7 days to go!

[sgrech]

Hi,
Off with my family to DLP for the first time next Sunday. Taking the Eurostar from Ashford direct to the parks. Staying at the Holiday Inn for 2 nights. I have a number of question which I hope I can answers to here. Here goes!

Are there any fireworks displays at this time of year.

Are fastpass machines located at the each of the rides and also together at the park entrance.

Still on the subject of fastpass, do you need a ticket if you are only queuing with the rest of the party.

Can you baby switch in the fastpass queue.

I understand you there ample water fountains at the park to fill bottles up can somebody please confirm this.

Can hired strollers be taken out of the park e.g. to Disney Village. Can you hire a double stroller which can accomdate a 1 and 5 yr old.

Do I need to take any euros with me, or can purely rely on using my debit card in ATMs there.

I understand that there a Disney express service available on Eurostar which allows you to tag you luggage leave it at a drop off point at the park, it is then sent to hotel, this allow to go straight to the parks.
It also apparently the opposite way around when you check out the of hotel. Can anyone please confirm that this service is still available and also whether the Holiday Inn in a hotel covered in this scheme, or is purely reserved for DLP hotels.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Simon

 

[Cyrano]

Lots of questions, I'll do my best to answer

1. Wishes fireworks start 16th July.
2. Fastpass machines are only loacted beside rides that have them.
3. You'll need everyones passes to get a fastpass from the machine.
4. Sorry I've never do baby switch, so hopefully some one else can help.
5. There are fountains located throughout the park, but not sure how easy it is to fill a bottle from.
6. I think you can pay a deposit to take the stroller out of the park. Never seen doubles, but they have a standing board which might work for 5 year old.
7. It would be handy to come with some Euros, but there is an ATM in the park and beside the train station.
8. Never done Eurostar.

Reid

 

[sgrech]

still missing some answers to my questions. Particularity interested in getting a reponse about the epxress checkin.

Cheers

only 6 days left and Emily (our daughter) still doesn't have a clue!

 

[Miffy2003]

Simon,

I must admit I thought the express service was only for the onsite DLP hotels (not the Holiday Inn) but I am absolutely not certain. Anyone else know??

You must be very excited! How on earth have you managed to keep it a secret?

 

[sgrech]

Simon,

I must admit I thought the express service was only for the onsite DLP hotels (not the Holiday Inn) but I am absolutely not certain. Anyone else know??

You must be very excited! How on earth have you managed to keep it a secret?

I have wanted to tell Emily, but i know she would be so excited that she probably wouldn't be able to sleep!

 

[diberry]

Hi Simon! I've never done baby swap either (my "babies" are grown up now!!!) but I believe you tell the Cast Member who's "looking after" the queue that you want to do a "baby switch" (or "swap") and then one parent rides while the other waits with the child and then the other one rides. I can't see why this would be any different for the Fastpass line than for the normal queue because they will merge at some point as you get towards the front. The CMs are very used to this request so there should be no problems.

I've also never used the Disney Express baggage service but
it is only available on the direct once-a-day Eurostar services not on the ones where you change in Lille (or Paris) and has to be part of a package. In the Disneyland brochure it says the service is available for hotels "in the Heart of the Magic" which does seem to include the Holiday Inn in the brochure index although it definitely doesn't include Davy Crockett Ranch.
I think you'd better ring DLP (you get an English-speaking person)- 08705 030303 - to clarify unless anyone on the board can help.

Have a great time and tell us all about it when you get back!! Emily will LOVE it - and so will you!!!

 

[Bonnie]

I'm really not sure whether the Holiday Inn can use the Disney Express service, but the official brochure seems to imply that "Hotels in the Heart of the Magic" can use it (not Davy Crockett) and lists Holiday Inn in that section of the brochure. I do think, though, that the Disney Express check-in needs to be booked before you travel (our travel agent gave vouchers to say we were entitled to it and we had to hand those over when we did the check-in), so it's probably best for you to check with your tour operator or travel agent. The service is definitely still available as we did it last week, and the check-out works in the opposite way to the check-in.

Water fountains are available all over the place in the park (ones I can think of now are at the back of the castle in Fantasyland, near Critter Coral, and near the loos behind Autopia, but there are plenty more than that) and we had a huge sports bottle which was very easy to fill. The taps are quite high over the bowl so you shouldn't have any trouble.

How old is your daughter? You've done so well to keep it a secret!

 

[Ware Bears]

Sgrech, sorry I must have missed your original post. We are travelling on the direct Eurostar staying at the Explorers but I have found it impossible to book the Express luggage service independently. I have tried Disney themselves and Eurostar and they will only give it to you as part of the package. However I was advised on another board that although there is nothing that you can do on the way there, it is sometimes possible to purchase the Express luggage labels at your hotel for the returm journey. However I do not know if this will be only Disney hotels. Although I did not have a problem with paying for the labels, I have decided not to bother as we will put our luggage in guest services at the park on our last day (free service with a Dream annual pass), it was more for our arrival day that I wanted to use it.

I did make a suggestion to Disney that lots of people do book independently and they could consider selling Express luggage service to them but the CM just kept saying it was a perk of the package. Some perk, it would have cost us over £300!!!

 

[sgrech]

I'm really not sure whether the Holiday Inn can use the Disney Express service, but the official brochure seems to imply that "Hotels in the Heart of the Magic" can use it (not Davy Crockett) and lists Holiday Inn in that section of the brochure. I do think, though, that the Disney Express check-in needs to be booked before you travel (our travel agent gave vouchers to say we were entitled to it and we had to hand those over when we did the check-in), so it's probably best for you to check with your tour operator or travel agent. The service is definitely still available as we did it last week, and the check-out works in the opposite way to the check-in.

Water fountains are available all over the place in the park (ones I can think of now are at the back of the castle in Fantasyland, near Critter Coral, and near the loos behind Autopia, but there are plenty more than that) and we had a huge sports bottle which was very easy to fill. The taps are quite high over the bowl so you shouldn't have any trouble.


How old is your daughter? You've done so well to keep it a secret!

Hi Bonnie,
Emily is almost 5 and I must admit it has been difficult not telling her, I almost said something to her today. I have told we will be going on a fast train. I am praying that this weekend is cooler than last weekend as I think it will be very difficult (slow) walking around the parks with two young children.

Anyway unfortunately it sounds like I won't be able to use the express luggage checking as I am travelling independently. So following on from this are there lockers available in the park which would be big enough to hold my luggage so that we can still head straight for the parks, or am I am resgined to having to check in at the hotel first and then head back to the parks.

Also I don't think anybody has answered one of my questions about Fastpass. If my wife and I are going on a ride but my daughter isn't do I also need to get a fastpass for her too to allow her to enter the fastpass queue.

Also I haven't given too much thought to Joseph who is only just 1, is there any rides that I may be able to take him on?

Also is there anywhere there that I can buy some baby food for him and will restaurants there heat food up for you?

I am travelling from Ashford, I did ready that multi storey car parking is available for £9.50 a day but there is also uncovered car parking for half that price which is only a very short walk away. Is this true?


I am sure I will have some more questions before I depart, but that is all for now.



Thanks for your continued help.

Simon

 

[diberry]

Again I have no experience of these things but I do know there is a baby care centre by the Plaza Gardens Restaurant on Main Street where you can heat bottles and food. I've no idea about buying baby food but there must be somewhere and I'm sure restaurants would oblige by heating up food for him.

There used to be lockers under Main Street Station but they're no longer in use but you can leave your luggage next to Guest Relations on the right hand side BEFORE you enter the parks. It's 2,50 euro per bag or coat. Otherwise there's always the station (which is right next to the parks) where they have lots of really large lockers upstairs - I think they cost 6 or 8 euros per day.

I can't see why you would need a fastpass for your daughter if she's not riding. Does she have her own park ticket? If so, it wouldn't hurt to get a Fastpass for her but I don't think it would be necessary. Maybe someone else has info on this?

Fantasyland is the place for Joseph - Dumbo ride, It's a Small World etc

Hopefully someone with young children will be able to help you with further information.

Have a great trip!!

 

[sgrech]

ok I just couldn't bear it any longer, I wanted to give my daughter to opportunity to guess where we were going on Sunday, gave her 2 clues and she guessed it. Now very excited!

Can't wait till Sunday.

Simon