Just me and my girl pre trip report :)

[simplyshaz]

sooo its only 24 sleeps to go so thought i would start a pre trip report
Date of trip 23rd july - 27th July 2013 staying in dream castle.
Who's going ?
Just me and my 6 year old dd

IMG_1824 by simplyshaz, on Flickr

This will be the first time ive been away anywhere without another adult
even though we were only at dlp in march iam really excited about this trip (dh and niece came in march)
Im really looking forward to it just being me and my girl, and bascically we will be able to do whatever we want
Ready for the trip i just had to get chloe some new converse and 'bling them up disney style'

pic6 by simplyshaz, on Flickr


pic5 by simplyshaz, on Flickr


pic4 by simplyshaz, on Flickr


pic3 by simplyshaz, on Flickr


IMG_1942 by simplyshaz, on Flickr


pic2 by simplyshaz, on Flickr


pic1 by simplyshaz, on Flickr

its the first time ive even tried to 'bling up' her converse and im really pleased with how they have turned out, made a matching headband too lol .cant believe that in just over 3 weeks those cute little shoes will be walking down main street (or should i say skipping)
im wanting to try a few new things this time when we go and 'explore' the parks a little more. Its been cold both other times when we have been so this will be our first summer trip! We have never done Emh before but this time i plan on doing it as Chloe loves peter pans flight and buzz, so really want to try and do those 2 first thing so as we dont have to queue for a long time later in the day. When we have gone before the parks have closed at 6/7 the first time and 8 last time, so this is the firat time we will have been there when its until 11 and then of course there is dreams
As we are going to do emh i think maybe a trip back to the room late afternoon for a few hours will be needed as otherwise Chloe wont last the night and she LOVES dreams so will def not want to miss it.
This will also be the first time we havent stayed overnight in london the night before. This time we are getting the train first thing in the morning which gets us to kings cross for 8.55am, i figured this gives us enough time to check in for eurostar without us having to wait around at st pancras for a couple of hours. I got a good deal on our train to london so we are travelling down first class this way we get drinks and breakfast on board. So with it being an early start the first day of travel we will be either missing dreams that first night or spending a couple of hours in the room early evening or something. We are going to be there for 4 nights so no biggie really. Am really looking forward to staying at dream castle too as we have only ever stayed at santa fe and cheyenne before. Would really appreciate any ideas/ suggestions for me and Chloe to do on our trip!

 

[aliscrapper]

OMG - Your Converse trainers are amazing!!! It looks like Minnie herself has sprinkled some fairy dust on them!

We're staying at the Dream Castle for the first time in September so would love to hear what you think of it!

What kind of things do you and your daughter enjoy???

As we're staying off-site for the first time we plan to pay to have breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel as a brunch and a treat and meet up with some of the characters in the morning.

 

[simplyshaz]

OMG - Your Converse trainers are amazing!!! It looks like Minnie herself has sprinkled some fairy dust on them!

We're staying at the Dream Castle for the first time in September so would love to hear what you think of it!

What kind of things do you and your daughter enjoy???

As we're staying off-site for the first time we plan to pay to have breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel as a brunch and a treat and meet up with some of the characters in the morning.

Aww cheers Hun x I will take pics of hotel etc and let u know that's an idea for us which I never thought of, having breakfast in dlh . I've never even been inside it lol how much is it for breakfast in there? Would be a great idea for us for one morning as we are planning on doin emh a cpl of times. I'm quite a ride wimp so only do the baby rides lol never even done btm. Really wanna try phantom manor this time as never done it as not sure if chloe will like it. Chloe is very much a girly girl and loves everything to do with princesses and characters.i think I'm more excited about the trip than her haha

 

[aliscrapper]

Aww cheers Hun x I will take pics of hotel etc and let u know that's an idea for us which I never thought of, having breakfast in dlh . I've never even been inside it lol how much is it for breakfast in there? Would be a great idea for us for one morning as we are planning on doin emh a cpl of times. I'm quite a ride wimp so only do the baby rides lol never even done btm. Really wanna try phantom manor this time as never done it as not sure if chloe will like it. Chloe is very much a girly girl and loves everything to do with princesses and characters.i think I'm more excited about the trip than her haha

Thanks Hun. We're excited about staying at the Dream Castle for the first time as we have heard lots of good things about it - but is lovely to hear from someone who has stayed there recently and we've stayed at both the Santa Fe and the Cheyenne so will be good to hear what you think of the Dream Castle in comparison to those two on-site hotels.

This will be my 8th trip to DLP and until last year I'd never been in the DLH either! The entrance is to the right hand side. They also do a descent of the stairs showcase here courtesy of Laura Knighton with the characters - I've never done this but plan to in September - according to what I've read on the Dis "Its on thursdays through to sundays each week. It may be at 5pm now because the parade has moved to later each day. you can find out by popping into the DLH foyer and checking the information board situated near the bottom of the main staircase."

According to what I've seen on the Forum (never yet done this but plan to in September!) Breakfast at the DLH currently costs 16 euros pet adult, 6 euros per child, under 3s are free. You can't book, you just go to the entrance to the restaurant and say you want to pay for breakfast. During breakfast hours outside the restaurant they have characters on a half hour rotation from 8 till 11,

They do character breakfasts at Café Mickey which we love for the characters but last year found the food too greasy for us.

Have you seen the new "Meet Mickey" attraction in the Park - the photo's are actually signed "your friend Mickey". If your DD is into princesses there is the Princess Pavillion but I've heard of big time queues just to get a ticket for this attraction. There is also the meal at Auberge Cendrillion but it is pricey and for us the food is too fussy.

Do you Pin Trade??

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

I have great memories of the trip dd and I took alone....it really is great to be able to just suit yourself and dd....my dh and other dd are not disney fans so we were always having to factor them into our days ....that first trip with dd just us two was brilliant! The DLH is a brilliant idea even if you just pop in for a drink to the fantasia bar --there are always characters about without big scrums! Hope you have a fantastic time x

Your blinging of the converse are amazing...love them!

 

[HappyPanda]

I took DD away last June just me and her, she was only 5 then but we had the best time.. So much so I'm taking her away again in October for another girlie getaway!

It's nice going with the family but there's just something extra special about getting away just the two of you.

Looking forward to hearing all about it!

 

[wiigirl]

In for your report.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Those Converse look fantastic!

The restaurants in DLH are on the first floor, so when you go into the lobby either take the lift up 1 floor or go up the large staircase and turn right. Then follow the corridor and you'll be outside the restaurants. I believe that you just say you want to pay for breakfast when you turn up.

Looking forward to hearing more

 

[simplyshaz]

Thanks Hun. We're excited about staying at the Dream Castle for the first time as we have heard lots of good things about it - but is lovely to hear from someone who has stayed there recently and we've stayed at both the Santa Fe and the Cheyenne so will be good to hear what you think of the Dream Castle in comparison to those two on-site hotels.

This will be my 8th trip to DLP and until last year I'd never been in the DLH either! The entrance is to the right hand side. They also do a descent of the stairs showcase here courtesy of Laura Knighton with the characters - I've never done this but plan to in September - according to what I've read on the Dis "Its on thursdays through to sundays each week. It may be at 5pm now because the parade has moved to later each day. you can find out by popping into the DLH foyer and checking the information board situated near the bottom of the main staircase."

According to what I've seen on the Forum (never yet done this but plan to in September!) Breakfast at the DLH currently costs 16 euros pet adult, 6 euros per child, under 3s are free. You can't book, you just go to the entrance to the restaurant and say you want to pay for breakfast. During breakfast hours outside the restaurant they have characters on a half hour rotation from 8 till 11,

They do character breakfasts at Café Mickey which we love for the characters but last year found the food too greasy for us.

Have you seen the new "Meet Mickey" attraction in the Park - the photo's are actually signed "your friend Mickey". If your DD is into princesses there is the Princess Pavillion but I've heard of big time queues just to get a ticket for this attraction. There is also the meal at Auberge Cendrillion but it is pricey and for us the food is too fussy.

Do you Pin Trade??

Ooh the stairs showcase thing def worth a look cheers for the link, it looked great , chloe would love it. Think ill def try the dlh breakfast the first morning when we do emh, and if we like it maybe do it again lol . My lil girl loves cafe mickey for her evening meal (6.15) so think I will book that for our 2nd and 4th night there. Are there any other character meal places apart from auberge and dlh? Like you the food at auberge is way too fussy for me and dd, so I really don't think that I can justify the price. I know she would love the princesses, but I'm hoping that she gets to see a few in the pavillion. I've heard they now start giving out tickets for this a few times throughout the day. The first being 10am ? My plan for emh was too do buzz and Peter Pan and then head straight for princess pavillion to queue for a ticket . When we went in march they didn't have the ticket system. The queue time stated 1 hour and we actually waited 2 (never doing that again) we are def gonna do meet mickey this time as we never got round to it last time. No we don't pin trade. I was debating getting chloe one of the starter sets but not sure. I will be sure to take plenty of pics of everything at dream castle.i want to try and get more pics of everything this time round too

 

[simplyshaz]

I have great memories of the trip dd and I took alone....it really is great to be able to just suit yourself and dd....my dh and other dd are not disney fans so we were always having to factor them into our days ....that first trip with dd just us two was brilliant! The DLH is a brilliant idea even if you just pop in for a drink to the fantasia bar --there are always characters about without big scrums! Hope you have a fantastic time x

Your blinging of the converse are amazing...love them!

I'm really looking forward to it just being me and dd I think we will def pop in to the fantasia bar for a drink as if heard so many people mention it on here. As its just me and dd the cost isn't as much as when there was 4 of us . Cheers Hun x

 

[simplyshaz]

I took DD away last June just me and her, she was only 5 then but we had the best time.. So much so I'm taking her away again in October for another girlie getaway!

It's nice going with the family but there's just something extra special about getting away just the two of you.

Looking forward to hearing all about it!

This will be our 3rd trip to dlp but our 1st just the 2 of us I think I'm more excited for this trip than any of the others lol when I bought our dream passes my plan was to try and go again later in the year, maybe Halloween / Christmas, or her birthday which is January. With the cheap offers at the on site hotels I thought we would get to do it, however we have just booked a 2week family holiday for next June to alcudia so until I have that payed off I really can't book anymore disney trips for us
Are you going for Halloween?

 

[simplyshaz]

In for your report.

Good good

 

[simplyshaz]

those converse look fantastic!

Cheers hun, can't wait till these are walking down main street

the restaurants in dlh are on the first floor, so when you go into the lobby either take the lift up 1 floor or go up the large staircase and turn right. Then follow the corridor and you'll be outside the restaurants. I believe that you just say you want to pay for breakfast when you turn up.

Cheers for that hun, i wouldn't have had a clue.

Looking forward to hearing more

 

[aliscrapper]

Ooh the stairs showcase thing def worth a look cheers for the link, it looked great , chloe would love it. Think ill def try the dlh breakfast the first morning when we do emh, and if we like it maybe do it again lol . My lil girl loves cafe mickey for her evening meal (6.15) so think I will book that for our 2nd and 4th night there.

Have you thought about doing the character breakfast at Cafe Mickey??? We love it for the interaction but last year we found the food to be too greasy for us.

Are there any other character meal places apart from auberge and dlh?

Restaurant Des Stars is a ratatouille themed Lunch - never seen the film but they bring the mouse out. Can't think of any other character meals. Have you thought about visiting some of the hotels in the morning to have your photo taken with the characters as you don't have to be a hotel guest to do this??

Like you the food at auberge is way too fussy for me and dd, so I really don't think that I can justify the price. I know she would love the princesses, but I'm hoping that she gets to see a few in the pavillion. I've heard they now start giving out tickets for this a few times throughout the day. The first being 10am ?

Yes I've heard they give tickets out for the princess pavilion; altho not sure what times these are but I'm sure someone on here will know. I have heard that it a long queue to get a ticket and people start queuing way before the start of them giving out tickets.

My plan for emh was too do buzz and Peter Pan and then head straight for princess pavillion to queue for a ticket . When we went in march they didn't have the ticket system. The queue time stated 1 hour and we actually waited 2 (never doing that again) we are def gonna do meet mickey this time as we never got round to it last time.

Sounds like a good plan to me. I loved meet Mickey altho I was a bit upset that the Disney photographer was "clocking off" when we visited so no official photo; so maybe do that earlier in the day??

No we don't pin trade. I was debating getting chloe one of the starter sets but not sure. I will be sure to take plenty of pics of everything at dream castle.i want to try and get more pics of everything this time round too

I love pin trading. I've been collecting pins since my first trip in 2002 but only started trading last year. Since then it's become a bit of an addiction - even DH is into it too!

Look forward to seeing all your photo's and hearing about your stay. I always take plenty of SD cards so that I can take loads of photo's without worrying about deleting the ones that don't come out so good.

 

[simplyshaz]

Few more bits done

Eurostar tickets printed
Buy 1 get 1 free cornetto vouchers printed lol
Cafe mickey reservations booked for 6.15 for the second and fourth nights. (Is dd favourite that's y twice)
Tiana outfit bought for dd
Minnie Mouse t shirt bought for me
Minnie Mouse baseball cap and skorts thingy bought for dd
Couple of minnie n mickey t shirts bought for dd
Dd passport has arrived (phew, panic over lol)
We are getting sooooo excited now I can't believe that in just 12 sleeps we will be there ! This is the most excited I have been about a dlp trip. This one seems more exciting than the others it seems dream castle has free wired Internet, so I think I will pack my laptop and do a few trip reports while iam there be so much easier with wifi so I could just use my ipad. Still going to take my ipad though I think we have Internet on way down to London in first class. I just sooooo can't wait! X

 

[simplyshaz]

4 more sleeps to go 1 more day at work to do tomoro me and clo are soo excited now. Just been getting all our tickets ,passports etc together. Still got to get all our euros, it will be Monday before I get the chance to do that. Still have to pack as well, that will be Sunday/ Monday also lol . Dh just gave us £200 for treats things are def looking good

 

[kizzabel]

Hope you both have a fantastic trip. The girlie ones are great fun. Am also doing my 1st trip as the only adult with my two little ones in October. I'd love to hear about how you get on. Oh you must be so excited to be finished work and ready to start packing

 

[simplyshaz]

Oh my! It's now less than 24 hours till we leave for the magic ( insert excited squeal here) lol . Right now I'm not quite sure if I'm more nervous or excited lol. I've been up since 5.30 as I have so much to do today. I'm currently sat here with hair dye on me bonce, as I can't be going to the magic with my grey showing through roflmao I only just remembered to get us some insurance so I've just done that. I've still to sort and pack our clothes etc. iam really excited about our trip but feeling 'a tad' nervous at the fact that its just myself and dd. my Dh is forever telling me I have no sense of direction and that I could easily get lost in our house (it's a very tiny house lol ) I think that he is prob more nervous than me . He says he feels a bit better knowing that we are staying at dream castle than val d Europe. He reckons that I would have just got lost until the point where I ended up in another country, and wouldn't even realise until they asked for our passports lmfao . Chloe just keeps telling him we'll be fine lol . Last night I went and bought us a couple of those rain ponchos to stick in my bag as I see from the wether forecast that there will be a couple of storms while we are there, although its still gonna be hot, so I don't want to be lugging our coats with us (they can stay at home) I'm feeling so nervous it unreal lol it will be worth it though when tomoro afternoon we set foot onto Main Street I better go wash this off me head else ill be going with no hair lol. X

 

[A dream is a wish]

I haven't been on here properly for a little while (I'm usually being nosey a few times a day ) so I've only just seen this.

I love the converse they're beautiful! I hope you have a lovely time, look forwards to hearing about it when you get back!!