November/December 2012?

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by shushh

Yay! That will be us from here on as well as its the only time when we can take an extended holiday.

I always feel like I'm behind on the DISboards! I keep meaning to read up on everyone's TR and PTR but I'm just struggling to keep up. It would probably help if I check in more often!

Ms Shuttergirl, I just read about your changes the other morning. It sounds like all in all, things worked out for the best.

Dabecs, your list looks quite manageable I will have to pay close attention to this photopass+. Last time, we just pre-bought the CD and got the photopass cards when we got there. From memory, shipping of the CD wasn't to bad (?$15?).

This is exactly what we did. I'm not sure I even knew I could purchase it beforehand . It's good to let Dabecs go first hehe

AS for me, my time just seems to fly by. I'm still trying to get together a blog post on our building progress for Ms Shuttergirl

Honey, don't stress, if you don't get it done you don't get it done. So long as the house is getting built and I see pics at the end I'm happy. And of course I'll have to head to Sydney to check it out. I can already see it coming to life in my mind

Europe is doing my head in. I just can't seem to find the motivation to finish off the loose ends. Still have to organise shore excursions for our cruise. My mind is elsewhere...like USA Dec 2013. I'm trying to figure out our driving route post WDW and Fantasy cruise and seeing if I can squeeze in a cruise on the Allure of the seas!

It's soooo funny you say this. I keep wanting to start researching our Europe 2014 trip when I haven't even organised our Europe 2013 trip. What is it with that?

Why don't you post some of the stuff you need to make decisions on, here on the DIS, and perhaps other people weighing in with their thoughts will help clarify for you what you actually need/want to do???? I found it amazingly helpful to type all my itinerary out. It was crazy how it helped me make some decisions I had been flip flopping on. I for one would most definitely like to hear what you are up to with it and would love to help if i can.

[dabecs]

2 months today

2 months today

2 months today



(not sure why my ticker says 2 months 3 days though!)

[shushh]

Originally Posted by dabecs

2 months today

2 months today

2 months today



(not sure why my ticker says 2 months 3 days though!)

Hurray for you! It seemed like SUCH a long time ago that this thread was started!

[shushh]

Originally Posted by Ms. Shuttergirl

Why don't you post some of the stuff you need to make decisions on, here on the DIS, and perhaps other people weighing in with their thoughts will help clarify for you what you actually need/want to do???? I found it amazingly helpful to type all my itinerary out. It was crazy how it helped me make some decisions I had been flip flopping on. I for one would most definitely like to hear what you are up to with it and would love to help if i can.

You might end up regretting writing those words! So here goes my brain dump for Paris...

DAY 1 – Thu

• Arrive at CDG 1730
• Taxi to apartment
• Sleep

DAY 2 – Fri

Morning:
• Shop locally for provisions
• Arc de Triomphe (opens 10am)
• Walk Champs-Elysees (Disney store)
• Tuileries Garden
Afternoon:
• Opera Garnier (Last admission 4:30pm closes 5pm. Matinee scheduled on Sun 9 and no other ie closes at 1pm)
• Galeries Lafayette (Open 9:30am until 7:30pm. Closed Sundays)
• Paris Story (Show on every hour. Last show 6pm)
• River Seine Cruise

DAY 3 – Sat
Morning:
Catch the RER suburban train by 8:00 to arrive early at Versailles (before it opens at 9:00). Tour the palace's interior. Rick Steve’s guided walk
Midday:
Have lunch in the Gardens at Versailles.
Afternoon:
Spend the afternoon touring the Gardens and the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette.
Evening:
Have dinner in Versailles town or return to Paris.

DAY 4 – Sun
Morning:
• Rick Steve’s Historic Paris Walk (Ile de la Cité, Notre-Dame, some of Latin Quarter, La Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle) Check that everything is open on Sundays. Notre dame open from 8am. First mass 830am International mass at 1130am
http://www.paris48.com/the-islands-walk.html
Afternoon:
• Sacre-Coeur
• Walk around Montmartre
http://www.frommers.com/destinations...062020033.html
http://www.paris48.com/montmartre-walk.html
• Moulin Rouge

DAY 5 – Mon

Morning:
• Louvre: Tour with Muse Clues or Paris Kids
Afternoon:
• Eiffel Tower - Lunch at Le Jules Verne
• Ru Cler
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...uecler0208.htm
http://www.parismarkets.net/RueCler.html
• Place de Invalides
• Paris Sewer Museum

DAY 6 – Tue

Morning:
• Walk around rest of Latin Quarter
http://www.frommers.com/destinations...062020034.html
• Jardins Du Luxembourg
• Pantheon
• Saint Sulpice
• Le Bon Marche and Epicerie
• Catacombs
Afternoon:
• Montparnasse walking tour http://www.bonjourparis.com/story/me...king-tour-par/
• Tour Montparnasse
• Take photo of famous Louvre pyramid whilst musuem is closed and minimal people in the square

DAY 7 – Wed
• Private transfer to Disneyland Hotel

If time permits: ?Sunday
• Centre Pompidou
• Le Marais
http://www.paris48.com/le-marais-walk.html
http://www.frommers.com/destinations...062020035.html
Lunch at a restaurant on the place des Vosges or on rue des Rosiers.
• Musee D’Orsay - Rick Steve’s Guide and Rodin Museum

So for all you familiar with Paris. Thoughts would be appreciated. I hope I'm not being too ambitious. The children are quite adaptable and have been trained to walk for long distances whilst travelling, but you never know...

So in terms of input, would be grateful for suggestions on restaurants and cafes. If anyone has been to Jules Verne, please pipe in! It is SO expensive, I'm not sure its worth it, but it means that we skip the lines as they have access to the viewing deck from the restaurant. At the moment, we're leaning towards not going which means I'll be rearranging our trip to the Eiffel tower. I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't get a reservation anyway

I also have to do my maths and work out whether or not I should get the Paris Pass. I think we'll at least break even on the Museum Pass, its a matter of whether or not the extras are worth getting the more inclusive pass...I'm just so not in the mood to be doing maths...

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by shushh

You might end up regretting writing those words! So here goes my brain dump for Paris...

DAY 1 – Thu

• Arrive at CDG 1730
• Taxi to apartment
• Sleep

DAY 2 – Fri

Morning:
• Shop locally for provisions
• Arc de Triomphe (opens 10am)
• Walk Champs-Elysees (Disney store)
• Tuileries Garden
Afternoon:
• Opera Garnier (Last admission 4:30pm closes 5pm. Matinee scheduled on Sun 9 and no other ie closes at 1pm)
• Galeries Lafayette (Open 9:30am until 7:30pm. Closed Sundays)
• Paris Story (Show on every hour. Last show 6pm)
• River Seine Cruise

You seem to have alot packed into this first day. I wonder about jetlag and the management of with the kids???? Or do you find that you guys hit the ground running without too many issues?

Can't wait to see Opera Garnier, it looks magnificent in pictures I can only imagine how breathtaking it is in real life.

DAY 3 – Sat
Morning:
Catch the RER suburban train by 8:00 to arrive early at Versailles (before it opens at 9:00). Tour the palace's interior. Rick Steve’s guided walk
Midday:
Have lunch in the Gardens at Versailles.
Afternoon:
Spend the afternoon touring the Gardens and the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette.
Evening:
Have dinner in Versailles town or return to Paris.

[COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]This sounds like the perfect day. Please take lots of notes on this one for me as I plan to do nearly the exact same thing. I again wonder if the kids will be tired for you today?[/COLOR]

DAY 4 – Sun
Morning:
• Rick Steve’s Historic Paris Walk (Ile de la Cité, Notre-Dame, some of Latin Quarter, La Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle) Check that everything is open on Sundays. Notre dame open from 8am. First mass 830am International mass at 1130am
http://www.paris48.com/the-islands-walk.html

[COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]Are you going to go up the tower?
[/COLOR]
Afternoon:
• Sacre-Coeur
• Walk around Montmartre
http://www.frommers.com/destinations...062020033.html
http://www.paris48.com/montmartre-walk.html
• Moulin Rouge

[COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]Have you worked out what public transport you need to take to get home from Moulin Rouge, are you going to a show, if so does it finish late, will the kids be able to stay up that late?
[/COLOR]
DAY 5 – Mon

Morning:
• Louvre: Tour with Muse Clues or Paris Kids
Afternoon:
• Eiffel Tower - Lunch at Le Jules Verne

[COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]I'm in 2 minds re the Le Jules Verne. The menu is quite advance for my little guy, not sure if it will be worth the expense or not. How do you think your children will enjoy the menu?[/COLOR]

• Ru Cler
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...uecler0208.htm
http://www.parismarkets.net/RueCler.html
• Place de Invalides
• Paris Sewer Museum

[COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]This looks like a really busy day. Do you think you can fit all of this in?
[/COLOR]
DAY 6 – Tue

Morning:
• Walk around rest of Latin Quarter
http://www.frommers.com/destinations...062020034.html
• Jardins Du Luxembourg
• Pantheon
• Saint Sulpice
• Le Bon Marche and Epicerie
• Catacombs

[COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]I will be very interested to hear your thoughts on the Catacombs and whether it would be something my family would enjoy
[/COLOR]
Afternoon:
• Montparnasse walking tour http://www.bonjourparis.com/story/me...king-tour-par/
• Tour Montparnasse
• Take photo of famous Louvre pyramid whilst musuem is closed and minimal people in the square

DAY 7 – Wed
• Private transfer to Disneyland Hotel

If time permits: ?Sunday
• Centre Pompidou
• Le Marais
http://www.paris48.com/le-marais-walk.html
http://www.frommers.com/destinations...062020035.html
Lunch at a restaurant on the place des Vosges or on rue des Rosiers.
• Musee D’Orsay - Rick Steve’s Guide and Rodin Museum

So for all you familiar with Paris. Thoughts would be appreciated. I hope I'm not being too ambitious. The children are quite adaptable and have been trained to walk for long distances whilst travelling, but you never know...

So in terms of input, would be grateful for suggestions on restaurants and cafes. If anyone has been to Jules Verne, please pipe in! It is SO expensive, I'm not sure its worth it, but it means that we skip the lines as they have access to the viewing deck from the restaurant. At the moment, we're leaning towards not going which means I'll be rearranging our trip to the Eiffel tower. I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't get a reservation anyway

I also have to do my maths and work out whether or not I should get the Paris Pass. I think we'll at least break even on the Museum Pass, its a matter of whether or not the extras are worth getting the more inclusive pass...I'm just so not in the mood to be doing maths...

Not sure which pass would be best. Will be researching this myself in the next month. I think either of them is such a great advantage for skipping long lines, even if it doesn't work out to be all that much cheaper. Time saved is priceless really.

I think your days are jam packed but as you say, your children are used to lots of walking and are very experienced travellers so only you know what they can cope with. I only hope you are scheduling things into each of those days that can be dropped off the itinerary and missed if need be.

Have you allowed time to just sit and people watch? Time for the children to play in local parks? Ice creams, sailing boats in Jardin des Tuileries?

I'm sure you have thought of all of this because you are an amazing trip planner.

I love your itinerary though and hope you can share when you return because I'm keen to just copy and paste everything into my own trip

[shushh]

Firstly I'd just like to announce that we are now officially members of the eurodisney shareholders club. We bought our shares just before news that the Walt Disney Co is considering a buyout of the company that manages Disneyland Paris. Share prices jumped up straight after the news! Woohoo!

OK back to my itinerary...
Ms Shuttergirl thanks for your thoughts! I appreciate it. Its always good to have someone else look through things.

Yes I have packed the first day somewhat, but it is vital that we stay up the first day or the jetlag just drags on...I've tried to organise things which are outdoors and involve lots of movement! If needed, we can skip the last 2.

And again, hence the "excursion" on day 2! I just hope the weather holds for us...

We are planning to go up the tower of the Notre Dame, we've been practising our stairs!

As for the moulin rouge, we're not watching a show, just walking past...we'll try to get out of the area before nightfall

We wanted to dine at le Jules Verne for the experience. I might leave it up to fate. If there is a spot for us when I try to make a reservation then we'll go ahead, if there isn't then so be it!

Feel free to copy the itinerary! I will certainly be blogging about it so it will have gone through a test run!

[alicia1506]

Wow that is fabulous!! Yay on the timing of your share purchase!! What a nice bit of disney affiliated magic ixiedust:

[Carrie_Cat]

I'll have a look through your list ^^ if you like, living here and all but right now I can see a few things that stand out. Can you tell me when you are coming ?

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

She's coming in early December and that would be wonderful Carrie. When I have an itinerary together for my April visit I would also love you to weigh in if you have time.

[shushh]

Originally Posted by alicia1506

Wow that is fabulous!! Yay on the timing of your share purchase!! What a nice bit of disney affiliated magic ixiedust:

Alicia I'm so excited! It wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be to buy shares and then join the club.

Originally Posted by Carrie_Cat

I'll have a look through your list ^^ if you like, living here and all but right now I can see a few things that stand out. Can you tell me when you are coming ?

How generous and kind of you! I'd love it if you could have a look through and let me know your thoughts. As Ms Shuttergirl has mentioned, we'll be arriving in Paris on the evening of Dec 6 which is a THursday.

Originally Posted by Ms. Shuttergirl

She's coming in early December and that would be wonderful Carrie. When I have an itinerary together for my April visit I would also love you to weigh in if you have time.

You're a champ! I'm amazed that you remember when I'm going. I'm having difficulty remember my own dates sometimes let alone others'! Can you organise the rest of my trip for me?

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Only if I can come along

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Been doing a little reading on TA Shushh and not many people seem to recommend the Paris Pass as being of good value. I'm leaning towards the Museum Pass.

[dabecs]

Shushh - I have never been to France so I am no help, but it is a dream destination for me so I will happily follow your plans and dream

We are catching the Amtrak train from Washington to NY - well silly me didn't realise that their fares change like airfares so the prices I was looking at 2 weeks ago have doubled! And several of the times are now sold out So instead of leaving Washington at a decent 9am we are now catching a 4:48am train! The 4:48 is still the cheaper price and still has seats - so right now I am feeling lucky to have anything

So now arriving in NY at just after 8am, which is better for our chances to see some of the Macy's parade but it will mean a very long day (can't check in till 3pm). The good thing about holidays is early morning seem much more exciting (at least that's what I will be trying to tell myself at 3:30am that morning!)

[Royal Consort]

Originally Posted by dabecs

Shushh - I have never been to France so I am no help, but it is a dream destination for me so I will happily follow your plans and dream

We are catching the Amtrak train from Washington to NY - well silly me didn't realise that their fares change like airfares so the prices I was looking at 2 weeks ago have doubled! And several of the times are now sold out So instead of leaving Washington at a decent 9am we are now catching a 4:48am train! The 4:48 is still the cheaper price and still has seats - so right now I am feeling lucky to have anything

So now arriving in NY at just after 8am, which is better for our chances to see some of the Macy's parade but it will mean a very long day (can't check in till 3pm). The good thing about holidays is early morning seem much more exciting (at least that's what I will be trying to tell myself at 3:30am that morning!)

Sounds like we're doing very similar trips dabecs!

[dabecs]

Originally Posted by Royal Consort

Sounds like we're doing very similar trips dabecs!

Really? I hope you are going to do a trip report so we can compare what we did!

Shushh - do you remember how you booked Ninja? I just tried to book online (they use open table for their reservations) and 6 is over their online booking limit. The actual Ninja site doesn't seem to have an email address available. I have just made a booking for 4 online and written a quick note in the "special requests" section which I hope they read I don't want to ring if I can avoid it - actually I might ring to double check once we are over there.