Getting closer...

Well it's getting closer to our next visit to a Disney resort...in fact we're now in single digit countdown!

In a couple of days we shall be heading our way over to Disneyland Paris for a much needed dose of Disney.

It is almost 4 and a half years since we were at Disneyland Paris as a family and 6 years since we last visited Walt Disney World so we are very ready for Disney!

These last few years have been tough both financially and personally and this makes this trip all the more wanted.

So I am all ready? Well...err...maybe! I don't really feel like I've done any 'prep' work or research and to be honest I think I did most of that when we were deciding when to go and where to stay. It's not quite the same as visiting Walt Disney World when you have to think about booking fastpasses and dining reservations and perhaps scheduling all the different parks in to make sure you get to experience all that you want to. Paris is a much more compact resort in comparison and most of my 'research' has been done online or is something that I already know. So while there are things that are different to our last visit we shall all just be happy to experience some 'Disneyness'.

To get us in the mood myself and Molly had a little home pampering...we have matching toe nails that took inspiration from The Lion King & Jungle Festival currently happening at Disneyland Paris...

...and then we decided on a more classic, sophisticated look for our fingers!

Mine done by Molly!

Molly's done by me...although I had to ask Simon to complete the Mickey as my numerous attempts were not good!!

So what will we be doing over the next few days? Well, we will be getting there by Eurostar which will take us direct to Disneyland Paris where we will take advantage of their Disney Express service; this means that we will get our tickets and hotel information on the train and then leave our luggage at the station where it will be moved to our hotel leaving us free to go off and explore!

We will be staying at Hotel Cheyenne which will be a walk down memory lane as this was the hotel we stayed in on our first ever visit to Disneyland Paris way back in 1999. So it may be fun to try and recreate some of our photos from our first visit...although I'm not sure my eldest will be willing to join in the fun as a lot of the photos involve him being either in a pushchair or being held!!

So are there any must-do's for us on this trip? I think there are only a couple of attractions that we haven't actually rode in the past; one is the Tower of Terror which none of us have a strong desire to ride (love the themeing just not the mechanism) but the other is Crush's Coaster. Now last time we visited we tried a number of times to ride Crush's Coaster but were thwarted by either breakdowns or ridiculously long wait times so this is a definite rope drop/extra magic time objective!

Otherwise we are really looking forward to experiencing the newly refurbished Phantom Manor; Big Thunder Mountain is a big definite (this is probably my favourite version); Star Tours will just have to be done as will Hyperspace Mountain (although not by me!); the castle here is just stunning and made all the more special by a visit to its guest underneath at La Taniere du Dragon and it goes without saying (if you know me at all) that It's A Small World will be ridden...a lot!

So packing is done, euros have been bought, passports are at the ready and now it's time to have some Disney fun!

10 Days to Go...

10 Days to go until my next Disney trip!

So for the first time since February 2015 we, as a family, will be heading over to Disneyland Paris for a well deserved 5 day visit.

This trip will mark 20 years since our first visit to Disneyland Paris way back in August 1999. Back when we had just one child who was only 18 months old and whose favourite ride was It's A Small World; which he would point out to us by shouting 'windmill' because that was the nearest landmark to the ride! Don't think this will be his favourite this time around!

So here we are 20 years later heading back with two young adults and find ourselves staying in the same hotel...Hotel Cheyenne! Oh how times have changed; in fact that seems to sum up these last few months as we get used to our children leaving education and making their own way in the world.

Although we have visited numerous times since that first visit in 1999 it will be the first time staying at the Cheyenne for quite awhile as our most recent trips have seen us staying in the Sequoia Lodge. But it is merely a coincidence that our trip this time is back to the Cheyenne as it simply came down to a choice of availability and cost. Although the fact that the hotel has recently been refurbished and now has a Starbucks on site were both big pluses when making the decision. But I think it will be interesting to see just how much, or little perhaps, has changed from our first visit compared to now.

So I thought I'd have a look at the photos from our 1999 visit; this meant getting out the physical photo albums because this was pre-digital! Also these photos are so stuck, literally stuck, into the albums there was no way I could prise them out to scan them so had to take photos of the photos!

So here we go, and interestingly the dates of our visit back in 1999 and now are very similar which was a little spooky to realise!

Registration information from Hotel Cheyenne, including admission ticket and breakfast voucher!

I then remembered that while we were there back in 1999 there was an eclipse happening, which we experienced inside Disneyland Park and I kept the small information leaflet that Disney handed out along with some special 'glasses' to view the eclipse!

Information leaflet

Special viewing glasses and me wearing them!!

Here are a couple of photos of Discoveryland;

Outside Space Mountain & Les Mysteres du Nautilus

And of course there had to be photos of the parade...love the music to this parade...Dancin' a Catchy Rhythm was just the best parade music!

Wonderful World of Disney Parade

And then this was the time when the Main Street Electrical Parade had made its way over from the US which was a great surprise to us back then as this was the first night time parade we had ever seen when we'd visited Walt Disney World back in 1991. Unfortunately the photos were just too dark to include...lots of black with a few dots of light!!

I love looking back on old photos and all the memories it brings back but now I'm looking forward to creating some new memories.

69 Days and counting

Yes there is a countdown happening!

Finally four years after our last visit to a Disney park we have a trip booked. This August we will be heading our way over to Disneyland Paris for a 5 day trip.

The last few years have been tight financially which has meant any Disney trips have had to take a back seat. But we now find ourselves in a position to be able to dip our toes back into visiting the parks once more.

The last time we visited Disneyland Paris (February 2015) things were very different. Firstly our kids were still kids now we have two young adults who we are blessed still want to come on vacation with us, but who are also now able to pay for themselves - win!

Back in February 2015 we made the trip under very sad circumstances as my mum had died only a few days before we were due to go. We made the trip with the blessing of family but it was a very hard trip to make, filled with memories of visits gone by made with my parents. And then there was the weather...the freezing cold weather! The wearing of layers upon layers to keep warm, the struggle to find shelter to keep warm, navigating the parks with limited food options and areas of the parks closed for big refurbishments.

Do not be fooled by the brilliant blue sky...it was blooming freezing!!

And although I did make a small trip back in 2017 with my fellow podcaster, Disney Dream Girl Michelle, there is something about visiting Disney which to me says 'family' and I am ready for us to embrace the Disney magic as a family once more.

Disney Dream Girls take on DLP - June 2017

Our lives this year are changing; both children are now young adults and both of them are reaching the end of their respective education paths and will be entering the world of work. We also find ourselves in a position to begin planning for much missed Disney travel and adventures and with a desire to ensure that life does not pass us by and that we make the most of every moment. This was brought home earlier this year when I had a brush with cancer. Thankfully it was very early stage; I have had the necessary surgery and although I have a few weeks of further treatment ahead it will all be completed by the time we set off to Disneyland Paris. But when life throws you a curve ball like this it does make you stop, think and re-assess...and although it is a cliche it does make you take a long hard look at what you are doing, why you are doing it and how can you ensure you make the best of the time that you have.

And so began the process of booking a trip!

We decided that we wanted to get away sooner rather than later which meant that a trip over to Paris was the most obvious choice. I wanted us to be able to re-visit Paris to enjoy it at a warmer time of year, to put sad memories to rest and to be able to take the time to enjoy it all at whatever pace we liked!

We knew we would have to visit over the Summer months as my job working in education forces us to visit during the school holidays. We then had to factor in my sons university graduation ceremony, my daughter getting her A-level results, dates already booked for a concert and a theatre trip...this left us with just a few weeks in August to choose from!

We also wanted to make this trip as simple and as easy as possible for us; we need to get our travel legs back so to speak! Plus I just wanted us to be able to enjoy the trip with as few stresses as possible. So we knew we wanted to stay at a Disney hotel and to travel there by Eurostar...here's where hours at the laptop kicked in weighing up all the different options!

Now money as always will play a factor when planning any vacation but especially a Disney one. And despite looking around at various different options, selecting different dates, different days of the week and through various different companies I actually ended up booking with Disney themselves.  I would always recommend that when booking you take the time to look at all the options out there and then ask yourself what you want out of a vacation and which option best meets your needs. This time around booking direct ticked the most boxes for us and we were also able to take advantage of some discounts that Disney were offering. On this occasion our booking covers all travel, hotel and park tickets but we did briefly debate whether buying an annual pass would be a better option. But because we can't at this point in time guarantee being able to use the pass more than on just this occasion and knowing that if we could make more trips we would need the pass with the most accessible dates we decided not to bother. But this maybe something we come back to in the future if we find ourselves able to travel more freely around work commitments! Who knows?!

So we are getting there by Eurostar and using their direct service. There were other options available with changes at Lille but we decided that on this occasion we wanted the simplicity of the direct train.  It's worth noting that the direct service only runs on set days per week and that may have an impact on planning, availability and of course cost! We have also booked the Disney Express service; this means that we can drop our luggage at the Disney Express point at Marne-la-Vallee station (station at Disneyland Paris) and our luggage will be taken to our hotel so that we can go straight into the parks, and then on departure day the hotel will take the luggage to the station so we can make the most of our final day.

As we live in the center of the UK we will have to travel about 3 hours to get to Ebbsfleet which is where we are taking the Eurostar from. The train actually runs from St Pancras, London and picks up at Ebbsfleet and then Ashford before heading over to France. We did look into whether we could take a train from home to London and then pick up the Eurostar but it would have cost us more than the petrol for driving down to Ebbsfleet. We have decided to travel down the day before and have booked a cheap hotel for overnight; this will take the stress out of getting there on time as we would have had to have left home in the early hours as well as battle rush hour traffic! And it still works out cheaper than taking a train from home!!

Well that's the getting there sorted so where are we staying? We knew we wanted to stay in a Disney hotel but which one? We had two factors to consider - money and whether we wanted to try somewhere different to our last visit. To be fair this did limit our choice to the Santa Fe, Cheyenne and Sequoia Lodge hotels and having stayed most recently at the Sequoia Lodge we were leaning towards the other two.

Both the Santa Fe and Cheyenne are 'graded' as 'two keys' and tend to follow the same or very similar pricing structures. But it is worth checking these two and the Sequoia Lodge against each other as on some of my searches for accommodation across various different dates there were times when the Sequoia Lodge actually came out the cheapest. But for the dates we had settled on it came down to a choice between the Santa Fe and the Cheyenne.

We had, many years ago when the children were much smaller, stayed at the Cheyenne a number of times and had fond memories of staying there;

August 1999 - Hotel Cheyenne - our first visit to Disneyland Paris

August 1999 - Disneyland Park

(Excuse the photos as these were taken pre-digital and are now physically stuck inside a photo album, so much so that I couldn't remove them to scan them so I had to take a photo of them in situ!)

Coupled with a recent room refurbishment and the additions of a Starbucks we were swayed into picking the Cheyenne over the Santa Fe. For me personally the Santa Fe doesn't look as inviting as the Cheyenne but I am definitely going to have a wander over and have a look while we are there just to see for myself.

The Cheyenne is located within the Disney resort area but is classified as about a 15/20 minute walk to the main park. There are free shuttle buses should you not fancy the walk but we know from previous visits that the walk is easy enough to do and is a pleasant walk along the 'Rio Grande' river. Having visited before with very young children and never once used the shuttle bus we know that this short walk is not an issue for us; I'd much rather have a stroll along the river than fighting to get on a shuttle bus!

So we have hotel, park tickets and travel all sorted and booked which means that I can now start planning and researching! I really want to be able to take in all the details this trip and soak up all the 'Disney' that I have been missing.

Well that research won't get it done by itself now will it....

Disney's Sequoia Lodge Hotel Review - Part 2

The first part of my review talked about the general theming of the hotel as well as the room we stayed in; what shall we look at next?

So what facilities does the hotel have to offer? Well there are two restaurants, one bar, one shop, a swimming pool and a gym.

On this trip we didn't have chance to use the swimming pool or the gym; we had a quick look in and both looked nice enough. The pool and gym are located within another lodge type building away from the main hotel and although predominately an indoor pool there is a small section of the pool that ventures outside. Suffice to say as this was the middle of February and rather chilly the outside pool area was not open. Whether you make use of these type of facilities or not is purely a personal one but I think it's one worth thinking about when considering which hotel to book. As most stays to Disneyland Paris are likely to be only a few days will you have the time, or the inclination, to use these type of facilities or would you rather be spending your time in the parks? I know for us time in the parks was much higher up on our list of things to do than spending a few hours in the pool. And whilst having a pool and gym at the hotel was an added benefit of choosing the Sequoia Lodge it wasn't a deciding factor for us; we were more interested in it's location, size of rooms and restaurant facilities.

Talking of restaurants the hotel has two; Hunters Grill and Beaver Creek Tavern. Well I say two restaurants, and once upon a time these did operate as two restaurants; one a buffet and the other your more traditional table service. However, from my research prior to travelling, and since, it would appear that both locations kind of operate as one. I shall try and explain...both restaurants are located in the same area of the hotel opposite each other across a small foyer area and appear to operate more as one restaurant that has two separate dining rooms. Although we never used them for dinner we did use them for breakfast most mornings of our stay.

So let's explain how breakfast works. Breakfast is included as part of your stay so when you check in you are asked what time you would like breakfast for each day of your stay. Each time slot has a limited number of places and so the time you want may not always be available. For each day of your stay you are given a different coloured card with a time slot on. On the designated day at the specified time you present your card at the podium located between the two restaurants. A cast member then directs you to one of the two restaurants where you then join the queue for that restaurant and wait for a cast member to seat you. This was a relatively short process and sounds more time consuming than it actually was.

Grizzly Bear standing guard outside the restaurants

Entry to 'Hunters Grill'

You are then shown to a table and the cast member writes on the paper tablecloth to indicate that the table has been allocated; they usually draw a tri-circle 'Mickey' and the number of people dining. We ate in both restaurants during our stay and both operated in exactly the same way, buffet style, and offered the same food options for breakfast.

Central food station which housed majority of the food options available

Breakfast options included; hot drinks (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, hot milk), fruit juices, cereals, toast with various spreads (jams, marmalade, butter, chocolate spread), croissants, pain au chocolate, fruit salad, deli meats, olives, cheeses and bread. There were signs for hot breakfast options that were an additional cost but we were unable to fathom out how to get this should we have wanted it as there were no cast members operating a hot food station, nor were we offered it by any of the cast members we had contact with - very strange! We did take breakfast in Disneyland Park one morning at Plaza Gardens and the food options were basically the same; perhaps a few different deli meats and a couple of variations on the bread choices but otherwise the same.

Traditional French pastries

Healthy fruit salad option

View from Hunters Creek restaurant

We found the breakfast to be of a decent quality and well stocked. The cast members worked very hard to keep everything flowing as the restaurants were continually busy; after all everyone staying at the hotel would be taking advantage of the included breakfast. On previous trips (quite a few years ago admittedly so things may have changed) we had stayed at the Hotel Cheyenne and here it was more of a cafeteria style serving; having to queue to fill your tray with your choice of breakfast and then finding a table in a very busy dining hall. For us personally this was very chaotic and not a pleasant way to start the day and was one of the reasons for choosing the Sequoia Lodge over the cheaper hotels.

Because the breakfast was self-serve buffet style a lot of guests took advantage of this by stocking up on bread rolls, meats and cheeses and making sandwiches to take with them for later in the day!

As far as I could make out the restaurants then open again for dinner as an all-you-can-eat-buffet style offering. The hotel also has one bar; the Redwood Bar and Lounge. This is quite expansive and beautifully decorated and with an open fire, making it a very cosy environment. We took advantage of it one evening and whilst we enjoyed sitting and relaxing with a drink it was extremely busy (we had to wait for a table to come free) and also relatively expensive.

One thing to note when comparing to Disney resort hotels at Walt Disney World is the lack of a 'food court' type offering. Walt Disney World hotels will have a food court in the moderate and budget hotels and a cafe type offering in the delux resorts where food of varying descriptions can be bought at any time during the day. Whereas in Paris hotel food options are restricted to specific meal times or the bar areas.

Located just across from the bar area and is the hotel shop; Northwest Passage. The shop is not overly big, stocks the usual array of merchandise and has enough to keep you meandering around for five or ten minutes. The merchandise wasn't anything special with very little that appeared unique to the hotel. We also found that the type of items stocked was not as expansive as what we were used to seeing in Disney resort hotels in the states. There were a few essentials (e.g. toothpaste etc) but these were all located behind the cashiers desk and were very limited. Food items were limited to 'Disney' themed cookies and candies, with a small selection of branded candies/chocolates and potato chips. There was a fridge with mainly soft drinks and a couple of choices of lagers/beers. Wine was only available by request from the cashier and was very expensive. We had expected/hoped to be able to visit the shop and come away with some nibbles and treats to take back to the room (as we would have done in the US) but we really struggled to find anything worth bothering with.

One of the best things about this hotel is it's location; located on the shore of Lake Disney it looks out towards the Disney Village and is only a few minutes walk from the Village itself. It then takes about a 10 minute walk through the Village to get to the parks; the hotel does lay on a free shuttle service but for us the walk was so short it really didn't seem worth while taking the shuttle, in fact we never even thought about using it! The walk is really rather pleasant and quite scenic, even when it's freezing cold!

Walking through the hotel grounds.

On the promenade, outside the rear entrance to the hotel.

Looking towards Hotel New York

Looking towards Newport Bay Club

Walking over the river looking away from the Disney Village and towards Hotel Cheyenne area

Close up on detail on the fencing around Lake Disney

Various shots walking around in front of Hotel New York, looking out over Lake Disney towards PanoraMagique (tethered hot air balloon ride like Characters in Flight at Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World) and the Disney Village.

The Sequoia Lodge is a beautifully themed hotel, set in some great landscaping all adding to the vibe of an American National Park. Personally I would have liked to have seen a few more 'Disney' references within the theming as in some areas whilst it embodied the National Park feel it was hard to see the connection to Disney.

But I suppose the question to end with is would we stay at Sequoia Lodge again? Well, yes I think we would; this was our second time staying here and we really liked the resort. It was within our budget range, it was a good distance to the parks and Disney Village, the inclusion of a well organised breakfast was great and there were enough amenities at the resort for our length of stay.

Well that about concludes my thoughts on Disney's Sequoia Lodge, next time I shall be looking back once again to more details about my visit to Disneyland Paris. Thanks for reading :)

Countdown to Christmas - Day 11

11th December

So continuing the theme of reminiscing about time at Disney parks at Christmas, let me tell you about the couple of visits to Disneyland Paris during the holiday season.

Our first visit at Christmas was in early December 2000, we visited over a weekend spending 3 nights at Hotel Cheyenne.  We even managed a day visiting Paris with the highlights of the day being The Eiffel Tower and Picasso Museum.  The weather was cold, although the snow falling in the Disney Village was man-made!  There was a lovely Christmas market laid out through the Disney Village and I remember that everywhere seemed to smell of warm mulled wine, it was all very Christmassy, there was even an ice-rink outside the Hotel New York.

Main Street, USA - Disneyland Park, Paris - 2000

Ice Rink, Hotel New York - 2000

Our second visit was the weekend just before Christmas in 2002.  The main difference between these two visits was the crowds.  Now both visits were busy, as you would expect over weekends, but the second visit just before Christmas was unbelievably so.  On our last day I remember by 11.00am all the Fastpasses had been issued for Peter Pan's Flight and the standby queue was at nearly 3 hours!!

Main Street, USA - Disneyland Park, Paris - 2002

There were two great things about this visit, first we happened to visit at the exact same time as some very good friends of ours, totally unplanned but great fun to share the experience with them!  And the second was that it coincided with our son's birthday; when we arrived at our hotel there was even a present waiting for him and a special badge for him to wear.

Pull key-chain Donald, still working 10 years later!

Birthday Badge

We had also arranged to have a character meal, a buffet tea with a special birthday cake.  Our daughter who was just over one at the time didn't quite know what to make of all the characters, but I think the abundance of cakes and sweets made up for that :)