Disneyland Paris 2016 // Bistrot Chez Rémy Review

Since Mam and I's visit to DLP in October 2014, three months after the absolutely amazing Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy had opened and our first time exploring the whole Toon Studio expansion, we have wanted to explore inside Bistrot Chez Rémy! Well, I guess more so Mam seeing as I'm not a food person and find eating a waste of my precious holiday time while at Disneyland lol.
So, during the planning process while choosing our meal spots for each evening I had to let Mam have at least one that she wanted ;) haha. I do check all menus online beforehand to make sure there is at least one option for me to eat because I am extremely fussy as well as being meat-free when we went.
On day 1 our first port of call was City Hall to go and book all of our restaurants for the week and although we'd hoped to eat at Bistrot Chez Rémy on our 2nd night after our WDS park tour (see here), it's opening times were limited due to the season and we had to go for our 3rd day instead - which worked out great too. Our reservation was at 5 pm and here is how our experience went...

We waited only 5 minutes or so, in which we spent the time ogling and photographing the remarkable detail in the style of the reception type area, until the maître d' came to escort us to our table. I was so thankful to see that we were entering an almost deserted restaurant after my initial teary eyes had cleared. It was insane. Really magical and more exciting than I had expected, with something to look at in every direction. The seats, tables, lights and all other decor completely transport you into the movie and does make you feel exactly the size of a rat.

The menu is mainly what you would define as 'typical French cuisine', including many things that people in my position find quite distressing (Fois Gras being one) but I actually managed to have a substantial three-course, very yummy, meal. Our server catered to my dietary needs without any fuss or bother. This is something I always worry about as I hate to be 'that' person, but it was no issue to them whatsoever helping to diminish my stress a bit.

Mam and I both had a salad to start, (I did pick at it, fussy being my name and the game) followed by a filling pasta with beautiful tomato sauce for myself, which came with a side of ratatouille but I tried it and unfortunately wasn't a fan of, and steak, ratatouille and chips for Mam. To finish I obviously chose the chocolate cake with custard (FYI, French custard isn't like the custard we have here but more of a melted vanilla ice cream...in a good way haha. It was lovely) and Mam got tiramisu.

Like I mentioned earlier in the post and as you can probably see from the photos, there were only a handful of other families spread out across the restaurant which provided us with a very lucky, quiet, chilled and enjoyable dinner. You may know I'm a huge advocate for the meal plans at Disneyland Paris and all of my trips in 2010, 2014 and 2016 were made better by utilizing them. This time we had the pleasure of eating at one of the most immersive dining experiences in DLP using our meal plan meaning instead of paying €40/£35 each, it only cost us around €23/£20each. Not a huge saving to many but fantastic to us. 
I cannot speak highly enough of Bistrot Chez Rémy. From the moment we entered the door to the second we stepped back out into the Parisian Plaza, we were treated brilliantly by all staff, ate a delicious meal, were transported to a different world and overall had a super great time!

Let me know how you liked it if you have eaten here and if not, do you fancy it?

Check out the rest of my DLP 2016 posts below!
Christmas Decor
Day 1, Part 1
Day 1, Part 2
What I Bought
Sequoia Lodge Hotel Review 
Day 2, Part 1
Day 2, Part 2

Disneyland Paris 2016 // Sequoia Lodge Hotel Review

During our last trip to Disneyland Paris, we stayed at Sequoia Lodge Hotel. Sequoia Lodge is a '3 key' hotel situated on the shore of Lake Disney, between Hotel New York and Newport Bay Club with stunning views. The website states that it's a 15-minute walk from the park, which makes me question, 'How freakin' slow are people walking?!'. haha
Lake Disney is at the opposite end of the Disney Village, to the parks. If you walk at a normal pace and don't stop to ogle all the lush stuff in the stores, then I'm sure you'll reach the parks in 10minutes maximum! Not that it matters because I feel that all of the Disney hotels (minus Davy Crockett's Ranch) are within super easy walking distance and most people get to the parks quicker walking than waiting for, piling onto and getting the shuttle buses anyway.

The theming in all of the Disney hotels is of course spot on, but out of them all, I think Sequoia Lodge is my favourite, being inspired by American National Parks and beautiful Bambi decor to the rooms. You have the main building which houses the reception, the Golden Forest Club, the Montana Rooms and Suites, two restaurants, a boutique and the Bar and Lounge.
Our room was a 'standard room' situated outside the main building, in the Yosemite Lodge and was much more than satisfactory. Looking at photos of the Montana rooms and reading their facilities, I can't see much of a difference apart from views of the lake, which aren't even in all Montana rooms. We had two large double beds, a desk which was great for our little webcam chats back home in the evenings, a TV (though, who even has time to watch TV at Disneyland?!), wardrobe section, a lovely little bathroom with bath, shower and toilet and a separate sink/vanity area which was handy for getting ready while the other person was in the bathroom.
As you can see from the few photos that I got it was very clean, cosy and cute! We did have a fab huge window too that looked out onto trees, as well as being a very short walk to the main building and equally close to the swimming pool.  I personally much preferred being in a lodge as opposed to the main building for noise reasons - we were very lucky to have a pleasantly quiet stay!

We kind of got to try both restaurants, though Beaver Creek was our option for breakfast in the mornings and Hunters Grill we tried one night for dinner along with Kerri and Kris. Both had a great range of food on offer, so much so that vegetarians and vegans were able to eat a good fill!
As for other facilities, the bar was obviously never something we were gonna use but on passing it was always extremely loud, busy and I suppose for people who are into that kind of thing 'buzzing' haha.
If you saw my 'What's in My Luggage' post you will have seen I took a bather in the hopes of getting to try out the swimming pool, and we did! It was freezing water...but it was December, after all, haha. There was a considerable-sized jacuzzi that Mam made the most of while I did a few laps and had a handful of shots on the slide..which was probably a bit weird being 26 and the others on it like 10. And, something I always appreciate, was the sauna and steam rooms - which are a great benefit to my skin and my breathing. It was all quite clean, though you know what swimming pools with children around can get by the end of the day. The only real downside was the size of the changing and locker area which was extremely tiny with maybe 30 lockers max and only TWO cubicles to change in, resulting in everyone just changing out in the open. I'm not up for stuff like that and don't think it appropriate around strangers but each to their own.

The last mention goes to the boutique, which is probably my favourite (minus the one in the Disneyland Hotel) of all of the Disney hotels. I love the tree where the soft toys are displayed - it reminds me of the old school soft toy mountains I remember from our Disney Store in the 90s - and it has an overall great amount of merch without feeling overcrowded or hard to manoeuvre around like many of the other hotel Boutiques. That could just be my imagination though lol!

Out of the 4 Disney hotels I've stayed in, (5 if you count one I haven't stayed in but have eaten in and been in to check out a friends room) Sequoia Lodge Hotel is definitely my favourite!! It is just my style and has everything I could need...plus more really. I only have Hotel New York and Davy Crockett Ranch to check out now, however that could be many years away, especially seeing as you need a car to stay at the latter.

Anyway, I hope this was insightful for someone. I'd love to know what you thought of this hotel if you have stayed here or if you'd fancy it? If not which is your favourite of the Disney hotels? To me, they are a huge part of the whole Disney holiday and are a lot more reasonably priced than people make them out to be! As long as you know the who, what, when and hows ;)

See my review of Disney's Hotel Cheyenne here!!