Hi,
Well we arrived back on saturday morning from what was a great week away.
No real low's to report though a few minor niggles I suppose.
The
Disneyland Hotel once again was wonderful, can't imagine staying anywhere else at DLP now, having the parks so close meant once again Joshua would be keen to visit parks in the evening (something as I have said in the past he has been reluctant to do at WDW).
Breakfast fantastic, staff very friendly and helpful.
Once again really enjoyed Cafe Fantasia visits.
Only downside we didn't get the Ground floor room we requested and had on previous visits. As the weather was so nice would have liked that little outdoor patio area.
Parks - Joshua loved the
Disneyland Park, went on all his favourite rides several times. CMs all friendly, some even took time to chat with us about his needs and how we look after & cope with him etc
I actually preferred the look of the park with the gold 20th trimmings, not that it looked sub standard. Also enjoyed sat at the corner of Main Street in the sunshine. Noticed lots of cracks in the walkways, must admit hadn't on previous visits and they really need to do something about those coloured rock things at entrance to Discoveryland, they are an eye-sore.
That aside the park looked great in the sunshine and such a nice place to be.
As I say below Pirates seemed to be regularly troubled by problems, it was also a shame Pinocchio was closed, just unlucky, but one of his favourite rides.
Studios - we enjoyed studio 1 and spent some time there shopping & dining, however whilst I like the entrance which is very impressive and the shops to the left as you enter are the best overall at DLP in my opinion, once you leave Studio 1 I still don't like the lay-out of the park at all...sorry!
It's like walking from a great disney park to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Weather - we were so lucky again, lovely clear blue skies all week, ideal temperatures though Friday was very warm indeed.
Shopping was great - June is birthday time for me and Julie so that came in useful as she bought be a fab Chevignon messenger bag and some nice cologne from the Chevignon/Sephora stores at Val d'Europe (where we went twice) also a couple of beer glasses including a new one from the Pirates ride I hadn't seen before, Julie also got 2 nice bags from the
Disney store (can you spot a trend here?) some Skechers trainers and more.... Joshua got a couple of character hooded tops, to go with the Tigger one he already had, as well as some t-shirts, books and shoes.
I liked the Disney shopping more on this holiday and we saw more merchandise at the World Of Disney store that we didn't see elsewhere, I like that, the fact you don't see the same stuff everywhere.
On that subject the photo at the bottom is a cool Strawberry Bear we bought from there that we only saw in another store at the Studios - it got some nice compliments when we carried him back to the hotel!
Dining - If I am honest we did struggle a little, it's wrong for us to rely so much on one restaurant, however we have always enjoyed Toad Hall but it was closed all week. We used Casey's one evening and the fast food restaurant at Studio 1 also, but unlike last holiday when we went to Blue Lagoon I didn't really want to spend 100 euro's on our tea. Cowboy Cookout was also closed and that was one we wanted to try.
I have seen so many mixed reviews on the others so didn't want to take a chance, we went to Earl Of Sandwich once and that was fine, but as I don't really like the Village we chose not to dine there.
Thankfully the DLH breakfast was great and gave us a good start and we also some bought some snacks from the Relay store at the train station.
Other stuff - we travelled down to Kent on the Sunday for an overnight stay at the Hilton near Dartford Bridge, but didn't enjoy the stay. Bed's were uncomfortable, air con was poor and it was quite warm. Joshua didn't sleep well and woke up at 01.30 so by the time we arrived from Eurostar Monday afternoon we were quite tired. Hence it just took us a day or so to get going as it were.
The final night we stayed at a Marriott near Bexley Heath - fab hotel, beds best I have ever slept on, just a shame we were only there from late Friday evening > early Saturday morning before the drive home.
Both hotels well located for motorway and close to Bluewater shopping mall where we went for an hour on the Sunday.
Generally people were really friendly, one or two tried to push in but soon put them right.
Felt ashamed to be British when a family put what must have been 12 doughnuts and the same amount of bread rolls in their bags at breakfast at the DLH - they didn't even try and do so in a subtle way!
Must admit not necessarily rude people but pretty much every 'slightly annoying' person we came across was British.
Though we were wrapped in our own little bubble most of the time without looking at what anyone else was doing.
They need to do something about the Pirates ride, nearly ever morning it was shut first thing being broken, son upset when he couldn't get on. Same applies to Buzz when we were actually in the disabled queue when told the ride was now closed.
That said we had the Easy Access Card and it worked well, everyone was very helpful.
Quite why Joshua pretty much refuses most outdoor rides now I really don't know, it seems to be a growing trend from last few WDW/DLP holidays, think he just likes rides in the dark!
To be honest people on mobile's wind me up slightly, blocking exits/entrances in queue at shops/restaurants texting away, obviously not just a 'Disney thing' but I still don't get it.
I also still don't get why going from DLH to RER we have to walk all the way up past the Cinema almost to Planet Hollywood before being allowed to walk down to the station, unless there is a quicker way?, Cast Members can so why can't the hotel guests?
What next? - To be honest I really don't know. We have had 4 good holidays at DLP, 3 at the Disneyland Hotel and have overall been very enjoyable. Joshua has had good times and if he is happy so are we. Despite that I am not sure if we will go next year, with my feelings on the Village, part of the Studios and the dining limitations unless there are changes I would be reluctant to return just yet.
Having moved away from Florida for a few years, for various reasons, we are grateful our son has been able to have a good time elsewhere, but with the arrival of the Dreamliner we may now be able to look at Florida again where so much has changed since our last visit.
Also as I said above he really doesn't seem to want to go on outdoor rides anymore, I really don't know how this all started, so obviously getting him on Flying Carpets, Casey etc is hard, especially when he clearly doesn't want to go on them.
Each visit so far an indoor Fantasyland ride has been closed, last time it was Peter Pan and this time it was Pinocchio, which is nobody's fault but obviously just crosses one of the better options off the list as it were.
So for now to DLP it's thanks and 'au revoir'....
Below see Teddy and proof Candy Apples still exist, must have had about 4 of them!
glad everythings going well, shame about some restaurants being close though. Hopefully you find some good places. 
