Pre-trip report sequoia lodge golden forest club 28 - 31 march

Started by elisje, November 27, 2016, 01:32:50 PM

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elisje

Hello everyone. My boyfriend and I (both 26) are going to disneyland paris from 28 till 31 off March.  I am planning to write a trip report but I can't possibly wait 121 days to tell you about it. And since I talked about it to all my friends and family members until they just couldn't hear it anymore and walked away screaming when they saw me, I decided to do a pre-trip report!  (I am sorry if my English is not any good. It is not my first language since I am from the Netherlands)

Traveling:
We are going to dlp for 4 days and 3 nights. Traveling with the thalys from rotterdam  (the Netherlands) to Paris nord where we have to change on the metro to chattelet les halles where we will get the RER to dlp. We are planning to arrive at 12 in our hotel on the first day and have to leave by 5 in the evening on our last day.

Hotel:
We had a really good offer for our stay with 25% off and a free plus meal plan. With this offer we could afford to stay in the sql golden forest club for the first time. I am so excited! It is not only our first time in the golden forest club but the first time in the sql! I stayed in hotel Cheyenne and Santa fe many times before. I really liked those hotels and the on-site experience. But I dreaded breakfast every morning. It was just so busy even in low season (early Feb when there were no lines for any attraction at all). I wonder if we just had an extreme case of bad luck or if it is always so busy?
The main reason why we booked sgl golden forest club is therefore the breakfast! I hope it will be a calm oasis in the morning and American breakfast sounds lovely. Will there be pancakes?
The lounge with free drinks also sounds lovely but I wonder if we will use it at al. We usually don't leave the parks at al. we like doing as much of attractions and shows as we can and only stop to have an late lunch or early diner. Does anybody knows the opening times from the lounge? I would love to go there after park closing, but I am afraid it will be closed then.

Food:
We have the plus meal plan and are planning to eat at chez remy and hunters grill. My boyfriend is going to take me to walts as a birthday present (It was my birthday last week). We have plus vouchers which we will use for face value and my boyfreind wil pay the difference. never been to any of those restaurants So really excited about that too. On our last day we have to catch our train early in evening. So we are planning to just eat a quick late lunch at the golden nugget saloon and hopefully see the poppet show.
I am wondering if I have to call a few weeks before, to make reservations or if it will be fine if I just make reservations at town hall on our first day. I am afraid there will be a lot of people with the meal plan (since it was free with the offer) but I don't have good experiences with calling the reservation line. They could hardly understand me (My English is fine so far as I know) and sounded really annoyed the last time I called them.

Entertainment:
25 anniversary celebrations will be on during our visit. So we are definitely planning to watch illuminations every night and see the new parade at least twice! I love that dragon. I wonder what amazing things will come with it. I don't know about the new daytime shows yet. I am not a big princes fan and we have so much other things planned.
We never seen mickey and the magician before and are planning to see that too (decided to stay unspoiled and didn't watch any videos of it).
We also planning to watch the jedi training academy when it is on.

Attractions:
We are planning to do all the attractions but there are a few we don't want to miss.
One of them is of course, star tours! I hope the opening is not delayed. We will be gutted. We are both big star wars fans and star tours was my favourite non coaster attraction. I hope hyperspace mountain is open too but I am afraid we will just miss it. Ratatouille is another attraction we don't want to miss. My boyfriend only rode once during a soft opening. So he really wants to do that. I did it a few more times on my last trip (November 2014) and loved it to bits.  We have hotel fast passes and are planning to use them for those attractions, if necessary. I have no idea how busy it will be. There are, so far I know, no holidays in any nearby country. we are going during weekdays. So it should be relatively quiet. But the anniversary celebrations are also starting that week. So I really don't know. 

Well that was it I guess. I hope I did not forget anything. Now it is just the long big wait.
And thank you for reading ;D

highs and lows: https://forum.dlpguide.com/index.php?topic=22170.0
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ChipandDale99

It sounds really good!!  :)  as far as reserving restaurants you should be fine just reserving at the town hall or hotel concierge desk because it shouldn't be too busy when you go. (As it's not holidays in France or most of England)   
The golden forest sounds really good and getting the half board offer in it is great.
Have fun planning! Can't wait to read your trip report.

RockNRoller

Really looking forwards to your trip report as we managed to get the same offer but for November next year. We normally stay in the standard rooms at the New York but fancied a bit more luxury this time and so many people have said the Golden Forest Club is good we just had to try it.

Have a great time and plenty of news and photo's about the rooms and the club pretty please.
DLRP 2000,01,02,03,04x2,05,06,07,08,09,10,11,13, 14, 2015 (Booked)

"Pumba, not in front of the kids"

elisje

Quote from: RockNRoller on December 10, 2016, 12:05:53 PM
Have a great time and plenty of news and photo's about the rooms and the club pretty please.

Thanks. I hope I don't forget to take pictures of the club. But I wil definitely write a full trip report on al club facilities.
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elisje

***Update***

Hey

I have just made restaurant reservations for my trip.
We have booked this:
28 march: silver spur 18:30
30 march: chez remy 15:00
31 March: walts          13:00

We decided against hunters grill because its only open for diner and we don't want to risk missing illuminations because we need to walk all the way back to the parc.

I will make foto's and write short reviews about the restaurants if there is anybody wants to read it.  ;D

38 days to go.. I can't wait!!
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ZINDERELLA

Your meal choices sound fantastic. I have seen some photos of Chez Remy from other people's reports and the theming and decor looks AMAZING!

You must be so excited now, and I can't wait to read your report as you will be there just a few days before us. Like you I CANNOT WAIT to ride Star Tours, Ratatouille and also to experience the refurbished Big Thunder Mountain  ;D.

I really do understand the reason for doing a Pre-Trip Report....it's to help keep your friends and family sane....and to hide the disney obsession from everyone else. That is how I feel, plus it helps me to get my head and plans in order!  ::)

Have a great trip!! I will be following your trip report.
2007 Halloween- Santa Fe
2009 May 1/2 Term- Newport Bay
2010 Halloween - Sequoia Lodge
2010 Xmas - Newport Bay (the one we won!)
2012 May 1/2 Term - Sequoia Lodge
2013 July - Magic Circus
2017 Magic Circus

elisje

Quote from: ZINDERELLA on February 21, 2017, 01:16:08 PM
Your meal choices sound fantastic. I have seen some photos of Chez Remy from other people's reports and the theming and decor looks AMAZING!

You must be so excited now, and I can't wait to read your report as you will be there just a few days before us. Like you I CANNOT WAIT to ride Star Tours, Ratatouille and also to experience the refurbished Big Thunder Mountain  ;D.

I really do understand the reason for doing a Pre-Trip Report....it's to help keep your friends and family sane....and to hide the disney obsession from everyone else. That is how I feel, plus it helps me to get my head and plans in order!  ::)

Have a great trip!! I will be following your trip report.

thank you so much for your reply

it is indeed to keep my family sane. I drive them totally crazy talking about it.  But I am so excited I just need to talk about it!

I never eaten at chez remy or Walts before so I am totally hyped :D

Have a great time on your trip. It is not so long now.  ;D
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kanuxa

Quote from: elisje on November 27, 2016, 01:32:50 PM
Hello everyone. My boyfriend and I (both 26) are going to disneyland paris from 28 till 31 off March.  I am planning to write a trip report but I can't possibly wait 121 days to tell you about it. And since I talked about it to all my friends and family members until they just couldn't hear it anymore and walked away screaming when they saw me, I decided to do a pre-trip report!  (I am sorry if my English is not any good. It is not my first language since I am from the Netherlands)

Traveling:
We are going to dlp for 4 days and 3 nights. Traveling with the thalys from rotterdam  (the Netherlands) to Paris nord where we have to change on the metro to chattelet les halles where we will get the RER to dlp. We are planning to arrive at 12 in our hotel on the first day and have to leave by 5 in the evening on our last day.

Hotel:
We had a really good offer for our stay with 25% off and a free plus meal plan. With this offer we could afford to stay in the sql golden forest club for the first time. I am so excited! It is not only our first time in the golden forest club but the first time in the sql! I stayed in hotel Cheyenne and Santa fe many times before. I really liked those hotels and the on-site experience. But I dreaded breakfast every morning. It was just so busy even in low season (early Feb when there were no lines for any attraction at all). I wonder if we just had an extreme case of bad luck or if it is always so busy?
The main reason why we booked sgl golden forest club is therefore the breakfast! I hope it will be a calm oasis in the morning and American breakfast sounds lovely. Will there be pancakes?
The lounge with free drinks also sounds lovely but I wonder if we will use it at al. We usually don't leave the parks at al. we like doing as much of attractions and shows as we can and only stop to have an late lunch or early diner. Does anybody knows the opening times from the lounge? I would love to go there after park closing, but I am afraid it will be closed then.

Food:
We have the plus meal plan and are planning to eat at chez remy and hunters grill. My boyfriend is going to take me to walts as a birthday present (It was my birthday last week). We have plus vouchers which we will use for face value and my boyfreind wil pay the difference. never been to any of those restaurants So really excited about that too. On our last day we have to catch our train early in evening. So we are planning to just eat a quick late lunch at the golden nugget saloon and hopefully see the poppet show.
I am wondering if I have to call a few weeks before, to make reservations or if it will be fine if I just make reservations at town hall on our first day. I am afraid there will be a lot of people with the meal plan (since it was free with the offer) but I don’t have good experiences with calling the reservation line. They could hardly understand me (My English is fine so far as I know) and sounded really annoyed the last time I called them.

Entertainment:
25 anniversary celebrations will be on during our visit. So we are definitely planning to watch illuminations every night and see the new parade at least twice! I love that dragon. I wonder what amazing things will come with it. I don’t know about the new daytime shows yet. I am not a big princes fan and we have so much other things planned.
We never seen mickey and the magician before and are planning to see that too (decided to stay unspoiled and didn't watch any videos of it).
We also planning to watch the jedi training academy when it is on.

Attractions:
We are planning to do all the attractions but there are a few we don't want to miss.
One of them is of course, star tours! I hope the opening is not delayed. We will be gutted. We are both big star wars fans and star tours was my favourite non coaster attraction. I hope hyperspace mountain is open too but I am afraid we will just miss it. Ratatouille is another attraction we don't want to miss. My boyfriend only rode once during a soft opening. So he really wants to do that. I did it a few more times on my last trip (November 2014) and loved it to bits.  We have hotel fast passes and are planning to use them for those attractions, if necessary. I have no idea how busy it will be. There are, so far I know, no holidays in any nearby country. we are going during weekdays. So it should be relatively quiet. But the anniversary celebrations are also starting that week. So I really don't know. 

Well that was it I guess. I hope I did not forget anything. Now it is just the long big wait.
And thank you for reading ;D


Hi!

Your planning sounds really amazing!! I m going in April (is taking so long!!) and my family and friends can t stand me as well with the planning the big trip conversations.. haha

We have the full board standard meal plan at santa fe's.

I’m thinking in booking plaza garden’s, agrabah’s, restaurant des stars, buffalo bill’s show (trading our vouchers and paying the difference).. I’m in doubt about the times that I should book since I don t know the times of the parades and shows (lunch at 12/12h30pm and dinner at19h?). At what time the final fireworks and spectacle usually start? Would you recommend any other restaurant?

And how about the free special treat during the afternoon? Where can we get that?

since we are arriving in the afternoon, do we get our vouchers for the full day? or only part of them?

Thank you so much (in advance)! Really need a ‘psycho’ just like me to talk about dlp planning!! hahaha

elisje

Quote from: kanuxa link=topic=21692.msg292738#msg292738


Hi!

Your planning sounds really amazing!! I m going in April (is taking so long!!) and my family and friends can t stand me as well with the planning the big trip conversations.. haha

We have the full board standard meal plan at santa fe's.

I'm thinking in booking plaza garden's, agrabah's, restaurant des stars, buffalo bill's show (trading our vouchers and paying the difference).. I'm in doubt about the times that I should book since I don t know the times of the parades and shows (lunch at 12/12h30pm and dinner at19h?). At what time the final fireworks and spectacle usually start? Would you recommend any other restaurant?

And how about the free special treat during the afternoon? Where can we get that?

since we are arriving in the afternoon, do we get our vouchers for the full day? or only part of them?

Thank you so much (in advance)! Really need a 'psycho' just like me to talk about dlp planning!! hahaha

Hey!  It is always nice to talk to another disney psyco  ;D thanks for the nice reply.

You're trip looks good too. I love the santa fe. How many nights are you staying? You only get meal vouchers for every night of your stay.  Since we are going for 3 nights and 4 days we are getting 3 meal vouchers(with half board).
There is no difference between lunch and dinner vouchers so you get 2 vouchers each per night of your stay.  It doesnt matter how late you are there you get al the stuff with checking in. Since the vouchers arent dated and there is no difrence between lunch and diner vouchers. You could use one voucher for diner on the first day and one for lunch on the last day. That is what I would do. You get the same food during diner and lunch. So prepare to eat at 2 buffets a day
:o ;D

For a standard meal plan I would recommend plaza gardens, agrabah cafe and maby le Grange at Billy bobs If you love texmex. The buffet at the santa fe and cheyenne should be good to. I never been to restaurant the stars so I don't know about the food. But from the pictures I am a bit underwhelmed with the theming. You can also decide to go to chez remy if you really want to eat in the studios and don't mind to pay the extra.  The buffelo bills show is amazing too. You would love it. I recommend to look around online a bit. There tend to be a few sites that give good discounts. If I rember correctly they don't have any shows on wednesday.

Disney dreams always start at park closing. So I guess Iliminations will too. I will recommend to have dinner about 3 hours before that time so you have plenty of time to have a relaxed meal and stake out an good spot for iliminations. So that will be 7 o clock when the park close at 10.  But that is only because my boyfreind and I only do one big meal a day and tend to stay around 2 hours in a restaurant. If you eat a lot quicker you can go latter.  The parade is ussaly around 5 or 6 o'clock. But they publishe the exact times only a week before.

I dont know about the afternoon snack. I heard different things about it. From it being canceled too only having the option to get donuts or ice cream. But I will report abut it a soon as I am back. On the back of the twat one treat voucher is a list on where you can use them. Mostly counter service restaurants I guess.

Have a nice trip. And don't forget to make reservations  for your restaurants. Since there are a lot of free dining deals I heard reports of the restaurants overflowing and guest without a reservation have no place to eat or have to queu for ages.  :o


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kanuxa

:D

We re staying 5 days and 4 nights!!

About the vouchers don t having dates, that's a plus 'cause we can trade them for the buffalo wwwest show since we were thinking on seeing (very quickly) the center of paris in the last day (depending of how our visit occurs, don t know if three full days are enough to see it all)!
You're right about the meal hours, we too usually stay a lot of time eating (all of us – 2 adults and 2 kids – 12 and 8 y.old) so, since the park is closing at 10pm, I´m going to book dinner for 19h!

Going to put Grange at Billy Bobs on my list 'cause we do like texmex food! I was not thinking in having dinner in Remy's.. it seems a little expensive for the amount (and quality?) of food.

Thought in the cheyenne's or santa fe's buffet on the first day arriving (dinner) – do I have to book table too?

I've heard about the restaurants becoming full... my husband says is too early to book but I think i'm going to book all until the end of this week!

Have you already seen all the merchandising that is coming available (I m already going nuts... and of course, already making a list..LOL) - https://twitter.com/i/moments/833993515776491520

Looking forward to read you trip report and hope tht you guys have a blast!

OH, almost forgot.. is it easy going by RER? Do we have to walk a lot?

*

elisje

Quote from: kanuxa on February 22, 2017, 02:02:55 PM
:D

We re staying 5 days and 4 nights!!

About the vouchers don t having dates, that's a plus 'cause we can trade them for the buffalo wwwest show since we were thinking on seeing (very quickly) the center of paris in the last day (depending of how our visit occurs, don t know if three full days are enough to see it all)!
You're right about the meal hours, we too usually stay a lot of time eating (all of us – 2 adults and 2 kids – 12 and 8 y.old) so, since the park is closing at 10pm, I´m going to book dinner for 19h!

Going to put Grange at Billy Bobs on my list 'cause we do like texmex food! I was not thinking in having dinner in Remy's.. it seems a little expensive for the amount (and quality?) of food.

Thought in the cheyenne's or santa fe's buffet on the first day arriving (dinner) – do I have to book table too?

I've heard about the restaurants becoming full... my husband says is too early to book but I think i'm going to book all until the end of this week!

Have you already seen all the merchandising that is coming available (I m already going nuts... and of course, already making a list..LOL) - https://twitter.com/i/moments/833993515776491520

Looking forward to read you trip report and hope tht you guys have a blast!

OH, almost forgot.. is it easy going by RER? Do we have to walk a lot?

*

Going by rer is not that hard. Just follow the signs and you are there. I doesnt take a lot of walking as far as I can remember from my last trip. Have a great time in Paris it is such a lovely city.

I dont think you can double up your voucher with paying for buffelo bills. Just one voucher per person unfortunately.
I think you have too book a table for everything ;D. Beter sure than sorry. You can call 60 day's before the day of your last reservation. So 55 days before your stay. It is really easy and you can always changet you're reservations later. Just mind that not every restarant is open everyday or the whole day. You can see the opening times of the restaurants in the park here: https://disneykindofday.blogspot.nl/2015/04/restaurant-opening-hours-disneyland.html?m=1

I think 3 full days will be enough to see everthing. But it is disney.. so will it ever be enough?

And yes I saw the merchandise. I think I need to do few extra hours on my job to pay for al of that. I so need that black and gold Minnie ears.

Can't tell you about chez remy never been there before. I ussaly go for the buffets to and mabey splurge to have diner at blue lagoon one night. But we where lucky with getting free plus half board. So I get to try out al the expensive restaurants. I will write reports about them as soon as I am back.  ;D

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kanuxa

Quote from: elisje on February 22, 2017, 02:19:31 PM
Quote from: kanuxa on February 22, 2017, 02:02:55 PM


And yes I saw the merchandise. I think I need to do few extra hours on my job to pay for al of that. I so need that black and gold Minnie ears.



YEEESSSS!!! me too!!!!!!! Haha

I think they cost 17€ ! o.O
lol

well.. it will have to be..
:P

kanuxa

Also.. I don't know the value of my (full b.) vouchers.. Think I'm going to call the reservations hot line and ask (to also know how much will I have to pay as an extra to the wwwest show).