Half term fun trip report

[jothp]

Day 1 Monday 31st May

Our family - me Jo, DH Ollie, DD Robyn(7), DD Harriet(5), DD Evie(2)

We got up bright and early and after a quick breakfast were on our way to Folkestone to catch our 07.50 Eurotunnel crossing. Somehow we were able to arrive early and managed to get on the 07.20 train.

We were out of the shuttle terminal the other side by 9.00 and despite getting slightly lost on the way we were at the Sequioa lodge by 12.15.

Check in was very quick and easy and when Hattie told the lady on reception it was her 5th birthday she got a happy birthday call from Mickey Mouse. Our room was ready so we all went off to collect our bags from the car. We got all the bags into the room and were about to leave for the park when we realised we couldn't find the room key. We spent the next ten minutes hunting high and low, just as we were about to give up Hattie found it under the bed where we had looked ten times already??!!

By this time we were all starving having had breakfast at 5.30 so we stopped off at McDonalds on the way to the park. Finally at about 2.00 we entered the disneyland park. We headed straight to Fantasyland and rode small world, then for some reason oldest DD decided to sulk so she sat out and DH took the other two girls on the teacups - this ride became a firm favourite.

We had booked the character tea party at the lucky nugget with a birthday cake for Hattie so we decided to take a slow stroll over towards Frontierland, having a look through the Alladin walk through on the way.

We were almost the first outside the Lucky nugget and were seated very quickly on the floor by the stage. Very soon after we sat down Pluto came to see us. Some other children came over with their autograph books but Pluto just ignored them, unfortunately they did manage to get into some of my pictures. My youngest loved Pluto and he was great with her playing peek a boo across the table and letting her play with his nose. Once everyone had been seated happy birthday played and our birthday cake was brought out. The cake was very nice but hardly any got eaten. We also met Mickey but just as Goofy was getting to our table it was time for the characters to go for a break. He never came back to the table. At the end of the tea party we were slow getting our things together and were debating what to do with the leftover cake, when the characters came back out to see off the remaining guests. By this point at least 70% of people had already left. The characters stood by the exit and so we waited our turn to get an autograph and photo with Goofy. We were a little disappointed with there only being three characters at the tea party but the girls loved it.

After the tea party we wandered back to the room with three very tired little girls only to find that our cot hadn't been delivered. We called reception and about one hour later we had a cot and finally managed to get the girls to bed. After a little unpacking DH and I followed.

 

[jothp]

Day 2 Tuesday 1st June

We had decided to make full use of magic hours so we were up early and made it to breakfast for 7.30 and to the park for 8.30 - must try harder tomorrow. The first ride on the list was Peter Pan as it had been closed when we visited last year. We ended up riding twice in a row. Next up was small world, teacups and the carousel.

Today was to be our studios day so we left the disneyland park before 9.30 to get to crush early. Last year the queue was always too long. Things were not to go to plan however as crush was closed so Ollie took the older girls over to Tower of Terror. The queue was saying 5 minutes but it took more like 50 for them to come out the other end. In the mean time I wandered round with little one in the buggy hoping she would sleep and picked up some fastpasses for later in case the girls wanted to go on again. Both girls hated Tower of Terror and declared they never wanted to go on ever ever again.

I had noticed a lot of characters out and about so we went to try and meet some but just as we were getting near to Eeyore all the characters left and never came back. At this point I noticed crush was just opening so Dh rushed with the older girls to try and beat the queue, he was just a bit too late and ended up waiting almost an hour Again I ended up wandering around with the buggy so I went over to Tower of Terror and gave away the fastpasses I had collected earlier.

When the girls came out of crush the queue to meet buzz was short so we got in line.

Robyn was desperate to get on a rollercoaster so Ollie took her to the RRC, she just scraped the height so they went on while me and the other two girls took some photos and ran off a bit of steam.

By the time they had finished it was time for our lunch reservation at restaurant des stars. The food we ate was nice and there was a reasonable selection but I'm not sure we will eat here again.

When we came out it was not long until the stars and cars parade so we went and got a spot to watch. I had the older girls sit on the ground next to the buggy so people would be able to stand behind and see over them but people just kept trying to push in and when the parade stopped and the ropes moved to let people get closer to the characters there was just a stampede so we got out of there and went off to ride the magic carpets instead. I couldn't believe how inconsiderate some people were. We had done our best to make sure that people would be able to see around us but they mainly just seemed to want to push past and block our view.

All of us enjoyed the magic carpets but it was a little bit awkward having only 2 in a row because Robyn ended up on her own and got a bit grumpy. After the carpets the queue for Sulley was short so we went to meet him but when we got to the front Evie had a meltdown and despite Sulley's best efforts she refused to go near him!

by now it was just starting to rain so we caught the next show of Stitch live which all of us absolutely loved, it was still raining so we went straight over to wait for the next showing of Cinemagique at 4.30. Robyn was desperate for another go on the RRC so Ollie took her off to do that while I took the younger two to see the last Playhouse disney of the day. When we met back up we left the park and headed towards the steakhouse for our 6:30 dinner reservation. I was very impressed with the steakhouse, the food was great, the kids were given colouring and Evie was allowed to have a full childrens menu for free. Very tired and very full we left the steakhouse and wandered back to bed.

 

[mommy2ash]

your girls are so cute. cant wait to hear more. its unfortunate but after a while at dlp you learn to look after number one, it seems you get no thanks for thinking of others

 

[jothp]

Thanks, we did learn as the week went on and came to the compromise that they didn't need to push but they weren't to let anyone push past them either especially when waiting for characters. I am lucky that my girls are quite confident so they cope in the scrums and they got very good at letting in the shy children who had obviously been waiting longer than us which made me very proud.

 

[mommy2ash]

Thanks, we did learn as the week went on and came to the compromise that they didn't need to push but they weren't to let anyone push past them either especially when waiting for characters. I am lucky that my girls are quite confident so they cope in the scrums and they got very good at letting in the shy children who had obviously been waiting longer than us which made me very proud.

awww thats so nice. i have the most sensitive little girl every who wont even allow me to place my hands on her shoulders in a queue in case i try to keep her place. she just declares i am waiting my turn mammy its rude to push so she often gets looked over in scrums. i wish she was a big more i dont want to say agressive as like you i dont want her pushing people but i wish she would stand her ground a bit more

 

[KAYJAY1975]

we felt exactly the same at the stars and cars parade, thought we had a good spot but then once the cars went past they moved the ropes and there was a stampede - like you we gave up and headed to the flying carpets! not sure why they have done it this way - it really didn't work!

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Thanks for sharing - love the photos-especially the character shots! I want to eat at res de stars next week - was debating the time.

Look forward to the rest!

 

[jothp]

awww thats so nice. i have the most sensitive little girl every who wont even allow me to place my hands on her shoulders in a queue in case i try to keep her place. she just declares i am waiting my turn mammy its rude to push so she often gets looked over in scrums. i wish she was a big more i dont want to say agressive as like you i dont want her pushing people but i wish she would stand her ground a bit more

Yes I am glad that they have the confidence to stand their ground but like you I wouldn't want them to be nasty.

 

[jothp]

Thanks for sharing - love the photos-especially the character shots! I want to eat at res de stars next week - was debating the time.

Look forward to the rest!

Our reservation was 12.30. It was very quiet and we didn't have to queue at all. The food we had was nice especially the desserts. For the five of us it was about E80 including drinks which is very reasonable compared to most places, but about double what we would have payed for counter service so I think next time we might save the extra money to put towards something else.

 

[jothp]

we felt exactly the same at the stars and cars parade, thought we had a good spot but then once the cars went past they moved the ropes and there was a stampede - like you we gave up and headed to the flying carpets! not sure why they have done it this way - it really didn't work!

No I agree it didn't work. If we went back I think we would just avoid the parade altogether which is a shame.

 

[jothp]

Day 3 Wednesday 2nd June

We were ready a bit earlier today and after breakfast made it into the park for 8.10 - an improvement on yesterday but still more room for improvement. Today we went straight to discoveryland and rode buzz followed by the orbitron. The older girls were keen to try star tours so they went off with Ollie and I took Evie for a second flight on the orbitron. I couldn't believe that in the time it had taken us to ride once the queue had gone from about 10 minutes to about 30 minutes.

We met back up with the others and made our way over to fantasyland and rode small world. by now it was getting on for 10 so Ollie took the older girls off to do the BTM run while me and Evie took a slow wander over to Frontierland.

By the time they had finished on BTM it was about quarter to eleven and the girls were both desperate to go again so we picked up some fastpasses and headed off to try phantom manor. The queue was only about 10 minutes but both the other girls were slightly scared so we didn't go on again this trip. We came out of phantom manor and just had time for a leisurely trip on the riverboat before our fastpass time for BTM. while the girls and Ollie rode I picked up yet more fastpasses for later.

Next it was time for lunch. After the recommendations of the kind folk on here i was really looking forward to trying the cowboy cookout but it was closed so we ended up walking round into Adventure land and eating in Hakuna Matata. The food was ok and the portions were large but there wasn't a lot of choice on the menu and even though it was half empty service was very slow. I don't think I would go out of my way to eat here again but if it was convenient I wouldn't strongly object either.


After luch we paid a visit to woody's round up to catch some characters. Evie fell asleep on the way there so Ollie found a shady spot to sit with her and me and the other two girls got in the queue. We found this was a great place to meet the characters, we saw goofy, minnie, mickey and woody all with one orderly queue

By the time we were finished with the characters we needed to head back to big thunder mountain for the third trip of the day. After big thunder mountain we made the mistake of doing a little shopping. The girls had saved their birthday money to spend and were desperate for some balloons so we came out of the shop the proud owners of three giant Minnie balloons that we then had to fight around the park for the rest of a windy afternoon.

We walked around to Adventureland to ride pirates of the caribbean - the big girls thought it was ok but Evie absolutely loved it especially drops! Next we squeezed in a whirl on the teacups before getting a spot for the parade. Evie was once again half asleep so I let Robyn stand behind a row of children sitting along the front and I stood behind her with the buggy behind me out of the way. Every time I just turned my head to check on Evie someone would push past and I ended up about 3 rows back, luckily Robyn stood her ground and had a good view. Ollie also stood back and put Hattie on his shoulders. Some older man came over and stood right in front of Ollie and held his jacket right up in the air to sheild his partners digital camera so that Hattie couldn't see even from Ollie's shoulders. Ollie was furious which is very unusual for my husband.

After the parade we made the bad decision to leave the park and go back to the room as we were all very tired. Of course the world and his wife had decided to do the same thing and it took us quite a while to get out of the park and by the time we got out we were all stressed.

After baths and changes of clothes we went down for our reservation at the Hunters Grill. I was feeling a little unwell so didn't eat much but all the girls found plenty to try and had three helpings of dessert each. Although our waiter paid us very little attention there was another waiter who seemed to be English who was very good and kept coming and chatting with the girls to keep them amused. After dinner it was time for another early night to try to make it to the park for 8.00 tomorrow.

 

[DLPdaft]

No I agree it didn't work. If we went back I think we would just avoid the parade altogether which is a shame.

they only move the rope at the back of stars n cars, once all the cars are in the backstage area. If you are at the front of the stage area, or the side/back nearer Cinemagique, the ropes aren't moved at all there.

 

[jothp]

they only move the rope at the back of stars n cars, once all the cars are in the backstage area. If you are at the front of the stage area, or the side/back nearer Cinemagique, the ropes aren't moved at all there.

thanks we might have to try that next time.

 

[jothp]

Day 4 Thursday 3rd June

We did much better this morning and managed to get to the bag check area before it opened.
The first ride this morning was Peter Pan twice followed by the carousel. Unfortunately Evie was starting to suffer a bit from lack of sleep and cried all the way around the carousel even though she had loved it the last time. Luckily her mood had improved by the time we got to our next ride the orbitron and she giggled all the way around. The next stop was Buzz but the queue had already got quite long so Ollie took the girls off to go on Star Tours and I got some fastpasses for a bit later. The big girls 'went into space' twice and then we looked around a few shops before it was time for Buzz.

After Buzz was finished we decided to head over and get fastpasses for BTM but on the way we saw the Allstars express train coming down main street so we stopped to watch, the characters all got off to meet and greet so Olie took the buggy off to get the fastpasses and I took the big girls to join the scrums. We managed to see Gepetto, Pinnochio and Lilo. This was quite a good way to meet characters because there were so many of them that the crowds spread out quite a bit and there weren't too many people at each character. That didn't stop some people pushing though!

We had some time to kill before our time for BTM and Evie had fallen asleep so I let the big girls choose what we did next and they decided they wanted to meet Winnie the Pooh. By now it was starting to get very hot and the queue for Winnie the Pooh was very long with no shade but the girls waited very patiently for the hour it took to get to the front. Winnie the Pooh was great and the girls were happy so it was worth the long wait.

We finished with Pooh and dashed over to Frontierland to meet Ollie for BTM. After BTM we had to dash back to main street again for one of the highlights of our trip - lunch at Walts. We were sat in a window seat in what I assume was the Frontierland room. The food was some of the best we had all week and it was a welcome break in an otherwise busy day.

After lunch we decided it was time for a trip around the disneyland railroad so we went off to mainstreet and started queueing. Unfortunately the queue was about an hour and the girls were all getting a bit restless especially after sitting nicely for lunch straight before. Eventually we got on the train and took a pleasant trip around the park. When we got off we headed for fantasyland to do some favourites - the tea cups followed by small world.

We still had some time before we needed to leave so we went off to ride pirates of the caribbean which was a nice cool break from the hot day outside.


Next we left the park to head off for our dinner at Cafe Mickey - I had been looking forward to this meal all week but it turned into a bit of a nightmare. The character interaction was good. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, Eeyore, Tigger, Gepetto and Captain Hook. The food we had was nice although the waiter would not let us order any childrens desserts because we shared pizza rather than ordering from the E15 childrens menu. The main problem was that towards the end of a long week the children were just too tired for this meal even with an early 6:15 reservation. They all came out to see the characters but none of them really ate anything and Evie spent a lot of the mea laying on the floor under the table or just generally misbehaving The older girls were better but when Evie is being difficult they generally follow so by the time we left I was pulling my hair out To top it all off Evie had a fall on the stairs on the way out because she was trying to hide her hand behind her back so I couldn't hold on to her. Luckily she only fell down a couple of steps and seemed to be more upset by her shoe coming off than hurt. Lesson learned - next time book this for lunch or at the beginning of our stay.

Ollie took Evie back to the room and I took the big girls off to spend the rest of their souvenir money so we could get them packed ready for the trip home tomorrow. When we got back to the room Evie was still up so we put all the girls to bed and began packing up and loading the bags into the car. By the time this was all done it ended up being rather a late night!

 

[KAYJAY1975]

love your trip report - i've still only managed to report up to day 2! sounds like you done things quite similar to us, really similar at one point as i have just spotted my son in your pinochio pic!!! - he's the one in the grey tshirt holding the toy story autograph book (unfortunately, pinochio didn't have time to write in his book but he got plently of others so wasn't too bothered)

 

[jothp]

Day 5 Friday 4th June

The plan for this morning was to pack the last few bits into the car, have an early breakfast and check out before hitting extra magic hours. Ollie went to the car on the way to breakfast, we ate and once again made it to the park by 8.00 for our last day. We did the usual list of rides, Peter Pan, Orbitron and Buzz.

It was then I realised that I had missed a step from the plan. We had forgotten to check out The big girls wanted to ride star tours and Evie was already needing a nap so I volunteered to take a trip back to the hotel to give back our key. Now it was still only 9.00 and I had some difficulty getting out of the park as the exit was still all locked up. Eventually I managed to escape and decided to take the bus back to the hotel and then walk back again - bad mistake! I got to the bus stop and a bus arrived a few minutes later, wonderful. We stopped at the hotel New York on the way to the Sequioa but on the way out again the electronic gate wouldn't open and we had to wait 15 minutes for some engineers to come and let us out. Very soon after we made it to the Sequioa so I positioned myself with the buggy just inside the door ready to hop out quickly but before I had a chance the crowd stormed at me nearly knocking me over and giving me filthy looks for being in their way. The bus driver then tried to drive off with me still on the bus. Well that was enough to drive me over the edge and I shouted out to let me off and luckily he stopped again. Luckily dropping off the key and walking back to the park had a calming effect.

I arrived back at the park and met Oliie in the castle where he and the girls went to look around upstairs - I don't think I have mentioned this on any of the other days but we did it at least once a day. Before we left the castle we went into the christmas shop to buy a couple of baubles for our christmas tree. By the time we had done this the allstars express was coming again and the girls decided they would like to meet some characters so we went to meet Stitch and Jessie as they were the only one's on board we hadn't already met.

At this point with hindsight we should have gone over to BTM but at the same time yesterday the fastpass tickets were for a time that would have clashed with our princess lunch so we didn't. Instead we went for our first trip on Pinnochio before changing the girls into their princess dresses ready for lunch.

We arrived at the Auberge at 11.50 for our 12.00 reservation and were second in line. We met Cinderella and then Suzy and Perla helped to show us to our table. Unfortunately Evie wasn't playing today and wouldn't go near the princesses. We met Snow White, Aurora and Prince Phillip and Belle so we saw all the princesses our girls were dressed as and they were all wonderful chatting to the girls about what they had been doing and being princesses. The food was wonderful and Evie could have free pasta because we had the princess lunch vouchers. This was one of the best bits of our trip.

After lunch we went over to big thunder mountain but fastpass times were after we needed to go home so hattie was disappointed not to get another ride. Instead we went pirates of the caribbean and pinnochio again before popping in the studios for Robyn to have one last ride on RRC before we left for the drive back to Calais.

We got back to Calais just in time to pop into the terminal before boarding our 21.20 crossing home. We arrived home just before 10 very tired but with lots of lovely memories.

 

[jothp]

love your trip report - i've still only managed to report up to day 2! sounds like you done things quite similar to us, really similar at one point as i have just spotted my son in your pinochio pic!!! - he's the one in the grey tshirt holding the toy story autograph book (unfortunately, pinochio didn't have time to write in his book but he got plently of others so wasn't too bothered)

How funny!! I did wonder when I was reading your report if we were ever in the same place at the same time!! We went straight to Pinnochio and Gepetto so we were lucky enough that they signed for us. I'm looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Lovely report, your girls are just beautiful.

Thanks for sharing

 

[jothp]

Lovely report, your girls are just beautiful.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks. I loved doing the report and reliving all the lovely things we did. Now I can't wait to plan the next trip!