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[neal73]

This was to be our 5th trip to DLRP, the 2nd for our 3yr old and the first for our 4month old!

We booked to stay on the Admirals Floor at the Newport Bay Club, our first time staying there, although in the past we have stayed at the New York, Sequoia Lodge, Santa Fe and my wife stayed at the Disneyland Hotel the first time she stayed (only the Cheyenne to go to get the full set!).

We boarded the Eurostar at Ashford on a VERY wet and windy Tuesday, and as always there was the usual scrum and panic to get everything on the train as quick as possible.  We had moved to coach 18 (the supposed "family" coach) as this coach has baby changing facilities. All very good, but it also has the least amount of luggage space, and is  the furthest carriage to walk to! Not exactly family friendly there then!  Once on it was nice and empty and we were able to spread out and had a nice comfortable trip over to DLRP.

Once there we checked in at the Newport Bay, and found possibly the rudest and most unhelpful member of staff in the whole of the resort - Tiffany at the Admirals Desk check in.  We asked about the possibility of a lake view room, and seeing as the hotel was half empty thought this wouldn't be a problem. She reacted as though we'd just dropped our pants and poo'd on the floor, telling us they NEVER upgrade anyone, and it would be 108 Euros each to do so.  We let this one go, and then she presented us with a voucher for one free pack of teas and coffee. We queried this, as the brochure states FREE tea and coffee facilities for the Admiral Floor, not just one pack.  She asked us if we had brought the brochure with us! When we told her we don't normally take brochures on holiday with us she marched off to get one and ignored us whilst she thumbed through it. When she realised that it did state in the brochure that it says free facilities, not just one pack for the duration of our stay she still wouldn't do anything and said it was up to the house keeping manager.  We asked him to call us and went up to the room to unpack and feed the baby.

However, once there we found the delightful "garden view" we told we had was actually a view of the car park! Add to that a broken safe and a bathroom door that wouldn't close we had enough and went back downstairs to complain. After a bit of discussion with the concierge desk we were finally moved to a different room, and this time with a lake view!!  A bit of complaining goes a long way sometimes!

We then made our way to the park, dark skies looming overhead.  The main park was absolutely deserted (see 1st Photo!) so we were able to get round pretty quick and do all the rides we wanted. In all the years of going there I have never seen Peter Pan without a queue, but this time we were able to walk straight on - twice!

Just before 5.30pm the skies opened so we sheltered on Small World, and then decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.  That night we ate at Cape Cod, and the food was fantastic. The crab salad in particular was lovely!  After that we had a quick drink in the bar and then up to admire the view from our room (see 2nd photo)

Pt2 to follow soon - on with the photos:

A deserted park!



A lake view, much better than the car park:

[The Butlin Boy]

Great report so far, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest. BTW, that lake view is fantastic

[howtodeal]

Can't wait for the rest of the report Neal, The first picture of the almost empty park
looks amazing, you guys are very lucky to be able to get to all the rides without
waiting   :wink:
Iam glad you got the room with the lake view btw  /

[Soap]

Great view Neal! Thanks for sharing your experience!  :wink:

[neal73]

On with part 2......

Woke up on Wednesday morning to a sky without rain falling from it (with a few clouds) and the lake looked even better...



A quick breakfast in Cape Cod and we were on our way to the park, walking through the village as it wasn't raining. I noticed all the lamp posts still have the original EuroDisney insignia on them....



The village was pretty deserted today as well, so it was looking good to getting on the rides without queuing again....



And how right we were - we thought maybe the rain was keeping people away the day before, but today even with good weather and after 11am the park was like a ghost town.....



At the top of Main Street there was a few people waiting for Minnie, so it only took a couple of minutes for my daughter to meet her and get her book signed.



A quick trip over to Phantom Manor and absolutely no queue - we were straight on and any worries about our 3yr old being scared by it were soon forgotten, as she loved it and even asked to go back on.  Even Peter Pan and Dumbo with their ever present queues were pretty empty and we were able to almost get straight on, although just as my daughter and her nan were about to get on Dumbo the heavens opened up again.  We stopped off to pick up some lovely toasted sandwiches (the mushroom ones are fantastic) and headed back to the hotel to shelter from the rain.

After a break (and a chance for my daughter to put her princess dress on!) we headed back, into the studios this time.



I was looking forward to getting on the Tower of Terror, but that'd have to wait for another day. We were straight on Cars and spinning round rather faster than I thought, and those seats aren't designed for adult legs! I was hanging on as I couldn't fit into the car properly. After that there was a 20 minute wait for Crush so me and my wife had a go on that, and I was expecting a rather tame kiddies coaster - I was a bit wrong there! I loved the fast dark section, and was amazed at how disorientated you get on this ride.


After that it was just before 6pm and the announcement that the park is closing was made over the tannoy, so we made our way over to Cafe Mickey where we had reservations.



Cafe Mickey was good, the food is nice but not up to the standard we had in the Newport Bay and for some reason they decided to bring my dad's main course and starter at the same time! Our server was a right grump, so she did herself out of a tip.  And I wish they'd have people asking parents not to let their children follow the characters round the restaurant. Our girls were good as gold waiting at our table for the characters to come over, and having other children there sort of ruins it for them.  



After that back to the hotel for a good nights sleep all ready for the next day and part 3........

[The Butlin Boy]

Another great report Neal

[Soap]

Great pictures Neal! Pity that your visit at Cafe Mickey wan't that good, normally it's one of the best diner experiences at DLRP. But you are right, parents should keep there childs at their own table and let other people also have some fun with the lovely characters!
And well, the picture of your lovely daughter witj Minnie is just great! Thanks for sharing

[neal73]

On with part 3.....


Today the weather was clear again in the morning, so we decided to hit the Studios and I was DEFINITELY going on Tower of Terror today!  Breakfast was in the Yacht Club today, so the usual chocolate croissants and some of that lovely cherry cake/bread they have there was consumed - once upstairs my daughter saw the young woman doing face painting, so I had to stop with her whilst she had pink princess face paint applied....





Once again, the walk through the village showed a lack of crowds and once inside the Studios it was pretty empty - only a 10 minute wait for Crush for example.  First things first, straight to ToT. Absolutely no wait at all for this, straight on.  The reception area looks good, but compared to the US version is still a bit too clean. It needs more dust & dirt.  The ride itself seemed a lot tamer than the US version too. A very good ride, but not as good as the original I'm afraid. Oh, and we got the introduction on the TV in English, and the talk from the lift operator in English too. Unfortunately the ride itself is in French.  Seeing as the majority of people in the park seem to be Spanish & English this is a bit poor.



Then on to the stunt show, which was as good as ever but after all these years maybe they should update it a bit?   After that we were straight onto the Rock'n'roller coaster, yet again no queue and straight on the ride. This is still one of my favourite rides in the whole of the park.  We were in time for the parade now so grabbed a good spot (not that it was needed - you could stand anywhere!).  This parade is different to the one I saw last time I was here, and it was quite funny to see the panic when Goody needed his head re-attached! Also, if you stand at the end of the parade you get to see all the characters milling around chatting as they wait for the rest of the parade to catch up and finish. Whoever was playing Cruella DeVille was fantastic. Here's Minnie helping Goofy with his head problem:



After this we headed over to the main park to catch up one some of the rides we missed the day before. I forgot to mention in the report for my first day that when we were on Buzz Lightyear someone took the stroller we had hired - a major inconvenience. You would think Disney would have sheltered areas to leave babies buggies and strollers, and that the strollers could maybe be locked into place to stop people taking them?  Anyway, back to this report - we hired a stroller again and hit the park.

It got dark pretty quickly and thanks to a long exposure on the camera, the lamp posts on Main Street seemed to turn into lightsabers!





After a long day we decided to head back to the hotel and just eat in Cape Cod again.  Once again, lovely food and we had the best person overseeing our section - I think his name was Benoit. They should move him over to Cafe Mickey to replace the miserable woman over there!

The food was very nice, but something my dad ate didn't agree with him and made him very ill the next day.  He had very bad sickness during the night and spent most of the next day (our last) sleeping. No one else was sick, so we're not sure what caused it.

I'll leave you with another view from our room that night:




The final part to follow....

[Anthony]

Hi neal73, would you be able to change the few photos that are too wide for the forum to a smaller size, or just post links/thumbnails to them? It can make it hard to read for some people. Thanks!

Love the night shot from Newport Bay Club though.

[neal73]

no problem - photo's reduced in size.

On with the final part....

As I mentioned at the end of the previous day's report, my dad was very ill on this day.  We ate in Cape Cod the night before and something he had didn't agree with him and had vomiting and diarrhea the next day. Everyone else was fine though, so after a quick breakfast in the Yacht Club (which he skipped) we headed back up to the room to get packed and off into the parks.

Today was wet, and the weather report didn't look to promising so we headed over to the Winter Wonderland show to stay out of the rain, but not before another stop off to an empty Phantom Manor.

When we came out the rain was REALLY coming down, so we took refuge in the Cowboy Cook Out, had hot drinks and listened to the band who had just come on. We dodged the rain and then headed over to PotC as it's always warm and dry in there - we had about a 5 minute queue to get on as most people seemed to have the same idea.

We had booked for the Lucky Nugget, but seeing as my dad was really ill and just wanted to sit down, instead we headed for the Disneyland Hotel and drinks and Sandwiches in the Cafe Fantasia.

We left my dad here and headed back to the park, just in time to watch the parade from the Main St. Station. After that another go on Buzz and then on the Orbitron and that was the end of our short stay - we headed back to the Newport Bay to pick the luggage up and then on to the Eurostar for the journey home.

[The Butlin Boy]

Great report Neal, I'm sorry about your dad getting ill, that's happened to us before and it's not nice :x