DLP Trip Report, June 2016 Day 1

My day started by making my way to the Eurostar at St Pancras extra early to sort out an issue with my tickets. As I was packing the night before I realised they had put the wrong return date on them. I was annoyed at myself for not checking my tickets properly when booking and equally annoyed at the lady who took my booking as having remembered I had to repeat the date several times to her as she checked the availability. To correct the mistake it cost me an extra £45 on top of the £130 I originally paid. As you can imagine I wasn’t impressed but that will teach me to be more observant in the future.

The duration spent on the Eurostar itself passed really quickly and by the time I had read a couple of chapters of my book, listened to some Disney tunes, posted some updates on social media and ate some snacks I had arrived at Marne La Vallee, Chessy (at 2pm paris time). My first priority was to place my Minnie ears on my head before meeting my friends (who had all used different modes of transport to get to DLP) in the lobby of the Disneyland hotel. We had chosen this location in case we were lucky enough to catch some princesses as they had been reportedly seen in this area on previous days around the same time. Unfortunately we were lucked out on this occasion.

My friend Leanne kindly took my suitcase to left luggage for me because without an annual pass it would have cost me €9. After that we went to pay for my dream annual pass at the gate which cost me €200 with my friend Jess’ discount (this got me €20 off) and went straight to the Bureau Passeport Annuel in the Disneyland park with my temporary pass to exchange it for my actual annual pass with my photo on which they took while I was standing at the desk. I signed the contract and was given an information pack which is lovely but it’s all written in French. I’m sure I’d be able to find the translation online somewhere though.

Next on the agenda was food. My friends who had been many more times than me in the past were experienced enough to do Disneyland on a budget so don’t always eat at the themed restaurants unless it’s a treat. We decided on a quick snack at ‘Last Chance Cafe’ where I had a basket of fries using the discount on my annual pass for the first time. Jess had the sweetcorn soup and Leanne swears by their chicken nuggets which I am unable to comment on as I am Vegetarian. Louise had a cheesy hotdog from ‘Casey’s Corner’ which she devoured in seconds. I had never seen someone eat a hotdog that fast in my life.

We hadn’t planned on doing anything too strenuous on our first day as we were quite tired from travelling so we had a mooch around, then we went on Phantom manor which is Jess’ favourite ride and according to her must be done everyday and possibly more than once which I had no objections with. After popping into some of the shops along Main Street USA we decided to head to the hotel with my suitcase to check in and freshen up.

We were staying on site at Sequoia Lodge, just a short walking distance away from the parks. The rooms were Bambi themed which caused much excitement between us and we reached for our phones simultaneously to snap away at the decor.

Next on the agenda was a visit to the studio park where we went on Crush’s Coaster and wandered round the shop. Leanne and Jess went on Tower of Terror while myself and Louise sat it out. I have been on it before but if given the choice I’d rather give it a miss as it’s my least favourite ride in this park. I love the atmosphere and the CM’s banter but I’m not that keen on drop rides. I might do it on one of my next trips though.

Later on we were reunited with Earl of Sandwich in the Disney Village, somewhere that I have enjoyed on previous trips, you just can’t beat their hot sandwiches. I had the Caprese which I added avocado to, a little tip that Jess suggested (you can add any extra for a fee). Earl is great for convenience and is reasonably priced. Before returning to the hotel we had a browse around the shops, I was particularly impressed with the life-size models in the Lego shop.

The only thing we found disappointing was the customer service in ‘The Disney Gallery’ shop they were rather rude when we enquired about the Cogsworth’s which we were all eager to purchase on our trip. We knew that they had recently been in stock but they refused to confirm this (at the end of our trip, when we got home we saw that someone had successfully purchased one and said that they had 8 more in stock. We were so angry). However, all in all our experiences were mainly good.