honeyb35
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
Following on from my PTR here ......
Day 1:
We were due to fly from Birmingham at 06.25 on Thursday morning, its a couple of hours drive from our home in Sheffield, so the plan was to get everyone to bed early and set off at 2am to give us plenty of time. Didn't quite work to plan - just after tea I put my boots on to nip outside and put my foot straight through them.....disaster! They were my comfiest and warmest footwear, didn't fancy wearing heels and I don't do trainers, so a quick nip to the shop for emergency shoes was called for!
That done, home, and kids in bed, I settled down myself for a few hours only to remember that I hadn't printed off the emails about travel insurance and the transfer information etc. Nipped downstairs to do so, only to remember a few days previously the ipad had failed and needed restoring, yep, deleted emails!
Spent a few hours trying to remember which company I'd used, eventually figured it and jotted down contact numbers, just in time for the alarm to go off, no sleep for me then!
We put the kids in the car in their pyjamas figuring it was warmer and that they would go back to sleep that way, and that they could dress in the car on arrival. The journey itself was a nightmare - there were so many roadworks and traffic diversions that what was supposed to take 2 hours max actually took us to 5am. We had headed for the APH car park using the sat nav and the directions given on their website, but despite being on the right road there was no sign of it, and the number on the website just gave a message saying office was closed. Grr. Half an hour of that and I said we had to get to the airport NOW....then discovered it was still half an hour away! Noooooo!!!
Raced there, dragged cases out of car, threw kids clothes in and hurried into airport, time to worry about parking costs later! The plane was on its final boarding call, honestly didn't expect to be allowed on at that point and had no idea what to do - I'm usually so organised at things like this so missing a flight isn't on my radar!
I'm guessing the fact we were travelling with a wheelchair swung it - they checked us in with a warning that it was the pilots decision and an assistant raced us through boarding.
The pilot obviously ok'd it and we were allowed to board, phew! Collapsed into our seats and spent an hour recovering and in a state of shock lol.
We were met by our transfer at the other end and arrived at disney with no more scares. Checked in very quickly as the desk was empty, and was given our paperwork with a letter addressed to Matthew (my son) attached to it.
The two youngest kids were still in pjs at this point as we hadnt had time to dress them, so did that in the toilets at the hotel, then went to leave our baggage and get into the park! All this must have only taken 10 minutes or so, but suddenly the queues to check in were unbelievable! Sooo pleased I'd arrived when I did!
Went to the park, went to city hall to collect Matthews easy access pass with no problems, then went for a walk down Main Street and through the pink castle, my 7 year old skipping all the way!
The first thing we saw was Captain Hook and Mr Smee! My boy is pirate mad, it was like fate! They were at the bottom of the ramp which we had to go down and as soon as the CM saw us, she signelled to us to wait, then bought them over to us, girls barely had time to grab their autograph books! (poundland ones they decorated themselves with disney stickers!
)
We did a few rides this afternoon including the spinning teacups, the Buzz lightyear ride that we've never done before (wow! just wow!) and the princess pavillion where we were lucky enough to meet Snow White, my youngest daughters favourite princess. She was so thrilled she could barely speak!
By parade time it was raining quite heavily, and due to our hectic morning I'd decided 'dreams' wasn't a possibility today but I was determined to see the parade!
That done, we headed to mcdonalds for a quick bite to eat and then back to hotel to see our room and relax for the next day!
We were very impressed with the cars theming, especially my boy! In the childrens room we found water and chocolates which were very welcomed! I had been too shy to ask for pixie dust myself but my lovely friend had emailed them
at this point, I remembered the letter with Matthews name on it. I had assumed it was info about accessing the disability pass, but on opening it, I found a letter inviting him and family to a special event at studio services the next day!
Day 2:
I made everyone get up early for breakfast as I had been prewarned by the reception staff on how busy it got, and also wanted to do a bit of EMH before we had to head to the studios for Matthews surprise!
We got there about 8, and found no queue although it was packed and we struggled to find a seat, at this point I found myself fondly thinking of Sequoia Lodge and how you were shown to a table!
We had literally sat down and then caught sight of the queue which had suddenly appeared, once again we missed a scrum by minutes, how lucky!
Breakfast took a while and we didn't get to the park till 9.30 which meant queues were already building up. Youngest daughter begged for dumbo, which is a ride my son can't go on (he gets sick on roundabout type rides) so hubby took him for a walk whilst I queued with my daughters.
After that, we headed to the studios where hubby spotted the tower of terror. He's not been on it before and noticed the queue was only about 10 minutes so he went on that whilst we waited to see if we could hear him scream
We then headed for studio services to find out what the surprise was. A lovely lady (called Stephanie I believe) knew all the kids names and told us we were going into a different room to meet some special guests. After a few minutes she came in with Mickey, Minnie and Donald! They spent about 10 - 15 minutes playing with the kids and the toys in the room, and posing for photos! My daughter had a great time with Mickey, using the Mr Potato head pieces (they made Donald, who wasn't impressed that whilst there were pieces for his beak and hat, there were no duck feet!) and Matthew had a good flirt with Minnie!
Soooo amazing and made our day, if not our trip!
We spent the rest of the day doing everything I love about the studios, including the shows and watching the stars and cars parade.
After a bite to eat, we headed to the disney park to watch 'dreams'. It was packed but a CM directed us to the wheelchair area. Initially they said only one could go in, but then changed their minds and sent both of us in with the kids. We found a bench and got comfy. All I will say is an absolute wow! I nearly cried, it was so awesome, Matthew never moved (that NEVER happens, he's always fidgeting) and my husband was even speechless (that happens even less! )
Day 3:
For our last full day we decided (ok, I did!) to make the most of EMH and spend the full day in the disney park. We got on the Peter Pan ride and carousel before they got stupidly busy, then went round each area in turn, doing the rides we wanted to do, and meeting a few characters, my favourite of which was the Mad Hatter, he is fantastic and even had my usually moody 13 year old in stitches! We also went back to the princess pavillion and met cinderella this time, who got a kiss off my boy
We watched the parade again, and then the kids begged to go shopping, so we went down Main Street, where we ended up becoming the proud owners of a Jessie Doll, a baby Stitch and a Tick Tock Croc! Although the kids had enjoyed 'dreams' the previous night, they were flagging and I knew I wanted to pack so we called it a day.
Day 4:
Our last day
we wanted to spend today back in the studios so foregoed EMH for a lazy breakfast (had to queue this time but not for long, think we missed the worst of it!) then cleared the room, left the bags and went to the studios. We saw the Stitch show for the first time ever (loved it!) and character spotted before the parade, we met Cruella De Ville, the Evil Queen, Lilo and Stitch Gaston, Mulan and a few others. Hubby told the queen that eldest daughter had booed her in the parade a couple of days before. Daughter was rewarded with an icy glare that left her quaking in her boots!
We watched the stars and cars parade again, then left for lunch and back to the hotel for our pickup. Whilst on the shuttle bus, hubby received a call to say driver was waiting (half an hour early!) I'd promised the kids something from the hotel shop so whilst hubby collected the bags, I hurried the kids inside and did the quickest shop ever
Highs:
The weather - it was raining when we arrived, which I was gutted about, but then picked up the rest of the time and was beautiful. We only had one other lot of rain in the morning but it stopped by about 10. On the last day kids refused to wear their ski trousers and even their coats, it was so warm!
Our luck - we seemed to miss all the huge queues by minutes at best, at mealtimes, at check in time, etc etc! No idea how we managed to time things so well! And obviously managing to catch the plane in the first place!
Disney magic - the chocolates and water were lovely but meeting the characters in our own private room? Unbelievable! I have no idea what my friend said but it was an amazing experience!
Dreams - no other words needed!
Getting on rides we missed last time - the studio tours was closed when we last went, and we never managed Buzz or Stitch, so pleased we made it this time round.
Lows:
Obviously the mad rush for the plane at the beginning, talk about stressful!
Transfers - we were collected fine, but I realised I wasn't sure of collection time as it was one of the emails that got deleted. Using very limited internet (phone didn't like Santa Fe wifi!) I emailed them, only to get one back saying they had no booking from me for a return trip? Hubby eventually rang them and got a collection time but it was very worrying and confusing!)
CDG airport - well, not all of them, but we checked in and were sent on our way. Eventually found our way to the boarding area, only to find we'd only been given 4 boarding passes. I had to go to a different area on my own to sort it out, nerve wracking stuff!
:
It took forever to go through the scanner as we had to stand to one side and wait, not sure why, something to do with the wheelchair. When it came to actually boarding the plane, again we were taken to one side and made to wait, then a member of staff told me sternly that if we'd had assistance they could have sorted out getting the wheelchair to the holding area and had the aisle chair but it was too late for the aisle chair now. Had to inform them we hadn't been offered assistance - then her demeanor changed and she was all apologetic, apparently we should have had it from checking in. Would have certainly helped with some of the stress!
As we had no aisle chair, hubby had to carry him to our seats, at the back of the plane! Not as easy as it sounds, Matthew is 9 and quite tall, and hubby suffers from arthritis. As we were the last to board, everyone was stood up putting things in the lockers and wouldn't move
We also hit a lot of turbulence which didn't make for an easy flight, hubby isn't a great traveller!
Parking - obviously not finding the APH park in the beginning was stressful, and it also meant I paid £11 for a service I didn't use, and had to pay £52 for onsite parking as I didn't prebook, grr!
Car breakdown - when we got back to the car the battery was completely flat. Luckily we are members of the AA so phoned them and had an hour wait. They came out and started us, but after leaving the car park, we started to get warning lights flashing and it wasn't running right. We pulled up in services about 10 miles down the road, where hubby spotted a couple of AA vans in the back of the car park. He spoke to them, who had a look, then called out a colleague to come and sort it. We were there nearly two hours before it was done, then we had a loooooong drive home, eventually arriving at about 1.30am.
Oh, and the only real low from the disney side of things, and it wasn't really a low, but I kept comparing Santa Fe to our previous trip at Sequoia Lodge. Don't get me wrong, Santa Fe was fine in itself, and I loved the theming, but it just didn't have the same 'wow' factor. I think the most difficult thing was because we knew it was further, we caught the bus, and that was a nightmare. There is obviously only one set of wheelchair accessible doors, but most people simply pushed their way onto that area, regardless of the fact that we couldn't really access the rest of the bus. At Sequoia we gave up after the first trip and just walked it. I couldn't justify the extra cost this time, I think we got a great deal last time but although it was still very very enjoyable, it did feel like a bit of the magic was missing! Was nice being all on one level though!
Day 1:
We were due to fly from Birmingham at 06.25 on Thursday morning, its a couple of hours drive from our home in Sheffield, so the plan was to get everyone to bed early and set off at 2am to give us plenty of time. Didn't quite work to plan - just after tea I put my boots on to nip outside and put my foot straight through them.....disaster! They were my comfiest and warmest footwear, didn't fancy wearing heels and I don't do trainers, so a quick nip to the shop for emergency shoes was called for!
That done, home, and kids in bed, I settled down myself for a few hours only to remember that I hadn't printed off the emails about travel insurance and the transfer information etc. Nipped downstairs to do so, only to remember a few days previously the ipad had failed and needed restoring, yep, deleted emails!
Spent a few hours trying to remember which company I'd used, eventually figured it and jotted down contact numbers, just in time for the alarm to go off, no sleep for me then!
We put the kids in the car in their pyjamas figuring it was warmer and that they would go back to sleep that way, and that they could dress in the car on arrival. The journey itself was a nightmare - there were so many roadworks and traffic diversions that what was supposed to take 2 hours max actually took us to 5am. We had headed for the APH car park using the sat nav and the directions given on their website, but despite being on the right road there was no sign of it, and the number on the website just gave a message saying office was closed. Grr. Half an hour of that and I said we had to get to the airport NOW....then discovered it was still half an hour away! Noooooo!!!
Raced there, dragged cases out of car, threw kids clothes in and hurried into airport, time to worry about parking costs later! The plane was on its final boarding call, honestly didn't expect to be allowed on at that point and had no idea what to do - I'm usually so organised at things like this so missing a flight isn't on my radar!
I'm guessing the fact we were travelling with a wheelchair swung it - they checked us in with a warning that it was the pilots decision and an assistant raced us through boarding.
The pilot obviously ok'd it and we were allowed to board, phew! Collapsed into our seats and spent an hour recovering and in a state of shock lol.
We were met by our transfer at the other end and arrived at disney with no more scares. Checked in very quickly as the desk was empty, and was given our paperwork with a letter addressed to Matthew (my son) attached to it.
The two youngest kids were still in pjs at this point as we hadnt had time to dress them, so did that in the toilets at the hotel, then went to leave our baggage and get into the park! All this must have only taken 10 minutes or so, but suddenly the queues to check in were unbelievable! Sooo pleased I'd arrived when I did!
Went to the park, went to city hall to collect Matthews easy access pass with no problems, then went for a walk down Main Street and through the pink castle, my 7 year old skipping all the way!
The first thing we saw was Captain Hook and Mr Smee! My boy is pirate mad, it was like fate! They were at the bottom of the ramp which we had to go down and as soon as the CM saw us, she signelled to us to wait, then bought them over to us, girls barely had time to grab their autograph books! (poundland ones they decorated themselves with disney stickers!
)
We did a few rides this afternoon including the spinning teacups, the Buzz lightyear ride that we've never done before (wow! just wow!) and the princess pavillion where we were lucky enough to meet Snow White, my youngest daughters favourite princess. She was so thrilled she could barely speak!
By parade time it was raining quite heavily, and due to our hectic morning I'd decided 'dreams' wasn't a possibility today but I was determined to see the parade!
That done, we headed to mcdonalds for a quick bite to eat and then back to hotel to see our room and relax for the next day!
We were very impressed with the cars theming, especially my boy! In the childrens room we found water and chocolates which were very welcomed! I had been too shy to ask for pixie dust myself but my lovely friend had emailed them
at this point, I remembered the letter with Matthews name on it. I had assumed it was info about accessing the disability pass, but on opening it, I found a letter inviting him and family to a special event at studio services the next day!Day 2:
I made everyone get up early for breakfast as I had been prewarned by the reception staff on how busy it got, and also wanted to do a bit of EMH before we had to head to the studios for Matthews surprise!
We got there about 8, and found no queue although it was packed and we struggled to find a seat, at this point I found myself fondly thinking of Sequoia Lodge and how you were shown to a table!
We had literally sat down and then caught sight of the queue which had suddenly appeared, once again we missed a scrum by minutes, how lucky!
Breakfast took a while and we didn't get to the park till 9.30 which meant queues were already building up. Youngest daughter begged for dumbo, which is a ride my son can't go on (he gets sick on roundabout type rides) so hubby took him for a walk whilst I queued with my daughters.
After that, we headed to the studios where hubby spotted the tower of terror. He's not been on it before and noticed the queue was only about 10 minutes so he went on that whilst we waited to see if we could hear him scream
We then headed for studio services to find out what the surprise was. A lovely lady (called Stephanie I believe) knew all the kids names and told us we were going into a different room to meet some special guests. After a few minutes she came in with Mickey, Minnie and Donald! They spent about 10 - 15 minutes playing with the kids and the toys in the room, and posing for photos! My daughter had a great time with Mickey, using the Mr Potato head pieces (they made Donald, who wasn't impressed that whilst there were pieces for his beak and hat, there were no duck feet!) and Matthew had a good flirt with Minnie!
Soooo amazing and made our day, if not our trip!
We spent the rest of the day doing everything I love about the studios, including the shows and watching the stars and cars parade.
After a bite to eat, we headed to the disney park to watch 'dreams'. It was packed but a CM directed us to the wheelchair area. Initially they said only one could go in, but then changed their minds and sent both of us in with the kids. We found a bench and got comfy. All I will say is an absolute wow! I nearly cried, it was so awesome, Matthew never moved (that NEVER happens, he's always fidgeting) and my husband was even speechless (that happens even less!
)Day 3:
For our last full day we decided (ok, I did!) to make the most of EMH and spend the full day in the disney park. We got on the Peter Pan ride and carousel before they got stupidly busy, then went round each area in turn, doing the rides we wanted to do, and meeting a few characters, my favourite of which was the Mad Hatter, he is fantastic and even had my usually moody 13 year old in stitches! We also went back to the princess pavillion and met cinderella this time, who got a kiss off my boy
We watched the parade again, and then the kids begged to go shopping, so we went down Main Street, where we ended up becoming the proud owners of a Jessie Doll, a baby Stitch and a Tick Tock Croc! Although the kids had enjoyed 'dreams' the previous night, they were flagging and I knew I wanted to pack so we called it a day.
Day 4:
Our last day
we wanted to spend today back in the studios so foregoed EMH for a lazy breakfast (had to queue this time but not for long, think we missed the worst of it!) then cleared the room, left the bags and went to the studios. We saw the Stitch show for the first time ever (loved it!) and character spotted before the parade, we met Cruella De Ville, the Evil Queen, Lilo and Stitch Gaston, Mulan and a few others. Hubby told the queen that eldest daughter had booed her in the parade a couple of days before. Daughter was rewarded with an icy glare that left her quaking in her boots! We watched the stars and cars parade again, then left for lunch and back to the hotel for our pickup. Whilst on the shuttle bus, hubby received a call to say driver was waiting (half an hour early!) I'd promised the kids something from the hotel shop so whilst hubby collected the bags, I hurried the kids inside and did the quickest shop ever
Highs:
The weather - it was raining when we arrived, which I was gutted about, but then picked up the rest of the time and was beautiful. We only had one other lot of rain in the morning but it stopped by about 10. On the last day kids refused to wear their ski trousers and even their coats, it was so warm!
Our luck - we seemed to miss all the huge queues by minutes at best, at mealtimes, at check in time, etc etc! No idea how we managed to time things so well! And obviously managing to catch the plane in the first place!
Disney magic - the chocolates and water were lovely but meeting the characters in our own private room? Unbelievable! I have no idea what my friend said but it was an amazing experience!
Dreams - no other words needed!
Getting on rides we missed last time - the studio tours was closed when we last went, and we never managed Buzz or Stitch, so pleased we made it this time round.
Lows:
Obviously the mad rush for the plane at the beginning, talk about stressful!
Transfers - we were collected fine, but I realised I wasn't sure of collection time as it was one of the emails that got deleted. Using very limited internet (phone didn't like Santa Fe wifi!) I emailed them, only to get one back saying they had no booking from me for a return trip? Hubby eventually rang them and got a collection time but it was very worrying and confusing!)
CDG airport - well, not all of them, but we checked in and were sent on our way. Eventually found our way to the boarding area, only to find we'd only been given 4 boarding passes. I had to go to a different area on my own to sort it out, nerve wracking stuff!
:It took forever to go through the scanner as we had to stand to one side and wait, not sure why, something to do with the wheelchair. When it came to actually boarding the plane, again we were taken to one side and made to wait, then a member of staff told me sternly that if we'd had assistance they could have sorted out getting the wheelchair to the holding area and had the aisle chair but it was too late for the aisle chair now. Had to inform them we hadn't been offered assistance - then her demeanor changed and she was all apologetic, apparently we should have had it from checking in. Would have certainly helped with some of the stress!
As we had no aisle chair, hubby had to carry him to our seats, at the back of the plane! Not as easy as it sounds, Matthew is 9 and quite tall, and hubby suffers from arthritis. As we were the last to board, everyone was stood up putting things in the lockers and wouldn't move
We also hit a lot of turbulence which didn't make for an easy flight, hubby isn't a great traveller!
Parking - obviously not finding the APH park in the beginning was stressful, and it also meant I paid £11 for a service I didn't use, and had to pay £52 for onsite parking as I didn't prebook, grr!
Car breakdown - when we got back to the car the battery was completely flat. Luckily we are members of the AA so phoned them and had an hour wait. They came out and started us, but after leaving the car park, we started to get warning lights flashing and it wasn't running right. We pulled up in services about 10 miles down the road, where hubby spotted a couple of AA vans in the back of the car park. He spoke to them, who had a look, then called out a colleague to come and sort it. We were there nearly two hours before it was done, then we had a loooooong drive home, eventually arriving at about 1.30am.
Oh, and the only real low from the disney side of things, and it wasn't really a low, but I kept comparing Santa Fe to our previous trip at Sequoia Lodge. Don't get me wrong, Santa Fe was fine in itself, and I loved the theming, but it just didn't have the same 'wow' factor. I think the most difficult thing was because we knew it was further, we caught the bus, and that was a nightmare. There is obviously only one set of wheelchair accessible doors, but most people simply pushed their way onto that area, regardless of the fact that we couldn't really access the rest of the bus. At Sequoia we gave up after the first trip and just walked it. I couldn't justify the extra cost this time, I think we got a great deal last time but although it was still very very enjoyable, it did feel like a bit of the magic was missing! Was nice being all on one level though!
even at EMH there were long queues, but as we were a party of 3, we ended up bypassing a lot of it as most people were in bigger groups and needed a car of their own 
I hate being under pressure and going to the airport always makes me tense. It doesnt stop til we get to the gate. I'm always dreading forgetting the passports or getting stuck in the carpark waiting for a shuttle bus. At least you got there safe and sound 
