Long time no see..Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong trip in the planning!

[ehsmum]

Hi Everyone ,

I've been absent for awhile because I get too depressed to hang out on the Disboards when I don't have a Disney trip planned. But I'm back, because I'm planning!!

We are going to Europe December/January and will be spending Christmas at Disneyland Paris !! I'm so excited!! Oh, also, we're coming home via Hong Kong, so will have another visit to Hong Kong Disneyland as well!

So, just about 6 months out and I need to start planning!

We arrive in the UK 11th December after a couple of nights in Dubai and will be taking the Eurostar to Disney on 23 December. Planning 3 nights/4 days at Disney before heading into Paris and another 2 weeks travelling around France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany (hopefully, we haven't ironed out an exact itinerary yet and it might be too ambitious to try to do all of those countries in 2 weeks)! Then 4 days in Hong Kong 14-17 January.

Any tips, advice etc for EuroDisney much appreciated. I haven't barely even started to look yet so don't know if I need to prebook FP, ADRs etc. Excited to start planning though and catching up around here

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice to see you back! Hope the kids are well!

Congrats on having an awesome trip booked. I hope you sort out your itinerary in what you want to do with all those countries. I haven't done EuroDisney so I'll be learning from you!!

 

[ehsmum]

PIO! So nice to see you! I need to check out your trip reports to see what you've been up to in my absence . Kids are all great, thanks .Speaking of, they don't know about our trip yet. We want to surprise them but not sure how. I'd love to do the whole Mickey Mouse balloon arrives at the front door the night before telling them to pack their bags and come visit, but we're not going straight to Disney so that might be a bit odd. Also, they're all teenagers (or almost - 15, 13 and 11 presently - all will be a year older when we go). So need to think about that some more. i need to stop procrastinating and get planning! Will check out the Paris boards here and make a start

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Given the hugeness of the trip and being teenagers the kids might like a bit more notice than littlies or like to be involved in the Europe touring planning? That being said we did surprise DD with WDW for a graduation. Sounds amazing. We loved DLP, it's very pretty and lots of different experiences to the US parks; a lot more walk throughs too that are well worth doing. My TR is in my siggie. You may be overly ambitious to tick off that many countries at once, you can zip between them easily by train but I'd narrow it down to 2 or 3 and spend a bit longer in places so its not a mad dash and decide what you want to most see. Each country has so many destinations. Zanzibar's TR from Europe also has her experiences at DLP and some touring by train in winter. Happy planning!

 

[ehsmum]

Hi Wendy, I agree, I've always wanted to do the night before surprise but I think we've missed the boat on that one, should have done it a few years ago! We'll definitely be telling them in advance, but just have to figure out when/how. They all have birthdays in September/October so I was thinking of giving them all thermals/winter coats as a birthday present without any explanation (you might need them one day!) and then for the last birthday in October, tell them seeming as they all now have winter woollies, let's go use them! Or something like that.

Thanks for the heads up on yours and Zanzibar's TRs. I've been sifting through the TRs in the Paris forum but hard to find anything useful. I have discovered dlpguide.com though which looks like a fountain of info, so I'm going to lose myself on there this weekend . DH and I know Europe very well. We both lived there for years and it's where we met . So the problem is that we know and love so many places and want to take the kids everywhere! We'll be driving so a lot of the country visits may just be a drive through on the way to somewhere else. We need to find time to sit down and make a plan which has been difficult as we're never alone without at least one child hanging around :lol:.

 

[zanzibar138]

OMG that sounds so awesome! Totes jelly!

Sounds like you're all over Europe, so I won't bother to offer you any tips or suggestions for that part.

DLP is very much like DLR for touring style. They just have the plain old paper FPs, only for some attractions, and you don't need to book ADRs very much in advance. The only TS I was really interested in was Walt's on main street, and it was definitely worth doing. We booked it the morning of - had to eat a bit later (2pm I think), but it wasn't a problem getting in. However, over Christmas I'm going to guess it will be quite crowded, so you'll probably want to plan ahead a bit more than that.

It was snowing on our first day at the parks, and it was amazingly beautiful and magical. Add in Christmas decorations and there'll be some serious wow factor going on. However, it was pretty slippery - they don't seem to put grit out or anything - so be prepared for that. Also, you will find it EXTREMELY cold. We also went to Switzerland and Austria on our trip, and we were by far the coldest at DLP. It's open and you're out in it all day. A lot of the queues are mainly outside and, while I think it would be a great idea to install some outdoor heaters in those lines, management at DLP don't seem to agree with me. So make sure you really rug up. Also, I would pick one night to stake out a spot for Dreams and make sure you take extra coats and blankets that day. We staked our spots about an hour in advance one night, and nearly turned into icicles just sitting there waiting for it to start lol!

Have you decided where you're going to stay yet? It's kind of the opposite of US Disney trips where you might normally take a break in the heat of the afternoon. At DLP you might want to take an afternoon break to go back to the room and warm up! For that reason, at that time of year, it's probably worth staying as close as you can afford. There are a few shows at the Studios which are inside and good for a quick break to warm up too.

I can't remember if you've been to HKDL. That should be a great time of year for low crowds and temperate weather. If you're anything like I was on the way back from Europe, you'll be running around the water features in Grizzly Gulch in shorts and t-shirts lol! Don't forget to look at an AP for at least one person if you're looking at staying onsite.

Feel free to peruse my TR, which seems like it would have been pretty similar to what you've got in mind, in an abridged format (minus the UK) and at the end of winter instead of the middle.

 

[ehsmum]

Hi Zanzibar nice to see you! It's been nearly 20 years since DH and I left Europe and sadly we haven't been back yet, so please do offer any advice, especially any regarding travelling with kids. I'll be asking lots of questions as I know things have changed!

We haven't booked anywhere to stay yet. I was originally looking at airbnbs in Marne-La-Vallee but even though the accommodation will be reasonably priced, by the time we add in park tickets etc, we're probably better off booking one of the least expensive resorts. Not to mention the whole point of going 23 December is to spend Christmas at Disney, so we really should be going for the whole experience. An acquaintance spent Xmas 2008 at DLP and she has highly recommended Explorers Hotel. When I did a quote on the DLP site, it also gave me Explorers as the cheapest option. I still have a lot of research to do though.

I've spent the day reading Wendy's TR - which was absolutely awesome! Will get to yours soon and I think I saw that Toy Story had a Xmas in DLP TR too. I've spent a couple of winters in Europe so I know it's going to be freezing. That's my main concern actually, that the kids won't enjoy themselves because of the weather. Any recommendations of the best winter clothes and where to buy them would be appreciated! I have already been warned about the icy ground at DLP. I really, really hope it snows on Xmas Day!!

We did HKDL in April 2012 but I'm excited to go back as Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Manor were being built last time we were there. We will be staying with friends who live in Discovery Bay and will likely only do one day at the park. As it's the end of a whirlwind 5-6 week trip, the Hong Kong stay is to relax and visit with friends. Knowing me (and my kids) though, I'll bet that we go back for a second day at Disney .

 

[ehsmum]

Okay, so rough preliminary itinerary:-

9Dec - Perth - Dubai
9-11Dec Dubai (need to book apartment accommodation - any recommendations?). Safari, sight seeing, not sure what else.
11Dec - Dubai - Manchester. Lunch and afternoon sightseeing in Manchester, then drive to Liverpool
11-13Dec Liverpool. Beatles tour and Beatles Story Museum
13Dec Liverpool - Dublin. Looking at Ryan Air, just a little worried about the strict luggage rules. Don't know in advance how much luggage we will have.
13-17Dec - Ireland. Probably two days Dublin, one day Killarney, one day Galway.
17Dec - Dublin/Shannon - Birmingham. Visit with relatives in Birmingham
18-23Dec - London. So much to do, so little time! Must dos are the Harry Potter Studio Tour, Tower of London, Hampton Court, a West End show (I'm thinking about Elf the Musical although there's a lot to choose from). We'll also do some sort of country trip as I want the kids to see "pretty" England, not just big, smelly, dirty cities like Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and London . Thoughts at this stage are a day trip to Stonehenge/Windsor/Bath or maybe the Cotswolds.

Okay, be back with the rest, kids are getting restless..

 

[zanzibar138]

I'm probably not the best person to give you advice about travelling with kids lol! And we did all of our travel by train (I specifically picked accommodation that was less than a 10 minute walk from the main station in all of our destinations), so I can't really help with any driving tips.

We spent our 1st week going from France to Austria, then back through Switzerland. We started off with 1 night in Paris, then had 2 nights in Innsbruck, 2 nights in Lucerne, and 2 nights in Montreux (near Geneva) before returning for another 2 nights in Paris. It was great, but it really only gave us a small taste of each city, and if I had more time I would definitely choose to stay longer in each place rather than adding more places in.

If you're looking at Explorers, you should also check out other accommodation options in Marne la Vallee and Val d'Europe. Explorer's, while kid-friendly, is more 'good neighbour' than Disney, and still requires a shuttle bus. We really enjoyed our stay at Hotel l'Elysee in Val d'Europe, which also had a (free) shuttle bus, but was also just across the road from the train station, so you could always take the train instead if you just missed a shuttle or something. I didn't suggest it before because it's not a short walk, but if you're looking at somewhere with a shuttle bus anyway, just putting it out there

We survived the cold by layering up. I tended to start off with a thermal long sleeve skivvy, with a t-shirt on top, then a light polar fleece jumper, with my coat on top. You guys will probably need one or two extra layers. One thing we noticed was that everywhere inside was heated to within an inch of its life, so it works best if you can just remove your coat and be comfortable. For my legs I tended to wear thermal tights with either normal jeans on top, or some great jeans we got from Thomas Cook that had a fleece lining and waterproof coating! And nice thick woollen socks of course. Waterproof boots are also good (snow boots would be ideal, but hiking boots will do) if there is a lot of snow on the ground. Beanies, scarves and gloves were essential. I would also recommend those instant hand warmers you can get that go in your pockets. They would have been a real godsend while waiting in long lines, or staking out spots for parades and shows. A hot drink will do in a pinch though lol! Most of our clothes we got from outdoorsy type outlet stores (like Kathmandu). While it's still not cheap, it's good quality stuff. I bet there'll be some good specials around August/September on that sort of stuff.

How cool that you have friends who live in Discovery Bay! That will be a great end to your trip

 

[ehsmum]

I'm probably not the best person to give you advice about travelling with kids lol! And we did all of our travel by train (I specifically picked accommodation that was less than a 10 minute walk from the main station in all of our destinations), so I can't really help with any driving tips.

We spent our 1st week going from France to Austria, then back through Switzerland. We started off with 1 night in Paris, then had 2 nights in Innsbruck, 2 nights in Lucerne, and 2 nights in Montreux (near Geneva) before returning for another 2 nights in Paris. It was great, but it really only gave us a small taste of each city, and if I had more time I would definitely choose to stay longer in each place rather than adding more places in.

If you're looking at Explorers, you should also check out other accommodation options in Marne la Vallee and Val d'Europe. Explorer's, while kid-friendly, is more 'good neighbour' than Disney, and still requires a shuttle bus. We really enjoyed our stay at Hotel l'Elysee in Val d'Europe, which also had a (free) shuttle bus, but was also just across the road from the train station, so you could always take the train instead if you just missed a shuttle or something. I didn't suggest it before because it's not a short walk, but if you're looking at somewhere with a shuttle bus anyway, just putting it out there

We survived the cold by layering up. I tended to start off with a thermal long sleeve skivvy, with a t-shirt on top, then a light polar fleece jumper, with my coat on top. You guys will probably need one or two extra layers. One thing we noticed was that everywhere inside was heated to within an inch of its life, so it works best if you can just remove your coat and be comfortable. For my legs I tended to wear thermal tights with either normal jeans on top, or some great jeans we got from Thomas Cook that had a fleece lining and waterproof coating! And nice thick woollen socks of course. Waterproof boots are also good (snow boots would be ideal, but hiking boots will do) if there is a lot of snow on the ground. Beanies, scarves and gloves were essential. I would also recommend those instant hand warmers you can get that go in your pockets. They would have been a real godsend while waiting in long lines, or staking out spots for parades and shows. A hot drink will do in a pinch though lol! Most of our clothes we got from outdoorsy type outlet stores (like Kathmandu). While it's still not cheap, it's good quality stuff. I bet there'll be some good specials around August/September on that sort of stuff.

How cool that you have friends who live in Discovery Bay! That will be a great end to your trip

Thanks for all the tips! What are the hand warmer thingies? I'm intrigued!! I have been looking at Kathmandu, even with their sales it's so expensive! Not to mention that we have to buy 5 of everything! It has to be done though, there won't be any point in not being warm enough as nobody will enjoy the trip if we're freezing to death. I've had a bit of a look at a few places in the EFY sales but I think you're right, there should be more sales at the end of our winter.

I'll do a bit more research into DLP accommodation, thanks for the tips.

 

[ehsmum]

Okay, so rough preliminary itinerary:-

9Dec - Perth - Dubai
9-11Dec Dubai (need to book apartment accommodation - any recommendations?). Safari, sight seeing, not sure what else.
11Dec - Dubai - Manchester. Lunch and afternoon sightseeing in Manchester, then drive to Liverpool
11-13Dec Liverpool. Beatles tour and Beatles Story Museum
13Dec Liverpool - Dublin. Looking at Ryan Air, just a little worried about the strict luggage rules. Don't know in advance how much luggage we will have.
13-17Dec - Ireland. Probably two days Dublin, one day Killarney, one day Galway.
17Dec - Dublin/Shannon - Birmingham. Visit with relatives in Birmingham
18-23Dec - London. So much to do, so little time! Must dos are the Harry Potter Studio Tour, Tower of London, Hampton Court, a West End show (I'm thinking about Elf the Musical although there's a lot to choose from). We'll also do some sort of country trip as I want the kids to see "pretty" England, not just big, smelly, dirty cities like Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and London . Thoughts at this stage are a day trip to Stonehenge/Windsor/Bath or maybe the Cotswolds.

Okay, be back with the rest, kids are getting restless..

Okay, so the rest of the rough itinerary:-

23Dec - Eurostar London to Disneyland Paris
23-26Dec - DLP - no idea on accommodation yet
26 Dec - DLP - Paris. Either train or car hire
26-29Dec - Paris
29Dec - Paris to south of France somewhere. From here on we will hire a car (if we don't have one in Paris) and will drive the rest of the trip
29Dec - 1Jan - south of France. Will spend NYE on the Riviera, probably Nice or Cannes
1Jan - French Riviera - Italy
1Jan-13Jan - Italy, Germany. Maybe Switzerland and Austria. This is the part we have to whittle down. Must dos in Italy are Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice over maybe 5 days. We then have 8 days to do the rest
13Jan - Frankfurt - Hong Kong
14-17Jan - Hong Kong
17 Jan - Hong Kong - Perth

 

[zanzibar138]

The hand warmer things... um... a bit hard to explain lol! They're like little pockets of goo that you squeeze to activate. When you squeeze them you set off some sort of chemical reaction that produces heat, then you can stuff them in your pockets with your hands and it gets nice and toasty! I think they last for about an hour, and once they're done, you throw them out. Not sure if you can even get them in Australia, but they were pretty cheap in France when we were there.

Yeah unfortunately the good quality warm jackets are pretty pricey. Maybe you could try to find some second hand ones? Then you could re-sell them at the end of your trip if you don't think you'll get much use out of them in Australia.

5 days is going to be pretty rushed to get to all those places in Italy. I would spend some more time there since you've said they are must-dos. FWIW this is how I would round out the trip...

1st Jan - Nice to Florence
2nd Jan - Full day in Florence
3rd Jan - Florence to Rome via Pisa and the Italian coast
4th Jan - Full day in Rome
5th Jan - Full day in Rome
6th Jan - Rome to Venice
7th Jan - Full day in Venice
8th Jan - Venice to Innsbruck or Munich
9th Jan - Full day in Innsbruck or Munich
10th Jan - Innsbruck or Munich to Lucerne or Interlaken
11th Jan - Full day in Lucerne or Interlaken
12th Jan - Lucerne or Interlaken to Frankfurt
13th Jan - Depart Frankfurt

I would even be tempted to spend an extra night in the Innsbruck/Munich/Salzburg area, and just stay an extra night in Frankfurt, or one night somewhere in eastern Germany on your way to Frankfurt. Depends what you want to achieve though.

 

[ehsmum]

You're pretty spot on there with what we are thinking. Except we will probably have a couple of extra days in Germany. DH's family are German so he wants to spend more time there. It's so big though and the towns/cities he wants to visit are pretty spread out. So we have to think about that. We're definitely going to do either Lucerne or Lauterbrunnen though so we can take the kid up with Mount Pilatus or Jungfraujoch.

I like the sound of those hand warmer thingies! Will definitely look into those

 

[ehsmum]

PS Zanzibar - I've started reading your Europe TR and realise I've read it before! Will devour it for a second time though as I need as many DLP tips as I can get so I can start booking >

 

[zanzibar138]

If you're spending more time in Germany, and you're set on going to Lucerne or Lauterbrunnen, then I'd probably ditch Austria (as much as it pains me to suggest lol!).

 

[zanzibar138]

If you're spending more time in Germany, and you're set on going to Lucerne or Lauterbrunnen, then I'd probably ditch Austria (as much as it pains me to suggest lol!).

Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing you commenting that you were interested in it because you were thinking of doing a winter trip yourself one day lol!

 

[ehsmum]

Well we'd have to drive through Austria to get to Munich from Venice, so I'm thinking an overnight stay in either Innsbruck or Salzburg (my favourite!). Or another thought is to base ourselves in Munich for a week and do day trips from there to Salzburg, Lauterbrunnen, Heidelberg etc. Really need to find time to sit down with DH and make a plan!!

 

[zanzibar138]

I think basing yourself in Munich for a week sounds like an awesome plan

 

[Aussie Wendy]

You can buy hand warming thingies here-I actually nearly bought my dad ones that were built into knitted gloves at the newsagent for $3 last week but figured as one use not much point. I have also seen them from time to time at bargain discount stores. I would be buying anything I didn't think I'd use much again from op shops, especially for the growing teens - I had reason to go trawling through some recently and was surprised as always at the quality of stuff. I found a divine hand made in Vietnam silk lined suit jacket in a beautiful grey mix - if only it wasn't a tad too small, for $7, which I reluctantly passed up on. We have bought our DD and me cold weather clothes from op shops before but usually buy new thermal tops and leggings - that have lasted us for a multitude of trips, and decent hiking-grade light weight but warm polo fleeces. Kathmandu and Anaconda do a variety of ranges-sign up for both of their loyalty programs and watch out for sales at Kathmandu especially-again we have bought stuff 50% off at the end of our winter. Then there is always on-line shopping which we are not big on as neither DD nor I are very good at getting the sizing right.

Sounds like you know what you want to do in Europe so its just the detail in the planning. Basing yourself in one place for part of the time and doing day trips might be more relaxing within a big trip as Zanzibar suggests. I like the idea of surprising the kids with something not totally obvious for the trip for their birthdays and being very mysterious about it til you do the big reveal. For her surprise trip DD knew the length of time we'd be away and when and an indication of what sort of clothes she needed to pack (hot/cold/casual/good outfit etc) and then she was allowed to ask us one question a week or I gave her one piece of obscure info so she could try and guess the destination which she enjoyed and she got nowhere close-not til we were at the airport counter and then only the stopover San Fran as we told her that wasn't our end destination. Silly girl didn't even guess when we flew into Orlando til we got to the Disney Express counter!! I think one of the most confusing clues was I told her she'd be experiencing something like eight different types of transport but wouldn't confirm yes or no as she went through them (in practice something like a plane, tram in San Fran, train, bus, boat, submarine, raft, horse-drawn carriage, walking-I forget now). She confessed afterwards she guessed NZ as it fit the clues (which we went through and it did) as she never dreamed we'd take her all the way to the east coast of the US. Fun memories!

 

[ehsmum]

That sounds like such a fun surprise, Wendy! The op shops was one of the tips that I took away from your TR. I think that's a brilliant idea. I'm thinking we also may not buy too much in advance because we'll likely get better quality (warmer!) clothes over there. I'll pick up thermals, hats, gloves and a good coat each before we go. Kathmandu have 50% sale at the moment so I'm going to have a look at that. Boots will be a priority too. You are the second person that I've read took a tumble on the streets of Paris! A friend's 15 year old daughter slipped on an icy street running trying to beat the lights outside the Louvre. She fell and broke her arm and like your DH, her dad had to risk his life to try to stop the traffic from hitting her! Scary stuff! As we are not used to snow/ice and slippery roads, good boots are a must. There's nothing worse then cold, wet feet either!