Date Tuesday 30 May
Cast
Michelle, 36, addicted to DIS boards
DH, 38, thinks I spend too much time on DIS
DS1, 8, star performer
DS2, 5, train-mad
Taxi arrived to pick us up at 6.10am, easy trip to station, where I collect pre-ordered tickets from Fast Ticket machine. Had to buy singles as very expensive travel at this time in the morning, nearly £80 for 2 adults and 2 children! We catch the 6.40 Virgin train from Northampton to Euston, and find our reserved seats. Have to move grumpy people out of our seats who don't seem to have noticed the reserved sign above their heads! DS2 is excited to be on a Virgin train as not many stop at Northampton. One stop at Milton Keynes where another DLP-bound family join and sit near to us, more grumpy passengers had to move (we smirk to ourselves). Arrive in Euston just before 7.30am.
We decide to catch a bus down to Waterloo rather than braving the Underground in rush hour with luggage and children. 10 min bus ride to Waterloo, not crowded at all. We locate the Eurostar terminal easily, have a quick toilet stop and I track down some contact lens solution in Boots before we check in. As we have booked Eurostar independently (ie. not part of a package) we are not able to use the Disney Express luggage service. We find a seat and grab a coffee. Terminal is quite busy, lots of excited children. I send the boys to ask if they can have some of the activity packs being handed out at the Disney Express desk and they come back with the booty!
We board Eurostar, coach 11 in Leisure Select. We have Club 4 seats, which are 4 seats around a table. Nice large comfy seats so we are able to spread out and relax. We set off on time and soon breakfast is served: Tropicana orange juice, mini croissant and bread roll with butter and jam, and a cheesy omelette with chicken sausage and baked beans. All quite tasty. Then a choice of tea, coffee or hot chocolate is served and later some oranges are brought round. Boys settle down to do some colouring and drawing as we speed through France. The occasional rain shower lashes at the windows. We arrive 10 minutes early and go in the lift up to the main station building.
We easily find the bus stops and wait about 5 mins for a shuttle bus to take us to Sequoia Lodge. We exit speedily and are first in line to check in, we are handed our envelope with tickets etc and asked to fill out a form. A CM then explains everything to us and gives us our room key card and resort ID card. We are in Big Sur Lodge Room 548. The room is ready so we troop off to find it. We are pleased with the room, quite a good size and nicely decorated. We dump our bags and sort out rucksacks to take to the park.
We head out and follow the signs to Disney Village and the Parks. It is a nice walk around Lake Disney. Weather is alternating sun and showers, with a chilly wind. We stop at the New York Deli for sandwiches and drinks, quite tasty, nice coffee. We finally arrive at the Disneyland Park around 3pm.
First on the list is Buzz but there is a 40 min wait and no Fastpasses left, so we head to Star Tours as our first ride. I was slightly apprehensive how DS2 would take this, but it was fine. We all enjoyed the simulator ride and everyone came out happy. We then headed over to the central hub to see the parade but we were a bit too late so didn't get a very good view.
On to Adventureland!
The boys were disappointed that the Pirate Ship was closed. We explored the caves and Adventure Isle and the Cabane de Robinsons. We then walked round to Fantasyland and went on the Circus Train (15 min wait) and the Storybook ride (5 mins wait). I didn't like the moving floor to enter the boats here, a bit disorientating. We then walked onto It's A Small World, where we were completely enchanted by the scenes around us. 
It was now about 6pm, time to head back to the hotel for dinner. We explored a few shops on the way.
A quick change in our room and we were at Hunter's Grill for 7pm, where I had reserved a table. The Beaver Creek restaurant was closed so Hunter's Grill was serving a buffet.
There was a good selection of salads and starters, including soup, and lots of main course offerings. DS1 had duck leg and chips, DS2 had pasta and a sausage, I had pork and potato dauphinois, DH had lots of different things. All washed down with a bottle of red Zinfandel, juice and water. We then sampled some of the desserts and cheese, before calling it a day about 8.30pm.
Everyone was very tired so I think we were all asleep by 9 ish!
Cast
Michelle, 36, addicted to DIS boards
DH, 38, thinks I spend too much time on DIS
DS1, 8, star performer
DS2, 5, train-mad
Taxi arrived to pick us up at 6.10am, easy trip to station, where I collect pre-ordered tickets from Fast Ticket machine. Had to buy singles as very expensive travel at this time in the morning, nearly £80 for 2 adults and 2 children! We catch the 6.40 Virgin train from Northampton to Euston, and find our reserved seats. Have to move grumpy people out of our seats who don't seem to have noticed the reserved sign above their heads! DS2 is excited to be on a Virgin train as not many stop at Northampton. One stop at Milton Keynes where another DLP-bound family join and sit near to us, more grumpy passengers had to move (we smirk to ourselves). Arrive in Euston just before 7.30am.
We decide to catch a bus down to Waterloo rather than braving the Underground in rush hour with luggage and children. 10 min bus ride to Waterloo, not crowded at all. We locate the Eurostar terminal easily, have a quick toilet stop and I track down some contact lens solution in Boots before we check in. As we have booked Eurostar independently (ie. not part of a package) we are not able to use the Disney Express luggage service. We find a seat and grab a coffee. Terminal is quite busy, lots of excited children. I send the boys to ask if they can have some of the activity packs being handed out at the Disney Express desk and they come back with the booty!
We board Eurostar, coach 11 in Leisure Select. We have Club 4 seats, which are 4 seats around a table. Nice large comfy seats so we are able to spread out and relax. We set off on time and soon breakfast is served: Tropicana orange juice, mini croissant and bread roll with butter and jam, and a cheesy omelette with chicken sausage and baked beans. All quite tasty. Then a choice of tea, coffee or hot chocolate is served and later some oranges are brought round. Boys settle down to do some colouring and drawing as we speed through France. The occasional rain shower lashes at the windows. We arrive 10 minutes early and go in the lift up to the main station building.
We easily find the bus stops and wait about 5 mins for a shuttle bus to take us to Sequoia Lodge. We exit speedily and are first in line to check in, we are handed our envelope with tickets etc and asked to fill out a form. A CM then explains everything to us and gives us our room key card and resort ID card. We are in Big Sur Lodge Room 548. The room is ready so we troop off to find it. We are pleased with the room, quite a good size and nicely decorated. We dump our bags and sort out rucksacks to take to the park.
We head out and follow the signs to Disney Village and the Parks. It is a nice walk around Lake Disney. Weather is alternating sun and showers, with a chilly wind. We stop at the New York Deli for sandwiches and drinks, quite tasty, nice coffee. We finally arrive at the Disneyland Park around 3pm.
First on the list is Buzz but there is a 40 min wait and no Fastpasses left, so we head to Star Tours as our first ride. I was slightly apprehensive how DS2 would take this, but it was fine. We all enjoyed the simulator ride and everyone came out happy. We then headed over to the central hub to see the parade but we were a bit too late so didn't get a very good view.
On to Adventureland!
The boys were disappointed that the Pirate Ship was closed. We explored the caves and Adventure Isle and the Cabane de Robinsons. We then walked round to Fantasyland and went on the Circus Train (15 min wait) and the Storybook ride (5 mins wait). I didn't like the moving floor to enter the boats here, a bit disorientating. We then walked onto It's A Small World, where we were completely enchanted by the scenes around us. It was now about 6pm, time to head back to the hotel for dinner. We explored a few shops on the way.A quick change in our room and we were at Hunter's Grill for 7pm, where I had reserved a table. The Beaver Creek restaurant was closed so Hunter's Grill was serving a buffet.
There was a good selection of salads and starters, including soup, and lots of main course offerings. DS1 had duck leg and chips, DS2 had pasta and a sausage, I had pork and potato dauphinois, DH had lots of different things. All washed down with a bottle of red Zinfandel, juice and water. We then sampled some of the desserts and cheese, before calling it a day about 8.30pm.
Everyone was very tired so I think we were all asleep by 9 ish!
We had that on both our trips and although it's very nice we just couldn't face it again so we have ordered veggy meals for August. 
