mamaboogie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2008
Hello All!
We are back from DLP after having an amazing 4 days there.
We got sorted on Monday 21st and set off for Newcastle. This was to be our first time flying from there - we had previously gone from Manchester and Leeds/Bradford.
We made good time and decided to pop in at the Metro Centre. We didn't do any shopping because we were too excited to be going shopping in DLP but we had a nice look around and a tasty lunch at the Handmade Burger restaurant.
We then went to check in at the Newcastle Airport Premier Inn for the night - now we didn't really expect much from this hotel, just somewhere to crash for the night. But we were pleasantly surprised. The staff were very friendly and the room was lovely and clean - and very purple!
We had a really delicious meal in the hotel here, watched Glee and then tried to get some sleep. We had three separate alarms set for 3:15am
I was really worried we'd sleep in and miss our flight!
But we managed to get some shut eye and woke up on the alarm. Very excited! We got sorted and checked out. With a short hop, skip, jump over to the airport we were checking our baggage in at 4am!
We also liked Newcastle Airport - it was quite small and intimate - as friendly as an airport can be. We found some comfy chairs and had a cup of tea and a coffee for Simon.
Just what the doctor ordered!
We waited for our plane to start boarding - it was 20 minutes late which wasn't too bad. Although, the airport board didn't say our flight was boarding - and then it suddenly went to Last Call! So off we went to get onto our little Air France plane.
Did I mention how much I hate flying??
Don't be fooled by the smile - I'm screaming inside! I just hate flying - it all feels so......unnatural!
Anyway, despite some turbulance, it was a good flight and we were landing in Paris at about 9:15am local time - result!
It took a long bus ride to get to the terminal - Charles de Gaulle is huge! But we eventually made it and collected our bags.
Next up we went to find the Disney shuttle. It was just about full - but wait! There was room for 2 more! Was their a party of 2 anywhere? Oh yes! That would be Simon and me! Travelling sans enfants certainly had some perks!
The roads were very busy but we eventually got to Sequoia Lodge. We checked in and then dropped our bags off. Then it was time to hit the parks!! But not before we had our only character encounter of the holiday:
First up - we decided to experience something new. As shareholders we were entitled to visit Salon Mickey at the gate to the Disneyland Parc. We went and tentatively knocked on the door knocker. A very nice man let us in and showed us where everything was.
Then we went out into the Disneyland Parc. The castle was being painted. This meant it looked like this:
It didn't bother us too much - but I expect there would have been some children who were disappointed.
Our first ride ended up being Casey Jnr - one of my favourites!
I love this ride - I don't know why. It's just harmless and fun. We had grabbed a couple of fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain railroad so we went to use them now. I had never been on BTMRR at DLP so I was looking forward to it.
I loved it! It was so much fun in the dark bits when you go under the lake.
We had a bit of a wander and a look in some shops. Then it was time to go for our meal at Walts. We had eaten there in 2003 and enjoyed it - now I was really looking forward to going back.
It was really quiet when we got there - about 4pm. We had to order all our food at once because the server said they wanted to shut the kitchen.
I think we were both slightly concerned that we would be rushed or that the food would not be good or freshly prepared. There was only one other family in the same room with us. We were given a really lovely table by the window.
Even Sarah and Kate enjoyed the view of main street:
We had a lovely meal here - after all our travelling and early start, it was very restful. Our server did not rush us and the food was amazing. I had salmon with a chestnut crust and Simon had steak with a cabernet sauce.
I may have even had a glowtini cocktail:
We were also given warm crusty rolls to enjoy. For dessert, Simon had the chocolate cake and I had the gourmet coffee:
I loved this! A delicious sorbet with raspberry sauce and popcorn, a panacotta with caramalised sugar and a square of rich, dark chocolate.
After the wonderful meal we went off to use our Buzz fastpasses - I had also bought a Tigger hat on the way - after seeing it on here:
We did some bits of shopping and then we noticed the Star Tours line wasn't very long so we hopped on a tour to Endor.
In WDW in August we had attended the Last Tour to Endor Star Wars party as they have now closed it to upgrade it. We thought we would never get the chance to ride the original version again - but we did! (Even if it was in French!)
By now we were flagging slightly, so we decided to go back to the hotel and get into our room. Our room was number 2166 and it was on the ground floor which was a first for us. It was right at the end of the south wing. To our delight, we had scored a kingsize bed. (Two doubles would have made us feel guilty thinking about where the kids would have slept!)
We like the Sequioa Lodge rooms but they are beginning to look a little jaded. The paint is chipping off and everything has just seen better days. But our room was very clean, housekeeping did a great job every day and the bed was very comfortable.
We discovered one very major problem with the room though..........
During the night we heard strange noises. Our room must have been near some kind of service area or machinery because all through the night we would hear this kind of mechanical noise - almost like a lift going up or down. It would sometimes last a few seconds or sometimes a couple of minutes. There was no rhyme or reason to when it went off. It just did it - All. The. Time.
We contemplated complaining the next morning and trying to move rooms. But we really liked our room other than that - and we didn't want to spend precious time sorting it out. If we had been there more than another couple of nights we would have thought differently. But mainly, we were so exhausted at night that we just fell into a deep sleep and it didn't bother us.
It did make us fall out of love with Sequoia Lodge a bit though.
Coming up: More Disney fun. Shari and Simon go for the burn as they accidentally spend 12 hours straight in the park!
We are back from DLP after having an amazing 4 days there.
We got sorted on Monday 21st and set off for Newcastle. This was to be our first time flying from there - we had previously gone from Manchester and Leeds/Bradford.
We made good time and decided to pop in at the Metro Centre. We didn't do any shopping because we were too excited to be going shopping in DLP but we had a nice look around and a tasty lunch at the Handmade Burger restaurant.
We then went to check in at the Newcastle Airport Premier Inn for the night - now we didn't really expect much from this hotel, just somewhere to crash for the night. But we were pleasantly surprised. The staff were very friendly and the room was lovely and clean - and very purple!
We had a really delicious meal in the hotel here, watched Glee and then tried to get some sleep. We had three separate alarms set for 3:15am
I was really worried we'd sleep in and miss our flight!But we managed to get some shut eye and woke up on the alarm. Very excited! We got sorted and checked out. With a short hop, skip, jump over to the airport we were checking our baggage in at 4am!
We also liked Newcastle Airport - it was quite small and intimate - as friendly as an airport can be. We found some comfy chairs and had a cup of tea and a coffee for Simon.
Just what the doctor ordered!
We waited for our plane to start boarding - it was 20 minutes late which wasn't too bad. Although, the airport board didn't say our flight was boarding - and then it suddenly went to Last Call! So off we went to get onto our little Air France plane.
Did I mention how much I hate flying??
Don't be fooled by the smile - I'm screaming inside! I just hate flying - it all feels so......unnatural!
Anyway, despite some turbulance, it was a good flight and we were landing in Paris at about 9:15am local time - result!
It took a long bus ride to get to the terminal - Charles de Gaulle is huge! But we eventually made it and collected our bags.
Next up we went to find the Disney shuttle. It was just about full - but wait! There was room for 2 more! Was their a party of 2 anywhere? Oh yes! That would be Simon and me! Travelling sans enfants certainly had some perks!
The roads were very busy but we eventually got to Sequoia Lodge. We checked in and then dropped our bags off. Then it was time to hit the parks!! But not before we had our only character encounter of the holiday:
First up - we decided to experience something new. As shareholders we were entitled to visit Salon Mickey at the gate to the Disneyland Parc. We went and tentatively knocked on the door knocker. A very nice man let us in and showed us where everything was.
Then we went out into the Disneyland Parc. The castle was being painted. This meant it looked like this:
It didn't bother us too much - but I expect there would have been some children who were disappointed.
Our first ride ended up being Casey Jnr - one of my favourites!
I love this ride - I don't know why. It's just harmless and fun. We had grabbed a couple of fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain railroad so we went to use them now. I had never been on BTMRR at DLP so I was looking forward to it.
I loved it! It was so much fun in the dark bits when you go under the lake.
We had a bit of a wander and a look in some shops. Then it was time to go for our meal at Walts. We had eaten there in 2003 and enjoyed it - now I was really looking forward to going back.
It was really quiet when we got there - about 4pm. We had to order all our food at once because the server said they wanted to shut the kitchen.
I think we were both slightly concerned that we would be rushed or that the food would not be good or freshly prepared. There was only one other family in the same room with us. We were given a really lovely table by the window.
Even Sarah and Kate enjoyed the view of main street:
We had a lovely meal here - after all our travelling and early start, it was very restful. Our server did not rush us and the food was amazing. I had salmon with a chestnut crust and Simon had steak with a cabernet sauce.
I may have even had a glowtini cocktail:
We were also given warm crusty rolls to enjoy. For dessert, Simon had the chocolate cake and I had the gourmet coffee:
I loved this! A delicious sorbet with raspberry sauce and popcorn, a panacotta with caramalised sugar and a square of rich, dark chocolate.
After the wonderful meal we went off to use our Buzz fastpasses - I had also bought a Tigger hat on the way - after seeing it on here:
We did some bits of shopping and then we noticed the Star Tours line wasn't very long so we hopped on a tour to Endor.
In WDW in August we had attended the Last Tour to Endor Star Wars party as they have now closed it to upgrade it. We thought we would never get the chance to ride the original version again - but we did! (Even if it was in French!)
By now we were flagging slightly, so we decided to go back to the hotel and get into our room. Our room was number 2166 and it was on the ground floor which was a first for us. It was right at the end of the south wing. To our delight, we had scored a kingsize bed. (Two doubles would have made us feel guilty thinking about where the kids would have slept!)
We like the Sequioa Lodge rooms but they are beginning to look a little jaded. The paint is chipping off and everything has just seen better days. But our room was very clean, housekeeping did a great job every day and the bed was very comfortable.
We discovered one very major problem with the room though..........
During the night we heard strange noises. Our room must have been near some kind of service area or machinery because all through the night we would hear this kind of mechanical noise - almost like a lift going up or down. It would sometimes last a few seconds or sometimes a couple of minutes. There was no rhyme or reason to when it went off. It just did it - All. The. Time.
We contemplated complaining the next morning and trying to move rooms. But we really liked our room other than that - and we didn't want to spend precious time sorting it out. If we had been there more than another couple of nights we would have thought differently. But mainly, we were so exhausted at night that we just fell into a deep sleep and it didn't bother us.
It did make us fall out of love with Sequoia Lodge a bit though.
Coming up: More Disney fun. Shari and Simon go for the burn as they accidentally spend 12 hours straight in the park!
Looking forward to the next instalment! 
Thanks for reading - I have to give the credit for the Casey Jnr photo to Simon.
it looks soooo nice on you 
but we did have a lovely time.
