June 5, 2016 - Magic Goes to England, Ireland, Scotland and France

[nzdisneymom]

We are still debating whether to fly home the day we get off the ship or wait until the following day. Right now we have reservations for a night at the Sofitel at Gatwick, but I don't want to end up just hanging out at the airport all day. I found this: http://www.visitsoutheastengland.com/gatwick/ideas-and-inspiration which may inspire us to stay the extra night and get out to explore a bit more of the area.

 

[pachy26]

Randy and Sandy from Atlanta here. Returned from a B2B2B on the Magic just a few weeks ago. We did the 2015 EBTA, Northern Europe, and Norway cruises. Had a great time. We will be doing a B2B on this cruise also, ending up in Copenhagen again. We are flying in to Heathrow on May 31 to visit some friends who live in the Colchester area. Planning on taking Disney transportation from Heathrow to Dover on the day of the cruise, unless we can find an alternative. We are looking forward to meeting all of you on Disboards, and then again on the ship.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Randy and Sandy, welcome to the group! I'm Cindy D, sailing with DH Gary and two sons who will be in the 18-20 group when we sail. We sailed B2B in the Med in 2013 and it was such a wonderful experience.

 

[Paul Graden]

My name is Paul Graden. My DD, Stephanie and I will be on this cruise, deck 7. This will be our 7th Disney Cruise - but the others have all been Caribbean, with the one exception being Alaska. We have been on all 4 ships and just got off the Fantasy from a 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise, which was wonderful.

This cruise will be a high school graduation present for my DD. She will be 18 by then, so she won't be occupied with Vibe activities. I am hoping that there is enough to see that she won't be bored being stuck with her Dad for 12 days.

We are thinking of flying into London a couple of days before the trip. She would love to see London (I think she expects to see Peter Pan on Big Ben). I hear that there is a train from London to Dover. Does anyone have any advice on this?

 

[Paul Graden]

Seems we have a lot in common nzdisneymom!!! Our family also did the Med and the Baltic, and we also did a 3 night pre-stay in London. Rode the London Eye, Toured Windsor Castle and Stonehenge one day, also saw the Tower of London. I'm trying to figure out what to do this time. London is an awesome city to visit, and I'd recommend at least 2 nights if possible for anyone who hasn't been.

I am taking my DD as a graduation gift. She really wants to see London. Any advice you can offer would really be appreciated.

 

[Paul Graden]

Some planning information you all might find useful for Dover:

1. Link to The White Cliffs Dover Hotel & Guest House Group which has various accommodations for Dover: http://www.stayindover.co.uk/accommodation.php - many won't start taking reservations until the fall, so mark your calendars if you want to try to stay in Dover.

2. Port of Dover and Cruise Terminal: http://www.doverport.co.uk/ - they don't go out to June 2016 yet, but there's good information about the terminal itself and links to area attractions. When we sail out of Port Canaveral, it's just a launching point, but when we do cruises from other places, we don't want to skip the embarkation port as a port of call. We missed Dover as a port of call in 2010 because we spent our time in London, but this time we're going to see Dover!

3. How to get to Dover Cruise Terminal by Train, Taxi, Air: http://www.doverport.co.uk/cruise/how-to-get-here/

The Pre-Cruise Arrival Guide that is available when you pull up your reservation on DCL also has information about how to get from Gatwick and Heathrow and Central London.

Thanks, that was very helpful!

 

[Paul Graden]

I bet they do this Frozen on the Day 10 Sea Day! How fun will that be? I hope they have it for us!

I hope that you are right. My DD would love it too!

 

[Paul Graden]

Anyone stayed in London before using DVC points. Would like a pre stay the night before to see the sights there

We are thinking of doing that for a night or two. Do you have any firm plans yet? It will be our first visit...

 

[Paul Graden]

Our wait list for Grosvenor pre-cruise came through at $1214 per room per night. No thank you.

Yikes!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

My name is Paul Graden. My DD, Stephanie and I will be on this cruise, deck 7. This will be our 7th Disney Cruise - but the others have all been Caribbean, with the one exception being Alaska. We have been on all 4 ships and just got off the Fantasy from a 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise, which was wonderful.

This cruise will be a high school graduation present for my DD. She will be 18 by then, so she won't be occupied with Vibe activities. I am hoping that there is enough to see that she won't be bored being stuck with her Dad for 12 days.

We are thinking of flying into London a couple of days before the trip. She would love to see London (I think she expects to see Peter Pan on Big Ben). I hear that there is a train from London to Dover. Does anyone have any advice on this?

Paul - welcome! We are just back from vacation so I'm catching up on the DIS. I'm Cindy D., traveling with DH (Gary) and two sons Nathan (19) and Zachary (18 when we sail). Like you are doing for your DD, this is Zachary's graduation trip. This will be the first time we have sailed with Disney with the boys since they aged out of VIBE activities and they are also a little concerned about how different it will be as they spent much of their time onboard with the VIBE groups. They do like to do some of the trivia and go to the movies but they are concerned about having a place to just hang out. I know DCL is doing a better job with the 18-20 group because so many that sail now in that age-range are like ours - grown up on the ships and now are suddenly in that in-between stage where they don't quite know what to do. At least this itinerary is pretty port-heavy and there will be a lot to see off the ship.

I am taking my DD as a graduation gift. She really wants to see London. Any advice you can offer would really be appreciated.

My advice is to get her involved in the planning, especially if it will be just the two of you - let her pick what she wants to do. We spent a few days in London a few years ago - DH would have been happy to spend 3 days in the British Museum (LOL). Zachary really wanted to see a show in the Theater District but we didn't get to do that (poor planning on my part). We did the hop-on hop-off double decker buses and found it to be worth the ride around. The Tube is really easy. Also this place is getting good reviews: http://skygarden.london/ as a free way to see more aerial views of the area.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We bought our airfare yesterday using a combination of SkyMiles and cash, so we're all set. We'll arrive on the morning of June 3rd and fly out the morning of June 18th.

We also cancelled our post-cruise stay at the Sofitel Gatwick through DCL and booked at the Hilton at Gatwick for about $70 less. We booked this hotel based on recommendations from some of this summer's DCLers who stayed there. They have some good rates for pre-purchase in addition to those that have full cancellation options. We chose the full cancellation option at this point in case something changes with our post-cruise plans. If they have a similarly good offer for pre-paid as we get closer, we may go ahead and do that.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We have our transportation arranged from Gatwick to Dover through Coastal Cars. If anyone else is arriving from Orlando to Gatwick on the morning of June 3rd and want to share, let me know and we'll see if we can expand the arrangements.

 

[MPS516]

Got back from Magic in Northern Europe last week and am just getting around to catching up here. We did 3 days in London (area) pre cruise and flew out of Heathrow the last day we returned to Dover. Did EC Minibus from Hilton to Dover, much cheaper than DCL transfer. We had a great time, and the one thing that I probably noticed the most was the people who expected Caribbean weather - sorry folks, just not so.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Got back from Magic in Northern Europe last week and am just getting around to catching up here. We did 3 days in London (area) pre cruise and flew out of Heathrow the last day we returned to Dover. Did EC Minibus from Hilton to Dover, much cheaper than DCL transfer. We had a great time, and the one thing that I probably noticed the most was the people who expected Caribbean weather - sorry folks, just not so.

Welcome back! I've been following various people who were cruising in June to get an idea of the weather - we have been so blasted hot lately that we'll be very happy for cooler, milder temperatures next summer!

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

Got back from Magic in Northern Europe last week and am just getting around to catching up here. We did 3 days in London (area) pre cruise and flew out of Heathrow the last day we returned to Dover. Did EC Minibus from Hilton to Dover, much cheaper than DCL transfer. We had a great time, and the one thing that I probably noticed the most was the people who expected Caribbean weather - sorry folks, just not so.

How was your experience overall with EC Minibus?

 

[nzdisneymom]

booger73 has a great therad with tips for the Norway/Iceland/Copenhagen/Dover itineraries from this summer - some may be helpful for us here. Here's the link, but if you don't want to scroll through, I'm copying the info below the link for easy access.

http://disboards.com/threads/norway...over-tips-consolidated.3254799/#post-51045376

Kirkwall, Scotland
Official tourist website: http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/info/towns-villages/kirkwall-p238491

Dover, England
Official tourist website: http://www.whitecliffscountry.org.uk/Home.aspx
Port of Dover website: http://www.doverport.co.uk/
Wiki Travel guide: http://wikitravel.org/en/Dover_(England)
Getting from LON (LHR) to Dover by train (thanks bats): http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51064027&postcount=25
Accessibility in the UK: http://www.inclusivebritain.com/
Dover's train station is "Dover Priory" or DVP

Hotel discussion thread (DIS) for London, England: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3371174

 

[MPS516]

How was your experience overall with EC Minibus?

They were real good, right on time and a nice clean van. The driver was very personable and pointed out things on the way out of London. He had water for us, which we didn't actually need and was not crazy in and out of traffic like we would have in New York or DC. We will likely use them again if we fly into Heathrow for this trip. Currently we are shopping our options coming from Dublin or Belfast since we will be spending a week in Ireland prior to the cruise.

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

They were real good, right on time and a nice clean van. The driver was very personable and pointed out things on the way out of London. He had water for us, which we didn't actually need and was not crazy in and out of traffic like we would have in New York or DC. We will likely use them again if we fly into Heathrow for this trip. Currently we are shopping our options coming from Dublin or Belfast since we will be spending a week in Ireland prior to the cruise.

Thanks! My next planning item is finding a way to get to Dover from London so I appreciate the info!

 

[gydell]

Thanks! My next planning item is finding a way to get to Dover from London so I appreciate the info!

We are using coastal cars out of Kent to get yo Dover. They were recommended by our B&B.

 

[Alohagirl73]

We too are using Coastal Cars from our hotel to Dover!