Christmas Dreams at HNY - Day 1

[Ms Poppins]

Hotel New York Monday 2 December - Wednesday 4 December 2013

The Cast
Me - Julie (39)
DH - John (42)
DD - Abbey (16)
DS - Lewis (9)

Pre-trippie

Warning - loads of pictures in this report!

Monday 2 December

We were all up bright an early to see a nice sunny, cold day. We said our goodbyes to Mark who was staying at home and left home just after 10am. It only takes about 15 minutes for us to reach Glasgow Airport, but there are roadworks just now that get very busy at peak times so I thought we'd better leave in good time just in case...nothing to do with being so excited I hadn't slept the night before Roads turned out to be fine and as we drove we joked that we might need to take our sun glasses with us as it was so bright

We parked at a long stay car park we’ve used before and caught the shuttle bus to the airport. We were there really early, about 10:45. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:50. Went through security and I was surprised to see Lewis' small backpack being put to the side to be searched. Turned out there was a Harry Potter wand in there......security were very nice but suggested that I put this item in hold luggage on the way back just in case we caused an alert in France

Flight left ahead of time and we relaxed on the flight which was full.





We landed about 25 minutes early, through passport control fine and our bag was waiting for us on the carousel. Walked through a door and there was a very nice lady from Ezyshuttle waiting for us with our name on a nice big board. Fantastic service once again. I cannot recommend them enough It was a beautiful day in Paris too, bright sunshine and a cool breeze. Roads were quiet and before we knew it we could see the Hotel New York in the distance. It felt like we'd only been here last week....

Check in was quick and the CM was lovely. She was a bit confused looking at our documents as these were all in Dutch as I'd booked using the Dutch website. I explained that I used that for a good discount and she laughed. She asked if we'd been before to HNY and I said we’d been many times and always stay here. She passed me forms to complete as I wanted to leave my card details for the Easypay pass and then I heard her on the phone saying my name and 4 people. Then she surprised me by saying that as we were regular visitors we could enjoy breakfast at any time in the Empire State Club room on the 6th floor! A lovely bonus!





Our room was in Gramercy Park 3180.



Room was same as always and just what we wanted. View over to the bag check area and into a small garden area.





Our case had been collected from us as we'd entered the hotel and was magically delivered after only a few minutes in the room

Lots of Christmas trees inside the hotel lobby





And a lovely one just outside the hotel

 

[Ms Poppins]

We made our way through the Village to the park and kept commenting on how beautiful it was that the sun was out. It was cold, but no colder than it had been at home. We were all wrapped up with our gloves and I actually had to keep my coat open for a while as I was a bit too warm!





The park was stunning. I loved all the decorations at the entrance. My camera was playing up so I don't have any pics for this part at the moment, but will have later ***Edited to add some pics I found!**

Entrance to to park:



Duffy's house



The tree in Town Square



Lewis wanted to do Pirates first. It was nearly 5pm and the parade was on it's way down Main St. Town Square was busy so we took our usual route via Liberty Arcade. Once in Frontierland we decided to do Phantom Manor first as we were passing.





This was a walk on and bonus that the ghostly heads were working at the end!

Jack's meeting point



As we passed BTM we noticed it had a 15 minute wait but Abbey wasn't bothered about this just now so we kept going to Pirates.

The Swiss Family Tree House looking lovely lit up





Pirates was another walk on



Next we took a walk into Fantasyland where Lewis wanted to see if Casey was open, but it wasn't. We stopped for some photos at Alice's maze:







It was getting dark and the Teacups were all lit up, looking sooooo nice.....



We decided to go over to Small World and all loved the Christmas overlay. I'd read about this in previous years and had no idea that there were Christmas songs incorporated into the ride It was so much fun we all sang along and I took pictures inside for the first time in years....









Fantasyland was starting to close so we went into Discoveryland and onto Buzz, 5 min wait.

I always take this picture of Buzz - does everyone else?







Nicely warmed up on this we then headed to the main hub to get a spot for Christmas Dreams. Lewis and I got a good spot in front of the castle whilst DH and DD went off to get some popcorn for us all. We were surprised when a mini-show started at 6:45 which was fantastic. A really good wee show with dancing fountains etc. If you don't want to know anything about this or Christmas Dreams then start scrolling now.....

 

[Ms Poppins]

I can't remember the music for this but I do remember jigging about and loving it all

Next up was Christmas Dreams......

We had seen Frozen the day before we went and it was nice that we knew what this was in the show. I loved the Toy Story bits and the other characters that were included. It really got us in the Christmassy mood. Some photos:







END OF THE DREAMS BIT





We hung about at the end as we had reservations at Inventions for 18:45 so thought there was no point in rushing down Main St.

 

[dawnydoo]

Julie I'm so glad that you all had such a great time. I can't wait to read more
We go in 10 days to celebrate my 50th and your TR has succeeded in making me even more excited
More More More please
Dawn

 

[Ms Poppins]

We made our way to the Disneyland Hotel via Discovery Arcade. We were a wee bit chilly now so it was nice to get into the warm of the hotel lobby. Beautiful tree in here too:



I did look for the Gingerbread house I'd heard about but it wasn't in the lobby, and I've no idea where it was

Upstairs we went and through the corridor to Inventions. I love the windows in here:













The lobby outside the restaurants - more decorations



We were a bit early for our reservation but were seated quickly in the main room, downstairs that looks over the park. It wasn't too busy and we tucked into our meal quickly. We hadn't eaten since we were on the plane.

Whilst we ate we met Chip or Dale...not sure which:



And Mickey



Chip or Dale again



And Eeyore









We did enjoy the meal, plenty to choose from. Honestly, there wasn't much difference to the Parkside Diner buffet at HNY and the only difference was obviously the location and some characters....all of which we've met many times in the past. We took quite a while over our meal as there were long periods of times when there were no characters at all. If our kids had been younger or it was our first character meal then I think we might be disappointed with the interaction we had. As it was, we did have a lovely time and I really liked the atmosphere in the restaurant.

We finished our meal and I paid the bill quickly whilst hiding the receipt from DH and had a browse in the hotel shop. Then we took some more photos as the tree:







We left the DLH and strolled through the Village browsing the shops. There is a lovely photo point in the Village:





Outside the HNY



We popped into the hotel shop to get some new mugs as we'd brought some hot chocolate with us. Back into the room I called housekeeping to ask for a kettle to be delivered, which arrived after about 10 minutes. We all got into our pj's and shared some hot chocolate, biscuits and watched the Disney channel.



EMH tomorrow anyone?

 

[micksn]

Sounds amazing, I could smell the pop corn while reading it!

 

[Neeny17]

What a lovely start to your trip! The park looks beautiful; I can't wait to see it in person

 

[Ms Poppins]

Julie I'm so glad that you all had such a great time. I can't wait to read more
We go in 10 days to celebrate my 50th and your TR has succeeded in making me even more excited
More More More please
Dawn

Oh, how exciting - hope you have a great time - more of the report on now

Sounds amazing, I could smell the pop corn while reading it!

Me too....that's the memory I have from our first trip to DLP, it felt like there was popcorn on every corner!

What a lovely start to your trip! The park looks beautiful; I can't wait to see it in person

Have a great time

 

[kizzabel]

Your pictures are ah-mah-zing!!! Doesn't the garland and decorations on Main St Train Station look beautiful. So happy I changed our booking to catch Christmas next year!!
Abbey and you are so alike.
Looking forward to reading more but I'm saving it for later with a cuppa

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Oh WOW an amazing first day....so love all of the beautiful photos you share.

 

[shelleyhope]

Looks great can't wait to go x

 

[Ms Poppins]

Your pictures are ah-mah-zing!!! Doesn't the garland and decorations on Main St Train Station look beautiful. So happy I changed our booking to catch Christmas next year!!
Abbey and you are so alike.
Looking forward to reading more but I'm saving it for later with a cuppa

I love the garlands....I went on and on and on and on about them so much that Abbey made me my very own purple one which is stunning I could have stood in Main St all day long and not moved. The music was amazing

Oh WOW an amazing first day....so love all of the beautiful photos you share.

Thanks, I think I took about 400 in 2.5 days

Looks great can't wait to go x

Hope you have a great time

 

[loladelorean]

I'm loving reading this, Julie, to get me even more excited for our stay at the HNY this xmas time
Firstly, how big has Lewis gotten?! can't believe it
Gorgeous photos, the one of all four of you in the DLH is just lovely. Off to read the rest of the report...

 

[Ms Poppins]

I'm loving reading this, Julie, to get me even more excited for our stay at the HNY this xmas time
Firstly, how big has Lewis gotten?! can't believe it
Gorgeous photos, the one of all four of you in the DLH is just lovely. Off to read the rest of the report...

Thanks Lisa, this trip feels like years ago

Lewis has grown so much - he's not 10 yet and I had to buy him new school trousers, age 12!

Hope your plans for trip are coming along nicely xx