Disneyland Paris first time in 8 years - Travel Day

parisdisneyfan · 29 Dec 16, 05:27 PM

So an off hand remark from dd led me to checking out Disneyland Paris for a pre-Christmas/Christmas present trip. Surprisingly it came out not too bad (surprised as I had looked in October for dh and my anniversary and it was almost double what this cost!) We gave the children (dd 25 and ds 20) the options of 2 rooms in the Sequoia Lodge or 1 room in the Disneyland Hotel, luckily they picked the Disneyland Hotel! We booked a family room with extra sofa bed and also got free half board all for 25% off as well. To make the most of this we booked the Explorers Hotel for the night we arrived 80E for the 4 of us inc breakfast which we didn't think was bad at all. Although I looked at flying and Eurostar this doubled the cost so we went by our usual mode of transport - Eurotunnel. Should have really done this bit as a pre-trip sorry

It was an early night as we planned an early start. We managed a quick breakfast at home, before leaving about 7am. It was a straight forward drive to Ashford and we arrived around 9.30. Didn’t have option to change shuttle time so headed into the terminal for drinks and sandwiches for lunch on the road later as couldn’t remember what France is like on a Sunday. There were some reindeer in the terminal which dd had her picture taken with (but now can't find it!) Back in the car and we joined the extremely slow moving queue through security and passport control. It was obvious fairly soon that we weren’t going to get on the 10.36, in fact we were an hour late but hey ho it is for our safety so I wasn’t going to complain. We had built time into the day so we weren’t in a rush.

Through the tunnel and out on to the motorway, we stopped after about an hour and ate our sandwiches at an Aire, but can’t remember which one. Through the tolls (18E) which I have to negoiate, not easy with shoulders that don’t go back, bit dearer than I was expecting but only one whereas our memory said we used to have 2 sets? Anyway our new sat nav took us around through Chessy rather than past Davy Crocket, not sure if it was quicker but we arrived at the Explorers Hotel around 5pm French time. Seemed a very nice hotel if basic but the price was good and it was clean. Room was similar to a Travel lodge, 1 double, 2 singles, handbasin and bath in one room, loo separate. The only things causing a problem were the pillows – 1 per person and the size of a scatter cushion, I asked for extra but nothing showed up!

Anyway we dumped our stuff and decided to head to Disney Village on the free shuttle bus. It had changed a bit in the 8 years but not so much that we didn't recognise it all. Security had definitely been beefed up and more restaurants and shops. Had a nice wander around, looked at the ice rink (not ice ☹) outside the New York and then checked out where to eat for tea and settled on Planet Hollywood as no queue. We know why now! Perhaps if we had stuck to burgers we would have been all right. I ordered a Southwestern salad, dd some thai noodles, ds a lasagne and dh some kind of pasta. We had some nacho’s to share to start. Ds lasagne was like no lasagne I’ve ever seen, more like cannelloni on its ends in a plate of tomato sauce, dd noodles were brown with burnt onions in a thin juice with a few bits of broccoli and dh pasta just looked like a plate of pasta in cream! My salad never appeared, we asked and it still didn’t show! I gave up and ate some of dd’s as she wasn’t going to finish it! At that point we all had room for dessert but didn’t feel inclined to spend any more money there! We had also been pestered by a photographer and then his accomplice trying to flog us pictures on keyrings etc. Luckily the bill didn’t have my meal on it so we didn’t have to try and sort that out. I think it came to just under 100E including the drinks so we just paid and left, I know that may seem mean but neither the food or the service were worth it, when you think that is nigh on £100!

We had another bit of a wander and listened to the singers in the village before getting a shuttle back to the hotel. We did a bathroom/loo/room shuffle to all get into night gear before settling down Waltons style for the night.

Eeyorefanuk · 4 Jan 17, 07:23 AM

Look forward to
More

judy22 · 9 Jan 17, 11:48 PM

Enjoying this Julia. Looking forward to reading more

sheluk · 28 Aug 17, 01:04 PM

Good travel day!
We really dislike Planet Hollywood after a couple of bad experiences so never again for you & your story just cements that! Hopefully your other meals were much better x

29 Dec 16, 05:27 PM	#1
	29 Dec 16, 05:27 PM parisdisneyfan Imagineer
parisdisneyfan Imagineer Join Date: Feb 08	Disneyland Paris first time in 8 years - Travel Day So an off hand remark from dd led me to checking out Disneyland Paris for a pre-Christmas/Christmas present trip. Surprisingly it came out not too bad (surprised as I had looked in October for dh and my anniversary and it was almost double what this cost!) We gave the children (dd 25 and ds 20) the options of 2 rooms in the Sequoia Lodge or 1 room in the Disneyland Hotel, luckily they picked the Disneyland Hotel! We booked a family room with extra sofa bed and also got free half board all for 25% off as well. To make the most of this we booked the Explorers Hotel for the night we arrived 80E for the 4 of us inc breakfast which we didn't think was bad at all. Although I looked at flying and Eurostar this doubled the cost so we went by our usual mode of transport - Eurotunnel. Should have really done this bit as a pre-trip sorry It was an early night as we planned an early start. We managed a quick breakfast at home, before leaving about 7am. It was a straight forward drive to Ashford and we arrived around 9.30. Didn’t have option to change shuttle time so headed into the terminal for drinks and sandwiches for lunch on the road later as couldn’t remember what France is like on a Sunday. There were some reindeer in the terminal which dd had her picture taken with (but now can't find it!) Back in the car and we joined the extremely slow moving queue through security and passport control. It was obvious fairly soon that we weren’t going to get on the 10.36, in fact we were an hour late but hey ho it is for our safety so I wasn’t going to complain. We had built time into the day so we weren’t in a rush. Through the tunnel and out on to the motorway, we stopped after about an hour and ate our sandwiches at an Aire, but can’t remember which one. Through the tolls (18E) which I have to negoiate, not easy with shoulders that don’t go back, bit dearer than I was expecting but only one whereas our memory said we used to have 2 sets? Anyway our new sat nav took us around through Chessy rather than past Davy Crocket, not sure if it was quicker but we arrived at the Explorers Hotel around 5pm French time. Seemed a very nice hotel if basic but the price was good and it was clean. Room was similar to a Travel lodge, 1 double, 2 singles, handbasin and bath in one room, loo separate. The only things causing a problem were the pillows – 1 per person and the size of a scatter cushion, I asked for extra but nothing showed up! Anyway we dumped our stuff and decided to head to Disney Village on the free shuttle bus. It had changed a bit in the 8 years but not so much that we didn't recognise it all. Security had definitely been beefed up and more restaurants and shops. Had a nice wander around, looked at the ice rink (not ice ☹) outside the New York and then checked out where to eat for tea and settled on Planet Hollywood as no queue. We know why now! Perhaps if we had stuck to burgers we would have been all right. I ordered a Southwestern salad, dd some thai noodles, ds a lasagne and dh some kind of pasta. We had some nacho’s to share to start. Ds lasagne was like no lasagne I’ve ever seen, more like cannelloni on its ends in a plate of tomato sauce, dd noodles were brown with burnt onions in a thin juice with a few bits of broccoli and dh pasta just looked like a plate of pasta in cream! My salad never appeared, we asked and it still didn’t show! I gave up and ate some of dd’s as she wasn’t going to finish it! At that point we all had room for dessert but didn’t feel inclined to spend any more money there! We had also been pestered by a photographer and then his accomplice trying to flog us pictures on keyrings etc. Luckily the bill didn’t have my meal on it so we didn’t have to try and sort that out. I think it came to just under 100E including the drinks so we just paid and left, I know that may seem mean but neither the food or the service were worth it, when you think that is nigh on £100! We had another bit of a wander and listened to the singers in the village before getting a shuttle back to the hotel. We did a bathroom/loo/room shuffle to all get into night gear before settling down Waltons style for the night. __________________