The Ferry Crossing with Leger is at 3.15 pm from what I gather from others who've been with Leger it doesn't seem to vary much. The coaches start arriving at the Coach Interchange from about 12.30 onwards, this gives time for all of them to arrive and for the luggage transfer to take place.
The coach that picks you up won't necessarily be the one that takes you to DLRP. You'll be allocated a coach for the trip to the port and another from the port to the resort. On the first coach you are not allocated seats, why I don't know ? and on the 2nd one you are ???
We left Cwmbran in South Wales at 6.30am, with only 2 more pickups after we joined it was a pleasant journey, we had a one hour stop on the way, apparently we were due to have another but a couple on board our coach had some bad news and were heading to Dover as quickly as possible to get a taxi back home, hence we arrived at the Coach Interchange very early. There is a restaurant here and a small shop but very little else, although there was some building work going on, so who knows.
Whilst you're off the coach all the luggage is taken off the first coach and loaded back onto your new coach. Then when all the luggage is boarded you are allowed on your new coach and it joins the queue of traffic waiting to board the ferry. You remain on the coach and are allowed off I assume when boarding has finished completely. The ferry has restaurants, shops etc and the journey lasts approximately 1 and a half hours, so with the hour time difference you arrive at Calais around 5.45pm. Then theoretically it is about a 3 and a half hour journey to DLRP.
At the resort the drop offs are NPB, SL, Cheyenne, Santa Fe, Holiday Inn & Explorers in that order I think, reversed when the coach picks you up again. One of the drivers came into the hotel to check us in, but I said there was no need, because I knew the drill, I assume that's their standard procedure. Leger have an office at Sequoia Lodge and gave us a time when they would be available there if there were any problems. While I think of it they left a message on the telephone to change our departure time, so if you return to your room and there's a light flashing on the phone, best check the message.
Coach facilities: Hot and cold drinks onboard for a very small charge, including 8 packs of bottled water, much cheaper than you will be able to buy in the park, well worth getting a couple of these off the driver.
Toilet: No problems on the way to Dover, but coach 2's loo was out of action from overuse on the first part of it's journey, apparently this doesn't happen often but if you have a lot of children on the coach and too many loo flushes the water runs out. This wasn't a problem for us, a) my kids were 8 and 12 b) the driver made plenty of toilet stops on the way down through France, I suspect though that this added to our journey time and along with an RTA around CDG airport which also slowed us down, we didn't actually arrive at our hotel until 11.00 and we were first off. What surprised me more though was that the loo was still out of action on the way back home, obviously they don't have the facilities to empty and refill the tanks at the resort.
Entertaining the kidsThere were quite lot of young children on the coaches and they all seemed to cope really well with the journey. There was a movie shown which broke up the journey from Calais down, although there are only a couple of screens on the coach and no headphone facilities, so in all honesty you couldn't hear it anyway.
I took travel board games which they didn't use, comics, books and of course the good old Nintendo DS's. You are allowed one piece of hand luggage
each on the coach, I took my DLRP holdall, so that I could fit everything in one bag thinking it would be easier, however it was too big to go onto the coach and I ended up leaving some stuff in my dad's car, packing the food and drinks I'd taken for the journey into the luggage hold and using carrier bags the driver found for me to put our bits in, so my advice would be let everyone take their own backpack onto the coach.
Luggage This is the best bit of the coach holiday, at your departure point the drivers, there are 2, will load your luggage into the coach, you don't have to touch it again until you arrive at the hotel, my advice get the suitcases with wheels they're so much easier than trying to carry cases, when you have children and the 13 and 12 year olds will be able to help out with them.
Passport Control/Customs We had a PC officer get onto the coach at Calais and it was a case of hold your passport by your face, she was literally minutes going around the coach and that was it.
BuggiesIf you are thinking of hiring one and the buggy board on the back is perfect for a 6 year old, my DS used it last year when we hired one for my niece who was 3 then, bare in mind that you can't take them out of the parks. If it's the evening you're worried about then I would say you will be better off with your own buggy for the 2 year old and is there any chance you could beg or borrow a buggy board for it ? Or even have a 2nd buggy back at the hotel that someone could go and get just for the evening ? The shuttle buses to and from the hotel are very frequent and I think it's a 10/15minutes journey.
FoodOf course you can take your own food, I always take Cereal bars, Mars Bars, Croissants and Brioches, (yes my husband did mention something about "taking sand to the Arabs"), Crisps/snacks, my own kettle, Coffee and Teabags, although I think you have these anyway at the Explorers and Sugar free Squash, if you're kids drink it, you won't find it over there. There is a very large choice of restaurants at the resort, both counter and table service and lots of snack outlets, selling hot drinks, snacks, popcorn, foot long hot dogs etc. There is even a website which tells you about every restaurant and it's menu and prices. I don't drink the water anymore, we did 1st and
2nd time but then last year we all had a tummy upset, since then I've stuck to bottled.
Overall it's a long journey, the excitement though keeps you going on the way there and on the way back it didn't seem too bad but I think that was because we were all completely shattered and slept most of way.
I know how you feel re: leaving your husband at home , when we went it was the first time I'd taken the kids on holiday on my own let alone out of the country, but it was a piece of cake, Leger have a really good set up, which is why I decided to do it all over again in November, albeit my sister and 5 year old niece are coming with us too. My suggestion is stop worrying I promise you'll be surprised at how easy everything is. If you have any more questions at all don't be afraid to ask and remember for most of us on here the planning is half of the fun.
