Dream Castle or Magic Circus?

[katiesam]

Hi guys,

Has anyone stayed at both the Dream Castle and the Magic Circus?

We've stayed at Magic Circus before but never the Dream Castle so I was looking on the VI Hotels website for a bit more info.

I noticed it says the restaurant at Dream Castle seats 200 whereas the restaurant at Magic Circus seats 450. This got me wondering about whether the queues for breakfast will be much longer than at Magic Circus?

The VI Hotels website seems to make a distinction between the restaurant for breakfast and another restaurant. Are there two restaurants at the Dream Castle?

I've tried looking at the photos on Trip Advisor but wasn't able to find any that gave a clear view at breakfast!

 

[Carrie_Cat]

From looking at the hotels website and panoramique views the Dream Castle has one restaurant in which they serve b/fast only and another restaurant that seats 200-260 that serves dinner only. If you do the panoramique tour you can see that they have different decor and views.

The Dream Castles b/fast area looks smallish. Doesn't say how many they seat in there.

The Magic Circus just has the one restaurant that looks huge

Will try and find other photos for you

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Found these 2 from Nov 14 and June 14 - I guess like anything it depends on when you go and at what time you eat

Ok can't add the images tonight ..... Will try again tomorrow - look at the link

https://www.google.fr/search?q=peti...EoqtUdjOgfgM&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=766

It's 2nd and 3rd photo

 

[katiesam]

Thanks Carrie.

It's very helpful getting other opinions. I know from past visits that the Magic Circus restaurant is very large. It's the panoramic pictures of the Dream Castle breakfast room that are making me think their room could be a fair bit smaller.

We're going March 20 so it won't be high season and I don't think there are any school holidays at that time so I'm hopeful that will be a quieter time to visit.

I must admit I never even thought about doing a google image search! I think I'll have to trawl through a few piccies!

 

[DLPdaft]

there are 2 restaurants at the Dream Castle, they are situated together, literally across a corridor from one another, and I've been in both for breakfast (although unless the hotel is completely full, I don't think they open both restaurants for breakfast, its one or the other). From my recollection, the restaurant on the left as you come down the stairs from the reception floor is slightly larger than the one on the right.

As to which hotel I'd pick out of the Magic Circus or Dream Castle -whichever is cheapest for your dates, as in just about every other respect they are pretty much the same (same company owns both).

 

[lilacgems23]

I have stayed at both several times. The first time we suds dream castle in 2008 we loved it and was so excited to go back for bye last year. However was disappointed by the lack of of house keeping. We went back New Years day to find no housekeeping had been done so we had no towels and there was empty bottles, crisps crushed into carpets etc in the hallways and lobby. It's a nice hotel though.

Magic circus is my choice with kids as the theming is lovely, the kids get their own tv inside th curtain around their bunks and they have a large ball pit and an outside play area. The dream castle has a very tiny ball put which even my 2 year old found boring.

Breakfast was the same in both. The shuttle goes to magic circus before dream castle which I find makes a big difference due to how busy the shuttles get.

Both are lovely hotels but we always choose the magic circus now. Their pool is better too at the magic circus .

 

[gavvy]

During off peak hours the buses stop at all 4 hotels - the Dream castle is the last hotel to pick up/drop off, this means a busy bus. Its not a huge problem but something to think about.

During peak hours the buses are split down to 2 hotels so not so much of an issue.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I have stayed at both and I don't ever remember a long wait at breakfast though I do think the breakfast room was smaller at the Dream Castle. I was pleased to find a microwave at breakfast so it was easy to heat up food that had grown cold. All in all I preferred the Magic Circus but I would book either one for a good price.

 

[katiesam]

Thanks for the helpful replies everyone.

At the moment, we've booked with Dream Castle so given that we're going to be there in lower season, I think we'll just stick with that unless we manage to find a cheaper deal for the Magic Circus.

We had thought they would probably be pretty much the same and it might be nice to have a change for once. At least we'll be more armed with opinions for next time if we've tried them both!

Just to add - I emailed the Dream Castle the other day to ask how many seats were in their breakfast room but haven't received a response yet

 

[Suzanne1979]

Hi katiesam, we stayed in the Dream Castle 2 years ago (never in Magic Circus) and I remember I found it difficult to choose between the two. We really liked the Dream Castle - definitely better than the Kyriad, where we stayed last year. 3 additions to the comments above:

1. breakfast room. I remember walking into the breakfast area for the 1st time thinking "how big!" since it looks much smaller on photos. So don't let the photos deceive you - plenty room, good breakfast and no scrums (we went in September).

2. pool. The pool isn't very big...

3. shuttle bus. Gavvy says (above) DC is last pick up, last drop off. This sounds bad, but it's not: last drop off means a slightly longer bus ride when you return to the hotel. But last pick up means: shorter bus ride to the magic ;-)

Enjoy your holiday!

 

[katiesam]

Hi katiesam, we stayed in the Dream Castle 2 years ago (never in Magic Circus) and I remember I found it difficult to choose between the two. We really liked the Dream Castle - definitely better than the Kyriad, where we stayed last year. 3 additions to the comments above:

1. breakfast room. I remember walking into the breakfast area for the 1st time thinking "how big!" since it looks much smaller on photos. So don't let the photos deceive you - plenty room, good breakfast and no scrums (we went in September).

2. pool. The pool isn't very big...

3. shuttle bus. Gavvy says (above) DC is last pick up, last drop off. This sounds bad, but it's not: last drop off means a slightly longer bus ride when you return to the hotel. But last pick up means: shorter bus ride to the magic ;-)

Enjoy your holiday!

Thanks for your comments Suzanne

It's good to hear the photos can be deceiving. We know first hand how big the Magic Circus breakfast room is and have never really had to queue for too long. I don't think we really looked at photos of that before we stayed there the first time but I've just had a look at the panorama photo on the VI Hotels site and it probably does look smaller on there than in reality!

As for the pool, we've never once had time to make use of a hotel pool when we've been at DLP!

Oh, and I especially liked your advise about the shuttle bus: "shorter bus ride to the magic" - a definite plus point

 

[lilacgems23]

Thanks for the helpful replies everyone.

At the moment, we've booked with Dream Castle so given that we're going to be there in lower season, I think we'll just stick with that unless we manage to find a cheaper deal for the Magic Circus.

We had thought they would probably be pretty much the same and it might be nice to have a change for once. At least we'll be more armed with opinions for next time if we've tried them both!

Just to add - I emailed the Dream Castle the other day to ask how many seats were in their breakfast room but haven't received a response yet

They usually email me back the same day, maybe they Think they have misunderstood your question as it serms off why you would ask this unless planning to hire it for a function?