DLP Trip Report – October 2016, Day 2 Fall Dapper Day

We were up bright and early preparing for the day ahead before making our way down to breakfast and meeting some more friends. Scott, Kate and Jessica were joining us for my first Dapper day. Breakfast was filling and enjoyable, just what I needed to start the day. The weather forecast was looking good too, a huge contrast from the day before. I had visions of us looking like drowned rats in our lovely dresses. I was dapper bounding as Minnie Mouse, it was only natural as I was there with the majority of the Disneybound UK admin team who were also Disneybounding on Dapper day.

When all 11 of us arrived at the Park, extra magic hours was almost over but we managed to get a meet in with Goofy and Pluto before then. We hadn’t planned on meeting many characters on Dapper day because we had scheduled meet ups to attend. I didn’t really know what to expect but I decided to just go with the flow. The first meet up that we attended was located in Adventure Isle. Unfortunately it all seemed a little chaotic due to the size of the group and how busy the park was getting, however we had time to admire everyone’s outfits and gather for various sets of photos before swiftly moving off.

Not really knowing what to do to pass the time between the next meet-up, we wandered around and stumbled upon Maleficent, her queue wasn’t too long so we decided to wait. I was in and out of that photo like a flash, I didn’t want to out-stay my welcome in case she put a spell on me. She already looked like she had a mood on and I didn’t want to make it any worse.Also in-between Dapper day meets we watched the Villains show ‘It’s good to be bad’ to try to work out a plan of action to get Jess a photo with Dr. Facilier as she was dapper bounding as him. We managed it on our second attempt and she had such an amazing character interaction with him. Now we had an idea of how best to meet the characters during the show we were going to head there the next day and try and meet more villains. I have never known something so stressful though, it was basically a scrum and you were lucky if the characters picked you.We stopped to refuel on Hakuna Fries for lunch before our joint Disneybound UK and Disneybound France meet that was scheduled to take part at Phantom Manor. Unfortunately we had to scrap that plan when we saw that the queue was backed up right to the gates and the surrounding area was bustling. I don’t think I’d ever seen it like that before. We had to try to make the most of it and just grab a corner where we could take more photos.

Most of the Disneybound UK admin team

By now I was starting to wonder if Dapper day was really worth it. The park was over-crowded and it all seemed a little unorganised despite the release of the meet times prior to the event. There was a lot of standing about waiting for nothing in particular but I loved the fact that we could dress up and go all out for the day. I had always wanted to wear a 50’s style dress and this was the perfect occasion. We all felt fabulous and important as strangers stopped us for photos.

My favourite meet of all was at the carousel in Fantasy Land. There was enough Dapper day attendees to do two rotations. Everyone was very excited and it was more atmospheric. We all gave a big cheer at the end of the ride and then went off to ride the teacups which was a little difficult in such a big puffy dress. The weather had shaped up to be glorious, something I hadn’t expected in the middle of October.Hopefully one day Dapper day in Disneyland Paris will become nearly as big as california and WDW with an Expo or evening meet/party. It seems to be growing all the time so we will see what future years will bring. All in all I had a lovely day and I’m currently looking forward to Spring Dapper Day.

DLP Trip Report – October 2016, Day 1

My friends and I had had this trip booked for months. It was Dapper day weekend so planning had been slightly more intense. On the morning of Friday the 14th of October I made my way to meet Leanne at Ebbsfleet to catch the Eurostar. I normally set off from London St Pancras so I was interested to see what this station was like. Distance was roughly the same and check in was so much more relaxed and not as busy as it normally is at St Pancras. I grabbed a hot chocolate and a cookie once we had reached departures and we just chilled out until our train was called. Thankfully there were no delays and it felt like we reached our destination in no time at all due to our excitement being a distraction.

We arrived at about 3pm and went straight to left luggage to put our bags in and meet Louise who had travelled my mega bus and had already spent a good 8 hours in the park. I hadn’t been to DLP in the Halloween season before but I had experienced it at WDW last year so I was intrigued to see how it differed. I was completely blown away by the decorations and my voice became annoyingly high-pitched and squeaky while I took in the sights for the first time. After I had composed myself we had a wander around until we found our first character meet which was Goofy in his Halloween gear. I love meeting the characters in different outfits and I knew this trip would be full of them. Goofy was a complete gent despite teasing us with sweets.

After travelling, we were quite hungry so we decided to try somewhere that we hadn’t eaten before. I had heard that Au Chalet de la Marionette Restaurant did a nice veggie bagel burger which I’d found out to be true after tasting it. This is a counter service restaurant, reasonably priced and nicely themed (Pinocchio) set in Fantasy Land. It’s one that I would definitely recommend. If you like apple Strudel this is the place to be. After refuelling we were ready to meet Ariel at the Princess Pavillion who remembered us from meeting her twice on our last trip in our disneybound outfits. She was totally adorable.On our list of must see characters was Jack Skellington so we headed of to his designated spot near Phantom Manor. It was my first encounter with him and I found him to be a real charmer. As we were in the area it would be rude not to ride Phantom Manor which was rapidly becoming one of my favourite attractions at DLP.

Time was getting on and we had met up with Rachelle and Stephanie who were joining us for the weekend. There was a big group of us this time. The weather had been turning really miserable so we decided to hit the shops in Main Street to escape it and meet Sarah-Louise. I’d made a mental note of all things that I wanted to buy before leaving on Monday just to make sure I’d have enough money for the rest of the weekend.Despite the weather, we managed to stick around for Dreams before collecting our suitcases and making the conveniently short bus journey to the Kyriad hotel. Another first for me as I hadn’t stayed at this hotel before. I had only heard good things from my friends who had stayed there several times before which suited their budget trips perfectly.

Check-in was painless considering that Jess who had originally booked it hadn’t arrived yet (we had two rooms between us). It had been amusingly decorated to fit in with Disney’s Halloween season. It was nice to see that they had gone to some effort even if it did look like they had raided a pound shop. The room was clean but very basic and the bed (the most important feature in my opinion) was very comfortable.

When Jess and Amy had eventually arrived it was time for me to crash (the next day was going to be busy so I needed all the sleep I could get) but some of the girls hadn’t eaten so the Kyriad staff gave them a number to order pizza which they found very helpful as they didn’t fancy anything from the vending machine. Everyone went to sleep happy.
 

Disney London Meet Up, September 2016

After completely failing to blog about the last London meet up (which I really enjoyed being my first one) I was all the more determined to this time. So here it goes.

Saturday September 17th 2016

I woke up to discover that the weather wasn’t quite what I was expecting, it was overcast and cold (finally Autumn was arriving) but that helped me to decide what I was going to wear. Getting my legs out today was not an option so I went for my Cheshire Cat print dress, leggings, boots, cardigan and Jacket. I had been dying to find an excuse to wear that dress for ages and that was the perfect opportunity. Once I was ready I was on my way checking up on everyone’s updates on the twitter group chat as I went. The location of the meet up is handy for me as it only takes me half an hour to get into central London from my local train station.

When I arrived at the Disney Store in Oxford street there was already a small group gathered outside. I didn’t have time to be nervous and to be honest I was more excited than anything else. It was lovely to see Lizi (one of the organisers) and a few familiar faces. We just talked until more people arrived, and boy did more people arrive (there was roughly about 37 of us altogether). Compared to the last meet up the number of people attending had doubled which made talking to everyone a little difficult but I was glad word had spread and this was now becoming a bigger event. It was good to finally meet Eleanor (co organiser) who was unable to make the last meet up.

Once we were sure that the majority of people had turned up we descended on the Disney Store. They had no idea what was about to hit them. There was so many things I could have bought but I resisted buying more than I had originally planned. I picked up a Boo Animators Collection doll which I’d had my eye on for a couple of weeks and a Mickey Mouse handbag which had been reduced. I’m sure shop sales went up that day as many of us purchased some bits.

Next stop was Hyde Park for our picnic. We chose our spot then went off to buy our food. A few of us went to Pret which was located across from Hyde Park so we didn’t have to walk very far. Once we were settled back at the park we mingled a little more and took photos. Everyone was so nice, I just wished I had been able to talk to everyone. However I’m just so glad to be a part of the twitter Disney community and have the opportunity to meet people face to face who I normally interact with online.

After the picnic, we went back to Oxford Street where we browsed Primark and finished up where we started in the Disney Store. I said my goodbyes and headed home with a smile on my face. I was rather disappointed that I didn’t get around to visiting Cinnabon (but Hazel’s homemade cookies made up for this) which everyone had previously made a big fuss about in the group chat but I’ve made it my future goal.

A big thank you goes out to Lizi Howard and Eleanor Hawthorne for organising the meet up and bringing Disney fans together.

DLP Trip Report – August 2016, Day 2

Our alarm went off bright and early and although there was some reluctance getting up we were all very excited about the day ahead. We got ready and went down for breakfast which consisted of continental and hot breakfast. However I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t make myself some toast to go with my scrambled egg so I had a croissant with it instead (weird combination I know) and washed it down with a tropical juice. When we were satisfied that we had eaten enough, we went back upstairs to collect our suitcases (we were only staying one night this time) and made our way to the parks in our Disneybound attire to meet Jess who was joining us for the day.

As we were going to be attending the Wonderland Brunch at Inventions we were dressed appropriately with Leanne as the Mad Hatter, Jess as Alice, Louise as the Queen of Hearts and myself as a Tweedle. To pass some time before the the brunch we went looking for some characters to meet. We started off with rope drop at Frontier land to meet Tiana and Naveen then went on Phantom Manor. We ended up finding Jafar and Genie then discovered Aladdin near by.

Our slot at Inventions was booked for 1:15pm and we got there within plenty of time to meet up with Jess’s friend Jasmine to make it a party of 5. Once we were seated and ordered our beverages we went to get our food, a hot and cold buffet with a mixture of meat and vegetarian dishes. We grabbed our Mickey Mouse shaped plates like the big kids that we are and eyed up the deserts before loading up with savouries.

It wasn’t long after we started eating when the first characters came over to our table. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare posed for as many photos as we could get before moving on. One by one the other characters followed suit including Minnie and Mickey in their gorgeous glitzy outfits. All these meets were pleasant but all hell broke loose when Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum spotted my Disneybound. I had both of them fight over me. I was squashed between them when they hugged me and nearly fell over when they got a bit too excited. One of them dragged me off to a side cupboard while the other one cried. It was complete chaos at our table with the Cheshire Cat coming back to join in the mischief. I think it’s safe to say that it was the best character interaction that I have had so far and it will take a lot to top it. The service was great and the character attendants were lovely and chatty towards us.

We left inventions with smiles on our faces and ready to carry on our adventure. For comfort I decided to change back out of my Disneybound outfit, normally I would stay in it for the whole day but it was getting hotter so cooler clothes were needed. We found Jessie before saying good-bye to Jess, catching the parade from a distance and treating ourselves to ice cream at Gibson Girl. Before leaving the park to go home a spot of shopping was in order and I had already my eye on a couple of things. I bought a Cogsworth and Lumiere which I had wanted for ages but were always sold out at DLP. Well they must have stocked up finally because I had seen them in a few different shops.

It was then time to face the long journey home but ten times happier than when we first arrived. All in all it was a fun and successful trip and I can’t wait for the next one.

DLP Trip Report – August 2016, Day 1

After a hideously long journey by Megabus and the Paris metro we finally arrived at our happy place. It was my first time travelling by Megabus and I was initially dreading it, mainly because we were travelling over night and I knew I was an incredibly light sleeper. We boarded our bus at Victoria coach station after a slight delay on their part due to a previously late coach which meant we were late getting to Dover. We missed the Ferry that we were originally supposed to catch so annoyingly had to wait for the 1am Ferry. Already tired and grumpy and already angry about a drunk passenger who decided to sit next to us on the bus and continuously ask myself and my friends personal questions, I wasn’t in a great mood to be waiting around. Luckily we were able to get off the bus for a break and I perked up once I purchased a hot chocolate.

The Ferry crossing was smooth and the time passed quickly. When we got back on the bus, we were able to move seats and we had no more problems. I continued to drift in and out of sleep until we arrived at Bercy in Paris. Still tired and feeling a bit zombie like, we headed for the metro which Louise had bought tickets for in advance. She had used these modes of transport many times before so she was happy for me to leave the booking down to her which I really appreciated. We only had one change on the metro, a straight-forward (40-50 minute) journey if you know what you are doing. Myself and Leanne just followed Louise though.

The fun started as soon as we reached Disneyland and handed our things over to left luggage before entering the gates (funnily enough I felt wide awake despite the lack of sleep). We started off by doing some rides and hunting down a few characters. We kept it very relaxed, there was no rushing from one place to the next which was lovely.

At lunch time we went to Hakuna Matata where I tried the Hakuna fries for the first time. They tasted like southern fried curly fries which I’ve always been a fan of so the Hakuna fries definitely got my vote. Afterwards we did some more wandering then headed over to the studio park where Leanne and I rode on Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster for the first time since it had been worked on and being my favourite ride I was very excited. Unfortunately I came off feeling quite disappointed. It rattled my head around so much that I felt sick. I didn’t know if it was because I was already starting to get a headache and it made me more sensitive but Leanne didn’t have a pleasant experience either. Also, I may have just imagined it but the music didn’t seem to be playing as clearly as it used to. I will have to go back on it when I return just to see if the ride (or myself) was having a bad day.

By this time the heat was becoming unbearable and still felt quite queasy so we decided to grab a cold drink and sit in the queue for Mickey and the Magician. This was another first for me so I was really looking forward to it. We managed to get central seats and had a great view. I don’t want to give too much away if you haven’t seen it but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to see it again when I feel more awake.

We got dinner at Cafe Hyperion in the evening because I love their veggie burger so much. We managed to stay in the park quite late much to my surprise but once we reached the hotel we were ready to flop. We were staying off site at the B&B hotel (easily accessible with the 54 shuttle bus). Facilities were basic with a comfortable bed with what appeared to be a memory foam mattress. Everything was clean and the shower was good although quite low (something for tall people to be aware of). I must have been so exhausted as it normally takes me a while to get to sleep but I was out like a light.

 

Disneybound UK Picnic

A few months ago I joined Disneybound UK as a member of their admin team which was put together by my friend Jess when she felt that the UK needed their own community for Disneybound fans. She was heavily inspired by the Canada based queen of Disneybound herself, Leslie Kay. Leslie originally invented Disneybounding a couple of years ago when she started to create outfits based on her favourite Disney characters, that’s when her blog DisneyBound was born and it wasn’t long before word spread.

On Sunday the 14th of August we held our first Disneybound UK event in the form of a picnic in Hyde Park. It was a hot, sunny day and we didn’t know what to expect when we went to meet people at Marble Arch tube station (we had visions of people turning up in full costume). We were relieved when a lovely bunch of Disneybounders turned up. Once we had made ourselves comfortable and started eating, Leslie and her crew turned up. She had kindly incorporated our picnic into her European trip and had arrived in London the day before for a spot of sight seeing and shopping. She proved to be a big hit at the picnic with everyone getting the chance to talk to her.

Everyone’s bounds were put together really well which made choosing the best 3 quite difficult but we did it and Leslie agreed to help give out the prizes. All in all the picnic was a huge success with over 25 people in attendance (not including admin). Some even registered there interest in future events which we are already planning. We would like to thank everyone who came and made it what it was.

The admin team above following a Disney’s leading men theme and a group photo of all the attendees

Leslie and her John Darling bound

Our prize winners Moana, Hercules and Bing Bong

The rest of our Disneybounders and individual admin photos

DLP Trip Report, June 2016 Day 4

I don’t think I have ever ached so much in my life. The last few days had certainly taken its toll on my body. As I hobbled around the bed I knew I had to make the most of our final day in the parks. My Disneybound of the day was Pocahontas, this was one I had discovered accidentally a few weeks previous when I had originally bought the outfit for a family meal. All I had to do is find a suitable necklace.

This time Leanne was the Queen of Hearts, Jess was Princess Tiana and Louise had decided that she was going to take a break from bounding and concentrate on some photography. Our first meet of the day was Chip and Dale who were very cheeky and kept stealing Jess’s frog Naveen. She was rather pleased that their attention had been diverted away from the ears that she was wearing.

Afterwards we were waiting for rope drop outside Frontierland in preparation for the Tiana and Naveen meet for Jess. There were only a few people there when we arrived so we waited at the front of the rope at one end. A family that were there before us obviously thought they had competition when they clocked Jess’s Disneybound and got all possessive about their positioning. The mother sent her daughters to stand near us at the rope while she remained in the same spot. We didn’t care about being at the front of the queue as long as we were reasonably near the front and not waiting forever.

When the rope dropped you could see that they were desperate to run but the cast members wouldn’t let them. We all eventually made it to where Tiana and Naveen were meeting and they got to the front of the queue smirking as they walked past us. Of course I just turned to Jess and laughed as I couldn’t quite believe how pathetic a grown woman with two kids could be. Unfortunately this kind of rudeness occurs regularly at Disneyland Paris but you just have to accept it as part and parcel. Jess received some lovely interactions with Tiana and Naveen because of her wonderful Disneybound which made it all worth it. Other meets that we managed to squeeze in was the White Rabbit, Smee and Wendy, Geppetto and Pinocchio and Winnie the Pooh.

Before we all had to head off to get our transport home we went to Earl of Sandwich for our last meal together. I wanted their four cheese pizza but apparently you can only order it after 6pm. I personally think they should bring this forward. I’ll certainly be having this on our next trip anyway.

I got to the station to discover that my train had been delayed by 40 minutes which caused me to have a slight panic attack when I realised that it would cause me to miss my connecting train at Lille. When I enquired with the Eurostar staff they told me that when I got to Lille, Eurostar would put me up in a hotel for the night but despite my protests this is the only thing they could do for me which really wasn’t good enough. Eventually I got on a train to Lille and found out that my connecting train to London had been running late too.

Panic over. I was an hour late home but I was glad I didn’t have to stop in Lille overnight on my own. Eurostar definitely need to sort out their issues as I’d been hearing of more delays since. In future I think I’ll be booking direct trains so I don’t have the worry of missing any. Although there were a couple of problems, I still had an amazing trip with my first Disneybounding experience being fantastic. I think everyone should give it a try at some point.

 

DLP Trip Report, June 2016 Day 3

I could tell that the exhaustion was starting to kick in after dragging myself out of bed. We were a little later to breakfast but we weren’t too bothered by this. My Disneybound for the day was Jafar. I had to at least bound one villain on this trip, and one that I knew I could hopefully meet too. Jess decided to bound as the Queen of Hearts with some awesome custom-made ears. Leanne was Donald duck and Louise was Wall-E. Our first meet during extra magic hours was good old Donald, one for Leanne. I have a special place in my heart for all the classic original characters. Disneyland wouldn’t be Disneyland without them.

It was turning out to be a really hot day so I was grateful I’d dropped off a bag full of essentials at left luggage just before entering the park. Luckily I was prepared for a bit of sun despite initially thinking that the whole trip would be a complete washout with Paris experiencing floods previously. Once I had everything I needed we headed over to Fantasy Land and met the White Rabbit, Queen of Hearts and Alice specifically for Jess and her bound. We then queued for Jafar who was a true gentleman and gave me a kiss on the hand.

We went for a quick pit stop at Cafe de la Brousse to sample the new addition to their menu. The falafel sandwich is proving very popular and sells out quite quickly. It wasn’t too bad, very different to the falafel I normally have but I thought it could have done with a little more dressing to prevent it from being so dry.

The Frozen sing-along was next on our agenda, something that we had been looking forward to. Unfortunately we were near the back of the queue so failed to secure a central seat inside which was bad news for myself not knowing all the words to the songs as the English lyrics appeared on the middle screen and was obscured by a big post. Afterwards, Jess and I went to see if the pineapple whip stall was open in Frontierland just beside the Aladdin meets; and much to our excitement it was. We had kept missing it because the opening and closing times hadn’t been consistent. After having a Dole Whip in WDW Florida last year I was able to compare the two. The ice-cream is definitely not as nice as the dairy-free Dole ice-cream and from what I could make out, the pineapple juice wasn’t as sweet (but that could have just been my taste buds). Overall it was nice but I don’t think I would go out of my way to buy one in the future.

After going on a few rides we decided to escape the heat in Cafe Fantasia at the Disneyland hotel. The girls had some alcoholic beverages but being a non drinker I chose a mocktail from the children’s drinks menu. We all got a light up Tinkerbell for our glasses because they looked so pretty.

We then caught the parade and went on some more rides. The days trip would not have been complete without visiting Discoveryland for Louise’s Disneybound photo with Wall-E and Eve. While we were in the area we stopped for dinner at Cafe Hyperion where they do a good veggie burger. I will definitely be returning here on future trips. Again, we headed back to the Princess Pavillion before it closed and this time we met the lovely Snow White.

A fabulous day was topped off with a spot of shopping and watching Dreams which always manages to make me a little emotional and gives me goosebumps, especially the tangled scene with ‘I see the Light’ playing.

 

 

 

DLP Trip Report, June 2016 Day 2

A comfortable nights sleep was had by all so no complaints about the beds. We were all up by 6am getting our Disneybounds ready. It was my first time Disneybounding so I was excited for the day ahead. My chosen bound for the day was Mary Poppins and with Jess being Bert, it was the perfect collaboration. Louise chose to be Anna and Leanne was Ariel.

During our continental breakfast we discussed our plans for extra magic hours. It’s always good to have a game plan. While going through security we were stopped by one of the guards who voiced his concerns about our outfits. He was worried that we would be mistaken for the real Burt and Mary to which Jess replied ‘do you think I look like a man?’ but he just ignored her comment. He then went on to say that he will let us through but we will only be turned away at the parks.

We had nothing to worry about because they gladly let us in through the main entrance without any questions and we received so many lovely compliments from cast members and the public alike. It became a real conversation starter and we made so many people smile.

We sneaked in a few character meets to start with including Goofy and Pluto who insisted I dance with them and Mickey and Minnie who were just adorable. We then hopped on one of the vehicles that takes you along Main Street USA and up to the castle which I hadn’t done before. Next on our agenda was the Wonderland characters. We met the Queen of Hearts who was extremely bossy but she didn’t fail to make me laugh.

By this time we had hoped that Burt and Mary may have appeared so we went to find out. They were nowhere to be seen so we waited on one of the benches near the band stand to rest our legs. We had clocked up a fair few miles in the last couple of days and was starting to feel it.

Eventually Mary emerged without Burt. We got our photos but asked the character attendant if Burt would be out at all but he told us that he wouldn’t be. It was just our luck as we had been monitoring their meets online and discovered that most days they were out together, occasionally with the penguins which would have made an amazing photo. But we weren’t going to let it get to us, it just meant that we had to get Burt’s attention during the parade.

Before heading over to the studio park to see who was out we stopped for ice cream at Gibson Girl. We found Aladdin and Jasmine walking around. It was lucky we caught them as they were walking so fast. Woody was over in Toon Town so we couldn’t pass up a photo with him, plus he gives good hugs.

After not having much luck with characters in the studio park we went back to the Disneyland park for a late lunch in Belle Notte. We chose the Mickey pizza from the children’s menu because it had to be done. With that I got a small bag of cherry tomatoes and a small pot of ice cream (choice of ice cream or yoghurt).

We secured a spot on the parade route about 45 minutes before it started. We like to get there early so we’ve got the best view for photos. When the parade started we received some great interactions from the characters with us being in our Disneybound outfits. They were all very impressed with us, especially Burt who we managed to catch the attention of. He made a right fuss of us calling us beautiful before posing for a selfie with Jess. I got a high five from Tigger and Anna gestured to Louise that she join her on the float. It was all very funny and we loved it.

After the parade we went for something sweet at the Boardwalk Candy Palace where I purchased a chocolate Mickey meringue which I highly recommend. We went on some rides to pass the time (including our daily dose of Phantom Manor and Pirates of the Caribbean) before attempting the Princess Pavillion queue. It was a 60 minute wait which was doable. We found that the later you leave it, the shorter the wait. We got in half an hour before it closed and met Merida. She loved our outfits and got us to do a pose that reflected the characters that we were bounding as. We finished the evening off with Dinner at Earl of sandwich again and reminisced about how great the day was.