Belle's World
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2008
Getting There and Day 1.
On 13th June we travelled from Essex to Ashford by car and went to the shopping centre for a couple of hours before heading to the Ashford International Hotel where we had booked dinner, bed and breakfast. MIL and FIL had driven us there and stayed for dinner. When we arrived there was no queue at reception and we were checked in very quickly. The only problem was it was about 6pm and we were all starving, we were told the restaurant didn’t open until 7.30pm and the first table wasn’t available until 8pm. This was a tad annoying so anyone who likes to eat early I would say ring and reserve in advance. We went to our room and then realised we had no idea what was including in the dinner price we had already paid so we went down to the restaurant and asked if we could view the menu. They happily obliged and gave us the menu which stated you could have anything from the menu up to the value of £25. This covered a three course meal without drinks so worked out to be really good value as we paid £126 for dinner bed and breakfast. The food was lovely, I had posh cheese on toast for starter (warm camembert on chapatti bread), posh burger for main and a lovely peach crumble for dessert which I’m sure we had to wait longer for as DH and MIL requested it with custard which was not on the menu but even if they had to go to the all night supermarket to get it they did serve it with custard.
The restaurant and hotel is lovely it has recently had a refurb and all the rooms are now decked out with swish bathrooms and flat screen TV’s. Breakfast the next day was great, you didn’t have to reserve a time just turn up which we did at about 8.15am, there is a large selection of hot and cold food, full English breakfast, plus pastries, cereals and all kinds of bread and conserves. It is a help yourself buffet with waiters serving tea and coffee at your table. It’s a shame that we never really have time to make full use of the facilities at the hotel as we are always in a rush to get somewhere else but if you can afford it I would recommend staying there, obviously it is more expensive than the Travel Lodge and Premier Inn which are situated nearby. After checking out which only took a minute our taxi which we had booked via reception on arrival was already waiting. It is only a short car journey away from the Eurostar terminal and I know the fare was under £10.
When we arrived at Ashford International I was surprised at how many people were already there. We had arrived 90mins early and the tickets said you only had to be there 30mins early. We went through Passport control and the security checks very quickly, no wait at all then made our way to the chairs located next to the doors that lead you to the train. As we had booked our Eurostar tickets separately to our holiday but had added Disney express to our booking we were told we would collect our tickets at the Disney Express counter at Marne La Valley. At no point had I been asked what station I was boarding but as the Disney Express counter was empty I went to check and there was my tickets sitting and waiting for me, everything was in order and he even said I could have one of the Eurostar bags with children’s activities in even though we weren’t travelling with children which was a first.
We had booked our tickets direct and had chosen seats on our own rather than around a table as we knew we would have to share with another family otherwise, this was fine on the way out but I really wished we had a table on the way home, read on and you will find out why! The journey was fine except it started to rain really heavily and everyone was moaning hoping it would stop or at least be the only day there was rain. In fact by the time we arrived we had brilliant sunshine and soaring temperatures. About 30min from Marne La Valley an announcement came over for a Doctor or Nurse to make them known in carriage 4 which was a little worrying and it was amazing how many people suddenly got up and started to make their way. It couldn’t have been that serious though as there was no ambulance waiting for us when we arrived.
We got off the train quite quickly and made our way upstairs before handing over our suitcases and making our way to the Disneyland Park. I knew exactly what our agenda was for the first day and first up was finding the book from Sketch to Reality which turned out to be incredible easy and was located in the first shop I looked in Storybook Store where I also made my first pin trade of the holiday for a Belle badge as most of them were! After this as we came out of the shop Minnie’s Toon train happened to be coming past so we caught our first sight of this before making our way to Frontierland where we thought we were going to get a hot dog from the hot dog stand but no, this was closed for our entire holiday. A little disappointed we headed to Phantom Manor for a ride, the wait wasn’t too long and we were back in the Disney spirit. After this we went to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain using some of our old tickets as well as the current ones to get two each which were valid for the evening. All the while we were looking for something to eat, we wandered through to Fantasyland and got a set of Fast passes for Peter Pan also for the evening before spying the pin trading board, we had found it with such ease that I never thought we would have the problems we did locating it again. 2 more pins swapped for 2 more badges, one of Belle and one of Lumiere, before spotting Toad Hall and deciding we should swap our restaurant choices around as we had planned to eat here later in the week. It was very nice and I have written a review on the restaurant thread. I have copied and pasted it here for ease: We ate here on Sunday 14th June at about 2.30pm. It was still quite busy at this time with about a 5min queue for food. There were a few tables free but unfortunately those before had decided not to dispose of their rubbish so the tables were quite messy. We shared a chicken burger, chips, coke and 3 mini muffins. The food was all good, very hot and very nice for the price. The surroundings were lovely the wall paper is great and in a very convenient position in Fantasyland. I would definitely recommend this place if you are looking for counter service and would eat here again. The only downside to it was other people’s laziness not clearing up after themselves.
After this we decided we had time for one more ride before our only chance to see the Winnie the Pooh show which was only on at the weekends. We went for It’s a Small World as the queues are normally small and fast moving, not today, it was a Sunday and definitely the most crowded day of our visit it was packed and I think by the time we had got off the ride we had been waiting at least 35minutes. Fearing we had missed the beginning of the Winnie the Pooh show we raced back around and luckily had about 5 minutes to spare before the show started. I hadn’t read much about the show and in fact had assumed it would be the same one we saw in the Castle theatre a few years ago but were very pleasantly surprised that it was new and we were really happy not to have missed it.
When this was finished we decided to head to the hotel to check in, it took a little longer than expected as the Once Upon a Dream Parade had just entered Main Street and it was a nightmare trying to get around people who were waiting for it. I tried not to look at the floats too much as I wanted it to all be new to me when we stood and watched it properly. We eventually got to the end of Main Street and then as we went out of the park made sure we knew where Salon Mickey was so we could go in the next day. Then of course wandering through the village we had to go in all the shops to see what new merchandise was around before eventually reaching the hotel at about 5.20pm.
I have written a review of the hotel on the hotel thread but here is the first impression copied over for ease:
Sequoia Lodge Hotel.
We stayed here between 14th-19th June 2009. We travelled by Eurostar and used Disney Express so by the time we got to the hotel it was about 5pm. The first thing that struck me was the layout of the building is quite confusing. You enter to see a restaurant on either side and then two big staircases. We went up the stairs but I did not think it was clear how to reach reception and it is certainly not visible from the moment you enter the hotel. When we reached the reception area there were 2 queues one for collection of keys and one for arrivals. We thought as we had already got our park tickets etc that all we would need to do is collect our key but you guessed it this was the wrong queue. There were a couple of people in the arrivals queue before us so we waited around 10mins to be seen. When we were at the front we were called over by a man who looked at the document we had been asked to fill out on the train were given a room key each which we thought was unusual and a charge card. (At no point in our stay did both keys work despite at one point going to reception and getting a new card) We were then asked what time we would like breakfast I asked what was available as I thought one day if necessary we would do EMH and then go back for breakfast. As he said just tell him I told him our ideal time of 7.15am assuming there must be all times available. I was wrong and he just presented us with timeslots around the time I asked but one was 8am which would therefore have made EMH impossible. I asked if there was any Good Morning Fantasyland breakfast and he said not at the moment but keep checking they may get more.
We collected our luggage and made our way to our room on the 6th floor. We had a fairly central lakeside room with views of the tower of terror, space mountain and the village. The room had two double beds which I thought was a shame as it would have been much roomier with one king, especially as the little spare space there was taken up with a table and two chairs. I was disappointed that the room had no rocking chair as I had read many reviews which stated that all rooms had one. The room itself was fine quite basic and not very bright. The bathroom area was separate from the sink which I find useful but unlike some of the other hotels you only get one sink not two. The bathroom was cleaned every day; towels were replaced as was the soap and shower gel which I hid every day!
After unpacking our suitcases and making sure everything was ready for our return which we had planned would not be until after park closing at 10pm we headed to the Beaver Creek Tavern, review on restaurant thread copied over here for ease: We ate here on 15th June at 6pm. I had rung and reserved the table before we left England but at this time was really not necessary. The restaurant was almost empty and we were seated straight away. We dined at 3 buffet restaurants during our stay and the buffet part of this meal, starter and dessert were definitely the best. There was a large choice for starter not just salad options and the pudding buffet was delicious I went up 3 times. We had half board plus vouchers which covered the meal. DH had a burger for main which he said was lovely and I had the ribs which came with chips and veg. The ribs were a little fatty which was not a problem as it could be cut off but they were also quite greasy. The main course on the whole was nice but considering the buffet starter and pudding there was just too much of it. With the half board plus you get a drink, this was our first night so I was not aware until the next day that the minute maid I was given in a glass was much less than I received anywhere else. We would definitely eat here again but I would probably choose a different main course. The restaurant is very large and as we were some of the first in all of the buffet was full. Very nice on the whole recommended.
Once back in the park we headed straight to Pirates of the Caribbean and were surprised to find a waiting time of only 5 minutes. After this we walked around Adventure Isle before our Fast passes for Thunder Mountain were valid. I think something must have been wrong with the ride as the Fast Pass queue was much longer than normal and almost reached the place where you hand over your ticket, we were waiting about 25mins before our first go which was fantastic and we raced around again to make use of our second tickets. The queue this time was much quicker and we were off again in about 15mins racing over to Peter Pan where we had 5 minutes left to spare before our Fast Passes ran out. I know Peter Pan has recently been closed for refurbishment but I certainly noticed a lot more on this ride than on previous trips all the little cars on the scene over London was amazing. We then headed over to Star Tours DH favourite ride again the queue time was minimal, we are disappointed with the exit to this ride, the free space games used to be so much fun but now all they have is pay per go table hockey etc which I don’t really think has anything to do with the ride or DLRP, it would be more suited to the Sports Bar in the village. We knew we had time for one more ride and chose Autopia which I really love, unfortunately with the staggered opening hours and slow moving queues due to limited capacity this was the only time we got to ride it as the rest of the time we looked queues were at least 45mins long. When we had finished it was about 10.05pm and no one was being allowed to queue for any more rides so we decided to visit a couple of shops, finding a great pin trade in the Star Tours shop of the new Stitch name badge pin which had only been released a couple of weeks before. The CM was really upset he had to give it up and all the other CM’S were saying it’s the Stitch one isn’t it? After this we made our way back to the hotel where we had a well earned sleep which by then we really needed!
Ro
On 13th June we travelled from Essex to Ashford by car and went to the shopping centre for a couple of hours before heading to the Ashford International Hotel where we had booked dinner, bed and breakfast. MIL and FIL had driven us there and stayed for dinner. When we arrived there was no queue at reception and we were checked in very quickly. The only problem was it was about 6pm and we were all starving, we were told the restaurant didn’t open until 7.30pm and the first table wasn’t available until 8pm. This was a tad annoying so anyone who likes to eat early I would say ring and reserve in advance. We went to our room and then realised we had no idea what was including in the dinner price we had already paid so we went down to the restaurant and asked if we could view the menu. They happily obliged and gave us the menu which stated you could have anything from the menu up to the value of £25. This covered a three course meal without drinks so worked out to be really good value as we paid £126 for dinner bed and breakfast. The food was lovely, I had posh cheese on toast for starter (warm camembert on chapatti bread), posh burger for main and a lovely peach crumble for dessert which I’m sure we had to wait longer for as DH and MIL requested it with custard which was not on the menu but even if they had to go to the all night supermarket to get it they did serve it with custard.
The restaurant and hotel is lovely it has recently had a refurb and all the rooms are now decked out with swish bathrooms and flat screen TV’s. Breakfast the next day was great, you didn’t have to reserve a time just turn up which we did at about 8.15am, there is a large selection of hot and cold food, full English breakfast, plus pastries, cereals and all kinds of bread and conserves. It is a help yourself buffet with waiters serving tea and coffee at your table. It’s a shame that we never really have time to make full use of the facilities at the hotel as we are always in a rush to get somewhere else but if you can afford it I would recommend staying there, obviously it is more expensive than the Travel Lodge and Premier Inn which are situated nearby. After checking out which only took a minute our taxi which we had booked via reception on arrival was already waiting. It is only a short car journey away from the Eurostar terminal and I know the fare was under £10.
When we arrived at Ashford International I was surprised at how many people were already there. We had arrived 90mins early and the tickets said you only had to be there 30mins early. We went through Passport control and the security checks very quickly, no wait at all then made our way to the chairs located next to the doors that lead you to the train. As we had booked our Eurostar tickets separately to our holiday but had added Disney express to our booking we were told we would collect our tickets at the Disney Express counter at Marne La Valley. At no point had I been asked what station I was boarding but as the Disney Express counter was empty I went to check and there was my tickets sitting and waiting for me, everything was in order and he even said I could have one of the Eurostar bags with children’s activities in even though we weren’t travelling with children which was a first.
We had booked our tickets direct and had chosen seats on our own rather than around a table as we knew we would have to share with another family otherwise, this was fine on the way out but I really wished we had a table on the way home, read on and you will find out why! The journey was fine except it started to rain really heavily and everyone was moaning hoping it would stop or at least be the only day there was rain. In fact by the time we arrived we had brilliant sunshine and soaring temperatures. About 30min from Marne La Valley an announcement came over for a Doctor or Nurse to make them known in carriage 4 which was a little worrying and it was amazing how many people suddenly got up and started to make their way. It couldn’t have been that serious though as there was no ambulance waiting for us when we arrived.
We got off the train quite quickly and made our way upstairs before handing over our suitcases and making our way to the Disneyland Park. I knew exactly what our agenda was for the first day and first up was finding the book from Sketch to Reality which turned out to be incredible easy and was located in the first shop I looked in Storybook Store where I also made my first pin trade of the holiday for a Belle badge as most of them were! After this as we came out of the shop Minnie’s Toon train happened to be coming past so we caught our first sight of this before making our way to Frontierland where we thought we were going to get a hot dog from the hot dog stand but no, this was closed for our entire holiday. A little disappointed we headed to Phantom Manor for a ride, the wait wasn’t too long and we were back in the Disney spirit. After this we went to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain using some of our old tickets as well as the current ones to get two each which were valid for the evening. All the while we were looking for something to eat, we wandered through to Fantasyland and got a set of Fast passes for Peter Pan also for the evening before spying the pin trading board, we had found it with such ease that I never thought we would have the problems we did locating it again. 2 more pins swapped for 2 more badges, one of Belle and one of Lumiere, before spotting Toad Hall and deciding we should swap our restaurant choices around as we had planned to eat here later in the week. It was very nice and I have written a review on the restaurant thread. I have copied and pasted it here for ease: We ate here on Sunday 14th June at about 2.30pm. It was still quite busy at this time with about a 5min queue for food. There were a few tables free but unfortunately those before had decided not to dispose of their rubbish so the tables were quite messy. We shared a chicken burger, chips, coke and 3 mini muffins. The food was all good, very hot and very nice for the price. The surroundings were lovely the wall paper is great and in a very convenient position in Fantasyland. I would definitely recommend this place if you are looking for counter service and would eat here again. The only downside to it was other people’s laziness not clearing up after themselves.
After this we decided we had time for one more ride before our only chance to see the Winnie the Pooh show which was only on at the weekends. We went for It’s a Small World as the queues are normally small and fast moving, not today, it was a Sunday and definitely the most crowded day of our visit it was packed and I think by the time we had got off the ride we had been waiting at least 35minutes. Fearing we had missed the beginning of the Winnie the Pooh show we raced back around and luckily had about 5 minutes to spare before the show started. I hadn’t read much about the show and in fact had assumed it would be the same one we saw in the Castle theatre a few years ago but were very pleasantly surprised that it was new and we were really happy not to have missed it.
When this was finished we decided to head to the hotel to check in, it took a little longer than expected as the Once Upon a Dream Parade had just entered Main Street and it was a nightmare trying to get around people who were waiting for it. I tried not to look at the floats too much as I wanted it to all be new to me when we stood and watched it properly. We eventually got to the end of Main Street and then as we went out of the park made sure we knew where Salon Mickey was so we could go in the next day. Then of course wandering through the village we had to go in all the shops to see what new merchandise was around before eventually reaching the hotel at about 5.20pm.
I have written a review of the hotel on the hotel thread but here is the first impression copied over for ease:
Sequoia Lodge Hotel.
We stayed here between 14th-19th June 2009. We travelled by Eurostar and used Disney Express so by the time we got to the hotel it was about 5pm. The first thing that struck me was the layout of the building is quite confusing. You enter to see a restaurant on either side and then two big staircases. We went up the stairs but I did not think it was clear how to reach reception and it is certainly not visible from the moment you enter the hotel. When we reached the reception area there were 2 queues one for collection of keys and one for arrivals. We thought as we had already got our park tickets etc that all we would need to do is collect our key but you guessed it this was the wrong queue. There were a couple of people in the arrivals queue before us so we waited around 10mins to be seen. When we were at the front we were called over by a man who looked at the document we had been asked to fill out on the train were given a room key each which we thought was unusual and a charge card. (At no point in our stay did both keys work despite at one point going to reception and getting a new card) We were then asked what time we would like breakfast I asked what was available as I thought one day if necessary we would do EMH and then go back for breakfast. As he said just tell him I told him our ideal time of 7.15am assuming there must be all times available. I was wrong and he just presented us with timeslots around the time I asked but one was 8am which would therefore have made EMH impossible. I asked if there was any Good Morning Fantasyland breakfast and he said not at the moment but keep checking they may get more.
We collected our luggage and made our way to our room on the 6th floor. We had a fairly central lakeside room with views of the tower of terror, space mountain and the village. The room had two double beds which I thought was a shame as it would have been much roomier with one king, especially as the little spare space there was taken up with a table and two chairs. I was disappointed that the room had no rocking chair as I had read many reviews which stated that all rooms had one. The room itself was fine quite basic and not very bright. The bathroom area was separate from the sink which I find useful but unlike some of the other hotels you only get one sink not two. The bathroom was cleaned every day; towels were replaced as was the soap and shower gel which I hid every day!
After unpacking our suitcases and making sure everything was ready for our return which we had planned would not be until after park closing at 10pm we headed to the Beaver Creek Tavern, review on restaurant thread copied over here for ease: We ate here on 15th June at 6pm. I had rung and reserved the table before we left England but at this time was really not necessary. The restaurant was almost empty and we were seated straight away. We dined at 3 buffet restaurants during our stay and the buffet part of this meal, starter and dessert were definitely the best. There was a large choice for starter not just salad options and the pudding buffet was delicious I went up 3 times. We had half board plus vouchers which covered the meal. DH had a burger for main which he said was lovely and I had the ribs which came with chips and veg. The ribs were a little fatty which was not a problem as it could be cut off but they were also quite greasy. The main course on the whole was nice but considering the buffet starter and pudding there was just too much of it. With the half board plus you get a drink, this was our first night so I was not aware until the next day that the minute maid I was given in a glass was much less than I received anywhere else. We would definitely eat here again but I would probably choose a different main course. The restaurant is very large and as we were some of the first in all of the buffet was full. Very nice on the whole recommended.
Once back in the park we headed straight to Pirates of the Caribbean and were surprised to find a waiting time of only 5 minutes. After this we walked around Adventure Isle before our Fast passes for Thunder Mountain were valid. I think something must have been wrong with the ride as the Fast Pass queue was much longer than normal and almost reached the place where you hand over your ticket, we were waiting about 25mins before our first go which was fantastic and we raced around again to make use of our second tickets. The queue this time was much quicker and we were off again in about 15mins racing over to Peter Pan where we had 5 minutes left to spare before our Fast Passes ran out. I know Peter Pan has recently been closed for refurbishment but I certainly noticed a lot more on this ride than on previous trips all the little cars on the scene over London was amazing. We then headed over to Star Tours DH favourite ride again the queue time was minimal, we are disappointed with the exit to this ride, the free space games used to be so much fun but now all they have is pay per go table hockey etc which I don’t really think has anything to do with the ride or DLRP, it would be more suited to the Sports Bar in the village. We knew we had time for one more ride and chose Autopia which I really love, unfortunately with the staggered opening hours and slow moving queues due to limited capacity this was the only time we got to ride it as the rest of the time we looked queues were at least 45mins long. When we had finished it was about 10.05pm and no one was being allowed to queue for any more rides so we decided to visit a couple of shops, finding a great pin trade in the Star Tours shop of the new Stitch name badge pin which had only been released a couple of weeks before. The CM was really upset he had to give it up and all the other CM’S were saying it’s the Stitch one isn’t it? After this we made our way back to the hotel where we had a well earned sleep which by then we really needed!
Ro
