The Disneyland Paris, Europa Park & Efteling Halloween Roadtrip

[theCMG]

What has Europe ever done for us? I asked DW and she said ‘non chiedermi che ti ho sposato solo per la casa’ which I think means the house is going to feel empty without you my darling (*I could be wrong).


The Cast:

Me: 40 something never grown up teenager and occasional Dining Reporter, foodie and privacy loving theme park enthusiast.

DD: 14yo also into rollercoasters and food. Somehow combines being creative and eco-friendly with being into make-up and clothes, think a rural Kylie Jenner with a hint of Greta Thunberg. Still surprisingly well behaved for a teenager.

DW is not joining us so with spare seats in the car we have replaced her with a cardboard cutout of Emma Watson in a confusing is that an older sister for DD or a younger wife for me. No, it’s a cardboard cutout of Emma Watson; Officer...

The famous Hermione Grazer no less

Readers of my dining reports will be pleased to know I’ve finally traded up from the cheapest smartphone in the shop to one with a half decent camera. We still won’t appear in the photos unless you count thumbs...but the scenery and food might be less blurry.

Expect lots of food, memes and bad jokes. Updates will be as fast as I can do them with all the moving around, probably live-ish - scrub that it was too hectic and I'm writing it when we got back!


The Trip

We leave home on the Eurotunnel early Sunday morning and head to France. Probably a quick stop at a Calais wine warehouses to see if the John Smiths is on sale yet then the drive down to the Disneyland Paris area. Bit of teen-appeasing shopping Sunday pm then to our offsite hotel.

Day 1 - Travel UK to Beautheil off-site hotel (East of DLP)
Day 2-3 Disneyland Paris (Buffalo Bill’s show and Inventions character dinner booked)

Day 4 drive to Europa Park (over French/German border not far from Strasbourg), arrive at Europa Park campsite for an onsite Teepee stay
Day 5-6 Europa Park (nothing scheduled but a million things to see and do)

Day 7 drive to Efteling in Netherlands via probably a therme spa in Baden Baden or an outdoor mountain coaster check into Efteling onsite hotel
Day 8-9 Efteling, booked the Caro show and a set dinner thing but otherwise winging it

Day 8 Efteling park day
Day 9 Efteling park day
Day 10 AM - back to Calais and home just ahead of Brexit hopefully

We’ll be scoring all 3 parks out of 5 against these categories to see which we like best/recommend:

Theming
Attractions

Dining

Value

Customer Service

DD and I will score the 3 parks individually against these categories and tally them up to an Overall Score

This and more is detailed in the pre-trip thread here. Otherwise, we hope you can join us for the trip


*I was, according to google translate it’s something about only marrying me for the house. I’m sure she doesn’t mean it. Darling?

[Pez01]

Hurrah following along.

[Lily8]

Road trip, theme parks, food... what not to like? Following with much interest (yep, managed to book those Basel flights for July )

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Pez01

Hurrah following along.

See more...

Originally Posted by Lily8

Road trip, theme parks, food... what not to like? Following with much interest (yep, managed to book those Basel flights for July )

See more...

Thanks both, just at Folkestone at the moment waiting for our train. DD already sprayed mocha over my trousers laughing so a good start I guess

Great news on the flights Lily! Full Europa Park review to follow 😁

[Ellibop]

I'm so excited to follow your report! I have today booked Efteling for May half term so will be very interested to read your review of that, but Europa is on the list for a future trip too (have done DLP a couple of times so will enjoy those parts aswell). Hope you're having an amazing time!

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Ellibop

I'm so excited to follow your report! I have today booked Efteling for May half term so will be very interested to read your review of that, but Europa is on the list for a future trip too (have done DLP a couple of times so will enjoy those parts aswell). Hope you're having an amazing time!

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Aw thank you yes, at the halfway point now and lots of great things to share already Doing a full write up when we get back now rather than as we go, haven't had a room with a desk for a laptop yet (well it's a tent at the moment!)

[Sallyingforth]

Hope you're having a great last day. I can't wait to hear which was the winner! Hope its all been equally brilliant!

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Sallyingforth

Hope you're having a great last day. I can't wait to hear which was the winner! Hope its all been equally brilliant!

See more...

All back now and a great time 😁
Sorting through photos and verdicts on the parks and should have the write-up starting in a couple of days 🙂

[Pez01]

Can’t wait to read about the trip 😊

[theCMG]

Day 1 - Home to Paris (well a field somewhere near Paris)

We left Surrey bright and early for Folkestone and a morning Eurotunnel. We aren’t quite early enough to bump a train earlier and end up with a Flat White and a Mocha at the West Cornwall Pasty Co in the services style building near the terminal (coffees okay the breakfast in there looked very good). This terminal is mid refurb.

If there was ever any doubt that I’m travelling with a teenager it’s already dispelled. The refusal to appear in photos , headphones as communication barrier and complaining, it was like travelling with my 14 year old self Luckily I manage to pinch a photo here and there when she’s not paying attention, this one is actually from Efteling but illustrates the point.

Darth Teenagus

We’re called to the loading lanes fairly soon and away on the train. DD is admirably stuck into her art homework and I alternate between wandering around the carriage next to our car and trying to get a photo of her Audrey Hepburn sketch (which briefly recalls Groot before happily coming good). No joy on that photo… By 10:30 we’re already in France and heading to a Calais McDonalds for a breakfast.

I like to stop at this one because it’s only a few minutes from the Eurotunnel terminal in the right direction for Paris, you can park or drive thru and it’s right next to Calais Vins which is the wine place I’ve been going to for years on trips to France.

Eurotunnel terminal is just off the left of the pic and Maccers top right.

We weren’t that enamoured with the breakfast options - no hash browns! DD had an egg and bacon thing and I ended up with some odd bbq breakfast muffin burger that would convince anyone to vote leave (last Brexit reference I promise). We also shared a side of McGriddles that were a pair of syrup infused pancakes, those were nice.

After that and with a grumbling teen in tow it’s off to the wine shop to stock up. Quick scoot around and enough wine for me, DW and my folks for hopefully a couple of years Also picked up a few Belgian beers that put in an appearance later.

Wine Haul

BTW I love Calais Vins (not a sponsor!). It’s not huge but they seem to have all the main bases covered. I’ve had a loyalty card there forever and I despite me turning up unannounced every couple of years and never having the card with me they always give me the money off (something like 5% discount on next purchase). So they’re forever in the good books

Then it’s off to Paris. Uneventful drive apart from the usual comedy of DD stretching across to pay the tolls - rule 1 pull up as far away as possible We make it to our accomodation in Beautheil, East of DLP mid-afternoon.

Now the room is great, two separate rooms suite style and breakfast included all for a decent price.

I must admit it’s way out in countryside. Way out! You (I) forget that DLP is already a way East of Paris and this is 20 miles further out basically in the middle of some fields. We will not be popping out for the nightlife round here

So we head out later afternoon with the aim of visiting the shopping mall in Marne la Vallee so DD can browse for clothes and we can pick up some stuff from the big Auchan plus dinner. It takes about 35 minutes to get there - further than I wanted and it turns out DD is not in much of a shopping mood. We end up getting a very late lunch snack, mooching around then hitting Auchan before grabbing dinner.

I want to make those!

Deciding to avoid junk food for the evening we opt to go to Hippopotamus, a steak place in the mall. We share a platter of various meats that is a little pricey but comes with unlimited sides and sauces (albeit only 2 of the sides we ordered turned up).

We ordered salad too, honest

This was really good and came to just over €60, more than I wanted to spend but I was trying to respect DD’s wish to not eat junk with all those theme park days ahead. She was very taken with the cheesy potatoes and our one green thing never arrived

After that it was back to the middle of nowhere and our hotel for an early night ahead of tomorrow’s DLP