1st time to Euro Disney

[ChilliSteve]

Hi all,

Although i'm getting excited, i'm also feel'in a little nervous.

We will be crossing from Dover and i have never driven on the other side of the road (i'm sure it will be ok ).
One of my children is a Coeliac and so finding food for him could prove a challenge
Has anyone got any tips when we are in the park to save time during the day as i'm sure dealing with my kids will cause me to pull what little hair i have out
I'm sure as i read more thraeds i will end up with more questions, that i had not thought of

Cheers

Steve

 

[cap'njack.]

Welcome to the DIS Steve.

Can I just ask when you are going, what ages your children are and also what Hotel you are staying at in Disneyland Paris? That would help us all with some tips for you

A few general tips though:

* Make sure you gain the maximum out of the Extra Magic Hours on the mornings that they are availiable for, during EMH most of the rides in Fantasyland and Discoveryland are open and you'll generally find that you will get more rides done in these two hours than the rest of the days. (only availiable if staying on-site or with dream annual pass)

* Book the earliest breakfast than you can possibly get to avoid a mass scrum at breakfast (if staying onsite) The closer to 7am the better as breakfast seems to get really busy between 7:45 and 8:30am.

* There is a Garage next to the Santa Fe Hotel and a shop next to the Train Station right next to the Dinseyland Park. Stock up on drinks from here (or a local supermarket, or even bring them from home) and this will save you a small fortune. They also sell items that you may have forgotten.

 

[angel_nix]

Hello!

We drove for the first time to DLRP in December and despite my worry, it was fine and we found the roads a lot quieter than in the UK, especially the motorways.

Few things that we found useful -

* Have some Euros ready for the tolls (think it was E19.60) and either develop very long arms or have someone sat in the passenger seat to pay them.

* Don't stop in the rest points along the motorway after dark. We had a French Policeman advise us to move on quickly because there had been problems with foreigners being targetted for crime. The services were fine, so we stopped there!

* Be prepared to take it slow for a bit if you need to, we found that we were overtaken where necessary and as confidence in driving grew, so did the speed lol!

* Useful to keep back windows clear and have someone sat in the front passenger seat to keep an eye out, especially joining down slip roads as visibility not always fantastic!

* Don't assume that you will always join from the right, we had a few slip roads where we joined from the left just to confuse us!

* Put GB badge, headlight deflectors on before boarding the train/ferry as it makes it easier at the other end to just drive off! Make sure you have all the things now required for driving in france - hi vis jackets/tabards for each passenger kept in the car, fire extinguisher and first aid kit!

Hope that helps!

 

[cap'njack.]

^ Far more helpfull than when my best mate asked me how to drive in France and I said "Close your eyes, put your foot down and hope for the best"

 

[angel_nix]

^ Far more helpfull than when my best mate asked me how to drive in France and I said "Close your eyes, put your foot down and hope for the best"

The develop very long arms was from a friend whos other half was sat in the back with the baby and he realised he couldn't reach!

 

[DLPdaft]

Hi ChilliSteve,

Elaine, Jackie, Elaine and Reid welcome you to DLP DIS board

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 .

 

[Fiona35]

Hi Steve

Can't help with the drive to Disney but I am a coeliac so understand the food dilema!!

If you are staying onsite at Disney they will for breakfast provide you with valpiform bread, crispbreads, asstd cakes individually wrapped and packets of biscuits, you just need to mention to the server that shows you to your table that you are Gluten Free or if you have a french translation wave that under their nose and they will bring you a seperate plate out! I avoid the cereals and stick to the plain yogurt, cheese and ham and fruit.

Have found the Dream Castle will provide Valpform bread but the Holiday Inn requires you to bring your own!

Lunch is normally fries I'm afraid or you could try what I did last time and I made up a sandwich using the bread from b'fast! Shh don't tell anyone!
I wouldn't waste my money on the Natuma pureed meals which Disney supply at all locations for allery guests, they are horrible and I am certain no child would eat them!! Adults certainly wouldn't!!

Cafe Mickey supplies a GF Childs meals, cod with vegetables which as an adult you can aslo ask for and it is clearly marked on the menu as gluten free, the fries in Annettes are GF as are the burgers so I request my burger without the bun and they are fine with that. Otherwise I eat at buffets and check with the chef using my translation. And of course I pack lots of snacks and take these into the park and no one has questioned me yet, I always prepared to wave my translation under their noses but they don't want it!

Have a great time.

 

[cap'njack.]

The develop very long arms was from a friend whos other half was sat in the back with the baby and he realised he couldn't reach!

LOL! I had to keep waking Ellie up!

They have one English/British one but its generally closed other than during the summer peak!

 

[ChilliSteve]

Hi all,

I'm Steve 39 and my wife (Hayley) is 38. We have 3 kids twins that will be 11 by the time of our holiday in March (Sean & Daniel) and little Aaron who is 2 and a bit.

I only found the forum yesterday, so will now be glued to it till the 6th March (my holiday ). We will be staying in the Sequoia Lodge.

Thanks for the advice on the Tolls hadn't thought of that part of the holiday (1 more thing to add to my list)

On the Coelic issue he has a wheat intolernce but with most places it is easier to say Coelic

Thanks for the help so far

Cheers

Steve

 

[manxtatt2]

hi steve

welcome

you'll have fun here and of course dlrp

we went last year for the 1st time last year , and have booked to go back again

 

[ChilliSteve]

Thanks for your replies.

I've read a lot about Hb and Hb+ vouchers. Are they really worth buying as i can be a little tight with my money (just ask the kids)

From reading other Topics i've decided we will take advantage of the EMH. But can we change parks for the 2nd part of the day. As i want to visit the studios, but i understand they don't use the EMH period.

Can anyone help

 

[DLPdaft]

Steve if you have park hopper tickets you can go between the 2 parks as often as you like in the day. So you can start in the main park for EMH, then head for the Studios (the rides in the Studios don't open until 10am) and then head back and forth between both parks as often as you like .

The parks are only 5 minutes walk away from each other, gate to gate.

If you have booked a hotel/tickets package with Disney or your travel agent, the park tickets you will have are park hopper tickets.

 

[FiFi Rose]

Hi and welcome

We have always found the AA routefinders very accurate. I always print out 1 for each journey there and back and put them in seperate poly pockets with my other travel documents.

Remember to inform your insurance company of your trip and organise break down assisstance. Tip - if you do have car trouble try and get off the toll roads because if you break down there they charge you recovery to tow you off the toll road and then greenflag etc only come out once off the motorway.

Have fun I'm sure it will be your first trip of many

 

[Cyrano]

Hi Steve
You have been given lots of great advice. Any questions feel free to ask away

In the Very Useful Information sticky there is a link to guidance on special dietry needs.
All table service restaurants are very good at meeting guests needs

 

[ChilliSteve]

Thanks for all the great advice.

My list of TO DO's is growing by the day

Steve

 

[jillrobinson]

Nothing to add to above, don't drive and can't help on the allergy thing either sorry. Just wanted to welcome a fellow Welshie to DIS.

 

[ChilliSteve]

The holiday was booked to coincide with the St Davids day parade on the Friday

I'm English but i've lived here so long i might as well be Welsh . The Kids and Wife are Welshies.

 

[jillrobinson]

It'll be an extra special trip then and you'll get to see fireworks on Saturday