Just back! Highs and lows-12th to 14th August

[disneydaydreamer72]

Hi all,
Had a nightmare journey home on Eurostar but a fantastic time in Disney.
Here are my highs and lows:

Highs
Dreams- utterly amazing Nothing compares to seeing it live- it left me speechless.

Fantillusions- I love this parade and we had a good spot on both nights.One between the entrance to Fantasyland and the castle stage,and the other in the Dreams vip area.

Magic on Parade- Very catchy tune and I liked the changes.Managed to get very close to the floats and enjoyed the aromas that some of them had.Never been close enough before.

The park-Much cleaner than on previous visits.Everything looked lovely.

Queues- Generally we were really lucky with the queue times. First ride we did,Thunder Mountain,was 50 minutes.For a Sunday afternoon in August,that was great. The longest queue we waited in was Crush's Coaster which was an hour

Dreams VIP meal- Bit of a high and low for this one. It was brilliant to have the wristband for the vip area to watch Dreams(a great spot,btw) I don't think I'd eat at Walt's again. The meal was ok but the atmosphere was a bit odd.I'll try and describe it a bit more in my trip report.

Afternoon tea at Cafe Fantasia- Mickey waffles were yummy and we had a nice view of the park entrance from our table. A great way to spend an hour if you want to get away from the crowds.

Photopass- Saved us such a lot of money. Well worth it for 35e.

Lows
Santa Fe-A bit of a high and low for this one too. Check-in was quick and we got breakfast in the park for one day. Our room was not one of the refurbished ones,but it was ok and the beds were super comfy.However,we came back to the room on Monday night,after being in the parks for nearly 15 hours to find that the room absolutely stank.My friend went into the bathroom to find that the cleaner had used our toilet(for a number 2!) and not flushed it

CMs-Quite efficient(very good during Dreams for removing people who tried to sneak into the vip area) but very grumpy ones on Pirates. Generally,not as happy as on previous visits.Previously,many of them have been 'in character' according to the ride they were on.Not this time.

Other guests!- Sooo many rude people and a lack of consideration for others. I work in a school,so am extremely tolerate but I was so cross with the way that parents let their children run riot!The number of times my friend and I got kicked or thumped because a child was misbehaving was unreal. I know they get excited but parents should still keep their children under control.Grrrrr-rant over!!

Toilets-Absolutely gross. Even in Walt's they were filthy-I was really shocked at this. The only clean toilet we found was in the Disneyland Hotel,where there was a cleaner who went in as soon as you left. Can't believe the ones in the parks are allowed to get in that state.

Journey home- We had just left the station when we were told that we would have to go slowly for 8 km as there had been cable theft on the line and this would add 90 minutes to the journey.Then we stopped completely for ages,with no information at all. Finally,the train driver said that a train in front had a problem so we couldn't move. Another hour and a half later and we still hadn't moved. Eventually we got going at a snails pace and finally we were offered a cup of water.Woohoo Arrived at St Pancras two hours late-very tired and a bit cross at the lack of information. Surely they knew about the cable theft before departure so we should have been informed so we could have stocked up on supplies for the journey. Ended up paying for an overpriced hotdog and drink on the train.The toilets were filthy on here too. Also,more unruly kids on the train,running the length of two carriages for an hour shouting and screaming,climbing over seats,swinging from the overhead luggage shelves and one trying to climb into the overhead racking.

Overall,we had a great time. We got on lots of rides and did all the things we wanted to.The highs outweighed the lows,but I think we might try and go again at a slightly quieter time of year(tricky when you work in a school!) as we are both getting cranky in our old age(that being the 39-51 age bracket)

 

[DLPdaft]

I'm glad the highs outweighed the lows for you, but I think I'd be a grumpy old woman too from what your describe!

 

[Bexx]

getting cranky in our old age(that being the 39-51 age bracket)

Subscribing!!

Your lows are not pleasant, but your highs sound great.

 

[ShrumpUK]

Sounds like you had a fab time overall. (apart from that cleaner..OMG!!)

Really looking forward to September now (going with eldest daughter, 30, and 2 granddaughters 4 and 8)
I can be cranky too, being just everso slightly OVER your 39-51 age bracket. LOL!

 

[elstoleno]

We just got back from a stay at the Santa Fe too, we had a few 'issues' with our cleaners too but not as bad as yours!! :|

Ours just
- knocked over the tooth brushes
- didnt replace toilet rolls
- moved things in our room
- hung a towel over the side of the bath every single morning to hide the huge mouldy looking cracks that were there!
- attempted to open our window (which wouldnt open ever) and then didnt put the handle lock back down!
- hid the above by re closing the curtains

Often found piles of towels etc left on the stairs too so I think they were all slacking :')

What block were you in?

 

[Hipster Meg]

at the cleaner! Hope you complained, that's horrible!

Being stuck on the train must have been horrific but something good might come out of it - I *think* the Eurostar policy is that if you're trains delayed by over an hour then you're entitled to a free one way journey. We were stuck waiting for a train last October and we've got a free ticket each to use.

 

[stargatebarbie]

you should get a email about euro star yu can have a free one way ticket or a refund of 12.5% on the cost of the whole return journey i went for this and got £50 as we wont be going back this yr you may get more for your longer delay ,glad you had lots of disney highs

 

[aj2703]

However,we came back to the room on Monday night,after being in the parks for nearly 15 hours to find that the room absolutely stank.My friend went into the bathroom to find that the cleaner had used our toilet(for a number 2!) and not flushed it

So sorry, but i did giggle when i read this

 

[disneydaydreamer72]

you should get a email about euro star yu can have a free one way ticket or a refund of 12.5% on the cost of the whole return journey i went for this and got £50 as we wont be going back this yr you may get more for your longer delay ,glad you had lots of disney highs

Thanks for that info.I was wondering if I might be able to claim something.Do I need to contact Eurostar or will they just email me?

Hope my highs and lows don't make me sound miserable-I did have a brilliant time,it was just a couple of things that took the magic off slightly

 

[disneydaydreamer72]

We just got back from a stay at the Santa Fe too, we had a few 'issues' with our cleaners too but not as bad as yours!! :|

Ours just
- knocked over the tooth brushes
- didnt replace toilet rolls
- moved things in our room
- hung a towel over the side of the bath every single morning to hide the huge mouldy looking cracks that were there!
- attempted to open our window (which wouldnt open ever) and then didnt put the handle lock back down!
- hid the above by re closing the curtains

Often found piles of towels etc left on the stairs too so I think they were all slacking :')

What block were you in?

Sorry to read that you had problems too
On the whole,our room wasn't too bad. Just a bit tired looking.
We were in block 45.

 

[elstoleno]

Sorry to read that you had problems too
On the whole,our room wasn't too bad. Just a bit tired looking.
We were in block 45.

Ah cool, we were in 44 we probably had the same cleaners! lol

The problems werent too bad, just a bit annoying, especially since our safe was out of battery so we had to hide our case keys etc >.<

 

[netimka]

Photopass- Saved us such a lot of money. Well worth it for 35e.

can you tell a little bit more about this photopass? we are going for 5 days in March and I bet i would want to buy lots of photos...

TIA

 

[disneydaydreamer72]

can you tell a little bit more about this photopass? we are going for 5 days in March and I bet i would want to buy lots of photos...

TIA

We purchased this at the photo booth for Thunder Mountain. It is a set of 5 vouchers and you just hand one in when you want to buy a ride photo.We also used it for the Meet Mickey photo.It worked out much cheaper than buying a ride photo for 15e each.The only difference is that you don't get the frame.
Hope that helps.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Oh wow Where to start

I'm glad you had so many highs as your lows are serious lows ...at least you'll get a free ticket out of Eurostar - they will contact you normally

http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/customer_care/traveller_care.jsp

The toilet thing is beyond disgusting and I would have been onto reception asap to change rooms

Looking at elstoleno lows it is obvious that you must have had the same cleaning team and I'd be contacting DLP guest services about them as it shouldn't be happening

Look forward to hearing about Walt's in the TR as it's my favourite restaurant and the last few reviews are starting to worry me

 

[disneydaydreamer72]

Normally I would have been straight to reception to complain,but it was nearly 1 a.m(we'd been for a cocktail nightcap ) and we were so tired we just wanted to get rid of the smell quickly! I held the window open whilst my friend held the door open to let the smell escape
I am going to write to customer relations to report the incident,as it needs to be addressed.
Hopefully I will hear from Eurostar soon.
The food in Walt's was very nice and our CM was helpful and friendly.I just didn't feel at ease there.My friend hit the nail on the head when she said she felt afraid to talk as it was so quiet,even though our room was full! The CM who showed us to our table didn't speak, he just walked off ahead and expected us to follow.He also gave us the wrong menu as he hadn't checked that we were having the Dreams meal. I'm sure that lots of people really enjoy eating here but it just wasn't for us.