So, onto Day 2.
I had thought to ask at reception for a voucher that would let us eat breakfast in the park so we could get some EMH time in and then eat. We woke quite early and were away to Main St by 8.15pm. It was getting much colder and we had the hats on - the lot. We walked down to Buzz and as promised rode twice - DW thrilled that she had finally discovered the secret targets in the tunnel!! She got a score of 110, 000 plus and never managed to beat it all week - she still can't work out how she did it but didn't stop talking about reaching Level 4 all week long.
We did Dumbo, the Carousel and then Peter Pan - all with less than 5 mins wait. I have riden PP many times but maybe the Christmas magic had got to me - I noticed so muh more and it brought all those happy memories of seeing Disney films at Christmas time at the cinema (the only place you could see them once upon a time) - I loved PP as if seeing it for the first time. ACE!!
DD was desperate for small world so we headed off to do that again before hitting the Plaza Gardens for breakfast - really good, not too crowded and plenty of choice - even the children enjoyed having a wander and getting their own bits and bobs - not something we were ever able to do at Cheyene so we were very happy. We repeated breakfast here on three other occasions it was so good.
Following this we headed off to Frontierland to see Father Christmas (what a treat on Christmas Eve). Both children had seen the TV ad that said Father Christmas was spending Christmas at DLRP and so they were in no doubt this was the real guy (and not one of his many helpers who dress up lie him "They have the join on their beard, Dad" says DS)
We went via "Mickeys Winter Wonderland Show" and the Corral theatre. It was absolutely brilliant -more tears!!!! DS was a bit freaked by the bear noises in the cave but when we saw it again later in the trip he was depserate to be the one chosen to go and help - so couldn't have been that bad!
The characters were all spot on and the effects of the snow and the horse drawn sleigh etc were magical. When Mickey and Minnie danced on ice DW and I had yet another tear - brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!!!
Then over to see the big man himself, all the time supping on a hot chocolate. The children absolutely loved FC - he was the real deal as far as they were concerned and even i had to pinch myself - he was that good - even the accent. My DD was in awe and he said stuff like "Come here my little one and sit wth me a while" and "I will be with you later so be good for me today" - really magical and they absolutely fell for it - Fantastic!. Not like the rush and push of the local department store - we were very impressed.
We then caght the train back to Main Street station and headed back to the hotel, as the children were desperate to use the pool. We had been in the water for 15 mins - with the pool to ourselves no less, when the guy running the joint came and told us we had to get out as there was something wrong with the water. Well, with thought of legionnaires in our heads we hastily retreated to the changing rooms and got dressed again. In hindsight, we think they wanted to close early for Christmas and were gagging for a bevvy. I didn't blame them.
We went to the hotel bar and had some lunch and a couple of glasses of wine in readiness for Christmas and then went up to our room for a nap - as we had surprise no 2 lined up for the children and guessed we all needed to boost our energy.
We had book the DJ kids party at Hurricanes for Christms Eve night - although were a little apprehensive as you never know what to expect from these kind of things - plus it had cost a bit to do. We were promised characters, an all you can eat buffet with wine and dancing. We headed over in readiness for the 6.00pm start and went in to the club.
All I can say is it was a brilliant evening for both adults and children - well we all enjoyed it anyway. Christmas music was blaring as we entered, a giant rudolph and two snowmen caracters were bopping on the dance floor an an overexcited bilingual DJ (he was about 70 bless him!) kept announcing that "Goofy arreeeve in ten minots". The children were also promised face painting, which DD had done and looked lovely. Goofy "arreeved" after ten "minots" dressed as Santa and the children had pictures taken with him.
We then ha food - a really good buffet for the children and a separate one for the adults - including smoked salmon, pate, something with caviar in and a salad bar for starters, then pasta, roast guinea fowl, braised beef, fish chowder and loads of sides. There was also a great array of puds and cheeses and sweets for the children too. The nce thing was noone rushed you and it was a really chilled time for everyone, also because it wasn't overcrowded.
The tables were grouped in 8s wth a bottle of red between four that included the children!!) and they also offered white by the glass for tose who wanted it. Needless to say i had a bottle of red to myself - how lovely!! (perhaps thats why the evening went so well.)
After Goofy left, the snowmen and rudolph returned to dance with the children and then they welcomed Santa, who arrived for piccies. He stayed 30 minutes and ended up sitting and watching with no queue - that shows that they hadn't packed the event out. DS and DD loved te dancing and running around and we were quite happy to let them go as we could see them wherever they went.
Once everyone had more or less eaten the excited DJ announced we would have a Christmas Circus - this comprised of a lady who juggled hats, a very bad clown who made members of the audience pretend to be instruments in an orchestra, and a man on a unicycle who was actually pretty amazing. It turned out the lady juggler and he were partners - not sure where the clown fitted into thier relationship though! The excitable DJ kept announcing that they were "direct from Broadway!!" -(mmm, Fulham Broadway maybe!) but the children really thought they were amazing.
It was interesting that there were very few Brits at the party - it was definitely appealing to the french who were the main group there. However, we found out tat this was the first time they had tried this event (as the greeter at the door turned out to be English and askd our opinion on the way out). However, if they do it again i would definitley recommend it. It was pricey but you got lots for the money - the entertainment was thick an fast, the food and wine was plentiful and the characters were brilliant with the children. It definitely made our Christmas Eve and as we strolled out into the village it felt electric - Santa was on a podium having pictures taken we had to explain tha he would soon be on his way but as he was so magical he could od many things at once anyway!!!!! - oh my!)
There was a group called the Christmas Angels - three lovely ladies in mini Santa costumes singing close harmony with a four piece brass group on a bicycle (maybe I did have too much wine!!) who sang and played Christmas carols and songs.
We walked around the market place to get rid of our dinner and then headed back roud the lake to the hotel. by now it was getting very cold and frosty and I think it was the most Christmassy i had felt in years - all the factors were there - the music, the chill in the air, the twinkly lights, two very excited children and many others all jabbering their way to bed and one very nice bottle of wine!! DW and I both felt really happy and magical - when we got back to the hotel foyer - guess what?!! - there was Santa again - so we quickly distracted the children and made ou way to bed before DD freaked that he was at the hotel BEFORE she was asleep.
We even managed to get to see the new Wallace and Gromit before bed on or room TV(albeit in French!) but once lights went out we were all so tired the whole lot of us went staight to sleep - definitley a first in our family on Christmas Eve!
Day 3 (Christmas Day) to follow.................................
I had thought to ask at reception for a voucher that would let us eat breakfast in the park so we could get some EMH time in and then eat. We woke quite early and were away to Main St by 8.15pm. It was getting much colder and we had the hats on - the lot. We walked down to Buzz and as promised rode twice - DW thrilled that she had finally discovered the secret targets in the tunnel!! She got a score of 110, 000 plus and never managed to beat it all week - she still can't work out how she did it but didn't stop talking about reaching Level 4 all week long.
We did Dumbo, the Carousel and then Peter Pan - all with less than 5 mins wait. I have riden PP many times but maybe the Christmas magic had got to me - I noticed so muh more and it brought all those happy memories of seeing Disney films at Christmas time at the cinema (the only place you could see them once upon a time) - I loved PP as if seeing it for the first time. ACE!!
DD was desperate for small world so we headed off to do that again before hitting the Plaza Gardens for breakfast - really good, not too crowded and plenty of choice - even the children enjoyed having a wander and getting their own bits and bobs - not something we were ever able to do at Cheyene so we were very happy. We repeated breakfast here on three other occasions it was so good.
Following this we headed off to Frontierland to see Father Christmas (what a treat on Christmas Eve). Both children had seen the TV ad that said Father Christmas was spending Christmas at DLRP and so they were in no doubt this was the real guy (and not one of his many helpers who dress up lie him "They have the join on their beard, Dad" says DS)
We went via "Mickeys Winter Wonderland Show" and the Corral theatre. It was absolutely brilliant -more tears!!!! DS was a bit freaked by the bear noises in the cave but when we saw it again later in the trip he was depserate to be the one chosen to go and help - so couldn't have been that bad!
The characters were all spot on and the effects of the snow and the horse drawn sleigh etc were magical. When Mickey and Minnie danced on ice DW and I had yet another tear - brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!!!
Then over to see the big man himself, all the time supping on a hot chocolate. The children absolutely loved FC - he was the real deal as far as they were concerned and even i had to pinch myself - he was that good - even the accent. My DD was in awe and he said stuff like "Come here my little one and sit wth me a while" and "I will be with you later so be good for me today" - really magical and they absolutely fell for it - Fantastic!. Not like the rush and push of the local department store - we were very impressed.
We then caght the train back to Main Street station and headed back to the hotel, as the children were desperate to use the pool. We had been in the water for 15 mins - with the pool to ourselves no less, when the guy running the joint came and told us we had to get out as there was something wrong with the water. Well, with thought of legionnaires in our heads we hastily retreated to the changing rooms and got dressed again. In hindsight, we think they wanted to close early for Christmas and were gagging for a bevvy. I didn't blame them.
We went to the hotel bar and had some lunch and a couple of glasses of wine in readiness for Christmas and then went up to our room for a nap - as we had surprise no 2 lined up for the children and guessed we all needed to boost our energy.
We had book the DJ kids party at Hurricanes for Christms Eve night - although were a little apprehensive as you never know what to expect from these kind of things - plus it had cost a bit to do. We were promised characters, an all you can eat buffet with wine and dancing. We headed over in readiness for the 6.00pm start and went in to the club.
All I can say is it was a brilliant evening for both adults and children - well we all enjoyed it anyway. Christmas music was blaring as we entered, a giant rudolph and two snowmen caracters were bopping on the dance floor an an overexcited bilingual DJ (he was about 70 bless him!) kept announcing that "Goofy arreeeve in ten minots". The children were also promised face painting, which DD had done and looked lovely. Goofy "arreeved" after ten "minots" dressed as Santa and the children had pictures taken with him.
We then ha food - a really good buffet for the children and a separate one for the adults - including smoked salmon, pate, something with caviar in and a salad bar for starters, then pasta, roast guinea fowl, braised beef, fish chowder and loads of sides. There was also a great array of puds and cheeses and sweets for the children too. The nce thing was noone rushed you and it was a really chilled time for everyone, also because it wasn't overcrowded.
The tables were grouped in 8s wth a bottle of red between four that included the children!!) and they also offered white by the glass for tose who wanted it. Needless to say i had a bottle of red to myself - how lovely!! (perhaps thats why the evening went so well.)
After Goofy left, the snowmen and rudolph returned to dance with the children and then they welcomed Santa, who arrived for piccies. He stayed 30 minutes and ended up sitting and watching with no queue - that shows that they hadn't packed the event out. DS and DD loved te dancing and running around and we were quite happy to let them go as we could see them wherever they went.
Once everyone had more or less eaten the excited DJ announced we would have a Christmas Circus - this comprised of a lady who juggled hats, a very bad clown who made members of the audience pretend to be instruments in an orchestra, and a man on a unicycle who was actually pretty amazing. It turned out the lady juggler and he were partners - not sure where the clown fitted into thier relationship though! The excitable DJ kept announcing that they were "direct from Broadway!!" -(mmm, Fulham Broadway maybe!) but the children really thought they were amazing.
It was interesting that there were very few Brits at the party - it was definitely appealing to the french who were the main group there. However, we found out tat this was the first time they had tried this event (as the greeter at the door turned out to be English and askd our opinion on the way out). However, if they do it again i would definitley recommend it. It was pricey but you got lots for the money - the entertainment was thick an fast, the food and wine was plentiful and the characters were brilliant with the children. It definitely made our Christmas Eve and as we strolled out into the village it felt electric - Santa was on a podium having pictures taken we had to explain tha he would soon be on his way but as he was so magical he could od many things at once anyway!!!!! - oh my!)
There was a group called the Christmas Angels - three lovely ladies in mini Santa costumes singing close harmony with a four piece brass group on a bicycle (maybe I did have too much wine!!) who sang and played Christmas carols and songs.
We walked around the market place to get rid of our dinner and then headed back roud the lake to the hotel. by now it was getting very cold and frosty and I think it was the most Christmassy i had felt in years - all the factors were there - the music, the chill in the air, the twinkly lights, two very excited children and many others all jabbering their way to bed and one very nice bottle of wine!! DW and I both felt really happy and magical - when we got back to the hotel foyer - guess what?!! - there was Santa again - so we quickly distracted the children and made ou way to bed before DD freaked that he was at the hotel BEFORE she was asleep.
We even managed to get to see the new Wallace and Gromit before bed on or room TV(albeit in French!) but once lights went out we were all so tired the whole lot of us went staight to sleep - definitley a first in our family on Christmas Eve!
Day 3 (Christmas Day) to follow.................................
