Jules1212
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2012
- Messages
- 242
Well, we got back from our trip late last night, so I thought I would share our highs and lows whilst they are still fresh in my mind.......
Highs
How nice our cabin in Davy Crocket Ranch was! We upgraded to premium and this put us nice and close to the pool and shop and restaurant. We were in Tomahawk Trail and I found it quite 'Center Parcs' in a few ways. Our cabin overlooked trees and teepees. It was very clean and lovely and warm with very comfy beds. Drive to the parcs was only 8 minutes and we welcomed the peace and quiet at night.
The weather: I knew it would be cold, but had allowed for it being freezing. I hate getting cold and had bought us all ski jackets in preparation and had taken lots of gloves, hats and gloves. I can honestly say I never felt uncomfortably cold and it was sunny and dry for the vast majority of the time. We had a short snow flurry one morning and a sleet shower on Thursday afternoon. I think we were very lucky.
We have only been for 2/3 day visits on 2 occasions before and it was very rushed. This time we went for 4 nights/5 days (in reality 4 days for us) and it was lovely to take the time to enjoy the actual parcs, take in shows like the motor stunt show in the Studios as well as Animagique and 'silly' rides like storybook boats and Casey Jr. My kids are 11 and 14 and we wouldn't normally do this.
Meeting characters for the first time. We have seen them from afar before, but we met Mickey, Chip N Dale, Minnie, Eeyore, Duffy, Pluto and Winnie The Pooh this time. Highlight was finding Balloo outside Colonel Hathi's Pizza place with only one other person there and when DH was taking a pic of me and the kids, Balloo broke away and chased DH and grabbed his head in both paws and planted a HUGE kiss on my Hubby's bald head! Brilliant!
Really enjoyed the Studios on this visit: DS made me go on TOT with him after I said never again and I enjoyed it! The CM's are fantastic on this ride. I think they make it.
We went to go on Crush's Coaster one afternoon and it had closed for technical problems so we went into Animagique instead and as we came out, Crush opened and we got a walk on! Yay. I know a lot of people say Tram Tour isn't all that (and I suppose it isn't really) but DH, DS and DD did not know it was anything other than a back lot tour. I loved seeing their faces when the tanker caught fire and all the water came down!!! Single rider queues for RC Racer and Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop were a great idea and I would love to see this implemented in the other parc too.
Pixie Dust!: We got some! On Thursday I told my trio that I was treating them to a lovely breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel as I felt the cost was well worth it. We strolled around the beautiful pink palace and made our way to the restaurant. I told the lady that we were not staying at the hotel but would like to buy our breakfast there. She nodded, ticked us off on a piece of paper and showed us to a table and was chatting and asked were we guests at any Disney Hotel - told her we were at the DCR. When it was time to go, we tried to pay and the staff would not have it! We have NO idea why? We tried three times and the staff all shook their heads and the main lady was saying something in French and ushered us out! Wow! I told family I would treat them on Friday as I still had the money I had budgeted for on Thursday and the brekkies had been so great and the same thing happened all over again!
Buffalo Bills Show: Got the 30 euro tickets and had no great expectation of this. Thought at best we would have a dinner anyway. We had such a great night out. Our server was fabulous and kept fussing DS and DD. He gave my husband the most enormous portions of food I have ever seen (he IS a big chap anyhow!). The atmosphere was brilliant, but our cowboy was pants. LOL. Our server gave my kids so many gold coins at the end that they had to put them in their hats! My DD wore her hat for the whole rest of the holiday. Bargain night out.
Lovely pool and hot tub at DCR - Ooh! Tired feet and body liked this!
Salon Mickey: DD loved using the 'magic knock' each day and the hot chocolate and general feeling special was lovely. One of the best parts of being a shareholder. I also saved a huge amount in shareholders discounts this time. I feel the whole visit has been good value as I booked on the buy 2 nights and get 2 nights free too.
Lows:
The crowds! It was so very busy. We went last June half term and it was nothing like this! We went on all that we wanted to, but used 60 minutes as our cut off point for queueing. If it was 60 mins or more, we moved on. We used the fastpass for BTM. And then the queue jumping! I got into quite a heated 'discussion' with some teens who did this on Indiana Jones and despite others tutting, was left to it. There were no CM's in sight and I then had to put up with some very nasty looks and remarks all the way along the queue to the ride. I told the CM who truly could not have cared less.
Restaurant closures: We wanted to eat in the Plaza Gardens - not a chance! Tried to book and it was completely full for our whole visit. So decided on Agrabah - nope, closed! Third choice then..... Silver Spur, you've guessed it - closed! As were some of the CS eateries too. A source of great frustration which led to us leaving the parc prior to Dreams on Wednesday to go back to DCR for their buffet which was blooming awful to be honest. At least with going back we can use the pool I said. Nope - a child was then sick in the pool which meant it was closed for the night! We were then at a completely loose end and it felt like a total waste of time and we went to bed at 9pm which is unheard of for us!!!!
EMH: Fine if you have under 10's in your party. Next to pointless if not. Even I don't really want to go on Space Mountain at 8am, but that was the only ride other than Dumbo, Peter Pan, Carousel and Tea Cups. Why can they not at least rotate opening the other lands at say 9am each day? Would make it all more worthwhile.
Aerosmith Rocknrollercoaster: Sound was not working for every day that we were there. This is what makes the ride. Completely ruined it for us without the soundtrack going.
Bad manners and ignorance:
So difficult when you have spent all the years teaching your kids to wait their turn, be polite and say please and thank you and then they see how other nationalities behave somewhere like DLP. I have never been so knocked, shoved and pushed as the last few days (and I used to commute in London!). I felt bad telling my kids to stand firm in queues and not let others through or to jostle a bit with others to see the characters out in the parc. But we have definitely sharpened our elbows! LOL
So, as you can see we have a trip with many more highs than lows and have had a really fantastic time. We were also very lucky in that the strike was called off at the ports yesterday too and we got home very smoothly.
Highs
How nice our cabin in Davy Crocket Ranch was! We upgraded to premium and this put us nice and close to the pool and shop and restaurant. We were in Tomahawk Trail and I found it quite 'Center Parcs' in a few ways. Our cabin overlooked trees and teepees. It was very clean and lovely and warm with very comfy beds. Drive to the parcs was only 8 minutes and we welcomed the peace and quiet at night.
The weather: I knew it would be cold, but had allowed for it being freezing. I hate getting cold and had bought us all ski jackets in preparation and had taken lots of gloves, hats and gloves. I can honestly say I never felt uncomfortably cold and it was sunny and dry for the vast majority of the time. We had a short snow flurry one morning and a sleet shower on Thursday afternoon. I think we were very lucky.
We have only been for 2/3 day visits on 2 occasions before and it was very rushed. This time we went for 4 nights/5 days (in reality 4 days for us) and it was lovely to take the time to enjoy the actual parcs, take in shows like the motor stunt show in the Studios as well as Animagique and 'silly' rides like storybook boats and Casey Jr. My kids are 11 and 14 and we wouldn't normally do this.
Meeting characters for the first time. We have seen them from afar before, but we met Mickey, Chip N Dale, Minnie, Eeyore, Duffy, Pluto and Winnie The Pooh this time. Highlight was finding Balloo outside Colonel Hathi's Pizza place with only one other person there and when DH was taking a pic of me and the kids, Balloo broke away and chased DH and grabbed his head in both paws and planted a HUGE kiss on my Hubby's bald head! Brilliant!
Really enjoyed the Studios on this visit: DS made me go on TOT with him after I said never again and I enjoyed it! The CM's are fantastic on this ride. I think they make it.
We went to go on Crush's Coaster one afternoon and it had closed for technical problems so we went into Animagique instead and as we came out, Crush opened and we got a walk on! Yay. I know a lot of people say Tram Tour isn't all that (and I suppose it isn't really) but DH, DS and DD did not know it was anything other than a back lot tour. I loved seeing their faces when the tanker caught fire and all the water came down!!! Single rider queues for RC Racer and Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop were a great idea and I would love to see this implemented in the other parc too.Pixie Dust!: We got some! On Thursday I told my trio that I was treating them to a lovely breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel as I felt the cost was well worth it. We strolled around the beautiful pink palace and made our way to the restaurant. I told the lady that we were not staying at the hotel but would like to buy our breakfast there. She nodded, ticked us off on a piece of paper and showed us to a table and was chatting and asked were we guests at any Disney Hotel - told her we were at the DCR. When it was time to go, we tried to pay and the staff would not have it! We have NO idea why? We tried three times and the staff all shook their heads and the main lady was saying something in French and ushered us out! Wow! I told family I would treat them on Friday as I still had the money I had budgeted for on Thursday and the brekkies had been so great and the same thing happened all over again!
Buffalo Bills Show: Got the 30 euro tickets and had no great expectation of this. Thought at best we would have a dinner anyway. We had such a great night out. Our server was fabulous and kept fussing DS and DD. He gave my husband the most enormous portions of food I have ever seen (he IS a big chap anyhow!). The atmosphere was brilliant, but our cowboy was pants. LOL. Our server gave my kids so many gold coins at the end that they had to put them in their hats! My DD wore her hat for the whole rest of the holiday. Bargain night out.
Lovely pool and hot tub at DCR - Ooh! Tired feet and body liked this!
Salon Mickey: DD loved using the 'magic knock' each day and the hot chocolate and general feeling special was lovely. One of the best parts of being a shareholder. I also saved a huge amount in shareholders discounts this time. I feel the whole visit has been good value as I booked on the buy 2 nights and get 2 nights free too.
Lows:
The crowds! It was so very busy. We went last June half term and it was nothing like this! We went on all that we wanted to, but used 60 minutes as our cut off point for queueing. If it was 60 mins or more, we moved on. We used the fastpass for BTM. And then the queue jumping! I got into quite a heated 'discussion' with some teens who did this on Indiana Jones and despite others tutting, was left to it. There were no CM's in sight and I then had to put up with some very nasty looks and remarks all the way along the queue to the ride. I told the CM who truly could not have cared less.
Restaurant closures: We wanted to eat in the Plaza Gardens - not a chance! Tried to book and it was completely full for our whole visit. So decided on Agrabah - nope, closed! Third choice then..... Silver Spur, you've guessed it - closed! As were some of the CS eateries too. A source of great frustration which led to us leaving the parc prior to Dreams on Wednesday to go back to DCR for their buffet which was blooming awful to be honest. At least with going back we can use the pool I said. Nope - a child was then sick in the pool which meant it was closed for the night! We were then at a completely loose end and it felt like a total waste of time and we went to bed at 9pm which is unheard of for us!!!!
EMH: Fine if you have under 10's in your party. Next to pointless if not. Even I don't really want to go on Space Mountain at 8am, but that was the only ride other than Dumbo, Peter Pan, Carousel and Tea Cups. Why can they not at least rotate opening the other lands at say 9am each day? Would make it all more worthwhile.
Aerosmith Rocknrollercoaster: Sound was not working for every day that we were there. This is what makes the ride. Completely ruined it for us without the soundtrack going.
Bad manners and ignorance:
So difficult when you have spent all the years teaching your kids to wait their turn, be polite and say please and thank you and then they see how other nationalities behave somewhere like DLP. I have never been so knocked, shoved and pushed as the last few days (and I used to commute in London!). I felt bad telling my kids to stand firm in queues and not let others through or to jostle a bit with others to see the characters out in the parc. But we have definitely sharpened our elbows! LOL
So, as you can see we have a trip with many more highs than lows and have had a really fantastic time. We were also very lucky in that the strike was called off at the ports yesterday too and we got home very smoothly.
Also sounds really nice of them at DLH with breakfast!
glad that you had so many highs. I love how you were sprinkled with pixiedust, not just once but twice! It's so nice to read about things like that. 
