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[DaveB]

Flew into CDG from BHX on Monday 04/12/17, made our way down to Magic Shuttle area & boarded the 13h00ish service to the park; transfer time about an hour.

Originally booked to stay at Cheyenne but were upgraded to Sequoia lodge. We also had the standard plus full board meal plan. Check in was smooth enough, very impressed with hotel & room (Monterey). 5 minutes to Village & 10 minutes to Park/Studios so not to much trouble even with child buggy. Weather a little chilly but dry.

We had booked reservations at Bistro Remy for 15h30 so just had time to drop bags off before heading over to studios. Arrived to a packed waiting area, checked in at desk & told to wait for our table. Lots of people entering waiting area on spec for tables so it was a bit chaotic but we were shown to our table after a few minutes wait. Theming is excellent, service & food pretty good too; wife & I had fish which we both enjoyed.

Decided to stay in studios for a while & did Slinky Dog (5mins wait), Toy Soldier Parachute Drop (15mins) & walked onto Studio Tram tour before heading back to room to unpack & then dinner at Billy Bobs.

[DaveB]

Arrived a few minutes prior to reservation only to be told to come back in 10 minutes so had to put daughter back in stroller  before wandering around the village! Returned, checked in & went upstairs to the back of a quite long queue, by the time we sat down it was well past our allotted time. Food & service was ok but wife not impressed with being turned away earlier (we had booked again later in week & wife was keen to change this). Headed back to hotel bar for a nightcap: lager & GnT 18 euros, ouch! Subsequently found happy hour was 18h00-19h00.

[DaveB]

Day 2, 05/12/2017. Weather chilly again but thankfully dry. Plenty of layers for us all.

Had character breakfast booked at Plaza Gardens for 08h15. Excellent experience especially for daughter meeting Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Tigger, Ee-aw & Piglet. Breakfast buffet was decent enough with a decent selection for all tastes. Really liked how characters moved to each table individually & couldn't fault the interaction. well worth the supplement.

After breakfast had about 20 minutes left of EMT so managed to squeeze in Dumbo & Carousel before park opening then got a FP for Peter Pan as large queue there already. Did It's a Small World (10min wait) before having a stroll around Fantasy Land whilst waiting for FP time. Went into Adventureland to get FP for Big Thunder Mountain then virtually walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean (lot more fun than I was expecting).

Wife wanted to watch parade with daughter so I headed over to Star Tours (big Star Wars fan) whilst that was going on & met them at Agrabah Café for lunch. Again great theming with a North African vibe, food excellent especially the desserts.

[littlebitofpixiedust]

Enjoyed reading your trip report so far  we love sequoia lodge shame about billy bobs I've you had a reservation you expect it to be ontime

[DaveB]

After lunch it was time for Big Thunder Mountain FP, ride was down but told tickets were valid past allocated time which is fair enough. Saw that Indiana Jones was on 10mins wait so wife & I took turns whilst other wheeled daughter around Adventureland (excellent ride btw). Went back to check on Big Thunder Mountain which was still down so we gave up on that & went into Disney shop in village for a warm as daughter had nodded of for a snooze.

Went back into park for parade, got there just after 16h30 and watchede from the left hand corner just as you enter, great parade which we all enjoyed thoroughly. Took a slow stroll back through village taking in the sights before heading back to hotel to get changed, sample happy hour (little cheaper tonight) before dinner reservation at Hunters Grill.

Really good buffet which quite a good selection, again friendly staff & good service. Went back to room to try a glass of Baileys that we had bought duty free whilst daughter took advantage of free Wi-Fi in hotel and watch a few cartoons on her tablet. Not a late night after quite a busy day.

[DaveB]

Day 3 Wed 06/12/2017 forecast chilly again with a slight chance of rain, which fortunately did not come.

Up bright & early for breakfast at Beaver Creak tavern in hotel. Was quite busy but we were soon waiting to be seated, whilst we were stood there staff were showing people to tables who were only just entering restaurant (made mental note to wear brighter jumper next time). After getting seated choice of breakfast options was really good; wife had cereals/toast, daughter had cereals/yoghurts and I went for the continental style cheese, breads & meat. fully fuelled we headed to the Studios for some more EMT.

Quite a long queue at security which did move quickly & the staff were friendly & efficient so no issues there for me. Arrived at Studios around 08h50 to find that Crush had 10min wait, wife went on whilst I took daughter on Quatre Roux Rallye. Used the excellent Rider Switch facility on Crush which I cannot praise enough as wait time was up to 30 mins by time I arrived & park was not open yet (again another excellent ride). As Ratatouille was quite busy we decided to wait until 10h00 for FP & went and rode Slinky Dog & Quatre Roux Rallye again before opening.

FPs obtained we saw that Tower of Terror was 10mins so we took advantage of Rider Switch again to both do this attraction in under half an hour (brilliant), slightly different to the Orlando ride but still great fun. Headed back to Ratatouile for FP to find that was down so did Slinky Dog again before managing to get on. Not my favourite ride but very well themed & 3D stuff was good never the less.

As we had a little time to kill before lunch reservations we managed to do Rider Switch on Rock n Roller coaster in under 30mins again! Plenty of  Disney characters out to keep daughter amused whilst we took turns. again an excellent coaster which I didn't get chance to ride in Orlando.

Lunch reservation at Restaurant des Stars. Was seated after a short wait & we were really impressed by this place, food choice, staff & setting was top notch. We all had a super lunch. As it was quite windy which made it feel really cold we decided to head back to hotel so daughter could have a snooze and try to sort out where to eat dinner, we had originally booked into Billy Bobs again but decide to try Parkside Diner in hotel New York as it's next door to Sequoia lodge. Had option of 18h15 or 22h30 as restaurant was going to be very busy so took earlier option, again staff on phone really helpful.

We were all showered 7 changed early so suggested visiting bar in New York for a pre dinner drink. Was happy hour in there which ran from 17h00-19h00 which was a nice surprise. I had a Guinness, wife had red wine & daughter took advantage of free Wi-Fi for some tablet cartoon time.

Went to restaurant at set time & was surprised to see no queue & diner virtually empty as was expecting it to be quite busy. The setting of a 1950s American diner was really good, food again excellent & slightly different from the other evening buffets, we all really enjoyed it. There was a small waiting line as we left but still nowhere near as busy as we'd expected. Back to room for a swift Baileys before bed.

[loladelorean]

Thanks for sharing your trip report!
When you say you were upgraded to Sequoia, did you pay to upgrade or was this something that was offered to you?
Well done fitting in so much in the Studios, sounds like you made good use of rider switch!! I'm so excited that Crush is now open for EMT, can't wait to ride it every morning on our next trip I've had a few trips where I've not managed to ride it at all because of queue length and ride failures, EMT will make all the difference.
Sounds like a fantastic trip (we're also fans of the happy hour at King Ludwigs, best value at DLP!)

[DaveB]

Hi loladelorean, we had had a phone call from Buena Vista in Florida about a week before our planned visit saying that we were being moved to Sequoia Lodge as Hotel Cheyenne was fully booked so a very welcome freebie.

Was really surprised that we managed to get on Crush so easily after reading all the reports on here, the Rider Switch facility is brilliant for people with smaller children. The wait times rose rapidly towards opening times from about 10mins to 30+.

Had planned on visiting King Ludwigs but it always looked so busy when we went past during happy hour.

Good luck with Crush during EMT on your next visit, thought it was an excellent ride.

Regards DaveB.

[bad-pink-tink]

hi Dave, great report and lovely bit of pixie dust with the upgrade

Just want to check
You had the standard room in Sequoia - in the main building or in one of the lodges?
The breakfast you had, did it include hot items ie sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, beans etc?

[DaveB]

Hi bad-pink-tink

Yes standard room in Sequoia Lodge out in the Monterey block about 5mins stroll to main building.

Breakfast included all the items you listed plus loads more. Think there is something to cover every base really.

Regards DaveB.

[DaveB]

Day 4 Thu 07/12/2017 forecast chilly with showers forecast late morning & mid afternoon.

Hunters Grill for breakfast before a little EMT in Disneyland Park. Could feel it was little colder/damper on walk through security to park this morning. Seemed a little busier whilst clearing security & waiting to enter park.

Got in just before 09h00 took a stroll down Main Street & through Castle before riding Teacups/Carousel & Dumbo before park opening, little longer wait time for Dumbo & you could definitely feel the breezy chill in the queue.

Next we went to It's a Small World as wait time was nominal. We then tried Buzz Lightyear as app was saying 10min wait but line was much longer when we arrived. Wife said she wouldn't mind a look around gift shop with daughter & a little warm up so I took the chance to head on over to meet Darth Vader. Lots of youngsters dressed in costume which I thought was really good. Got a couple of decent photos on my phone next to the evil dark lord, the character is quite intimidating which added to the experience.

Met up with the family & with a bit of rain in the air decided to head over to Adventureland to ride Pirates of the Caribbean again before lunch at Captain Jacks.. Again theming at this restaurant is amazing with plenty of waving to the people on the ride as they passed through. Captain Jack was wandering round interacting with the guests & spent a good couple of minutes at our table which Daughter really enjoyed so another thumbs up from me. Food & service again was very good.

Fuelled & warmed we headed over to Frontierland to try our luck on Big Thunder Mountain but it was down again so went for a cruise on Thunder Mesa Riverboat. We went top deck for best views & could see that there was a train stuck on Big Thunder with people still in it so obviously been having a few issues on that ride so gave up on riding it this trip. Nice cruise with great views around the lake albeit a little chilly up top in December.

Next up was Phantom Manor again only a short wait before we were inside. Interesting attraction which was not too scary for our 3yo. Back outside there was definitely a bit of damp in the air so we decided to head back into Fantasyland & rode Casey Jr; a great little mini coaster, then onto Le Pays des Contes de Fetes boatride where it started to rain as we went round. With this in mind we decided to head back as we had packing to do & get sorted for evening meal reservation at Chicago booked for 18h30.

We managed to get packed & changed early so decided to visit New York Hotel for a little happy hour tipple as it was half way house between Sequoia & Disney Village. Arrived on time for reservation & found restaurant less than a quarter full, again found this strange as we were told it was virtually fully booked when we phoned for reservations.
Excellent steak and waitress was very attentive, all in all another good experience. Was raining again as we left so went straight back to hotel to see if there was any Baileys left before turning in for the night.

[DaveB]

Fri 08/12/2017 travel day.

Flight back to UK planned for the afternoon so decided to catch 10h30 Magic Shuttle to CDG.

Headed down to Beaver Creek for a lazy breakfast before collecting luggage from room & heading back over to main building for checkout. Whilst wife was sorting that I had a little stroll round with the daughter, found Pluto doing a meet & greet. A young lady in a wheel chair was waiting to meet Pluto & when it was her turn she wanted to get up & walk over which she did with a little bit of a struggle. The character was amazing & the look on the girls face during the interaction was worth the price of the trip itself. Had to walk away as this grown man was a quivering wreck!

Magic Shuttle arrived on time & got us to CDG by 11h30. Won't go into detail about what happened next as it is not strictly Disney related but suffice to say the set up & staff is one of the most inept experiences I have ever had: we only just caught our plane after being at the airport for 3 hours.

All in all a fantastic experience for us all. Thank you Disney.