Back from the Magic

[Welshgal]

Hi all,

We are back from DLP, thought I'd share a few highs and lows with you!

We stayed 1 night at the Kyriad, which was ok. Monday morning we headed to the Disneyland Hotel!! From the moment we stepped out of the taxi WOW!!! We were blown away! We were in room 1208, with a view overlooking the righthand turnstile. Every morning we opened our window and could hear the christmas music.
On our last night we heard 'Dreams' and saw some of the fireworks.

Lows: the queues for the Meet & Greets. The lowest queue we saw for Anna & Elsa was 2 hours. Little'un is only 4 so, we decided not to bother with this. We waited an hour and a half for Repunzel, same for Mickey & Minne and about an hour and fifteen for Merida. Shortest queues were 30 mins for Buzz & Mickey in his studio!
Buzz Laser Blast shut for the second year in a row!
The Parades, they were ok, but definitely lacking characters; there were no Princesses in the main park at all.
Inventions: Really disappointed with this, over priced for the food that was there and the character interaction was very poor.

Highs: Random Meet & Greets: Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine & Aladdin. Bumping in to Anna & Elsa who gave the little'un a little wave
Attractions: Loved Ratatouille! Really enjoyed the ride and we walked on with our hotel fast passes!
BTM was as good as ever and again, used the fast passes to just walk on!
IASW - still love this ride and could just go round and round!
Casey Jnr - Little'un really loved this ride, especially as we got to go at the front!
Dreams - I loved this, however I thought last years was better!
Restaurants:
Rain Forest Cafe: lovely meal
Planet Hollywood: lovely meal

Overall we had a lovely girlie trip, but I certainly noticed the difference from last year. We have decided that we will save up and try America in a few years time - so any tips gratefully received!!

Marie

 

[Isila]

wecome back! I envy about characters you've met. But shame about the queues.
And what's the difference from last year?

 

[tennisfan]

Welcome back

 

[Anemone]

Welcome back. The queues do seem to be the main problem at the minute - lots of people are saying the same.

 

[Welshgal]

wecome back! I envy about characters you've met. But shame about the queues.
And what's the difference from last year?

The biggest difference that I noticed was the parades. Last year in the main park, there were 2 parades; a Christmas Cavalcade and then a main parade with lots of characters / princesses etc. This years there was 1 parade with Mickey, Minnie et al and Buzz and Woody with Santa at the end. That was it.
The parade in the studio was a joke, considering this parade had always been one to get close too (as the numbers of people in there was always lower) we couldn't see a thing as it was concentrated around a small area.

Saying that we were lucky to meet as many Princesses as we did, although the queuing was arduous!

Definitely saving up for America next for a few years time!

 

[Isila]

We've never been on Christmas time and always got one parade, so I guess there's no difference for us. But you're nor the first one saying there's a big difference from previous visit, from last year.

 

[PrincessSparkle]

We just came back from a 4 night stay on Friday and i totally agree with everything you said especially about Inventions, it cost me 320euro for the 5 of us and there was very little choice especially for my 4yr old who ate nothing at all until i had to resort to asking for a plate of chips for him so he ended up with a plate of chips and a cornetto ice-cream for 35euros, and the small handful of characters who were there appeared at our table for a few seconds each then totally vanished i was really disappointed.

And i was really annoyed about Buzz's Lazerblast as i picked dates to go to ensure my son didn't miss out on anything and the closures on the website when i booked were showing Aerosmith Rockin Rollercoaster and the Mad Hatter Tea Cups which i was ok with but then when we get there Buzz's Lazer Blast was closed!! x

 

[Welshgal]

We just came back from a 4 night stay on Friday and i totally agree with everything you said especially about Inventions, it cost me 320euro for the 5 of us and there was very little choice especially for my 4yr old who ate nothing at all until i had to resort to asking for a plate of chips for him so he ended up with a plate of chips and a cornetto ice-cream for 35euros, and the small handful of characters who were there appeared at our table for a few seconds each then totally vanished i was really disappointed.

And i was really annoyed about Buzz's Lazerblast as i picked dates to go to ensure my son didn't miss out on anything and the closures on the website when i booked were showing Aerosmith Rockin Rollercoaster and the Mad Hatter Tea Cups which i was ok with but then when we get there Buzz's Lazer Blast was closed!! x

I was gutted with Inventions, as we decided against Cafe Mickey to do that instead - what a waste! Even with the new menu Cafe Mickey would have been a better option - the character interaction was much better. For me it being a buffet just didn't work, we missed Mickey as we were at the buffet trying to choose something for my daughter who is 4 also and all she had was the mickey potato waffles and a bit of ham! Even for Mum & myself the choice was limited, the beef was inedible and the only thing I enjoyed was the roast ham. Mum said the meatballs & pasta were nice, other than that the desserts were yummy!

We did book Cafe Mickey for lunch on our last day, but cancelled as we stayed in the park and met more characters

Mum was gutted about the Buzz ride (me too) and we had seen the closure list too.

That's it for me and DLP now, going to save our pennies and go to America - which is daunting but I think it will be worth it!

 

[PrincessSparkle]

Snap, we stayed at Sequoia Lodge so walked past Cafe Mickey daily with my son asking to go in but because of cafe mickeys new set menu I thought I was doing the right thing cancelling our booking and just hanging off for Inventions and that was my biggest regret of the whole trip I wish we had just stuck with cafe mickey!!

 

[Isila]

Well, now all you make me confused. Our original plan was Cafe Mickey, but with menu changes I decided against it - not worth the money. We'd done Inventions Sunday brunch twice and food was great, so I thought a dinner in Inventions would be great too.

Now what to do...

 

[Ms Poppins]

Welcome back - sounds like a great trip overall

I have to agree with you about Inventions. You're paying for the beautiful setting but even at that I was a bit miffed about the choice (or lack of) characters.

I hear that the Sunday brunch is much better, usually with a themed character set - so might be worth that.

Glad you had so many highs

 

[PrincessSparkle]

Well, now all you make me confused. Our original plan was Cafe Mickey, but with menu changes I decided against it - not worth the money. We'd done Inventions Sunday brunch twice and food was great, so I thought a dinner in Inventions would be great too.

Now what to do...

Isila i think I'm right in saying that the standard of both the food and the character interaction is known for being much better at the Sunday Brunch which is why I suspect you have always had a good experience, I have never been to the Brunch because we normally go Mon - Fri but our next visit I am refusing to go to inventions at all unless it is the Sunday Brunch, if I'm going to pay a fortune for a character meal I want to guarantee my son gets to meet a good few characters, on Thursday night at Inventions we met Mickey, Daisy, Pinnochio, Goofy and the chipmunks but they were only there for a few mins each and didn't return and the food was very poor.

We walked past Cafe Mickey everyday last week and there never seemed to be more than 2-3 characters on rotation at once, we saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy & Eeyore but even with the new set menu I think my family would have eaten more than they ate at inventions x

 

[SWofDisorder]

We have done the Sunday brunch twice and find the interaction very relaxed and good.

Unfortunately it seems to still be understaffed. I think I need a coffee carafe put on our table so we can just pour it ourselves.