HAZELGROVE
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2006
- Messages
- 39
At last the day of departure for our first family trip to DLRP Sunday 1st April. They were 6 of us travelling 3 adults (me, my wife and my mum) and our 3 boys ages 6,4 & 1.We flew with Air France from Dublin to CDG at lunchtime.
We chose AF over Aer Lingus as they were a bit cheaper and the flight times suited better. This service is actually provided by Cityjet for AF and the planes are quite small but couldnt fault the service throughout the 90 min flight and even got a complimentary light lunch and a drink a big deal for us who are used to Ryanairs no frills !!
A lunchtime departure suited us as we are only an hour from the airport so the kids were nt getting out of bed any earlier than usual. As recommend here, we had booked a transfer with RS Transports (name and phone number recently changed) whos driver was waiting for us at arrivals. The Mercedes Minivan has eight seats and plenty of room for luggage at the rear.
However, we had booked a baby seat but apparently they only supply booster seats so that is something to look out for.
Baby had to sit on mums knee which wasnt ideal.
Cost of transfer was 90 outward and 80 return. Not cheap but well worth it in my opinion as we has 4 large bags, buggy etc. 35 mins later we arrived at Val dEurope and our 3* hotel Val dElysee.
First impressions of the hotel were good clean, bright and airy just as described here by other posters.
Ditto for the rooms bathrooms immaculate, bedrooms a little worn. We booked 2 family rooms, each contains 1 double bed and 2 fold out single beds. We had requested inter connecting rooms which they have a number of but of course this wasnt the case the rooms werent even beside each other so after a request to reception, we settled for rooms side by side. This was probably the best as my mum had her privacy. It seems that the rooms are all at the same rate regardless of number of occupants. We got a room only rate of 130 per night per room via www.booking.com while the hotel quoted us 160 for the exact same. We picked this hotel for a few reasons close to but not at DLRP. Beside shopping centre, chemist, designer outlet, Sealife and Auchen supermarket. We didnt fancy doing the Disney thing 24/7 for our first trip so Val dEurope sounded ideal.
Anyway, walked to Sealife around the corner (well, a 10 min walk to be truthful) and just got in before last admissions at 5:30pm. At 14 a head for adults and 10 for kids I was a little disappointed but to be fair, it really depends what your kids are into and I guess they were a bit tired after the journey and were lacking a bit in enthusiasm cant blame them !! Went to Pizza del Arte in the shopping centre which was just ok pasta dishes a bit bland but the kids had pizza and enjoyed it. Back to the hotel for a game of pool and off to bed for to prepare for DLPR the next day !!!
We chose AF over Aer Lingus as they were a bit cheaper and the flight times suited better. This service is actually provided by Cityjet for AF and the planes are quite small but couldnt fault the service throughout the 90 min flight and even got a complimentary light lunch and a drink a big deal for us who are used to Ryanairs no frills !!
A lunchtime departure suited us as we are only an hour from the airport so the kids were nt getting out of bed any earlier than usual. As recommend here, we had booked a transfer with RS Transports (name and phone number recently changed) whos driver was waiting for us at arrivals. The Mercedes Minivan has eight seats and plenty of room for luggage at the rear.
However, we had booked a baby seat but apparently they only supply booster seats so that is something to look out for.
Baby had to sit on mums knee which wasnt ideal.
Cost of transfer was 90 outward and 80 return. Not cheap but well worth it in my opinion as we has 4 large bags, buggy etc. 35 mins later we arrived at Val dEurope and our 3* hotel Val dElysee.
First impressions of the hotel were good clean, bright and airy just as described here by other posters.
Ditto for the rooms bathrooms immaculate, bedrooms a little worn. We booked 2 family rooms, each contains 1 double bed and 2 fold out single beds. We had requested inter connecting rooms which they have a number of but of course this wasnt the case the rooms werent even beside each other so after a request to reception, we settled for rooms side by side. This was probably the best as my mum had her privacy. It seems that the rooms are all at the same rate regardless of number of occupants. We got a room only rate of 130 per night per room via www.booking.com while the hotel quoted us 160 for the exact same. We picked this hotel for a few reasons close to but not at DLRP. Beside shopping centre, chemist, designer outlet, Sealife and Auchen supermarket. We didnt fancy doing the Disney thing 24/7 for our first trip so Val dEurope sounded ideal.
Anyway, walked to Sealife around the corner (well, a 10 min walk to be truthful) and just got in before last admissions at 5:30pm. At 14 a head for adults and 10 for kids I was a little disappointed but to be fair, it really depends what your kids are into and I guess they were a bit tired after the journey and were lacking a bit in enthusiasm cant blame them !! Went to Pizza del Arte in the shopping centre which was just ok pasta dishes a bit bland but the kids had pizza and enjoyed it. Back to the hotel for a game of pool and off to bed for to prepare for DLPR the next day !!!
