We've back 8 days and already the memories seem hazy.
So, rather than the detailed account I'd planned here's a bullet-list of the good, the bad and the Francais!
Bad points
1) We arrived slap bang in the middle of French National holidays. Parks and hotels were packed. There may also have been other European holidays going on at the same time because there was a fair few Dutch and Belgians at our Hotel.
2) Being English, manners/politeness and the ability to form an orderly queue are second nature (okay, we have some "elements" of society who let us down but it is a minority). Let's just say our European cousins don't share the same good standards.
3) Smoking. Disney put lots of designated smoking areas in the parks (too many). These are well adhered to in Florida - but not in EuroDisney. All the French (not finger pointing but 99%+ of the attendees were French) completely flouted the law, even smoking in queues. With high volumes of smokers in Continental Europe you were never more than a couple of metres away from someone smoking (I'm not kidding.) Nasty.
5) Food. I almost died. I have a nut allergy and an innocent purchase of pasta at an unnamed global franchise resulted in an adverse reaction. I managed to avoid needing medical treatment by drinking over 2 litres of water really quickly. I could only assume they had cooked using pesto. At another restaurant I almost selected pancakes and cream for desert -I'm glad I didn't because the cream was laced with nuts. I had similar issues in America and other Countries, so, I've concluded eating outside the UK is dangerous for anyone with allergies!
6) Hotel - Disney's Hotel Santa Fe - not great. Expected better from Disney even though it was 3star. At breakfast-time it was like a free for all in a crowded mental asylum.
7) Currency - poor exchange rate. Everything was really expensive.
8) Atmosphere. As Russ Abbotts said, "I love a party with a happy atmosphere." And at parade time it did - but overall there was something lacking. Perhaps I've been spoilt by 5 trips to Florida...
9) Train journey going home - Waiting in a massive queue (like good Brits!) that was so long it went down a flight of stairs. On thejourney back passport control caught some immigrants [actually, that should be a good point! :-)]
10) Upkeep of the parks. Pot holes and cracks everywhere.
11) Some of the rides were completely "en francais", and others were a mixture of English and French.
12) Characters had a siesta that lasted until the following day. THe characters had photo shoots at certain points thoughout the morning, but none of them were available after 1pm.
13) Albion lost - bah!
Good things
1) I wasn't a work. Yay!
2) Luke didn't find out where we were going until the train departed Lille on the final leg of the journey. He went mega nuts with excitement (although he thought at first he was off to Florida...)
3) The boys loved it!
4) The boys behaved really really well (okay, Luke had a couple of incidents and got too excited at times, but overall...)
6) I was so cream-crackered everyday that I fell asleep before 11pm (ever happens at home!)
7) Weather was good for this time of year.
8) Parade was good, and Mickey's Winter show was great- I got some good pictures and video footage of both.
Photos to follow....
