Chelmsford City Racecourse

I've now been to Chelmsford City Racecourse three times. Once years ago when it was Great Leigh's and you had to walk across the racetrack (not very disabled friendly) and twice recently since its been Chelmsford City Racecourse.

I must say that access is really good apart from one area I noticed yesterday which was a bit frustrating but it wasn't a big issue.

On arrival you can show your disabled parking badge to the car park attendants/security and you are allowed in the car park area by the entrance. Spaces aren't marked out so I'd suggest that where possible to park with the disabled occupants car door next to a parked car so you can have a wide enough gap. The car park is not really concrete, it's a bit mud like so when wet be aware of muddy puddles (I misjudged and parked right next to one)

Due to distances, crowds and seating I went with my scooter. On my first visit a lovely gentleman walked us from the car to get our tickets and then opened the doors for us. On our second visit we knew what we were doing and just went about our business. 

It is a bit of a steep and long way to the main area, you go down a ramped path, under the racecourse (through a tunnel) and up another ramped pathway. If I was walking I'd find it a bit tiring I think. I did see some golf buggy vehicles so I'm not sure if needed you could ask to be taken on one of these. It may be best to ask ahead of going to check.

When you get to the racecourse you get to an area with picnic tables, food and drink stalls and the parade ring. When I went in August 2016 there were wires going across the main route in covered by a plastic bump thing which was a bit tricky to cross with my scooter, but the second time they had left a gap and covered with with a rubber mat which was much better (I didn't raise this, but a staff member was looking the first time I went and pre warned me and asked if I could manage it, so maybe they raised it. You can go inside the main building where the toilets, bar, restaurants and viewing areas are, this is a raised area but accessible via three (possibly 4) ramps at different points around the building. The main doors at the middle of the building are automatic which is helpful.

The toilets I visited, behind the sports bar, were clean and nicely sized. When I used it yesterday the first time it did have the cleaners mop and bucket but this didn't get in my way and was gone the next time I used it. The disabled toilet door opens onto the male and female doors so you do get some impatient people who still try and get passed while you're reversing out. There is also a disabled toilet by the ticket office but I didn't use that so I can't comment on its accessibility.

The viewing area I went to was outside the automatic double doors right by the finishing line. I've read there is a disabled viewing area but I'm not sure where this is but I was happy where I went. We mostly stayed outside in this area while the races were on and by positioning myself against the railings at the end by the stairs I could easily see the screen and finishing line. There are steps so you can go in front and nearer to the course if you like (about 2 metres closer) if you can manage steps (there are railings to hold onto and the steps during look too steep.)

The only access issue I had was yesterday during the countryside day. They had a craft fair in the marquee and during a gap in the racing my Mother-In-Law asked if we wanted to go and take a look. As we got near I noticed people stepping over a threshold to get in and realised there was no level entrance in and I would have struggled to step over it if I got out my scooter and walked. It didn't look brilliant anyway so I said I'd wait outside. When my mother in law came out she said I hadn't missed much (they were in there seconds)

Regarding placing bets, I did mine on my phone online with Ladbrokes while Lee used another app as I found it easier to select my horses in advance and I didn't have to worry about queuing to get winnings etc (or pronounce some of the horses names!) but my Father in Law places their bets in the inside area and found it easy enough, but the desks were a little too high for wheelchair users, however there are other betting areas outside without desks.

My horse picking method (which won me £46 in total in August and £18 in September) is to pick a Disney sounding horse, one related to a song I like, or one that sounds Irish (my Nan's method).

This is probably the last time I'll go to the racecourse this year as most of the races are now in the evening and it's getting cooler and I struggle with achy legs and feeling the cold so I'll probably wait until Spring/Summer next year.

It's a great day out and really accessible I found, and the staff are really helpful and friendly. 

Friends Fest - Hylands House / Park

Although Friends Fest at Hylands Park is now over, I thought I'd post my review in case they hold it again as there wasn't much information on the festival online, even for disabled guests.

I hadn't heard about Friend Fest this year until the first even was held in London and when I went to see if any tickets were available they were all sold out, so I signed up for info on future dates. A few days later I got an email to say more dates had been released so I booked a disabled and cared ticket for Hylands House on 10th September 2016. 

I've been to Hylands House itself before for work but not to the other side where the event was being held. 

On arrival I advised I was a blue badge holder and ideally needed hard flooring to get out rather than grass and was passed to someone else who advised me where the disabled parking was. I couldn't find it so just parked in the main car park which was stoney but ok (only after did I see the paved disabled spaces in the area next door! Whoops)

I'm glad I had my scooter as it was quite a distance from the car park to the festival and the staff saw me bumping over the uneven ground and said that on the way back Lee could drive up to the festival exit to collect me, but unfortunately he can't drive but I said I enjoyed the bumpiness. 

When we got in we got a time to visit Monica's apartment. This was the only bit you needed a time for. Everything had queues so we sat and waited for our time slot, got an ice cream, watched Friends clips onstage and Lee visited the gift shop, while I sat outside. The gift shop had a ramp but it was so small inside I had no turning space so I just sat outside looking in.

After waiting for our time slot we went to Monica's apartment tour. Due to the steep ramp to get in, we were advised to go to the guest entrance at our time rather than going in the main queue, this really helped. It would have been difficult to get up if I was walking (bit hairy on the scooter)

The first section was recreating the titles. As the sofa is low and Lee and I aren't hugely into random posing we decided to skip this, we went really to look at things rather than take photos of ourselves.

We then had to queue for the apartment which was sooooo hot with studio lights. The queue snaked and as it was so small I thought it best to park up and get out to walk. While standing in queue I noticed the tour round the apartment went sofa, balcony window, kitchen, door. The balcony bit involved getting up a step so we skipped that whole area and went straight to the kitchen as again I couldn't sit on the sofa easily. This is where it was a bit hard to get round as everyone chucked (really chucked) their bags on the floor so I couldn't get round (impossible in a wheelchair!) and people even chucked bags down as I was walking round in my way. Luckily the lovely staff member saw and moved the bags for me. Major health and safety issue due to people wanting photos without their bags....

We had photos in the tiny kitchen area and front door then went through to the smaller recreation of Joey and Chandlers to area. We didn't spend much time here as you were in the way of people posing in the chairs and canoe. It was hard on this tour to actually look at things, it was selfie central! Some people were asking staff to do photos on their phone/camera and then snapchat. 

We went to get some food next as I felt a bit lightheaded from the heat inside. We went to the Moonlight Diner and had a hotdog, pulled pork burger, chips and coke which came to £17! The theming of the diner was good and they had two characters dressed up and in character.

Next we went to the Chick and Duck bar and Lee got 'How you doin?' which was coconut rum, pineapple juice and chocolate bitters. £7.50 for a tiny drink but theming of the drinks were good and it came with an umbrella. 

It was really windy and starting to rain. My hair started off with mermaid waves and ended up like Monica when she had to plait her hair! Full on frizz.

We were going to go into Central Perk but the queue was at least an hour, and had a step to access it so knew we'd have to find someone to ask how to get in via the ramp too. It was about to pour with rain so we decided to leave and miss Central Perk. It was so tight in there too and again I wouldn't be able to get on the sofa.

Overall it was ok but was more geared towards people to wanted photos of themselves on set rather than being able to look round. I'm glad disabled tickets and carer tickets were half priced as due to a lot of photo opportunities being sat down, I couldn't participate in most of the photo opportunities. 

It felt very disorganised and I'm not sure why there were timeslots for Monica's apartment as they were running late anyway and then had huge queues for other things. It would have been better to have had a timeslot and all the sets in one line but I guess once you're in your a captive audience who will stop for food in between queuing. 

I wouldn't go again if they held another one and I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Having been to the Harry Potter tour I thought it may be similar but it really wasn't. 

The staff were brilliant though and I couldn't fault them. 

Disneyland Paris - My Top Tips

Following my previous posts about my recent trip to Disney, I've put together some of my top tips for going to Disneyland Paris

• Save money by ordering tap water with dinner (this is free and they're happy to do this)
• Go on the Disneyland Park Tour, and book it for early in your visit so you can go back and take photos or look at things further
• If you have a disability, get a green access pass as even if you don't do rides its helpful for meet and greets and parades. Get it as soon as you arrive (it seemed busier first thing in the morning) - remember to take proof of your disability. I used my blue badge but the full list of what they accept is on their website Disneyland Paris website - Guests with Mobility Disabilities
• Go into the park for Extra Magic Hours once during your stay - if you are in a Disney hotel you can get into the park 2 hours early and this is the perfect time to do meet and greets with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale (these may change). Also you can get some amazing photos. 
• Don't follow the crowd - there are so many lovely pathways round the park which are also quieter and you'll see things like Indian tepees and old posters.
  
  
  
  
• Go down the arcades behind Main Street shops - it's quieter, covered and a little break from the brightness 
• Keep a list of souvenirs you want to purchase during your stay and then buy them on your last full day and get them delivered to your hotel. We did this in the morning around 9.30am (so it was quiet) and they were delivered to our hotel by 8pm. 
• Take rain macs - we took some that were £1 and were able to to wear them when it rained, and then chuck them. Disney do sell them (and they are better quality) but they're much more expensive. Especially handy if it's raining as you arrive as the walk from the station to the park isn't covered.
• Use Disney Express if you can - you can pay for this service but it was included in our package so we dropped our bags off at the station on arrival in Disney and they went direct to our hotel so we could go straight to the parks. When checking out we dropped out bags with the hotel and they were then ready to collect before we got our train home. Disney Express
• Use the toilets before you go through departures at Eurostar! If you get delayed you will be stuck without toilets (especially if you are disabled) 

Disneyland Paris - May 2016 - Part 5 - Food and Drink

I saw a lot before we went to Disney about pre-booking restaurants as they get so busy. As we'd never done this in our previous visits and since we didn't know when or where we wanted to eat, we didn't book our restaurants either this time.


Victoria's Home Style Restaurant
On arrival, as previously blogged, we went to Victoria's Home Style Restaurant and had a bacon and beef sandwich, a turkey sandwich and a curried potato and chicken salad (this was just like a potato salad with a curry sauce rather than just mayo, and some chicken). This was reasonably priced in my opinion, and a nice quiet restaurant. Menu for Victoria's Home Style Restaurant from DLP Guide


Beaver Creek Tavern and Hunters Grill
 
For our evening meal we decided to go to Beaver Creek Tavern for dinner as it was raining and this restaurant was in our hotel (Sequoia Lodge). This was a buffet and cost 32.99 euros per adult. Drinks were not included but we ordered tap water, which came in a bottle, which was free of charge and not frowned upon at all. The buffet had a wide range of food including prawns (in shell), smoked salmon, mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, salad, soup, chicken, pork, nuggets, pasta, meatballs, rice and so much more. There was also a large range of desserts including fruit tarts, waffles, pancakes, cheese and biscuits, fruit and more.

When we arrived we were asked if we had a reservation and when we said we didn't the woman was quite rude and said next time to book (it wasn't even busy!) On our other two visits we only booked one once but found we didn't need to as it as still quiet. On our last day we were going to eat here and made a booking but reservation slots were limited as I guess a lot of people wanted to eat in the hotel so they could pack, but in the end we ate elsewhere.

We ate here three our of four nights. Well, we ate at Beaver Creek Tavern 2 nights, and on the third night Beaver Creek was shut but Hunter's Grill was open instead and had the same sort of foods (they face each other on the ground floor of Sequoia Lodge)

The food was nice and there was a wide range to suit most peoples taste.


Disney Blockbuster Cafe

We ate here after Moteurs...Action! and after seeing Spider-Man. It was quiet in here (it was just after 3pm) and we had Croque-Monsier, a chicken salad (with chicken, swiss cheese cubes and egg), and drinks. The food was really good and the salad really fresh. This menu was also available at some other counter service restaurants in the park. Blockbuster Cafe - DLP Guide


Casey's Corner

Ate here for lunch before our Disneyland Park Tour as my Dad really fancied a hot dog. There was quite a wait here and we got three hotdogs between 4 of us and one portion of chips. This was ok but I'm not a fan of hot dog buns. Casey's Corner 


Hypertension Cafe

We went in here after our Disneyland Park Tour for a drink (and to warm up). We had a drink and double Mickey cakes. These are a pack of 2 sponge cakes in the shape of Mickey, one was an almond like taste, and the other was chocolate. These were really nice and light and a great afternoon snack.


Rainforest Cafe

We went here on our last night. In fact is was our cheapest dinner as we only ate main meal and had tap water as we had eaten in the Golden Forest Lounge earlier (cakes and mini wraps). Laura and I had a burger, my Mum had a chicken burger and my Dad had a curry. The food was really nice and the atmosphere was lovely, although my Mum did make a good point that it must be really dusty in there with all the animals and leaves.


Golden Forest Lounge

As we upgraded to a Golden Forest room we had access to the lounge and between 4pm - 6pm each day they provide cakes and mini savory wraps. We went here on our last day and it was a lovely break from the park. The savoury mini wraps were smoked salmon and a horseradish cream cheese, a chicken mix and a Mexican pepper type mix. Cakes included madelines, brownies, choux buns and lovely truffle like things.




Cable Car Bake Shop

On the day we did Extra Magic Hours we didn't eat in the hotel, and instead did the meet and greets and then went to the Cable Car Bake Shop at 9.30am for croissants and drinks. The shop inside was shut, but they directed us to the outside window and allowed us to eat it inside the shop. This was perfect timing as everyone was coming into the park at 9.30am and going towards the castle so we had the store to ourselves. The croissants were lovely and fresh.


Toad Hall Restaurant

We ate here one lunchtime after we were advised by our tour guide about the fish and chips here. They offer salad instead of chips if you wish and as we were only there for lunch we decided to have salad. We had two fish and salad, and a chicken muffin and salad. The chicken muffin was a chicken burger in an english muffin like bun. This was really tasty and a good price, however the queues were huge and it took about 40 minutes to get served (counter service). Toad Hall Restaurant Menu - DLP Guide


Market House Deli

We went here twice, once for a drink early in the day when it was quiet, and the second time my parents got a Croque-Monsier to takeout and they ate  with us at Victoria's Home Style Restaurant with it (which was fine as we were eating food from Victoria's Home Style Restaurant anyway).


Tea and Coffee In Disney

One of the things we found really disappointing was the hot drinks in Disney. Tea comes with hot milk, not cold. Their coffee was also awful, even in Starbucks! My Dad even said the coffee on Eurostar was better than in Disney. Coffee in the parks comes from a machine so I don't know how long the coffee has been in the machine but it wasn't great. It may have also been something to do with the milk.

That is the end of my 5 part Disneyland Paris blog. I hope you found it helpful/interesting. I loved our visit and hope to go back again soon!

Disneyland Paris - May 2016 - Part 4 - Parks, Accessibility and Meet and Greets

On our second day we got up a bit late (well I was awake at 5.30am but everyone else was asleep) and went into Disneyland. Today was the day I had booked the Disneyland Park Tour so at 2pm we met our guide at City Hall. The tour was 25 euros each and we booked for the English version. On our tour we had three other people who were German but the tour was done in English. The maximum amount of people on the tour is 10 so groups aren't massive. To book before you go (recommended) you can email Disneyland Paris to book a slot, and then arrange for them to call you to make payment. Disneyland Park Tour Info - Disneyland Paris Website

The tour started by the railway station in by Main Street, went in the arcades and shops, into Frontierland, Adventureland, by Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Fantasyland and then ended at Discoveryland. The tour lasted 2 hours and was amazing as we found out a lot of things we wouldn't have noticed in the park, or known about. I won't spoil it for anyone but it's definitely worth booking and details on how to book can be found on the Disneyland website. I was a bit worried about how accessible it would be but I managed it all on my scooter, apart from the lift in Walts but I was aware before going that the lift is small (as the doors open inwards) so didn't attempt it (although our guide did offer for me to try).

The tour may be a bit much though if you have mobility problems and are walking as you do virtually walk the whole park in 2 hours and although you do stop it's not for long.

Accessible Toilets
Before we went I was a bit worried about accessible toilets as I couldn't remember what they were like when I went previously. Online I read that most disabled toilets are inside the male and female toilets, although there are a few 'companion' disabled toilets dotted around. In Florida most of the disabled toilets are within the male and female toilets and have handrails on both sides (which was fine for me) but the Disneyland Park disabled toilets only have one handrail on the right (from the ones I visited) although sometimes this goes round the back of the toilet too so if you need a left handed rail you can turn sideways on the toilet. I don't really like disabled toilets within the 'normal' toilets as theres not much space to get in and out, and you have to queue still and hope no one uses the disabled toilets. Also the doors to go into the ladies were really heavy and I was unable to open them myself in my scooter (and double a wheelchair user would be able to either).

My favourite (yes I had a favourite) toilet was in the Liberty Arcade. No-one ever seemed to be there when we went and it was big and clean. This was a 'companion' disabled toilet so it would have been ok if I was there with my husband. There was also another 'companion' toilet quite near by City Hall. I didn't see any other companion toilets while in the park but mainly used the one in the Liberty Arcade.

In the Disney Studios however there is only one companion toilet......this is under the stands are the Motors stunt show and is only open while the show is on. This is really disappointing as if I was on holiday there with my husband I would have had an issue getting into the normal toilets to accessthe disabled toilets. I thought that as they had added the Ratatouille area recently (with toilets) they would have included a companion toilet here also.

Character Meet and Greets
Before we went I really wanted to meet the characters as this is one of my favourite things in Disney. I prefer the masked characters like Chip and Dale (my favourites), Mickey, Minnie, Donald etc as they are usually the most fun. I don't really like the princesses much as the don't always look much like the characters and conversations can be a bit weird with them (when you're grown up lol).

We saw a lot of characters around the park, mainly in the morning/early afternoon. The first character I met and had a photo with was Spider-Man. He was in the Studios and we went straight after the Motors stunt show (which isn't advised as this is the busiest time). The queue said 1 hour wait but with my green access pass we were given a 15 minute wait. We were given a slip of paper and waited by the exit and were called up when it was our turn. There is a ramp up to Spider-Man with no hand-rail which was a bit tricky as I'd only just got out my scooter. He gave me and my sister a hug and then we had a photo with him, my sister and Dad.

On Thursday (our 4th day) I got up early with Mum and Laura to go in for Extra Magic Hours. My Dad had a cold and didn't feel great so stayed at the hotel for a bit.We went straight into the park about 8.30am and queues up to see Minnie Mouse. As I had my green access pass we went to the exit and were advised it would be a 5 minute wait. I got our my scooter for Minnie but I'm always worried with their big feet that I'll trip over or they'll not see me and knock into me. Minnie was lovely (although I got hit by her ear lol)

Next we went to wait for Goofy and Pluto who were in the centre of the roundabout at the start of Main Street. I don't have the photos at the moment (they're on my Mum's camera).

We then walked up Main Street and saw Chip and Dale. I've had such funny interactions with them before and know how naughty they are so I decided to stay in my scooter. Dale looked in my basket and grabbed my stick (which was folded up) and decided to dance and jump with it. Chip then saw my camera and started taking selfies, photos of Dale and then passed it to the cast member who took photos of Dale with my stick (and then our photos)

This was the best interaction ever. My Mum was also taking photos and videoing it and Chip ran up to my Mum and gave her a cuddle (while she was filming).

As we left they waved.

We then went over to Donald and Mickey for photos. I stayed in my scooter (due to their big shoes) and Donald gave me kisses and held my hand.

We had such amazing interactions with the characters and we were really lucky as I've seen some people say that there are only so many disabled spaces a day and some people have been turned away. 

We did see other characters (from Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan and Brave) but didn't queue up to see them as I only really wanted the 'main' character photos.

Rides
I didn't go on any rides through choice. I don't really like many rides apart from Small World and Buzz Lightyear, but we had so much fun doing other things, taking photos and discovering things that I didn't feel the need for rides. On previous visits I've used a wheelchair and have been able to go on these rides in a wheelchair (in special ride vehicles) and I was told that I should be able to get on them in my scooter while in City Hall but decided not to.
  
While my family went on rides I loved going round the park taking photos and just sitting at the side of the paths waiting for it to clear to take photos like this.

  
Val D'Europe
Near to Disney (if you fancy a break from Disney....or you need a pharmacy or retail therapy) there is a shopping centre and designer outlet. This can be accessed via train (the next stop), shuttle bus, taxi or by walking. We didn't go ourselves, we had planned to but prefered to spend our time in Disney. Also, as I was using my mobility scooter I was unsure of the best way to get there and back. Having spoken with the hotel I was advised that there was a free shuttle bus to the village however it was a mini bus and I didn't think I'd be able to climb into it. The hotel suggested taking a train and asking at the station about accessibility but we decided not to as the only shop I really wanted to go to was Sephora and my Dad goes to Paris a lot and always offers to pick me up anything I want. If we were there longer I may have walked/ridden my scooter to the village but I didn't feel I was missing out by not going.   

Disneyland Paris - May 2016 - Part 3 - Sequoia Lodge Hotel

After popping into Disneyland Park we headed for our hotel. We were saying in the Sequoia Lodge Hotel in a Golden Forest adapted room.

You enter the hotel from the back entrance and it is quite confusing as to how to get to reception. You go past the hotels restaurants (Beaver Creek and Hunter's Grill) and then to the left there is a (very small) lift for disabled visitors. Although the lift is sign posted as being for those with a disability (due to the sign), a lot of people use it, especially those with buggies.

The lift is really small and only fitted my and one person in (it was a squeeze on our first ride up as my sister had her rucksack on). The lift only goes up to the 2nd floor (so it only goes between the reception floor and the park entrance floor) and it also shuts really quickly so we found that people would come out, they wouldn't hold the door and it would shut before I could get in. Pushing the button on the outside wouldn't stop the doors opening so we had to wait for the doors to shut then call it again for it to open.

Once you get out it's not signposted where reception is so we turned down by the shop to go and look for it. Once we got to reception we had to queue for 20 - 30 minutes for the Golden Forest desk. This was really annoying and disappointing as we paid more for this service and the normal check in desk was empty. People also tried to queue jump in front of us. Only one person was on the Golden Forest desk which didn't help.

Once it got to our turn we were given room keys and I asked for a hotel charge card. Apparently not many people make use of this but I thought it best so it was linked to my credit card and meant less transaction fees. The card can be used in all of the Disney shops and restaurants. I kept each receipt so we could check when we checked out that it was correct.

We went up to our room which was on the top floor (7th floor). There were three lifts for our 'wing' but one was out of order (for the full time we were there, and we even saw people working on it). The lack of lifts was really frustrating, especially in the mornings and on check out, especially with the rudeness of some people not holding lifts or running for them.

We had adjoining rooms, one was adapted and one was normal.

The adapted room had a large shower room with a walk-in / roll-in shower with one grab rail and a seat attached to the wall. The floor was non-slip which was brilliant (some places say they're non-slip but still are, but this was definitely non-slip). There was a large sink with space under to get a wheelchair (although the sink was still high so I'm not sure how accessible this would be). There was also a raised toilet with one hand rail. I was a bit annoyed as I had seen someone else's photos of an adapted Golden Forest room which had a handrail on the left of the toilet which would have been better for me (as my left is my stronger side) and had requested this via the travel agent, but we were allocated one with a rail on the right.

The room itself had a single bed and a set of bunk beds and was really a normal room, nothing adapted about it (even the door didn't have a eye hole at wheelchair height). As my sister is quite tall she ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor rather than on the lower bunk as the head space was low. We also had to move my bed out to fit a chair beside it so I could put my breathing machine on it. 

Power points are very limited in the rooms too. I had seen posts about it on Facebook before we went but thought maybe there would be more in the accessible rooms but there weren't. There are no power points by the beds, so we plugged my machine (via an extension lead) into a socket by the end of my bed. When we went to go to sleep though my alarm on my machine went off as the power went out. It turned out that that socket was connected to the lights and would only work when the lights were on so we had to plug my machine in under the TV which meant we had a wire trailing diagonally across the room (a major trip hazard).

The view from our room couldn't have been better. We were lake view and on the 7th floor and could see the castle and the fireworks each night.

The attached room, which my parents stayed in, had two double beds and a normal bathroom (toilet and bath in one bit, with a sink in the hallway bit to the bathroom.

As we had a Golden Forest Room we also had a fridge, kettle, cups, glasses, ice bucket and nespresso machine each. I didn't actually use our kettle or nespresso machine in my room.

Also with Golden Forest Rooms you get a seperate area for breakfast from other guests on the 2nd floor in the Golden Forest Lounge. This was much better as you don't have a time slot you have to book (you can go anytime from 7am - 10.30am) and you also get hot options for free. This was much more civilised compared to previous stays in other hotels without this 'perk'.

Between 12pm - 10pm the Golden Forest Lounge provides drinks to those in the Golden Forest rooms free of charge and these can be consumed in the lounge or taken away. (I have just read on a Disneyland Paris forum that the Golden Forest Lounge have stopped people being able to take drinks away due to high visitor numbers but that this is only for today and tomorrow - 29th May 2016 to 30th May 2016) Most days we would get drinks to take away to take into the park (ie getting them the evening before). On two occasions we did get drinks in the lounge. One day we came back early as I was feeling a bit dizzy (which wasn't helped by the brightness and music in the park) and we were in time for the afternoon treats (cakes, mini wraps and sweets from 2pm -6pm). These were really nice and the room is really calming and dark. 

In Disney they serve tea with hot milk, which isn't very nice in our opinion, so when we were in the lounge we requested it with cold milk. This was the best cup of tea we had during our stay! We also asked for a glass of cold milk to take to our room too for tea which they gave to us in a soft drink container.

Check out was quite easy, we went to the Golden Forest check in desk and someone came out and took our bags for Disney Express (we were advised that they would be at the station within an hour so we had them in time for our train) and we then checked the balance of my hotel charge card (they gave us a breakdown of each charge).






Before we went I saw someone posted on a Disneyland Paris Facebook page to put the 'do not disturb' on the door as maids will start trying to clean at 8am. We did this, however one day my Dad stayed at the hotel a bit later (he was in the park by 10am so not mega late) and had the 'do not disturb' on the door but the cleaners still came in while he was in there!
  I definitely think it was worth the upgrade to Golden Forest mainly due to the free drinks and calmer breakfast experience. The hotel may not be great accesswise however if you have mobility issues and are walking as everything is spread out (the Golden Forest Lounge is at the front of the hotel quite far from the lifts, and the swimming pool is in a separate building)

Disneyland Paris - May 2016 - Part 2 - Day 1 in Disneyland Park

We arrived at Disney around 2pm on the Monday and after dropping our bags at Disney Express we headed into Disneyland Park. It was pouring with rain but luckily we had planned for this so had rain ponchos which we put on before leaving the station.

Due to heightened security you now have to have your bags scanned and go through a metal detector to enter the parks and Disney Village. As the Eurostar had just arrived the queue was quite long but it didn't take long to go through. Due to the poncho I didn't hear my parents calling me and we therefore didn't go through as a group (I went ahead and the came through after). 

I was a bit disappointed, but prepared, that Fantasia Gardens (the entrance bit before you get to the Disneyland Hotel) was boarded up for renovations, but the boards had Disney silhouettes on so it was still themed.

We got into the park and usually once you get in you can see the castle, but as the train station was having work done on it too, the boards covered the view, however once you go through to Main Street you can see it in all it's glory! 

As it was raining we went into the arcade on the right and went to find somewhere to eat. Most places were busy but we found spaces in Victoria's Home Style Restaurant and grabbed some lunch. 

I had a turkey and cheese sandwich with a coffee, my sister had the beef and bacon, and my parents shared a beef and bacon sandwich and a chicken pasta salad thing. The sandwich was actually better than I was expecting (I wasn't keep on the look of the roll but it was nice). 

While sitting there we noticed characters were coming out for Minnie's Garden Party right past the window which was really magical having only just got into the park. We finished our food before the parade finished and my sister went and stood outside to wait for them to go back in so she got a great view. 

We then went to City Hall to get my green access pass. I had taken a hospital letter and my blue badge, but just gave them my blue badge which was fine. I was served by a lovely man called Clement. If you need to get an access pass please remember you will also need everyone in your party's tickets so he can include them on your pass (there were 4 of us including me and I think I've seen somewhere that the maximum per green pass is 4 for rides, and 2 for parades).

As we were there for my 30th birthday, and my Dad's 60th, I asked if they had birthday badges and he gave us birthday stickers (they are currently transitioning over to badges but we were given stickers but I've since seen that City Hall now have the badges).

We then went into Frontierland for my parents to go on the Haunted Mansion. 

Frontierland is mostly closed due to renovations of Thunder Mountain and the Riverboat so it was quieter than usual. It was still pouring with rain so Laura and I went and waited round by the toilets on the covered patio area. 

After this we went into the shops and then decided to make our way back to the hotel as it was looking like the rain may get really heavy again. On the way back we popped into the World of Disney shop in the Disney Village and Laura and I got hoodies and a fleece blanket (it was on offer when you spent 30 euros) and this was perfect to cover my legs as my legs get cold easily and it was pretty chilly.