The 'we need to stay at the DLH' trip report

[jothp]

Right well, I have now managed to sort out all the photos and get some uploaded so it is time to start the trip report.

The link to the PTR is here if anyone is interested.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2906982

And a little recap for anyone who doesn't know already.

The Who
Me (Jo) loves disneyland to escape reality
DH (Olie) doesn't love disneyland but is happy to go anywhere that makes his girls happy
DD1 Robyn (9) who loves Eeyore and Chip and Dale, RRC and BTM
DD2 Hattie (6) who loves Rapunzel, BTM and POTC
DD3 Evie (4) who loves Minnie and Snow White, Parachutes and IASW


The Where
Staying one night at the adagio city aparthotel, one night at residhome val d'europe and 3 nights at the Disneyland Hotel


The When
Mon 4th - Sat 9th June.

 

[jothp]

Day one: Monday 4th June

We were booked on to the 16.20 Eurotunnel crossing so we had plenty of time before we needed to leave. We all showered and bathed ready for our trip and packed the last minute bits. I cooked a meal at lunchtime and packed a picnic tea and before we knew it we were on our way. We got to the shuttle early and got on a slightly earlier crossing and arrived in France 5.15 local time. The journey the other side took about 3 and a half hours including a stop off to eat our picnic at aire de assevilliers. After a little trouble we found the adagio city aparthotel and checked in at about 8.40pm. I will do a review later but have to say that we found the room a little disappointing. The decor was very tired and it didn't feel very clean but we were only there one night so not to worry. We got everything ready for the morning and then spent a good couple of hours persuading the children that they needed to sleep ready for the next day .

 

[jothp]

Day 2 Tuesday 5th June

We all dragged ourselves out of bed bright and early, had a quick breakfast I had taken with us, checked out and headed off to the park. We had no problem getting into the car park free with our annual passes and arrived in the park at about 8.10. We walked under the station to see a lovely fire engine waiting to take us on our first trip up mainstreet so we hopped on. Our first ride this morning was Dumbo, followed by Peter Pan and then IASW. We then dashed over to discovery land for Buzz but it was temporarily closed so Robyn tried for Space Mountain but she just missed the height - next we walked down to star tours and stood Evie against the height stick and she wasn’t quite tall enough for that either. We walked back through discovery land a little bit sad that we wouldn’t be able to ride star tours / BTM all together but that will have to be something for the next trip. As we were walking past we noticed Buzz was reopening and were one of the first few families through the turnstiles. We couldn’t resist having a little look round the shop afterwards and tried on a few hats.

The plan for this morning was to queue for Autopia before the end of EMH, however there was a slight glitch in the plan because it wasn’t opening until 12pm. DH was desperate for a ride on the railroad and every other trip we have ended up queuing for nearly an hour so we made this our first destination. We were lucky and managed to get the horse drawn streetcar down to the bottom of mainstreet and joined the people already queuing for the train. We got on the first train and did a complete circuit of the park enjoying the sit down and taking in the sights. It was actually quite a nice start to the trip. It was a bit sad seeing Woody's roundup completely out of use though. It was always such an orderly way to meet some characters.

Before heading off to some other rides we popped into city hall and got print outs of all our restaurant reservations and had a look in the storybook store. They had a copy of the 20th anniversary book that I was keen to buy but DH persuaded me to wait until later so we didn’t have to carry it. By the time we went back after dinner it was gone. We decided to head to pirates but saw Baloo at the rhythms of the jungle meet. By the time we got to the front they had switched with Timon and Rafiki but we were happy to get our first autographs and the characters were pointing themselves out on the page.

We finally made it to pirates and just about got out in time to get the girls changed into their princess dresses before our lunch reservation.
We got to the Auberge at 12 exactly and joined the queue of people waiting to get in. We were seated about 12.10 and as we walked through the restaurant to our table I saw Snow White was there with her prince. I was soooooo pleased as she was our must meet princess being Evie’s favourite. They were very soon at our table and they were lovely making a big fuss of Evie who was in her Snow White dress. She talked to her about what the dwarfs were up to today and happily looked at Evie’s t shirt she had been wearing before dinner with all the dwarfs on the front. The cost of the meal was worth it just to see Evie talking so happily with her favourite.

The other characters we met during our meal were Cinderella, Suzy, Perla and Tiana. Sadly the meal didn’t end as well as it started because we had to wait three quarters of an hour after we had finished and paid to meet Tiana. She had been coming to our table just as our main courses were being served so she skipped over us and took ages to come back. We ended up being there just over 2 and a half hours in total.

After a long lunch we needed to do some rides so headed straight over to snow white and Pinocchio. As we came out we saw Peter Pan and Wendy out and about so we waited patiently. They were very good at picking children who were waiting nicely and getting everyone else to stand back. They loved the books and had a good chat with the kids calling them by name.

By now it was nearly 3.30 so me and the girls went off to wait for the last celebration train in the hope of meeting Clarice while Olie went off to check out the fast pass times for BTM. None of us were successful because Clarice was missing from the train and the fast pass times were too late. Harriet was determined that we must ride BTM today so me, her and Robyn braved the 40 minute standby queue. Sadly the time wasn’t very accurate and it was an hour before we had ridden. While waiting Olie took Evie on phantom manor and in the Pocahontas playground. We had a look around the shop in frontier land until about 5.00. We still had an hour before our reservation at Walts so we headed over to try for Autopia but the queue was far too long so the older girls and Olie headed into star tours and me and Evie went on the orbitron. We then wandered back down towards walts visiting some shops and the dragon on the way. We were very lucky at Walts and got a table by the window in the frontierland room. We all really enjoyed our meal and the sevice was very good. We watched the parade out of the window and were leaving at about 7.30. We grabbed a postcard for the girls surprise on the way out of the park to check into hotel number two the residhome.

We checked into the residhome very quickly and got to our room to find we had been upgraded from a one bedroom apartment for 5 to a two bedroom apartment for 6 . The room was lovely and clean and well maintained. We had one double bedroom, one small room with bunks and a living room/kitchenette with a sofa bed. Not sure an adult would have wanted to sleep in the top bunk but it was great for us. There were also two bathrooms, one with a bath with shower over and one just with a shower. If we were staying offsite for any length of time we would definately choose this over the aparthotel.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Fantastic start! I can't believe that was just the first day!!

Your dd's are lovely and look so happy Love all the character meets too

And, being able to all ride BTM together is definitely a reason to go back

 

[sammie1884]

Wow! You squished so much into first day! Pics are fab your girls look so happy! cant wait to read the rest!

 

[sammie1884]

One question though..... is woodys round up shut? So that you can not walk around all of the bits with the plastic bullseye etc?

 

[jothp]

Fantastic start! I can't believe that was just the first day!!

Your dd's are lovely and look so happy Love all the character meets too

And, being able to all ride BTM together is definitely a reason to go back

Wow! You squished so much into first day! Pics are fab your girls look so happy! cant wait to read the rest!

I know it is only looking back now that I realised how much we got done. It wasn't a really long day either as we left the park about 7.30pm and spent about 4 hours of the day in restaurants.

One question though..... is woodys round up shut? So that you can not walk around all of the bits with the plastic bullseye etc?

I don't know to be honest we never walked along that far because we knew it was shut. Perhaps try asking on the main board - someone else might know.

 

[HappyPanda]

So jealous at you meeting Peter Pan & Wendy! They are Olivia's favourites, but were nowhere to be seen when we were there!

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[jothp]

Day 3 Wednesday 6th June Part One

Today was the day we were moving to DLH I had written a little postcard to the girls last night telling them we were moving and had put it on the table to see how long it would take them to realise. We were up early and dressed before the girls noticed the postcard and lots of excitement followed when they realised. We checked out of the residhome and headed over to the DLH to park the car. We had decided the night before that we were going to pay for breakfast at DLH this morning so we headed straight through reception and out to the turnstiles and were just in time for opening. We were virtually alone on mainstreet but didn't stop for photos this morning. We went to PP and managed to be the first riders of the day. We got off and were allowed straight through the gate to ride again. We followed this with Dumbo the Orbitron and Buzz before heading back to DLH to check in.

I walked straight up to the desk at about 9.05 and was given our easypass and fastpasses along with park maps etc. Our room wasn't ready and we wanted to be at the studios for opening this morning so we headed straight up to the restaurant. I asked to buy breakfast - the lady on the door looked a little confused and asked where we were staying. I explained that we had just checked in, she asked to see our easypass and told us there was no need to pay. We enjoyed our breakfast but only made it to the studio gates just as it opened.

We headed straight to toy story playland and had to queue for about 25 minutes to get on the parachutes. Robyn and Olie then went on RC while me Harriet and Evie took a trip on slinky. This seemed much slower than it had on previous trip but maybe that was just my imagination. By now it was gone 11.00 so we went and joined a rather long queue to meet Buzz. The CM at Buzz was really helpful telling us that Pluto would be there later in the afternoon after he spotted Evie's Pluto t shirt.

We walked round so Robyn and Olie could get a ride on RRC. The plan for today was to have a lunch in the blockbuster cafe. Luckily none of us were hungry after our breakfast because it was shut!

We waited about half an hour for them to come out of RRC we went off to do some shopping in studio one because the girls money seemed to be burning a hole in their pockets. Some souvenirs bought we headed over to do art of animation. We all enjoyed this and the girls had fun playing in the exit area and tracing some of the images that make a moving picture when you spin them.

By now it was nearly 2.30 so we went off to meet Pluto, after queuing about 10 minutes it was our turn. The CM here was also impressed by the books and very helpful telling us that Minnie was out the front and Mickey next door and Donald would be in front of cinemagique the next day.

This is where our worst nightmare happened. We left pluto (at the buzz meet spot) and walked up past crush and round the corner - we were heading to get a snack to tide us over until dinner. We got around the corner, turned around and Evie was gone We called out to her and looked around for a minute or two expecting her to turn up but she didn't. Olie and the girls waited in the square while I walked back down to pluto and up again a couple of times but still no sign, we even checked in the aftershow area of art of animation as she had enjoyed playing on the computer but not there either. While I was wandering I was approached by a very kind man who left his family to help look too. By now I think Olie and I were beginning to panic and I just wanted to cry By this point 5 minutes or more had passed. Olie told me and the girls to stay put and he would go and find somebody to help. He walked off and went into studio one looking for somebody, meanwhile the older girls were in tears and I just couldn't stand doing nothing. I told them to stay in the middle of the square in case she turned up there and had another quick check in art of animation. As I came out the girls had been approached by a large family (or two families travelling together) who thought they were lost. They very kindly offered to help look and to sit with the girls so I could look. Looking back it was a really silly thing to do leaving them with complete strangers but I just couldn't do nothing so I left the girls with them and wandered back up and down past pluto a couple of times and then did a complete circuit of the park. Just as I was nearly all the way around Olie called to say she had been taken to the lost child centre right out the front near the park gates and he was on his way to get her. He couldn't find anybody in studio one so he had come back out and grabbed a CM at art of animation who had found a colleague to phone lost children for him and had then escorted him there. The look on everyones face when i turned back into the square and mouthed 'Daddy's got her' was just priceless. I don't think I have ever been so happy in all my life. The kind family waited with us until Olie got back with her - I think I gave her the biggest hug ever. I took Harriet and went off on a wander to find the kind man who was looking to let him know she had been found. I will be forever grateful to that man and to the other family who took time out of their day to sit with the older girls and to help us look. This sort of kindness from other guests really restores your faith. I will also of course be grateful to whoever found her. She was missing for about 15 minutes in the end but she must have been taken virtually straight to the lost children centre because when Olie collected her she had been there nearly 10 minutes. Looking back we should have just gone there straight away but we just weren't thinking straight and didn't have a park map with us either to know where to go. Just writing up this has made me feel quite sick all over again even though I know she is safely tucked up in bed.

 

[jothp]

So jealous at you meeting Peter Pan & Wendy! They are Olivia's favourites, but were nowhere to be seen when we were there!

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

I think we were lucky there - just in the right place at the right time.

 

[DLPDreams]

Oh my Jo - we met Rafiki & Timon too - I'll have a look through my photos - think it might have been Tuesday!!

Loving the character photos - did you like Auberge then? I wasn't keen on the food - although I had the children's chicken as my main and it was nice! The girls' puddings looked amazing We saw Snow White (different and she too was amazing with my DDs - she came and saw us 3 times), Aurora (a bit aloof), Cinderella & Prince Charming who were nice but Snow White was the best by far .

Glad to hear the aparthotel was better than the first night!

Last trip we bumped into Peter Pan & Wendy in FL - this is one of DD1's best memories as they took her by the hand and skipped through FL with her. Spent ages talking to her despite other children trying to butt in! Sadly, no sign of them this trip - we obviously missed them (and most other characters around the park too??).

Looking forward to reading more - your girls look so happy!

 

[scampbunny]

awwwww jo *hugs* just reading it made me well up..... and obviously little did i know when u told me bout this, id get to experience it myself the next day too.......

how lovely of all those ppl to help, and can i say the pics with snow white are gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! espec the one with just evie....

and timon n rafiki were just brill werent they???

 

[DLPDreams]

Jo - just reading that again about Evie makes my spine chill! I am so pleased she was OK.

I was so worried about DD2 wandering off as she frequently tries but we didn't have much of an issue this time - DH and I were on high alert though because as I say, she regularly tries!! An ex CM (English) told me that they have CCTV cameras all over the parks - I've never noticed them? Mainly for lost children / incidents etc, but it doesn't make you feel any better/safer when a child goes missing.

What lovely people helping you out - when we lost DD2 last year in Legoland not one family helped us. I too left DD1 sitting where we had all last been - silly thing to do but she is very sensible and I knew she wouldn't go off - more importantly, it was a place I thought DD2 might return to - I thought right as she did after 15 mins!! I wasn't thinking straight either!

 

[jothp]

Oh my Jo - we met Rafiki & Timon too - I'll have a look through my photos - think it might have been Tuesday!!

Loving the character photos - did you like Auberge then? I wasn't keen on the food - although I had the children's chicken as my main and it was nice! The girls' puddings looked amazing We saw Snow White (different and she too was amazing with my DDs - she came and saw us 3 times), Aurora (a bit aloof), Cinderella & Prince Charming who were nice but Snow White was the best by far .

Glad to hear the aparthotel was better than the first night!

Last trip we bumped into Peter Pan & Wendy in FL - this is one of DD1's best memories as they took her by the hand and skipped through FL with her. Spent ages talking to her despite other children trying to butt in! Sadly, no sign of them this trip - we obviously missed them (and most other characters around the park too??).

Looking forward to reading more - your girls look so happy!

The aparthotel was the bad one - residhome was good. For all we know though we may just have had a bad room at the aparthotel and other rooms are fine. I don't think I mentioned it before but we also found the aparthotel much nosier than the residhome too.

Wouldn't it be funny if we were queuing at the same time without realising. I was looking out for lime green ribbon but had lost mine in the services on the drive down!

I didn't enjoy my starter at Auberge. I had the vegetables because neither of the other things appealed to me and it was just a bit odd. Me and Olie both had the goose for mains and it was actually really nice, as were the desserts. I really liked the non alcoholic cocktails too. The girls all had the burgers and I think they ate a decent amount too. All three of the princesses we met were English which I thought at the time was quite unusual and come to think of it Peter Pan was too.

awwwww jo *hugs* just reading it made me well up..... and obviously little did i know when u told me bout this, id get to experience it myself the next day too.......

how lovely of all those ppl to help, and can i say the pics with snow white are gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! espec the one with just evie....

and timon n rafiki were just brill werent they???

Thanks to you too. I know when I read your highs and lows I thought oh no poor Nikki, it really is the most terrible feeling.

Rafiki and Timon were great and I love that photo of Evie too. I think I am going to get it framed.

 

[jothp]

Sorry I just looked back and I have waffled on rather about our experience of loosing Evie. Thanks for sticking with it for anyone who has got this far.

 

[scampbunny]

Sorry I just looked back and I have waffled on rather about our experience of loosing Evie. Thanks for sticking with it for anyone who has got this far.

yes but its a big part........

and yes - do get it framed!!! im going to do the pic of ds2 with lightning mcqueen prob as a canvas for his room *** im pleased with it....

 

[jothp]

Jo - just reading that again about Evie makes my spine chill! I am so pleased she was OK.

I was so worried about DD2 wandering off as she frequently tries but we didn't have much of an issue this time - DH and I were on high alert though because as I say, she regularly tries!! An ex CM (English) told me that they have CCTV cameras all over the parks - I've never noticed them? Mainly for lost children / incidents etc, but it doesn't make you feel any better/safer when a child goes missing.

What lovely people helping you out - when we lost DD2 last year in Legoland not one family helped us. I too left DD1 sitting where we had all last been - silly thing to do but she is very sensible and I knew she wouldn't go off - more importantly, it was a place I thought DD2 might return to - I thought right as she did after 15 mins!! I wasn't thinking straight either!

Sorry I missed your post. It was really scary although I do feel slightly better now having written it all down - I think I needed therapy. We should obviously have been paying more attention to her but she is not a wanderer, we have Harriet for that . I'm still not sure what happened, there were quite a lot of people around so I imagine she just walked into a crowd instead of around it and being so small lost sight of us.

What a shame nobody helped you out at legoland I spent the rest of the holiday looking out for lost children, I sort of felt like if I could help somebody else it would go some way to repay the kindness showed to us.

 

[DLPDreams]

Don't apologise Jo - it was a main part of your day unfortunately!

I can waffle for England - just try and read my TR to know that .

I love that photo with Snow White too - lovely. I have one of the girls with Pinnochio in Inventions which is just gorgeous so going to print and frame it.

I knew I'd get mixed up on the hotels - I don't know how you coped moving so many times .

I forgot my lime green ribbon - had made myself a little rosette with it with a mickey head in the middle, pinned it on my Muppets bag and then decided at the last minute not to bring the bag - forgot to take the ribbon off . I didn't do very well really - forgot the ribbon, forgot the meet - think I was walking round in a daze most of the time .

I had the salmon tartare for starter in Auberge - yuck! DH had the veal which he said was nice. The girls ate a fair amount of chicken but I knew they'd be excited so not as much as normal. Funnily enough they managed all the amuse bouche and puddings OK - actually, thinking back I think they left some of the pudding - there was waaay too much! Perhaps they are used to children just eating those and nothing else?

 

[jothp]

yes but its a big part........

and yes - do get it framed!!! im going to do the pic of ds2 with lightning mcqueen prob as a canvas for his room *** im pleased with it....

Yes it was a big part of the day sadly but it can be forgotten about now and I can move on to the more fun part of the day. It sounds like a great picture you have of DS2.

Don't apologise Jo - it was a main part of your day unfortunately!

I can waffle for England - just try and read my TR to know that .

I love that photo with Snow White too - lovely. I have one of the girls with Pinnochio in Inventions which is just gorgeous so going to print and frame it.

I knew I'd get mixed up on the hotels - I don't know how you coped moving so many times .

I forgot my lime green ribbon - had made myself a little rosette with it with a mickey head in the middle, pinned it on my Muppets bag and then decided at the last minute not to bring the bag - forgot to take the ribbon off . I didn't do very well really - forgot the ribbon, forgot the meet - think I was walking round in a daze most of the time .

I had the salmon tartare for starter in Auberge - yuck! DH had the veal which he said was nice. The girls ate a fair amount of chicken but I knew they'd be excited so not as much as normal. Funnily enough they managed all the amuse bouche and puddings OK - actually, thinking back I think they left some of the pudding - there was waaay too much! Perhaps they are used to children just eating those and nothing else?

Can't wait to see your picture with pinocchio.

I had to be super organised with the packing, I had the clothes split into three bags - one for each hotel. Then another bag with toiletries, phone chargers etc that we would need everywhere. It was a bit of a pain though keep moving because it took extra time in the morning to pack everything up and check out etc but it worked out ok.

I expect you are right about a lot of kids only eating the puddings in Auberge. I think mine managed theirs without any problem.

 

[jothp]

Well after our little ordeal we were all feeling a little worn out so we grabbed a container of popcorn for the girls and headed back to the DLH to get our room. We were quickly given the keys to our room and grabbed our things from the car and went straight there. The room was lovely and clean and spacious and looked out over the park exit.

We told the girls to lay down for a nap while I sorted out our things. It took the girls a while to drop off though from the excitement but they all got a little sleep before I woke them ready for our dinner reservation at inventions. We arrived a little early for our reservation and had to queue for 10 minutes or so to be seated, there seemed to be lots of people turning up without reservations and getting upset that they couldn't have a table.

We ate plenty and met Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Pinocchio and Tigger - Harriet's favourite who she had been desperate to meet

We all ate well and were offered free soft drinks with our APs without having to ask. In total we were there about an hour and a half.

After dinner we headed back to our room to grab the bags before heading back into the park. This is where things are a bit hazy because I forgot to write the notes for the rest of the day.

We definately headed over to discoveryland to look at the queue for Autopia but it was already closed so we took a trip on Buzz instead and did a bit of shopping afterwards. By this point they had closed access through the castle so we walked round the front and into adventureland to head to pirates - taking a few photos on the way.

Pirates was a real family favourite this trip, with Evie loving it the most of all. We still hadn't used our hotel fastpasses so the next stop was BTM. First of all I rode with the two older girls and then Olie used the two remaining fastpasses to ride again with Harriet to make up for her disappointment at not being able to get on RC or RRC earlier on. I think maybe there were a couple of extra rides this evening because after BTM it was 10.30 so we headed just round out of frontierland towards the castle and stood against the fence there to wait for dreams. We got chatting to a really nice English lady who was staying in a motorhome in the carpark. If that was anyone out there hello We had a really good view from this spot because there was noone directly in front of us. We weren't quite central to the castle but that didn't really affect our view. I didn't take any photos because I really wanted to concentrate on watching. I don't think there are any words to describe how brilliant it was. After it ended we cut back through the arcade to the DLH and our beds.