The cast: Me (Cathy) late-blooming Disney fan and obsessive planner
DH (Elliot) easy-going, hard-working, can’t really understand what all the fuss is about
DS (Dylan, 6) and DD (Freya, 3) - both loved DLRP in February and very excited to be back!
Day 1
We left our house on Friday night after DH got home from work and negotiated the M40 and M25 to stay the night at my parent’s house in Kent. Then up super-early the next day for the drive to Dover and the ferry. I would always opt for Eurotunnel myself, but we booked this holiday through French Life so that we could use Tesco clubcard deals, and the ferry was included in the price. By the time I knew I could change to Eurotunnel, it would have been £100 more. The crossing was fine though, and a nice change for the children – at least they didn’t have to stay in the car. 4 hours and 2 DVDs later, we arrive at DLRP and park in the main car park. By this time it’s late afternoon and to the children's disgust we have to stand in a big queue at Guest Relations to get our temporary APs, then go to get them changed at the AP office. Then we are the proud owners of 4 Dream APs. I just got my credit card statement yesterday though and they are a lot more expensive than they would have been in February!
Since it was now quite late and we still had to find the campsite where we were staying, we decided to go to the Rainforest Café as a treat for DS who had been asking to go there in February. Personally I don’t have good experiences of this chain so wasn’t keen, but actually the food we had was very good and the portions were HUGE! DH and I each had a starter and a main and if I had known just how big the portions were we would have just shared a main and still been full! DH had some kind of steak kebab which was so big it looked like it came on a sword, and I had the tortilla salad trio. We used the Carte Dejeuners which came in the AP package, and had no problem getting 20% off here or anywhere else in the Village.
The campsite, Les Etangs Fleuris at Touquin, was easy to find but it is a 30 minute drive (past DCR) from the carpark. It is run entirely by Canvas Holidays and Canvas Life, so has a very British feel and has a British representative from both companies onsite. The Canvas Life rep was a 19 year old boy….couldn’t help thinking he should be out partying rather than stuck on his own in a caravan in the middle of nowhere all day! The caravan is of a similar size to the 2 bed at DCR, but newer. The kitchen is slightly differently equipped – a proper cooker with oven, but no dishwasher or microwave. There is a bar onsite which offers takeaways in high season and there is a laundrette and swimming pool, but we didn’t go to any of these. There was an ant problem in the caravan, but I know DCR has this too. Also our toilet didn’t flush and the 19 yr old rep couldn’t fix it, but it worked with the lid off the top, so it was like that for the week. It didn’t bother us, especially since we were out for more than 12 hours a day, but it’s the kind of thing which would have been fixed at a bigger place.
Day 2
Sunday, so we knew the park would be busy. We took advantage of EMH (although we never managed to get there before 8.20 all week – it’s hard when your 30 mins drive away!) and did Buzz twice since this was all DD had been talking about. I managed my usual awful score. Why is it my laser gun never works properly?! Also got on Orbitron twice and DS decided he wanted to go on his own the second time but rather regretted it. We decided to take advantage of our new shareholder status and sample Salon Mickey – it felt very grand! Then over to the Studios and straight into Animagique, Flying Carpets twice with Fastpass (SO much better than Dumbo), and we saw the Cinemagique show for the first time. Then time for our 12 o clock reservation at the Steakhouse in the Village for the character brunch. We really rated this and would definitely do it again. The buffet was scrumptious – a huge steak, seafood, salads, bread, pastries, delicious desserts. Drinks included too – even wine which you could help yourself to (we didn’t).
We saw Mickey, Friar Tuck, Pinnochio, Geppetto (who spent ages with DS drawing a Mickey face in his autograph book) and Baloo.
The children wanted to buy a toy so we wandered around the shop for a while and came out with 2 Stitches, one blue one pink.
Back into MK for a scoot around AdventureLand before our sitting at Walt’s in time to see the parade. We went in early to ask for a window seat and were lucky to get a great view. So did Stitch.
I thought the food was good here but not wonderful. We both had the clam chowder and it was not hot enough for me, but the children loved to see the parade.
We were all exhausted by now so we decided to go back to the caravan where DS could continue his ant-spotting obsession.
Day 3
Back in for EMH and we managed 3 walk-ons to Peter Pan, Dumbo, the carousel, and the teacups all before 9.20, then headed off to Salon Mickey for some sustenance. Since breakfast is of course not included at the campsite the children had been eating mini cereal boxes in the car (in dire need of a vacuum now) and DH and I weren’t eating or drinking anything at all so Salon Mickey was most welcome. The croissants and pain au chocolat here are among the best I’ve tasted, too! After this we head to Frontierland to get Fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain which DS has decided he will be brave enough to try. We get 4 FPs and to our great surprise DS goes on once and immediately wants to go on again, so I take him this time – brave for me too since I don’t like rollercoasters. We are seated at the front and this time DS doesn’t like it – it only occurs to me a few hours later that it’s probably because it goes faster at the front or something like that. Retreating from Frontierland we decide to visit POTC which last time we came in February totally freaked DD out, and she refused to go on it again. However in the intervening months we had been talking about it, and she went on it without a hitch despite the queuing area being so dark (it was a walk-on but at times I had no idea where I was putting my foot in the dark), to our amazement. We had lunch booked at the Blue Lagoon and asked for a table on ‘the beach’. The food here was a disappointment. My prawn cocktail had a horrible flavour and the rest was not worth the high prices. Lovely setting, but we won’t be eating here again. DH had been really looking forward to it and planning to eat here when we come in October (can you tell he obsesses about food?) but it is definitely off our list.
After lunch we wanted to do more of the things we didn’t manage in February, so headed over to Discoveryland to see the Lion King but found it wasn’t on all week – another big disappointment. Still, we watched Honey I Shrunk the Audience (DD kept taking her glasses off which was probably a good thing!) and DS tried Star Tours and absolutely loved it so went twice with DH. DD was very happy climbing on things outside and making friends with other little girls of different nationalities who were probably also waiting for their older brothers to come off Star Tours. I don’t remember where we ate that evening but I suspect we just grabbed something quick and drove off to our beds.
DH (Elliot) easy-going, hard-working, can’t really understand what all the fuss is about
DS (Dylan, 6) and DD (Freya, 3) - both loved DLRP in February and very excited to be back!
Day 1
We left our house on Friday night after DH got home from work and negotiated the M40 and M25 to stay the night at my parent’s house in Kent. Then up super-early the next day for the drive to Dover and the ferry. I would always opt for Eurotunnel myself, but we booked this holiday through French Life so that we could use Tesco clubcard deals, and the ferry was included in the price. By the time I knew I could change to Eurotunnel, it would have been £100 more. The crossing was fine though, and a nice change for the children – at least they didn’t have to stay in the car. 4 hours and 2 DVDs later, we arrive at DLRP and park in the main car park. By this time it’s late afternoon and to the children's disgust we have to stand in a big queue at Guest Relations to get our temporary APs, then go to get them changed at the AP office. Then we are the proud owners of 4 Dream APs. I just got my credit card statement yesterday though and they are a lot more expensive than they would have been in February!
Since it was now quite late and we still had to find the campsite where we were staying, we decided to go to the Rainforest Café as a treat for DS who had been asking to go there in February. Personally I don’t have good experiences of this chain so wasn’t keen, but actually the food we had was very good and the portions were HUGE! DH and I each had a starter and a main and if I had known just how big the portions were we would have just shared a main and still been full! DH had some kind of steak kebab which was so big it looked like it came on a sword, and I had the tortilla salad trio. We used the Carte Dejeuners which came in the AP package, and had no problem getting 20% off here or anywhere else in the Village.
The campsite, Les Etangs Fleuris at Touquin, was easy to find but it is a 30 minute drive (past DCR) from the carpark. It is run entirely by Canvas Holidays and Canvas Life, so has a very British feel and has a British representative from both companies onsite. The Canvas Life rep was a 19 year old boy….couldn’t help thinking he should be out partying rather than stuck on his own in a caravan in the middle of nowhere all day! The caravan is of a similar size to the 2 bed at DCR, but newer. The kitchen is slightly differently equipped – a proper cooker with oven, but no dishwasher or microwave. There is a bar onsite which offers takeaways in high season and there is a laundrette and swimming pool, but we didn’t go to any of these. There was an ant problem in the caravan, but I know DCR has this too. Also our toilet didn’t flush and the 19 yr old rep couldn’t fix it, but it worked with the lid off the top, so it was like that for the week. It didn’t bother us, especially since we were out for more than 12 hours a day, but it’s the kind of thing which would have been fixed at a bigger place.
Day 2
Sunday, so we knew the park would be busy. We took advantage of EMH (although we never managed to get there before 8.20 all week – it’s hard when your 30 mins drive away!) and did Buzz twice since this was all DD had been talking about. I managed my usual awful score. Why is it my laser gun never works properly?! Also got on Orbitron twice and DS decided he wanted to go on his own the second time but rather regretted it. We decided to take advantage of our new shareholder status and sample Salon Mickey – it felt very grand! Then over to the Studios and straight into Animagique, Flying Carpets twice with Fastpass (SO much better than Dumbo), and we saw the Cinemagique show for the first time. Then time for our 12 o clock reservation at the Steakhouse in the Village for the character brunch. We really rated this and would definitely do it again. The buffet was scrumptious – a huge steak, seafood, salads, bread, pastries, delicious desserts. Drinks included too – even wine which you could help yourself to (we didn’t).
We saw Mickey, Friar Tuck, Pinnochio, Geppetto (who spent ages with DS drawing a Mickey face in his autograph book) and Baloo.
The children wanted to buy a toy so we wandered around the shop for a while and came out with 2 Stitches, one blue one pink.
Back into MK for a scoot around AdventureLand before our sitting at Walt’s in time to see the parade. We went in early to ask for a window seat and were lucky to get a great view. So did Stitch.
I thought the food was good here but not wonderful. We both had the clam chowder and it was not hot enough for me, but the children loved to see the parade.
We were all exhausted by now so we decided to go back to the caravan where DS could continue his ant-spotting obsession.
Day 3
Back in for EMH and we managed 3 walk-ons to Peter Pan, Dumbo, the carousel, and the teacups all before 9.20, then headed off to Salon Mickey for some sustenance. Since breakfast is of course not included at the campsite the children had been eating mini cereal boxes in the car (in dire need of a vacuum now) and DH and I weren’t eating or drinking anything at all so Salon Mickey was most welcome. The croissants and pain au chocolat here are among the best I’ve tasted, too! After this we head to Frontierland to get Fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain which DS has decided he will be brave enough to try. We get 4 FPs and to our great surprise DS goes on once and immediately wants to go on again, so I take him this time – brave for me too since I don’t like rollercoasters. We are seated at the front and this time DS doesn’t like it – it only occurs to me a few hours later that it’s probably because it goes faster at the front or something like that. Retreating from Frontierland we decide to visit POTC which last time we came in February totally freaked DD out, and she refused to go on it again. However in the intervening months we had been talking about it, and she went on it without a hitch despite the queuing area being so dark (it was a walk-on but at times I had no idea where I was putting my foot in the dark), to our amazement. We had lunch booked at the Blue Lagoon and asked for a table on ‘the beach’. The food here was a disappointment. My prawn cocktail had a horrible flavour and the rest was not worth the high prices. Lovely setting, but we won’t be eating here again. DH had been really looking forward to it and planning to eat here when we come in October (can you tell he obsesses about food?) but it is definitely off our list.
After lunch we wanted to do more of the things we didn’t manage in February, so headed over to Discoveryland to see the Lion King but found it wasn’t on all week – another big disappointment. Still, we watched Honey I Shrunk the Audience (DD kept taking her glasses off which was probably a good thing!) and DS tried Star Tours and absolutely loved it so went twice with DH. DD was very happy climbing on things outside and making friends with other little girls of different nationalities who were probably also waiting for their older brothers to come off Star Tours. I don’t remember where we ate that evening but I suspect we just grabbed something quick and drove off to our beds.
