Our French and Belgian Adventure
 

As we've got about 25 days to go, I thought I'd best start the re-trippie for our holiday. I really enjoyed writing up our trip to DLP last year so I thought I'd do the same again.

Last year we went to DLP and initially it was just a filler to fill the desperate need to go to Disney before we go to Florida in 2020. However we loved it so much we decided to book again!

Meet the Cast:

Me, Emma (34), My husband, Owen (36) Hayden (4, turning 5 whilst we're on holiday), Ashley (2 and a half).

The picture below shows us last year with my mum, brothers and my brother's girlfriend at Buffalo's Bill. Owen and I are holding the boys in the centre of the picture.


Last summer, we noticed that for the 2 night free offer, if we went in the last 2 weeks of August, it would be cheaper than May half term. Plus we figured we could make more of a holiday of it and combine DLP with time elsewhere. The question was where. Because Hayden's birthday is 22nd August, we thought we best go after that but found that most cottage rentals were for a week. Then my mum announced her and Dad were going to book a cruise for when it was Hayden's birthday and would we mind. Um no...

We decided we wanted to stay in a cottage in Belgium as it seemed much cheaper than France and Owen really wanted to visit Ypres and Waterloo. Unfortunately, everywhere was booking up quickly and it became really hard to find one which had a washing machine, bath and at an affordable price. In the end, we decided that a cottage anywhere in Belgium would have to do, rather than near Ostend or Ypres which is where we had hoped to stay. Owen found an absolute bargain in a place near Chimay - less than £350 for a week! It's close to the French border and only a couple of hours drive from Brussels and a good base for everything we want to do.

That sorted, we booked DLP next. Because of going back to school (I'm a teacher), I still wanted a couple of days at the end of the holiday to get my classroom ready so we booked Sunday-Thursday. Las year we stayed at the Santa Fe but I'd always wanted to try the Golden Forest rooms at Sequoia Lodge and as it included a breakfast buffet, it seemed like a plan.

So we have booked:
Cottage in Chimay, Belgium for 7 nights (Sunday 19th-Sunday 26th August)
Golden Forest Room at Sequoia Lodge for 4 nights (Sunday 26th-Thursday 30th August)

So far our plans for Belgium include:
Ypres (when travelling down via Eurotunnel)
Waterloo
Pairi Diaza Zoo (for Hayden's birthday)
Day at Brussels
Exploring local area to the cottage - there's a butterfly museum and a nature reserve

For DLP we have booked the following ADRs:
Captain Jacks for dinner on our first night
Inventions for lunch
Cafe Agrabah for lunch (my favourite meal last time)
Plaza Gardens Character Breakfast (we enjoyed it so much last year)

We also plan on visiting the Somme on the way to DLP and visiting Nausicaa Aquarium on the way to Calais.

We plan on taking a slower pace with DLP this year. I'm glad it's just aus this time so that we can stop when the boys need to. Last year, with family in tow, I felt the pressure to stick it out. I'm looking forward to the fact we'll have a pool and afternoon snacks too! However, we are going to try and see if we can all see the fireworks this time but we'll play it by Ashley's sleeping patterns.

I can't believe how close our holiday finally is and look forward to writing it all up when we get back!