Karin1984
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2012
- Messages
- 9,412
As an AP holder I don’t do trip reports that often, but this weekend had some firsts for me I’d like to share.
First of all, it was off to a great start as I got caught in the train sabotage around Paris this Friday. It was an easy trip from Amsterdam to Brussels, where we had a usual 20 minutes stop (as they change staff and re-supply the catering). And then we got a message we would stay here a little bit longer as vandals had disrupted the train routes to Paris. In the end we were rerouted, and our final stop became Paris Gare du Nord, and not Marne La Vallee.
Gare du Nord was incredibly crowded as we missed our stop at airport Charles de Gaulle, lots of confused tourists how they were supposed to get to the airport. If whoever was behind this wanted to disrupt and cause chaos, they succeeded.
Luckily me and my Disney buddy travel to DLP more often from Paris, so we know our way around the subway station. There were long lines to get tickets, but it went quicker than expected. Due to the Olympics there was already extra staff available around the machines to help tourists get their tickets. The confusing part of the machine is that it asks you to select which station you are starting from. And only then where you want to go. Most stations in the world I know are already programmed to mainly sell tickets departing from that station. Not France
We had a perfect connection and it took us 45 minutes to get from Gare du Nord to DLP. Total delay about 2 hours and 45 minutes.
I wasn’t that concerned, as I have been to DLP many times, but I did feel bad for the people who were on first trips.
Our first-first of the trip was a stay at the New York – Art of Marvel hotel! I have been very critical of this hotel in the past, as it is incredibly overpriced for a hotel, and you pay a premium for the branding. And I’m not into Marvel.
That said… We did get a great deal and ended up staying here.
When we planned this trip, all the prices for hotels were tripled because DLP expected huge tourist crowds. Which never materialized. The regular tourists are avoiding Paris this Summer. And DLP responded with great discounts for AP holders. We had originally paid 370 euro for 1 night in Santa Fe, which was outrageous, but we didn’t want to bother with park reservations and we do like to walk to the parks.
But when the discounts came out, Santa Fe was at 186 a night, and Marvel 350 a night. This is at least a 50% discount, but probably even more as it was high season. As we had already spent the money, we decided to check out Marvel and see what the fuss is about.
And I must admit, it is a great hotel. I love how wide the lobby is, there is so much space. No lines at check in (although we could have been lucky) and so much staff on hand for the luggage storage. It was 13:30 when we checked in, but no rooms available yet unfortunately.
When we got back later in the day, I was impressed by that luggage services had brought our bags to our room. Which I hadn’t expected at all. I wasn’t aware at all this was something they did. Pleasant surprise. And the room was bigger than expected as well. More space to move around in the room and in the bathroom. Also really liked the art deco aesthetics. It is a really beautiful place.
As the weather was terrible, we decided to spend some time Bleecker Street Lounge. Both are nice, I like Skyline for ambience, Bleecker street for the mocktails. There is not a lot of choice, and no regular virgin mojitos etc on the menu, but they do have some unique ones. As these bars have real bartenders, I am sure they can make a virgin mojito if asked.
Funny thing, they do have a special Dr. Strange cocktail/mocktail at the both Bleecker Street and the Skyline lounge. But it is only available from 15:00 – 17:00 at Bleecker Street and 20:00 – 22:00 at Skyline.
Heroic Star in the Skyline Lounge: Raspberry and cranberry nectars, red berries puree, strawberry syrup and blue whipped cream. There were small ice cubes in it and that was what 'ruined' it for me. I think they should have completely crushed the ice making it a smoothie with the whipcream on top. It was decent, but wouldn't order it again.
From Bleecker Street the Strawberry Sorcery: Strawberry coulis, cloudy apple juice (on the actual menu translated as 'troubled apple juice ;-) ), blue Curaçoa flavour syrup, fresh lemon juice and cotton candy. In the flask is Sprite, which you pour over the cotton candy. Very good.
Bottomline, I do see the appeal of the Marvel hotel, even when you are not into Marvel, it is a great place to stay with great rooms and amenities. However, I am still of the opinion it is not worth 800 euro a night. If I can get a room for 400 euro or lower I will not turn it down. But that is my absolute max.
Other new thing was going to the Royal Banquet in the Disneyland Hotel. Originally the Royal Banquet and Table de Lumière were only available for Disneyland Hotel guests. However, neither restaurant sold out. When you had a look at fan website, you always saw a lot of empty tables in the back of their pictures.
Recently they did allow for non-hotel guests to book for dinner at the Royal Banquet and we were happy to have a look. If we ever get to Table de Lumière as well, we no longer have to stay at the Disneyland Hotel one day
We had a late reservation at 20:30. When we entered, there was no CM at the door to check if we were staying or had a reservation. Probably because the other hotel entertainment was over for the day. This makes me think that it will be easy to go for a drink at the hotel bar later in the day.
We were in luck, there was no line for check in and we could even request a table. I requested one by the window, which was granted. While it was nice to look outside, we had still some daylight, this is not a good place for a character meal. The tables are already close together, but we were in a small corner and it was hard for characters to get to us.
We stepped away from the table to get better pictures and more interaction. We met Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy in their royal regalia. Initially we had a feeling that the meetings were rushed. But in the end, the characters kept coming by, we had several interactions with Donald and Mickey, and Daisy came back and spend at least 5 minutes at our table.
The buffet is a lot smaller than I expected. There are 5 stations, starters, warm main dishes, cold seafood, desserts and a secret cheese station, in an adjoining room. While less on offer than I had expected for 100 euro meal, the food quality itself was great. Really among the best in DLP.
Gazpacho, braesola and other meats, couscous salad, cucumber, sundried tomatoes, asparagus
Steak with peper sauce (really good), meatballs with tomato sauce, pesto ravioli, Mickey potato and a slice of quinoa/carrot/mango/feta cheese
More pesto ravioli, steak and Mickey heads, Plus some mac & cheese, green beens and stew.
Assortment of desserts, the Sword in the Stone was milk chocolate, Tiana was white chocolate, the pumpkin was pumpkin and whipped cream, I believe. And some other things I do not remember exactly.
My friend has to eat gluten free at the moment, and there was plenty she could eat (she loves seafood). When it came to desserts we asked for the allergy folder and looked up what she could safely eat.
We spend about 2 hours at the dinner. Could have been less, but we were having a great time and the weather outside was terrible (We skipped the fireworks as well).
We did get a 15% AP discount, making it 85 euro per person. This seems a fair price. Looking at getting 4 characters, the quality of the food, the look of the restaurant, not that many guests, I feel you can ask 100 euro for this meal. However, I think it’s a psychological barrier many people hit. One soft drink is included, and we felt that was enough for us. We didn't feel the need to order more.
Due to the price, it is not a meal for every visit, but I do recommend it to anyone who has space in their budget and enjoys character meals.
There were a lot more screens up than I had anticipated. Of course the Studios, which I knew, but there were so many screens in the main park. Left of the end of Main Street, where Stitch often meets is full of screens, near the Carrousel, Pays des Contes Fées. It didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the parks, but I can imagine this being your first and maybe your only visit, it might be a turn off.
The parks were very empty, both on Friday and Saturday. Probably partially due to it being opening weekend of the Olympics, so most people went to the city. Second the terrible weather keeping the locals away. And thirdly the issues with the trains. We didn’t do a lot of rides, but we saw on the app so many rides with low wait times. At 17:30 on Friday, Big Thunder Mountain was at a 30 minute wait. We saw similar waits for Peter Pan and Web Slingers. We walked onto Avengers Assemble.
On the return trip, we did leave Paris on time, but they already announced there would be a 1 – 1,5 hour delay. This turned into about 2 hours. We didn’t get re-routed, but we had to stay at Haute Picardie for a long time (think an hour) or ride at a reduced speed.
First of all, it was off to a great start as I got caught in the train sabotage around Paris this Friday. It was an easy trip from Amsterdam to Brussels, where we had a usual 20 minutes stop (as they change staff and re-supply the catering). And then we got a message we would stay here a little bit longer as vandals had disrupted the train routes to Paris. In the end we were rerouted, and our final stop became Paris Gare du Nord, and not Marne La Vallee.
Gare du Nord was incredibly crowded as we missed our stop at airport Charles de Gaulle, lots of confused tourists how they were supposed to get to the airport. If whoever was behind this wanted to disrupt and cause chaos, they succeeded.
Luckily me and my Disney buddy travel to DLP more often from Paris, so we know our way around the subway station. There were long lines to get tickets, but it went quicker than expected. Due to the Olympics there was already extra staff available around the machines to help tourists get their tickets. The confusing part of the machine is that it asks you to select which station you are starting from. And only then where you want to go. Most stations in the world I know are already programmed to mainly sell tickets departing from that station. Not France
We had a perfect connection and it took us 45 minutes to get from Gare du Nord to DLP. Total delay about 2 hours and 45 minutes.
I wasn’t that concerned, as I have been to DLP many times, but I did feel bad for the people who were on first trips.
Our first-first of the trip was a stay at the New York – Art of Marvel hotel! I have been very critical of this hotel in the past, as it is incredibly overpriced for a hotel, and you pay a premium for the branding. And I’m not into Marvel.
That said… We did get a great deal and ended up staying here.
When we planned this trip, all the prices for hotels were tripled because DLP expected huge tourist crowds. Which never materialized. The regular tourists are avoiding Paris this Summer. And DLP responded with great discounts for AP holders. We had originally paid 370 euro for 1 night in Santa Fe, which was outrageous, but we didn’t want to bother with park reservations and we do like to walk to the parks.
But when the discounts came out, Santa Fe was at 186 a night, and Marvel 350 a night. This is at least a 50% discount, but probably even more as it was high season. As we had already spent the money, we decided to check out Marvel and see what the fuss is about.
And I must admit, it is a great hotel. I love how wide the lobby is, there is so much space. No lines at check in (although we could have been lucky) and so much staff on hand for the luggage storage. It was 13:30 when we checked in, but no rooms available yet unfortunately.
When we got back later in the day, I was impressed by that luggage services had brought our bags to our room. Which I hadn’t expected at all. I wasn’t aware at all this was something they did. Pleasant surprise. And the room was bigger than expected as well. More space to move around in the room and in the bathroom. Also really liked the art deco aesthetics. It is a really beautiful place.
As the weather was terrible, we decided to spend some time Bleecker Street Lounge. Both are nice, I like Skyline for ambience, Bleecker street for the mocktails. There is not a lot of choice, and no regular virgin mojitos etc on the menu, but they do have some unique ones. As these bars have real bartenders, I am sure they can make a virgin mojito if asked.
Funny thing, they do have a special Dr. Strange cocktail/mocktail at the both Bleecker Street and the Skyline lounge. But it is only available from 15:00 – 17:00 at Bleecker Street and 20:00 – 22:00 at Skyline.
Heroic Star in the Skyline Lounge: Raspberry and cranberry nectars, red berries puree, strawberry syrup and blue whipped cream. There were small ice cubes in it and that was what 'ruined' it for me. I think they should have completely crushed the ice making it a smoothie with the whipcream on top. It was decent, but wouldn't order it again.
From Bleecker Street the Strawberry Sorcery: Strawberry coulis, cloudy apple juice (on the actual menu translated as 'troubled apple juice ;-) ), blue Curaçoa flavour syrup, fresh lemon juice and cotton candy. In the flask is Sprite, which you pour over the cotton candy. Very good.
Bottomline, I do see the appeal of the Marvel hotel, even when you are not into Marvel, it is a great place to stay with great rooms and amenities. However, I am still of the opinion it is not worth 800 euro a night. If I can get a room for 400 euro or lower I will not turn it down. But that is my absolute max.
Other new thing was going to the Royal Banquet in the Disneyland Hotel. Originally the Royal Banquet and Table de Lumière were only available for Disneyland Hotel guests. However, neither restaurant sold out. When you had a look at fan website, you always saw a lot of empty tables in the back of their pictures.
Recently they did allow for non-hotel guests to book for dinner at the Royal Banquet and we were happy to have a look. If we ever get to Table de Lumière as well, we no longer have to stay at the Disneyland Hotel one day
We had a late reservation at 20:30. When we entered, there was no CM at the door to check if we were staying or had a reservation. Probably because the other hotel entertainment was over for the day. This makes me think that it will be easy to go for a drink at the hotel bar later in the day.
We were in luck, there was no line for check in and we could even request a table. I requested one by the window, which was granted. While it was nice to look outside, we had still some daylight, this is not a good place for a character meal. The tables are already close together, but we were in a small corner and it was hard for characters to get to us.
We stepped away from the table to get better pictures and more interaction. We met Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy in their royal regalia. Initially we had a feeling that the meetings were rushed. But in the end, the characters kept coming by, we had several interactions with Donald and Mickey, and Daisy came back and spend at least 5 minutes at our table.
The buffet is a lot smaller than I expected. There are 5 stations, starters, warm main dishes, cold seafood, desserts and a secret cheese station, in an adjoining room. While less on offer than I had expected for 100 euro meal, the food quality itself was great. Really among the best in DLP.
Gazpacho, braesola and other meats, couscous salad, cucumber, sundried tomatoes, asparagus
Steak with peper sauce (really good), meatballs with tomato sauce, pesto ravioli, Mickey potato and a slice of quinoa/carrot/mango/feta cheese
More pesto ravioli, steak and Mickey heads, Plus some mac & cheese, green beens and stew.
Assortment of desserts, the Sword in the Stone was milk chocolate, Tiana was white chocolate, the pumpkin was pumpkin and whipped cream, I believe. And some other things I do not remember exactly.
My friend has to eat gluten free at the moment, and there was plenty she could eat (she loves seafood). When it came to desserts we asked for the allergy folder and looked up what she could safely eat.
We spend about 2 hours at the dinner. Could have been less, but we were having a great time and the weather outside was terrible (We skipped the fireworks as well).
We did get a 15% AP discount, making it 85 euro per person. This seems a fair price. Looking at getting 4 characters, the quality of the food, the look of the restaurant, not that many guests, I feel you can ask 100 euro for this meal. However, I think it’s a psychological barrier many people hit. One soft drink is included, and we felt that was enough for us. We didn't feel the need to order more.
Due to the price, it is not a meal for every visit, but I do recommend it to anyone who has space in their budget and enjoys character meals.
There were a lot more screens up than I had anticipated. Of course the Studios, which I knew, but there were so many screens in the main park. Left of the end of Main Street, where Stitch often meets is full of screens, near the Carrousel, Pays des Contes Fées. It didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the parks, but I can imagine this being your first and maybe your only visit, it might be a turn off.
The parks were very empty, both on Friday and Saturday. Probably partially due to it being opening weekend of the Olympics, so most people went to the city. Second the terrible weather keeping the locals away. And thirdly the issues with the trains. We didn’t do a lot of rides, but we saw on the app so many rides with low wait times. At 17:30 on Friday, Big Thunder Mountain was at a 30 minute wait. We saw similar waits for Peter Pan and Web Slingers. We walked onto Avengers Assemble.
On the return trip, we did leave Paris on time, but they already announced there would be a 1 – 1,5 hour delay. This turned into about 2 hours. We didn’t get re-routed, but we had to stay at Haute Picardie for a long time (think an hour) or ride at a reduced speed.
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