DisneyLand Paris Day 2 - Character Breakfast

Day 2 started off with an early alarm call again as we had a character breakfast booked up the the boys in the famous Cafe Mickey. The walk to Disney Village was just beautiful as the sun rose over the lake behind our hotel. Joshua was adamant that it was a sun set and not a sun rise so we had the lecture about the sun rising in the East in the morning and then setting in the West in the evening. I think he understands the difference now.

The stunning sun rise over the Disney Lake.

It is always a gamble with the weather when booking a holiday in mid March. However we were absolutely blessed last week with gorgeous 20+ degree weather and crystal blue skies for the entire duration. We couldn't have asked for better weather - but we could have asked for some shorts and t-shirts (which unfortunately we did not pack!). 

Anyway the character breakfast was so exciting for Joshua and Brandon. They got to meet and greet about half a dozen Disney characters whilst eating their bacon and eggs! We did not go prepared with an autograph book so instead we had a competition to see who could get the most high fives from the characters.

Gepetto was the first to come and see the boys.

Closely followed by a very funny Pluto.

Notice naughty Pluto tickling Joshua under the neck.

Table manners kind of went out of the window for this meal. It was pretty much pandemonium in the Cafe with Disney characters walking around and dozens of excited kids chasing them round for photo's and autographs. All those years of teaching the boys to sit at the table went out of the window. 

As much as Brandon likes his food, even he was distracted by the characters.

Joshua with his morning coffee (hot chocolate really!).

Then came one of the boys favourites - a very funny Goofy.

Goofy giving our breakfast a thumbs up.

The only character that the boys were a bit apprehensive and scared of was Captain Hook. It was a bit of a struggle to get the next photo and a high five with a hook was out of the question. 

Hook or crook.

This was about as close to Hook as Brandon would get and even then he covered his face.

Smee was very approachable and the boys really enjoyed seeing him.

Last, but not least was the main man himself - Mickey Mouse. The Cafe pretty much erupted with cheers when he made his appearance. 

Me, the boys and Mickey Mouse.

More from Day 2 tomorrow which will include the long awaited ride on Autopia and a horse and carriage ride down Main Street.

DisneyLand Paris Day 1

The alarm clock went off at 5am and by 5:15 we were on the road with a fully loaded car and two very excited little boys as we headed off to Disneyland Paris. We was hoping the boys would go back to sleep in the car so that they were not too tired once we arrived in Paris. However they were far too excited to contemplate sleep and were itching to finally see how Daddy was going to drive the Galaxy onto a train. The Eurotunnel proved to be very exciting for the boys, although Brandon was a little scared of some of the noises. 

Brandon trying to lift Joshua up so that he can see out of the Euro tunnel window.

It was a long 6 hour plus journey and the boys were both so well behaved in the car. Obviously we made a few toilet / refreshment stops on route in order to break up the journey. Joshua took "stopping to stretch the legs" by its literal meaning and thought that each break stop was a workout! I think the excitement of Disney started to get to Joshua though and literally under half a mile from our hotel he was sick all over the car and himself (not the best start to our holiday!).

Anyway we finally arrived at the hotel and got Joshua and the car cleaned up. Then we were greeted by this stunning looking hotel - Newport Bay.


The Newport Bay Hotel.

 Inside the hotel everything is decorated in a nautical theme like one big ship.


Eye eye captain. Two sailors ready for their Disney adventure.

Before we could head down to the Disneyland Park we had to get our luggage up to the room and grab a quick bite to eat.

The boys found it more fun to ride the luggage trolley than to use it for our suit cases.

Disneyland was only about a 10 min walk from our hotel and the route was around a stunning lake with a lighthouse and the Disneyland hot air balloon to give an aerial view of the resort.

So we arrived at the Park entrance and still had half a day to make the most of our first day. Let the fun begin.

Here is a lovely picture of the boys standing at the entrance to Disneyland.

In the Main Street there are various modes of transportation to get around the park which include old cars, fire engines, buses, horses and carriages etc.etc. On Day 1 we didn't ride on any of these, but the boys did find plenty of vehicles to play in. 

Brandon taking a shine to an old yellow car.

Both boys playing in an old Coke Cola lorry.

At the end of main street you are greeted with the absolutely stunning Princess Palace. Underneath the Palace the dragon sleeps. Joshua was fairly intrigued by the dragon, but Brandon really didn't like the dinosaur (as he called it) and was a bit shaken up by it.

Forget the Princess, here are my two Princes.

This is the dragon that sleeps underneath the castle, complete with animatronics, smoke, etc.

The two boys using their muscles to try and pull the sword from the stone.

Finally the boys got to start getting on some rides. Generally the waiting times were not too bad, some we were really lucky and got on in about 5 mins. On average I would say we waited about 15-20 mins per ride with the odd one special ride taking maybe 45 mins. The boys were very well behaved and patient in the waiting lines.

Brandon and Mummy riding on the horse carousel.

Then we all went on the flying dumbo ride. Joshua with Mummy......

Brandon riding with me............and of course Brandon had to have a yellow Dumbo!

Next it was the mad hatters tea cups and all four of us piled into one cup. Me and the boys spinning it like crazy - much to Tina's dislike after the long journey.

The landscaping and gardening in Disneyland is second to none with no expense spared. Just check out this feature created in a Alice's Curious Labyrinth. 

We then took a leisurely ride on the "Le Pays des Contes de Fees" boat ride in Fantasy Land. This ride took you on a journey through miniature scenes from various children's novels.



Me and Brandon on our boat.

The boat ride itself is surrounded by the Circus Train which was to become our next ride. Little Brandon loved this train and must have went on this about 4-5 times during our stay.

Casey Jr - Le Petit Train du Cirque.

After having a go on pretty much everything in Fantasy Land we headed over to Discovery Land. Here Joshua and Brandon got to meet one of their hero's - Buzz Lightyear. The Buzz LightYear laser blast ride was by far and away the boys favourite and I think we went on this around 7 time in 4 days. Joshua was a dab hand with the laser gun and scored thousands each time he rode, Brandon preferred to just spin the pod around with the lever and let me do the shooting. Initially Brandon was scared off the bad robots, but we explained they were not real and he was soon OK and wanting to go back on the ride again and again.

Buzz LightYear - Space Ranger.

Joshua attacking one of the alien robots.

The boys even ended up buying a souvenir replica of the laser blast gun shown here. A great idea it seemed, little did I realise that I was going to be blasted with noisy laser guns for a 6 hour journey home!

Sharp shooter Brandon, before he realised he could spin the pod using the red lever on the left.

At 5 o'clock we caught the parade going down main street, however we were a tad late in getting a prime viewing position and the boys needed to sit on our shoulders on order to see the parade. So I only took a few pictures on Day 1 as we got to watch the parade again later in the holiday and were much more prepared and got a prime position for photos and video.


The Toy Story parade float.

 

The Lion King parade float.

Another of Brandon's favourites in Discovery Land was Orbitron. Basically a rocket ship which went up about 30ft high and spun around. Joshua took the front seat to control the lever for our height - which pretty much meant we stayed at the highest the ride would go until it ended.

The three boys about to jet off on a mission to mars.

The boys really wanted to go on Autopia but the waiting time for this was over an hour. We did manage to get on this ride later in the holiday and there is another story to be told with that one and women drivers! For today the boys were stuck with just playing in the display car. 

Riding along in my automobile/

Once the park was closed we had some dinner and headed back to our hotel room. The boys were both dead on their feet as they had been up since 5, been on a 6-7 hour journey and had walked a long way around a theme park all afternoon. Our room had two double beds so that boys both took one bed and we had the other.

Two very sleepy, tired boys at the end of day 1.

For Day 2 the alarm call we set early as we had breakfast booked in Mickey's Cafe with some of the Disney characters. 

Mothers Day 2012

Another Mothers Day passes and the boys have just started to understand that there is a difference between Mothers Day and a Birthday. I think the giving presents thing throws them off a bit and makes them think it is a Birthday. However I did manage to get the boys to sing a nice little Mothers Day song which I then secretly loaded onto Tina's phone as her ring tone for the day.

After the presents it was time for the Mothers Day breakfast and the boys helped me dish up boiled egg on toast with orange juice using the new mothers day breakfast set and drinking glass that they bought their Mum.

The mothers day breakfast service set with a Bas Vegas style bejazzled glass!

Eggs and toast fit for the Queen, I mean Mrs King!

The Mummy in action helping little man with his eggs and kippers.

The happy Mummy with her boys. Now that is what you call a big Mothers Day card. Both Joshua and Brandon wrote their own name in the card.

After the the usual Sunday morning football club, me and the boys took their Mummy out for dinner to Aroma. So all that good work running around playing football was destroyed with two plates of dinner followed by 3 puddings!

The fire breathing Chinese dragon.

1st of 3 pudding, an ice-cream cone. This was followed up with chocolate cake and then peaches!

Cheeky Chappy with his chocolate cone

After our nice lunch we took a drive over to Hainault Park to meet up with some of the family and to burn off some of that lunch. The park has changed substantially since we last went there and they now have two different play areas for the children at either end of a little farm.

The boys doing the assault course trying to negotiate the obstacles without touching the floor.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that they now have some of our favourites at the park -  Meerkats

Brandon was being surprisingly brave and touching some of the animals. Usually he gets a bit scared and will only look on from a distance.

Both boys were having a good chuckle at this large goat which was jumping up at the fence and licking your hand.

Miniature horses - just the right size for the boys.

At the end of a long day we headed home via a minor "emotional" detour to show the boys where their Great Nan Pugh once lived and where their Nanny grew up. Whilst it was nice to go down memory lane it is never easy to answer the subsequent questions from the boys about is your Nanny dead ? and why did she die? etc.etc.

So to conclude Mothers Day for 2012 here is a nice little poem for the boys Mum, my Mum and the boys Grandma;

While we honour all our mothers
with words of love and praise.

While we tell about their goodness

and their kind and loving ways.

We should also think of Grandma,

she's a mother too, you see....

For she mothered my dear mother

as my mother mothers me.

XXX