Just back - Highs and Lows

[A dream is a wish]

We've just returned from our trip, we stayed at Santa Fe from 01/08/13 to 05/08/13. It was me and Chloe (7) with our friends Rachael, Jit and Dylan (2).


Highs

The princess makeover in the Disneyland Hotel – After saying the makeover last year was a one off, Chloe persuaded me otherwise! She had the Ariel makeover and looked beautiful

Meeting Princess Ariel – We searched everywhere for Ariel, we went to the Princess meal and looked in both parks for her. Eventually I decided to try the Pavilion and queued for a ticket, we've never done this before. Luckily it turned out that Ariel was one of them. I was so happy! It was the most amazing character meet, Ariel was fantastic, Chloe keeps saying the best day of her life!

Meeting Buzz Lightyear – Dylan is Buzz crazy! He spent most of the holiday shouting Buzz! Rachael, Jit and Dylan queued to meet Buzz a few times but one in particular was brilliant with them, it was a really special meet.

Meeting Pluto – Chloe’s favourite character is Pluto and we had a great meet with him, it made me cry! He was playing with her and she was beaming.

Dreams – Wow, this show is incredible. I love the new scenes.

The parade – why haven’t I waited to see all of this from the front before?! Both times we were opposite Bella Notte (a little tip I got from here) and it was so good. I cried again Chloe was so excited and happy, we had some great interaction, the waves and kisses from the princesses made Chloe’s day, we had a hug from Pinocchio, a kiss on the head from Tigger etc. Chloe was so happy, it was really overwhelming.

Blue Lagoon – We had an amazing meal here, all of us loved it. It is by far the best place we've eaten. We will definitely return in November.

Descent of the stairs – We did this for the first time too, it was great, I loved how all of the children squealed and cheered as they saw the characters. Chloe got to meet 6 characters in around 20 minutes. We returned the next day but there were lots more children so only saw 3. It was disappointing after the first time but it this is on in November we will be returning.

The lovely annual pass discount, that 20% is great, especially as I only paid 35 euros for Chloe’s pass, it’s more than paid for itself! Actually getting the annual passes was so quick. We ordered them before going and exchanged them there. There was no queue to do this either!

Lows

Rides being closed – A few times on the last two days the rides had broken down or closed due to technical problems, it was just frustrating as everywhere else was much busier as a result.

Café Mickey – Not particularly a low but more a disappointment. We (the adults) felt like something was missing, it wasn't as much fun as last time. The kids really liked it though. We were going to go twice for dinner but cancelled on the last evening and went to Blue Lagoon instead.


I also have a couple of highs and lows:

The weather – it was hot and sunny every day which is lovely, much better than rain. However on a couple of occasions it was too much to be out in. Not sure about the other days but on the first day it was 38 degrees!

Plaza Gardens - Me and Chloe had an awful experience here and I was really upset. The next day I visited City Hall to complain and instantly the woman I was speaking to got the restaurant manager on the phone and I was apologised to again and again, also we were given a voucher for a free meal at the Lucky Nugget Saloon. The way it was dealt with at City Hall was brilliant, I was much happier when I left.


I’m sure there will be more that I’ve forgotten or ones that Rachael will mention to add.


Overall, we’ve had another wonderful trip and I am very much looking forward to returning!

 

[K11C12]

Aww lovely to hear u had a great trip? R u doing a tr?

 

[tennisfan]

Welcome back, thanks for sharing your thoughts

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Welcome back, glad you had such a great time particularly with the characters. So nice to meet favourites.

 

[moorhunhe]

If I may ask, what was the bad experience at Plaza Gardens?
We ate there last month, and I thought it was great.

 

[belle24]

Nice to hear you had a lovely time how was the Santa Fe? Am staying there in feb. xx

 

[kizzabel]

Welcome back, sounds like you had a great trip
Will you be doing a TR?

 

[Ms Poppins]

Welcome back. Sounds like you had some fantastic highs

I know what you mean about the heat being too much sometimes

Hope you do a tr

 

[A dream is a wish]

Aww lovely to hear u had a great trip? R u doing a tr?

Thank you, yes I will do

Welcome back, thanks for sharing your thoughts

Thank you

Welcome back, glad you had such a great time particularly with the characters. So nice to meet favourites.

Thank you, I can't believe how lucky we were with Ariel, it really made her trip. She keeps talking about it!

If I may ask, what was the bad experience at Plaza Gardens?
We ate there last month, and I thought it was great.

Yeah sure, it's a little long wided! Basically I had the standard half board vouchers, I wanted to use them at face value to have the refill drinks included. I asked about this when we entered and was told that I could do this and the person I saw next to pay would sort this. I asked the next person and was told no. I tried to explain what I meant as I thought she may not have understood what I was asking and she rudely told me no, one drink. I started to explain I’d been told I could at which point she took the vouchers and became even more rude about it, raising her voice telling me no, I will only get one. There was a queue behind me and I was embarrassed so decided to just leave it and buy an extra drink later. We were taken to our table and we went to get some salad. Our drinks were bought to us. We went to get some more food and when we returned our table had been cleared. I asked the person seeing to our table where our drinks had been taken as we wanted them and was told they had been cleared and we could not have any more drinks. Chloe began to get upset so I said it wasn't on as she was getting upset and we wanted our drinks back. Then I was told Chloe may have a small drink. When she returned, Chloe had a glass smaller that she had originally been given and it was half full. I was refused a drink. I asked to buy another and was told no. By this point I’d had enough. I was really upset and we got up and left. It might sound daft but I felt like I was getting nowhere and being ignored. I was getting myself worked up and decided it wasn't worth the stress. At City Hall I was told I could have used the voucher at face value, that I should not have been spoken to that way and that the drinks should not have been taken in the first place but they should have been replaced instantly. I was upset as this was not the Disney standard that I am used to but actually City Hall were fantastic. I never expected a free meal I just wanted to speak to someone and say that I was unhappy about it.

Nice to hear you had a lovely time how was the Santa Fe? Am staying there in feb. xx

Santa Fe wass good, I like it there though. I had one of the refurbished rooms this time, I'd emailed to ask for one. However it felt much smaller than the normal room, I bet it's not or the furniture was bigger and the fan was nowhere near as good as the one in the room last year. But the room was lovely, I took some photos, I'll add them to my TR, I loved the lights around the bathroom mirror! They've repainted the outside of the buildings and added some Cars things to the top it looks brilliant. Overall though I'd recommend it and would happily stay there again.

Welcome back, sounds like you had a great trip
Will you be doing a TR?

Thank you, it really was. Yeah I'm going to start it tomorrow

Welcome back. Sounds like you had some fantastic highs

I know what you mean about the heat being too much sometimes

Hope you do a tr

We had a great time. I like the sun, but standing in it when it is that fierce with no wind isn't comfortable. I'm going to get on with it tomorrow, the last one took forever to finish, hoping to get this one done quickly!

 

[A dream is a wish]

I’ve seen Rachael and there are a few more highs and lows that I’d missed/that Rachael wanted to add.

Highs

Low crowds – Not good for Disneyland but good for us! There was a huge difference between the crowds last year and this year and queue times were quite small for a number of rides. It was actually more similar to the queue times we saw in November than those of last summer.

Meeting Aladdin – We both met him (the same one) and he was great with both Chloe and Dylan. He was very chatty and friendly. He bent down to speak to Dylan and not many characters have done this, it makes all the difference to go to his level and speak to him. Rachael and Jit really appreciated this.

Hakuna Matata – Me and Chloe wanted to eat here but never got round to it. Rachael, Jit and Dylan went and Dylan who doesn't eat a lot and can be picky ate 3 of the chicken strips! They all loved the food and want to return here.

Dylan getting a lot out of the rides – Last time he loved the characters and did like the rides but this time he got so much out of them, particularly Buzz and Casey Junior.


Not particularly a low but we were sad about this.

The balloon was closed – We all met up to go on this and it was closed due to wind, although it was really hot and there was barely any wind. We were gutted as we’d really wanted to do this.

 

[wiigirl]

Welcome back.

 

[A dream is a wish]

I've missed another high!!

The music - I fell in love with the celebration train song last summer, Rachael did this trip. She really loves the train too, although hated the scrum meet. This time the parade music got to me, and Chloe! So much so that we bought The Best of Disneyland Paris cd. It's brilliant, especially when we've listened and I've recognised songs I loved when I visited as a child, particularly Dancin' a catchy rhythm, I was obsessed with this song when I younger!

Right that's all of them!!

 

[A dream is a wish]

Welcome back.

Thank you

 

[moorhunhe]

Yeah sure, it's a little long wided! Basically I had the standard half board vouchers, I wanted to use them at face value to have the refill drinks included. I asked about this when we entered and was told that I could do this and the person I saw next to pay would sort this. I asked the next person and was told no. I tried to explain what I meant as I thought she may not have understood what I was asking and she rudely told me no, one drink. I started to explain I’d been told I could at which point she took the vouchers and became even more rude about it, raising her voice telling me no, I will only get one. There was a queue behind me and I was embarrassed so decided to just leave it and buy an extra drink later. We were taken to our table and we went to get some salad. Our drinks were bought to us. We went to get some more food and when we returned our table had been cleared. I asked the person seeing to our table where our drinks had been taken as we wanted them and was told they had been cleared and we could not have any more drinks. Chloe began to get upset so I said it wasn't on as she was getting upset and we wanted our drinks back. Then I was told Chloe may have a small drink. When she returned, Chloe had a glass smaller that she had originally been given and it was half full. I was refused a drink. I asked to buy another and was told no. By this point I’d had enough. I was really upset and we got up and left. It might sound daft but I felt like I was getting nowhere and being ignored. I was getting myself worked up and decided it wasn't worth the stress. At City Hall I was told I could have used the voucher at face value, that I should not have been spoken to that way and that the drinks should not have been taken in the first place but they should have been replaced instantly. I was upset as this was not the Disney standard that I am used to but actually City Hall were fantastic. I never expected a free meal I just wanted to speak to someone and say that I was unhappy about it.

I don't know about those vouchers, so can't comment on that, but wow, how rude!!

When we went last month, there were 4 of us, we also left the table at once every single time to get more food, and no one cleared of the tables.

I don't know if they usually do this or not, was my first time at Plaza Gardens.
Will remember that next time, someone stays at the table, just in case.

Great how they solved it for you though!

 

[BabyAriel]

Glad you had a fantastic trip and that's good news about the crowd levels

Was Ariel not in the Studios before Stars 'n' Cars? I had high hopes of meeting her there in a couple of weeks (as we have never met her despite eating at Auberge and visiting the PP loads of times)

 

[A dream is a wish]

I don't know about those vouchers, so can't comment on that, but wow, how rude!!

When we went last month, there were 4 of us, we also left the table at once every single time to get more food, and no one cleared of the tables.

I don't know if they usually do this or not, was my first time at Plaza Gardens.
Will remember that next time, someone stays at the table, just in case.

Great how they solved it for you though!

I don't think it's common practice from what the lady at City Hall was saying and she was saying it should have been resolved there and then. I'm glad you've had a positive experience there though.

I know, I never expected anything I just wanted to voice my concern. They asked me to write down what had happened too. Their customer service was fantastic though.


Glad you had a fantastic trip and that's good news about the crowd levels

Was Ariel not in the Studios before Stars 'n' Cars? I had high hopes of meeting her there in a couple of weeks (as we have never met her despite eating at Auberge and visiting the PP loads of times)

No, we went to City Hall the day before to ask where she may be, he circled on the maps where and said most likely before Stars 'n' Cars in the Studios, however we went there and were waiting around and she wasn't there. I asked two of the staff there and they said she would not be out today I told Chloe that she basically had no chance of seeing Ariel today but she'd get to meet another Princess, I was convinced it would be Snow White for some reason, it turned out she was at the PP in the other room!

 

[BabyAriel]

No, we went to City Hall the day before to ask where she may be, he circled on the maps where and said most likely before Stars 'n' Cars in the Studios, however we went there and were waiting around and she wasn't there. I asked two of the staff there and they said she would not be out today I told Chloe that she basically had no chance of seeing Ariel today but she'd get to meet another Princess, I was convinced it would be Snow White for some reason, it turned out she was at the PP in the other room!

Ah okay. Thanks. Great that you met her, your highs sound fab