Three Generations Hit 'The New Generation' Trip Report COMPLETE

[tinkertaylor05]

Pre-Trip

The cast Me (29) never understood grown up's liking Disney, Mum (62) thought Disney was lovely for kids and DD (5) absolutely loves Princesses and Villains strangely enough.

I can't quite remember how this trip came about, except I wanted to do something special for dd, it's been a rough year for personal reasons and she has been a trooper

I always thought Disney was well out of my reach, I wasn't that keen on the idea and it cost ££££ lol Mum had seen the adverts for the New Generation on tv and spotted the 40% off all I can remember is her telling me she'd done a search on the Disney website and the price was ALOT less than we thought. So the seed was planted hmmmmmm maybe this can be done and the search began, after much pricing up we decided on S Lodge and eventually booked through a travel agent. That night mum and I were looking at Expedia again and couldn't believe it when we saw that Hotel New York was only a little more than SL, I called the agent up in the morning and asked if we could change, they quickly got back to me saying it was done and even cheaper than I thought they only charged an extra £50

The plan was to keep it a surprise we had something like 12 weeks to go .... this lasted 3 whole days I broke the news to dd, I don't think she really believed me and 12 weeks is forever when you're 5!!!

I stumbled across the disboards and all you helpful people, which believe me was an absolute blessing, I found the Disney brochures really hard work to make head nor tail of.

Mum was so excited and something was happening to me ..... Disney magic was starting to grow I bought dd a lanyard from the Disney Store and ordered a stack of pins on ebay .... each Wednesday morning before she woke I would plant a pin somewhere she would find it and told her Tinkerbell has left her a pin so she knows it's 12/11/10/9 (you get the idea) weeks until we go to Disney. The buying began I picked up a few new dresses to add to the existing collection and dd asked family not to buy her easter eggs and instead give her couple of pounds to save. DD was brilliant, she has a really wise mind for a 5 year old, I told her we were saving all our pennies for Paris and that was it she didn't once ask for anything not a toy or treat bless her.

After researching it I decided to go for the Shareholder's Club and went through the process, it was all really easy and I started using the card in Disney Store here Before we left I bought dd a pink sparkly princess case, daisy duck aluminium water bottle, tinkerbell fan, some bits of clothes, towel all from Disney, M & S had some cute Minnie tops so they were added to the collection as I figured it would be cheaper here. Everytime I saw mum she seemed to have bought something for the trip even if it was just sachets of Calpol!!!

The weeks eventually rolled on the disboards and the Brit Guide became my bedtime reading, we had several copies of the brochure as the one was looking a little well read lol, dd had already memorised the parade order and small world from youtube videos and somehow it all came together .... I started to believe this was meant to be

 

[Mum to Belle]

You sound like you've been bitten by the bug!! We also got the Tinkerbell fan from the Disney Store before our trip!

 

[loladelorean]

This is a lovely pre trip report, what a lovely idea hiding pins for your daughter to find glad to hear you have fallen in love with Disney, hope your trip was magical and can't wait to read all about it.

 

[Nubbedy]

What a fabulous idea for counting down the weeks! Think Tinkerbell may have to do something similar in our house.

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Very belated I am at last going to do the trippie! So here goes .....

The big day was finally here June 9th, we'd synchronised watches the night before and after some last minute packing got to bed 'early' which actually ended up being late at 11:30pm .... then you guessed it I was so excited I couldn't sleep 1:30am passed by then the next thing I knew it was 3:15am time to get up for our 6:40am flights

Taxi to the airport turned up on time and we were off ... yay!

We flew with Air France from Manchester, not a problem and a good opportunity to brush up on my Bonjour's. At the airport we had transfer vouchers for the VEA so headed straight there. There was a coach full waiting to leave, I exchanged our voucher and experienced our first queue 'french style' lol We only had to wait 10 mins or so for another coach, can't remember how long it took but the journey was no more than 40 mins and I loved the chance to have a nosey at all the other hotels before finally getting to the New York.

Only a few other families were staying here, all of which beat us to check in but we didn't mind we were far too busy taking it all in. Mum headed off to find the toilet's so I parked the cases outside the boutique with dd to wait ....... Lo and behold I looked to my right and there was Minnie with Pluto just walking out to do the 11:30am meet and greet, that was it dd took no coaxing she was off i did a quick dash into the shop to pick up an autograph book and much to my annoyance forgot to use my shareholder card (I know it's only pennies saving on the book but I had soooo looked forward to flashing it at DLP lol).

We couldn't have wished for a better start to the trip, whilst everyone else was hustling to check in dd had Minnie and Pluto all to herself, I could've cried it was perfect, dd was just in awe.

Check in was a breeze the staff on the desk were great chatting with dd, we put the cases at the luggage drop and headed out for our first look at DLP!

Walking through the Village that first time was magical, dd didn't know where to look, we didn't hang around too much we were so excited to see the park. We headed through the bag search, which was a pain for them today as I had crammed so much stuff in my back pack ready from the plane for all weathers.

After I figured out which way to put the tickets through we got past the turnstiles, this is really straightforward but I was really tired ... duh!

Our first impression of the park was that we loved it, granted we have nothing to compare it to. Main street was bustling with people, the atmosphere felt great. We decided to just do a quick walk about to get our barings and dd couldn't wait to get down towards the castle.

After standing and gawping at the castle we walked across the bridge and through into Fantasyland where the Carousel greets you, who doesn't love a Carousel the music, the colours, it's all just so magical .... especially with Mary Poppins and Bert in front of it .....

 

[kizzabel]

great start, im anxiously waiting for the next bit
i see the bug has well and truly bitten!!! yaaaay for the feb trip! where are you staying next time?

 

[tinkertaylor05]

great start, im anxiously waiting for the next bit
i see the bug has well and truly bitten!!! yaaaay for the feb trip! where are you staying next time?

Ohhhhh yeah it has bitten me good! We're in HNY again and planning for more later next year too ..... seriously if Disney can get me they can get anyone

 

[Mum to Belle]

What a fantastic start to your trip!!

Your DD is beautiful!

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Mary Poppins and Bert were lovely, Bert was charming (if not a bit oranged for my taste lol) but it was good to see something at DLP for mummy too

This meet was our first 'scrum' but in truth it wasn't as bad as I thought, yes some silly moo was there smoking all over everyone's kids, dd just seemed to know what to do though and waited her turn without letting people shove her out of the way.

Off we went exploring Fantasyland, a go on the Carousel, a quick spin on the Tea Cups .... somehow we picked one of the super fast ones and by this point I was thriving on lack of sleep, adrenalin and coffee ...wheeeee!

We explored Alice's Curious Labyrinth which dd loved, I could've done without it after the tea cups in truth ..... lot's of fab photo ops in here too ....

then a bit of a wait to take one in the chair

DD totally loved the labyrinth and wanted to go in every day, I thought once was enough and was glad when it was closed!

We were all starting to get hungry now so agreed to wander back towards Main Street, on the way we stumbled across Peter Pan and Wendy ... we survived scrum number two ... phew!

Note the pee'd off looking Spanish people in the background lol Despite all their attempts to push, shove and take dd's turn away Peter and Wendy were super, they gave dd their undivided attention

We headed down Main Street and went to Casey's, we just shared some fries and a hotdog. The food was ok, usual fast food kinda deal, we were so hungry I can't give a true reflection of the food. We heard the music for the showtime spectacular so wandered out into the crowd, as we were unprepared for this I had to haul dd up on my shoulders to see .... ughhhh but it was worth it she danced and skipped all the way back through Main Street. It started to rain so a mass evacuation started, luckily I'd crammed pac-a-mac's into my very own Mary Poppin's style back pack. We did a little window shopping and headed back to HNY.

By the time we reached the hotel it was pouring down, our room was ready when we got there and the cases were waiting for us. We requested a kettle and cups from the desk and these were with us in 5 mins, great service

Don't really remember the time I just remember we were all pooped so after unpacking crashed out on the beds.

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Sorry this is sooooo lengthy it was just so good!

I'd made reservations for Cafe Mickey at 6:30pm, after our nap we slept longer than planned and had a rush to get ready. Now the rain had really got going ... eeeeeek ..... we made a dash for it brolleys at the ready.

When we arrived at Cafe Mickey just about on time we were seated upstairs, on the way up a little mother / daugheter squabbling ensued lol Mum told me off for being late (of course it was my fault) and now we were getting shoved in rubbish seats upstairs ..... well as soon as we reached the top step she retreated as Chip jumped out to meet us with the menu's (love you really mum)

We were given a seat by the window in the corner upstairs by our host Chip .....

Upstairs seemed pretty quiet at this point but soon started to fill up, within the first ten minutes we met Chip n Dale .....

Minnie .....

and Mickey.

Our cm brought our drinks promptly and we didn't have to wait long for our starter. I'm veggie and decided to eat of the set menu, mum did too and dd from the kid's. We had a couple of cocktails too .... Rose Moon I think ... yummy!

Mum and I both had the mushrooms, they are very salty which we both like so was perfect for us. We met Friar Tuck and Prince John, who was extremely bossy lol

Our cm (Akim) was amazing I cannot praise him enough, around 7:10pm the music started for the Freedom song, he dashed over and swept dd away to dance on the counter ....

I think dd thought she was in HSM or something lol I had the Genie's pasta which was nice and mum had the Pluto's Steak which she enjoyed also, we followed with the Woody's dessert which was a brownie ... this theme continues I just lurvee brownies and cannot wait to go back to DLP to get my fix!!! The bill came to 74E54 with the 15% shareholder discount. Money well spent.

We met Goofy and Tigger as well. The CM made our night he was attentive, brought characters over to our table several times really hope he is still there when we return.

Full, tired and very very happy we made our way back through the puddles, the village was quiet probably due to the rain and being midweek. This gave us chance to have a good wander though. We crawled into bed back at HNY buzzing after an amazing 1st day.

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Fantastic trip report - can't wait to read more! Love the photos of the HNY - we are heading there in February 2011 too! soooo can't wait!

 

[tinkertaylor05]

What a fantastic start to your trip!!

Your DD is beautiful!

Thank you ... bare with me it's going to be a big one

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Fantastic trip report - can't wait to read more! Love the photos of the HNY - we are heading there in February 2011 too! soooo can't wait!

Thanks I am getting totally excited about Feb too

 

[tinkertaylor05]

I am determined to do a full trip report before our next one lol So here we go ....

We woke up after a heavy nights sleep, today was our first breakfast at HNY we could've chose to go in either dining room but went in the Parkside. Found breakfast great we had an 8am slot but turned up early without issue. Dd didn't really eat she was just itching to get going. Today she decided she was going to be Fairy Rosetta, we bumped into Minnie on our way out ... I think she pulls it off with trainers lol

We headed off for EMH and went straight to Discoveryland and walked on Buzz, we did a couple of rounds whilst there was nobody about and headed to Orbitron it was raining so soggy bottoms all round! Mum and dd went for a look at Constellations and I headed to Space Mountain Got to sit next to somebody English so we had a rather civil chat as we spun around lol

Next we walked over to Fantasyland we did the Carousel and went to explore the Castle before the crowds hit. I have to say it is beautiful

I'd read on here about the queues for meet n greets so decided to head to wait for Tiana at 10:45am, we were 2nd in the queue they'd not even roped off yet. We got chatting to some nice English folk who had the same idea and all shared brollies. The All Star Express went by so that took dd's mind off the wait for a while. Around 11am they roped off and there was a pretty big queue formed behind us now. Tiana and Naveen came out just a few mins late and were divine with everyone giving them plenty of chat.

We decided it was time to pay our first visit to Salon Mickey and catch a break from the rain. It was fairly quiet and we bagged the couches ....

After exiting Salon Mickey we took a stroll through Discovery Arcade and found a very young Bert rather bored and very playful ...

We made full use of both Arcades on our trip we found them welcome respite from the throngs on Main Street and great for bumping into people

We went for an explore, watched the little Sleeping Beauty show outside Auberge which dd loved. We managed to time it just so as we walked past they opened up the Snow White ride there was a small queue which gave us chance to take in the art work. It had eased up on the rain when we got off the ride so this was our first chance to venture further afield, we went to Adventureland, crossing the bridge we looked right and saw Ariel dd was in serious princess heaven.

There was no playing at Pirate's Beach everything was too soggy but we had a good look about. Through Adventureland Jasmine had just appeared ... we were on a roll.

We took a ride on The Mark Twain, I really enjoyed this and think it's such a good way to show off that Disney detail. Now pretty tired the rain was starting to pick up again which was our cue to head back to HNY for an afternoon nap, we'd still not got over the no sleep from the night before we left.

 

[Mum to Belle]

WOW! What a princess-tastic day!!!!!!

Just re-read day 1 and you are having some amazing characters meets, lucky, lucky, lucky!!!

p.s. I love the Rosetta dress

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Feeling better for an hours nap we got ready and went to check out the Studios. Dd had fun on the scream machines and we took a ride on the carpets with only a 10 min wait. We left the studios and went to wait for the Showtime Spectacular on the main stage at 7pm. I am in awe of the Disney machine it is all just so good. We set up at the front but in truth were a bit too close to appreciate everything but dd got lots of nice waves and high 5's at the end.

It was like the speed walking olympics getting back to the village lol We were heading for Annettes and had to queue for 20 mins, the speed walking paid off because the line behind us was immense.

We caught them dancing and found the atmosphere to be really fun. We all ate from the set menu I had the veggie burger which was gorgeous and such a nice change from the usual unimaginative veggie burgers with a hash brown, avocado and tomatoes mmmmmm Mum had the onion burger and dd the hot dog, total bill came to 39.44 euro after shareholders discount which is amazing value for such nice fresh food.

The obligatory photo ....

Very full we took a wander through the Village shops, somehow I ended up buying dd a cute Marie nightie dd spent some of her money, she had gathered 100 euro before the trip and boy was it burning a hole in her pocket!

We headed to the HNY bar where we had a mini disco with me having a Glowtini and dd having the Tinkerbell kids cocktail, mum had the Newyork Newyork. The cocktails were made to perfection and it was a great end to a great second day.

 

[tinkertaylor05]

WOW! What a princess-tastic day!!!!!!

Just re-read day 1 and you are having some amazing characters meets, lucky, lucky, lucky!!!

p.s. I love the Rosetta dress

Wait for the next day lol We filled 3 books on our trip and the Rosetta is really cute, lots of people asked about it as apparently they don't get as much range over there I was seriously tempted to buy the cape in the sale today at Disney but I held off ... for now.

 

[tinkertaylor05]

At last some sunshine we missed our breakfast slot but there was no problem and they just let us in. Seeing the park in the sun for the first time was even more magical, we made our way to IASW for our first tour. EMH are great and made our trip. After our whirlwind world tour we went to the teacups, yesterday we had the super spinny cup today I nearly dislocated my shoulder lol

We queued for rope drop at Adventureland where we were treated to some Piratey fun by the CM's. Again the speed walking olympics took place as seemed to be the norm and we got on POTC in the first few boats. I loved this ride, we were at the back of a boat dd sat in the middle not quite sure of how dark it all was and as we rounded up one of the drops she cried out 'are we going to die' which echoed around making everyone laugh Dd loves pirates so we indulged in the shop here.

Note the gun .... this will feature again later!
Off we went to put our early queue system in place at Woody's Roundup and again it paid off, the sun was strong and the queue was long. They were 15-20 mins late opening up which was a drag but worth the wait for the orderly system. We saw Goofy, Minnie and Jessie but Woody was going to be late ....

The theming of all the characters' western outfits were awesome, unfortunately we couldn't wait for Woody we had places to be!

A quick change and a dash as we were now cutting it fine for our Auberge reservation after the hold up at Woody's roundup. We made it just after 1:05pm and took our turn with Cinderella at the door, it was seriously busy in Auberge and we got a bit of a rubbish table at the back but it didn't take away from the magic. The princesses did a couple of turns whilst we were there, dd was kept busy with plenty of colouring materials etc. The starter wasn't so much of a hit but the rest of the food was yummy, mum had the lamb and I had the vegetable tart. We met Belle, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and her Prince and Suzie and Perla.

Our waiter was lovely and I was pleased the Maitre De made sure that the other mouse came over to us before we left as we'd only been visited by one.

I loved the desert mmmmm the bill came to 121.71 euro after the shareholder discount and it was worth every penny.

By the time we left Auberge the sun had got really strong, we went to check out the Dragon ... big mistake! Once we figured out how to get to the entrance we just about walked through the doorway as the dragon awoke turning it's head a letting our a roar, that was all it took dd screamed, spun on her heel and ran for it. Mum and I were in stitches I walked out to total panic that dd couldn't be seen anywhere She had ran all the way back to the courtyard at Auberge without so much as a backward glance lol

I removed my heart from my throat and coaxed dd back to through the castle to get a slush, it was getting hotter. As we were finishing our drinks the All Star Express came to a stop and the characters went to there spots, we made chase and picked up a few more autographs ....

Mrs Incredible ... she was great fun, not bowing to the pressure of the crowd and playing with dd.

Lilo .....

and Stitch ....

Not a bad haul considering it was mayhem

Off we went for the Showtime Spectacular, today we went for stage right which was so much fun and Stitch remembered dd getting down on one knee and giving her his full attention ....

Today we were desperate to see the OUAD parade as it had been cancelled due to rain. We took up a spot in the shade outside Bella Notte, I chatted to a CM roping off the area and she told me where to go for the princesses. The crowd grew around us as we were pitched up on the floor. Just before the parade started the CM I'd spoken to earlier came to tell me the floats wouldn't be stopping today due to heat we were sad but really appreciated the time CM's took to tell us. We loved the parade and although the floats didn't stop they all waved and blew kisses to dd dressed as Sleeping Beauty.

After the parade had passed we made our way back towards HNY we nipped down the trusty arcade and caught the parade at main street again. We made a quick shower and change as we were off to BBWWS ..... wow we were having a blast!

 

[tinkertaylor05]

We were doing the early sitting at BBWWS we didn't see much if the pre show but what we saw looked good. They give you hats on the way in with a different colour band and after the pre show will call different colours to different stairs. The show was great fun, dd loved banging her dishes about and she actually ate, maybe just because it was dark

After the show the Village was packed out, I guess it's a big weekend hang out. We figured it was a perfect evening to try the Panaramagique (sp?) Balloon, this is when I learned I don't like heights I freaked out lol Everyone had a good laugh at my expense, especially considering I love rollercoasters.

It was the World Cup whilst we were there and back at the HNY football Mickey was out to play doing games in the lobby with all the kids.

I had been telling dd to look at the camera and smile ... hence we ended up with this weird grimace for most of the photos from this point in lol

Friday was fun but oh so exhausting I think I slipped into a mini coma that night.

 

[sammie1884]

I am loving this trip report! we are hoping to do the wild west show next time, it sounds fab!