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[dovedale]

TRIP REPORT

Good Morning.

Just returned back from Euro Disney 11.30 last night travelling on Eurostar.

Dates 18th March - 21st March 2010

Travelled - Eurostar

Accomodation - Hotel New York

I will start the trip report shortly.



 A very interesting break indeed and full of mainly enjoyable moments and some negative points also!!!!!! If you would like to know a little trivia or tip or two please by all means follow the report over the next few days. From the current best place to eat in my opinion to the serial que jumping that laid ahead!!.

Introduction

Now, before i start i just need to let you know i am not an experienced Disney follower. I have been to Euro Disney x4 over the years and throughly enjoyed myself however, i joined the forum 6 months prior to my visit and have seen what a wonderful world of knowledge their is to share. If you enjoy going then why not get the most out of the information shared. The how to do this and not to do that, do not go that way and its best to do that at 2.00pm is great and certainly helped us on our trip, equally the negative aspects of the holiday are equally important as their is no doubt from the lawyer to the bus driver that Disney can be a very expensive place to spend 3-4 days.

The thing with the disney experience is you visit, you enjoy, you observe and you may moan for a little or a lot!! All in all disney is an experience that certainly captures the spirit of the human condition.


18th March 2010 - 3.15am

The car starts its 3.15am leaving Lincolnshire by car to Ashford International Station, just about everything covered over the last couple of months from clothes to first aid kit, what i forgot to do is switch my sat nav to toll road - (Dartford) access so the consequence is moving faster and faster towards the centre of London at 6.30 in the morning back on track no sooner and problem solved.

Arrived at Ashford 7.30 and booked car in on private drive (booked through an agency) the cost £20 for four days as opposed to £11.50 a day in the 'official' car park. A brisk walk after the journey to the station, check in, collection of tickets etc so easy and straight forward and on board at 10.35. Hint- I have never been on Eurostar and the next time i would take 1 large hard suitcase as opposed to advice i was given to take 80 litre ruck sacks and 'bum bags' etc. The 'moving and handling' constantly on/off and buggies became stressful. Eurostar are quite hot on buggies being placed above seats and not in the luggage carriers as you board the train. Stop moaning i hear you cry however, the announcement on the return trip stated only a 2 minute stop at Ashford and it was...so, 2x buggies, large rucksack, 3 children and hand luggage was a bit of a stress to those in the 'family and rucksack' club. Get yourself one large hard suitcase to fit the whole bloody lot in and be done with it.

Arrived at Euro Disney train station at 13.30 pm deposited luggage - Disney Express, no waiting time, straight into the parks.

Arrived in the parks at approx 2.00pm, straight to 'its a small world' for the little ones, Peter Pan very busy as usual and moderate waiting on the tea cups as expected. Visited the 'Snow White' attraction and quite busy together with Pinnochio. Whilst waiting for the 'Snow White' ride a couple who were virtually at the front summoned some people from the back, they proceeded to excuse themselves through the waiting massess and jump on the attraction. The operator with no reserve or authority about her simply let them on. Now this was my first experience of queue jumping that i had read about so many times. Its alright reading about but when you experience it, it kinda makes you angry. I kept my irritation to myself this time round.

A full afternoon in Fantasyland, the castle is still under construction. An enjoyable afternoon. Our research had prepared us for the expensive dining in the Disney village and our first night with tiredness taken into consideration was to be Mcdonalds, actually if you can temporarily get over the whole sat fat thing you can get a good meal for a decent price. Hint You will need to research this a little more, the outside eating area advertises on a billboard a deluxe meal for 13 euros included in this is a cinema/cine ticket. Now i only saw this from a distance on the last night. I am not sure if this is a national offer or just exclusive to the Disney village, if so i would consider that to be a fantastic offer, if it means you are able to access the Disney village cinema, check it out.

Checked into the Disney Hotel New York at 7.30 in the evening, no hassle at all. We have never stayed in a Disney hotel. The hotel is absoloutely fantastic, the room, nothing special and no different really to our old haunt Santa Fe however, its the extras you get from staying in a hotel, no set time for breakfast so reasonably quiet as long as you aim for 8ish to eat breakfast, after then it starts to get busy.

 Three breakfast areas, now i have forgotton their names so here goes walking down the corridor with the shop on your right if you go to the left their is a large hall with breakfast in the middle, this is nice as having breakfast goes. Walking down the corridor if you veer to the right you come to what is like an American diner we did not have the priviledge but looked nice. Now this is where you want to be, down the corridor veer right past the american diner and straight to the bottom, here their is a small quiet area you can eat its usually full, round the corner from this is a huge lounge area with lounge chairs very Rockafella. This is a lovely place to eat with all the breakfast food at one end of the room this is where you feel the difference between the lodges and hotels. With the hotel comes swimming pool, gym etc we did not use. The hotel is massive and of course the reason everyone stays is because of its close proximity to the Disney village and parks. One word of caution we were in a ground floor room 142 this corridor lead to the pool and gym, a strong smell of body odour seems to waft down the corridor, NOT IN THE ROOM however, can be a little off putting when walking to your room we got over it but thought it warranted comment on the feedback form. Plenty of Disney characters also to keep the children busy, Mickey arrived one night and spent fifteen minutes dancing with all the children. We will continue to use the Hotel New York one thing we have thought with 3 small children is to get early breakfast enjoy the parks dine about 4.00 and finish, returning to hotel to relax, of course the village is quiet at that time to eat. So many times before we find ourselves in one big scrum walking all day and getting back to the accomodation late.

After a fantastic breakfast in the hotel including sausage and beautiful scambled egg we ventured out into the parks. Our plan for the day was to visit all four parks. Walked through the Disney village which led us to the security gates which now has an x-ray machine, the security checks are pretty weak. I had been under the impression that security checks were for the odd roll and salami that had fallen off the breakfast table!!!!!

Frontierland

Haunted Mansion - moderate wait, enjoyable ride.
Thunder Mountain - excellent ride very, very busy. Fastpass as soon as possible, fastpass times became silly, at 11.45 am you were looking at a fastpass time of 6.30 - 8.30pm.

Adventureland

Pirates of the Carribean - Fantastic, unbelievable queues if you are in a position to use magic hours then get to the front of the queue at adventureland 10.00am.

Fantasyland

Peter Pan could only ride on Magic Hours as too busy, fastpass closed on several of the days because of the masses.

Mad Hatter Tea cups long waiting time outside Magic Hours but moves fairly quickly.

Small World long wait but fast moving.

Pinochio and Snow White long but again fast moving.

Dumbo - take a book !!!

Discoveryland

Buzz Lightyear - Fastpass as soon as you can


I HAVE ONLY COMMENTED ON THE RIDES WE WENT ON.
Part 5 in the next coming days -   PARKS & RIDES,WALT DISNEY STUDIOS, EXCELLENT PARADES.

[never2old]

Looking forward t your report!

[tubbsy]

Ooh! got me intrigued Looking forward to it

[Aveen2008]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

[kelly.dylan]

We have upgraded to the Hotel New York for our trip in Oct so cant wait for more of your trip report!