susannah365
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 20, 2009
- Messages
- 204
this is my first trip report - i found these really usefull when planning our trip so thought i would repay the favour! so here goes:
us - me (33) dh (35) princess amy(4.5) and wee man andrew(1)
getting there, friday night - we left at 6pm and drove to folkestone on the friday night (took 2.5hrs ish) and got the eurotunnel across to calais. unfortunately the children woke up as soon as the engine stopped so we didn't get to nap in the train, but it was very well organised and a good way to cross. drove about 1.5hours into france and stayed the night at a formula 1 hotel in assevillers. very basic with a double bed and a single bunk bed over. it does seem to suggest everywhere that the capacity is 3 but we managed to sneak in a travel cot for the wee man to sleep in with no problems. shared toilets and shower facilities which were very clean.
saturday - got up early, straight in the car and ate breakfast on the go (had brought food from home for this). glad we had printed directions off google maps on how to get to park as the directions on the roads were rubbish! we went straight to our hotel santa fe to check in and leave the car. the queue to check in was huge but here the fantastic benefit of staying in a disney hotel came to bear as while DH did the paperwork my princess was able to meet both pluto and donald duck several times. the characters are in the hotel every morning from 7.30 till 11.30. two characters are there, alternating every half an hour, on the hour and half hour, they can tell you at the hotel desk what characters are due on each day in your hotel. The queues were tiny compared with in the park so well worth doing. next time we go we are definitely going to spend a morning doing the rounds of the hotels to see the characters since no-one checked whether you were from that hotel or not. Leaving the car at the hotel we got the shuttle bus to the entrance of the park. We got the next bus and could leave the wee man in his buggy all the time which was good. We headed straight for fantasyland and started doing rides:
its a small world we all loved this one, including the 1 year old, but me most of all!
Dumbo another hit, except with 1 year old who preferred watching it.
Mad hatters tea cups, carousel, alicess labyrinth all hits with the princess. We didnt have to queue for long (maybe 20min max) for any of these probably due to the heavy rain!!
A highlight was watching sleeping beautys story (held where the sword in the stone is, just through the castle) where they tell the story and sleeping beauty and the prince do a dance. You can also meet them afterwards which is nice. We had lunch at the pizza place just outside fantasyland (kids pizza with chocolate chip cake all in mickey shape, adults pizza and adults lasagne, with salad and garlic bread lasagne nicer than pizza which was a bit stodgy for DH but princess ate quite happily, cost about 30Euro I think) it was very busy though and we were lucky to get a seat. After lunch we went over to the studios where we caught Playhouse Disney live. This was a massive hit for everyone, even though the showing was in French! this is one thing to note, the programme gives the show times but not the languages you can only find this information out at the venue, they do it in english, french and spanish. When we came out we found mickey and Minnie in their high school musical outfits. There were a few people around but not the huge scrums of the Disneyland park so we met both of them which was fab. (the queue to see mickey in the main park was at least an hour long!!) we then headed back into the main park to see the parade. It starts down near the castle then makes its way up main street. The Halloween parade was too scary for the kids but the main bit of the parade was popular. We got our places 20 minutes before it was due to start, maybe a bit early but we wanted to make sure the wee man could see in his buggy.
We had dinner at annettes diner. We had a table upstairs so no roller skating waitresses and we were given other people drinks twice before we had even ordered ourselves!! It was 55 euro for a chilli bacon burger and fries, fajitas, two adult sodas, and a kids meal of hot dog and fires, a drink and ice cream. I wouldnt really be recommending it but I guess it was ok for a quick meal and a seat inside. after dinner we went back into the park to see the castle all lit up which was worth doing, very magical.
We got the shuttle back to the hotel no problem, got our key, went to our room and got the kids in bed and asleep by 8pm which was good, we followed an hour later, which was just as well because my son woke at 2am and wouldnt go back to sleep. I ended up taking him for a walk in my pyjamas at 4! the room was clean and had two double beds and a travel cot (with a sheet) provided in the corner. tv had disney channel. note that the bathroom only had three small towels, we managed but would have liked more especially if we were staying more than 1 night)
Sunday up dressed, bags packed and in the car and off to breakfast by 8.15 (much later than planned but understandable after the bad night!) there was almost no queue for breakfast and we got seated fine. Breakfast was toast, croisants, pain au chocolate, cereals, nuttella, fruit salad, cheese and salami, tea/coffee and orange & pineapple juice. It was easy to take extra as snacks for later. By the time we left at 8.45ish there was a huge queue for breakfast so make sure you get there early! After breakfast we went to the meet and greet area at reception and met goofy. With hindsight we should have hung around and seen mickey again who was due in 20minutes but we wanted to get going! We walked in along the walkway as the queue for the shuttle but was huge. It only took 10 minutes for us to get to the start of the Disney village area which was much faster than we expected. You walk past hotel Cheyenne and hotel new york and it is a pedestrian path by the river which was actually a lovely walk. Bear right at the Disneyland hotel to get in with your Disney hotel pass for early magic hours. Again, we went straight to fantasyland intending to do all the rides wed missed on satuday however by the time we got there (9.10) the queue were too long (also the princess said she didnt want to do peter pan becasuse of captain hook or snow white because of the witch!) instead we headed back to main street to watch minnies party train then went to look for the mickey mouse meet and greet we just stood and watched for a while because the queue was too long. We walked through fronierland and adventureland to fantasyland where we rode the carousel again and watched the dumbo ride. It was then 11.30 ish and time to watch the sleeping beauty story again, but we had to leave at 11.50 before it finished as we had reservations to suzy and perlas lunch!
Princess lunch - This was expensive (£41 per adult and £16 for princess, didnt have to pay for 1yr old and were told we could either order extra for him or eat off our plates) but it was worth every single penny!! It is held at auberge de cendrillon restaurant in fantasyland. Our booking was for 12 midday, which was the first time of the day and I would highly recommend getting this one. You queue outside then are taken in to see Cinderella who chats with your little princess for a minute (mainly about dresses!) and gets her photo with her (you can take your own photos) . Then you stand at a desk here they are deciding what table to put you at. We asked for one near the dancing area (which is at the fireplace) as each hour when the princess and prince come out they do a little dance, which was a big hit with our little princess. We were taken to our table with perla holding our princesses hand! Now, beware because service is SLOW!!! Make sure you get everything you are due (we had to ask for wine as the table next to us who arrived 30mins later than us had wine before we did!) however, the food is good and keep remembering you want this to last as long as possible because then you can see the princesses more than once! As far as we could tell suzy and perla come out on the hour. The princesses then come out at quarter past and stay till quarter to. There is then 15minutes with no characters before it all starts again. We had belle and her princess doing the dance each hour and snow white and sleeping beauty also came round. They come to each table and stop and chat, sign anything you want and take as many photos as you want. They were great at chatting to our wee girl and gave her hugs which she loved. the food was good (although not worth the cost of your ticket itself!) You got three small starters on a plate (adults tomato and mozzarella, duck pate, salmon ; children tuna mayo with breadsticks, soup (served in a glass with a straw which confused everyone) and a tomato salad thing) then a choice of main course (we had the lamb which was nice and our daughter had the ground beef which we thought was going to be mince but was actually a hamburger without the bun!) pudding was the highlight with about 5 different pink and chocolate things for the kids (chocolate lolly, white chocolate slipper, pink candy floss, pink milkshake, pink icecream in a cone) and three different ones for the adults (crème brulee, ice cream, raspberry torte) and you got as much water and wine as you wanted, while the kids got one drink (either water, milk or orange we took the milk but she also had some of our water, vittell) we left at 2.30 having had a fantastic time.
After lunch we went back into fantasyland and did the storybook ride and casey jr (only open thurs, fri, sat, sun) which were also very popular (again, didnt take the 1 yr old on casy jr though) and we walked through belles village. We then thought we would head over to the studios and catch a 4pm show to save time and our legs we thought we would take the train back to main street big mistake! The queue was deceptively short, however it is dependant on how many people get off, which is not many! So we were stuck queuing for ages and then took a very unexciting train ride, wont be doing that again. By the time we got to the studios it was almost 4.30 so we had missed the shows. We had a sit down and a drink ( we had brought our own drinks and snacks into the park without any problem there is a bag search at the entrance but they didnt check our bag, I dont even think they saw the one under the buggy with the food in, they did peer into our rucksacks quickly but that was it). And then headed out to the Disney village to get some food (we ate a the sandwich bar chilli nachos for DH which were very good value, and me and the kids shared a panini and chips) bought a present for princess at the shop ( a little Minnie which you can dress up which Ive not seen in Britain) and then walked back to our car at the santa fe. Got the kids changed then into the car by 6pm ready for the long drive home. We got to the eurotunnel early and were the last ones on the train half an hour before the one we were booked on which was good. And we were home at 1am.
Hope you enjoyed my trip report and let me know if youve any questions!
us - me (33) dh (35) princess amy(4.5) and wee man andrew(1)
getting there, friday night - we left at 6pm and drove to folkestone on the friday night (took 2.5hrs ish) and got the eurotunnel across to calais. unfortunately the children woke up as soon as the engine stopped so we didn't get to nap in the train, but it was very well organised and a good way to cross. drove about 1.5hours into france and stayed the night at a formula 1 hotel in assevillers. very basic with a double bed and a single bunk bed over. it does seem to suggest everywhere that the capacity is 3 but we managed to sneak in a travel cot for the wee man to sleep in with no problems. shared toilets and shower facilities which were very clean.
saturday - got up early, straight in the car and ate breakfast on the go (had brought food from home for this). glad we had printed directions off google maps on how to get to park as the directions on the roads were rubbish! we went straight to our hotel santa fe to check in and leave the car. the queue to check in was huge but here the fantastic benefit of staying in a disney hotel came to bear as while DH did the paperwork my princess was able to meet both pluto and donald duck several times. the characters are in the hotel every morning from 7.30 till 11.30. two characters are there, alternating every half an hour, on the hour and half hour, they can tell you at the hotel desk what characters are due on each day in your hotel. The queues were tiny compared with in the park so well worth doing. next time we go we are definitely going to spend a morning doing the rounds of the hotels to see the characters since no-one checked whether you were from that hotel or not. Leaving the car at the hotel we got the shuttle bus to the entrance of the park. We got the next bus and could leave the wee man in his buggy all the time which was good. We headed straight for fantasyland and started doing rides:
its a small world we all loved this one, including the 1 year old, but me most of all!
Dumbo another hit, except with 1 year old who preferred watching it.
Mad hatters tea cups, carousel, alicess labyrinth all hits with the princess. We didnt have to queue for long (maybe 20min max) for any of these probably due to the heavy rain!!
A highlight was watching sleeping beautys story (held where the sword in the stone is, just through the castle) where they tell the story and sleeping beauty and the prince do a dance. You can also meet them afterwards which is nice. We had lunch at the pizza place just outside fantasyland (kids pizza with chocolate chip cake all in mickey shape, adults pizza and adults lasagne, with salad and garlic bread lasagne nicer than pizza which was a bit stodgy for DH but princess ate quite happily, cost about 30Euro I think) it was very busy though and we were lucky to get a seat. After lunch we went over to the studios where we caught Playhouse Disney live. This was a massive hit for everyone, even though the showing was in French! this is one thing to note, the programme gives the show times but not the languages you can only find this information out at the venue, they do it in english, french and spanish. When we came out we found mickey and Minnie in their high school musical outfits. There were a few people around but not the huge scrums of the Disneyland park so we met both of them which was fab. (the queue to see mickey in the main park was at least an hour long!!) we then headed back into the main park to see the parade. It starts down near the castle then makes its way up main street. The Halloween parade was too scary for the kids but the main bit of the parade was popular. We got our places 20 minutes before it was due to start, maybe a bit early but we wanted to make sure the wee man could see in his buggy.
We had dinner at annettes diner. We had a table upstairs so no roller skating waitresses and we were given other people drinks twice before we had even ordered ourselves!! It was 55 euro for a chilli bacon burger and fries, fajitas, two adult sodas, and a kids meal of hot dog and fires, a drink and ice cream. I wouldnt really be recommending it but I guess it was ok for a quick meal and a seat inside. after dinner we went back into the park to see the castle all lit up which was worth doing, very magical.
We got the shuttle back to the hotel no problem, got our key, went to our room and got the kids in bed and asleep by 8pm which was good, we followed an hour later, which was just as well because my son woke at 2am and wouldnt go back to sleep. I ended up taking him for a walk in my pyjamas at 4! the room was clean and had two double beds and a travel cot (with a sheet) provided in the corner. tv had disney channel. note that the bathroom only had three small towels, we managed but would have liked more especially if we were staying more than 1 night)
Sunday up dressed, bags packed and in the car and off to breakfast by 8.15 (much later than planned but understandable after the bad night!) there was almost no queue for breakfast and we got seated fine. Breakfast was toast, croisants, pain au chocolate, cereals, nuttella, fruit salad, cheese and salami, tea/coffee and orange & pineapple juice. It was easy to take extra as snacks for later. By the time we left at 8.45ish there was a huge queue for breakfast so make sure you get there early! After breakfast we went to the meet and greet area at reception and met goofy. With hindsight we should have hung around and seen mickey again who was due in 20minutes but we wanted to get going! We walked in along the walkway as the queue for the shuttle but was huge. It only took 10 minutes for us to get to the start of the Disney village area which was much faster than we expected. You walk past hotel Cheyenne and hotel new york and it is a pedestrian path by the river which was actually a lovely walk. Bear right at the Disneyland hotel to get in with your Disney hotel pass for early magic hours. Again, we went straight to fantasyland intending to do all the rides wed missed on satuday however by the time we got there (9.10) the queue were too long (also the princess said she didnt want to do peter pan becasuse of captain hook or snow white because of the witch!) instead we headed back to main street to watch minnies party train then went to look for the mickey mouse meet and greet we just stood and watched for a while because the queue was too long. We walked through fronierland and adventureland to fantasyland where we rode the carousel again and watched the dumbo ride. It was then 11.30 ish and time to watch the sleeping beauty story again, but we had to leave at 11.50 before it finished as we had reservations to suzy and perlas lunch!
Princess lunch - This was expensive (£41 per adult and £16 for princess, didnt have to pay for 1yr old and were told we could either order extra for him or eat off our plates) but it was worth every single penny!! It is held at auberge de cendrillon restaurant in fantasyland. Our booking was for 12 midday, which was the first time of the day and I would highly recommend getting this one. You queue outside then are taken in to see Cinderella who chats with your little princess for a minute (mainly about dresses!) and gets her photo with her (you can take your own photos) . Then you stand at a desk here they are deciding what table to put you at. We asked for one near the dancing area (which is at the fireplace) as each hour when the princess and prince come out they do a little dance, which was a big hit with our little princess. We were taken to our table with perla holding our princesses hand! Now, beware because service is SLOW!!! Make sure you get everything you are due (we had to ask for wine as the table next to us who arrived 30mins later than us had wine before we did!) however, the food is good and keep remembering you want this to last as long as possible because then you can see the princesses more than once! As far as we could tell suzy and perla come out on the hour. The princesses then come out at quarter past and stay till quarter to. There is then 15minutes with no characters before it all starts again. We had belle and her princess doing the dance each hour and snow white and sleeping beauty also came round. They come to each table and stop and chat, sign anything you want and take as many photos as you want. They were great at chatting to our wee girl and gave her hugs which she loved. the food was good (although not worth the cost of your ticket itself!) You got three small starters on a plate (adults tomato and mozzarella, duck pate, salmon ; children tuna mayo with breadsticks, soup (served in a glass with a straw which confused everyone) and a tomato salad thing) then a choice of main course (we had the lamb which was nice and our daughter had the ground beef which we thought was going to be mince but was actually a hamburger without the bun!) pudding was the highlight with about 5 different pink and chocolate things for the kids (chocolate lolly, white chocolate slipper, pink candy floss, pink milkshake, pink icecream in a cone) and three different ones for the adults (crème brulee, ice cream, raspberry torte) and you got as much water and wine as you wanted, while the kids got one drink (either water, milk or orange we took the milk but she also had some of our water, vittell) we left at 2.30 having had a fantastic time.
After lunch we went back into fantasyland and did the storybook ride and casey jr (only open thurs, fri, sat, sun) which were also very popular (again, didnt take the 1 yr old on casy jr though) and we walked through belles village. We then thought we would head over to the studios and catch a 4pm show to save time and our legs we thought we would take the train back to main street big mistake! The queue was deceptively short, however it is dependant on how many people get off, which is not many! So we were stuck queuing for ages and then took a very unexciting train ride, wont be doing that again. By the time we got to the studios it was almost 4.30 so we had missed the shows. We had a sit down and a drink ( we had brought our own drinks and snacks into the park without any problem there is a bag search at the entrance but they didnt check our bag, I dont even think they saw the one under the buggy with the food in, they did peer into our rucksacks quickly but that was it). And then headed out to the Disney village to get some food (we ate a the sandwich bar chilli nachos for DH which were very good value, and me and the kids shared a panini and chips) bought a present for princess at the shop ( a little Minnie which you can dress up which Ive not seen in Britain) and then walked back to our car at the santa fe. Got the kids changed then into the car by 6pm ready for the long drive home. We got to the eurotunnel early and were the last ones on the train half an hour before the one we were booked on which was good. And we were home at 1am.
Hope you enjoyed my trip report and let me know if youve any questions!
!!!!
