Making Magic with Mickey March 2009

[nevey2006]

Cast:

Me - Liz aged 31yrs

Hubby - the birthday boy

DD - our little girl aged 4years who LOVES Mickey and everything else Disney.


Trip to Disneyland Paris (DLRP) 21st - 24th March 2009

Staying at Davy Crockett Ranch

Travelled by car - using the Eurotunnel

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When we got back from our first WDW holiday in November 2008, we all felt so sad and missed Mickey on a daily basis. So, then, when an email popped into my inbox from Disney with a fab offer to DLRP for dates of my husband's birthday ... well what else could I do than book!

We got an absolute bargain price for 2 nights 3days 22nd -24th March.

Having never driven to France, we decided to stay over night at Folkestone in the Holiday Inn. Well we arrived there at about 3.30pm on the 21st - it was nice and functional but we had itchy feet so we decided to pop over to the Eurotunnel place. When we drove up it was quiet and we asked the guy if there was any chance of us going over on the crossing tonight. Within 20 mins we were on the train and just an hour later in France on our way to Mickey!

Thank goodness for our Brit Guide - totally invaluable as I was able to phone some hotels mentioned in there and book us into one in Chanteloupe en Brie which was pretty close to the Magic.

This meant that we were able to book into Davy Crockett on the 22nd (Hubby's actual birthday) early and get a whole day in the parks.



The 22nd was a Sunday and the parks were stacked - the rides all seemed to have at least 120mins wait! However, no fear - we expected a weekend day to be busy and so we just wandered around both parks spotting characters and taking it all in.



We were so impressed with Davy Crockett Ranch. Our cabin was huge ... well for a caravan. We once went on a caravan/chalet holiday in Rome and found it so small and awkward that we didnt think we would ever endure another caravan holiday.

However, our cabin was superb. I think we got a really great one. We were in the Coyote Trail in cabin 1534 which turned out to be a two bed. It seemed newly renovated because it was all great - really clean - even the loo was clean and smelled nice! We were so close to the Shop/Restuarant/Pool and our breakfast cabin was just next door.

Our little girl loved the farm and the pony rides, not to mention the playground. In fact one day we left the parks with no fuss on the promise of a bumpy slide!

We found the location of the Ranch great too - its just a little drive to the park and we made it for Extra Magic Hours everyday by 8.10am.

The only thing is that the Sat Nav couldnt find it and it seems to be a problem that they are aware of becuase reception told us that it would only take us to a road right on the other side of the resort. So if you are going there and relying on TomTom to get you there you just need to know the last little bit of your journey!

That acutlaly turned out to be a little adventure becuase we went into the next town and got directions from a real French man in French to our destination!

cont...

[nevey2006]

So the 22nd was hubby's birthday so my daughter and I had chosen one of those super silly hats for him to wear all day. This is totally out of character for him and would never happen at home but at Disney - well its just fun.





It also worked really well because he got lots of attention from the characters which our daughter loved.

In the Good Morning parade (which did not seem to be scheduled) Peter Pan and Pocohontas came running over to him and sang Happy Birthday!



We loved the Mary Poppins Step in Time mini show. We waited at the rope about 3 mins before and had a great view.



In the evening we went for dinner at Cafe Mickeys and were seated upstairs. the food was pretty good here except it was very salty. The characters were varied and attentive but it was noisy as hell and we seemed to be surounded by ignorant English folk! which was embarrassing.

Another warning from here was that we had Premium Meal vouchers and we were given two pages of vouchers at checkin. I "stoopidly" assumed that it was one page a day and handed in one at Cafe Mickeys. However, the next day we found we were left with One Adult and Two Children vouchers so beware and check what you hand in. I think they must be used to this because they seemed to know exactly what had happened not that they would sort it out so we had to pay an extra 29 euros for our lunch :0(
Anyway it was my mistake so we moved on swiftly from that one!



and we got some special time with the Mouse himself



cont.

[nevey2006]

the next day was our full day in the parks

we were in Fantasyland by about 8.30am for extra magic hours which worked our brilliantly as we went on everything there that was open several times all before 10am.

I have to say that I think the Carousel is amazingly detailed and better than the one in Florida,. In fact I love the whole castle inside and the sword in the stone here which is just quaint and magical.



Then we went on the Pays de la Conte (sp?) which I was excited about as I didnt expect that or Casey Train to be open but they both were. The little boats loaded really fast and were cute as a button. Our little girl really enjoyed it and we rode twice.



Next we went to see Woody and took some funny pics.




After this the magic really started to take flight.

We saw Swow White and the 7 dwarfs in the Good Morning parade. This was a real highlight because we have never seen all 7 dwarfs and Snow White is DDs favourite princess. I couldnt get any good pics unfortunately - this is as good as it gets.



We wandered around the castle. I love the inside - there is so much detail and its beautiful.



then as we went outside Sleeping Beauty was just waking up for the day and there was a little show



We were getting tired and hungry so we decided to go for lunch at the Auberge de Cendrillion.

It was absolutely enchanting and one of my all time favourite Disney memories. We arrived just at the restuarant opened and I think this made it all the better. Our little girl spent ages with Cinderella at the entrance and then we were shown to our table by ... Perla (or Suzie? !)

The was one of the best characters we ever met - she interacted with our little girl for absolutely ages. In fact she even joined us for a while!



Then she pointed out her picture on the tapestry above us.



The whole place is so quiet and regal. I cannot sing its praises highly enough. We were sat in the section with the window looking at Cinderalla carriage and at one point Aurora and her Prince danced right by our table.

All of the princesses talked for a long time to our little girl and it was very special indeed.



On our last morning, the Fairies had put up some new decorations - for the Magical Party theme which is starting soon. They looked really good in real life. The castle emblem looks a bit odd on the pic but it was great honestly.




All in all we had a great trip and definitely found a lot of Disney Mickey Magic in Paris. Its certainly there to be found.

The End.

[sarahc]

A great report! It looks like your little princess has a magical time. I love all the photos: can't wait to be back there again now! Thankyou!

[neilhd]

Thanks for this! We go soon to DLP, but just after we booked DLP we booked Florida again for the summer, and I've not been able to get excited about DLP since then, but this has helped no end!

[Lil_Missy]

It is great to read a positive trip report about DLRP. I didn't write up our report because it would not have been quist as positive as yours is. Glad you had a great trip.

[Guest]

What a lovely trippie I am so pleased you had a magical time xxxx

[moolie19]

we were there a couple of days before you and we had a fantastic time too, longest queses during the week seemed to be about 60 minutes

[GeriO]

great report - can't wait to go in 2 weeks.

[Guest]

great report and it now has me interested in DLP again

did you find the french ok ? ? ? ?what about pushing in in the Q's and smoking ? ? ?