Hey all
Thought I would share our DLP experience which we got back from at around midnight last night.
WHEN:
Monday 14th Sept - Thursday 17th Sept
WHO:
Me (Louis) aged 34
The missus (Elaine) aged 27
The daughter (Seran) aged almost 2
The nephew (Jake) aged 5 3/4
TRAVEL:
We went with EasyJet from Liverpool (Lennon) airport, not the best of stories to be honest and I have to admit I'm more than a little disgusted at their lack of organisation. We arrived the night before and stayed in the Holiday Inn at the airport which was good for what we needed, clean, the kids had one bed and we had the other, breakfast from 4am (our shuttle bus to the airport was at 5.30am). Only complaint (of sorts) was the little one waking in the middle of the night for 2 hours and not wanting to go back to sleep in a hurry!
Got to airport just before check in opened but in Liverpool ALL EasyJet flights queue in the same area with about 10 check in desks open, whihc basically meant a longer queuing time for all involved. I did notice that when it was close to check in closing for a few flights a woman called passengers from the queue forward to avoid missing their flights, great stuff, however, they didn't bother doing that with Paris, so by the time we checked in it was 10 minutes until BOARDING closed, we had to run from the check in desks, try and grab some coffee and milk for the little one and then throw it away immediately because we weren't allowed to take it though and weren't told what was where or anything, then ran to security, they held us up even though we told them our boarding was about to close, we had 2 kids and it was check ins fault we were late! FINALLY got through (no thanks to the security woman, I understand she was doing her job but a bit of helpfulness could have cost her nothing). Got to the boarding area with seconds to spare (there were nothing but stair but luckily there was a man on his way down who gave me a hand as our buggy is heavy!) and got on the plane with no problems. Good problem free flight, arrived on time, got luggage no problem and private taxi shuttle bus was there on time (minus car seat which we had ordered but never mind).
HOTEL:
Stayed in Cheyenne first time (12 years ago), Newport in 06 and Sequoia Lodge this time, was clean and all of the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. We arrived at around 11am and they let us check in straight away as it wasn't too busy, so we got to get our luggage to the room, grab a change of clothes for the kids and get straight into the park for a full day (almost)...
GOOD POINTS: Clean room, helpful and friendly staff, VERY close to Disney Village if walking, awesome power shower!
BAD POINT: Buffet is NOT recommended at all, 26 per adult and not good at all... Pool was closed which we weren't told about at time of booking, which wasn't the end of the world as who comes to DLP to swim anyway!
DAY ONE:
Headed into the park for about lunchtime, after queing to meet Mickey first of all (which went down pretty well considering jake hated the characters the first time we went with him and Seran is not quite 2 yet) Jake was hungry and demanded a hot dog so we headed to Caseys and got a large meal and a kids meal between the 4 of us for 12.95 which was pretty reasonable as the dogs were huge and the fries plentiful. Then headed into Discoveryland and straight to Buzz Lightyear ride on request of Jake, Seran loved everything we did here, its great to see their little faces for the first time! Spent the rest of the day with zero plans and ambled around the park aimlessly until it closed at 7pm. Went back to the room then to clean up a little 'accident' that an over excited Jake had then back to the Rainforest Cafe where we both had the 19.95 deal for a main and a dessert while Jake had a kids meal which he shared with Seran to save money - neither of them ate a thing and Jake fell asleep on the chair beside me while Seran had grumpy fits periodically!!! Then back to the room and straight to bed for the kids, which would have worked well apart from the fact that Seran freaked out at midnight and screamed solidly until 2am! Still, turned off the alarm and got some sleep eventually!
DAY 2:
Headed down for breakfast a little late after last nights shenanigans with Seran, reasonable selection of foods, no bread left for toast though and the kids weren't keen on the cereal as the milk is so different to ours. Into the Studios park for a little after 10 which was plenty early enough for the Studios which doesn't offer the free magic hours like the main park does. Did Stitch Live first - AWESOME, such a good show very creative and extremely funny, then Elaine took the kids to Playhouse Disney Live while I nipped off to go on Tower of Terror (also awesome, squeezed 2 goes on actually and because I was alone I skipped half the queue so they could fill the single spaces!). Found time to squeeze everything in, highlights of the day were Stitch Live, Tower of Terror, PHD Live for the kids (they loved it apparently) and the Back Lot Tour which was really interesting actually, plus the Catastrophe Canyon bit was brilliant for the kids and Jake thought there was a real dragon in the pit in the Reign of Fire area! Biggest downer was the Crushes Coaster actually, a huge long queue for a very disappointing ride, Jake hated it as did Elaine while I thought it was just very diappointing, could have done with more light to show the kids stuff, its darker than Space Mountain inside! Amusing moment was when the other two were in Crushes Coaster I noticed Buzz Lightyear and Remy the rat arrive outside and although Seran was asleep I thought I would amble over anyway and get a picture and an autograph for Serans book, the CH for Remy was English and a really nice guy called Paul, I asked him if Remy was 'English ' or 'French' today and he replied English so I ended up having a half silent coversation with Remy for 5 minutes, very funny! After the Studios headed back to the Park till 7.30 then headed to Planet Hollywood where we wisely booked a table for that time, took forever to get served however so we were still back REALLY late and Seran wouldn't go to sleep until 2am again after learning 'You Can Fly' on Peter Pans Flight and singing it over and over again till we went a bit crazy! HIGHLY recommend the ribs in PH, gorgeous meal! Great value for money as well especially as we took out copy of 'The Brits Guide To DLP' and got 20% off so the kids ate free!!!
DAY 3:
Full day in the park where we squeezed everything but Dumbo, Pinnochio and Snow White in, good day, met characters, caught the parade but the lack of sleep caught up with us and Elaine didn't feel too great so we got the kids nuggets and fried in McDonalds (FINALLY they ate somethign!) then headed straight back to the hotel for about 8 and stayed there for food, went to the Beaver Creek Restaurant (is that right) for the buffet which the kids didn't partake in, but Elaine ate nothing more than a chicken wing and I barely ate anything but dessert and a few chips as it was BAD food... the manager was really nice though and took Elaines meal off the bill so we only paid 33 for my food and drinks, which is why I made the most of 4 desserts lol!!! Back to the room afterwards where Seran eventually fell asleep in her buggy after a walk and didn't wake until the following morning (thank you god).
DAY 4:
LAST DAY!!! Up at 7am to get to Cafe Mickey for 8am breakfast, managed to finish packing, check out and leave luggage at entrance in this time too! Bit of a rip off as for 45 we got the same breakfast as in the hotel but with additional bacon, sausages, potatos and eggs. Still worth it for the amount of time spent with the characters up close and more personal.
Went into the park after breakfast, did Dumbo twice in a row then went on all the rides the kids had liked best again before heading to the Studios to FINALLY meet Stitch (our favourite)! Managed to meet loads of characters throughout the day and the CH Paul from the Tuesday was with Goofy this time and snuck us off for some private photo opps with him without the idiots who were trying to barge in front of Seran and Jake.
Back to the hotel for 5.30pm for pick up by taxi at 6.30pm, worst airport experience EVER at CDG afterwards and anyone else on the forum who was on the 21.50 flight to Liverpool will agree with me I'm sure! Home on time though and picked up by Nannie who got us home for midnight where the two of us literally fell into bed!!! Up at 7am this morning with the monkey however and I am SHATTERED while Elaine slumbers on upstairs in bed because she has a toothache lol!
BEST MOMENTS:
Jake getting picked out of the audience by Stitch in Stitch Live (the second time around).
Seran meeting the characters for the first time.
Serans face on Dumbo.
Jake and Seran holding hands and walking through the park (he is a boys boy, doesn't hold hands).
Chatting to Remy the rat for 5 mins!
Prince John at the character breakfast, pretending to slap Elaine and then looking terribly guilty as Seran burst into tears because the big lion hit her mummy!
Seran singing 'You Can Fly' the entire time EXCEPT for when Peter Pan asked her to sing it to him!!!
Personal touch with Goofy and Captain Jack Sparrow.
WORST BITS:
The shoving and pushiness of everyone that wasn't English and all the teenagers and adult who seem to think that they are more entitled to get in with the characters BEFORE the kids who were ahead of them in the queue!
The miserable faces of people in the parks in general (for no reason!) and also the fact that adults who were obviously there without kids kept scowling at any kids they saw screaming with enjoyment and excitement - I wanted to slap them and say 'YOU'RE IN DISNEYLAND!!!'
Poor Jake who got so tired on the way home that he just kept crying until we had been in the car on the way home for 20 minutes.
Elaine getting sick and also her poor aunt dying (which was expected, just not while we were away). She was a total trooper though so fair play to her considering!
Seran and her lack of sleeping habits!
The buffet in the hotel and in Cafe Mickey.
OVERALL:
Overall we had a few down moments and we are extremely tired after a complete lack of sleep and an emmense amount of walking but we did have great fun in the daytime, thoroughly enjoyed it and would do it again in a heartbeat but out of season again as I hate queues and would have killed someone probably lol! Maybe Christmas or Halloween before it gets busy next time and would probably Eurostar it next time too. Maybe even Florida!
Thought I would share our DLP experience which we got back from at around midnight last night.
WHEN:
Monday 14th Sept - Thursday 17th Sept
WHO:
Me (Louis) aged 34
The missus (Elaine) aged 27
The daughter (Seran) aged almost 2
The nephew (Jake) aged 5 3/4
TRAVEL:
We went with EasyJet from Liverpool (Lennon) airport, not the best of stories to be honest and I have to admit I'm more than a little disgusted at their lack of organisation. We arrived the night before and stayed in the Holiday Inn at the airport which was good for what we needed, clean, the kids had one bed and we had the other, breakfast from 4am (our shuttle bus to the airport was at 5.30am). Only complaint (of sorts) was the little one waking in the middle of the night for 2 hours and not wanting to go back to sleep in a hurry!
Got to airport just before check in opened but in Liverpool ALL EasyJet flights queue in the same area with about 10 check in desks open, whihc basically meant a longer queuing time for all involved. I did notice that when it was close to check in closing for a few flights a woman called passengers from the queue forward to avoid missing their flights, great stuff, however, they didn't bother doing that with Paris, so by the time we checked in it was 10 minutes until BOARDING closed, we had to run from the check in desks, try and grab some coffee and milk for the little one and then throw it away immediately because we weren't allowed to take it though and weren't told what was where or anything, then ran to security, they held us up even though we told them our boarding was about to close, we had 2 kids and it was check ins fault we were late! FINALLY got through (no thanks to the security woman, I understand she was doing her job but a bit of helpfulness could have cost her nothing). Got to the boarding area with seconds to spare (there were nothing but stair but luckily there was a man on his way down who gave me a hand as our buggy is heavy!) and got on the plane with no problems. Good problem free flight, arrived on time, got luggage no problem and private taxi shuttle bus was there on time (minus car seat which we had ordered but never mind).
HOTEL:
Stayed in Cheyenne first time (12 years ago), Newport in 06 and Sequoia Lodge this time, was clean and all of the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. We arrived at around 11am and they let us check in straight away as it wasn't too busy, so we got to get our luggage to the room, grab a change of clothes for the kids and get straight into the park for a full day (almost)...
GOOD POINTS: Clean room, helpful and friendly staff, VERY close to Disney Village if walking, awesome power shower!
BAD POINT: Buffet is NOT recommended at all, 26 per adult and not good at all... Pool was closed which we weren't told about at time of booking, which wasn't the end of the world as who comes to DLP to swim anyway!
DAY ONE:
Headed into the park for about lunchtime, after queing to meet Mickey first of all (which went down pretty well considering jake hated the characters the first time we went with him and Seran is not quite 2 yet) Jake was hungry and demanded a hot dog so we headed to Caseys and got a large meal and a kids meal between the 4 of us for 12.95 which was pretty reasonable as the dogs were huge and the fries plentiful. Then headed into Discoveryland and straight to Buzz Lightyear ride on request of Jake, Seran loved everything we did here, its great to see their little faces for the first time! Spent the rest of the day with zero plans and ambled around the park aimlessly until it closed at 7pm. Went back to the room then to clean up a little 'accident' that an over excited Jake had then back to the Rainforest Cafe where we both had the 19.95 deal for a main and a dessert while Jake had a kids meal which he shared with Seran to save money - neither of them ate a thing and Jake fell asleep on the chair beside me while Seran had grumpy fits periodically!!! Then back to the room and straight to bed for the kids, which would have worked well apart from the fact that Seran freaked out at midnight and screamed solidly until 2am! Still, turned off the alarm and got some sleep eventually!
DAY 2:
Headed down for breakfast a little late after last nights shenanigans with Seran, reasonable selection of foods, no bread left for toast though and the kids weren't keen on the cereal as the milk is so different to ours. Into the Studios park for a little after 10 which was plenty early enough for the Studios which doesn't offer the free magic hours like the main park does. Did Stitch Live first - AWESOME, such a good show very creative and extremely funny, then Elaine took the kids to Playhouse Disney Live while I nipped off to go on Tower of Terror (also awesome, squeezed 2 goes on actually and because I was alone I skipped half the queue so they could fill the single spaces!). Found time to squeeze everything in, highlights of the day were Stitch Live, Tower of Terror, PHD Live for the kids (they loved it apparently) and the Back Lot Tour which was really interesting actually, plus the Catastrophe Canyon bit was brilliant for the kids and Jake thought there was a real dragon in the pit in the Reign of Fire area! Biggest downer was the Crushes Coaster actually, a huge long queue for a very disappointing ride, Jake hated it as did Elaine while I thought it was just very diappointing, could have done with more light to show the kids stuff, its darker than Space Mountain inside! Amusing moment was when the other two were in Crushes Coaster I noticed Buzz Lightyear and Remy the rat arrive outside and although Seran was asleep I thought I would amble over anyway and get a picture and an autograph for Serans book, the CH for Remy was English and a really nice guy called Paul, I asked him if Remy was 'English ' or 'French' today and he replied English so I ended up having a half silent coversation with Remy for 5 minutes, very funny! After the Studios headed back to the Park till 7.30 then headed to Planet Hollywood where we wisely booked a table for that time, took forever to get served however so we were still back REALLY late and Seran wouldn't go to sleep until 2am again after learning 'You Can Fly' on Peter Pans Flight and singing it over and over again till we went a bit crazy! HIGHLY recommend the ribs in PH, gorgeous meal! Great value for money as well especially as we took out copy of 'The Brits Guide To DLP' and got 20% off so the kids ate free!!!
DAY 3:
Full day in the park where we squeezed everything but Dumbo, Pinnochio and Snow White in, good day, met characters, caught the parade but the lack of sleep caught up with us and Elaine didn't feel too great so we got the kids nuggets and fried in McDonalds (FINALLY they ate somethign!) then headed straight back to the hotel for about 8 and stayed there for food, went to the Beaver Creek Restaurant (is that right) for the buffet which the kids didn't partake in, but Elaine ate nothing more than a chicken wing and I barely ate anything but dessert and a few chips as it was BAD food... the manager was really nice though and took Elaines meal off the bill so we only paid 33 for my food and drinks, which is why I made the most of 4 desserts lol!!! Back to the room afterwards where Seran eventually fell asleep in her buggy after a walk and didn't wake until the following morning (thank you god).
DAY 4:
LAST DAY!!! Up at 7am to get to Cafe Mickey for 8am breakfast, managed to finish packing, check out and leave luggage at entrance in this time too! Bit of a rip off as for 45 we got the same breakfast as in the hotel but with additional bacon, sausages, potatos and eggs. Still worth it for the amount of time spent with the characters up close and more personal.
Went into the park after breakfast, did Dumbo twice in a row then went on all the rides the kids had liked best again before heading to the Studios to FINALLY meet Stitch (our favourite)! Managed to meet loads of characters throughout the day and the CH Paul from the Tuesday was with Goofy this time and snuck us off for some private photo opps with him without the idiots who were trying to barge in front of Seran and Jake.
Back to the hotel for 5.30pm for pick up by taxi at 6.30pm, worst airport experience EVER at CDG afterwards and anyone else on the forum who was on the 21.50 flight to Liverpool will agree with me I'm sure! Home on time though and picked up by Nannie who got us home for midnight where the two of us literally fell into bed!!! Up at 7am this morning with the monkey however and I am SHATTERED while Elaine slumbers on upstairs in bed because she has a toothache lol!
BEST MOMENTS:
Jake getting picked out of the audience by Stitch in Stitch Live (the second time around).
Seran meeting the characters for the first time.
Serans face on Dumbo.
Jake and Seran holding hands and walking through the park (he is a boys boy, doesn't hold hands).
Chatting to Remy the rat for 5 mins!
Prince John at the character breakfast, pretending to slap Elaine and then looking terribly guilty as Seran burst into tears because the big lion hit her mummy!
Seran singing 'You Can Fly' the entire time EXCEPT for when Peter Pan asked her to sing it to him!!!
Personal touch with Goofy and Captain Jack Sparrow.
WORST BITS:
The shoving and pushiness of everyone that wasn't English and all the teenagers and adult who seem to think that they are more entitled to get in with the characters BEFORE the kids who were ahead of them in the queue!
The miserable faces of people in the parks in general (for no reason!) and also the fact that adults who were obviously there without kids kept scowling at any kids they saw screaming with enjoyment and excitement - I wanted to slap them and say 'YOU'RE IN DISNEYLAND!!!'
Poor Jake who got so tired on the way home that he just kept crying until we had been in the car on the way home for 20 minutes.
Elaine getting sick and also her poor aunt dying (which was expected, just not while we were away). She was a total trooper though so fair play to her considering!
Seran and her lack of sleeping habits!
The buffet in the hotel and in Cafe Mickey.
OVERALL:
Overall we had a few down moments and we are extremely tired after a complete lack of sleep and an emmense amount of walking but we did have great fun in the daytime, thoroughly enjoyed it and would do it again in a heartbeat but out of season again as I hate queues and would have killed someone probably lol! Maybe Christmas or Halloween before it gets busy next time and would probably Eurostar it next time too. Maybe even Florida!
Sorry to hear about Elaine's Aunt 
again sorry about Elaines aunt
is it a show or a play area.....ive not really read much about it
