Trip Report feb 2022: The Fab 4 have February Fun :-)

[zinderella]

Who
DM: Me (old enough to know better)
DD1 19yo
DD2 16yo
DD2's Friend 16yo

When
Feb 2022 (postponed from Feb21) 2N/3D

Where
Newport Bay Club Hotel - CLUB Level (Woop Woop more on that later)

Why
Does there really need to be a why? It's Disneyland Paris!!! But seriously, a bit of context would be good. This was planned for last year, and I booked it during one of the lockdowns as something for the offspring to look forward to and to say thanks for being troopers with the whole online learning thing, and for coping with lots of mental health stuff and ASD diagnosis for one offspring, and ongoing issues for the other one. (who is it who needs a break again?? LOL). Disneyland Paris has always been our happy place, even though wider family just don't get why we need to go back (and back and back and back) we are very comfortable with our addiction!!! Or as I call it, medication!!!!

When will you get to the Point?
Right now this is really just a placeholder for my pre-trip report. There won't be much to see for a while folks in terms of concrete plans or decisions, but I will be posting plans and asking for people to make my mind up about certain things, as that's never been a strong point

Index
Day 1 - Travel to Kent, stay over night near Le Shuttle at Folkestone
Day 2 - Travel to France early-ish, do something quintessentially French stay close to DLP
Day 3 - Check in to Newport Bay Club Hotel extremely early, dump luggage and pick up tickets at Compass Club check-in desk and speed to the park! YAY!
Day 4 - EMH and Full day in the parks, pack luggage
Day 5 - EMH, Check out, 10pm Le Shuttle, stay overnight in Kent
Day 6 - Travel back 'home'

 

[zinderella]

QUESTION: What is the earliest time you've ever checked into Disney hotel??
I'm hoping to get my park tickets about 7.30 am, will the Compass Club desk be open that early??

 

[Karin1984]

I checked in the day before two weeks ago in New Port Bay. Online check in should work now, and you only have to go by the desk to get your tickets/roomkeys. Online check in wasn't available. I was staying in a different hotel for my first night, but I was already on Disney grounds. I went by the desk, handled my check in, got my tickets. I had to get by the next day to get my room number. The following day, I was around 7:30 at New Port Bay. There was a room ready for me. However, the CM told me that nowadays they have also implemented that they can text you your room number.

I'm 90% sure that Compass Club Desk was already open, but I didn't pay attention to this.
Either way, getting your park tickets shouldn't be a problem.

 

[zinderella]

@karin I had forgotten about online check in!!!!! Thank you hope it works by February

 

[zinderella]

Update: Hurrah!
Looks like we are going thanks to France letting us back in! So last week I added my daughter's friend to the booking (not very expensive at all), and started looking at booking my crossing...oh wow ..how expensive????? Ok so normally when we travel it's around 200 - 250 for a return trip on the chunnel. How on earth is it now DOUBLE that???? Is it just that I now have a van not a car, and that I normally book about 6 months in advance and choose the cheapest option.....Yes , probably all of that!!! So logically I think I understand but am still feeling it's a horrendous jump? Might look at ferry instead?

More updates: this time let's talk about FOOD
So when I first booked this package all those years, yes years, ago.... 25% off hotel, E100 gift card and free dining plan.... we had this idea of well it's basically free food, and it's on the plus dining plan so let's eat at places we never normally would afford to. On this basis we chose Remy's coz everytime we ride the ride, we peek in and say how we would love to dine there. That was the dream anyhow.

Fast forward to now and we are looking at the menu and everyone other than me thinks there's not enough food on there that they would eat so it would be a waste, plus it would have to be a lunchtime meal and we want at least one evening meal. The kids wanted Billy Bob's in the Village (but we couldnt get a booking before 8.30 at night) and Plaza Gardens - annoying coz you can do those on the standard dining plan - because they are buffets and they love buffets. In an attempt to make the most of our Dining Plan and satisfy the buffet lovers, I have booked the following:
Tuesday - 6pm Plaza Gardens coz it's in the park and it's a buffet, and we can do rides in the dark after dinner.
Wednesday - 1pm Silver Spur (with a reserve booking for 8.30 Billy Bob's just incase something happens)
The menu looks rather nice, and there seem to be decent vegan options for the child who said they were suspending their veganism for Disney but has now back-tracked!!

If anyone has recently eaten at Silver Spur or has other suggestions for my dining plan ideas, I am all ears!

 

[zinderella]

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

It's really happening, in 3 days time we will be at Disneyland Paris....YIPPEEEEE

​

 

[zinderella]

Day 1 - Travel to Kent, stay over night near Le Shuttle at Folkestone

Dear Eunice, thanks for providing me with the ride of a lifetime...... We left not so sunny Cornwall for our 8 hour drive to Folkestone in 50mph winds that just increased the nearer to Kent that we got. It was the first time I had driven the van further than Plymouth, so was a little apprehensive of my own skills, but seriously I have realised that I have missed my vocation as a small van driver...I LOVED IT!!!!

We had a bit of diversion to deal with as the M4 was closed but nothing complicated and arrived at the Premier Inn in Folkestone in the early evening. We ordered in a KFC, much to the offsprings' delight (we don't do much fast food at home so this was a treat as far as they were concerned!) and tried to settle in for an early night in prep for an early departure the next day. Ha! I should have known better....I never sleep well the night before a crossing as I am too busy convincing myself I have forgotten something essential, and with all of the Covid stuff, declarations, vaccination passes etc I had plenty to worry about!

I got the tribe to complete their 'Police forms' that are required at check in for the Newport Bay, we did online check in before we left home, and I downloaded the forms and printed them off ready to save us time when we did our early morning check in at the Compass Club desk. It really did save us time by the way - I recommend it.

 

[zinderella]

Day 2 - Travel to France early-ish, do something quintessentially French

Ah well, after 3- 4 hours of solid sleep (who needs it anyway) I got up, made my last cup of tea on UK soil for a few days and quietly got ready whilst the tribe slept on. We didin't do the fabulous Premier Inn brekkie, instead opting for something from the Terminal during the time between Shuttle checkin and boarding due to time. Oh was that a mistake!!!! I think it cost me stupid amounts of money for a really shoddy breakfast from Starbucks - a dry horrible bacon sarnie which they would not take back and only offered me ketchup to make it less dry. Very very not impressed. Luckily the only yuck food we had on the whole holiday!

And just as we had finished our last slurp of coffee, we were called for boarding which was swift, hassle free and we left on time. As I was in a van not car, I had to drive down with the lorries and board a double height carriage - now I understand why my ticket was twice the price it normally is. All makes sense now . The passage was uneventful, we never get out of the vehicle anyway so the current covid restrictions to not leave made no difference to us. Just a warning to others...the toilets are closed and you do need to go before you board!

We had planned to go to Compiegne on the way down, but the weather was awful and instead opted for a drive through the French countryside and old battlefields where we saw many war memorials, beautiful fairytale villages, old chateaus and grand farms. It was a beautiful and sometimes sobering experience, something we had never done before and I have resolved to do more of this on subsequent visits. We never got truly lost, but def wandered off the path a few times and really enjoyed it, oh and cheaper on the tolls too!

We got to the Campanile about 3pm which was checkin time, provided the Coivd passess for me and my 19y/o and received a wristband proving my vax status and allowing us into Disney Village without having to constantly prove our status. It was simple and it worked well. No one was interested in the vax status of the under 18y/os. We went up to our room, which was functional and to be perfectly honest a little cramped for 4 proper sized humans, but it was a short stay and did what it needed to do and was Euros 88, not as cheap as Premier Inn, but near to the Disney 'Bubble' and OK for our needs. The weather was not as pictured below it was howling wind, driving rain but hey! We did not care....we were headed off to Disney Village on the shuttle bus. Yiippeeeee!!



Getting off the bus next to Chessy Station and walking into Disney Village (after bag check of course!) it finally hit me, planning mode and travel mode was over, I was finally in the moment, finally here.....and I cried. Despite the masks and the extra arrangements, it finally felt like things could get back to normal, and it was such a relief.

Food had to come first as we had only snacked on the way down and were all starving, so off to King Ludwigs for a much deserved beer (oh and a lovley meal too...lol). I had the first of many great steaks of my holiday...in fact they deserve their own blog!!! The younger offspring had virgin mojitos which they loved, and delicious fish and chips, older DD enjoyed the burger option and we saved desert for the food cabins in the Village that had all manner of sweet treats but I forgot to photo them.



We then went and looked around shops to spot things we might be too tired later in the visit to bother with like the Lego Store. The were not many folks around so it was a pleasure to browse all of the shops. Might consider more February trips on the strength of this visit. The wind had dropped by the time we got to the Village and it was lovely to walk around and be back to our happy place.



We caught the bus back to the Campanile for an earlyish night, resulting in another not great night's sleep as the room was boiling hot with no way to control the temperature it became a bit stiffling. But hey ho, things were about to get much better.........squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

 

[zinderella]

Day 3 - Check in to Newport Bay Club Hotel extremely early, dump luggage and pick up tickets at Compass Club check-in desk and speed to the park! YAY!



Oh my....we could not wait to jump back in the van and pootle down the road to the Newport Bay Club hotel, and we were there by 8am. Went through bag scanners and then got our Covid vax status wristbands after showing the NHS App, this meant free and easy access into Disney Village and the Parks etc.

Went to the Compass Club check-in area, which was where the magic started for real for this portion of the holiday. Our lovely CM was Bruno...and yes we do have to talk about Bruno. He was AMAZING and lovely and treated us all (esp the kids) so well. Ok so I was blown away with the treatment and level of service as it was....but when Bruno offered to upgrade us (for all the trouble we had with our booking??? apparently!) to a 5 bed family room I was beside myself. I couldnt stop grinning and saying thank you (I am clearly not usually a club level person....lol). Bruno called another CM to escort the kids to the Compass Club lounge while we did all of the check in stuff, where they had a lovely time and were plied with drinks and pain au chocolat. Once we had finished, we joined them for a coffee and tried not to just relax and chill as we were meant to be legging it to the Park!!!! I collected my Easy Pass from the Concierge desk and we were off for our first day of magic with big cheesy grins on our faces, after a brief stop at MacDonalds for a quick breakfast.

Ok so we had already braced ourselves for not being able to do Small World as our first ride - it's a family tradition - but more than made up for it with a Pirates walk-on during the tail end of EMH. THAT was an impressive first ride for our daughter's BF. I just have to say a huge congratulations to the maintenance folks at DLP. Now, those of you who are regular visitors will know that in the past it was pretty well impossibe to ride Pirates with all of the effects working.....welll the 30th Anniversary has certainly focused attention on getting everything refreshed and in the best possible condition. The swinging pirate was indeed swinging, ALL of the animatronics in the main room were working, one's that I never realised could move were moving. It was so good to see. We of course rode more than once!

Big Thunder Mountain
Space Mountain
Buzz Lightyear
Star Tours
Autopia
Teacups
Parade
Plaza Gardens
Shopping in World of Disney - New Ears!!!!

[more coming soon]

 

[zinderella]

Day 4 - EMH and Full day in the parks

We started the day with EMH at the Studios, and because we refused to sprint (I physically cannot make my feet do that so that was never an option, LOL) we strolled through, playing peekaboo with Goofy and waving and blowing kisses to Mickey on our way back out into the brief sunshine. Once we realised Crush already had a monster queue, we opted for Tower of Terror as our first ride (I have no clue what I was thinking...breakfast had not been that long ago...but in our family, adrenaline and caffeine seem to have the same effect so maybe THAT was my reasonning!) The hotel staff were suitably spooky and we all laughed at the 'Good Evening' greetings from the cast members, having to explain to our newbie guest that it's always evening at the Hollywood Tower Hotel!!! It was made a bit spookier as by the time we got off the ride, the park was blanketed in a thick mist that didn't dissipate until much later in the day.
Flying Carpets
Crush
Rat
Cars Tram Tour
[rest coming soon]

 

[zinderella]

Day 5 - EMH, Check out, 10pm Le Shuttle, stay overnight in Kent
Dumbo
Carousel de Lancelot
Peter Pan

Studio Park



[coming soon]