Disneyland Paris .... The journey so far

When I started writing up my blog about our Disneyland Paris trip, I had no idea how long it would take or the wonderful memories it would invoke as I wrote.  This has meant that so far, I have written 3 blogs and we have only just arrived at our hotel! 

Before we went, I was determined to make this trip as memorable for our children as possible, mainly due to the fact that I was not sure if we would ever be able to afford to go back.  This meant that I was, to put it bluntly, in a huge panic to make sure we did everything we could, that we did not miss out on anything, that we would not come home with regrets.

There was so much information out there and it was bamboozling.  I have many friends that have been and they all offered invaluable information.  With this in mind, I decided to put together a series of blogs, detailing each part of our holiday and it is supposed to ease some of your travel worries.

I have decided to put them all together in this blog so you can have easy access to each part.  I really hope you find all the information useful, if you have any questions, please direct them to me and I will do my best to answer.

Part One - The Planning Stage

Part Two - The Journey and Arrival

Part Three - Hotel Cheyenne

Tip toe through the .... Bluebells?

Our children believe in faires.. and pixies and goblins and Peter Pan.  Just as we want them too, they are only 6 and 3 and we try to encourage this magic as much as we can as before too long it will be gone and we will be very sad!  Childhood, in my opinion, should be about magic and mystery.  We have a Christmas Elf that comes every year Twinkle the Elf and she brings such marvel and mystery it is wonderful to watch.  Now that Eva is starting to loose her teeth, we also have the Tooth Fairy and thanks to the wonderful Miss Prim (my lovely friend Gemma) she now has a fairy house.

Each season brings with it a different fairy.  In Winter we had Blizzard the fairy, she would visit and leave small notes and treats every now in then.  Eva took great joy in writing letters to her.  Now Spring is upon us we have Buttercup the fairy.  Buttercup, the tinker, has promised Eva 20 fish for her 7th birthday!

One of my best friends lives in Morpeth and told me about a lovely place called Scotch Gill Woods or to give it it's local name, Bluebell Woods.  Unless you know the area you would probably miss it,  It is on the outskirts of Morpeth.  It is on the A197 Pegswood Road and you head past Morrisons and out that way.  There are signs, seeing as I am completely useless with directions.  

It seems to be a popular place so we decided one spring morning last year, to have a wander through the bluebells and see if we can find some fairies.

There is a layby/parking area beneath the woods and as long as you get there fairly early I cannot imagine you would have any problems parking.  Please bear in mind that there are a lot of steps to get up to the woodland and it is definitely not recommended for wheelchairs or pushchairs.

There is a guided walk provided by Walk 4 Life which is approximately 2 miles long but we just chose to explore ourselves.  Up hills, over little streams, past a care home (which was of course a spooky old mansion).  We spent a lovely few hours there.  It was so peaceful, despite a busy main road running alongside, we didn't notice the noise at all.  Absolutely beautiful and we are counting down the days until the bluebells are back and we can explore again.  We didn't see any fairies that time, but hopefully in the future ...

If you are interested in seeing more, there is a short video put together in conjunction with Morpeth Town Council and the Greater Morpeth Development Trust showing the invaluable work done by the Trust to improve the paths and woodland.  They have done an amazing job to make it so beautiful and accessible for us all to enjoy.

Bluebell Woods Video

Disneyland Paris - Part Trois - Hotel Cheyenne

We were finally here! The taxi ride was approximately 30 minutes and we were dropped off right at the door.  You just pay the driver at drop off as you would a normal taxi, there is an option to pay by PayPal before you arrive if you wish to do so.

First impressions of Hotel Cheyenne were fabulous.  It is themed on a Wild West town and in true Disney style, there is a lot of attention to detail.

The check in process was very smooth, there were a lot of staff in attendance and they were all very friendly and happy to answer questions.  We were given a whole information pack containing park schedules, maps and meal passes.  We were asked what time we wanted breakfast and were given breakfast passes for that particular time.  Don't worry too much if you change your mind, we did and it was easily rectified.  A pretty good tip for breakfast is, avoid between 8am and 9 am if at all possible,  We did not the first morning and it was absolutely crazy, queues out the door and people everywhere! The Chuck Wagon restaurant is huge but at this time it was rammed, my advice is either get there before 8am or come back later around 10am.  Lovely and quiet and you can enjoy your breakfast at leisure.

Our room was not ready for us on arrival, but there is a large luggage area where you can leave all your belongings and come back for them later.  Easy process and saves you hanging about waiting for rooms.

Each hotel (apart from Disneyland Hotel) has a regular bus shuttle service, approximately every 10 - 15 minutes to take you straight to the parks.  However, as we discovered, the Cheyenne was only about a 15 minute walk along the river from the park, we tended to use this on the way home mainly to avoid big queues.  We never had a problem getting a bus, it is a good and reliable service.

All the rooms are in separate buildings named after famous Wild West legendary folk, our room was in the Doc Holliday building.  The children loved looking out for all the famous names and it made them curious to learn more about the Wild West.  It was a brilliant theme, the whole place was set out like a wild west town complete with saloon and police house.  Brilliant! We loved wandering through especially when it was quiet and I could almost hear Clint Eastwood whistling as we explored!

When we got into our room, it was fine.  It was clean and tidy and had everything that you need for your stay.  The Cheyenne is only rated a 2* but there was nothing wrong with it, perfectly adequate and we were more than happy with it.  The room was in-keeping with the Wild West theme and the children loved the bunk beds complete with Sheriff's star night lights.

With our package, breakfast was included.  The Cheyenne serves a continental buffet style breakfast every morning and it is really good.  There were plenty of cereals to choose from, along with the usual continental fayre of cheese, various meats and delicious fresh rolls and pastries.  There was also lots of fresh fruit and berries, yoghurts and a couple of big toasters for you to use.  Unlimited tea, coffee, hot chocolate and juice were available.

We also sampled the evening buffet here a couple of nights as to be perfectly honest, we were too tired to trek about.  Again, lovely food, lots of choice, loosely based Wild West themed food, chilli, corn on the cob, ribs, baked potatoes, but you had to get in quick as once they were gone, they were gone. I think that may be my only complaint, stocks weren't replenished as much as I thought they should be.  But there was lots of other choices and some delicious desserts.  You got 1 drink per person included per meal but there was lots of water coolers around with jugs so you could help yourself to iced water at all times.

In summary, the standard room we stayed in was fine, there was an option of upgrading but for the amount of time spent in the room we did not think it was worthwhile.  All the communal areas, reception, restaurant, hotel store, the town were magnificent.  We loved the theme completely - Yee Hah!

The Chuck Wagon Restaurant

This Town ain't big enough for the both of us ....

Shrek-tacular

Our love affair with the Theatre Royal continued today.  We, along with a group of friends, went to watch Shrek the Musical.  Having read a couple of reviews and seen the advertising posters all over the place, we were extremely excited to see it.  The whole family all love the film and were looking forward to seeing how it played on the stage.

We booked our tickets probably about a year ago, as soon as it was announced and even then the 'cheap' tickets in the amphitheatre were already heavily booked which resulted in us being spread about the place.  Not to worry though as I managed to get each family group sat together.  One of the things I love about the Theatre Royal is that despite where you sit, the view is always good, which is handy when on a budget like us.

The show opened to Shrek and Princess Fiona explaining a little about how they got to end up in the swamp and the tower, a bit of background information is always useful!

The show was fantastic, it was filled with songs and dancing, wonderful costumes and all of the favourites from the film including Gingy and Pinocchio.  There were lots of laughs, including a few risque jokes for the grown ups :0).  All of the characters were wonderful, of course the main man Shrek was fabulous, the costume was brilliant and he looked just as he should.  Lord Farquaad stole the show, he was hilarious and the costume was ingenious.  I loved sassy Princess Fiona, she definitely wasn't the damsel in distress and had lots of girl power.  Eva and Luca's favourite was the cool and funky Donkey, full of wise cracks and silliness, he was definitely a crowd pleaser.  

The entire ensemble had wonderful voices, the Dragon completely blew me away, she was fantastic.

I won't spoil it all for you as at the time of writing there are still very limited seats to be had if you get in quick. Our group consisted of young and old and every one of us thoroughly enjoyed the show. Well worth the wait, catch it if you can.  Next stop, The Bodyguard in April....

Shrek, Theatre Royal