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Old 8 Dec 18, 10:58 PM  
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Em4owen
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Our French and Belgian Adventure August 2018: Day Twelve - Plaza gardens, DLP and travelling home

Day Twelve: Thursday 30th August 2018 – Plaza Gardens and travelling home

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So this was it, our final day! We set the alarm for 6.30am as we had breakfast booked at Plaza Gardens for 8.15am. We packed, got ready and packed up the car so that we left the hotel at 7.30am. I was a little unsure of how it would work this time as for the previous year, the park had already been open for EMH at 8am. However, after consulting my Disneyland Paris Facebook Group, I discovered that Main Street was open from 8am. There were quite a few people at the gates before 8am, like us and there was a mad dash. I didn’t understand – were the running to queue for rides or characters? I soon learned the truth – they were running to queue for guest services. Now I understood why getting reserved seats for all the shows were so difficult, despite queuing at the other park for opening. So that’s hopefully a useful pointer for others.

We decided that as it was so quiet and everyone else seemed to be back at guest services, we’d make the most of walking up an empty Main Street and took some photos in front of any empty castle! The boys didn't want to cooperate, however...







It was nearing 8.15am now so we walked over to Plaza Gardens to check in for breakfast.



As chance would have it, we got seated at a table which was right next to the one we had last year, right by the start of the buffet! We quickly got breakfast sorted for ourselves and the boys as others were coming in. I recommend you get there asap so you can do this before the characters arrive.

Character interactions are brief here, unlike at Inventions but it’s much more organised with the characters splitting into groups of 3 and each group taking turns with one half of the restaurant before swapping. It’s easy to see/know when it’s your turn next, as a result so you know when to go up for food or when to wait. This is what gives this character experience the edge for me, as I like the order to it! We had Piglet first but Ashley had seen Tigger who was his favourite before the holiday, so he didn’t want to interact with him! But when Tigger arrived, he was so excited! Next up was Eeyore. Last time Eeyore refused to sign the boys autograph books so we left it on the table. Not this Eeyore, he was offended that we hadn’t asked him and gestured frantically at it!







By the time these three had finished, Scrooge and Daisy weren’t far behind. Ashley really took a shine to Daisy, like he did Donald and wouldn’t let go of her hand! I had to pry him off so she could sign the autograph books! Then we had a huge gap of 15 minutes before Mickey came. Naturally everyone wanted more time with the main man. Ashley, having bought his new favourite Mickey toy, was super excited to see him again but this interaction was really quick and brief. Funnily enough, I’d say Daisy was the best interaction, yet at Inventions she was the swiftest.







We finished breakfast just after 9am so still had EMH time left, woohoo! We headed straight to Fantasyland and rode the carousel, tea cups and Dumbo. At 10am, we wandered over to Casey Junior for one last ride as it was Ashley’s favourite, followed by Peter Pan where we used our last hotel FP and then rode It’s a Small World (again) as it’s Hayden’s favourite.





Our final plans were to check out Adventure Isle and the Family Robinson’s treehouse as we’d never done it before so off we went. The treehouse was good fun but I had no idea how many nooks and crannies there were to Adventure Isle. We went in a few caves but I think we could have explored for ages!







Our final ride before going home was to be the Liberty Boat so we moved onto Frontierland. We timed it perfectly as there was a boat just docking as we arrived. It was a lovely, calm ride and I realised it was the first time I’d been to Frontierland all holiday! We left the boat at 12.15 and sadly left the park too.



On our way back to the car/hotel, we looked in the shops and bought placemats for the boys, a plate and a cup for them each, Owen got a mug and I got a necklace. We spent 50 Euros altogether as most items were on sale. We then went to Earl of Sandwich for the last time for lunch, We decided to eat in rather than take it to the car and had the same as we’d had each time, part from the boys who got sandwiches rather than pizza. It came to 39 Euros.

We took a leisurely stroll back to the hotel car park, taking some final photos. I absolutely loved Sequoia Lodge. It was a beautiful hotel and I loved the smell and feel of it. I’d stay there again, no questions asked! We left the hotel at 1.30pm and then we were on our way home.

The original plan had been to go to Nausicca but because we left later than planned and it took longer to get there than we thought, we decided to give it a miss. We made one brief stop along the way. We found that most service stations were closed, however and when we did reach one that was one, it was undergoing remodelling so there was only portaloos!

We eventually arrived at Boulogne-sur-Mer at 5.30pm, about an hour and a half to 2 hours later than we’d hoped and planned so we just decided to check it out for a bit and stretch our legs. We paid 1.50 Euros for parking and looked at the boats. We found a children’s playground and so the boys played there for a bit as we knew they needed a respite from the car as we still had a couple of hours of travelling to go. We left just after 6pm and got to Calais for 6.30pm. Tolls were 20.90 Euros for the journey back.

There were really long queues at Calais and I started to panic that we’d not have enough time to get food before our train at 7.50pm. We eventually got seen to and it was really thorough. The lady checked who we all were closely, including the boys. I dread to think what it’s like for non-British citizens.

We rushed to get food. I found a vegan wrap easily enough at Starbucks which was 5.90 Euros. Owen and the boys decided they wanted Burger King. I was not impressed as I had the fast food burger chains and there was a massive queue. It turned out that their grill was broken so there were no burgers. They all got chicken nuggets and chips, the boys having a kid’s meal with a toy. This came to 17 Euros. We ate our food in the car as it was time to board the train. Our crossing ended up leaving 20 minutes late so we didn’t arrive back in the UK until 7.40pm/8.40pm. The boys fell asleep (finally) on the way home and we got back at 9.30pm, after a quick pit stop to get some bread and milk.

Spends: 134.30 Euros (we’d pre-paid for breakfast)

And that’s all folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along. I’m so pleased I was able to finish the report, even though it took me longer than expected! We are planning on going to Florida in August 2020 and have already booked a Dibb villa so I’m looking forward to writing a trippie for that too.
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Old 15 Dec 18, 05:04 PM  
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Thanks for writing such a comprehensive TR - it sounds like you had a fun-filled trip!
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Old 16 Dec 18, 08:33 PM  
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Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful!
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