August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Anal Annie]

MAN!! This cough is certainly making the rounds!!! This sounds exactly like how DS started...cough first...then slight fever which broke after a day but the cough persisted. I am still running the vaporizor in his room at night...per doctors orders. I may stop after another night tho. He was on 3 different steroids at the hospital at one point!! Jeff - I hope your DD is doing better!!

Karen - try some of the Mucinex DM stuff if there's a dose available for his age! If there's phlegm you want to loosen it up so he can cough it up!! I don't think the Delsyum does anything but suppress the cough. Both the doc at the hospital & his pediatrican said the Mucinex was good stuff...but said to use it just at night. They said not to suppress during the day. LOTS of water!! Advil & Motrin - both good to ease discomfort.

If he starts having a hard time breathing go get him checked out!!! Keep us posted!!


On another note....anybody see the thread about the Sept. 3 Med cruise?! DCL has SOLD it out to a private company for a private cruise!! All of those peeps are being displaced to other Med cruises! It brings back memories of what they did to us back in the beginning! Perhaps we'll gain some new cruisers out of it tho.

 

[Kels Sem]

Yeah, I was reading the thread and I feel really sorry for them that really sucks and shame on Disney but I suppose at the end of the day they are there to make money! I would hate for that to happen to me especially when it's not lat far away now.

Karen - I hope your DS is feeling better.

 

[west&east]

Thanks for the support cruise buddies! My poor DS finally fell asleep last night about 9pm after a day of constant barking. The tylenol with codeine finally helped him sleep. He did improve today. His breathing was better but he still coughed most of the day even with steroids and cough medicine. I am really hoping he'll wake up better tomorrow and can go to school!

I haven't been reading any of the other boards lately. Anything directly affecting our trip? I can't believe nobody has joined the roll call- in how long?

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi peeps! What's going on on this fine Groundhog Day (Kelly & Luke - it's a US thing)! http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41384041?GT1=43001. I SAY if good old Punxsutawney Phil is WRONG that we catch him & make some spicy BBQ out of him!!

Still wondering if we'll pick up a few more displaced peeps from that Sept. 3 cruise. I've seen where some are just trying to move their dates back by 1 week tho...guess for them it makes more sense not to change dates any more than they have to...

I've started researching a little more about DLP / getting around...started wondering if we should plan for some sort of shuttle service there rather than trying to rely on the RER? Any recommendations from our peeps over there???? I am ready to finish this planning!! Who do you use??? I checked a few...want a good deal BUT want someone reliable for what they all cost!! Opinions? Ezyshuttle between CDG and DLP and rstransports.com from DLP into the city??

Karen...Jeff...how are the kiddos by now???

 

[luke]

Thanks to Bill Murray I know what Groundhog Day is

For transfers to DLP we use the 'official' VEA bus. It's €17 per adult each way (it was last time I used it, probably more now), not sure about kids. From CDG to DLP is pretty good and reliable, but from DLP to CDG is in my experience awful but shouldn't effect you if you're going to Paris, which I'd recommend just the RER to Chatalet Les Halles station. The journey from CDG to DLP is about 40 mins so not too bad

Did you book your DLP hotel yet?

 

[west&east]

Good morning, mates. I'm home with DS for day 4 of the cough-a-thon. I called the doctor yesterday and they said to bring him back in today if he's same or worse. So back we will go in a couple of hours. The poor guy is so worn out from coughing. The stars had lined up for DH and me when both kids got invited for sleepovers Friday night. We were planning an early Valentines Day date night, but now it looks like we'll be home with DS. Oh well.

Hope everyone has a great day.

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks to Bill Murray I know what Groundhog Day is

For transfers to DLP we use the 'official' VEA bus. It's €17 per adult each way (it was last time I used it, probably more now), not sure about kids. From CDG to DLP is pretty good and reliable, but from DLP to CDG is in my experience awful but shouldn't effect you if you're going to Paris, which I'd recommend just the RER to Chatalet Les Halles station. The journey from CDG to DLP is about 40 mins so not too bad

Did you book your DLP hotel yet?

Thanks, Luke! I have not booked anything yet for Paris. But I am very close to doing it. I really wanted to get some feedback from DH about what I'm doing but he's been busy at work & has been GRUMPY this week so I haven't pushed discussing details with him. I booked a non-refundable rate at the Novotel in Barcelona but it was just one night and only came to $145 USD (they already charged my card). I was thinking of booking the same kind of non-refundable rate at the Hotel du Pantheon too but it's more like $710-715 (180 euro / night). Wasn't sure if they were going to charge my card NOW too or if they would do it in August. I have tried to email them a couple of times but I get an error on the email address on their website. Their next best rate is 20 euro more per night (so about $80-84 more for the 3 nights). I really want the best deal I can find but am not wanting to necessarily spend the $700 RIGHT NOW if you know what I mean. Any thoughts from my other peeps about booking non-refundable rates?!

I have priced the ezyshuttle, rstransports and one other service (I forget the name now). Ezyshuttle is 70 euro for the 3 of us from CDG to DLP and 80 euro to use them again to go from DLP into the city...so roughly I would need to budget about $200 USD for these 2 transfers. I am leaning toward not using the RER to go from DLP into the city with the luggage. But I think I'm going to be shocked at how much we will end up spending on stuff like this (taxis & shuttles between our time in Paris & Barcelona) so I want to be prepared & build it into what we need to budget for. Worst thing (for MY planning anyway) is that most of these shuttle services want to be paid in cash...I'd rather use credit cards so I don't have to have all this cash & don't have to mess with exchanging USD for euro. I know a lot of people say just go to an ATM machine but for one thing I don't want to be bothered with HAVING to do that all the time and for another...it means we have to actually have the cash on hand in the bank first!! So I kind of sort of want to find shuttles that I can just pay ahead of time with PayPal or with a credit card & then just deal with tips once we're there. What kind of percentage is customary for tips to drivers over there??? Here it is probably 20% I think. I know tipping expectations can be different between here & Europe.

 

[Anal Annie]

Good morning, mates. I'm home with DS for day 4 of the cough-a-thon. I called the doctor yesterday and they said to bring him back in today if he's same or worse. So back we will go in a couple of hours. The poor guy is so worn out from coughing. The stars had lined up for DH and me when both kids got invited for sleepovers Friday night. We were planning an early Valentines Day date night, but now it looks like we'll be home with DS. Oh well.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Group hug for you & your DS!! I know how that coughing can wear on them...DS had sore stomach muscles & I think even his back was starting to bother him. Keep us posted - hope the doc has good news for you!!

(PS) thanks for reminding me about Valentines Day! I had forgotten about it!!

 

[Anal Annie]

NEXT QUESTION!!!!

OK, so who (Kelly / Luke ) can help me figure out how much money to budget for meals at DLP and in Paris and then for Barcelona?? Will basic lunches run 10 euro pp? Or can we eat for less?? How about dinners (moderate - good but not fancy)?! 20-30 euro? (gulp!) If it costs 12-13 euro to add a breakfast at most hotels how much is a REAL meal going to be?! To ME breakfast should be the cheapest meal of the day...but now that I think about how much all the hotels want to charge pp for breakfast I am worried about how much lunches & dinners will run!!! HERE I would probably plan for $100-125 (72-91 euro) per day for meals for the 3 of us...but can we do that in Europe?? Should I allow for more???

Then what about our lunches off the ship all week? Jeff?? Any thoughts on that since you just went thru this last year?? Did you do all DCL excursions last time that included lunches? We are planning to go on our own some days... Not sure what to expect to spend for a nice lunch in Italy or Nice?!

 

[luke]

Here is the VEA shuttle I mentioned, would be €54 for three of you CDG-DLP, and you buy your tickets online with a credit card and print it out
http://www.vea-shuttle.co.uk/
For this you definitely wouldn't tip the driver. For taxis and things a small tip is usually customary but us Europeans are nowhere near as generous tippers as Americans, mainly as the jobs that 'require' tips are actually paid properly as opposed to them living from tips.

For meal budgets, DLP at least, a counter service meal is around €12 ish (sure makes WDW look cheap in terms of price, quantity and quality) but I'm not sure about table service meals as we've never done one really except the likes of rainforest cafe and Annettes Diner - they sure are not cheap tho especially with the exchange rate as it is.
There is a DLP menu site about somewhere I think.
Paris will be costly unless you stick to the usual chains or find a small bargain somewhere - again not helped by the euro rate.
Barça should be cheaper than Paris and DLP but the exchange rate problems still persist.

Just realized I'll have to get dollars and euros for this, how odd that feels!

 

[Kels Sem]

When we went to DLP we used a private transfer service but the company I used also do a shuttle service payment is by credit card. If I were you I would probably look at one of these options or Luke's suggestion. The reason being if you used the RER from airport to DLP you will still be about a 15-20 min walk to your hotel.

Hotel breakfast prices are usually on the high side but I'm sure in Paris you go find a cafe near your hotel that you could eat in. I intend to do this in Barcelona post cruise. The night we stay pre-cruise I have booked breakfast at the Novotel as we will be heading to the Port!!

Having never been to Paris before I can't comment on eating out prices but I can imagine it will be expensive. In DLP I can't really remember but definitely not cheap! I think a major reason why Justine cancelled the cruise was because the cost of everything at DLP really put her off and as Luke has said the exchange rate is against us. Well the pound to euro anyway.

I think you probably will be charged upfront if you book a non refundable rate for your hotel in Paris. You said that you were charged for the Novotel however I wasn't and I booked a flexible rate.

 

[Kels Sem]

Annie - there is a website called DLRPmagic.com under the planning section you will find menus with prices for all the restaurants and counter service places. It will give you an idea what to budget for meals.

 

[Anal Annie]

Here is the VEA shuttle I mentioned, would be €54 for three of you CDG-DLP, and you buy your tickets online with a credit card and print it out
http://www.vea-shuttle.co.uk/
For this you definitely wouldn't tip the driver. For taxis and things a small tip is usually customary but us Europeans are nowhere near as generous tippers as Americans, mainly as the jobs that 'require' tips are actually paid properly as opposed to them living from tips.

For meal budgets, DLP at least, a counter service meal is around €12 ish (sure makes WDW look cheap in terms of price, quantity and quality) but I'm not sure about table service meals as we've never done one really except the likes of rainforest cafe and Annettes Diner - they sure are not cheap tho especially with the exchange rate as it is.
There is a DLP menu site about somewhere I think.
Paris will be costly unless you stick to the usual chains or find a small bargain somewhere - again not helped by the euro rate.
Barça should be cheaper than Paris and DLP but the exchange rate problems still persist.

Just realized I'll have to get dollars and euros for this, how odd that feels!

Thanks, Luke! That link was a great help - It appears that the VEA doesn't even start running until 8:30 am... We land at 5:45. I am not sure how long it will take for us to clear customs & get our luggage (since we aren't familiar with the whole international flight thing) but I am hoping we're ready to head over to DLP way before 8:30!! So I suppose hiring a private or shared shuttle would be a better idea. The shared shuttle with rstransport would be less money (49.4 euro). I have not confirmed what time they start running in the morning yet tho. I am emailing them to ask.

RE: what meals are going to cost! WHOA! Me thinks I will be packing a couple boxes of pastries & doughnuts to bring for our breakfasts in Paris + some crackers & granola bars for snacks!!! I am feeling so poor all of a sudden!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Annie - there is a website called DLRPmagic.com under the planning section you will find menus with prices for all the restaurants and counter service places. It will give you an idea what to budget for meals.

Thanks - I will definitely check that out!! I am getting

 

[Anal Annie]

Annie - there is a website called DLRPmagic.com under the planning section you will find menus with prices for all the restaurants and counter service places. It will give you an idea what to budget for meals.

Thanks Kelly!! This will be so helpful!! I've added this to my favorites so I can refer to it again & again! SOOO now...who has any recommendations on where to eat / where to avoid for us!? For instance how is the food at Hakuna Matata or Market House Deli?! (Market House looked like it had reasonable prices maybe.) Do you have any must do places we should try to hit? I am not sure if we want to attempt a TS meal...I really don't think I want to mess with trying to make a dinner ressie. I think this is going to be a play it by ear kind of trip & I don't want to HAVE to do anything, KWIM?!

(PS) is Coca-Cola Light what we call Diet Coke????

 

[Anal Annie]

Good morning, mates. I'm home with DS for day 4 of the cough-a-thon. I called the doctor yesterday and they said to bring him back in today if he's same or worse. So back we will go in a couple of hours. The poor guy is so worn out from coughing. The stars had lined up for DH and me when both kids got invited for sleepovers Friday night. We were planning an early Valentines Day date night, but now it looks like we'll be home with DS. Oh well.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Hey Karen! Any news on DS?! Hope the doc helped and he's on the road to recovery!!

Need to go grocery shopping today. I hate, hate, HATE that chore!! Going to a neighbors on Sunday evening for a Super Bowl party...gotta figure out what to make for that... It's been so cold I think I may get the stuff to make a big old pot of homemade vegetable beef soup for next week.

 

[Kels Sem]

Thanks Kelly!! This will be so helpful!! I've added this to my favorites so I can refer to it again & again! SOOO now...who has any recommendations on where to eat / where to avoid for us!? For instance how is the food at Hakuna Matata or Market House Deli?! (Market House looked like it had reasonable prices maybe.) Do you have any must do places we should try to hit? I am not sure if we want to attempt a TS meal...I really don't think I want to mess with trying to make a dinner ressie. I think this is going to be a play it by ear kind of trip & I don't want to HAVE to do anything, KWIM?!

(PS) is Coca-Cola Light what we call Diet Coke????

I found that website really useful as well when I was planning our trip.

I really don't have much recollection of the places we ate. I don't think we ate in the parks except for 1 counter service meal which served food a bit like mcdonalds but double the price We eat in Disney village and went to Chef Mickey's, Planet Holywood & Rainforest Cafe and McDonalds. These are the ones I remember so sorry not much help.

Yes I think Coke Light is the same as Diet Coke.

 

[luke]

There's also a Starbucks in Disney Village and Earl of Sandwich is due to open in about May I think

 

[Anal Annie]

I seriously doubt we'll be doing any fancy meals off the ship. I am feeling so broke already! The cruise fare is seeming like it's a REAL BARGAIN now, especially since we booked so early (and with our re-booking discount it was an especially nice price)!! Earl of Sandwich would be good...although now that I looked over some of those menus I am thinking that I could just live on croissants for the week!! Yummmm!! I love croissants!!

OK, so I have been emailing back & forth with a couple of these shuttle companies in Paris and I am patting myself on the back just a little bit!! I asked one of them (rstransport) if we used them for all 3 of the transfers that we need to do (CDG to DLP then DLP into Paris then Paris back to CDG) if they would offer any discounts! I figured it couldn't hurt to ASK, right? (I didn't see a way to price multiple trips on their website.) Anyway, we went back & forth several times with emails as they wanted dates, times, number of persons, exact hotels / addresses etc. and they answered me back a short time ago with some discounted prices for the 3 transfers!! 55 Euro for the CDG to DLP one, 70 euro to go from DLP into the city and then 45 euro to go from the city to CDG! I thought that sounded pretty reasonable compared to some of the other prices I was getting. Plus a lot less hassle than dragging ourselves & our luggage around train stations & stuff!! Would we really save THAT much if we stuck to the RER?! I still need to confirm it with them but I don't see why not.

I also re-visited the Hotel du Pantheon's website to read their terms. It appears if I am reading it correctly that they will charge us in full at the time of booking REGARDLESS of which rate we book!! I was surprised to read that. So I guess if that's the case then I need to check my credit card balance & suck it up & book it. But I really don't like that. At the same time I kind of don't want to look for another hotel again either.

OK, where's Jeff been this week?! Hope Karen checks in later too...

 

[Anal Annie]

Daily bump!