PTR - The Return of the Princess - June 2014

[Anemone]

This is me and my sister. We're going back to DLP on 22 June staying until 27 June in the Hotel New York.



My sister has a learning disability and dementia and some of you may remember that when we stayed last year we got fabulous pixie dust when she was allowed to have the Princess for a Day package and to dress up as a princess in the park.

 

[Anemone]

So with 4 weeks before we go we've been doing some serious planning this weekend. For my sister it's all about character interaction so I'm trying to plan our days and meals around that so there is some guaranteed character meets every day.

We arrive on a Sunday evening - being picked up at CDG at 5pm by RS Transports so thinking of booking Inventions @ 7pm. Not sure though if that is leaving us enough time to book into HNY and get to DLH? I remember a very long queue to book into DLH last year.

Our only other must-do that evening is a trip to City Hall to get sister a disabled priority card. Would we be better to book Inventions for 8 with a view to going to City Hall first if we got booked in promptly?

I'm wary of leaving it so late that she can't eat but |Inventions was less about the food and all about the characters for her last year anyhow.

 

[Anemone]

Here is our meal plan - we have Plus HB vouchers but do want to do Inventions and Auberge so will have to add to them for those meals.

Sun 22nd - Inventions

Mon 23rd - Blue Lagoon - I'm a bit worried about BL - I know I will love it but sister doesn't eat fish or spicy foods so we might struggle to find her something suitable on the menus I've seen. I'm hoping they will be flexible enough to allow us to substitute from the children's menu if so.

Tues 24th - sister's birthday - Cafe Mickey - plan here is to have main courses and drinks with a birthday cake. Sister loved Cafe Mickey last year but I thought the set menus were pretty poor. She won't eat pizza but will have a burger or pasta dish.

Wed 25th - Auberge - sister loved this last year - she was dressed up as a princess and was treated like royalty. Not planning on bringing the princess dress this year or having the makeover - we've done that once - don't think we could top it this year and it took an awful lot of time to organise last time. Oddly this was also the meal she ate most of last year - she had the quail starter and loved it.

Thurs 26th - Back to Cafe Mickey for more character interaction unless we think of something else we'd rather do more. We also want to see the Descent of the Stairs today so will possibly have Mickey waffles in Cafe Fantasia at 3pm then watch it so Cafe Mickey will be an evening reservation - 7pm perhaps when the main parade will be on so it's not too bunged.

Fri 27th - we're being picked up at 2pm by RS Transports so I think we will have lunch in Annettes today - didn't get chance to try it last year and the menu looks fab.

On the Monday and Friday when we will have no character interaction with our meal we can do the Princess Pavilion and Meet Mickey.

 

[Anemone]

Must-do Rides and Attractions

Favourites from last time were Meet Mickey, Princess pavilion, It's a Small World, Buzz Lightyear Lazer Blast, Cinemagique. Also Flying Carpets but it is closed as is Dumbo which was also close for our last trip.

Things we didn't do last year which I'd like to try this year are:

Phantom Manor - not at all sure whether sister will enjoy this but I'd love to try it once. My main concern is the low lighting - her dementia causes visual and spatial issues which can be a problem. DLRP Magic says disabled guests can enter via the exit - is there much walking to do in the dark / semi-dark before you are seated in the elevator?

Snow White and Pinocchio - have similar concerns about the lighting - if the darkness is after we board then she should be fine but if there's a lot of walking in the darkness then I foresee problems.

I have considered hiring a wheelchair for one day so we can do Nautilus, Aladdin's passage, Sleeping Beauty's dragon but don't want to use one every day as she can walk albeit slowly.

 

[ILOVEDLP]

I'm in
I remember you from your TR from last year at the DLH and your sister make over was it for her 50th ?
Great meal plan it's very much like mine for October.
Looking forward to more updates
We had the chicken at blue lagoon it wasn't spicy
X

 

[Anemone]

Thank you - yes sister was 50 last year. Keeps insisting she will be 70 this year.

That is great to know about the chicken at BL - very grateful for the tip.

 

[ILOVEDLP]

I thought the big birthday was the reason for your trip last year.
Rides Snow White and Pinocchio will be fine you queue then you get on the ride it not dark till you get into the ride.

HM you queue then you go into the room where it's kind of like a pre show I love it but it can be scary for some and the room go's black for a few seconds.
You are taken down to a small walk way that is dimly lit it's not a long walk.
You are the sat in a a car a bit like the ones on buzz.
I hope this make sense ?
X

 

[Anemone]

Thank you again - yes, that makes sense and is very helpful. We had a bad experience at POTC last year - I hadn't worked out where the disabled entrance was so we went the normal way and sister fell because she thought there were steps in the poor lighting - need to try to avoid incidents like this and your information is a big help.

 

[ILOVEDLP]

All three of the rides are nothing like the walk way into the POTC.
Did you find the disabled entrance you go in via the exit next to blue lagoon and the shop.
POTC walk way is one of the longest rides to get onto I can see how that happen. Hope it didn't out her off to much.
Snow White and Pinocchio are like getting on to Peter Pan.
The walk to HM isn't to bad but you may want to consider using the disabled entrance.

 

[Anemone]

Good to know.

Yes thanks, we did find it afterwards but sister wouldn't try it again. Hoping to go after our meal at BL when she will have seen the boats going past and we will wave at people. Would 3pm be a good time to go to BL and get a table by the water?

Funny thing is we went on Peter Pan a few times last year and loved it but on reading the disabled access brochure since we came back it says you can only ride if you could evacuate by climbing down a ladder unaided in the event of a breakdown. Has put me off as sister definitely couldn't do that.

 

[ILOVEDLP]

Good to know.

Yes thanks, we did find it afterwards but sister wouldn't try it again. Hoping to go after our meal at BL when she will have seen the boats going past and we will wave at people. Would 3pm be a good time to go to BL and get a table by the water?

Funny thing is we went on Peter Pan a few times last year and loved it but on reading the disabled access brochure since we came back it says you can only ride if you could evacuate by climbing down a ladder unaided in the event of a breakdown. Has put me off as sister definitely couldn't do that.

I would of said 3 perfect time as that's what my plan is lol!!
Hope she wants to go on again I love POTC

You don't fly up in the air like Peter Pan on the Snow White etc.
So no need to climb down if they breakdown
I found this for you hope it helps a bit
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vtnN1nVOGEU

 

[Anemone]

Thanks again - good to see the video but even less sure now that she would cope. Perhaps that one would be good to try the day we hire a wheelchair - she will at least be seated until she gets in the car.

3pm must be the perfect time if we both thought of it - fingers crossed.

 

[dhidra]

Hi,
I will be following along! I remember your TR from your last trip.

We ate in Blue Lagoon at 6pm last week.
I asked to be seated by the water and they said that everyone is put there at that time as it was still fairly quiet. I took photos of the menu, I'll upload them this evening. you should find so etching suitable for your sister.

the parade at the moment is at 5:30pm, it may change when the spring festival is over but there's nothing definite about it yet.

it's a pity you're not arriving earlier, your sister would probably love the extra characters at Sunday brunch.

Make sure you go to the studios for the meet & greets at place des stars. it's not advertised in the programme but there's loads of characters, I think at 12pm and 1pm.

 

[Anemone]

Thanks dhidra, I enjoyed your live TR on TA and am loving your detailed reports and photos on here too.

We will make 6pm our Blue Lagoon booking time then. Look forward to seeing your photos of the menus.

I'm fairly sure I read somewhere that the main parade will go back to its normal 7pm summer season time after 22nd June. I found last year we needed a nap late afternoon if sister was to be able to cope with staying up late for Dreams so 7pm would be better but we'll manage if it stays at 5.30pm.

Thanks too for the tip on the meet and greets - we'll definitely try to be in the studios at least 1 day for that. Last year we had a lovely meet with Minnie there in Toon Plaza but the ad hoc meet and greets were too scary for us - I'm really hoping that the better organisation I've read about this year helps.

I wish too we could have gotten an earlier flight so we could make the brunch but sister doesn't cope well with early starts and we have a 2 hr drive to Dublin airport. Saturday arrivals count as high season so the price difference was too much to justify arriving the day before. I should perhaps have considered 1 night at an offsite hotel on Saturday but by the time I'd thought of it changing the flight out would have been too expensive. If by some miracle sister is still well enough to go again next year I will think about doing that. I just hope we get good interaction on the Sunday evening in Inventions - last year we ate there the evening we arrived and it was superb.

 

[dhidra]

We flew at 7am which meant we were up at 3:30am. it was a very long day and I don't think if do it again. I would think about doing offsite for a night. we'll see!

the studios meets were very well organized. the CMs made sure that people queued properly. you could meet 2/3 characters there. we met woody & Jessie together, and then Jafar. we still could have queued for another character there but we had to go for our lunch reservation.

 

[Anemone]

Thanks again - fingers crossed for some good Studio meets.

 

[cdsmiler81]

Hello! Loved yo7ur TR from your last trip, so following along again!

Just to confirm what others have said, if she's fine with dark rides once she's on the actual ride, she'll be fine with Snow White and Pinocchio.

Haunted Mansion - you stand in the first room which is dark and then extends down (like a slow lift/elevator) with a spooky voice over, some thunder and lightning etc. Once that bit is finished, you leave the room and walk along a dark (there is SOME light but it's a bit dim) corridor in the house, until you get to the moving trevelator to allow you to get on to the ride itself (yes, like Buzz).

That corridor is the bit that would worry me for you. It's carpeted, and although I don't THINK it's uneven or wobbily, I always been a bit wibbly walking down it!! Probably more to do with my balance than anything. BUT, if you wait and make sure you're the last people out of the spooky extending room (lift/elevator), you can walk down that corridor nice and slowly with absolutely no rush - extends the experience of the ride too as there's spooky things to look at going down this bit.

Does that make sense? If you go slow, and stay at the back of the group so you can take your time, you shouldn't have any problems!

C x

 

[Anemone]

Thank you CD Smiler - I'm reassured about Pinnocchio and Snow White - still a tad worried about Phantom Manor but your's and Rachael's information is a huge help. Probably will come down to how she is on the actual day.

Yesterday was a Bank Holiday here so a rare day off both work and caring duties. I contacted the airline and organised wheelchair assistance for sister at both ends - this may turn out to be be overkill but there have been trips away when she has really needed this and Aer Lingus who we're flying with don't permit on the day requests so better to ask now.

I've ordered a personalised autograph book from ebay.

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And found a good range of Disney T shirts on Sports Direct for £6.99 each - a friend has one and said the quality is fine.

Ordered these for sister

and these for me

Still putting together a Goody Bag for sister which I'll pop the autograph book, a couple of T shirts and lots of other bits and pieces into. She needs a new backpack - her current one has a broken zip so thinking of replacing it and making that her hand luggage for the flight. Have looked for a Disney one but they tend to be aimed at children and therefore are unlikely to be strong enough. There is a Disneyland Paris one on the Disney Store site http://www.disneystore.co.uk/disney...rm=Disneyland+Paris+2014+Backpack&typeAhead=1 but (a) it's not pink and (b) is £25 which is more than I wanted to spend. Any ideas anyone?

 

[dhidra]

I bought a backpack in DLP last week as the one I had brought was too small. I got a Jack Skellington one for €30 and it's a decent size and good quality. I'm sure they had other styles there.

Love all the t shirts and the autograph book; have you a link for the eBay seller?

 

[Anemone]

This is the ebay seller http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/alysmarrisscrapbooks

Need to see if I can resize that huge picture.

Still have time to get the bag but good to know if I'm stuck that we could pick one up there.