Going to Euro Disney

[Melman Giraffe]

So we have booked Euro Disney:-

21st Oct 2011 staying at Disney's Sequoia Lodge half board 4 days 3 nignts.

We have also booked breakfast with the characters on the Saturday morning.

I know its expensive but this is a very special treat for my 2 boys aged 5 & 8.

What are the must and must not's?

Any tips and advice?

Thanks

[Puggit]

Don't take your kids near any type of retail outlet inside the park - $$$$.

Don't bother getting up early to enjoy the 'hotel guests only' opening times. Most rides are shut.

Do join in the picnic bun fight at breakfast each morning as everyone gets as much from the buffet as possible and hides it in their rucksacks for later as costs are so great inside the park.

Do buy food/drink from the mini-mart in the RER station by the front gates.

[illmonkey]

Puggit said:

Don't take your kids near any type of retail outlet inside the park - $$$$.

Don't bother getting up early to enjoy the 'hotel guests only' opening times. Most rides are shut.

Do join in the picnic bun fight at breakfast each morning as everyone gets as much from the buffet as possible and hides it in their rucksacks for later as costs are so great inside the park.

Do buy food/drink from the mini-mart in the RER station by the front gates.

+1 to all these.

Ensure you see the shows, some are good.

I tended to store all of my lunch in my stomach along side breakfast, save me carrying it in a bag. Then go in for dinner, big ol' steak and chips.

Book all restaurants you want to go to. Planet hollywood was rammed.

[Nobby Diesel]

As you'll already have gathered, the good people at the Mouse House, have a talent for emptying your wallet.
Food inside the park is costly, over/under cooked, cold when it should be hot, tripe at best and inedible at worst. Delete as applicable. No, seriosly, it's just standard Americanised junk. Have a very good breakfast and take a few "snacks" in that you have either brought with you or "saved" from the breakfast buffet.
In the hotels, food and drinks are very pricey too. I've only stayed in the Disney Hotel but seem to recall it being E6 or E7 for a beer. Wine is astronomical.
In the day time, the stunt show is fun (we watched it 3 times!) and at night Buffalo Bills was good for an evening out, but again, you guessed it, expensive for ribs, beans and a jacket spud.
The kids will love it. We got the fast pass included, which seemed to help a reasonable amount.
Get a place early for the parade, as these get very busy.

[P-Jay]

I'd agree with the 'not getting ripped off' part. I really enjoyed it last month, our lad had a ball of a time, but the retail side of it get you down after a while. Every ride and attraction has no less than 5 places surrounding it selling ether overpriced food or overpriced tourist tat. In fact the first half-mile or so of the park, I think it's called Main Street USA or something is just shops, they all look different, but all sell the same st. I'm not tight or poor, but I hate being ripped off almost as much as having to tell my Son he can't have something.

Lots of people say 'turn right' at you entre the park proper and that makes sense, it seems people will automatically turn left as they get in and you end up following the herd to bigger and bigger queues.

Don't expect our European cousins to understand the idea of fair-play and queuing, it's an alien concept they like to treat with utter contempt, I honestly had to elbow a large German chap in the face trying to board the shuttle / bus from our Hotel to stop him stepping on my Son's legs.

Don't forget about the Disney Movie side, it's small and quieter than the main park (or was that day) and the Hotel Tower of Terror (or whatever) is brilliantly done, my Son was just about tall enough to go on it, he didn't speak to me for ages after I took him on it ha ha, but now admits he loved it.

We tried the auto-queue things, but frankly they were more hassle than they were worth.

Oh, and if me your children are too small to ride Space Mountain, leave them with the OH for 20 mins and have a go, it's ace!

[Nobby Diesel]

P-Jay said:

I'd agree with the 'not getting ripped off' part. I really enjoyed it last month, our lad had a ball of a time, but the retail side of it get you down after a while. Every ride and attraction has no less than 5 places surrounding it selling ether overpriced food or overpriced tourist tat. In fact the first half-mile or so of the park, I think it's called Main Street USA or something is just shops, they all look different, but all sell the same st. I'm not tight or poor, but I hate being ripped off almost as much as having to tell my Son he can't have something.

Lots of people say 'turn right' at you entre the park proper and that makes sense, it seems people will automatically turn left as they get in and you end up following the herd to bigger and bigger queues.

Don't expect our European cousins to understand the idea of fair-play and queuing, it's an alien concept they like to treat with utter contempt, I honestly had to elbow a large German chap in the face trying to board the shuttle / bus from our Hotel to stop him stepping on my Son's legs.

Don't forget about the Disney Movie side, it's small and quieter than the main park (or was that day) and the Hotel Tower of Terror (or whatever) is brilliantly done, my Son was just about tall enough to go on it, he didn't speak to me for ages after I took him on it ha ha, but now admits he loved it.

We tried the auto-queue things, but frankly they were more hassle than they were worth.

Oh, and if me your children are too small to ride Space Mountain, leave them with the OH for 20 mins and have a go, it's ace!

You're right about the Tower of Terror - great for shocking the kids (and missus!!)

[Melman Giraffe]

Thanks Guys, the advise has as always been brilliant. Has anyone stayed at Sequoia Lodge? Also what is the deal with half board in terms of eating out?

[SwanJack]

Melman Giraffe said:

Thanks Guys, the advise has as always been brilliant. Has anyone stayed at Sequoia Lodge? Also what is the deal with half board in terms of eating out?

I stayed there a few years back. The public areas were very nice, especially as it was xmas time. The room was very basic and a disappointment bearing in mind it is one of the most expensive places to stay. When we went at Easter this year, we stayed at the lower end Cheyenne hotel, the rooms were better here IMO.

A good place to eat wen you've had enough of burning 50 euro notes is the take away menu at the burger joint Annette's diner in the Downtown Disney area. Same menu but you just sit outside on the patio. The Restaurant at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride is good and works out cheaper than some of restaurants outside the park.

[Puggit]

Good point by P-Jay about our continental 'friends'. Play by their rules, not standard British queuing ones. Spanish adults thought nothing of pushing my kids (2 and 3 at the time) out of the way to see the characters.

Your hotel might do a bus shuttle to the main gates - it really isn't much more hassle to walk and during peak periods it's easy not to fit on a bus (thanks to the afore-mentioned queue jumping).

[F i F]

Agree with all of the above re expense, especially the issue of feeding everyone. The one exception I would make is Walt's the table service place on main Street. It's expensive, hellish expensive but, for Disney, the food and service is excellent.

Annette's diner is another one where the balance between cost and quality is more balanced, though quality is nothing like you get in a real American diner.

Sequoia Lodge is OK, we prefer Newport Bay, and New York is better placed but very mixed experience there. However in their bar they do a fan-bloody-tastic Royal Chambord champagne cocktail, ought to be good for 14 euro.

However after our last visit I told family very firmly that I'll never set foot in the House of Mouse again, I'll take them to airport, train station, even get them across ferry and to the door but for me, they can do what the hell they like I'll then off and do something else.

[Melman Giraffe]

Excellent stuff thank you. With a half board package can we eat at any of the Disney restaurants as part of the deal? In other words Breakfast at the hotel then Lunch or Dinner at one of the restaurants.

[SwanJack]

F i F said:

However after our last visit I told family very firmly that I'll never set foot in the House of Mouse again, I'll take them to airport, train station, even get them across ferry and to the door but for me, they can do what the hell they like I'll then off and do something else.

I feel like this as well, but would leave for a US version of Disney in the next 30 mins. IMO the difference is that the US Disney is set up for getting repeat business, the French couldn't give a damn if you had a good time or not.

[Stig]

It never ceases to amaze me that people are surprised by the cost of a stay in a theme park. It's a business is it not? Park prices will be higher by vitue of the fact that you're err... in the park!

Plently of ways to save a few Euros or dollars if you need to espcially on the food side of things.

But like it or not, the best experience will always be had if you adopt a fairly open wallet mindset. The memory of the holiday (if it's a good one) will always outlast the memory of the bill.

[F i F]

SwanJack said:

F i F said:

However after our last visit I told family very firmly that I'll never set foot in the House of Mouse again, I'll take them to airport, train station, even get them across ferry and to the door but for me, they can do what the hell they like I'll then off and do something else.

I feel like this as well, but would leave for a US version of Disney in the next 30 mins. IMO the difference is that the US Disney is set up for getting repeat business, the French couldn't give a damn if you had a good time or not.

Yes, I do agree with this, it's the return specifically to the Paris one that I object to and didn't explain myself at all well on the details.

There are some staff who do try but they are in the minority compared to USA.

Stig said:

But like it or not, the best experience will always be had if you adopt a fairly open wallet mindset.

Again, agree with this and that has been my approach on all three visits to DP. On the last one the balance between the experience and the single minded purpose of emptying your wallet has tipped over the edge and is now beyond the pale in my opinion.

Melman Giraffe said:

Excellent stuff thank you. With a half board package can we eat at any of the Disney restaurants as part of the deal? In other words Breakfast at the hotel then Lunch or Dinner at one of the restaurants.

It gets complicated dependant upon which Hotel you are staying at and which package you buy. The website tries to explain some of it and it's not too clear, especially which restaurants you can and cannot eat in.

Our first two visits we just had the breakfast deal and paid our way in the parks and Downtown Disney. On the second trip we had a meal in Walt's and as mentioned the quality was excellent so when we saw that was included in the Half board package we went for that.

Summary of meals we had on half board package.
Walt's again excellent.
Annette's, OK for DP but compared to a real diner. My Philly cheese steak sandwich was pretty good and I was stuffed.
Sequoia Lodge, Mixed, desserts OK but rest very underwhelming, lamb was typical school dinner fare. Swordfish drier than dry.
New York, Parkside Diner buffet, inedible.

The other problem we had was that a lot of the restaurants we knew were reasonably OK from previous experience, eg Silver Spur Steakhouse were closed for some reason. Considering our tactic is to take a decent break in the middle of the day for a decent sit down meal and rest tired legs the limited choice became irritating.

As were some rides and attractions, too many to be acceptable, and it wasn't lowest season.

As mentioned above no objection to paying for stuff, eg consider 30 euro for the Mrs and me to have one drink each in a nice bar, but at that time they'd lost the balance between the experience and just grabbing as much money as they could get.

Edited by F i F on Thursday 21st July 09:55

[R500POP]

Do not eat in Planet Hollywood, the food is st so is the service.

Do go to the Rainforest Cafe, the kids will love it.

[P-Jay]

Stig said:

It never ceases to amaze me that people are surprised by the cost of a stay in a theme park. It's a business is it not? Park prices will be higher by vitue of the fact that you're err... in the park!

Plently of ways to save a few Euros or dollars if you need to espcially on the food side of things.

But like it or not, the best experience will always be had if you adopt a fairly open wallet mindset. The memory of the holiday (if it's a good one) will always outlast the memory of the bill.

I sort of agree with you, in the last few years I've visited some of the best and worst theme parks in the UK and of course Euro Disney, I expect to get bent over a bit on the food / drinks side but some places really stick it in and twist it, it's not the money per-se it's the pisstake that turns me into, well my Dad.

At Euro Disney I felt especially like I was being made a mug of, the food was appalling, the service non existent and the prices were beyond the stupid.

The biggest thing that annoyed me was they don't allow you to eat, drink your own stuff in the park; you have to leave, although we might have sneaked the odd one of my simply amazing grilled chicken sandwiches down while we were there.

Longleat still holds the record for the most urine extracted though, Jeez just short of £50 for two adult plates of 'something' brown and a child sized plate of 'something' orange and 3 drinks, but at least they put on nice places to have a picnic.

[F i F]

P-Jay said:

Longleat still holds the record for the most urine extracted though, Jeez just short of £50 for two adult plates of 'something' brown and a child sized plate of 'something' orange and 3 drinks, but at least they put on nice places to have a picnic.

The only thing that made the pricing there acceptable was printing off a batch of the two for one meal vouchers, and then splitting up the party to maximise the number of free meals.
The staff knew what we were doing but suspect they sympathise.

[Melman Giraffe]

F i F said:

P-Jay said:

Longleat still holds the record for the most urine extracted though, Jeez just short of £50 for two adult plates of 'something' brown and a child sized plate of 'something' orange and 3 drinks, but at least they put on nice places to have a picnic.

The only thing that made the pricing there acceptable was printing off a batch of the two for one meal vouchers, and then splitting up the party to maximise the number of free meals.
The staff knew what we were doing but suspect they sympathise.

I wonder if there are any vouchers to be had for Euro Disney?

[F i F]

Melman Giraffe said:

I wonder if there are any vouchers to be had for Euro Disney?

There's the mark of someone not been to Disney before have you?

Only ones I know of would be listed here
http://www.dlpfoodguide.com/specialoffers.html#Mea... Coupons

[Melman Giraffe]

F i F said:

Melman Giraffe said:

I wonder if there are any vouchers to be had for Euro Disney?

There's the mark of someone not been to Disney before have you?

Only ones I know of would be listed here
http://www.dlpfoodguide.com/specialoffers.html#Mea... Coupons

As I said in my OP its our first visit so i'm trying to gather as much info as possible. Looks like we are going to spend a far amount. I still don't quite understand how the half board works!! We have half board plus if this means anything.