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[gingajen]

We got back from Disney at 11pm last night, hubby had to leave for work at 6:30am  :shock:  so we are feeling a little punch drunk with tiredness!
We set off from Dudley, West Midlands on Saturday afternoon and after a smooth and uneventful journey, checked into Ashford Central Premier Inn.  The hotel and staff were great. We had breakfast and left in our taxis at 9:15am for Ashford station. As we were a little early we had a drink in the departure area while the kids played with their Eurostar bags. Then it was time to get on the train. There were 9 of us in total, 5 of those were children under 8 years old, so the short walk to the train was a little stressful! The two families were in seperate coaches, we were lucky enough to have a table seat. Off we went.
We arrived at Marne le Vallee a little late. We dropped the bags at Disney express and went to the park. We went straight to Pirates, it was as great as ever! We stopped off at Chatau du Marrionette. What a disapointment?! Horrible, slow service, wrong order and poor value. We then went off to BTM. This was quite stressful as my 4 year old son was desperate to go on this ride. However, he is a little short for his age and I have been so worried about him not getting on....so we changed his shoes, he put on his pumps with the thick soles and I had put two insoles inside the shoes  :oops:  They didn't even measure him! We all loved it.
We watched the parade which everyone loved, we had a great view Then we did other rides, wandered round and soaked up the atmosphere. We left the park to go to the Village to eat. We went to King Ludvigs which was yummy, but we didn't leave until after 11pm. We were exhausted and hadn't even checked in to the Santa Fe yet, so we caught the shuttle to the hotel. Check in was swift, the kind lady gave booked us in to have breakfast at Plaza Gardens on our last day. We went to the room and all passed out. We awoke early next day to breakfast before the rush, we got there about 7:20, and there was no queue. 10 minutes later and it was nearly at reception!!!
We caught the shuttle to the park to make the most of what was left or EMH. We did Peter Pans flight and then walked to Discoveryland. Buzz was closed, which wasn't suprising as during the previous day our visit to that ride and been riddled with breakdowns! Then off to Space Mountain. Oh I love that ride, but it was a rough ride. I told my friends to keep their heads back in the seats but even doing that they both ended up with headaches!
We then went over to the Studios. Straight onto ToT, with my son who was by far the smallest rider. They measured this time and was just about ok to go on. My 7 year old daughter loved it as did myself and hubby. My son was not overly keen, but our photo was excellent. we had it sent back to our hotel for collection later.
It was pouring with rain now so we had to invest in ponchos. It was also cold. We went on Cars which was a really family favourite and then went to Blockbuster Cafe for lunch. I really like it here and I think it's good value. Everyone was pleased with the food here which was a relief after the problems with the Marrionette! The two families went their seperate ways and we took our daughter on her first every upside down ride, Aerosmith. and she adored it! So did I and my husband.
We then did Cinemagique for the first time and it was amazing. My husband said it was his favourite attraction of them all. We also managed to do Crush and cars again and then left to Planet Hollywood for tea. Not bad value really and we had a lovely group photo.
We had originally planned to miss Dreams again because of the rain throughout the day. However it had dried up so we decided to go for it. We got to Central Plaza 1 at 10pm so we had an hour to wait. It was cold, but all of the kids had bought Disney blankets so we snuggled under those. Luckily the floor was dry There was quite a large gap inbetween Central Plaza and the Castle and everyone in my group said we should go further up front. But I tooko the advice of the members on here and stayed on the kerb. It was  FANTASTIC view. Dreams was just wonderful. Perfect. Even my husband, who just does Disney for me, said that show was worth the ticket price alone! I was so proud of DLRP. We then walked back to the hotel and collapsed again into bed.

[gingajen]

Another early rise on Tuesday. It was a much drier day, but still cool. We did EMH, but felt that we didnt really need to get up so early as we had done everything available already. The queues were short everywhere anyway.
We park hopped throughout the day. We had fish and chips and Toad of Toad Hall, which was fine. We did Thunder Mountain, Pirates and IASW again. Then went over to Buzz, which was much smoother this time. off we went to Star Tours, where somehow my Son was too short for this ride despite it having the same restrictionf as BTM and ToT, so we didn't go on this one. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We had an early dinner as we had received a 20% off voucer from Ludwigs which was only valid until 6pm. It saved £40 between us though so it was worth it. However I have to admit I think the London Rainnforest Cafe is superior in both the choice of food and the amtosphere. We went to a couple of bars and then went back to the hotel for an earlyish night.
Wednesday was our last day  :cry:  we checked out and dropped our bags at the luggage area for them to brinng it to the station for us. and went off to the parks for breakfast at PLza Gardens. They serve the same food, but it is much more relaxed here. We did Buzz again and then wandered over to the Studios to get in line for Crush as it opened. However due to technical difficulties it was closed. So off to cars again Then to Aerosmith. We planned to go to animagique after the Art of imagination took longer than we thought so we missed it.
Back over to the Park where we had a hotdog at Caseys, took the kids to Pirate Beach and Pocahontas Village. Then one last go on BTM and it was time to bid the parks farewell. We went over to Annettes which I had really been loooking forward to since I love the wholes 1950's thing. Th burgers were yummy. My husband took on the challenge of the maxi burger, he won and enjoyed his free chocolate milkshake My son fell asleep on the table and didn't touch any of his food, bless him.
We went to the station and grabbed the bags and joined the huge queue for departures. We had another table seat and had a quiet journey home.

It was a truly magical holiday. Sometimes it was difficult to please all 9 of us so it was a good idea that sometimes the two families seperated for a couple of hours each day. It was so much more enjoyable going for four days instead of our usual two. We didn't feel the need to rush everywhere all day long. It was still exhausting though. We also still havent seen Animagique, any of the shows other than the parades and dreams, Studio Tram tours, eaten at Cable acr Bakery or Gibson girl. Or had a character meal, or tried Earl of Sandwich or been insode the Disneyland Hotel and had a cocktail. There is so much I still want to do.....
The Santa Fe was ok, our room hadn't been refurbed and although it was clean enough, it was very tatty. The walk to the park was enjoyable. The breakfats were fine, but if we had gotten up late and met the queue I think we would have given it a miss as it wasn't really worth waiting a long time for. Having said that, literally all we did was sleep in the hotel so I'm not sure it would have been worth paying extra to upgrade?
EMH was great for Peter Pan, but the queues elsewhere were so manageable that we felt that we wouldn't have missed them if we had stayed offsite.
It was our first time on Eurostar and we are not sure we would use it again. We are used to driving and having that freedom, and on our last day we would have dumped all of our bags in the car, gone back to the park, left when we wanted and headed off straight away. Instead we had to leave at a certain time, go through a long queue at departures which we are just not used to, and then drag our baggage around with us to the train. The only reason we booked Eurostar this time was that the offer made it cheaper than driving and the channel tunnel for the first time ever. I think next time we would drive, and either stay in the Disneyland Hotel, or offsite if it was an offpeak time.
I'm sorry my report is so text heavy, I haven't sorted the photos yet.
We have had a wonderful time, the kids loved it, I loved it, even my husband enjoyed it. We managed to try new places to eat as we had the extra time there.
I'm missing it already and I know there is no chance of us going back for quite a while yet. Hubby did mention going back for my 30th, but that's 3 years away yet. I'll have to work on that  

[gingajen]

I also did want to mention how embarrassing it is to listen to so many English families not even attempt to speak French anywhere. I speak VERY limited French and often I will be bodging my way through a conversation and the person I'm speaking to is answering in English, but I battle on in French anyway. I do think it's very rude, even a Merci or Bonjour is easy enough. I've noticed it more this past few days than every before. A couple of times Waiters commented on my French saying I speak it very well, which I know I do not, but I guess after thousands of other Enlgish people not even trying, my pathetic attempts must be quite welcome and appreciated.

[gemma2806]

I loved reading your trip report, it sounds like you had an amazing time and got to do a lot!! I'm looking forward to seeing the photos.

My son will be 1 week off 3yrs old when we go and he is fearless and wants to ride BTM, so I may end up padding out his shoes too unless he grows that extra half inch by September. He's already 3ft 3 and a bit inches!!

I completely agree with you over the language issue. I also think it's rude not to even try just a few words of French. I always try to muddle my way through but i've started to teach my son to say Bonjour and Merci for when we're there!!

[Epcot_Boy]

Thanks for sharing your hols with us, much appreciated.

On the language, my French is awful but I do try to use it when I can........and when I have I have always received positive feedback, gives you a kinda warm glow when you get it right and in return you receive a smile from our french hosts

[gingajen]

Yes, they do seem to welcome even the smallest attempt. The waiter at Planet Hollywood was even giving me lessons when him came to my table, though I've already forgotten how to ask for steak medium rare! At Toad Hall, the entire transaction was done in French, I even managed to correct her when she made a mistake, my proudest moment
We would love to speak it fluently though.

[gingajen]

I loved reading your trip report, it sounds like you had an amazing time and got to do a lot!! I'm looking forward to seeing the photos.

My son will be 1 week off 3yrs old when we go and he is fearless and wants to ride BTM, so I may end up padding out his shoes too unless he grows that extra half inch by September. He's already 3ft 3 and a bit inches!!

I completely agree with you over the language issue. I also think it's rude not to even try just a few words of French. I always try to muddle my way through but i've started to teach my son to say Bonjour and Merci for when we're there!!

I would if I were you. I would only do it for BTM and ToT though. These two rides do not seperate riders into seperate seats so that either myself or my husband could seat as close as we wanted to our son and hold him tight.