Highs & Lows 9-12 April

**Clare**

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 18, 2010
Messages
294
Hi everyone

We got back at the weekend from our 4th family trip & thought I would share our highs & lows. Although we've been every year since 2010, we had a lots of "firsts" on this trip!

I'll start with the lows

* Being organised and pre-booking by email the Disneyland Park guided tour only for the English speaking tour guide not being available :sad: I tried to do the tour last year but it was fully booked so was really looking forward to it.

* Not as many characters as we are used to seeing.

Highs

* Kyriad hotel. First time off site for us and couldn't fault it. Great value for money, would definitely stay here again.

* Eurostar. First time travelling by train and we really liked it, especially the Eurostar, even with the change in Lille (which was no bother at all). LOVED arriving at the station right at the resort. We stored our luggage at the station, it was super easy and saved us a lot of time.

* Annual Passes. After a slightly worrying start ordering these from CE Multiavantages, these were great & we loved the discounts. It took us 10 mins to complete the registration process.

* Low crowds. We usually go at the end of June/beginning of July so saw a big difference is the crowd level. The longest we waited for a ride was around 30 mins, if even that, but most were 5-10 mins.

* Finally making it into the Princess Pavillion. DD (& I) really liked this and have always been put off by the huge queues. We started queuing during emh, around 9.45, and were always out by 10.30. However, the set up of seeing only one, potentially already seen, princess is crazy and a wasted opportunity to make this great.

* Some lovely cast members.

* Plaza Gardens. We always eat here and it never disappoints. We ate here twice and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great value.

* my kids being very brave and trying new rides! They went on BTM & pirates and loved them :)

* New scenes in Dreams. I wasn't sure about these as I loved the original scenes & didn't watch them before hand but they were amazing.

* Alice! She was amazing with those who queued (a very orderly queue too!) and spend a good 5 minutes with each child. She was so sweet & a lot of fun.

I'm sure I'll think of more as soon as I post!

Some observations:

I found the parks to be very clean & was delighted to find the toilet situation had improved massively since last summer. Although they were clean they absolutely stank then but didn't find that at all this time.

The smoking situation was still as bad.

I didn't think the scrums at the characters eg the train, were quite as bad or frantic. This could have been purely because it wasn't as busy as I'm used to. The characters minders were generally as laid back as ever and making no attempt to form a queue.

Sadly, we had our last visit to Salon Mickey as my Shareholders club membership expires next month :sad:

Sorry for going on so much!

(Ps Booked for our first Christmas trip yesterday :yay:)
 
Thanks for the post and it does look like more highs. Glad the scrums were calmer than during crowded periods.

I am sorry your shareholders will expire, it will happen for us all too soon.
 
Brilliant lot of highs there - and as you're going back, you can book the tour of the park for another date too :).
 

Welcome back, pleased you enjoyed your trip & have fun planning your next one:thumbsup2
 
Always nice to see many positives and few negatives. :thumbsup2
 
Yeah! Sounds like a great holiday! Good to hear about the Kyriad will recommend in the future, and now feel confident enough to order our Annual passports online this year :goodvibes Thank you ! K
 
Welcome back, good to see so many highs. :thumbsup2

A shame that you couldn't do the guided tour but it gives you a good reason to go back! And great news about booking for Christmas. :santa:
 
Welcome home :wave:
Great to see so many highs and another trip booked :yay:
And well done to your kids for being brave, its so hard for them to build the courage. We are working on DD's fears at the minute but she is so scared of loud noises and heights, DS would happily go around BTM selotaped to the front.
We also lose our SHC next month :( Makes me sad too.
 
Thanks everyone :goodvibes

I knew I'd remember more things, the most noteable probably being the "new" photopass.

I'd read about this before we went and wasn't sure if it included the ride photos. I think I received the card at the Princess Pavilion and after the first btm ride I asked at the photo counter if these could be added to the card and yes, they could.

The photos "last" for 7 days. On our last day I took the card to one of the printing stations and chose which ones I wanted, I bought the 5 for €35 deal and used ap discount.

I'm looking forward to planning our first trip during the Christmas season (slight understatement, I'm ecstatic!!) and will be looking through past trip reports to get some info re crowds, weather etc :yay:
 
Welcome home :wave:
Great to see so many highs and another trip booked :yay:
And well done to your kids for being brave, its so hard for them to build the courage. We are working on DD's fears at the minute but she is so scared of loud noises and heights, DS would happily go around BTM selotaped to the front.
We also lose our SHC next month :( Makes me sad too.

My ds was so close to going on Pirates last year but he just couldn't do it, wee soul! We went with friends whose kids go on all the rides so I think that definitely helped.

Your dd sounds like mine with her fears, I would never have believed dd(4) would go on Pirates, never mind btm, her limit has been the Carousel and flying carpets, keeping it as low as possible! I was so proud of them, I knew they'd love them if they could just take that brave step!

Shame re SHC, it was great while it lasted though :goodvibes
 
Christmas is amazing. Fingers crossed for brave little ones! DD has agreed to do one ride on PotC and see how she feels but it will be years before BTM is an option again.
What dates are you going for Christmas? I was watching dlpsteve's weekly dedicated to dlp youtube video and theres seemingly some new additions for this years Halloween & Christmas seasons. So exciting!
 
Welcome home only just seen this, glad you had a good time :thumbsup2

Good that you enjoyed the Kyriad, we've a couple of days booked there in July, have only done a room only for one night in the past so wasn't sure if it was the right hotel to book, but all the reviews I've read recently have been favourable :)
 
Christmas is amazing. Fingers crossed for brave little ones! DD has agreed to do one ride on PotC and see how she feels but it will be years before BTM is an option again.
What dates are you going for Christmas? I was watching dlpsteve's weekly dedicated to dlp youtube video and theres seemingly some new additions for this years Halloween & Christmas seasons. So exciting!

Aw wee soul, it can be hard for them to take that final step eh! Fingers crossed your dd enjoys pirates!

We are going 12-15 November :yay: Our schools here are closed on the 14 & 15 for in service days so taking the kids out for 2 days :rolleyes1

I've always wanted to see a Disney park at Christmas and with annual passes and it being "my special year" it seems the perfect time to do it (I am making it my special year as dd starts school so I'm celebrating/commiserating at the same time, celebrating that I've survived the pre-school years but sad my baby will have flown the nest into full time education!).
 
Christmas is amazing. Fingers crossed for brave little ones! DD has agreed to do one ride on PotC and see how she feels but it will be years before BTM is an option again.
What dates are you going for Christmas? I was watching dlpsteve's weekly dedicated to dlp youtube video and theres seemingly some new additions for this years Halloween & Christmas seasons. So exciting!

Welcome home only just seen this, glad you had a good time :thumbsup2

Good that you enjoyed the Kyriad, we've a couple of days booked there in July, have only done a room only for one night in the past so wasn't sure if it was the right hotel to book, but all the reviews I've read recently have been favourable :)

We had a great time thanks and were so pleasantly surprised with the Kyriad. It was a fraction of the cost of even the Cheyenne and was certainly not a step down in quality. I'm sure you'll find it to be fine :thumbsup2
 
You know she wasn't quite as scared when she was smaller! She did POTC back when she was 4 no problem.
Lol im the same this year - DS is starting big school in September and I'm already feeling a bit sad over it! Im keeping them out for a whole week in October. We wont talk of it ;)
We did early November 2011. The 7th - 10th and it is by far my favourite season. I thought it wouldnt feel Christmassy but it did. It was just so magical.
 












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