Highs and Lows - The trip that wasn't supposed to happen

[Stitchfan626]

I have just returned from 5 amazing days away in DLP with my DS (4). I'm not going to do a full trip report this time but here are my highs and lows!

Highs

Surprising my DS on his 4th Birthday. His reaction was priceless

Premier Inn at Ashford Europa Park – excellent as always.

Sequoia Lodge Golden Forest – Loved it! Had an amazing view of Lake Disney and the Village. Hot breakfast in the lounge was lovely and the Hotel Fast Pass was a massive benefit!

The weather! We were really lucky for the first few days the sun shone and it wasn’t too cold at all

The Christmas decorations – AMAZING! Harrison’s face when it started snowing on Main Street was priceless.

The Christmas Parade – loved it. We didn’t get to see the main parade on this trip which I was a bit disappointed about as I love it, but we tended to end up in Studios at the end of the day and we didn’t have enough time to do everything!

Not having a pushchair! - made such a difference and DS did really well walking all week

Rainforest Café – excellent as usual

Café Mickey – great character interaction and the food wasn’t bad.

The Cast members – WOW! 99% of them were amazing! Harrison went to City Hall to get his Birthday Badge and he told everyone it was his birthday (all week!) although most spotted it first and wished him a happy birthday. A cast member on Casey Junior gave Harrison his hat so he could drive the train and let him keep it and stay on for several trips! We had brilliant cast member interaction all week and yesterday going into the Studios they got the whole queue to sing him ‘Happy Birthday’ which was absolute Disney magic at its finest

Mickey and the Magician – Wow! We both loved it! We saw it twice and would have seen it a third time if it hadn’t been down with technical issues

The park itself is looking amazing! The green boards are nearly all gone and WOW! Everything that has been refurbished is looking stunning.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show - I have not done this for about 10 years and wasn't sure about booking it or not. I'm so glad we did it. Harrison liked it so much he asked to go again (every night!)

Eurostar passengers – I was on my own with DS and had 2 largish cases, a rusksack, plus him and shopping on the way home. People were so helpful getting us on and off. Really nice to see

The queues – were pretty manageable all week

Lows

A 3 hour delay on Eurostar on the way home due to an incident at Paris. Sitting on the cold platform for 3 hours with a tired 4 year old isn’t the best really! However they gave us blankets and water and food.

Inventions – I was really looking forward to this meal and I wasn’t that impressed. The food was OK and the character interactions were not brilliant. I didn’t think it was worth the cost at all.

EMH – only being 1 hour and not 2.

Blue Lagoon – as you might have seen I wasn’t sure whether to book here or not due to the negative reviews of late. I decided to go for it and it wasn’t awful but it wasn’t great either. My chicken was cold but tasted OK. The service was OK. My desert was lovely. Harrison had the pasta which was OK. I really hope they can get this restaurant back to its former glory.

Not having enough time to do everything!

Having to come home again 

[plutofan1]

Looks like you had a fab time
If you were delayed on way home do you get the free return journey to be taken at a later time
We did - when we were delayed a few years ago and then took another dd on a trip the following year

[Stitchfan626]

Originally Posted by plutofan1

Looks like you had a fab time
If you were delayed on way home do you get the free return journey to be taken at a later time
We did - when we were delayed a few years ago and then took another dd on a trip the following year

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I think we can get 50% of the ticket price back as cash or 75% as a voucher for another trip.

I'm not sure which I will do yet!

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Sounds like you had a fab time, what a perfect way to spend your DS's birthday :

[Stitchfan626]

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop

Sounds like you had a fab time, what a perfect way to spend your DS's birthday :

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We really did thank you.

[Gill H]

Originally Posted by Stitchfan626

I think we can get 50% of the ticket price back as cash or 75% as a voucher for another trip.

I'm not sure which I will do yet!

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I would go for the voucher!

[Stitchfan626]

Originally Posted by Gill H

I would go for the voucher!

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I would but I'm not sure we will be going back next year (and you have to use them within a year).

We are going to WDW in April and DS starts school in September which makes everything more difficult!

[jemima2]

Aww lovely all good to hear...we are planning next early december but havnt booked yet. Really want a golden forest room glad you thought it was worth it 😀

[Big Belle]

Thanks for sharing. 25 days till our visit 😀

[parisdisneyfan]

You must have got home just as we arrived! I remember going with ds when he was that age and it is wonderful to see their faces. We had a great time the week after and like you all the cast members were lovely, which I was worried about as there have been negative comments. We found the food not as great as perhaps we hoped but I wonder if it is the price that gets you expecting something special. Glad you had a great time and a lovely start to Christmas

BTW somehow we missed Mickey and the Magician, not sure where it was? but we found a lot of rides were breaking down!