I ran round and got on again (bypassing a massive queue outside). This time I was in the front row and OMG, I don't think I've sat in the front row before on Space and it's just amazing, the feel of the wind in your face on that coaster is just amazing, a much better sensation of speed and it feels like you're being pushed with more force around the track which is just fantastic.
As I was next to it I decided to pop into the Nautilus walk-through. As part of the marathon refurbs the resort went through for this year they recently drained the water around the exterior nautilus, pained it all and generally made it look awesome, just look at how blue that water looks!
The interior still looks great too. "Oh noes, it's a giant octopus attacking us!" *quick, take pictures*
I then spent some time faffing around in Central Plaza taking lots of photos with my new camera. So annoyed the weather was so dull.
I then headed over to Adventureland. I was thrilled to bits to see both flames on...
Before I entered some loud music played in Central Plaza. "What's this?" I asked myself. Turns out this was the start of one of the many day time fountain shows in front of the castle. They last about 5 minutes and it adds a whole new dynamic to the area and it's so relaxing to watch. Each show plays one or two popular songs from the classics.
So I then continued into Adventureland to check out one of the other major refurb project, Captain Hook's ship. It looks absolutely stunning, it's been given a new life with deeper reds and gold and new colourful sails. Just looks fantastic. If you saw it last year before the refurb began you'd realise how much it's changed as it was falling apart and generally looking worn out and sad. Along with this refurb is the fact you can now board the ship which I've never been able to do (became too dangerous and was closed off to guests).
Over the weekend I even noticed (for the first time) the little play area next to the ship full of kids playing around, it just feels like the refurb has brought a new lease of life into the area. So after admiring the ship and watching the heron in the area for a while I went on Pirates of the Caribbean. I really like Pirates, I just love the music and atmosphere throughout the ride. Still missing is the sword fighting pirates which really saddens me, I hope they come back soon. I swear the canon blasts in the water were more explosive as well, like the water was just going everywhere, that was cool.
I then trekked over to Indiana Jones et le temple de peril. It was walk on which was great news. I managed to get front row too which was great. The loop in the middle is insane in the front row, you feel like you're going to head butt the track lol. As there was still no queue I ran round and did it for a second time because I'm weird and actually enjoy this coaster.
I then walked through Fantasyland which was quite busy. I was going to get some ice cream from the place opposite It's a small World but it had already ceased trading for the day so I went over to the Gibson Girl Parlour for some Ben & Jerrys. I had quite a sore throat and I needed a snack so decided this would be a good choice, it really was. As I was finishing my ice cream another fountain show started in front of the castle. I really like these little shows and I hope it's something that stays for a long time.
After looking at the queue time board I decided that Phantom Manor would be a good place to head to. It was indeed a very good choice, I was on within 10 minutes. It did however have several stops due to playful spirits throughout my journey through the Ravenswood Manor.
Wasn't too sure where to head to next so spent some taking photos in Frontierland and just generally wandering around aimlessly. Upon this little journey I happen to come across yet another heron (or the same one) over by Big Thunder Mountain. It kept flying over towards the path and then back over to this little island, was quite fascinating to watch [/easily amused]
I ended back up at Pirates of the Caribbean which had like a 5 minute wait. After singing along with the pirates I headed into the Aladdin walkthrough which I always enjoy looking through, not sure why. It was starting to get dark now and I didn't have long till Patrick arrived from Aberdeen so I spent my time looking through the Main Street stores to see all the new merchandise.
I then met Patrick outside the transportation building and we walked up to Central Plaza. Oddly loads of people were leaving the park and there was a huge gathering of people in front of the castle. Why I hear you ask, Disney Dreams of course! It was odd waiting for a night show at the park at the end of April, feels unnatural outside of the Summer period. Unfortunately the weather decided to take a turn for the worse during the show meaning no pics for today's update. However the rain made the lasers look epic, just this sea of laser green over everyone's heads was amazing. The star effect also wasn't in use but I reckon it was due to the wet weather. The weather also meant people put up umbrellas and all sorts making it hard to view parts of the show and became quite an annoyance. I still blame Patrick for bringing the Scottish weather with him.
So the show was brilliant (despite the inclement weather and burdens amongst the audience) but I'll give you more details in part 2 when I actually managed to get some pics.
We faffed around a bit and then ventured into Disney Village in search of food (neither of us had had a meal since breakfast). Everywhere looked like they were closing or close to closing, surely this is something they should change to deal with the later opening times of the park? Anyway we quickly jumped into the art shop to buy the very expensive 20th anniversary book (very limited edition, pretty cool) and then got seated at Cafe Mickey.
It was a first for both of us and due to the very expensive prices on the menu we were expecting a very good service. Due to the time the characters had all gone, which we didn't really care about, we just wanted some food. We got seated very quickly but then once we had decided what we wanted to eat it took a while for the waiter to turn up, he then took our orders, drinks took ages to come. Food was ok but definitely not worthy of their prices. I know you're probably paying for the characters etc but we weren't so we felt a bit ripped off tbh. The staff then just forgot we even existed, it just generally became really annoying and we definitely won't be going back there anytime soon and we advise others to stay away too. The staff just weren't very good, the food was average and it was just a bit of a joke for the prices they charge in there.
Oh well, we walked back to our hotel and for some reason stayed up for ages talking, wtf were we thinking? Anyways the beds at our hotel were absolutely amazing, felt like I was sleeping on a cloud, I just wanted to live in it.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thanks for reading, comments are highly appreciated and I should be putting up part 2 at some point this week (hopefully).
The full album of photos can be viewed by clicking on THIS LINK
Friday 27th April
As I was on night shifts at work I had the amazing fun of leaving work at 7:30 in the morning and then walking over to Kings Cross St. Pancras station to get my Eurostar train. I had ages to wait so grabbed some food and sat looking at Facebook and Twitter on my phone using the station's free wi-fi service. There appeared to be lots of people in the station in large groups with specially printed out t-shirts for their trip. Some were for birthdays and some were hen dos. Despite the waiting area feeling very busy the actual train (or at least my carriage) felt really empty. It wasn't until the two stops in Kent until my carriage was full with very annoying people. People annoy me when I'm trying to sleep after a very long shift at work, damn them to hell. Despite this my amazing neck pillow allowed me to catch a little bit of crucial sleep.
Once at the train station I hopped onto the next RER train to get to my hotel in Val d'Europe which is like a 3 minute journey. We were staying at the Relais Spa. It's a 4* hotel which opened about 2 years ago but due to some construction going on they had some amazing deals on which meant we could afford something nice for a change. WOW was my initial reaction, I'm so not used to staying in nice places on my trips (I don't even rate the Disney hotels). It was clean, modern and mega comfy. It also had a huge amount of light switches, being the curious fellow that I am I obviously had to go around the room and play with every single one to see what they turned on
Yeah, that is a kitchenette with gas hobs, microwave, dishwasher, fridge and everything else you need to use in a kitchen
So after some faffing around and sorting myself out I popped out to get some special soap my mum loves from one of the stores in the mahoosive shopping centre. So yeah that took me like forever because the shop is right at the other end of the place and people are burdenous. On my way out of the shopping mall the sound system just happen to play the Jurassic park theme tune, I thought this was the best thing ever.
So yeah, after once again sorting my life out at the hotel I hopped back onto the RER back to the resort. I decided to go into the Disneyland Parc first. At least the weather was staying dry (despite the lame clouds spoiling all the pics).
The 'new' parade was about to begin so Main Street was rammed but I liked what I could see of all the 20th Anniversary decorations everywhere. I made my way up Discovery Arcade to bypass the masses and headed into Discoveryland. I managed to grab a fastpass for Space Mountain: Mission 2, didn't feel like queuing 30 minutes. I then joined the queue for Star Tours. I was on in about 5 minutes, the queue felt like it moved really quickly, which was nice. I was sat in the front row which I've never done before, I'm usually put somewhere towards the back of the Starspeeder. It was fun as always, it'll never get old (despite really wanting Star Tours 2 to come to the park).
I still had quite some time to wait before I could use my fastpass so I just headed straight into the Space Mountain queueline, I think the board said the waiting time was like 15 minutes but it ended up to be more like 30-40 minutes due to someone vomiting all over one of the trains which they sat in the station and cleaned up so throughput really slowed down, how frustrating. Still, got on and the sound system was really loud, I love this coaster so much when that's working well. Strange how something so simple changes your perception of the ride so much. Still, it was now time for the fastpass too so I ran round and got on again (bypassing a massive queue outside). This time I was in the front row and OMG, I don't think I've sat in the front row before on Space and it's just amazing, the feel of the wind in your face on that coaster is just amazing, a much better sensation of speed and it feels like you're being pushed with more force around the track which is just fantastic.
As I was next to it I decided to pop into the Nautilus walk-through. As part of the marathon refurbs the resort went through for this year they recently drained the water around the exterior nautilus, pained it all and generally made it look awesome, just look at how blue that water looks!
The interior still looks great too. "Oh noes, it's a giant octopus attacking us!" *quick, take pictures*
I then spent some time faffing around in Central Plaza taking lots of photos with my new camera. So annoyed the weather was so dull.
I then headed over to Adventureland. I was thrilled to bits to see both flames on...
Before I entered some loud music played in Central Plaza. "What's this?" I asked myself. Turns out this was the start of one of the many day time fountain shows in front of the castle. They last about 5 minutes and it adds a whole new dynamic to the area and it's so relaxing to watch. Each show plays one or two popular songs from the classics.
So I then continued into Adventureland to check out one of the other major refurb project, Captain Hook's ship. It looks absolutely stunning, it's been given a new life with deeper reds and gold and new colourful sails. Just looks fantastic. If you saw it last year before the refurb began you'd realise how much it's changed as it was falling apart and generally looking worn out and sad. Along with this refurb is the fact you can now board the ship which I've never been able to do (became too dangerous and was closed off to guests).
Over the weekend I even noticed (for the first time) the little play area next to the ship full of kids playing around, it just feels like the refurb has brought a new lease of life into the area. So after admiring the ship and watching the heron in the area for a while I went on Pirates of the Caribbean. I really like Pirates, I just love the music and atmosphere throughout the ride. Still missing is the sword fighting pirates which really saddens me, I hope they come back soon. I swear the canon blasts in the water were more explosive as well, like the water was just going everywhere, that was cool.
I then trekked over to Indiana Jones et le temple de peril. It was walk on which was great news. I managed to get front row too which was great. The loop in the middle is insane in the front row, you feel like you're going to head butt the track lol. As there was still no queue I ran round and did it for a second time because I'm weird and actually enjoy this coaster.
I then walked through Fantasyland which was quite busy. I was going to get some ice cream from the place opposite It's a small World but it had already ceased trading for the day so I went over to the Gibson Girl Parlour for some Ben & Jerrys. I had quite a sore throat and I needed a snack so decided this would be a good choice, it really was. As I was finishing my ice cream another fountain show started in front of the castle. I really like these little shows and I hope it's something that stays for a long time.
After looking at the queue time board I decided that Phantom Manor would be a good place to head to. It was indeed a very good choice, I was on within 10 minutes. It did however have several stops due to playful spirits throughout my journey through the Ravenswood Manor.
Wasn't too sure where to head to next so spent some taking photos in Frontierland and just generally wandering around aimlessly. Upon this little journey I happen to come across yet another heron (or the same one) over by Big Thunder Mountain. It kept flying over towards the path and then back over to this little island, was quite fascinating to watch [/easily amused]
I ended back up at Pirates of the Caribbean which had like a 5 minute wait. After singing along with the pirates I headed into the Aladdin walkthrough which I always enjoy looking through, not sure why. It was starting to get dark now and I didn't have long till Patrick arrived from Aberdeen so I spent my time looking through the Main Street stores to see all the new merchandise.
I then met Patrick outside the transportation building and we walked up to Central Plaza. Oddly loads of people were leaving the park and there was a huge gathering of people in front of the castle. Why I hear you ask, Disney Dreams of course! It was odd waiting for a night show at the park at the end of April, feels unnatural outside of the Summer period. Unfortunately the weather decided to take a turn for the worse during the show meaning no pics for today's update. However the rain made the lasers look epic, just this sea of laser green over everyone's heads was amazing. The star effect also wasn't in use but I reckon it was due to the wet weather. The weather also meant people put up umbrellas and all sorts making it hard to view parts of the show and became quite an annoyance. I still blame Patrick for bringing the Scottish weather with him.
So the show was brilliant (despite the inclement weather and burdens amongst the audience) but I'll give you more details in part 2 when I actually managed to get some pics.
We faffed around a bit and then ventured into Disney Village in search of food (neither of us had had a meal since breakfast). Everywhere looked like they were closing or close to closing, surely this is something they should change to deal with the later opening times of the park? Anyway we quickly jumped into the art shop to buy the very expensive 20th anniversary book (very limited edition, pretty cool) and then got seated at Cafe Mickey.
It was a first for both of us and due to the very expensive prices on the menu we were expecting a very good service. Due to the time the characters had all gone, which we didn't really care about, we just wanted some food. We got seated very quickly but then once we had decided what we wanted to eat it took a while for the waiter to turn up, he then took our orders, drinks took ages to come. Food was ok but definitely not worthy of their prices. I know you're probably paying for the characters etc but we weren't so we felt a bit ripped off tbh. The staff then just forgot we even existed, it just generally became really annoying and we definitely won't be going back there anytime soon and we advise others to stay away too. The staff just weren't very good, the food was average and it was just a bit of a joke for the prices they charge in there.
Oh well, we walked back to our hotel and for some reason stayed up for ages talking, wtf were we thinking? Anyways the beds at our hotel were absolutely amazing, felt like I was sleeping on a cloud, I just wanted to live in it.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thanks for reading, comments are highly appreciated and I should be putting up part 2 at some point this week (hopefully).
The full album of photos can be viewed by clicking on THIS LINK
I think I enjoy the park so much because there is always something new to see and discover no matter how many times you've been. 
