We had a good spot to watch the parade outside the AP office, but I didn't know which direction they were going to be coming from! They came along the normal parade route, only backwards, from Main Street. I got a nice video as they passed and my Mam got some photos.
Our time in Disney was coming to an end, and we just had a few loose ends to tie up. First was some Christmas decorations, so we went into the shop inside the Castle for those. They had some really beautiful glass baubles with princesses inside but I didn't buy any because they would certainly get broken in my house!!! And I'm not just talking about the kids, DH broke a lovely Tinkerbell one I had a few years ago!
Back down Main Street and I got an ice cream sundae from The Ice Cream Co. I had to queue a while and where I was standing was a real sun trap, it was quite hot!
On to City Hall then to lodge a complaint about the Hotel. The CM that we saw was very nice, she listened to our story, wrote down a few details and went backstage to make a call. She came back and said she had spoken to the hotel and that we should go there and ask to see the manager, Samba.
The very last bit of shopping was done in the Boardwalk Candy Palace and the Storybook Store (where I went in to buy stamps and then left without them!). I said goodbye to the castle and the park as we left, and for the first time I wasn't sad to be leaving because I knew I had another magical trip planned in just over 10 weeks. I've never had 2 trips booked at the same time before. Gotta love the APs!
We walked back in the hotel, stopping for a meal deal in EOS to eat at the airport. Back at the hotel, we collected our luggage and then went to reception to ask for Samba. It was Sonia from the previous night who was there, and she said, "oh I remember you, there was a problem with your room." She disappeared backstage and never returned! 20 minutes later, a CM called Rita, who identified herself as 'assistant to the reception manager' and said that Samba was unavailable to see us. She was rude from the start. Did not know why we were complaining. First she tried to put the blame on us by saying that rooms are reassigned when people are late checking in. I reminded her that we did in fact check in at 11am! She said she didn't know how the mistake had happened, and when I asked if it could be guaranteed that it would not happen again she said no. I told her about my upcoming trip on my own with my two young children and how I wasn't happy that anyone could be given a key to my room and she could not offer me any reassurance. She just kept shrugging her shoulders. This was my 7th trip to DLP and my first time to make a complaint and I was shocked at the obnoxious response I got. Needless to say, I emailed a formal complaint, and thankfully I got a phonecall from the Guest Communications Manager who apologies profusely and said they would investigate the incident.
RS Transports were due to collect us at 6:30pm and when I checked my phone I had a message from them, saying they would be 20 minutes late. The driver arrived at 6:50 and luckily we weren't sharing and still made it to Beauvais in good time for the flight. I don't think I'd use the company again. They were OK but I've read lots of reports of them being late and I don't think it's worth the worry. If there was traffic or other pick ups you could potentially miss your flight. I'll stick with Ezyshuttle in future as they are very reliable.
It was after midnight by the time I got home and I was exhausted! It was supposed to be a relaxed, laid back trip but that didn't happen! We had a really magical time, thankfully the hotel was the only problem we had, and we didn't let it ruin the trip. I can't wait to go back with the kids at Halloween, hopefully we'll have some reassurance re the hotel before we go.
Thanks for reading!