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[edensworld]

Hi all, I recently came back from DLP. I stayed at the Davy Crocket Ranch and paid the extra to stay in the premier plus lodge. I can only say there is absolutely nothing premier or plus about the accommodation. Upon arrival we were greeted by an enormous building site neither peaceful or idyllic as suggested in the brochure.

The check in at reception took an hour and a half due to the sheer volume of people arriving and what I could only see as a lack of staff.

I sent my three children off (with their Dad) to explore/ play; they came back within 10 minutes; the play park was closed down and the rough overgrown field where a few Tp's stood wasn't of much play value. The heat was 30 degrees plus and the only place to stay out of the sun was in the shop.

I choose the location due to the fact it is supposedly self- catering. I brought along a couple days' worth of groceries only to find a microwave and two coffee machines (yes two space taking coffee machines) to cook meals. The oven has been replaced with a dishwasher. I was completely stumped as to how I was to provide meals for my family. The local shop only sold frozen meals and barely any fresh produce. Every time I went to the shop they were out of fresh milk so I couldn't even give my three children breakfast cereal or toast as there was not even a toaster in the cabin (I later found I could hire a toaster for 30 euros). The local restaurant  opened at 7:30am for breakfast, but having young children waking early and excited two hours is a long time to wait to buy a drink and breakfast.

I feel cheated out of the self catering package having to spend close to 250 euros a day on food and drinks much of which with fussy children goes from plate to bin.

The Davy Crocket Ranch has absolutely no facilities, no laundrette, very limited choice of food supplies, no play area. I wouldn't even consider it peaceful or quite as I could hear the noise from the motorway.

I was surprised that the cabin could actually squeeze in eight people. I'm a family of five and found the space adequate.

Lots of little things really spoilt the experience for me. I expect queues and rude people pushing and tolerate this; however I thought the self catering Davy Crocket Ranch would allow for down time. I planned to do early morning visits to the theme parks, come back for a late lunch, chill out in the cabin. I was disappointed there was no DVD in the cabin so kids could chill out for a bit. The TV showed Disney adverts and the news ( unless you are bilingual) Had there been a play park this would have been another option. Also all the features at the Swimming pool were out of action, no slides, or whirl pool.

I would never visit Disney Paris again. My husband has been to the Florida Disney Land and said they were two completely different experiences.

DLP has a complete lack of staff to cope with the sheer volume of people. I expected to see Disney characters wondering around the park and more parades on, as in the Florida Disney to give a more atmospheric feel. All I saw was cut backs everywhere and piling in as many bodies as physically possible.

I would not recommend this holiday to anyone with children under the age of eight; as a family we could only go on about four rides due to height restrictions. There is a system where you can do a 'baby swap' i.e. one adult takes the children while you wait then you swap round to take your turn (not having to queue again), but I want to ride with my children not go on the ride by myself sat with a stranger.

[DisneyRon]

Sad to hear you had a terrible experience.

[stifle]

I'm sad to hear you didn't like your experience.

You did choose the budget accommodation of Camp Davy Crockett. There are more amenities at the hotels so perhaps they may have been more suited to you.

Characters wander the park from 8am to 10am and thereafter thy can be found in fixed meet & greet areas indicated on the daily program. It's always been straightforward to find characters in my experience, but they can't just amble around when it's busy; they'd be mobbed and because the costumes are hot they can only be out for 30 minutes at a time before being replaced.

I don't think Disneyland can fairly be blamed for the weather or that your visit coincided with some unfortunate technical problems on parts of the pool. The amenities in the cabin are well published and they do not promise a DVD player.

Finally, the height restrictions. They're not there because Disney hates small people, they're for safety reasons. It wouldn't be a very good thing if a kid fell off RC Racer or Big Thunder Mountain, I'm sure you'll agree! And there are only around 10 attractions with height restrictions out of over 40 between the two parks, so I don't understand why you feel you could only go on four.

So in summary, I see you didn't have a great experience, but I bet you were staying in a proper hotel in Florida... and was it perhaps a quieter time of year? Difficult to compare in my opinion.

[chalky0123]

I hope this isn't the experience generally. I'm staying there next week!

[polar vixen]

We've stayed there every year for the last four years, and never found this to be the case.  The cabins have never had ovens, but a microwave, and hob, ( as is stated in the brochure and on the website), the fridge freezer is a better size even than center parcs,  (you can actually put food in the freezer!) and we are a family of 6 and a baby, we find the lay out far more comfortable than a hotel room as it's nice to put the kids to bed and be able to stay up longer.  TV choice isn't great, so take a laptop or tablet with you if you want to watch something other than the Disney channel.  Yes, the grass etc is long and vastly uncut, but it is based on the American wildwest so we just find it gives it a lovely feel, the paths are well lit and the kids love looking for bugs,  Not sure the current state of the kids play area, but none of the hotels really have one anyway, and we still love exploring, don't forget you can ask at pool reception to borrow raquets/bats for tennis or table tennis.  The site is huge, and we've never experienced motor way noise as you are pretty removed, so not sure where the noise is coming from? 
As far as rides for younger children, there are plenty, the only ones our little ones can't do are the roller coassters and maybe star tours, but my 3 year old was big enough for this, and if we do need to split, 1 rides with some kids, and then other parent rides with another, or if you've one big/1 small kid, big kid rides twice.  Then there ae all the shows in the studios, great for little ones.
Enjoy your stay!  We're going back in three weeks, can't wait!

[chalky0123]

Thanks. Was feeling anxious! Is the earliest time you can pickup breakfast 7:30, I was hoping we'd be able to make the most of EMH!

[McSuze]

Thanks. Was feeling anxious! Is the earliest time you can pickup breakfast 7:30, I was hoping we'd be able to make the most of EMH!

Please don't worry Chalky, we arrive on Sunday!

Like the others have said, the cabins never had an oven & are not advertised as such. They do have a BBQ which is an option if you want to cook. I don't go on holiday to cook & budget accordingly. We have added HB+.

The huts open at 7.30am to collect your breakfast, we usually eat in the cabin, get to the hut just before 7.30am and drive straight to the park, munching croissants on the way & using the rest for snacks. We don't do EMH every day but it's less than 10 mins to the park & 10 mins or so to the gates from the car park once you've parked up 

The cabins are great as you don't have to sit in the dark (or hide in the bathroom!) whilst the children go to sleep. The pool is fab and a great break from the parks on the long summer days.

[polar vixen]

We like to take a couple of disposable bbqs from home, and a couple of packs of marshmallows, on the days where we eat earlier in the parks, it's great to go back and have a bbq, just buy any meat on the day you arrive, the store can sell out pretty quickly

[AlmostThere...]

Don't worry Chalky!

I think it boils down to research.  And planning, think through how/what and even when you want to cook (and let's face it being on holiday it's nice to not cook too much!) we just did one dinner with pasta and sauce.

The pool is fab at DCR, the shop is fine (but pricey of course) the only thing I'm doing differently next year is taking a toaster as we missed it before.  DCR is great for a family, have breakfast when you want (we took our own and used long life milk to cope with the drive from london), make a cheap pack up for lunch...perfect! 

Can't wait to go again