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Your top holiday spots

Have you had a great holiday? We'd love you to share it with us and add to our real holiday reports. Where do you long to visit? Have you found any holiday hideaways you're willing to share?
We would like to hear your real holiday reports, the best and the worst, including any tips for surviving and thriving in your chosen destination.

Top holiday spot:

Disney Land Resort, Paris

Holiday top spots at one stop beach shop Louise Garnett and family had a fantastic trip to Disneyland Paris and she has kindly sent in the following article. The family found being well prepared and informed helped them to get the best out of their short break. Louise and Neil travelled with their two boys aged 3 and 7 years.

If you are looking for an extra-special place to take the kids then Disneyland Resort, Paris is the place for you, particularly if you only want a short break and can't face the long flight to Florida. Before you go talk to anyone you know who has already been to Disneyland Paris and extract as much information from them as you can.

There are many ways to 'do' Disney: travelling by air, train or road, and many different sites to stay at - camp sites and caravan parks, hotels outside the resort and those within. Wherever you choose to book use the genuine Disney brochure or website as we found this was the best way to get good deals at the best prices. Also think about when you choose to go; there are special offers on all the time and you can perhaps avoid the height of summer when it is very, very busy. It is a good idea to try and book most of your stay for during the week when the parks are quieter and the queues are shorter.

We went for a four night, five day stay in September, and stayed in the Newport Bay Club (recommended by a friend), having flown from Manchester to Charles de Gaulle. This hotel is on the outskirts of a village, with a New England sailing theme. It seems very much on a par with the other hotels but this one has a pool, and if you like being serenaded by Glenn Miller whilst you breakfast and dine, this is the hotel for you! The family rooms are very comfortable and have two double beds. If you are concerned about the children sharing a bed, it didn't cause us any problems as they were too exhausted at the end of each day to cause trouble, they were out like lights until the alarm went next morning.

The main things to be prepared for when going to Disneyland, Paris are:
-Being absolutely exhausted at the end of each day
-Being encouraged, or pestered depending on how you look at it, to spend excessive amounts of money in all the retail outlets.

You will literally walk miles each day without realising it, and by the time you get home you'll need another holiday. Try to allocate some R & R time each day, there are lots of benches dotted around the park, I would recommend you use them!

Secondly you may find it helpful to set a budget - and then stick to it! A family who visited Disneyland at the same time as us spent over £1000 on extras, and it is very easy to do. We treated our boys to a few souvenirs, and then gave each an allocated amount of money with a very strict application of, 'Once it's gone, it's gone'!

What to see at Disneyland, Paris? Within the Disneyland Park there are different 'lands' to see, and all offer something unique. For the younger ones 'Fantasy Land' is the best, and our favourite rides were 'Casey Junior Train', Peter Pan's Flight', 'It's a Small World'....ok, all of them actually! Use the fast pass where you can, this gives an allocated time to use the ride with minimal queuing. Our other favourite rides within the park were 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and 'Star Tours'. My husband was very pleased that the boys were too small to try 'Space Mountain'...Scary! The shows were also well worth seeing. The 'Lion King' wasn't open when we visited but we did see 'Tarzan' which was all two small boys could have hoped.

The studios are smaller and can probably be seen in a day. There are lots of different rides and attractions to be seen; 'The Art of Animation' is definitely worth a look, and you can even try your hand at drawing a favourite Disney character within an art class. We also had a choice of viewing the 'Studio Tram Tour' or the 'Moteurs Action' stunt show. We chose the Tram Tour but wished we had gone to the stunt show as it wasn't as interesting as we hoped - but that's the problem with such a wide range of choices.

Make sure you don't miss the parades either, simply pick your spot about 20 minutes before the parade and stay there and wait to be amazed.

There are lots of eating places within the park and villages, but most of them serve fast food - everything with chips! If you want a bit of variety try the more expensive restaurants or a buffet meal. We would definitely recommend the 'Lucky Nugget Saloon' in Frontierland. It is built in authentic Wild West Saloon style and the buffet meals are fantastic value with lots of choice, even for a foodie like me. Buffet lunchtimes also give the kids the opportunity to meet their favourite characters. You must be sure to visit Cafe Mickey in the village with another good choice of menu and a chance for photos with Mickey and the Gang.

You will need lots of films/megabytes for the camera whilst you are on your visit to Disneyland, particularly for all those occasions when you bump into favourite Disney characters on the streets. Some of the official meet and greet opportunities create very long queues (Disney Princesses for example. There are many characters who wander freely through the parks who will be only to happy to pose for a shot.

Whilst a stay at Disney may leave you exhausted and broke, and you may feel 'been there, done that', it isn't long before you'll be itching to go again. The magic IS that special for adults and children alike.