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Old 2 Nov 18, 02:58 PM  
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Em4owen
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Our French and Belgian Adventure August 2018: Day Eight - Travelling to DLP and La Somme.

Day Eight: Sunday 26th August 2018 – Travelling to DLP, La Somme and Captain Jacks

If you're a little confused and thinking day eight!?! the first part of this trippie is in the General trip reports section as we spent the first week in Belgium. The rest of the trip was at DLP. You can read find all of that part of the trip here: Index

We set the alarm for 7am. We had to leave the cottage in Belgium by 10am but hoped to be off before then as we were off to Disney today, yay! We had a lot of travelling to do to get though and had planned to stop off at some sites in La Somme on the way. We breakfasted, packed and cleaned and were on the road by 9am. We were sad to leave the cottage and Belgium as we had really enjoyed our time there.

It took us 2 and a half hours of driving, with a quick pit stop at a service station to get to La Somme. We had another of Owen’s relatives to find at Pozieres memorial cemetery which was our first stop.





After this, we went to a Canadian site called Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial park.













It’s a beautiful place, based on one of the sites where there were allied trenches and had been made into a park for visitors with a memorial mound, a museum and a trail to complete with all the sites. It was really peaceful and although windy, quite sunny. We completed a little of the trail, looking at the trenches, museum and mound but the boys were getting grumpy for lunch. We had our lunch at a picnic table in the car park where it was even windier and our lunch kept blowing away!

After lunch, we decided to make one more stop as time was getting away from us, which was Lochnagar crater. The boys stayed in the car whilst Owen and I went to look separately at it. The site is a huge crater which occurred from munitions being used by the British in the area. It had lots of signs up about it being a dangerous site as there were potential explosives still in the area but lots of people were there including children and there was lots of signage. It was incredible how enormous this crater was. I don’t think pictures do it justice.





We left here around 1.30pm to complete the final 2 hours drive to Disneyland, making another quick toilet stop on the way.

For some strange reason, as we approached Paris, the SatNav went a little crazy and kept trying to take us somewhere else rather than where the signs were saying to go. I’m glad we ignored it as at one point it wanted to take us on a 4 hour detour! We spent about 10 Euros in tolls on our journey before reaching Sequoia Lodge at 4pm. We would have been there sooner, if not for all the road works taking place and huge traffic jams. I think we were stuck in that for about 20-30 minutes!

We unloaded the car and made our way to check in. I was so excited but the boys were quite grumpy from their long journey. The Golden Forest check in is separate and we knew this but weren’t quite sure where it was. We found it to the left of the main check in desk, hidden behind some boarding. The check in was really friendly and welcoming. I was so pleased we had chosen to upgrade and the boys were given sweets and as it had been Hayden's birthday a few days ago, he was given a birthday badge which he was really chuffed with but got very confused every time someone asked if it was his birthday and stopped wearing it!

We made our way in the lifts up to our room which was on the 4th floor, unpacked and Owen went to get the photopass sorted.

Some hotel and room pictures (I think I took more on the last day)











By this time, it was 5pm so we hotfooted it to Disneyland Parc as we had a reservation at Captain Jacks for 5.30pm. We had to negotiate all the people sitting ready for the parade and then as we approached the restaurant, Captain Jack himself appeared bringing a crowd with him and blocking our way. I think we made it with about a minute to spare! We sat and waited for about 15 minutes to be called to a table. The restaurant was dark but the atmosphere was great and after all that rushing, I could finally soak it all in. We were back and I was so excited! The blues of leaving Belgium were gone and 5 days of Disney were ahead of us!

We were led to a great table, higher up but at the front of the section, overlooking the ride. The boys loved watching the boats go by.



We ordered our food and here’s what we had (sorry for the darkness of the photos, I couldn't use some of them because they were so dark):

Me – quinoa salad to start, vegetable curry for main and fruit soup for desert.





Owen – spicy sausage to start, spit roast pork for main and chocolate tart for desert.







Hayden – vegetable tartare to start, chicken breast and rice for main and ice cream for desert.





Ashley just sampled parts of our meals as we didn’t want to pay for a kid’s meal for him as it was so pricey. He ate some of Hayden’s starter as Hayden didn’t want it, then had some rice and chips for main and Owen’s ice cream for his desert. I think the boys both had orange juice for their drinks and Owen and I had diet cokes.



Our bill came to 119 Euros which I didn’t think was too bad considering we’d all had 3 really lovely courses. I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant, it was really fun and the food was delicious. This was my favourite meal of the entire holiday and it was the perfect way to start the Disney part of our holiday.

Naturally, after seeing the ride whilst we were eating, our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean. It had been down when we were in the restaurant so there was only a 5-10 minute wait. The boys enjoyed it up until the first drop and then they cowered. Ashley really hated the second drop because it was in the dark. You can see me trying to hug him close because he was scared, bless!



After this we decided to take the boys to an old favourite, It’s a Small World. Hayden loved it last time we went and this time was no different. Ashley really enjoyed it too although we did have to convince Hayden there were no drops.



It was around 8-9ish now but the park was still really busy. Long wait times for everything. Hayden asked if he could go on the Pinocchio ride. It had a 30 minute wait time but the queue keeps moving so we thought why not? Why that was a mistake! It was about 45-50 minutes we waited. The boys were tired and getting grumpy. We wondered if after this, we might have to call it a night even though we planned on doing the fireworks. The boys liked the ride but it’s not worth that long a wait!

Owen checked the app and saw that ride times were quite high. However, one of the perks of straying in Golden Forest meant we got a free fast pass each day. Our choices with little ones were limited though and we all agreed on Buzz so off we traipsed to Discoveryland. With the FP, we were on in no time. Afterwards, we stopped in the shop and the boys bought a present each – cars bath toys for Ashley and a mickey mouse pencil set for Hayden. Owen found the 25th anniversary photo album on sale so we got that and we were really thirsty, but in our mad dash had left our water bottles in the hotel room so paid the extortionate prices for some drinks. It came to 52 Euros.

Last year, Hayden was about 1cm to small to ride Star Tours but now he was the perfect height. He was looking forward to finally going on the ride so Owen took him whilst I waited with Ashley. I think it was only a 15 minute wait time. Ashley happily played with his new car toys whilst we waited and had a snack, I think. He was much happier by now and I think the queue had made him grumpy. We did see, however, lots of other grumpy, screaming children being dragged through the park, however. Clearly they’d had enough! Hayden on the other hand, did not like Star Tours and Owen said he cowered. It was no around 10pm and we thought as we’d made it this far, we might as well stay for Illuminations. I’d seen some people with popcorn whilst we were waiting for Owen and Hayden so found the cart nearby and bought us a box to share for 6 Euros. I ordered in French and was well proud of myself when I was able to understand and respond that I wanted ‘sucre’.

We wandered nearer to the castle and could see people getting in position for the fireworks. As we went to stand by a flower/bush display, we saw lots of people sat right by the castle and a small gap at the front so we moved forward. It was a brilliant spot.

Our little spot



There was a CM next to us and then a fence in front so no one could squeeze in. Because we’d purchased popcorn and the boys had their new toys to play with, the 50 minutes quickly whizzed by. Our location was right next to the Annual Pass Centre, to the right side of the castle, if anyone is interested. When the fireworks started, I couldn’t believe that everyone stayed sat down, even those behind us! It was magical. We were surrounded by lots of families like us, with small/younger children so I think that may have helped. Everyone was so polite and courteous, unlike the stories I had heard. I was so glad we chose to stay and the spot we chose was perfect. The boys absolutely loved the projections and jumped with excitement. Seeing Ashley’s little face filled with glee made it all worthwhile. The boys were less keen on the actual fireworks but we stayed and watched it all and I really enjoyed it. This was one of my highlights of the holiday.



We joined the crowds leaving the park and I tried not to run over people with the buggy, although they made that quite difficult! We also enjoyed seeing Mickey waving everybody goodnight, Ashley in particular. The boys made us stand there for about 10 minutes!



We went to bed at just gone 12, all exhausted but very happy and excited for the days ahead!

Spends: 187 Euros
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Edited at 09:01 PM.
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