newbie in need of guidance!!

[mum2joeandava]

Hi all

I am visiting dlp for the first time next week and am getting really nervous that im totally underprepared- especially after reading all the info here!!!(altohugh i cant tell you just how excited i am too!!!)

I wonder if you could help me with a couple of things?

Im travelling with my hubby and 2yr old and 18month old along with another family of 2 parents and 3 kids (9 in total)

Im going to book standard vouchers for food and was wondering if i need to book meals before travelling or not?

The children are in love with mickey, minnie, pluto and the gang and i am desperate to ensure that they get some interaction with them- can you help me with the best way to achieve this please?

Also i have been looking into booking transfer from cdg to dlp and am struggling to find a service for 9 people- has anyone any experience with this?

I have sorted costumes out for my children and was wondering do many adults dress up in dlp?

Im sure theres loads more questions i'll want to ask but cant even think straight at the moment im sooo excited!!!

[manxtatt2]

regarding your transfer have a look at rs tranpsort

http://www.rstransports.com

[sweetiepie71]

The best way we've found for children to get character interaction is to book character meals, either the character breakfast or dinners. We've only been to Cafe Mickey but there was lots of interaction with the characters, and you don't get the scrum you seem to in the park -the first year we went a bunch of women actually physically pushed my then two year old son to the floor in their rush to get to one of the characters before him -disgusting behaviour. :mad:

I can't say I've ever seen adults in fancy dress, however we go in Winter so its hats, scarves and gloves all round. There are lots of adults in character jumpers/teeshirts and the like though. Even if I went in summer, I wouldn't dress up.....but whatever floats your boat! ;)

If you know where you want to eat it might well be worth booking as with these free dining offers the restaurants are likely to be much more busy.

Have a great trip!

[britchic4]

I believe adults aren't allowed to dress up except for the Halloween parties.

[sweetiepie71]

I believe adults aren't allowed to dress up except for the Halloween parties.

Actually, that would make sense. Otherwise they might get confused with the real characters, and it brings all sort of child protection issues into play too.

[phgannon]

I agree that the best Character Interactions are at meal times and another great place at DLP for Character Dining is supper the Inventions Buffet restaurant in the Disneyland Hotel. It is a little on the expensive side but the character interactions are second to none.

Have a look here for pics and you'll see what I mean. Scroll down to the "Character Dining in Inventions" section.

http://www.haighgannon.com/disney_info/dlh_restaurants.html

Yes you can make meal reservations before you go by calling 0033 1 60 30 40 50 - the number is here http://visit.disneylandparis.co.uk/restaurants-and-bars/index.xhtml

I hope this helps but do let me know if you want to know more.

Patrick

[mum2joeandava]

Thanks so much for all your help, some great advice there and it makes me feel a little more in control!!

Regarding the adult costumes, i hadnt even considered that it would be not allowed, to be honest as ive never been before i just imagined that tons of people would dress in fancy dress disney style! Im quite suprised though that it is against the rules as im sure our kids would think it really funny to see mummy and daddy in disney outfits!! Glad ive foundout now though. obviously!!!

Can anyone help me out regarding parades etc, as in how do i find out what parades are on (we are there wed to sat) and where to see them?

Thanks again

[DLPdaft]

Hi mum2joeandava,
Elaine, Jackie, Elaine and Reid welcome you to the DLP DIS board :flower3:

We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, DLP posting rules are here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1477038,
DIS posting guidelines can be found here
http://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

You can get programmes and schedules on both the official Disney site, or DLRP Magic. If they are not yet published for the dates you are going, just keep checking, as they are updated regularly :).

If you have young children, I honestly don't think you can beat Cafe Mickey for meeting the classic characters (Mickey, Pluto, Goofy etc). It doesn't have to be mega-expensive either - last time we went DD and I shared one pizza and garlic bread (which were huge and we didn't manage to finish either of them), and bought drinks. The character interaction is exactly the same for every table there, regardless of how much you pay for your meal :thumbsup2.

[tinksprinkles]

here you can find out all the parade times
http://www.dlrpmagic.com/calendar/