Protagonists - Liz - hooked on DLP from first trip - must be 12 years ago now- Phil - long suffering husband - Dan aged 20 - Jill -aged 18 and Jake aged 16 - DLP veterans and old enough to go on their own now!
We - or should I say - I - booked this trip as I work shifts and it is the first Christmas I have not had to work for six years, and probably the last one that we will all manage to get holiday and time off together. I booked in November after researching on all the forums and internet sites, and eventually decided on Sea France Ferry, Holiday Inn and annual passes - usually we book with Bridge travel and stay on site, but over Christmas this was just too expensive! I phoned DLP direct and booked Christmas dinner at Walts, and Boxing Day at Blue Lagoon- no problems - perfect English spoken.
We set off at 03:30 on the 23rd after a minor disaster involving sink plumbing, and arrived at Dover five minutes before check in at 04:30 - - boat sailed at 05:00 - uneventful crossing and got to Calais at 07:30. (Local time - it only takes 90 minutes!)
We had a good trip down, hardly any traffic until after Charles Degaulle - stopped for breakfast croissants at around 08:30 and a top up of diesel, and then again around 10 am as Phil was finding it hard to stay awake - so I drove the rest of the way. We found the Holiday Inn without any problem, and went to ask if rooms were ready - although at 11:30 we thought we were pushing our luck a bit! Luckily one room was ready so we were able to unpack the car and caught the pink bendy shuttle bus to the park.
We went straight to the ticket kiosk and paid for five annual Dream passes - price 159 euro - discounted to 119 euro as there were five in the family. We then went straight to the Annual Passport holders office to change the ticket into proper passports and get our photographs taken - it was quite busy and didn't realise at first that you need to go to the reception desk and sign in - they then call your name and you go up to the main counter to give all your details. We did this and the clerk made up the passports and then started to tell me the dates that they weren't valid in the park - I explained that I wanted Dream passports - which were valid all year - she said " but you have only paid 119 euro for fantasy passports" - I explained about the discount - she apologised - remade the passports and all appeared to be OK.
We all had dinner at Bella Notte, then we abandoned younger hellraisers and Phil Dan and I went to Val D'Europe to buy presents and cheap breakfast stuff - oh - and alcohol!
We had meant to return to the park, but didn't get out of Auchan until 19:30, so went straight back to the hotel and got the key to our other room - next door to the first. The rooms can open up into each other like at Sequoia Lodge, but we weren't lucky enough to get adjoining rooms so it was a bit of a nuisance having to go round into the corridor every time we needed to see each other! The rooms are brilliant - both rooms had one double and one single bed and the single could be separated by a thick "circus top" curtain and had its own TV
We slept well and long that night!
Liz
We - or should I say - I - booked this trip as I work shifts and it is the first Christmas I have not had to work for six years, and probably the last one that we will all manage to get holiday and time off together. I booked in November after researching on all the forums and internet sites, and eventually decided on Sea France Ferry, Holiday Inn and annual passes - usually we book with Bridge travel and stay on site, but over Christmas this was just too expensive! I phoned DLP direct and booked Christmas dinner at Walts, and Boxing Day at Blue Lagoon- no problems - perfect English spoken.
We set off at 03:30 on the 23rd after a minor disaster involving sink plumbing, and arrived at Dover five minutes before check in at 04:30 - - boat sailed at 05:00 - uneventful crossing and got to Calais at 07:30. (Local time - it only takes 90 minutes!)
We had a good trip down, hardly any traffic until after Charles Degaulle - stopped for breakfast croissants at around 08:30 and a top up of diesel, and then again around 10 am as Phil was finding it hard to stay awake - so I drove the rest of the way. We found the Holiday Inn without any problem, and went to ask if rooms were ready - although at 11:30 we thought we were pushing our luck a bit! Luckily one room was ready so we were able to unpack the car and caught the pink bendy shuttle bus to the park.
We went straight to the ticket kiosk and paid for five annual Dream passes - price 159 euro - discounted to 119 euro as there were five in the family. We then went straight to the Annual Passport holders office to change the ticket into proper passports and get our photographs taken - it was quite busy and didn't realise at first that you need to go to the reception desk and sign in - they then call your name and you go up to the main counter to give all your details. We did this and the clerk made up the passports and then started to tell me the dates that they weren't valid in the park - I explained that I wanted Dream passports - which were valid all year - she said " but you have only paid 119 euro for fantasy passports" - I explained about the discount - she apologised - remade the passports and all appeared to be OK.
We all had dinner at Bella Notte, then we abandoned younger hellraisers and Phil Dan and I went to Val D'Europe to buy presents and cheap breakfast stuff - oh - and alcohol!
We had meant to return to the park, but didn't get out of Auchan until 19:30, so went straight back to the hotel and got the key to our other room - next door to the first. The rooms can open up into each other like at Sequoia Lodge, but we weren't lucky enough to get adjoining rooms so it was a bit of a nuisance having to go round into the corridor every time we needed to see each other! The rooms are brilliant - both rooms had one double and one single bed and the single could be separated by a thick "circus top" curtain and had its own TV
We slept well and long that night!
Liz