Prince Charming and his 4 Princesses at DLP - Just Back, Highs and Lows!!!

[Booknut]

I don't think i've ever done a PTR before but i'm so excited about this trip I thought i'd start one!

This is our third trip to DLP and this time we are taking my step-daughter and her little girl - so my husband is in heaven, he gets to go to Disney and spend time with all of his girls

So, who is going on this trip?

Prince Charming: AKA my hubby Phil, daddy, dad and granddad depending on who's calling him. He LOVES WDW and Florida, he's taken a while to warm to Disneyland Paris (we all have) but actually sees what a beautiful park it is and how lucky we are to have it so close to home. He loves Baloo, Grumpy (his soulmate!) and his favourite Disney Princess is Ariel as she tends to wear more interesting outfits in his opinion He likes most rides but does not like heights and super fast rides.

Charming's Wife: Eloise, that's me! I'm 38 and a complete Disney nut. I love anything Disney and spend a good deal of my spare time planning Disney holidays - in my head I have trips planned well into the 2020's... I love Mickey and Minnie, Daisy, all the Disney Fairies and Rapunzel. Oh, and Snow White of course! I love all rides and love thrill rides.

Charming's Oldest Daughter: Leanne, my step-daughter. She's 26 and a lovely girl - and definitely a daddy's girl. She has never been to any Disney park so we are really looking forward to taking her with us - its great seeing Disney through new eyes!

Charming's Youngest Daughter: Matilda, our 4 year old little princess. She is the light of our lives. She is part princess and part Stitch. She is a happy Disney loving little girl and this is her third trip to DLP. She can't remember the first two so this will be like her first time again too. Matilda has high functioning autism but this has improved SO much over the last 2 years with lots of therapy and an early intervention programme. We feel blessed at all the changes she's made and cannot wait to see her really feel the magic! She also loves fast rides, speed, thrills (she's like her mama!) and is very tall for her age so we're hoping she can try some of the faster rides like Big Thunder Mountain and Tower of Terror which I know she would LOVE!

Charming's Granddaughter: Little Eva, our sweet granddaughter. She's 2 years old and just a gorgeous little thing. She is a cheeky little monkey and I know she is going to just love everything at DLP. She will keep her granddad company whilst we gals go on the fast rides

We are going on 26th May for 4 nights. We're driving so we can bring back loads of French goodies. And it was considerably cheaper than all 5 of us on the Eurostar. I booked the Eurotunnel today and even ordered some Euros although i'm pretty sure I haven't ordered enough - its never enough

We are staying at the Hotel L'Elysee. We chose this one because it was the most affordable for 2 rooms, we got a deal for £70 a night per room which we didn't think was bad. Plus I think it has some deal with DLP so we can get in early just like those staying onsite so that is a major plus for us.

Will continue this later, am taking Prince Charming to the doctor's - and its his birthday today, 47!

 

[Verity Chambers]

Ooo Eloise, you'll have such a great time together! Do you have any concrete plans for when you are there? Or is it go with the flow?

 

[Booknut]

Hi V

If it were up to me we'd have a detailed itinerary but with 2 kids under 5 that's probably not going to work very well. We arrive on the saturday and will just check into hotel, unpack and then walk over to the Val D'Europe shopping centre and get some provisions and have dinner there. I read that Hippo is a great restaurant, I think they specialise in steaks. Then off to bed super early for Sunday!

Sunday we are doing the main park, cannot wait to see Matilda and Eva's faces when we walk down mainstreet. Monday will be the Studios and then the Village and Tuesday will be a mish mash of whatever everyone wants to do. Wednesday we travel home, if everyone is up to it we may leave early and go to Paris for a few hours.

For meals we're going to do Cafe Mickey and Annette's Diner, not sure of any others but am open to suggestions, especially for breakfast because we don't have that included in our hotel room. We'd love to do a princess meal but I dont' think the budget can stretch to that, sadly.

The most important thing is we MUST find Rapunzel as Matilda would love to meet her

 

[Ms Poppins]

You've got some great plans

It's so exciting taking newbies, especially when they're little and at that princess stage

I'm not much use with breakfast help I'm afraid, but if you're a shareholder, you could always pop into Salon Mickey? I always pack cereal bars to take too which are handy during EMH.

Look forward to hearing more

 

[jothp]

It sounds like you are going to have a great trip. It is always lovely to see the park through the eyes of children. We find the blockbuster cafe in the studios good for a light lunch and found the food in pizzeria belle notte quite good too.

 

[Booknut]

You've got some great plans

It's so exciting taking newbies, especially when they're little and at that princess stage

I'm not much use with breakfast help I'm afraid, but if you're a shareholder, you could always pop into Salon Mickey? I always pack cereal bars to take too which are handy during EMH.

Look forward to hearing more

Thanks! the cereal bar tip is definitely a good one, will pack a few of those. Would be so cool if there was just one tiny little IHOP in the village so we could have some waffles before the park opened

We're not shareholders, I did look into it last year but didn't follow through on buying them - do you know how many shares we'd need to have? And what benefits do you get? DH has a share trading account at the bank but I think with paperwork etc it might not go through in time for end of May.

It sounds like you are going to have a great trip. It is always lovely to see the park through the eyes of children. We find the blockbuster cafe in the studios good for a light lunch and found the food in pizzeria belle notte quite good too.

I really cannot wait to see their sweet little faces Matilda keeps talking about going to Disneyland to see Rapunzel and she really wants to see Tinkerbell too. I did something I was not going to do and I went on YouTube to see a bit of Disney Dreams just to see if Tinkerbell is in it in any way. She is fairy mad

BTW, is Blockbuster Cafe new, I don't remember that one. What sort of food do they serve?

 

[HFJohnson]

We're not shareholders, I did look into it last year but didn't follow through on buying them - do you know how many shares we'd need to have? And what benefits do you get? DH has a share trading account at the bank but I think with paperwork etc it might not go through in time for end of May.

You need 5 shares or more to be a member of the shareholders club but unless you have 20 or more shares you'll have to pay a 30euro fee every two years. The main benefits are access to Salon Mickey, 15% off most buffet and table service restaurants and 10% (I think) off merchandise in the shops. If you buy your shares soon you'll probably get your card before you go but I believe you can also ask for a confirmation of membership by fax which you should get pretty quickly.

For breakfast have you considered trying the DLH? You don't need to book and it costs 14 euros for adults and about 6 euros children. It's a really lovely breakfast and the restaurant overlooks the park.

 

[Booknut]

Thanks for that, will go look up share prices now.

I didn't know you could have breakfast at the DLH, that's the same price as breakfast at our hotel and infinitely 100 times better! Do you have to make a reservation? Are there any characters? Thanks again

 

[Ms Poppins]

Here's a link about it here You can purchase online very easily. I've never, ever had any share dealings before and found this very straightforward. Once purchased you print off the application form for the shareholders club, sign it, and fax or email it along with proof of your shares. You'll then get your card! If it doesn't come quickly enough, they will post you a temporary certificate. We saved loads on meals and really enjoyed Salon Mickey too

Blockbuster Cafe used to be Backlot Express. It's opposite Rock N Roller at the Studios. They do lovely Croques and Baguettes etc, counter service.

For breakfast at DLH you just go upstairs to the restaurant and say you want to have breakfast there and pay as you go in. The Characters will be just outside the restaurant beside the fireplace. Lovely

 

[Booknut]

I'm really quite excited about the Disneyland Hotel breakfast!

I don't know if I have the budget this month for those shares, April is a killer month for us, heaps of birthdays, our wedding anniversary (today!) and just had to pay the last term of fees for Matilda's Pre-school (that was an unpleasant cheque to write!). But i'll keep it in mind for next time.

At the moment i'm trying to research the area around our hotel but am not coming up with too much. I can't tell if there are lots of restaurants around the hotel (outside the shopping centre).

I also don't know the hours the parks will be open, does anyone know when they post up May hours?

 

[Carrie_Cat]

May hours are up

http://idf-actualite.disneylandparis.fr/calendrier/index.xhtml#cldr

The restaurants at Val d'Europe are open 7 days a week even when the shopping center is closed as they are at the far end of the complex

They open at 10.00 for the fast food/sandwich ones and around 11-11.30 for the others. They are open until late 23.00-00.00

There are some more at the back of the complex on the Place Toscane - a pizza place, a tapas bar-resturant, a Korean bbq, Subway and a creperie

You also have a couple of brasseries near the entrance to the RER - bus station side plus a Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant

hth

ps- Happy Wedding Anniversary

 

[Booknut]

You are a star, thank you!

Is Place Toscane near the RER/Hotel L'Elysee? I saw a map of Val D'Europe and the restaurants seem on the other side of where we are. Do you know if there are any cafe's nearby where we can grab a coffee/pain au chocolat for breakfast?

And thank you, its 11 years today, i'm a lucky girl Matilda has been wishing us a 'happy nursery' all morning

 

[Booknut]

Carrie_Cat: You lucky duck being so close to DLP, do you live in Paris? I love your signature, the frog and the Rosbif lol! My relatives in Portugal sometimes call my hubby that - i'm Canadian so they have other nicknames for me, usually something like 'the American'

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Carrie_Cat: You lucky duck being so close to DLP, do you live in Paris? I love your signature, the frog and the Rosbif lol! My relatives in Portugal sometimes call my hubby that - i'm Canadian so they have other nicknames for me, usually something like 'the American'

I lived in Paris - a 75 postcode for many many years and then we moved out here to a 77 post code 4 years ago. We will be moving back in next year though

Canadian with relatives in Portugal living in the UK ... you are pretty cosmpolite yourself Have you been in the UK long ?

 

[Booknut]

I never thought of it that way but I guess we have moved around a bit! I have lived in the UK most of my adult life, I was 22 when I left Canada and lived in Portugal for a year then moved to England 16 years ago. I really am very British now, I just don't sound it

DH is British but he's lived in Germany and Holland, grew up in Singapore - we get around

Is a 75 postcode an inner Paris postcode? I'm not too familiar with Paris other than the Arrondissements.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

You are a star, thank you!

Is Place Toscane near the RER/Hotel L'Elysee? I saw a map of Val D'Europe and the restaurants seem on the other side of where we are. Do you know if there are any cafe's nearby where we can grab a coffee/pain au chocolat for breakfast?

And thank you, its 11 years today, i'm a lucky girl Matilda has been wishing us a 'happy nursery' all morning

If you look at this plan

http://www.valdeurope.fr/files/valdeurope.fr/plans/centre/valdeurope.fr_plan_2012.pdf

Place Toscane is just behind the restaurants at the right hand side

You must be near Place d’Ariane ? If so that's the RER-bus station entrance where you've got a couple of brasseries and we saw a café-tabac to the right of the RER where I'm sure you could get coffee and tartines.

Have you had a look at Google streetview as you can see them

 

[Carrie_Cat]

I never thought of it that way but I guess we have moved around a bit! I have lived in the UK most of my adult life, I was 22 when I left Canada and lived in Portugal for a year then moved to England 16 years ago. I really am very British now, I just don't sound it

DH is British but he's lived in Germany and Holland, grew up in Singapore - we get around

Is a 75 postcode an inner Paris postcode? I'm not too familiar with Paris other than the Arrondissements.

All inner Paris (what is real Paris ) postcodes start with 75, so you go from 75001 to 75020 for the 20 arrondissements.

I started in 75016 and lived most of my time in 75015 with a short stop in 75006 so I'm a Rive Gauche person

I've been in France for 26 years and I'll never sound like it

 

[Booknut]

All inner Paris (what is real Paris ) postcodes start with 75, so you go from 75001 to 75020 for the 20 arrondissements.

I started in 75016 and lived most of my time in 75015 with a short stop in 75006 so I'm a Rive Gauche person

I've been in France for 26 years and I'll never sound like it

Rive Gauche, tres chic! 75016 is brilliant, our firm's offices are there, pretty awesome place to live

I'm trying to convince DH that we should stop in Paris on our last day, leave the hotel early and then I can drive us into Paris and find a car park somewhere central and go explore for a few hours - i'll let you know if I have any success with that

 

[Booknut]

I've made our reservations and am so excited!

We arrive on Saturday afternoon and will just be hanging out at the Val d'Europe that afternoon/evening. Haven't decided where we will eat, may just play it by ear (as nothing else we do will be played by ear).

On Sunday we are going to have a light breakfast at Salon Mickey (yup, we're shareholders now, woo hoo!) and have lunch at the Cowboy Cookout. This is a new character meal for us and i'm looking forward to lunching with Cowboy Mickey and hopefully see Woody too. Sunday evening will probably be Annette's Diner or Planet Hollywood - unless we decide to stay in the parks for Dreams, then maybe we'll eat at the Plaza Gardens which I love, has a great salad/starters bar.

Monday is our Disney Studios day. We're having breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel - quick photos with the characters hopefully - then off to Studios. We'll have a counter service meal for lunch there. Probably just share a couple of meals between the 5 of us as we'll be full from breakfast and none of us is used to big lunches. Dinner is at Cafe Mickey - and i'm soooooooooo hoping for Stitch as i've never seen him there and so many of you have met Stitch there!

Tuesday is our last day in the parks and we're going back to the Disneyland Park. Salon Mickey again for breakfast and then the big lunch at Auberge de Cendrillon - i'm so excited about seeing our sweet daughters face when she sees the princesses, she's so excited about it and keeps talking about her lunch with Cinderella. For dinner that night we may go to the village for a bite to eat at the Earl of Sandwich or maybe stay in the park for hot dogs at Casey's Corner.

Am hoping to catch Dreams a couple of times but it will be dependent on how the kiddos will cope, especially after long days in the park. Our hotel isn't too far away and we may go back for afternoon breaks if its necessary - but fingers crossed the magic keeps them going

Wednesday was going to be a Paris day. I was going to drive us back through Paris and just park up around the Arc de Triomphe/Eiffel Tower for 4 or 5 hours and we'd just do a quick tour of Paris. Depends on how everyone is feeling. If they are not up to it we'll probably just check out of the hotel, hang out at Val D'Europe, stock up on stuff from Auchan and then make our way home at a leisurely pace. I'm hoping everyone is up for Paris though, especially if the weather is nice.

Have any of you spent any time at Val D'Europe, do you like shopping there? Is the Auchan a big one?

 

[Booknut]

Hi, well we're back from our 5 day trip and although almost nothing went to plan we had a fabulous time and I cannot wait to go back

I'll do separate reviews for the Hotel L'Elysee and some of the restaurants we ate at but for now i'll just do some of our highs and lows.

Highs

Matilda meeting and hugging Rapunzel at the Princess Meet and Greet, was a dream come true for her and us!

Seeing the look on our daughter's and granddaughter's faces when they saw the castle, wonderful!

Matilda LOVING Big Thunder Mountain railroad - went on 4 times in a row!

Having the GAC card for Matilda (she has high functioning autism) - we were grateful to not have to queue for longer than 5-10 minutes on any ride, as she would not have been able to cope otherwise so i'm grateful Disney provides this for kids with special needs.

Bit of pixie dust on my first day - I got in the wrong queue to exchange my cast member ticket (that my friend who works at WDW kindly gave us) and queued for 30 minutes when all I needed to do was go to the cast member window - one of the CM's (from the UK actually!) said he wanted to repay me for having queued for so long and gave us a back entrance pass to Peter Pan so we got to just walk on when there was a 90 minute queue, magical

Going into Salon Mickey, enjoying the surroundings in there and then walking out that door into the park, really loved that

Cowboy Cookout Character Lunch - this was great fun and it was wonderful to see Matilda finally start to relax around the characters.

Lows
The heat - it was slightly oppressive, almost 30C every day, very strong sunshine, was exhausting and we spent a fortune on water and drinks!

The crowds - this was my fault as I booked during a French bank holiday, silly me! We only managed to do 3 rides on the Sunday afternoon because of the heat and crowds. So we decided to have Monday off as it was going to be just as crowded so we did the Sealife Aquarium and Val D'Europe instead (I was not impressed with either - won't be doing that again!).

Sensory Overload - Our poor daughter had 3 meltdowns in the park, combination of too many people, heat and too much to take in. She had a massive meltdown for about 30 minutes outside Auberge de Cendrillon right before our lunch and we ended up not doing it which was sad but she was just too anxious about it. This was really down to me not having prepared her enough before the trip so I take the blame for that.

Disappointing cast members - we did meet some great cast members but, again, as many times before, we just cannot fathom the attitude of some cast members. I know people have bad days, we've had slightly cranky or 'off' CM's in Florida, but honestly, at DLP there are just dozens and dozens of them and they do spoil the holiday a bit. I'm not comparing parks and I love DLP, I just think the CM's need to have some more education in their attitude towards people. We all pay a lot of money to go and have a magical time and we were constantly seeing people frustrated, angry and confused at how they were being treated by CM's - one example we saw over and over again was people queueing to buy food for 10-15 minutes only to be told that window wasn't open - there was no sign to say it was closed, no one had said 'please move away' and I saw a lot of people lose their temper because of this.

Missing Dreams - I desperately wanted to see this but it was just on too late, around 10.45pm, no one in the group could handle staying that late and Matilda wouldn't have coped with my staying behind in the park to watch it so I didn't get to see it. On a brighter note, Phil says maybe we can squeeze in a 2 night trip to see them at some point so I need to research when they might finish.

All in all it was a good trip but very exhausting. Staying offsite was new for us, nice hotel although I found the whole area quite soulless and slightly 'Stepford'ish', don't know if i'd stay there again although the transport was great to and from the parks.

Don't think we'll drive again either, that was also exhausting so its Eurostar from now on.

Each new trip has new things that are good and bad and the way I see it it will just make things better for our next trip