France and Channel Hopping Discussion

Discussions regarding holidays and channel hopping in France.
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sounds like it was one of those holidays you just have to make the most of. Not great that so many things broke down.
Thanks for the review :)
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/reviews/france/paris/disneyland-paris/sequoia-lodge-hotel/
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the kids had a ball so that made it worth while , loads of room for big improvements lol
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Hi ellie meg,

That sounds like an honest trip report to me.

I agree, I would never go to DLRP on a weekend, or for that matter, in high summer season. The crowds would just spoil it for me - we don't do queues of more than 15 minutes.

There are ways of economising on food etc at DLRP, but on your first visit you don't necessarily want to be doing that, you want to have the freedom to eat what you want, where you want.

Luckily for me, my DD doesn't like coasters, she went on Crush with my sister last year, and didn't like it (although the other kids in our group did - they described it as "spinball whizzer in the dark").

Its very common for the likes of Phantom Manor and Buzz Lightyear to stop mid-ride for a minute or 2 - the ride isn't broken when this happens, its to allow disabled riders on and off the ride, or when there are a row of people in the ride cars waiting to get off. I always found the Buzz stops very useful for getting a few more points with my lazer gun lol.

Glad to hear the children enjoyed their trip though :)
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everytime they stopped we got an announcement in french and english saying technical difficulties, my cousin lives in belgium and speaks fluent french & she was with us, she was joking saying we jinxed the rides lol , this is all they would say so not sure about the disabled riders although it would make sense, but with the pinocchio ride they actually came around to everyone and said sorry maintenance are on there way lol, could only happen to us :rofl

i tried to be honest as possible, we did enjoy our time there, but there could be improvements, better fast pass system needed for starters lol, photos with disney characters should be more controlled as some people, were taking a few photos, & putting each child individually with character then themselves instead of all together etc and not everyone then got a go which was a shame for kids queuing to be turned away, it should be limited to 1-2 photos , my 2 tried to get as many autographs as possible, kept them entertained lol

forgot to say we had bags checked but this time didnt have our food removed lol
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crush is horrid isnt it !

my 2 ( 12 and 6) loved it but i hated it!!
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It's been a few years since we went to DP Karen . We also stayed in the sequoia Lodge and can confirm the prices were as bad back then . To be fair the prices are the same whatever hotel you choose and yes a complete rip off. Well they have a captive audience so it's to be expected . We never bothered with the hotel of an evening either . Hubby and one of the boys went down the first night for 1 beer and 1 soft drink and that was about 10 euros back then , probably 6 years ago. We found it better value to eat in a proper restuarant rather than buy hot bogs and cans of drinks from the vans for lunch too. Just a plain hot dog and a can of pop for 5 of us came to about 60 euros but you could go and sit down in the Rainforest cafe and have a proper meal and drink for maybe 20 euros more .

lyn
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rachie

i hated every min of it lol, and i knew ellie would be panicing too as she doesnt like rides and we didnt know this was going to be so fast and dark grr and i could do nothing to console her whilst on the ride lol

lyn

ellie loved it so much shes desperate to go back again, i certainly would only go week days during school term as i couldnt cope with the crowds and queues lol. im trying to work on big sister to take her lol, emma would love it and that would save me money too lol, only having ellie to pay for . i think the £ being so weak to the euro hasnt helped but even so prices were just silly

karen
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It was a weekend when we went Karen . Fri-sunday . Got a good deal on the eurostar during february . We arrived about 1 oclock on the Friday and it wasnt very busy at all on the friday . I think that was because the weekenders hadnt yet arrived and the mid weekers had gone home if that makes sense . Didnt even have to queue for the rides over a gap of about 2 hours on fri evening . I remember hubby and the boys just kept going back on the indiana jones ride over and over again because there was no queue . It got busy over sat/sun but not horrendous in February . Very cold though .

The boys loved it and we took my elderly Dad with us . He was exhausted but wouldnt give up and just kept going at our pace . We got back to our rooms on the saturday night about 9pm and he said he sat on the end of his bed to take his shoes off and that was the last he remembered . He woke up at 5am with his clothes and shoes still on and had ovbiously just fallen back on the bed :rofl . I think as an elderly grandad that was very untravelled it was a very emotional experience for him .Bless him he was crying at the parade
We were all exhausted but had an enjoyable weekend .

It's not something we would repeat but my youngest sons have been a couple of times since with cousins .
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Sounds like not much has changed there then. :( I think it has always been expensive, crowded particularly at weekends and slow.

I don't think it will ever change, they don't have to make the effort as people will continue to go anyway however poor it is there.

I probably stayed there about the same time as you Lyn, only we were in the Newport Bay hotel, which was loved and was fine for three nights but I wouldn't want to spend 2 weeks (rooms far to small for 4 for a fortnight)

The redeeming feature for us was Disney Studios, as by a huge stroke of luck we went the week it first opened, so everything was spotless and it 'spread the crowds' a bit.

We ate full service meals in the Newport Bay every evening. I'd rather pay 50 quid for something decent than 22.50 for something akin to a happy meal. Its appalling to think a Country with a tradition for good food can serve the crap they do in the park. Ive had better at Legoland in the UK, and thats saying something.

That said, needless to say the kids loved it and for some years after kept wanting to go back. :rofl I just let this fall on deaf ears :rofl and they are now too old for it. We loved all the rides but I did feel ill after RocknRoller coaster, although I love the music. I thought Space Mountain was much better than the Florida one.

So glad you had a good time Karen even though it sounds like you now need a second mortgage to pay for it. A good honest review from you as usual. :tup
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The redeeming feature for us was Disney Studios, as by a huge stroke of luck we went the week it first opened,


You must of gone the week after us Chris :rofl . The weekend we were there they were doing a trial run at the studios before it opened officially that week . I think we just paid a nominal fee and it was quite a surprise bonus .
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:rofl I can't beleive I am in the French forum Lyn. I'm normally only here to ask advice on sking for my Daughter. But I saw your username on the frontpage and thought I wonder where Lyn is off too now ? :rofl Didn't even realise Karen had just been.

Hope my post didn't seem negative as I have to say we had a great time there, as do most people, it just has the potential to be so much better, but there is not really that much competition for them. Obvioulsy you get a Disney Fix by going there but we do prefer Port Aventura, it has a lot more going for it what with being near the coast and having Spanish weather.

On the Disney Boards a lot recommend upgrading to half-board in the Disney hotels now as the food is so expensive, what with it always having been overpriced and now the sterling crash on top :duh .

Its a shame as it took us less time to get there than it did to Alton Towers. :really
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:rofl @ your dad Lyn,bless him :)

we have to go on a wkend or during school hols ,as my eldest is in secondary school

we do have to plan more,using FP's and EMH as much as possible and do a character meal so dont "waste" time waiting in queues to meet characters in the parks

Dec wkend trip was manic, and won't be repeating that in a hurry ! :rofl

but summer hols are fine,as you have the nicer ( ?!) weather and longer opening hours :cheers
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i just hate queuing and refuse to wait more than 60 mins and thats bad enough, all the big rides like space mountain,big thunder mountain, nemos crushs coaster, rock'n roller, tower of terror etc over the weekend had 2 hr queues, thurs and fri when we were there queues werent so bad so we did most of our rides those 2 days, the last hr we went straight on rides with no queues, the fp wasnt available these 2 days ,but over the weekend it was but that was a joke, if you put your fp ticket in say at 12 then the time you got back was around 8-9pm grrr so that meant you then couldnt use it again, as you werent allowed to have more than 1 ride waiting, even peter pan ride had a 2 hr wait over the weekend. we were lucky that the weather was warm and no rain, so that was a big bonus.

the offer we got was 2 free kids under 12, so the hotel for 3 nights inc 4 days of disneypark tickets was £372 for sequioa lodge, think the santa fe was about £70 cheaper, then the flights on top were around £90 each from our local airport could have got them with easy jet for £60 but from luton instead of birmingham. so really we got quite a good deal.

we went to disneyland in march 04 last time but stayed in paris and visited for the day, and it poured all day lol so the crowds werent too bad due to the weather :rofl , so we had to buy the nice yellow disney ponchos :rofl :rofl
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all the big rides like space mountain,big thunder mountain, nemos crushs coaster, rock'n roller, tower of terror etc over the weekend had 2 hr queues, thurs and fri when we were there queues werent so bad so we did most of our rides those 2 days


whaaaaat ?! :really

OMG queues werent even that bad in Dec ! few wkends before xmas !

why so busy in march ?!!

guess everyone had the same idea, and go out of season when its "quiet" ! and taking up the free kids offer etc

Longest we queued @ xmas was 80 mins for BTM but in reality it was only (!) about 55 min wait
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We went on New Years Eve this last year and the queues werent that bad then! Although we did use our Fast Pass for BTM at about 3pm and the time to come back was 10.50pm!!! Fortunately we were still there as we didnt leave til after the fireworks at midnight. Was fun going on it in the dark!
All other times we only queued about an hour at the most for Tower of Terror (which terrified my 6 year old!) and Rock n Roller Coaster and also used FastPass on another couple of rides. Nemo was 90 min wait so we didnt bother.
We stayed in a hotel about an hour away and a pint was 8 Euros!!
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BTM in the dark is always a "must do " on our trips :)
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