Christmas at Disneyland Paris : Upgraded to the Royal Suite!

meggiebeth

WDW, DLR & DLP enthusiast
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Christmas at Disneyland Paris : Upgraded to the Royal Suite

Hi all! I've decided to write a trip report for our very recent trip to Disneyland Paris from the 24th December to the 27th December 2015. I've written trip and dining reports for our trips to Walt Disney World before, but while planning our trip to DLP for Christmas I struggled to find much information, so felt it would be useful for me to write about our experiences.

As a quick summary of our trip:

When
24th- 27th December 2015 (plus a night in Dover on the 23rd)

Where
Dream Castle Hotel, Marne La Vallée

Restaurants
Bistrot Chez Rémy
Walt's: An American Restaurant
Hunter's Grill at Sequoia Lodge
The Lucky Nugget Saloon

Travel
EuroTunnel from Folkestone to Calais
(We live around two hours away from the UK EuroTunnel terminal and so is easily doable for us)

Now to introduce us, here's a photo of our recent visit to Bistrot Chez Rémy in August:

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I'm Megan- I'm 19 years old (although look much younger) and currently studying at university, although I still live with my family. I persuaded my family to visit DLP for Christmas despite my dad's reluctance. I've planned our two trips to Florida and our last trip to DLP in August so it was really exciting for me to get to plan our first Disney trip at Christmas!

My parents, Will and Tracey, are great Disney parks fans. They didn't expect much from our first trip to Disney World in 2011 but once there were astounded at what the parks and resorts offered! They (along with the rest of my family and me) see Disneyland Paris as a good substitute for Florida- it really doesn't compare in many ways but serves as our cheaper Disney fix nearer the UK.

My brothers William and Rory love the trademark Disney thrill rides in Florida, many of which also exist in DLP. William is 17 and Rory is 11 so hopefully this report will also give the perspective of teenagers at DLP (and show that they can love it just as much as young children or adults!)

How did the trip come about?

For the past few Christmases my parents and I have been talking about spending a few nights away from home. Christmas entails little for us at home and I thought a trip to DLP would be a great way to have an action packed Christmas away from home! I normally do Christmas shopping with my mum so know how much we spend on presents: this year we decided to get one present each and spend the rest going to France!

We managed to get two connecting rooms at the Dream Castle Hotel for around £600 for three nights including breakfast. I'd have loved to stay at a Disney hotel but the prices at Christmas were rather astronomical and so we made the decision to stay offsite. As we plan on visiting DLP again in the summer (perhaps even at Easter too) we decided to get annual passes. The only one that worked for our dates was the Dream Passeport Annuel - this is valid for 365 days a year. Some of its perks include:

- 20% off boutiques and shops in DLP (10% off at Lego Store)
- 10% off at Disneyland Paris restaurants
- 35% off at Disney hotels
- Free aperitif for each pass holder at table service restaurants (photos to come!)
- Access to extra magic hours

If you buy five annual passes in a row and are part of the same family you can also benefit from 20% off! In this sense, one of our five passes was free.

So please do join us for my report! I will cover all aspects from our travel to hotels, restaurants and our experiences in the parks. I will post updates as soon as I can I between my essays for January so do bear with me. Next up: day one!
 
Thanks for sharing! I've always enjoyed reading your Florida trip reports :) I hadn't realised you'd also been in the summer - where did you stay then? You can always come to the DLP forum for advice when planning a trip :thumbsup2 Looking forward to reading more! :tinker:
 


Reading along Megan. :goodvibes

Thanks for joining in! :)

Thanks for sharing! I've always enjoyed reading your Florida trip reports :) I hadn't realised you'd also been in the summer - where did you stay then? You can always come to the DLP forum for advice when planning a trip :thumbsup2 Looking forward to reading more! :tinker:

Hello! Thank you for your kind words, it's good to be back! :) We stayed at Davy Crockett Ranch in August and really liked it, although did have to drive everywhere. Our friends were at the Disneyland Hotel at the same time so was a great contrast. :rolleyes1

Thank you, I look forward to asking more questions! Hopefully I will come back to DLP in a few months.
 
Travel Day and the Ramada Dover

On the 23rd December, we left home at about 4:30pm to head towards the EuroTunnel. My mum was working so we were entrusted with the task of packing her things too, and we then had to stop off at her work (which thankfully is on the way) to pick her up.

We managed to get my mum and very soon Rory decided he was travel sick, although he insisted that some skittles would help. Oh dear! :rolleyes1

Our journey was relatively stress free and took about two hours. We arrived at the Ramada Dover at about 7pm. It's quite a small hotel and was incredibly quiet! I love bustling hotels, and this was quite the opposite. It was, however, very cosy- the lobby was nicer than I expected. Considering we paid £30 per room for a night two nights before Christmas, I feel we did really well! I think it's more of a convention hotel which would probably explain how quiet it was so close to Christmas. ::yes::

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We were offered a place at the hotel restaurant which is supposedly quite good, but had plans to go somewhere cheaper nearby. We walked past the restaurant on the way to our rooms and it was also very quiet.

Our rooms were interconnecting which was a nice convenience and although quite small and a little tired, very good for what we paid. We checked the room service menu and considered ordering pizzas as they were quite reasonably priced but decided to go out still.

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I had read before leaving home of a cheap pub restaurant called the Kittiwake a two minute drive down the road (if that!) with very reasonable prices. We decided to go here, although there is also a McDonald's literally across the road from the hotel. Kittiwake had a menu offering two mains for £10 which was great. It was an average restaurant and the food was OK- much better than McDonald's (as we were planning on eating breakfast there the next morning!) :mickeybar

Tired family photo... (!)

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We went back to the hotel and got ready for bed as we needed to be at the EuroTunnel terminal for just after 6am the next day. My parents settled down in their room watching Mamma Mia and my brothers and I watched Uncle Buck in our room. It was a nice, relaxing end to our travel day! :cloud9:

Overall, I do recommend the Ramada Dover for anyone trying to split up their journey. It was excellent value for money. I'm not sure I would pay much more (there are nicer hotels in the area for families I suppose) but for a one night stop it was a great idea. pixiedust:
 
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So sorry for the delay in updating everyone! Been really busy with university work and essays. Without further ado, here is my next update.

Getting Annual Passes in the Disneyland Park

Our drive from Calais to Disneyland was very easy and took about three hours. We stopped off on the way to use some public toilets and needless to say were welcomed by the disgusting holes in the ground that we have come to know in France! :scared:

We arrived at the Dream Castle Hotel at about 11am, so had most of the day to enjoy the parks. We checked in and were told our room wasn’t ready, so we left our luggage at the hotel and headed back to the car. The Dream Castle security checks your car boot every time you drive in but nonetheless we found driving a lot more pleasant than the free shuttle bus offered by the hotel!

We were planning to go straight to the parks to buy our APs but about half an hour into the journey to Dover the night before, Rory announced he had forgotten his coat. So today, we needed to go and buy him a new one. The receptionist at the Dream Castle insisted that driving to the Val D’Europe shopping centre was a terrible idea and we would be waiting for at least half an hour for a space (it was Christmas eve of course!) but we were pleasantly surprised that when we arrived at La Vallée Village there were plenty of spaces. :yay:

We walked through La Vallée Village to get to the cheaper shopping centre and my mum and I were certainly keen to return without the boys- the shops looked interesting. Rory passed Superdry and wanted a coat from there but when we got to the cheaper centre we found one for about 20 euros with a detachable fleece lining! We grabbed some lunch at the food court before leaving- so much choice and so different to UK shopping centres!

After getting Rory a coat and having lunch we drove back to Disneyland. My dad was frustrated as we had to pay for parking to get the annual passes, despite annual passes then entitling us to free parking.

We went to the ticket counter and asked for annual passes (the Dream Passporte Annuel) - the man asked if we were all part of the same family and we responded yes, which entitled us to a 20% discount (as there were five of us). I was worried as I had read the day before that you have to prove that you live at the same address but we were asked no questions. We had to show passports and he matched them up to us, and then we paid- it came to over £600- can’t remember the exact amount- but wasn’t too much for a year’s worth of park tickets! :mickeybar

We were given temporary tickets (like the ones that you get from staying at a Disney hotel with a character on) and told we had until near the end of the day (can’t remember the exact time) to go to the Annual Pass Office and exchange our tickets for APs. We did this immediately though as Rory and Willum were itching to go to the Studios.

This was our first time seeing the Christmas decorations at Disneyland Paris and it was beautiful. We’ve been to WDW for the Christmas decorations but it was in November so didn’t really feel like Christmas yet (plus it was hot!) The decorations at DLP combined with the Christmas music are absolutely awe-inspiring. We’d seen nothing yet though- the atmosphere at night was even better and truly unforgettable. We all had the sudden urge to whip out our phones and take photos! :laughing:

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The beautiful Main Street Christmas tree:

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We like walking through the Liberty Arcade- it’s so nostalgic and you avoid the Main Street crowds! There are some carts selling things too so it’s a nice place to browse.

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The Arcade entrance to the Emporium

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Crowds leaving the Arcade near Casey’s Corner

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My mum and Rory enjoying the Christmassy atmosphere!

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The Annual Pass Office

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We had to show our tickets outside to be allowed entrance to the office and the whole process took about half an hour. We had to give our details and have photos taken to go on our passes, which were printed then and there.

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We came out and admired the castle for a while, and then heading out the park. It was ‘snowing’ when we left which added to the Christmassy feel.

Yay! We have annual passes!

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We took a few photos as we walked under and out from the Disneyland Hotel.

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Coming up: Our first rides at Walt Disney Studios!
 
Walt Disney Studios on Christmas Eve

Walt Disney Studios was a no brainer for our first day in the parks as we had a reservation at Bistrot Chez Rémy at 4:30pm. We were hoping for a little later but this was the latest time they had- we assumed it was because it was Christmas Eve and the restaurants without the special Christmas menus were closing early.

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The Studios were also decorated nicely for Christmas, albeit to a much lesser extent than Disneyland Park. The entrance was very festive.

Walking through the big studio was great! We love the atmosphere- and the big gift shop. It’s a shame there are only counter service eateries in here.

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Rory next to the car

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We walked out the other side and were trying to decide what rides to go on first. But first, I noticed the poster had changed since August, from Inside Out to The Good Dinosaur.

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What better ride to start with than Ratatouille- we hopped on L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, making use of the single riders’ queue, which was posted as a five minute wait as opposed to a 60 minute wait standby! Rory at 11 is just old enough to ride by himself so we made use of this. The wait was more like 10-15 minutes but still much better than the standby queue. William and I actually ended up in the same ‘mouse’- he was sat directly in front of me.

My mum, dad, William and Rory then rushed off to Tower of Terror- one of their favourite rides. The one in Florida is apparently better, but they still love the one in DLP. I went on once in Florida back in 2011 and never again- it was horrible for me! I don’t like the dropping sensation so ToT was awful, but I can still really enjoy Rock n’ Roller Coaster, Thunder Mountain, Crush’s Coaster, etc.

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I spend a LOT of time in the ToT gift shop! It’s not too bad though- I enjoy browsing.

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Some pins in a gift shop (took some photos to show my pin friend in the US)

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The park was very quiet this afternoon and evening- we half expected this as the French have their Christmas meal on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed the low crowds and loved the low wait times (for most things!) Disneyland charges very high prices for their advertised Christmas meals, but I found out that Bistrot Chez Rémy was open with its regular menu so eating here was much more cost effective!

I had a headache so didn’t want to go on RNRC for the time being. I split up from my family and browsed some more shops. We then met up in the Ratatouille area right in time for our ADR at Bistrot Chez Rémy. We ate here in August and loved it so were looking forward to another meal.

Coming up: Christmas Eve dinner at Bistrot Chez Rémy!
 

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