The secret of christmas - Spending Christmas at DLP with crowds, weather and Walt's

[the_princess]

When: 23rd of Dec to the 27th of Dec 2009

Where: Hotel New York (My favourite DLP hotel)

Who: Me, Stephanie and my mom

The 23rd of Dec

We arrived at CDG airport and decided to try something new this time: taking the train.
I read that it only takes 15 min, so why sit in a bus for an hour when you can get there in 15 min???
Well, because you have to wait in line for 30 min just to get the tickets, then you have to find out where the train departs from, it doesn't say so on the ticket, then you have to wait 35 min for the train. It took us almost 2 hours to get from the airport to DLP, and it cost 24 euroes for an adult (17 on the bus) - Not a good idea!

But we finally got there and had a very quick check in at New York. We had some problems with out room, but the staff was very helpful and we quickly got moved to another room without any problems.
I love this hotel. It's close to the parks and to Village, the staff is friendly, the smell is lovely (Yes, there is a nice smell there) and the christmas deco is beautifull.

Then it was time for lunch at Annette's. We both had The Euro Chick burger(8), I had a lemon coke(7) and my mom had a lemonade(6)

The numbers are a part of our rating system. We have been to DLP so many times so we wanted to do something different this time, so we have rated all our food experiences on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 is best)
As you can see, we really liked the food here. It was delicious, warm and fresh. The service was great as well (9), our waiter was really friendly and we got our food and drink very fast. I can highly recommend this place.

After lunch we went to the main park. The crowds were very low, so we went on POTC (waiting time 10 min) and It's a Small World (waiting time 10 min) IASW had this new christmas theme added to it which made it a lot better then normally. I don't like this ride at all, but the new theme made it really good. Just the fact that you don't hear "It's a small world after all" through the whole ride made it better.

We got "first row seats" for Fantillusion on Town Square like 10 min before the parade started so I can't say that the park was busy.
Here's a few pics from around the park.

Tomorrow I'm going to reveal the big christmas dinner secret.
What is actually going on at the expensive christmas dinner parties? What's on the manu?
Who is going to be there?

 

[Arizona Rita]

Hi Stephanie,
cant wait to read more!

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Really looking forward to more details tomorrow and the walts menu

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Great start - love the photos. Delighted to hear you booked the NYH as we are staying there in just 2 weeks time - cant wait. I love your rating system by the way. cant wait to read some more!

 

[mommy2ash]

great first day i a cant wait for more

 

[the_princess]

Thanks for reading everyone. I'll get started on day 2 in a bit....

Great start - love the photos. Delighted to hear you booked the NYH as we are staying there in just 2 weeks time - cant wait. I love your rating system by the way. cant wait to read some more!

You won't regret staying at Hotel New York, it's wonderful. Thanks for reading.

 

[the_princess]

Now it's time for the big day, the 24th of Dec.
Now the British people are thinking: "Big day??? On the 24th????"
Yes, in Denmark we celebrate christmas on the 24th in the evening. We eat dinner (pork and duck), then we dance around the christmas tree, while we sing (Do you do that in England?) then we open the presents and then it's off to bed, and that's a Danish christmas! Ok, enough of the history lessons, back to DLP.

We had breakfast in the hotel around 9.30. We ate in the restaurant furthest back. It's a beautiful restaurant and the breakfast was delicious. Plenty to choose between. Different bread, hot food, fresh fruit, cereal, you name it... It wasn't busy around this time so we had time to enjoy the breakfast. In this hotel you don't have to choose a breakfast time when you check in, you can have breakfast at any time from 7-11.

We decided to do some christmas shopping, since all the shops are open on the 24th in France. We went out to La Vallée Village, also known as the outlet place... We had never been there before so we didn't know what to expect.
The hotel has got a great shuttle service, which is so easy to use. You ask the concierge to call the shuttle, 10-15 min after they pick you up outside the hotel and 10 min after you are there. It cost 5 euroes for a return trip. When you want to go home, you ask the Welcome center to call the shuttle, they pick you up and take you home.
The first part of the place is the outlet village. They have all the big brands and you can save a lot of money. It is worth going there if you are into this stuff. Next to the outlet place is a mall with normal shops. Some of them you can find all over Europe (H&M, Levi's ect.) but there were also a lot of French shops, which made the place quite interesting.

After a couple of hours of shopping we went back to the hotel to get ready for the big christmas dinner at Walt's. We were really exited about this dinner cause we didn't know anything about it. It is a well kept secret cause no one knows anything about what you get when you pay around 200 euroes for a meal.
We were told to be at Walt's at 6, the dinner started at 6.30. When we went in there a lot of other people were waiting but no CM's were around to guide us. We waited and waited, more people came in and waited. 20 minutes after (10 min before the start) someone finally came down to greet us.

The deco at Walt's

When our name was called we went up stairs and were welcomed by a waiter with a glas of champagne and shown to our table. We sat in a nice and quiet corner with a wiew over main street.

Look how beautiful the table setting was

The menu was in English and French.

We qiuckly got the appetizer (8,5) It just said appetizer in the menu, but the waiter said something about crab. Our waiter was really easy to understand so I spoke French to him most of the time. My French is not that good, but he spoke very clear.

Ohh look who came by to welcome us... Mickey and Minnie all dressed up. This was a big surprice, we didn't expect characters at all.

Then we got the "Holiday starters" - Grilled scallops with Champagne emulsion. Millefeuille of foie gras with spice bread and Morello cherries. Smoked salmon with caviar.(7)

It "only" get 7 because we don't really like foie gras and scallops, but I'm sure it was very well prepared. The Salmon was fantastic and the Champagne emulsion went great with bread.

Then someone else stopped by to say hallo, Father Christmas. A real American Santa Claus.(He was American)

Next up the main course - Poached and roasted farmhouse capon, fresh coriander jus. Mashed potatoes with black truffles. Winter vegetables, cranberry preserve (9)

It was delicious!!!!!! Warm, really well prepared and freshly made.

Just a side note: We didn't have to wait until the other tables were done with their meals, we got our plate quickly after finishing the other one, but not too fast! The waiter wasn't pushy in any way.
Together with the meal was 1/2 bottle of wine per person (we had a nice white wine) and a bottle of water.

Then we had the typical French "Selection of cheeses with walnut bread (7)

We are not big cheese eaters but it was nice. My mom knows a bit about cheese and she said that it was very good.

The last part of the entertainment was a magician who did a few tricks at each table. I'm not into magic at all but this guy was really good and so funny as well. He made one joke after another, it's was so funny. Sorry, but I didn't take any pictures of him.

Then we got to my favourite part - Yule Log (10) (my mom rate it 9)

I have never heard of this before but I loved it. Do you know it? I think it's a commen French christmas dessert " Büche de Noël". Do you have it in England? I have to find out how to make it, cause it was outstading!!!

The last thing on the menu was Coffee and petits fours (10)

The worst thing about this was the fact that we were so full up that we couldn't eat the nice filled chocolate. We had to leave some :-(

At the same time we could see the Fantillusion parade on Main Street.

Then it was time to leave. We left some tip, but most of the tables around us didn't.
The over all rate for this dinner is 9. It was expensive both definitely worth it!

When we came out it was raining and the park was almost empty. We walked around and took some pics and then we went back to the hotel.

Tomorrow: The 25th of dec, how busy is busy????

 

[Arizona Rita]

Hi Stephanie,
I am enjoying your report very much. And the pictures are wonderful!
I would pay that much for that meal. It looks delicious. I wonder, do they have "to go" boxes? I would have taken the chocolates with me and had them for a snack when I got back to the room. But maybe in France they dont offer that.
What a special meal for a special night!

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

The main course at Walts looks delicious, how much did you pay for the meal? If i didn't have DD i would love to eat there Christmas Eve. Did they do a kids menu at all? or was it adults only?

 

[petentaz]

That looked amazing, cant wait for more of your trip report.

 

[the_princess]

Hi Stephanie,
I am enjoying your report very much. And the pictures are wonderful!
I would pay that much for that meal. It looks delicious. I wonder, do they have "to go" boxes? I would have taken the chocolates with me and had them for a snack when I got back to the room. But maybe in France they dont offer that.
What a special meal for a special night!

Hi, thank you for reading
I don't think they use "Doggy bags" in France. The mom at the table next to us took some of their chocolate in her bag and we could probably have done the same, but we were so full up that we didn't think about that!

The main course at Walts looks delicious, how much did you pay for the meal? If i didn't have DD i would love to eat there Christmas Eve. Did they do a kids menu at all? or was it adults only?

Thanks for reading... I can't remember the exact price in euroes cause when I called to book the woman gave me the price in DKR (Danish money ) when I said that I called from Denmark. But it was about 200 euroes for each of us.
They do have a childrens menu. At the table next to us sat an English mom with her son and he got something different, but I don't know what it was. They also had a vegetarian menu.

Thanks for reading everyone... Have a happy new year

 

[Roon]

Oh you are so lucky to have gone for Christmas. The decorations look beautiful. Your meal at Walts, WOW. Can't wait to read Christmas Day. Happy New Year to you.

 

[the_princess]

The 25th of dec...

We decided to go to the main park today. We knew it would be busy (very busy) so we started with a relaxed breakfast. They had moved the breakfast into one of the congress rooms but there wasn't that many people there, so it was still a quiet experience.

After breakfast we went to the park and yes there were a lot of people but nothing like we expected. We had this idea that it would be completely packed but it wasn't that bad at all.

We went on Buzz with fast passes and waited maybe 10-15 min (the normal line had a 30 min wait) and after that we tried the Phantom Maison where we waited for 15 min. I wouldn't call that a long wait.

I think the low crowds had to do with the weather. It was raining a lot the night before so a lot of the locals might have put off thier day trip untill they were sure about the weather.

We had lunch Agrabah Cafe. A place we both liked a lot the last time we went, so we were looking forward to it but were we disappointed?!? Oh yes!!!

First some pics of the nice christmas deco

When we went inside we were met by very confused CM's. First we had to pay but then someone else had to pay first, then they took us to a table and then we had to go out and wait for a new table??!! No one said anything about what was going on... Well ok, that was not going to ruin our nice meal!
We got our table in the "outside" section (it's still inside but it's suppose to look like you are outside) Our waiter didn't say anything about where the buffet was or that she would get our drinks or anything. Those of you who have been here know that it can be a bit confusing to find your way around the place, so it would be nice with a waiter that at least could show you the best way to the buffet. After we were seated we didn't see any waiter in our room at all. (service rate: 3)
Then I went to the buffet (one of us always stays at the table to watch bags ect.) I waited in line at the buffet area for 15 min before I got some food and when I finally got to the buffet it was half empty. No bread, almost no salad a lot of the hot dishes were gone.
When I got back, my mum went in. She also had to wait in line but at least they had some bread now. When she came back, I was done with my plate and went in and that's how it went. Because we had to wait in line for such a long time, we didn't eat together at all. We do this all the time at buffets, going in separately, but we have never had a problem with sitting alone through the whole meal before.
Here are some pics of the food which were very nice. Let me point that out, the food was very nice, warm and delicious!!! (8)

Another really bad thing about this place was the heat or should I say the cold. The place was so cold that everyone had their jackets on while eatting. It wasn't comfortable at all and we ended up finishing our meal very fast because we were so cold that we needed to go somewhere warmer.

One good thing about this place was this

Jasmin and Aladin came by. My mum took this pic cause I was waiting in line at the buffet and missed out on a great opportunity to get my first ever pic taken with a princess.

After lunch we did a bit of shopping and took a few pics around the park

And it was snowing on Main Street (which you can't really see in this pic)

Then we watch the parade. I like Santa's new float a lot more then the old one.

After a long and cold day at the park we got some very nice drinks at the bar in our hotel.

Next up: the 26th of dec - Shopping day and another dinner experience

 

[the_princess]

I made a big mistake in the section about the dinner at Walt's. We didn't pay 200 euroes each but in total... Around 100 euroes each!!!!! Sorry about that!

 

[markpsych]

I made a big mistake in the section about the dinner at Walt's. We didn't pay 200 euroes each but in total... Around 100 euroes each!!!!! Sorry about that!

Thank goodness for that....I didn't like to say anything, but 200

 

[the_princess]

Thank goodness for that....I didn't like to say anything, but 200

Ha ha yeah, my mum read it and went: It did cost a lot of money, but NOT that much

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Another great day shame about missing jasmyn - but the food looked yummy. Your photos are really good. Nearly there for us now!

 

[the_princess]

Hi everyone
Remember me? I started on a TR ages ago...
Ok yeah, I'm back. I had a busy month, but now I'm ready to finish up my report...

Where were we??? Oh yes, the 26th...
This day was another shopping day. (we love shopping!) So we went back to La Vallée Village.
In the evening we had dinner reservation at The Invention at the Disneyland Hotel. We really enjoy the character meals. You get so much time with the characters and you can get some great pics with them. We have done Cafe Mickey so many times but the last couple of times we haven't been satisfied with the food. We have also tried Lucky Nugget Saloon once, but that was simply awfull. But everyone seems to like Inventions and now we know why!
First of all the Disneyland Hotel is sooo beautifull, especially with the christmas deco.

We got the best seat, right at the window with an amazing view. Some of the characters had a hard time getting to our table because it was in the corner, but we can't complain about the numbers of characters we met.
First some pics of the view.

Here's the list of characters we saw (don't worry, I won't post all the pics!)

Chip and Dale
Geppetto
Pluto
Tigger
Eeyore
Mickey
Minnie
Tweedle Dee or Dum

Yeah the character interaction was great and so was the food (8-9) A lot of fish but also plenty of other things to choose from.

The service was great as well (7-8) so overall a very good experience. We'll come back, that's for sure!

Next time: Last day, last park!

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I love Inventions! Me and DD are always sat in the seats opposite where you sat lol.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Great review of Inventions! Loving your report and looking forward to more.