When I discovered that it would be the last year Legends of the Force was running at Disneyland Paris (no more Skywalker Saga movies to come out so no more Star Wars event?) I wanted to go an extra day to enjoy the event, at least just a little.
It runs paralel to Frozen Celebration, as as Bert is a huge frozen fan, I knew full well I wouldn't be having a full day of Star Wars, alas!
But anyway, I asked him if we could go down a Saturday to see Legends and Frozen stuff, and he was totally fine with that.
So on Saturday the 18th of January, we got up at 2.30AM (we had gone to bed at 8PM the night before like lame old people, which did mean we had enough sleep to survive the day haha) to go to Disneyland Paris (we don't leave quite that early, but we do need to get ready and make sure our cats aren't ignored before we go, even though they still all make faces like this).
We only stopped for gas and once more to use the restrooms. That second place had a LEGO Han Solo on display so of course I took a photo!
Making good time we got there just at the start of Extra Magic Hours, and Bert and I went to the Disneyland Park to get his carer ticket (which took forever, there were two desks open but when the person they were serving would leave it would be my turn, but they were all giving the CM a WORLD of grief that took ages, so uncalled for from those guests!).
Giving me my ticket was super easy, because I just handed over the paperwork, politely asked for a carer ticket and so it only took a minimum of time :).
We had a gander around for Frozen stuff in the Emporium and I bought Bert the OE Rapunzel pin he wanted, as well as an Elsa pin. The CM was super friendly, and tried to find out about the big pinfolio Bert wanted, but sadly her colleagues kept hanging up on her, and I didn't want to hold up the queue behind me. But she was very kind to try to find out for us!
Afterwards we wanted to go have a look at more merch in the big store in Frontierland, but sadly that was closed. Big Thunder was going super fast, so that was out, and so we decided to wander off to the Studios and have a look around there.
And of course, we totally FORGOT to check the Princess Pavillion, and OF COURSE this was the day that Rapunzel was meeting.
Typical, typical!
But before I got into our time at the Studios, here's a couple of early morning Frontierland photos!
In the Studios we saw a hell of a queue forming to get in, and then we noticed there was an entrance for hotel guests and AP holders, phew!
Thus we went into the Studios!
The Studio Store at Place des Frères Lumiére (the main square at the entrance) was closed, but the one in Studio 1 (the inside hallway) wasn't.
I bought a Phantom Manor pin, the one with the dangly key, and forwent Star Wars pins.
I only want to buy pins now of characters that I actually collect (so Monsters, but University and Inc and later this year undoubtedly also At Work) or pins I will wear as accessories.
The Star Wars ones were all just so big and heavy so I didn't want to spend my money on them because they'd just sit in my map or end up in my traders anyway.
We got out in the Studios proper at an awkward time.
There was already a really long queue for Chewbacca, with no indication where the disability queue would be.
We were a little on the late side for Frozen a Musical Invitation (we asked a kind CM of the show how to get in as I can't stand for long, and she kindly explained), so we thought about maybe riding Ratatouille and then going back to meet Chewwie and then go for the second showing instead.
Random Tower of Terror photo because I love the aesthetic.
Of course, Ratatouille didn't happen because I suddenly remembered that there is an entire Monsters Inc section to the studios, where outfit photo taking needed to happen.
My favourite spot, the umbrella, is currently closed off (and probably disappearing for good) due to the building of Avengers Campus, but I feel that the Monsters Inc area is a very good alternative!
Upon returning to the Chewbacca meet and greet, I was so lucky as two CMs were just passing by, and were able to tell me where to start queuing for the disability line, which made us first in line!
Our luck did not run out there, as Rey was also there!
Sadly, there was no photo pass photographer present, so Bert had to get it sorted with his portrait lens, which isn't suitable for taking photos of mulitple people in a small area. He had intended on just taking a portrait shot of Rey, so yeah. But hey, I have a photo, and that makes me happy!
I also got many, many wookiee hugs and an amazing interaction with both characters (this is why I openly wear Rebel attire, even if it's just a bag!) so I'm well chuffed!
Bert's meet and greet photo is way nicer than mine, so I'm sharing that :).
After that we went straight to the Frozen show, A Musical Invitation, intending to get into the second one of 11.05.
Sadly, in front of us there was a couple that weren't having not getting in, and the guy started screaming at CM. Who, frankly, could have handled the entire situation better because he was very nearly screaming back.
The woman noticed that my green card had the “unable to stand for long” box ticked and I could just see the damn lighbulb pop on over her head. And whilst all I wanted to do was speak to a CM about the NEXT show (as in, the second one of the day, not the one about to start), she literally started cornering me, despite me saying “no, just NO, I have sever social anxiety, I am not involved, I will not get involved, I am here for the NEXT show! Leave me out of it!”
In the end I had to leave the queue to approach a CM on the side, who ended up being sympathetic to my plight (he could see I was an inch away from a full blown panic attack) but couldn't do much else than direct me back to the queue. THANKFULLY the British couple behind us had seen it all happen, and were more than happy to let us take up our spot again, they weren't fussed, they were also pretty displeased by the French couple blowing a gasket. Especially because they were at fault.
You get told when you get your disability/priority card that you should ask at EVERY ride, show and meet and greet if it's not specifically indicated where to go. They didn't do that, so there was no reason to go off like that, and the fact that they tried to involve me even though they clearly noticed my discomfort, and kept badgering me 'till I literally left, was beyond not ok.
Now, weeks later, I feel like I should have waited for the manager and file a complaint against THEM for being such assholes, but Bert wanted to see the show, and I just wanted to get away from them, so I was just glad to sit on a bench in the disability area.
I also REGRET not asking the girl on the bench with us to please STOP fidgetting and rocking back and forth into the bench, sending shockwaves through my spine every time she did it, because she was super nice about it when I did ask her (after 40 minutes of enduring agony) and immediately stopped. She immediately apologised, too. Next time I will just ask right away, but I'm always scared someone will flip out at me :(.
In a big bout of universal unfairness, the couple that had been such dicks showed up FIVE minutes before the next show, and were given a seat. Because the manager had put them in their right. Which is utter and total injustice, especially because it meant that people that had been queuing fair and square (there's only one bench so if you can't stand, get there real early!) had to wait even longer for the 3rd showing!
Seriousy, DLP, no, start saying NO to people like that! Who cares if they stop coming, everyone is better off when they stay home!
When we were waiting inside for the show to start, the CM that had to send me back into the queue earlier came to see if I was ok, and spent some time talking to me to put me more at ease. Which was super kind of him.
I think he also wanted to see if I was going to launch a complaint against the CMs or something, which I really had no intend of doing because it wasn't the CMs fault.
And considering DLP won't even respond to busdrivers acting like dangerous lunatics, they definitely won't respond to a manager giving into assholes, even though their presence made me super uncomfortable.
But goddammit, I had been there since 10.20, I was bloody well going to see that show!
The show was ok, it was definitely enjoyable to see and I would recommend that you do it at least once if you're a Frozen fan and don't mind the queues from hell and ensuing mayham (because apparently it's a regular occurence).
But it's not my fave, Bert felt the same way, so I'm not sure we'd do it again. Maybe on a really slow day.
We hadn't taken a LineBerty ticket to meet Olaf, and we didn't want to try to get one either.
Instead we had a gander in the Frozen shop, where we found the other pin Bert was looking for.
Because we were a little hungry by that time, and I had my mind set on some Star Wars food, we went to get that. Bert wanted to queue with me because there was literally no one queuing for the fries either.
And of course, when I got my food, and he turned around, there was a massive queue for the fries.
It was far too cold to eat outside (I did take photos there because of the light), so we went to find a spot inside. Luckily we found ONE table that had just been vacated outside Au Coulisses, so yay!
I have a very small appetite, so I only took a bit of the X-wing lemon tarte, and Bert took a bite of the D-O macaron. He didn't like the macaron at all, but he loved the tarte, so I gave that to him and ate the macaron.
Starvation no longer imminent, we wandered to Starbucks to meet up with Marie and Myriam. Marie was there for the job days and her mum had tagged along to keep her company. They were having drinks at Starbucks so stopped by to say hi. I lent her my Walt quote pin for good luck, and traded buttons with her.
Myriam and Marie were going to see some of the talks at the job event and we did pop into World of Disney so Bert could buy a pin trading bag to store his pins.
In the Disneyland Park we had, alas but utterly unsurprisingly, no luck meeting Rapunzel at that time of day. The CM said we could come back at 2 and do the regular queue if we wanted but we had to be out in Central Plaza to get a good spot for the Frozen show, so that didn't happen.
Instead of going on a ride, we decided to wander to Pueblo Trading to see if I could still get a last minute spot to get the Mike Wazowski pin that was released that day (we had had NO luck with the Lineberty reservation, neither the first one, nor last chance). I really do wonder how some people ended with 5 tickets or more, all by aquired by one person...
THANKFULLY there was a kind fellow Belgian willing to trade down (because my limited edition traders were no where near as good as the 400 edition of that day!) so I got Mike Wazowski. Seriously, he really did me a solid! If you are by chance reading this good sir, thank you again, you really made my day! You ROCK! I swear if I run into him again I am buying him a drink!
Coming down from Frontierland through Adventureland, and feeling particularly brave when it came to trading, I asked the info desk CM if I could please see her lanyard. She didn't have anything I wanted, but I did spot a super cute Chip pin I had never seen before, and as Marie collects Chip, I traded for her. And texted her that what I had done haha.
We also had a look in Harrington's at Main Street, to have a look at pins, art and more CM lanyards. One CM pointed out how refreshing it was to see someone who was so polite about trading, and just treating it like a fun hobby. So I don't even want to know what rudeness they are confronted with! I just like pins as accessories and little things to collect, and whilst I was pretty excitable at people (sorry, I got carried away) trying to find Mike, I hope I wasn't rude (if I was I sincerely apologise!).
In any case, all my traders at this point are open editions, so I'll be trading with CMs and friends from now on, which is totally ok by me :).
Not that I dislike trading with other guests, it's just that they mostly trade LE's, and I'm fresh out of those :). Zero regrets though!
Because I was on the look for a new Chewbacca slap bracelet (Joop stole mine and made it all dusty dirty) and didn't have any luck in other stores, we ambled down to Star Traders.
Of course, photos happened along the way.
Buzz Lightyear, just like Café Hyperion, is currently closed for refurbishments. But I love the construction walls they've put up around it :).
Star Traders, alas, also didn't have the bracelet, so I think I shall have to resign myself to the fact that the cat has well and truly STOLEN mine. Maybe I'll just steal it back and wash it...
EDIT: I stole it back and washed it.
Pro-tip: do not use Lush showergel to wash these things because it makes them smelly. But hey, at least he's clean again!
Afterwards we went to get a spot for Frozen 2: An Enchanted Journey.
All I can say is: look at videos online so you know where you want to be!
I had done that, and I'm not mad about it, at all. Because of it we knew exactly where to be to see the show portion of the event, and Bert was able to get some really good photos! (check out his instagram to see some of them that are already online).
Sadly, it's either the show or the float (unless you are very tall like Bert), so if you want to see both, you best see it twice. And unless it's the last one of the day (provided its not mega crowded) as a lot of people will already be sitting down for Stars on Parade further down Main Street USA, you should be there at least 30 mintues in advance. Especially if you want a prime spot for the show portion.
We both really enjoyed the show, Bert much more than me, and as we were both quite hungry afterwards (and my blood sugar was dropping) we decided to go find some food.
There was a massive queue outside of Casey's, so that was out.
Fuente del Oro thankfully was open but had a MASSIVE queue. I asked a CM if there was a disability check out as I couldn't stand long and she immedately sorted out we could priority order, which was super nice of her.
The restaurant was also super full, and it was really cold outside, so we asked people at the big round tables if we could just take two spots at theirs. The first lady was really pretty rude about it, and whilst she had enough space, wouldn't let us join. But the second lady said there were definitely two places and we were welcome to them. Because her party was in the regular queue, they hadn't even arrived when we finshed and left, so we definitely weren't a bother. Very kind of her letting us sit there so we could eat in the warmth!
That brings me to my usual rant, and I feel like I'm saying this every single time. Disneyland Paris NEEDS to do better when it comes to food. This is just not acceptable! With Hyperion closed for maintenance, the Disneyland Park has lost it's biggest eating venue. Do you think that means they will open up other restaurants like Toad Hall?
No, they won't!
This was frigging January, it's WINTER, it's COLD, and people are still having to queue and eat out in the cold. It's not ok.
Eating still took us longer than we thought, because we found ourselves with only 10 minutes to spare for the next Frozen showing, but luckily, as it was the last one of the day and a lot of people were already sitting down to see Stars on Parade, we still got a really good spot, even though we arrived street side literally 5 minutes before kick-off!
This time we took a spot by the street so we would be able to see the float, and Bert would be able to turn and still take photos of the show part (the advantages of being that tall!).
I just leaned against a lamppost and waited for Marie and Myriam to arrive after the float :). We hung out with them for a bit, I gave her her pin, she gave me back mine, and we wandered off in our separate ways. They were still going to do some rides, and we were going to go home after checking a few things in Disney Village.
We always like going to the store selling art, where i found the Disneyland Paris Pirates of the Caribbean book. Which goes well with Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies as that is also a PotC imagineering book (it's also for a big part an art book, which is why I own it in the first place).
The Disney comics booth was sadly closed, and whilst that was a bummer, I didn't let it get to me, after all I had been able to do a LOT of really fun stuff that day so, eh.
We had a look around in the old Disney Store and World of Disney, but didn't buy anything and went back to the car.
Along the way home, I bought the most mediocre chicken sandwich in the universe, but at least I didn't go hungry, and we were home at a reasonable time :).
And that was that, a fun day in Disneyland Paris (for the most part) :).
All the photos are here :)
I didn't take as many as usual, because I wanted to focus on mostly shooting things I hadn't shot loads of times before.
On the up side, at least all my photos are up at the time my trip report goes up AND all my photos are up before my next trip. (Unlike with my Halloween trip, oops!).
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