*** Our Magical Christmas Trip!! ***UPDATED & FINISHED!!!

[sara969]

Finally getting round to writing my trip report!
We were there for 5 days so i think its going to be a long one!

The family:

Me: Sarah 28yrs old
Hubby: Dean 29 yrs old
Daughter: Hannah (almost 3yrs old at the time, turned 3 on 17th)

Sunday 9th November:

All packed and ready to leave the Lewis's house at 9:30am
Out National Express Coach leaves at Bournemouth Station at 10am

We arrived in London Victoria at 1:15pm and waited for my sister to meet us at the station, she is in Drama School in London, so she knows her way round, so offered to help us with the underground Tube journey, from Victoria - Kings Cross!
Well it was a complete nightmare dragging a large case, bags, pushchair and a almost 3yr old around the underground stations

We had to change tubes too!! AWFUL!
By the time we got to Kings Cross, both me and hubby said, that there is NOWAY we will do this on the way back, we will just pay the extra money for a taxi! Can you tell that we are not from the City

So we found our Travelodge Hotel, it was a 5min walk from the station.
Checked in at 3pm and the room was quite nice for £29 saver room booked online
We had a double bed and Hannah a sofa bed.
We got settled and then hubby went out to get us a Burger King for dinner.
I was soooo excited that i was trying Hannah's Minnie Outfit on her and getting all our things ready for the morning.

After dinner we showered Hannah and got her in her PJ's ready for bed!
BUT!!! NIGHTMARE to get her to sleep! She was far to excited.
All through the night she kept waking and saying ''Is it morning yet mummy''


Our hotel room was nice but was right next to train station, so we could hear trains going past most of the night. But we managed to have a nice sleep.

Monday 10th November:

Got up at 6am and got ready, and Dean had gone to the corner shop to get us some mini cereal boxes and a tiny bottle of milk, so we all ate cereal out of the tea mugs in the hotel room

Left the hotel early around 7am to makesure we had plenty of time, incase we get lost etc..
Took a photo of us beside Kings Cross Station:

We found where we needed to be easily in St Pancras Station and were there early.
We stopped for a Costa Coffee while we waited for gate for Eurostar to open.
Also picked up Hannah's activity pack that Eurostar give to the kids.

(TIP... no one tells u about these, and they are easy to miss.. as its up to u to collect it from the Information Desk.. i didnt know where they were until i asked)

We found our gate number and sat beside it as we knew it would be a mad queue otherwise.
They opened the gate and we found our carriage number and seats.
Bit of a nightmare finding space for luggage, but luckily our carriage was not too busy so it was not too bad, but theres not alot of room for cases.

We settled Hannah with colouring and snacks for the journey.
The journey was sooo quick, before we knew it, we were in France.
Arrived in Marne La Valle on time 12:30

Queues for lifts were a nightmare and i was worried that we would be late for our Cafe Mickey booking at 1:30pm
We handed our luggage to Disney Express Desk and i was in a panic about time so i changed Hannah into her Minnie Dress at the Station
Poor girl, but no time to find a toilet!
I put it over her clothes anyway, so it wasnt to bad

We then decided to speed off quickly to the Disney Village.
I quickly went into the Disney Shop to buy Hannah a Autograph book, pen and a Minnie Balloon (which was huge!)

We made our Cafe Mickey booking on time

We parked up our pushchair and was shown to a table immediately.
We looked at the menu and saw the prices and looked at each other with shock horror
But we were prepared for this meal to be an expensive one so it wasnt too bad.
Cafe Mickey was quite full for lunchtime, was a bit busy, but nothing too bad.

I ordered; Pinocco's Pasta,
Hubby: Lasagne & chips
Hannah; Kids meal, Disney shape pasta & meatballs

Here is Hannah with Mickey:

Hannah saw Prince John, Chip & Dale, Mickey, Pluto, Goofy and Baloo the Bear
Our waitress was nice and friendly and i asked if Mickey can come to our table for Hannah's birthday cake, andshe said that would be no problem and told me to be ready with camera etc at 2pm

We ate our dinner, my pasta was quite nice, hubby was moaning about his lasagne, he said it didnt taste brilliant and it was tiny! More like a ready made meal from ASDA
I was trying to force dinner down Hannah, but she wasnt interested cus she was more interested in characters.

At 2pm they bought the cake to our table...

After cake, characters all made a fuss of Hannah which was nice.

We then got Hannah her dessert from kids menu, me and hubby had a sneaky pick at the kids buffet
Bill came to 88 euro
We asked for birthday cake to be boxed and then rushed off out to park!

But im sure Hannah thought that Cafe Mickey was it, The DisneyLand, little did she know what was coming next

 

[sara969]

To be continued.............

Im having problems with Photobucket, it is not letting me upload more than 1 photo at a time which is a pain!
It being really slow.

And i also need to figure out how i make my photos smaller

Will continue with day 1 soon
Im off to meet up with friends later and taking Hannah to soft play.... its a busy week this week with her birthday and family dinners etc...

 

[cap'njack.]

What a wonderful start to the holiday

 

[*Iloveflorida*]

great trip report so far

 

[scampbunny]

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay thanks for the fab start!!!!
must remember to ask for our cake to be boxed up too - actually - must remember to phone up and book it lol tomorro......
sounds a great start, and cant wait for the rest of it

 

[mommy2ash]

what a great start to your holiday. i would love to do that for my dd's birthday. cant wait to see more. the balloons are HUGE arent they lol

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Lovely report so far Sarah.

Hannah looks so adorable in her Minnie outfit.

 

[sara969]

Thanks everyone

Im having terrible problems with photobucket for some reason it wont let me upload more then one pic and if i add more than one it gets stuck and dosnt move
The fast uploader isnt working either

So might take me longer than i expected to do this trip report

 

[Boo-Boo]

Fab reading so far and lovely pics I hope photobucket sorts itself out I want the next installment! lol

 

[karenmoloney]

Great start to your holiday & lovely photos. Hannah is a gorgeous litle girl. I just love your comment about how she thought that the meal was it, it made me go awww. Looking forward to hearing more.

I am having the same problem with photobucket. I eventually decided to start my trip report & it may take me a while at this rate!

 

[mummyal]

What a great start to your trip Sarah!! Hannah's gorgeous.

 

[gemmybear83]

Awww lovely pics! I think you stayed at the same travelodge I have before - never again! The noise was awful!

 

[Tillybud]

great photos and what a fab start !!! We experienced a similar night in a travel lodge and I don't think I'd want to do it again !

(I had problems with photobucket and opted for the old uploader, it isn't as fast but it worked much better for me. The image size in the old uploader section is just above the upload buttons.)

Can't wait to see and hear some more

 

[Jeccaboos]

Love the pic of her kissing chip / Dale's nose. Really cute.

And isn't Goofy HUGE! He is one big guy

 

[Dianetigger]

Gorgeous pictures, your daughter is so beautiful. Great trip report, can't wait to read/see more.

 

[sara969]

After Hannahs birthday lunch we headed straight to the main park... i was practically running, i was so excited! Hubby was telling me to slow down.
When we saw the DLH, we both said ''WOW'' and we took a photo of it.

The music is lovely when you walk into the park, it felt really Christmassy, also the decorations were stunning.
Christmas trees, lights, snow and other beautiful decorations.
Main St looked absolutely stunning.
We stood near main st and soaked up the atmosphere and the gorgeous xmas decs.

** Xmas Decs

** Xmas Tree near Main St

** Main St

We took a few photos and Hannah was sooooooooo excited when she saw the castle.
She shouted ''Princess Castle''

** The beautiful Castle

We headed straight to Fantasyland and our 1st ride was Peter Pan, we waited in the queue for about 30mins, the park seemed a little busy today, not over crowded but there were queues of around 30-40mins for popular rides.
The Peter Pan ride was Magical, Hannah loved it and even hubby was stunned, When you fly through the stars it is lovely!
Our 2nd ride was Pinochio which was fun and our 3rd was Snow white, which was ok but thought it was a little scary for little ones, Hannah of course wasnt scared as shes not scared of anything, but this poor little girl behind us was crying, i think they focused too much on the witch on this ride.
My favourite ride of the 3 was definately Peter Pan.

We walked around Fantasyland and Hannah wanted to go on Dumbo but the queue was huge so we decided to have a look at the queue for Its A Small World.
There was a queue but we decided to wait as i knew it was a good ride and as there are alot of boats i thought it wouldnt be a huge wait.
We ended up waiting 20mins, which wasnt too bad.
Well the ride was breath taking, Hannah was stunned, she didnt say much she was just looking with a smile.
The song is very catchy too.

After this ride, i was very happy that we had got to the park for 2:45 and had managed to do Peter Pan, Pinochio, Snow white and IASW
It was more than we expected to do.
It was now 4:15 and we decided to go to Main St to find a place ready for the OUAD Parade, as today it was on at 5pm
We found a place and it was a pretty sight, Main St looked so lovely and festive and the xmas songs playing were great.
It also snowed before the parade which was lovely.

The parade started and Hannah was sooo excited.
The song for the parade was brilliant and it all looked soooo amazing, so magical.
Santa at the end was lovely and the Christmas song is really catchy, i love it!
We took lots of film today on the camcorder and recorded all of the parade

After the parade we then went to stand near the area for the candlebration as that started soon.

The Enchanted Candlebration is truly breath taking, very magical we all kept saying ''WOW'' especially when they light the castle up, it is STUNNING!

After we went to look around some shops in the Main St and then found a place to watch the Fantillusion Parade.
By the time the parade started Hannah was asleep and hubby was tierd and he asked to go bk to hotel and watch the parade another day, but i say NO So we left Hannah asleep in the buggy next to us and watched the Parade, it was worth it as it was brilliant, very pretty and magical.

We then headed towards Disney Village and decided to grab a Mc Donalds as we had already had a meal at lunchtime in Cafe Mickey so we wanted to grab a quick snack and head for our hotel.

** Pic of Disney Village in the day time:

When we saw the crowds in the Disney Village and the queues for the resturants, from that moment we decided that we would eat our main meal at lunchtime everyday this week.

We had a quick burger and then walked to our pink shuttle bus, which was already there when we arrived.
Dream Castle Hotel was last stop and when we saw our Hotel we said ''WOW'' again

It looked very posh, especially when we walked into the reception area.
We collected our luggage up from the Disney Express room and went to our room.

** Reception Area:

When we got to our room i was soooooooooo pleased that they had excepted my request for a garden view!

(i had emailed them a week before to ask if it is possible for a family room with a nice view)
** The View from our room in the morning:

The room had a King size bed and bunk beds with a curtain and light next to the bunk.
** King size bed

** Hannah's Bunk bed

It was a big room and had a Safe, wardrobe, plenty of space for clothes.
Coat pegs, kettle with tea & coffee.. Tv, dressing table, 2 chairs and a really nice bathroom

** Bathroom:

I would definately recommend this Hotel and would stay there again!

** Outside the Dream Castle in the morning:

We had a perfect 1st day at DLP

 

[gemmybear83]

The dream castle hotel looks so pretty!

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I agree the Dream Castle looks really pretty!

 

[joolz1910]

Really enjoying your trip report. Hannah looks adorable and your DH is grinning from ear to ear in all the pics. Looks like this could become a regular trip...

 

[sara969]

It was a really nice hotel and i would definately stay there again... it was definately to 4* standards.
My daughter loved the bunk beds and was excited about shutting her curtains and turning her own light on and off
The view from our room was lovely too.
There was a small shop downstaires and a small ball pit and lego table for the kids, with a few rides for the kids.
They also had a internet corner on the 1st floor.
And a entertainment area with pool/ snooker tables and various other games.
The outside had a park for the kids, with a climbing frame and slide.
We didnt get to use the swimming pool and sauna area as it was closed the week we were there, but it looked very nice