Just The Two Of Us - Trip Report - FINALLY FINISHED 28.08.2012

[HappyPanda]

i have that amnesia too

yes, its annoying they werent working - we love the singing heads!! lol i hope the ghosts at the end come back *** they were fun!!

I hope so, too! Surely it can't be that hard to fix the projector! They just need to get Handy Manny on the case!

You were really lucky to meet Eeyore in cafe mickey. We spent the whole week hoping to meet him but never did. It was partly my fault though because he was at the DLH outside breakfast one morning but we were in the studios and chose not to go back for him - I wish now we had.

It is a lovely picutre of all of us in the beautiful sunshine - it was great to meet you guys

It was nice to see Eeyore in Cafe Mickey, just gutted he missed our table twice as he's the one Olivia really wanted to have a cuddle with! Oh well, gives us another character to hunt down in March (along with Stitch for Olivia is also dying to meet!).

It was great to meet you, too!

 

[DLPdaft]

loving your TR so far - just to say, all the effects in PM were working yesterday, including the ghosts on the carriages in the mirrors at the end . They were missing on Sunday and Tuesday, but everything else was working when we did PM on those days.

 

[HappyPanda]

Friday 8th June - Continued....

We got back into the park at about 2.30pm and by now we were feeling a little hungry as we'd only had our Salon Mickey treat so far. So we headed to Casey's Corner for a small meal. We queued for about 20 minutes to be served, even though the queue wasn't that big at all . Olivia and I both had an original hotdog and we shared a Diet Coke.

The hotdog was nice, but nothing special at all. Not sure if I'd go back there again.

We then took a nice stroll through the castle and headed to IASW.. but just as we got there everyone was coming out of the queue line, it was closed! Olivia was really upset as she had been looking forward to going on it all morning. So instead we decided to get a little bit more use out of our VIP Fastpass and went on Peter Pan - 4 times in a row!

On our last ride, the boats kept stopping really suddenly all the way round, with so much force that I ended up with a massive bruise on my arm from the impact. I asked the CM when we got off if there was a problem with the ride but she just shrugged her shoulders like this -> Was strange as we've never known the ride to act like that before and certainly put both Olivia and myself off of going on it again.

We then headed to POTC again, there was little to no queue and we were soon seated on the second row. As there was only one other couple on the boat in the row in front, Olivia and I move to the other side of the boat to them so that we could get a good photo! I ended up buying this picture as it was a really cute one of Olivia, even though I looked like a complete mess! Will try and scan this in later to share it all with you!

Olivia then wanted to have a look around Hook's Pirate ship so we headed over there next...

I was really impressed with the refurbishment of boat, it looks like new now!

I then wanted to go up to the Swiss Family Treehouse, Olivia wasn't overly keen but agreed to come up with me to make me happy!

The walk up was nice and we had lots of fun stopping to look at all the scenes and the views:

Shortly after that last photo was taken, we encountered our worst moment of the trip. Olivia was about 3/4 of the way down one of the final flights of stairs when a young boy came pushing past everyone to get to the bottom. He must have been about 9/10, so fully accountable for his actions imo. He pushed past me and before I could hold onto Olivia he had pushed past her and sent her flying down the last few steps.

What made me so angry was that he didn't even attempt to apologise of acknowledge his actions and then his family that were just behind us, walked straight past Olivia on the floor (despite seeing what had happened), not even stopping to check that she was ok or to apologise for his behaviour. I was seething by this point. Luckily the family that were behind them were a lovely French family who, despite the language barrier, made sure we were both ok.

Luckily, Olivia came away with just a small scratch on her arm and within a few minutes she was back to her normal happy self, but I was still so annoyed by what had happened. OK.. rant over!

After being so brave, I let Olivia choose one last thing to do in the park before we headed for our Dinner reservation, she chose Phantom Manor. So we headed back through Frontierland, I tried to convince Olivia to do BTM one more time as we had our VIP Fastpass, but she was having none of it! So onwards we went to Phantom Manor.

By the time we got out of there it was just about time to head to the Pink Palace for our Dinner!

 

[HappyPanda]

We arrived at Inventions about 10 minutes before our reservation time, but they had no issue with seating us straight away. We were shown to our seat which was pretty much slap-bang in the middle of the restaurant.

Before we had even sat down, Pinocchio appeared! Cue a quick scramble through my bag to find the Autograph book and pen!

We then went to grab some grub, I must say I was a little disappointed by the selection. Looking at the photos of the buffet that were posted the other day, our selection seemed pretty pityful. There was a few different shellfish options, maybe 3/4 different meats and then one bowl of potatoes. Having said that, the food that they did have was absolutely delicious!

While eating our food Olivia shouted "Uncle Otto, Uncle Otto". This took me aback a bit as Uncle Otto, is my great, great Uncle who died long before either Olivia or I was born, so how could she be seeing him in inventions!

Well, I guess the clue is in the name of the restaurant! You see, Uncle Otto was himself an inventor. He invented the Hand-Glider and was a great pioneer in the development of flight as a whole. He is the first person you will see as you enter the Science Museum in London and I always make sure to take Olivia to "see" him when we are there, so that she has an idea of her heritage. So she is very familiar with seeing his face!

To my great surprise, Uncle Otto was actually on our placemat! I think I actually squealed with excitement when I saw him!

We continued with our meal (Olivia was very careful not to put her hot plate on Uncle Otto's face ) and met a few more characters:

Gideon

Gepetto

Goofy

Minnie

Mickey

Donald

It was hard work trying to get Olivia to eat her main meal, as we were sat so close to the desserts! But soon it was time for her to dig in to them! Again, I was pretty disappointed by the lack of choice it seemed to be chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate (we were much more impressed with the RDS selection on our previous trip!) but Olivia didn't seem to mind.

I took the obligatory photo of our view from the restaurant:

And then Olivia insisted in having a picture with me:

We then paid our bill and headed back out of the hotel and into the park, visiting the phone box on the way...

We headed straight for buzz as it was now about 9.30pm and a lot of people were already waiting for Dreams, but it had just closed! Seemed to be a bit of a theme for this day! So we headed to Star Tours, this was Olivia most favourite ride of our last trip, so she was excited to have a ride on it!

We then decided to call it a night and headed back to our room for some zzzs! Annoyingly Olivia decided she "wasn't tired" when we got back to the room and didn't go to bed until gone 11pm, so we probably could have stayed up for dreams after all!

Sorry, just realised I have written a bit of an essay here haven't it. My teacher did always say that I am the type of person who will use 10 words when 2 will do, guess she was right!

 

[DLPDreams]

Love your update Helen!

We had lots of nice food at Inventions - I love it there, but didn't see anywhere near the amount of characters you did!

Wow, how fab is that about your Uncle Otto - a real claim to fame . Bless Olivia for noticing him! I would have been really proud - hope you took a placemat away with you!

As for writing an essay, I am exactly the same (in fact worse, not helped by the fact that I touch type so am able to type really quickly) .

 

[Ms Poppins]

Lovely update

How great to see Uncle Otto at DLP! I too hope you managed to take a placemat home with you

Olivia looks lovely with the characters - makes the meal so much fun to have all the characters around

More please

 

[Ware Bears]

Just read this in one go - really enjoying it. Olivia looks so sweet and I think you're the best mum ever to sacrifice a comfy double bed so that she could enjoy the top bunk!

What a shame she got pushed by that horrid boy but luckily she wasn't badly hurt and how clever to spot Uncle Otto! You must have felt very proud seeing him on the placemat!

 

[HappyPanda]

loving your TR so far - just to say, all the effects in PM were working yesterday, including the ghosts on the carriages in the mirrors at the end . They were missing on Sunday and Tuesday, but everything else was working when we did PM on those days.

That is great to hear! They hadn't been working since when we went in March so I just assumed they were gone forever! I hope when we go next time, they're still working!

Love your update Helen!

We had lots of nice food at Inventions - I love it there, but didn't see anywhere near the amount of characters you did!

Wow, how fab is that about your Uncle Otto - a real claim to fame . Bless Olivia for noticing him! I would have been really proud - hope you took a placemat away with you!

As for writing an essay, I am exactly the same (in fact worse, not helped by the fact that I touch type so am able to type really quickly) .

I didn't even think of taking one of the placemats!! By the end of the meal, Olivia was getting restless so I was more preoccupied with getting out of there! Hopefully they will still have them next time we go back!

I touch type, too - I think that's half the problem as I can literally then just type what I'm thinking... so it turns into a load of old waffle!

Lovely update

How great to see Uncle Otto at DLP! I too hope you managed to take a placemat home with you

Olivia looks lovely with the characters - makes the meal so much fun to have all the characters around

More please

She loves the characters, but doesn't really interact with them. She will give them her book, have her photo and then sit back down. I have to remind her each time to say thank you and goodbye them!

Will try to do my next update this evening!

Just read this in one go - really enjoying it. Olivia looks so sweet and I think you're the best mum ever to sacrifice a comfy double bed so that she could enjoy the top bunk!

What a shame she got pushed by that horrid boy but luckily she wasn't badly hurt and how clever to spot Uncle Otto! You must have felt very proud seeing him on the placemat!

Don't worry, I shall be reminding Olivia of how selfless I was, when she's having one of her 'me, me, me' moments!

I did feel very proud, even though he died 100 years before I was even born, I've always been very proud of the work that he did and of my connection to him, so it's nice to see his face on every table in the DLH! (I should have asked for some discount of my bill by way of royalties )

 

[DLPDreams]

re the royalties.

I do hope they have the mats again when you go back. I am happy to have a look in November for you when I go and get you one if no-one is going sooner and offers . I'm not sure how often they change them but they are definitely different from our previous trip (but that was 2.5 yrs ago!) as I have one from then as Geppetto drew a lovely picture on the back of one and signed it for DD1 when we were at Inventions .

It's funny with the characters isn't it - I do get the distinct impression some just want to do a photo/sign and then go - I felt that more this trip than previous ones for some reason . But my DDs did give some a bit of a grilling - DD2 in particular - she is such a funny personality . She asked Snow White where the dwarfs were and the poor thing looked very flumoxed, DD1 helped her out and volunteered that they might be in the diamond mine .

She also showed almost every character Jack Sparrow's autograph in her book as it was just so scribbly and messy . She is sooo funny!

Anyway, I digress - look forward to your update soon. I managed day 2 last night, will try for 3 tomorrow.

Oh and good news on a March trip - when did that sneak in . Despite the issues we had this trip, I still think the location is amazing and well worth it in the colder months in particular .

 

[jothp]

Another great update.

We had one morning during EMH when PP felt very jerky - not sure what was going on there.

How terrible for Olivia being pushed down the steps - you have to wonder just what some people are thinking Glad she was alright though and had a nice meal at inventions to take her mind off it. It must have made you very proud to see uncle Otto .

Looking forward to hearing the rest.

 

[HappyPanda]

I apologise now, the rest of this Trip Report might be a little vague! I'm really regretting not writing a trip diary now, as I am struggling to remember what we did on each day! So here is my best attempt to recall the details.....

Saturday 9th June - Our final full day!

Despite having a relatively early night, we STILL did not make it up in time for breakfast. So, we did what we had done the day before and headed to Salon Mickey! We decided to get the bus as I was in agony with my shoulder and Olivia was happy to be able to rest her little legs!

Knowing it was Saturday we had planned for the crowds to be bad, but hadn't counted on it taking nearly 45 minutes to get through the baggage search! This was also the only time that we really had a problem with smoking.. it seems that everyone around us had lit up their fags and were puffing away and breathing the smoke in my direction.

Once we finally made it to Salon Mickey we were in need of food & drink (I'd have preferred a glowtini... but made do with Orange Juice!) Luckily, they had just replaced the pastries So I managed to get my hands on one of the chocolate/nut ones that everyone on here was raving about! It was scrummy... really really enjoyed it! Olivia had a cookie and this time we managed to even get a seat, was a really nice way to start the day.

We got into the park at around 11am and it was pretty busy. Managed to get a few nice pictures of the castle and surroundings - with a little hint of blue sky, too!

A quick glance at the waiting times board showed us that most rides had a wait time of over 45 minutes, so we planned to do some of the "quick loading" rides.. so we headed straight to IASW!

I love how they still have all the Christmas signs up in the queueing area, just another 5 months and they will be relevant again!

On our last trip, this ride was one of Olivia's favourites (on par with Star Tours) and it certainly didn't change on this trip. She was memorised the whole way round and then when we got off she was talking for ages about all the little details!

We were then planning on doing the Labyrinth, but the queue for this was going right round to the Meet Mickey location, so thought we'd give it a miss - with a promise that we'd do it on the last day!

Instead, we had another go on POTC - the queue was about 30 minutes, but I didn't mind too much as I actually enjoy the POTC queuing area and we hadn't really been able to take it all in on our last rides as we just walked right through.

By now, Olivia was getting a little braver with the drops..! Especially as she realised that you don't actually get wet at all!

By now it was about 13.00 and I knew I wanted to go and see the first Tarzan performance at 14.00 so we had a quick look around a few boutiques before heading over to the theatre at about 13.30 (via a popcorn stall for Olivia).

The queue to get into the theatre was stretching right back to Cowboy Cookout, but I was really impressed by how orderly the queue was - especially as there was no actually queue line to keep people "in".

Olivia wasn't keen on waiting, so she perched herself down on a stone to rest her legs.. again!

Soon she was joined by a couple of friends:

It was really great to see that the children all just left the ducks alone.. on a previous visit we had seen children chasing the ducklings away, so that the duck and ducklings ended up in different locations and both visibly distressed!

I do really love this part of Frontierland, it's so pretty but so desperately underused!

 

[HappyPanda]

Saturday 9th June... cont....

I didn't actually take any photos of the Tarzan show. We had quite a good seat, we were sat roughly in the middle and quite near the front.

I am going to be in the minority here, but I just didn't really enjoy the show I think this was partly (or maybe mostly) because Olivia was playing up a bit as she was tired and was just fidgeting the whole time so I had one eye on her and one eye on the show.

One thing that can't be disputed is the amazing acrobatic skills of the performers... just WOW!

The show finished by about 2.30pm and we suddenly realised that we hadn't actually had any lunch yet! So we headed out of the parks and went to Annette's to grab a bite to eat!

I had the Rock n Rock burger and Olivia had the Kid's chicken nuggets. Whilst we were waiting for the food to be ordered, Olivia decided she wanted to draw a picture of me to put on my desk at work... here is the piece of artwork she created:

Erm, thanks Olivia - I shall treasure that beautiful likeness forever! I look like the bloomin' Gruffalo!!!

Our main meals were really good, although the kid's meal was drowned in so many chips we had to go on a fishing expedition to locate the chicken nuggets underneath!

Olivia then enjoyed yet another pudding of ice cream, this time with Smarties - which she really enjoyed!

After finishing up our food we rushed into the Studios, as it was going to be our last chance to catch the stunt show!

The stunt show had been closed on our last trip in March so this was one of the things on my must-do list!!

As we entered the studios we realised that we had arrived just as the Stars in their Cars parade was going past. Olivia wasn't really that interested in watching it though as it is one of those things that once you've seen it, you've seen.

As most people were queueing up to watch the parade, we were one of the first people into the arena and got ourselves so great seats.

Olivia got a little bit fidgety again while we waited (for what seemed like an eternity) for the arena to fill up and for the show to start. So I kept her distracted with getting her to try and read out all the shop signs etc...

Again, I didn't take any photos of the show itself! Doh! But it was as good as always! I still don't think I like the Lightning McQueen addition... I say BRING BACK HERBIE!

One part Olivia hated was at the end with the fire effect, as we were sat very near the front it was extremely hot and she ended up screaming (as did all the children around us... and a few adults too!) as she thought it was really burning her.

Other than that, it got a big thumbs up from her!

By the time we got out of there, it was already 5.30pm so we had to head back out of the park again for our WWS sitting at 6.30pm.

If you read my last trip report, you'd know how we got really terrible seats last time we went to the WWS and it was almost enough to make me not want to go again.

but with a 30euro offer on Ticketnet, I couldn't stay away! We arrived by about 17.45 and it was already really busy. As we were queuing up all I kept saying in my head was "please don't put us in Red S5"... we handed our tickets over to the guy and in return he gave us our sears... Red.... S5! Arrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh

I was feeling pretty deflated but didn't think at the time to ask him if we could switch seats. So we headed through and Olivia enjoyed watching Goofy and the band sing and dance.

Before we knew it, it was time to be seated. Despite being in the same row as last time, we were given seats on the end of the row and despite being even further to the left than we were last time, I actually found the seats to be better.

Having only finished our 'lunch' two hours previous, we were both not very hungry at all for our dinner. In fact, I think I probably only managed a few mouthfuls.. but then I don't do the WWS for the food!

The show was fantastic, as usual. Lots of cutlery banging, yeharring and chanting... what more could you want?

We came out of the show and decided to head back to the room for a quick lie-down before heading out to see Dreams for the final time!

 

[HappyPanda]

Back in the room, I decided to try and take a picture of Olivia and I using the self timer... as I was very concious of the fact that were hardly any pictures of us together (that's where having more than 2 of us comes in handy!).

I wasn't going to share this photo as I fear putting you off your food with my fat rolls, but it does show you my teeny-tiny bed that I had for the stay!

After a quick lie-down we were ready to head back to the park for Dreams, going via the hotel gift shop as we were looking for a Sequoia Lodge pin.. but they didn't have any, so we picked up another 20th anniversary one, tinkerbell this time, to go with the Minnie one we picked up in March!

I also bought Olivia the Winnie & Piglet one which says "I love you" because I love my baby girl more than anything else in the world!

We got back into the park at about 9.30pm just as the sun was starting to set:

We had intended on taking a ride on Buzz, but the queue was still showing over 30 minutes! So instead, we went on Star Tours!

We seated on the second row at the edge and I can safely say this is the bumpiest place to sit. I was being thrown around like a rag doll.. and loved every minute of it!

We then had a quick go on POTC again and then just had a nice wander around the park. I do just love how pretty the park looks at night when it's all lit up so beautifully.

We had hoped to get a nice spot on Central Plaza to watch dreams from tonight, but unlike our first night everyone was stood up so it meant that if we stood too close, Olivia wouldn't have been able to see a thing.

So instead we found ourselves a nice spot near the adventureland entrance. Here was our view of the castle:

I really enjoyed the show again... has there anyone who has come back who hasn't? In a typical 5 year old fashion, Olivia decided just as the show was about to start that she needed a wee - but it was now so busy we would never have made it out to the toilets and back again.. so she had to hold it.

Cue throughout the whole show "Muuuuuuuuuum, I really need a weeeeeee" "Is it over yet?" etc... Did ruin the magic slightly... and now whenever I talk to her about Dreams, she remembers it as being the place where she was trapped while needing a wee!

Toilet needs aside, I just really don't think I've ever seen something so magical and beautiful as dreams. It just takes my breath away each time I see it, even when I watch it back on YouTube now - I just love it so much!

We left just before Dreams finished and legged it down the Liberty arcade to get to the toilets and then had a nice leisurely stroll back through the boutiques and then back to the hotel.

We slumped into bed at about 00:15 and were both asleep before our heads could even hit the pillow!

 

[DLPdaft]

Lovely day, even though it was a busy Saturday in the parks .

Olivia has some lovely pins!

 

[scampbunny]

omg u were so close to us for dreams that night!!! we were in the disabled area just on edge of central plaza lol

and echo the fire in moteurs - we were right at front and i swear it singed my eyebrows - we all had to turn away and cay screamed!!

love ur pics and omg that bed is small!!!!!! well done u sleepin in that!!!!

 

[ROBEAR84]

Omg that bed really was teeny! Poor you!

I LOVE the picture of the castle at sunset. Beautiful

 

[grad06]

Great trip report.
Photos are fab, especially the one of the castle at sunset.

 

[jothp]

You got loads done on the Saturday. We managed quite a bit in EMH and in the earliest part of the morning but spent most of the rest of the day taking in the atmosphere.

 

[DLPDreams]

Lovely photos again Helen

OMG that bed - no wonder you aggravated your shoulder - it looks like a child's bed!!

Love Olivia with her pins around her neck - she has some nice ones .

Agree about Dreams - it is wonderful. The first night I had DD2 on my shoulders - she wouldn't have seen a thing otherwise (but I don't like doing it). It was a nightmare, she fidgeted constantly and her legs were going numb and I was clinging on so tightly! Needless to say it wasn't the best experience of Dreams - and my first showing - but it got better .

 

[bonhoga]

arrrrghhhh Now i want to do BBWWS again Also I love Olivia's portrait of you

Kaye