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Old 17 Nov 18, 04:44 PM  
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Gillybean08
Relaxing at the Grand Floridian
 
Join Date: Feb 16
Mobile First DLP trip, highs and lows

We, myself, my partner and our youngest who turned 6 while there, visited on the 7th Nov to the 12th Nov. We travelled via Eurostar from St Pancreas on a 3p.m train changing at Lille and arriving at DLP at nearly 7p.m. We had 1 night booked at Avant-garde for £65 before moving to Sequia Lodge Golden Forest room for 4 nights as a package with free half board plus dining. Went with lowish expectations as we had visited WDW last year and didn't expect a replica. We (or I) had planned and researched as if for a WDW holiday and this did help massively, well done me! (Nobody else says it &#128577

Highs
Loved that all the onsite hotels are walking distance to parks and village and around a well landscaped lake with huge fish!
Santa-fa was absolutely great for price, nicely themed with lovely welcome message on t.v and plenty of sockets, hairdryer and beds must have been o.k as we all slept well. We were in block 14 and the free hot drink machine is in block 15. There are more but this was our closest so took me 30 seconds to walk for my coffee in the morning! Would stay here again.

Sequia Lodge, mixed feelings but overall a positive. It was beautifully themed, bit closer to parks and had a gorgeous bar. Very similar to Wilderness Lodge at WDW but obviously not as amazing. We liked Golden Forest but honestly wouldn't pay to much extra for it as we didn't go for afternoon snacks other than first day and I really didn't like the veal sausages! It's not on the same scale as club level at Universal hotels in my opinion. I would rather bring my own drinks if the price was to much and stay at a cheaper DLP hotel as you really aren't there that much. The room had only 2 plug sockets, no welcome letter that disney normally provide (I know it's only a small thing), no bed made for our son, the room was far to warm and of the 4 lifts, at least 2 would be out of order. I would stay again for the staff and theme but at the right price.

Characters
For me, DLP do this far better than WDW. The interaction with some character is amazing. The smiles on my little boys face in our photos! Spiderman had a great conversation with him as did Santa Claus and Tigger and Mickey Mouse got him up to dance. During the parades the characters are also great at spotting the children and interacting. Lineberty also worked brilliantly for us and we didn't see any pushing in for any character meet.

Inventions
Beautiful hotel, gorgeous buffet and perfect setting for a birthday. The cake was brought out with candles lit and Mickey Mouse danced with my son while others sand happy birthday. Couldn't fault it.

Plaza Gardens
We like buffets, we enjoyed the character breakfast, not as nice as Crystal Palace but nice enough that we returned for dinner buffet.

Studios park
I have read a lot of negatives but we really enjoyed it here. Yes it's small but there's plenty to do. The stitch show is amazing, Harry got picked twice and Stitch was singing 'Harry's got a girlfriend' which was amusing and the moments they remember. The studio tram tour was fantastic, the Animation theatre and drawing studio were fun, we won the signed picture! Tower of Terror as good as ever! I thought the Ratattoui area was beautifully themed. We spent a full day here and filled it easily. Mickey Christmas band were brilliant.

Disneyland Park
Loved it, not quite as much as Magic Kingdom but it has its own charm. The arcades were lovely and the castle and Dragon amazing. I also thought BTM and POTC were better here and Its a Small World was gorgeous, especially with the Christmas music. We found the WDW version creepy and annoying! The parades are well done and we loved the music in the Christmas parade and the fire breathing Dragon in the daily parade.

Disney Village
I liked the variety of non park food options, Earl of Sandwich was outstanding and McDonald's great to. I would happily stay again and eat in the Village.

Staff
Lovely and helpful, plenty of fuss made over our little boy, especially at our hotel. My partner lost his driving license and it was found in the GF lounge and they rang to say they would post it back to us.

Illumination
I enjoyed this it was lovely but... not as good as Happily Ever After.

EMH
Worked great for us, my son loves Buzz and this was always 40 min plus but in EMH it was 5 minutes! Same with Ratattoui and Peter Pan. Couldn't fault EMH system, we got so much done and they had characters out for meet and greets early also.

Lows, just a couple really

Weather obviously not as good as Florida, we checked before and took thermals and raincoat and for 3 of our 5 days it rained a lot. People just carried on, no rain would be better but we still did everything and enjoyed it.

Dining plan/ restaurants
Other than the character dining I really wasn't blown away. We ate at Hunters Grill and were packed in like sardines and the smell of too many body's in a warm environment was not very nice! Even my 5 year old son noticed it.
Bistro Chez Remy was nice but menu is limited and the food just o.k I much prefer the WDW dining plan, more choice of restaurants with bigger menus and we missed the snack credits and different variety of snacks. DLP offers are generally the same all over, a drink, muffin/donut/cookie and park coffee is awful!

Fastpass system
I just prefer WDW system but we managed o.k with the DLP system. We went in low season however.

Ratattoui
I know this is controversial and our 5 year old enjoyed it but I just didn't think it was in the same league as other 3.d rides, especially when you've been on Escape from Gringotts. We didn't return during EMH and I wouldn't queue more than 30 min.

Overall I would definetly return for another 4 day visit but I would do it a bit different. I would not be so concerned with dining plans and hotels, I would happily stay at any of the onsite hotels that came out the cheapest and eat in the Disney Village. I would use the money saved for a character meal and save towards another holiday at WDW. Definetly glad we went and on the look out for a bargain next year before WDW in 2020 😊
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Old 17 Nov 18, 07:56 PM  
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Hollyhobbit
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Glad you had a lovely time . We have also just returned ( literally) and had a great time too. We arrived on 12th and left Disney yesterday . Coincidentally I found a driving licence under our bed when looking for an earring that I dropped , you weren’t in Golden Forest room 6230 were you? I was going to post it back to the owner ( only as the hotel was so busy I was worried it would get mislaid again) but my hubby felt more comfortable handing it in. If this was yours I am so glad you are getting it back as I was quite worried.

Edited at 07:58 PM.
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Old 17 Nov 18, 08:22 PM  
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Gillybean08
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Originally Posted by Hollyhobbit View Post
Glad you had a lovely time . We have also just returned ( literally) and had a great time too. We arrived on 12th and left Disney yesterday . Coincidentally I found a driving licence under our bed when looking for an earring that I dropped , you weren’t in Golden Forest room 6230 were you? I was going to post it back to the owner ( only as the hotel was so busy I was worried it would get mislaid again) but my hubby felt more comfortable handing it in. If this was yours I am so glad you are getting it back as I was quite worried.
That is so strange, yes that was our room! I asked him if he's checked under the bed as he didn't realise it was missing until we were leaving. I knew I should have checked myself! Thank you for handing it in 😊. I hope the weather improved for you a little, it looked a better forecast. Did you enjoy the GF service?
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Old 17 Nov 18, 08:39 PM  
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Hollyhobbit
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The weather was quite reasonable for us but very foggy the last two days, when we left late Friday afternoon you could barely see the castle from main street and it was a dreadful drive up to Calais. I did enjoy Sequoia Lodge , we have stayed there once before but it was about 15 years ago. There was a couple of thigs I found annoying, the room was boiling and we had to have the window open 24/7 which in turn could be noisy. The housekeeping was ok but they took the soap and never replaced it or the nespresso pods a couple of times.there were light bulbs out above the bed that never got changed although requested and obviously they don’t hoover under the bed 😊😊😊. We didn’t eat in the restaurant as it was always rammed and only went to the lounge on our first afternoon. Loved breakfast and being able to get a bedtime drink and some bottles of water for the room in the evening. I love the rides at DLP and honestly think Pirates, BTM and Space mountain are better. Loved the parades ( even though we are 2 adults) and the decorations were beautiful. Hate,hate,hate the smoking but its always been like that. WDW next year for our second once in a lifetime.
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Old 17 Nov 18, 08:59 PM  
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Gillybean08
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It was so hot in the room! Yes I agree about the room service, and the smell that was sometimes around the bar area was not very Disney, certainly won't be looking for a candle to remind me of that smell! The hotel and parks were beautiful though and we did enjoy it. Have an amazing time next year, not long before you can say this year 😊
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