Disneyland Paris – Auberge de Cendrillon

We’re back from Disneyland Paris having managed to surprise H. She had no idea she was going either! For H’s birthday we visited Auberge de Cendrillon – a Disney Princess dining experience.
auberge de cendrillon

Auberge de Cendrillon is behind the Disney castle, and is a restaurant where you can meet Disney Princesses. It’s quite pricey, but as a birthday treat it was worth it. Plus we didn’t have to queue to meet the characters.

We booked H in on her birthday, but had one problem – all her Disney Princess dresses were too small for her. Oh, and she had gone off Frozen. Luckily I had a beautiful Elsa dress sent from Disney which was ideal! H saw it and immediately forgot that she had gone off Frozen, and felt like a princess when she wore it. It is an impressive dress too which captures the spirit of Elsa’s dress.

H in front of the Disneyland Castle

There are two problems with the dress – not major ones, but ones to be aware of. The brooch on the front plays ‘Let It Go’ when you press it, though is difficult to remove. You can do it by unscrewing it, which is a bit of a faff but it means the brooch stays on. Then there’s the glitter which features all over the dress. Glitter is the bane of my life when it comes to crafting – you can’t remove the stuff, it gets everywhere. But then when at Disneyland it’s just magic dust, right?

The dress packed down small which was good, so we were able to hide it in our suitcases. Once we had done our big reveal, we told H what we had planned – including Auberge de Cendrillon. “But I don’t have a princess dress to wear!” she said – and we proved her wrong.

On her birthday morning it was hot – in the mid-30s. Maybe not the best day to wear a gorgeous princess dress – but H did. We kept her hydrated, but brought a change of clothes for afterwards which worked.

menus at Auberge de CendrillonThe main test was how princessy she would feel at Auberge de Cendrillon. There’s the menu. It’s pretty special for younger kids, and fine for adults too. You can use hotel meal vouchers to lower the cost as well which helped. Add to that we had ordered her a birthday cake, and we knew we were going to be well fed. The menu changes a lot, so it may be worth checking online beforehand.

H meets the Disney Princesses at Auberge de Cendrillon

We also didn’t know which princesses she would meet! First up was Belle who was friendly and chatty, but H was a bit shy, a bit overwhelmed and hadn’t warmed up. Our meal started with some Amuse-bouche, delicious cheese puffs. Our drink was a juice, the Princes Cocktail.

By the time Cinderella made it to our table H was far more chatty – and felt quite special. I felt pretty full by now, despite not eating that much… and it was going to get worse!

Auberge de Cendrillon dining and cake and dancing

Auberge de Cendrillon is a lovely restaurant, with space for the characters to visit. Every hour or so they also do a little dance on the main floor space. This was just around the corner from our table, but wasn’t a problem.

Aurora and Prince Philip were the last Disney Princess/Prince to visit us, and H was chatty by now! Suzy and Perla, the two mice from Cinderella popped by too. H loved it!

Suzy and Perla at Auberge de Cendrillon

We had a salad before our main course, and finally the dessert. H’s food was served on a Mickey Mouse plate which she thought was pretty cool.

We had ordered a birthday cake for our meal which is suitable for up to 8 people. There was just the three of us… let’s just say we were completely stuffed! Having the desserts in addition to the cake was a bit too much for us – so be prepared to come out of Auberge de Cendrillon extremely full.

I loved H’s dessert, a white chocolate shoe with chocolate cream piped into it, but she had to leave it. We couldn’t take it with us as it would have melted!

Being as stuffed as we were, there was only one way to finish the meal, with a nice peppermint tea. It helped – I didn’t need to eat anything else that day! In all, we spent two hours at Auberge de Cendrillon, and after meal vouchers it cost us around £130. Bear in mind, the Disney birthday cake cost about £30 of that.

H loved the experience too – and it was good to get away from the heat outside when it was at its highest. The food was delicious, the vegetarian option was good, and there was enough to keep H busy. I’d recommend Auberge de Cendrillon to anyone considering it when visiting Disneyland Paris.

The Elsa dress from Disney Stores is this one and it currently retails for £34.99. It made H feel like a princess, and indeed the amount of detail that it has makes it something worth purchasing. It is ideal for a special occasion.

Singalonga Frozen at Hampton Court

In the last year our lives have very slowly been taken over by THAT film. Last Christmas we took H to see Frozen, and in the months since it has become her latest obsession. When it was announced Singalonga Frozen would be coming to Hampton Court, and would go ahead whatever the weather, we bought tickets.

Singalonga Frozen

Singalonga Frozen was at Hampton Court and has been doing a tour around loads of interesting venues (alongside other films) with The Luna Cinema – the last night of the season at Leeds Castle tonight (Sunday 12th October).

So what do you need to know? Here’s my handy checklist:

Singalonga Frozen

It is October – it is COLD. Take fleeces, blankets, waterproofs, warm things. There was one tea stand which was reasonably priced, but the queue was long. I’d suggest taking a flask.

We took camping chairs for everyone – even though once the film started the girls all sat on our knees – this was a good thing as it was getting so cold I thought I might faint (this happens a lot) – we warmed up quickly, so it wasn’t so bad.

We also took a picnic. Some people brought in Pizza Express takeouts, but you really could take anything in there.

Benefit makeover

There was a Benefit stand as you walk in – you get your photo taken and if you’re lucky you can win a chance to sit in the VIP inflatable chairs just in front of the blanket area. We missed this, as it wasn’t completely obvious, but it wasn’t a problem.

Ah yes, the seating areas – there’s a flat bit at the front for people with blankets, the inflatable chairs, the VIP areas (approx £25 per person) then the area everyone else can sit. H could see in our regular seats, but sat on my knee and could see even better.

You get the words to the songs! This is good as obviously even though your child will probably know them off by heart, you can bluff your way around it too.

Singalonga Frozen

The only food option was hot dogs – fine if you’re not a vegetarian. If you are, take some food in! They had some granola for sale with the coffee which I did buy, as well as crisps and popcorn.

Merch. There was plenty – I bought H a ring for £1 and a purse for £2. There was pricey stuff and the cheaper ones too, so a good balance.

Benefit were one of the sponsors – you could buy sample sizes of the cosmetics for £2 with all money going to Refuge – I bought a bag. Benefit were also offering £1 makeovers which the girls all had done as well.

Singalonga Frozen

Follow the Luna Cinema on Facebook for information about more events – they’re planning next year already, and I know it’s something we’ll do again. The girls loved it, and despite the cold it was a brilliant night – plus they got to get their photos taken with ‘Elsa’ – we missed ‘Kristoff’ though (I haven’t dared tell H!).

Tickets came in around £15 each, with loads of options available. I’d definitely recommend it if you want to do something a bit different – especially if you’re already a fan of the film! We were also able to wander around the grounds prior to the film starting, although it was the girls who ran around a bit more than we did!