From York to New York...

[mamaboogie]

So -after a lovely night's sleep in a very comfy bed we went down to breakfast in the Hotel New York's convention centre:



We were very impressed with our breakfast experiences here. It never seemed crowded or over busy. The food selection was excellent too - cold meats and cheese, cereals, pastries, fruit, yoghurts and hot food. This was my plate on this morning:



Very good indeed! We had an early breakfast this morning, but other mornings we had a later slot. We never had a less than brilliant experience though.

And then we went skippity hop into Disneyland Parc for EMH. It was so quiet!:





We had been worried about coming to DLP in the summer holidays in case it was crazy busy - but it wasn't the case at all. We very rarely had trouble getting on to anything.

We went over to Discoveryland first and walked onto the astro-orbiters - not my favourite ride but it was great to get the chance to get on it. We also had a go on Buzz:



Si popped onto Space Mountain - during our whole stay there, SM was always just a 5 minute wait!

Then we wandered over to fantasyland for a go on the flying elephant!:





We hot footed it over to BTMRR as soon as it opened - love this ride so much!

Simon went to have a go on this ride next:



I had a sit down and a nice magnum ice cream

We went over to Star Tours - it was funny after riding the new version in WDW to go back to the original - but I do love it!



Then we went to see this show:



So cheesy - but I think it's such fun!

After some shopping we decided to try somewhere a bit different for lunch - Fuente del Oro!

I had chicken fajitas:



And Simon had chilli and nachos:



We were very impressed with this place. The food was very tasty and fresh and it was nice to have something a bit different in terms of fast food.

We got some fast passes for Big Thunder and then went back to the Hotel for a rest. It was very hot again and our travelling day was catching up with us. I may have fallen asleep for a while...

Refreshed, we went back into the park. We couldn't use our fastpasses as BTMRR wasn't working.

We went for dinner at Blue Lagoon restaurant. (after a go on Pirates so we could check the restaurant out from the boat!) We do love eating here.

Hamming it up on pirates:



I had a pina colada which was smoking!



I had a crab terrine starter:



Simon had coconut shrimp:



For my main course I had pork:



Simon had the pork tenderloin. All the food was very tasty indeed.

After the meal, we were still allowed to use our Big Thunder fast passes. We also had a trip to Phantom Manor.

On the way back to the Hotel we stopped off to check out World of Disney. The design of this shop was amazing but we were slightly disappointed by the range of goods in there.

On the way back through Disney Village we stopped off at the New York Sandwich shop for a coffee and a crepe. We do like this place. It's always a nice place to chill and relax.

Exhausted, we went back to the Hotel to have a rest - ready for the next day!

 

[kizzabel]

Oooh another fab day Shari. Love your POTC pic! And your meal at Blue Lagoon looks fab - is that like a pretzel on the side of your main?

 

[Ms Poppins]

Papaboogie here (the handsome one in the photos) to fill in any gaps left by Mamaboogie and to add the odd thing here or there to her exemplary trip reports!
As Mamaboogie mentioned the first big change was getting transport from the airport. This service was fab - and I know I've seen people asking about transfers on forums, so if it's of interest we travelled with Prestige Transfer prestige-transfer.com and they were fab. Certainly if you have a family visiting, it'd be no more expensive than the coach and far more pleasant.
Also have to say the service full-stop (from hotel to parks) was excellent this year. The hotel reception and concierge staff couldn't have been better. I'd re-book Hotel New York in a flash.
Disney Village though - tres disappointing - due to the shop being knocked through. As my shareholder newsletter came two days after we arrived back noting that Europe's largest Lego shop was due to imminently open there. That is very inconsiderate of Disney Village / Lego. If they'd have opened just slightly earlier, I would have boosted their profits massively. Still reason to go back, I suppose...
The weekdays (Wed - Fri) were comparatively quiet in the parks - which was unexpected and the least busy I've ever known DLP. Given it's the summer holidays, any theories as to why it was so quiet - and could this be a new best time to go for those of us confined to school holidays?
Totally agree with Mamaboogie about the Earl Of Sandwich (although at £20 for two sandwiches, two cokes and two bags of crisp, they should have been glorious!).
I'd also highly recommend the 20th anniversary Merlot for the wine-tasters amongst you. Absolutely lovely, if not as eye-catching as Mamaboogie's cocktails!
Oh, and Disney Dreams. Amazing.

I agree the private transfers are definitely the most relaxing way to get to DLP - we are also HNY lovers and always choose it first

And, I'm actually glad that the Lego store wasn't open! We'd have had to buy another case to go home for my ds Lewis, who is known affectionately as Lego Lewis (it was his birthday yesterday and was all Lone Ranger/Star Wars and Back to the Future Lego...)

Another fab day and lovely update. The wait times looked similar to ours. The only really busy ride when we were there was BTM, all others were very manageable.

Love your pirates photo