Because for the first day of our little France trip we had gone to the Walt Disney Studios Park for Legends of the Force, on our second day we were going to the Disneyland Park for Pirates and Princesses.
Staying at a hotel, even an off-site one, meant that I didn’t have to get up quite as early for our day at the Disneyland Park, which was great.
Regardless I still got up at 6AM so I could wake up at my own pace, shower and get ready. Bert got up at 7AM because he’s really good at getting ready in a time crunch, also showered and when we were both dressed and somewhat presentable, we went down for breakfast.
Whilst security the day before was uber chill, they were the total opposite this time. And sure, it’s good that they’re thorough, but this was ridiculous. I was questioned 5 times whether my inhaler really was an inhaler (thank god they didn’t ask me if I was carrying a prescription, because I wasn’t, but I damn well will be next time because I don’t want to risk my medication being confiscated or me being denied entrance because they won’t let me take it inside!) and I had to turn up my MAC lipstick because he refused to believe it really was a lipstick. I mean, seriously?!
It was all sorts of ridiculous.
Frankly, he was being a dick to people simply because he could, it was a total abuse of power because he was super rude from the start to the end of the bag check as well.
There was no one at the Donald Desk, so we got Bert’s carer ticket very quickly. Which was nice. The CM was also super friendly, and asked us if she needed to explain how to get a disability pass, which was really nice of her. I would say that the Disneyland Park was just a tiny bit more crowd heavy than the Walt Disney Studios Park was the day before, but not by much.
Because the first Make Your Choice show wasn’t ‘till 11AM, we decided to ride Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast first. It was listed as a 20 minute queue, but we saw it moving as we went in, and I’m pretty sure it was only half that long. We had a look at the merch in Constellations, and I did see a few things I liked, but they had a lot of stock of them so I decided to come back later for them. I also didn’t want to spend my money before having seen everything first.
As Bert likes Rapunzel, we decided to check out the Princess Pavillion in Fantasyland. Which was probably the longest queue in the park at 75 minutes. But sadly Bert was out of luck as the princesses meeting were Aurora and Cinderella.
Instead, we decided to go sit down to make sure we’d have a first row spot for Make Your Choice. I had my collapsible seat with me and Bert sat down on his leisure sheet. I totally get why the Japanese are so crazy about those things, and I don’t get why they’ve not been adopted by other parks. But there you go. I will definitely get more at some point (but they’re one of those “order along with other things” kinda thing so it’s not gonna happen any time soon, probably not before Halloween). There wasn’t a huge crowd for the show, but there were several people getting first row spots very early on, so its good that we went and sat down.
We did both manage to get to second row for the pirate float part to see all the acrobatics, which would never have happened if it had been more crowded. Bert noticed that there was a second part show on other stages at Central Plaza, so we decided to check that out for the second show.
First, however, we shot the Princess Promenade. And sadly, the second round of Make your Choice was just the floats crossing because there were technical issues with a float. The CMs were apologising profoundly, which they really didn’t have to, this sort of thing happens. I really hope they weren't getting grief from other guests, because it wasn't their fault and they were so friendly, really trying their best to inform people properly.
Determined to have a Mickey Waffle, we went down to Victoria’s, the place in the Disneyland Park that serves them. Which was closed (surprise, surprise).
Bert noticed Tigger and Eeyore were doing meet and greets, so we went in the disability queue, which was only a 5 minute wait.
During our last trip, I had forgotten to take photos of Phantom Manor in all my enthusiasm for meeting Sandy Claws Jack. Meaning that of course we had to walk to Frontierland to do just that.
Along the way I asked this CM if I could take her photo, which she was totally fine with.
Sadly, the riverboat wasn’t going, which was too bad because we rather wanted to go on.
Phantom Manor Mickey was doing meet and greets, so we got a return ticket for him that was for 15 minutes later.
We used that time to take photos of Thunder, the Manor and Boot Hill Cemetery :).
Even though Bert and I love Thunder, and I was definitely feeling well enough to give it ago, neither of us felt like going on it in the cold. It’s not a very winter friendly ride in our opinion.
Considering the waffle wasn’t an option, I decided I wanted churros instead. Luckily I knew where to get those: at Fuente del Oro, which luckily was open! Even though it’s mostly gone back to it’s original theming (minus sacrificial fountain), you can still get a Mama Coco menu. Which I didn’t get, I just got a bag of churros. Which I shared with Bert. The 15 minutes we spent in the queue also meant we missed a rain shower, which was good!
What was less good is that it was so busy at the restaurant that we had to sit in the outside section. Which is at least under cover, but still… I felt that the Disneyland Park was doing a little better when it came to seating option restaurants than the Studios, but still, it was so-so at best.
Back in the hotel whilst I was waiting for Bert to get ready, I saw on Instagram that there would be a pin release in Pueblo Trading that day. We couldn’t get Lineberty tickets for it, but we figured it meant that the shop would at least be open and we’d be able to check out other things. Weirdly enough, it wasn’t open, but considering DLP is DLP, we weren’t actually surprised.
Instead we decided to walk through Adventureland,
check out another Princess Promenade,
walk through Fantasyland,
get an outfit shot in front of Nautilus (tradition!),
walk through Discoveryland and consider Mickey’s PhilharMagic,
but go meet Darth Vader instead and ride Star Tours.
Star Traders, the shop the rides exists into is awesome, but as the shop is open ‘till park closing anyway, it made more sense to go to a Make Your Choice showing whilst the light was still good for photos.
Sadly, the show was cancelled, and they announced that the next one, the last one for the day, would also be cancelled. Alas!
I did see Naomi work the area and talk to people, so I went over to say hi and asked if it would be ok to take a selfie together, which she was totally fine with. She’s really super sweet in real life and I’m happy to have met her, even though it was briefly in passing!
Constellations was the place where I had seen stuff I liked, so we went back there to buy it. I ended up getting a €1 reusable shopper with Incredibles 2 print (all the other ones were 6 or 7 euros, which is far too much for a bag like that!) and asked the CM at the register to just put my purchases in there. Which she was totally fine with (huzzah, I avoided another plastic bag!).
I didn’t get the Rocket Raccoon plush I was thinking about getting as it was €30 and in the end of the day, it’s just another thing that sits around being just a thing. So I felt it was too pricy for that. I did find the Tsum Tsums for Marie, and another thing for Lora. So that was good!
Both of us were quite thirsty, and Victoria’s had opened, meaning that I felt like I got a second chance at Mickey waffle.
Sadly, all the tables were taken, so we went to Café Fantasia of the Disneyland Hotel instead. Which was practically empty!
Sure, it’s a little pricier (generally speaking, because Victoria’s is the same price range!), but it was very nice to just sit down and relax in the sofas for a bit.
I asked at the lobby if I could please have event buttons, but they wouldn’t give me any because I wasn’t a hotel guest. Unlike with the Christmas buttons, they were super strict about it. So alas, no buttons for me!
I know they’re trying to curb the resales on ebay, but I feel like this is just encouraging it because people that really want them but aren’t staying in the hotels are have nothing left to do than turn to ebay and the like, meaning they’ll be even more ridiculously expensive.
I won’t be buying any because I don’t want them that badly (I’m only a casual collector, and I never sell my doubles. Trade for other buttons, yes. Share with friends, yes. But not sell.
That said, I have an extra Cupcake Sister Peach and Christmas 2018 button for trade, so if anyone wants to trade for the Pirates and Princesses one, let me know!).
It was about quarter to 5 when we got back into the park, and Bert wanted to photograph the parade, so we found a spot along the street.
The fact that we could still easily find a first row spot along the street that close to the start should tell you everything you need to know about the crowd levels. Because usually you have to sit down at least half an hour, and often much, much longer, in advance for a spot like that!
Considering the park is really beautiful once dusk hits and the lights go on, we decided to go for a walk and take photos.
And hit a couple of shops.
Starting with the Emporium, where I found a small thing for Claire, some tins of mints for my dad and Rosa, a notebook for Charlotte and autograph books for me and Charlotte. I don’t actually collect autographs, BUT I do like to use them as sketchbooks. Although this one I just wanted because Zurg is on it. And I got it for Charlotte because she LOVES the little green men. Bert did talk me into buying a plushie, because we found a Todd one that was small and only €10 and I have several other fox plushies. So yeah.
Loa cat had been nagging and nagging and nagging for popcorn (my cat is weird) so I decided I was going to buy him popcorn.
The Emporium was out of sweet popcorn, so we crossed the street for The Boardwalk Candy Palace where I got popcorn.
Which was a mistake because it was overpriced inferior popcorn!
Loa had like 5 popcorns and then called it a day (and I can't blame him because it was rubbish!). I would have been able to buy 3 bags at the supermarket for that price and that popcorn is much nicer!
We should have just stuck to getting him stuff at the U supermarket near the hotel (which we did anyway, because our furbaby is hella spoiled).
Star Traders also had a lot of cool stuff, but nothing I wanted to spend the kind of money on they were charging, so I didn’t buy anything there. I also noticed that not a whole lot of merch has changed since June last year. Which meant that there was little new of interest to me. Money saved!
Seeing we were in Discoveryland, we decided to go into Nautilus, which is my fave,
and take a ton of photos :).
We weren’t sure how long it would still be possible to take photos in Adventureland and Fantasyland, so we decided to leave that for the next visit. Bert did suggest we could watch Illuminations, but I felt it was already getting way too busy for that and I didn’t feel like sitting around in the cold wind.
That and I knew it would be way busier to get food after Illuminations than before. Which was true, because we were seated pretty much right away at Annette’s in Disney Village.
Now, I had eaten there previously, a few times, but always during slow times of the day, so we were never rushed at all.
This time, we just thought they were super efficient taking orders and serving. And we were actually pretty pleased with both service and food right up to when our plates were cleared and we said we didn’t want coffee or dessert. Within a span of 2 minutes the bill was literally dumped on our table, and it was made very clear that we had to pay and vacate ASAP.
Which was super annoying, we had spent nearly close to €50 on our food there, and whilst we understand that during dinner rush you can’t stay there for an hour after your meal, giving us 5 or 10 minutes to just sit a bit and up and leave without a rush would have been nice.
So basically, we won’t be eating there again.
And because we were literally chased, I got so flustered (I need to be able to take my time to up and leave) that I forgot my hat. Which was one of my favourite hats. Which sucked a whole lot because Uniqlo doesn’t sell them anymore.
So yeah, if you want to be able to dine without being rushed, Annette’s is NOT to place to go to during busy times.
Actually, just don’t go to Annette’s full stop, there’s other places to have burgers that are nice where you don’t get thrown out the second you’ve paid your bill.
When we got out of Annette’s, we saw that a LOT of people were coming out of the parks and so we made sure to get to the station right away.
Luckily, the RER that came first was also one that had come straight out of wherever they go to just stand when not in used, so it was completely empty. Meaning that Bert and I both managed to get a seat :).
It was a little after 8PM when we got back to the hotel, which was good, because it had been a long couple of days and we were quite keen on an early night :).
We slept in a little later the next day, and basically only went to the local supermarket to buy lunch for along the way and some other things and then went for a walk in the grounds of Champs sur Marne castle.
Which are always a lot of fun to wander around in.
Seeing that’s all we did, that day doesn’t merit it’s own post.
And that was all of our anniversary trip to France!
The first day post about Legends of the Force is here and all the photos from this trip are here :).
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