Perfect mini break Disneyland Paris
The hotel has been refurbished fairly recently and it was immaculate. Very nautical, New England in style, spacious areas and never an overcrowded feeling even though it is a large hotel. When you upgrade to Compass Club you get one free hotel fast pass each per day, a separate check in and Compass Club lounge for breakfast and afternoon cakes. This is also where you can get soft drinks for free all day until about 10pm so great for a hot chocolate before bed after a long day in the cold.
The concierge staff were very patient, especially when I changed a meal booking four times in one day. Nothing was too much trouble, in fact they went above and beyond. My daughter received 'Pixie Dust' which is the Disney term for 'random act of kindness'. She had lost her Tinkerbell doll and we asked it if had been handed in, unfortunately it hadn't. When we went back to our room to have another search there was a knock at the door and a member of staff (cast member) had brought her one from the shop downstairs!
Breakfast was fresh and plentiful with something for everyone to enjoy. It’s served from 7am so perfect if you want to eat and hurry out to the parks for early magic hours at 8.30am. Magic hours are worth it to see the princesses and go on some of the rides that are open early. Rides like Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan get busy very quickly also in the Studios Park, Tower of Terror and Ratatouille can be the slower queues so better to get up early and try to get on these first.
We had a half board meal plan which was great although we haven't always had one as you don't always need full three course meals every evening and you can share at some places as portions can be huge.
Where we ate
Cape Cod - one of the hotel restaurants, buffet style with lots of fresh food to choose from
Buffalo Bills - fantastic show and entertainment food was ok, very filling and they top up your drinks 3-4 times included in the price (soft drinks or larger).
Rainforest Café - one of our favourites, you can’t use your vouchers or book, but you get seated fairly quickly great to hear the Rainforest sounds and see the animals come to life in a thunderstorm!
Captain Jacks - this used to be Blue Lagoon - great for seafood lovers Annette's Diner- The biggest portions I have ever seen. If we had known, we wouldn't have used 5 vouchers as we could have easily shared meals. Service was a little slower here, but we were happy to take our time with such a big meal.
Casey's hotdogs and Hakuna Matata we ate at for lunch too.
We tended to be out for 8.15 and back for 6pm. We stayed out a couple of nights to watch the night show which is mesmerising! We stood quite far back, in the pavilion near city hall, which has a central raised up view, so you can look over the crowds and get some beautiful recordings to keep and re-watch when home! It was freezing but dry and you wouldn't want to stay out much later than 7pm as temperatures really did drop.
February half term is usually one of the quieter school holidays. We didn't queue longer than 40 minutes for any rides and most we were on in 20. We managed to get fast passes for rides we wanted them for and had the hotel fast pass which we used on either Ratatouille or Thunder Mountain - these were our favourite rides along with Space Mountain and Rock and Rollercoaster.
The parades and the tamer rides along with character meet and greets make Disneyland Paris so accessible for all ages and whether you seek this thrill and adrenaline of the rides or the beauty and magic of being in Disney everyone will love it and have their own favourite magical memory by the end of your stay.
We loved our time again in Disneyland Paris and can’t wait to go again!