So, minor snafu number one: we had read that there are many signs to the hotel, and not having seen anything else along the highway, exited towards "Parcs Disney/ Disney Hotels" expecting to find signs from there. Eventually we learned we should have remained on the highway and would have seen signs AFTER passing the main Disney exits--most people are coming from Paris I guess, so this is not an issue as then the hotel would come up first.
Moving on, that was a minor blip, but indicative of lack "ease" of visiting Disney in Europe versus in Florida. The check in area for Davy Crockett Ranch is quite far from the actual cabins or resort shop, pool, buffet, playgrounds, etc--all of which are well beyond a keypad controlled gate. The check in area only has one small building, with bathrooms and reception desk--no waiting area with TVs or benches as in WDW. Here is the line that we encountered (which was for "one person in the party only"):
So, while I waited in line for about 40 minutes, the kids and Dave sat in the car, as there was literally no other place to wait (not even a sidewalk outside). Talk about a first impression FAIL! Thank goodness we already knew a nice park was waiting for us at the end of the hassle.
At the desk I was given all the paperwork required for a 5 night stay with dining plan for four people. In Florida, that would be one plastic card, or "Magic Band" bracelet per person--so a total of four small items to keep up with. I walked away from that counter with 60 food vouchers, 4 park tickets, an "easy pass" for parking and pool use, and instructions to pick up a physical key sometime after 3:00 pm:
Hmm, apparently the French have never heard of keeping it simple. Sigh. Note that little "Easy Hotel Pass" next to the key, this was the cause of minor snafu number 2: it is used to get free parking at the parks (otherwise 15 Euro per day), go through the first (manned) gate area into the ranch, as well as access the hotel pool (meaning, as there is a limit of one per cabin that sleeps 6, that one parent could not go to the parks with some kids while another stayed on the ranch to go swimming--odd system). Once we checked in and were driving towards the parks, I dug frantically through the envelope of paperwork and could not find the card! We were approaching the pay windows for parking and I was worried, but the attendant was kind, could see from all of our paperwork that we clearly had just checked in and should have the pass, and allowed us in without a fee (when we went back later to get the key, it turned out our Easy Pass had never left the counter and was still there waiting for us; I must have missed packing it up in all the flood of papers).
Ahh, finally, we made it:
Our timing was perfect and we arrived just in time for front row seats to a mini parade and dance show celebrating spring:
After the parade, we headed into the DLP version of Tomorrowland: Discoveryland. I love the Jules Vernesque look of the place:
We picked up some fast passes to the Buzz Lightyear ride (in retrospect, this is a waste of a fastpass--the line merges with the standby line very far out an hardly saves any time, at least not if the standby is 30 minutes or less, oh well).
It was noon and we were getting hungry, so we headed to a place in nearby Fantasyland that had pizza, and waited. Yes, sigh, waited. It appeared that it would open at 12:30, but no one was really sure and nothing was posted. This was a recurring theme for the week--restaurants closed all together, or open odd hours, and no postings or information in the "program" to let you know what is open when. Using our counter service lunch vouchers, we learned that we are limited to ONLY ordering menu 3 with them. No, sorry, you cannot have the less expensive menu 1 or 2. This information is printed on the vouchers, but no where in the booking information and was a bit of a hassle as over 50% of restaurants had beef (which I do not eat) as the only possibility--when combined with many places never being open it got hard at times. It was okay that first day as cheese pizza was one of the two options for Menu 3:
Without vouchers, that is 60 Euro worth of food on that table! The restaurant was cute, so I walked around and took some photos after filling up:
The wine room
The pasta room
The vineyard room
After lunch, we used our fast passes to ride Buzz Lightyear, which is basically the same as in Florida, except that the guns are not fixed in place, which makes aiming easier (for those of you unfamiliar with Disneyworld, this is an interactive dark ride, in which riders have laser guns and shoot at targets to get a high score while riding).
I got some more photos of the themeing in the area, especially of Space Mountain (which was closed for refurbishments):
We went through one of my favourite walk through attraction of all time (DLP has GREAT walk through--these areas make the park): The Nautilus Submarine. Photos do not do it justice--it's like being in the game Myst, really lovely and different:
We took a spin on Star Tours; it's funny to hear it all in French after so many years of hearing it in English.
Yes, C3PO speaks French too!
We caught the train, and rode it around to Frontierland:
Big Thunder Mountain was experiencing some problems:
and we were getting tired, so we decided to head back to the hotel to get our cabin, and have some dinner. I'll make a separate post about the cabin and buffet later on. So, as I am about to head over to that buffet one last time again, I'll end this one here.
--Hadley
No comments:
Post a Comment