August 2017 DLP Trip Review

ch1ps · 2 Sep 17, 08:26 AM

Just got back from DLP yesterday. We did a 5 day, 4 night trip (left bank holiday Monday). We got Eurostar to Gare Du Nord, then Inter Service Prestige transfer to Sequoia Lodge. We were 2A and our DGS Kenzie who is 6.

Eurostar to GDN - Uneventful. We chose this option as the direct train was �300 vs �700 direct to DLP.

Inter service Prestige (taxi) we pre-booked in advance the round trip fare was Euro 140. Driver's were really nice, large SUV type vans, easily enough space for the three of us and our luggage. Trip took about 40 minutes. Would definitely recommend them.

Sequoia Lodge - we had a Golden Forest Room. The hotel is lovely and all of the CMs were really friendly and I felt like I was getting the "Disney" experience. Room was ok, what you would expect. My only gripe was the hairdryer which had a very short cord. I'm left handed and it's wall mounted on the right but the short cord made it difficult to use. Buffet breakfast, not groundbreaking, but you could fill up in the morning. Each morning from 8:15 to 11:00 there is a character meet & greet. These have moderate queues. I think whilst we were there, it was Pluto x 2, Mickey and Goofy. The Redwood Lounge is a lovely bar to have a drink on an evening. I can highly recommend the Woodcutter cocktail. The quarry pool, Kenzie loved it in here, so instead of hitting the parks in the morning, we'd take him to the pool for an hour. It was his holiday as much as ours.

Disneyland Park - School holidays so queues were horrendous. The one morning we tried for EMH hardly anything was open and the queues were still long. I did expect queues, but it seemed that every ride the time displayed outside was incorrect by 15-30 minutes. This was very difficult with a 6 year old in tow, we thought 30 mins would be his limit and we were about right (but as the holiday progressed he became more at ease with queues). There were queues for everything, toilets, refreshments and rides. Hyperspace mountain - love the Star Wars overlay, but it throws your head around so much. Indiana Jones not a smooth ride. POTC and BTMR still better here than their Floridian counterparts. We managed most of the child friendly rides.

Studios - Ratatouille was by far my fav ride here. So well done, I hope they do it justice in EPCOT. Didn't get on Crush as no fast-pass and we rarely got to the parks early.

Food - meh. We ate quite a bit in McDonalds and Earl of Sandwich, which were as you would expect. The highlight for us was Vapiano, really tasty food, a good choice and not too expensive.

What I found dismal, CMs working refreshment stands, take ages to serve people, I felt they were surly, it just wasn't a magical experience. The queues awful. I'm not sure if they use the red tag system like in Florida, but every queue was longer than stated outside the ride. The worst offender - Slinky Dog. Said 15 mins, we queued for 40. When we got off it was longer than it was when we had joined and still said 15 mins. Buzz Lightyear we fast-passed, well you skip a bit of the queue and get dumped in to the main queue, didn't feel like a bonus.

There were queue jumpers, which I suppose you get everywhere. A lot of smoking in non smoking areas. The worst offender a woman at the Annette's take away counter, whilst I was waiting for our order, just puffing away whilst chatting to the CM taking orders. It took the shine off the magic.

All in all, we did have a nice time, but I doubt we will return again as would have to go in term-time so the queues are shorter - so that's very unlikely to happen.

Emma1987BTL · 2 Sep 17, 08:55 PM

There will always be people that spoil it

we're out there in 3 weeks Monday exactly the same stay as you

xx

ch1ps · 2 Sep 17, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by Emma1987BTL

There will always be people that spoil it

we're out there in 3 weeks Monday exactly the same stay as you

xx

I'm sure the queues will be shorter for you. Enjoy your trip

Emma1987BTL · 2 Sep 17, 09:44 PM

Thank you, Hopefully

but have no kids in tow so won't be too bad for us xx

**Gill H** · 2 Sep 17, 11:02 PM

We are there Tuesday so hoping for short queues. But we are always in the park for 8am so do Peter Pan, Dumbo, Teacups, Buzz etc as walk ons. This will change once EMH changes to 9am, not happy about that.

Agree CS is always slow, we never bother as the table service food is superb.

Shame about the crowds but that's August I'm afraid. We have done Feb half term with friends and it was not bad then.

Did you get to do any shows? I can't wait to see the Mickey castle show and the Star Wars show. Love Mickey and the Magicisn and only sorry that Forests of Enchantment will have finished by then.

The smoking is annoying as I have asthma, but to be honest we have been to lots of European cities and it is no worse than walking round Paris, Madrid or even London.

Glad you enjoyed Golden Forest, I have never been able to afford it but would love to.

That price sounds horrendous for the direct Eurostar, we usually pay �72 return but you have to book those 10 months out, and they sell out by about 10 am on the day they are released.

ch1ps · 2 Sep 17, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by Gill H

We are there Tuesday so hoping for short queues. But we are always in the park for 8am so do Peter Pan, Dumbo, Teacups, Buzz etc as walk ons. This will change once EMH changes to 9am, not happy about that.

Agree CS is always slow, we never bother as the table service food is superb.

Shame about the crowds but that's August I'm afraid. We have done Feb half term with friends and it was not bad then.

Did you get to do any shows? I can't wait to see the Mickey castle show and the Star Wars show. Love Mickey and the Magicisn and only sorry that Forests of Enchantment will have finished by then.

The smoking is annoying as I have asthma, but to be honest we have been to lots of European cities and it is no worse than walking round Paris, Madrid or even London.

Glad you enjoyed Golden Forest, I have never been able to afford it but would love to.

That price sounds horrendous for the direct Eurostar, we usually pay �72 return but you have to book those 10 months out, and they sell out by about 10 am on the day they are released.

We did Stitch Live. We had plans to do Mickey & the Magician but didn't manage it. We had a good time, but maybe had higher hopes for the amount of rides we'd be able to do.

Ellen-Marie · 5 Sep 17, 08:29 AM

Thanks for sharing! We've booked Sequoia for the first time so it's great to hear good things about it (although I might take my own hair dryer!)

Quick question: you mentioned that the character queues at the hotel were "moderate" - do you think they were still better than queues for characters during EMH in the park?