Ninnie Visits Home: Day 1 - Arrival

[dancingelkhound]

For background and a who's who, see our pre trip report.

With an afternoon flight time we were in no rush, so we got up at our usual time, had breakfast, and did some last minute packing. We set off around 10.30, intending to give ourselves plenty of time to have lunch at the airport, as DD tends to take a long time to eat.

We’d pre booked parking at long stay T3, around £30 for the five days. One of the reasons we’d booked that car park was that we knew we’d be able to walk to the terminal, rather than having to take a shuttle bus. It only took us five minutes to walk to the terminal. Thankfully we found a luggage trolley en route, as we had three suitcases plus a pushchair.

There was no queue for bag drop; the check in staff printed our boarding passes and printed a tag for our pushchair, which we were keeping til we reached the gate. Approaching security we were directed into a separate lane for pushchairs which we initially thought was great but a woman in front of us had clearly not understood the liquids rule and spent over five minutes producing various toiletries from her bag and trying to stuff them into a 1 litre plastic bag.

Having collected our bags and the pushchair we made our way to Costa. After security, terminal three didn’t have many food options: Costa, an Italian restaurant and a pub. All were very busy, as were the seating areas. DD and I found a table while DH queued for food. Thankfully Costa was well staffed and it didn’t take long for our food to arrive. DD turned her nose up at the toasties both DH and I were eating so DH went and got her a sandwich which she ate plenty of.

While DH bought some water from Boots (2 for £2) DD and I found some seats right by a big window, which meant that DD could watch planes, which she absolutely loved. As we walked to our gate later on, we passed a Children’s Zone which had some soft play shapes and a TV.

At the gate we handed over the pushchair, and then a member of staff came over and took our passports and boarding cards, saying that she would pre scan them ready for boarding. Once the flight was ready for boarding, we and the other families with infants were ushered through before anyone else, so were first on the plane. It seems that Air France locate all their infants in rows 11/12, for anyone travelling with them in future. There was someone seated in the third seat on our row, but after take off the stewardess offered to let him move to an empty row, which he understandably did.

DD handled the flight really well, her ears didn’t seem to bother her at all, and the brownie we were given as a snack helped to keep her quiet! As we wouldn’t get the pushchair back until baggage claim, when we landed I put DD in the sling, which was incredibly useful and I would definitely recommend as it meant my hands were free and I didn’t have to worry about DD wandering off. Passport control was quick, and when we reached baggage claim our suitcases were already going round. DH went to claim the pushchair while I changed DD. Pushchairs don’t come with the normal bags, but in the oversized luggage section, just before the baggage claim exit.

As we exited baggage claim we spotted the driver from RS Transports holding a card with my name on it. He took the trolley from us and led us to the car which was waiting outside. We’d booked a shared transfer (€45 each way) but we didn’t have to share on either trip. I’d told them that DD was only 18 months old, but they provided a booster seat rather than a proper car seat. I’m not sure what the laws are on car seats in France but DD really didn’t feel very secure. The seatbelt went over her lap but covered her face so she ended up with it behind her head rather than across her chest. She really enjoyed being able to see out of the large windows of the minibus and I think probably also liked the freedom of the booster seat.

We hit some traffic but the journey still only took about 40 minutes. As we approached DLP I began pointing out some buildings I recognised to DH (it was his first trip), such as ToT, the Santa Fe buildings, and I could feel myself getting excited to be back.

There was a security barrier for cars entering the hotel grounds, but I’m not sure what ID they required for entry, as the barrier was lifted almost instantly. We paid the driver for both trips, and he unloaded our luggage onto the kerb outside the hotel.

DD had fallen asleep five minutes before we arrived at the hotel, so as I was now holding a sleeping baby, DH had to deal with the luggage all by himself which was not an easy task. I stood by the entrance to the hotel while DH brought everything over from the kerb where the driver had left it. The security guard manning the luggage scanner picked one suitcase and rucksack up for me and took it inside which was helpful, but DH had to then do the remaining two suitcases, plus pushchair bag, plus rucksack by himself.

We located the Golden Forest reception easily, and pushed the suitcases over to it. One member of staff was already dealing with a family, who seemed to be discussing restaurant reservations. Several staff members went in and out of the GF check in but none of them acknowledged us, and DD was starting to get very heavy. Several more people joined the queue, and eventually the family in front of us left.

The CM checking us in was very pleasant and enthusiastic and explained everything thoroughly. She offered to have our luggage sent up to the room, which we gratefully accepted. Documents in hand, we set off to find our room. Sixth floor, room 6212.

Initially we were pretty impressed; there was a door at the end of the corridor which led to two rooms, and ours was seriously large. Unfortunately, the room had one serious flaw: it only had one bed. And there were three of us. We noticed a chair that looked like a pull out bed, so we pulled it out, but there was no bedding on it. And with no travel cot in the room either we had to assume there’d been a mistake. DD was still asleep on me, so DH had to ring reception and ask for a different room. He was told that they might not have another room, and that someone would call back within five minutes. Whilst we were waiting, we noticed that one of the drawers in the unit underneath the TV wouldn’t shut, and kept popping open, which would have been unsafe for DD, so we knew that the room wouldn’t be suitable even if they could bring in another bed.

After about ten minutes the phone rang; if we could go down to the Golden Forest check in they would give us a different room. At that point, the luggage arrived, so we left it in the room and went back down to the lobby. DH was quite annoyed by having to ask for a second room, and this was further compounded by the CM not even apologising for the inconvenience. He’s not a big Disney fan anyway so I was really disappointed that his first experience of Disney wasn’t magical.

Room 5282 was exactly as I was expecting based on the pictures online thankfully. Room sorted, we made our way to Hunters Grill. We hadn’t booked a restaurant for the first night because we weren’t sure what time we would arrive. I’m not really a big eater, so a buffet didn’t particularly appeal to me, and seemed very expensive, but for the convenience of having food ready to eat with a hungry toddler, we thought we’d just go to the hotel buffet. Unfortunately, there was already a sizeable queue at Hunters Grill and we were offered an 8pm table, which was far too late, so we went back up to the room, where our luggage had arrived, grabbed our coats and the pushchair, and made our way to the village. It was here that we discovered Sequoia Lodge has a rather annoying feature. The main lifts go to level 2, the floor with reception, the bar and the Golden Forest lounge, but the exit to the parks via the village, is on a lower level. To reach that level we had to take a separate lift, with only room for one pushchair. Until we discovered the alternative exit through level 1, we often had to queue for the single lift, especially on our return from the parks.

Having read numerous rave reviews of Earls on the Dibb, and finding it rather quiet, we went inside. I had the four cheese pizza, DH had a chicken, bacon and avocado wrap with potato wedges. Including a bottle of water, it cost €21,60. As we were about to pay however, I realised I’d left my bag at security! So had to run back to grab it, leaving DH, who doesn’t speak any French, to pay and collect the food. Thankfully my bag was still there, and after giving a quick rundown of the contents, I was allowed to take my bag.

I had read that Earls had a second floor, and thought it would be nice to sit up there, but couldn’t see a lift, so we just grabbed a table that came free on the ground floor. I was quite impressed with my pizza, though it was essentially just a panini opened up and topped with cheese, but DD wasn’t keen on the brie. DH’s wrap was made fresh for him, so he was happy, and we left feeling we’d made a good choice for dinner.

Hunger satisfied, we headed back to the hotel, and straight to the Golden Forest lounge. It was much quieter in there than I expected, and I found it rather gloomy in there but assumed it was because it was the evening. DH had a coffee and we got a couple of bottles of water for the night. On our way to the room we stopped in the shop to grab our photo pass, which we'd paid for in advance, and when we got up to the room, DH activated the code on the app.

Setting the alarm for 6.15, we went to bed. DD is still in a bed with high sides at home, so my plan was to share a bed with her, while DH got a bed to himself. It was rather warm in the room, 22 degrees, despite the air con being set to 18.5 (the lowest it would go), so I was glad I’d brought DD’s 1 tog sleeping bag as well as her usual 2.5 tog one. After an hour of DD dive-bombing around the bed, and me worrying about her falling off the bottom of the bed, we decided to put the mattress on the floor, wedged between the two beds and padded out with pillows. At midnight, she finally fell asleep, though I think DH fell asleep before she did. It turns out that sharing a bed with an active toddler isn’t the best recipe for a good night’s sleep though, and I slept terribly.

Our room when we went to sleep:

And by the time we woke up in the morning:

[Lola]

Great 1st day report. DD (33) and me arrive on Thursday in a Golden Forest room for a quick mother and daughter trip. so your comments were very useful. Have a great time. It's our first visit to DLP for 15 years.

[kadypants]

Really enjoying your report so far!

We took our very excitable 2 year old in February so this is bringing it all back :-)