August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Joanne Hollyoak]

I have no idea about storing luggage for the day...maybe you could start a thread about it to ask?!

When I was growing up my Dad worked for JC Penney (a large clothing department store chain here in the US) so EVERYTHING we ever got came from JCP or from their catalog. Everything. If they didn't sell it we didn't get it!! I really do need to hold off a little bit now on my shopping. It's going to be realllly hard tho...ya'll are gonna have to smack my hands if I go out again!!


OK, now I have a question about Disneyland Paris...are their signs & stuff all in French or do they have some bilingual signage in English too?!

Hi you can download a map on the internet of the parks http://www.dlrpmagic.com/guidebook/disneyland-park/map/
We had no problems and found it very easy to get round as its not that big not like America.
Restaurant menus were all English all staff spoke French and English. The concierge in your Hotel will help you if you have any queries.
How many days are you staying at DLP for

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks guys. For some reason all of a sudden I got paranoid about everything being in French and I got a little panic attack. I don't know why. I just flipped for a minute. Sometimes I just feel like WHAT AM I DOING!? I can't leave Maryland!!! Who do I think I am?! So in looking at that map is BTM on an island?! How does the line work for that? How do you get there?! I really need to put some thought into what time we'll be done for the day so I can tell the transportation company what time to come & get us. I don't know if we should plan to eat dinner at DLP and then leave or if we should plan to eat in the city?! It might be less stressful to plan to just go after dinner huh?! About how long will it take to go back to the Cheyenne from the parks? 15 minutes? 30 minutes? Joanne - we are just spending our first 2 days and 1st night there then we're moving into the city for nights 2-4 so that we can have an easier time sightseeing on days 3 & 4. I considered schleping back & forth on the RER but didn't want to waste an hour commuting each way both days... PLUS DLP makes u buy those crazy length of stay park tickets & that irked me enough that I wouldn't do it - I'd rather move hotels. I just didn't want to pay for 5 days worth of tix.

Well, I guess Jeff is on his way to CA... Karen - hope you are having a good time in DC... Shareen is enjoying Egypt... Maybe I should see if DS wants to go to a movie or something tomorrow after the orthodontist?! Guess he should do SOMETHING on his spring break - I could spring for a matinee I guess. I'll have to go look at what's playing...

 

[luke]

The length of stay tickets (which aren't forced on you but are the default option when booking) are because people will go to DLP generally staying on site and all they'll do is DLP unlike in Orlando where there's so much more to do than Disney.

Ok two questions from your post too to answer.
1)BTM is on an island but the queue is not - the train goes under the water to get there - it's a great change to the WDW version.
2)The Cheyenne is about a 15 minute walk maximum. Out of the park, through Disney Village, past the hotel new York and the lake, then along another path. Have you ever stayed at Universal Orlando? It's a very similar walk to City Walk to the Royal Pacific

 

[mikki.young]

BTM in Paris is probably the best BTM anywhere! Fast start and fast finish!

I would eat in DLP but would suggest booking ahead. It will take a good hour to get into Paris by RER.

Walt's on Main street is a fascinating experience - olde worlde and lots of memorabilia. And of course Paris is the one place you can get alcohol with your meals in MK. Blue Lagoon overlooks Pirates ride but food is dependant on your taste. Silver Spur ok for steaks and texmex. Had good and bad meals there.

In the hotels only Disneyland Hotel has posh restaurant. In village Cafe Mickey is surprisingly good and you get lots of characters coming round.

Throughout DLP avoid fast food - the French don't understand the concept and it shows!

 

[luke]

See other than Annettes and the Rainforest cafe I've only ever eaten counter service. Sure it's expensive and not great but it serves a purpose. In all honesty I think all food and snacks as well as service pales in comparison to WDW

 

[Anal Annie]

The length of stay tickets (which aren't forced on you but are the default option when booking) are because people will go to DLP generally staying on site and all they'll do is DLP unlike in Orlando where there's so much more to do than Disney.

Ok two questions from your post too to answer.
1)BTM is on an island but the queue is not - the train goes under the water to get there - it's a great change to the WDW version.
2)The Cheyenne is about a 15 minute walk maximum. Out of the park, through Disney Village, past the hotel new York and the lake, then along another path. Have you ever stayed at Universal Orlando? It's a very similar walk to City Walk to the Royal Pacific

Thanks, Luke!

When I was thinking about using our DVC points to book there they told me that purchasing length of stay tickets was a requirement to stay onsite!! Then when I was looking at the DLP website I couldn't seem to find a way to get around not buying length of stay tickets. And no, not familiar with Universal at all. We always stay at Disney because of our DVC points. And haven't ventured over to Universal yet because we always buy an AP for WDW and feel we need to get our investment back by staying within WDW. We never rent a car in Orlando either with the DME being free. I would like to go over there sometime tho. ONE DAY...

BTM sounds coooool. Excited to ride it. Tho the one in WDW can hurt my back if I get knocked around much this one will be fun!!

BTM in Paris is probably the best BTM anywhere! Fast start and fast finish!

I would eat in DLP but would suggest booking ahead. It will take a good hour to get into Paris by RER.

Walt's on Main street is a fascinating experience - olde worlde and lots of memorabilia. And of course Paris is the one place you can get alcohol with your meals in MK. Blue Lagoon overlooks Pirates ride but food is dependant on your taste. Silver Spur ok for steaks and texmex. Had good and bad meals there.

In the hotels only Disneyland Hotel has posh restaurant. In village Cafe Mickey is surprisingly good and you get lots of characters coming round.

Throughout DLP avoid fast food - the French don't understand the concept and it shows!

Mikki - we have hired a transfer company (RS Transportation or something like that) to do all of our transfers. At first I was going to use the RER but then I didn't want to have to try to transfer trains with all of our luggage & stuff. I figured we'd look more like dysfunctional circus performers than a nice American family if we tried to use the train. It looked like we might have to transfer at Chatelet les Halles and I got freaked about it. We needed a way to get from CDG to DLP too and eventually a way to get back to CDG so by the time I added up all the train & bus fares & tickets it wasn't THAT much more to just book private transfers and not have to worry about it. The 3 transfers ended up costing us about $231 which I estimated might be about $50 more than if we tried to muddle thru with public transportation. Anyway, already paid for them - just hope they all go as planned. The one thing I have yet to do tho is to tell them what time we want to get picked up from the Cheyenne on Tuesday to move to our hotel in the city. I don't know what time we'll finish up at the parks. I think I initially just gave them a broad time of like 4:00 - 7:00 and told them I would let them know later exactly what time.

I didn't book any TS meals AT ALL at DLP. Several things went into that decision. First, I din't want to make any international phone calls to make the ressies and second is since our time there is so short I didn't want to have to be tied down to having to be anywhere at a certain time. I figured CS meals would be easiest. I hate making ADR's at WDW. I wish they didn't all have to be made so far ahead - we like to "wing it". Finally, I got freaked out about the prices. They wouldn't look so bad if the US dollar wasn't tanking so bad...but I estimated that we could easily end up spending somewhere between $150-200 for just one TS meal and we can't afford to do that. (The conversion rate is now up to 1.45 from the euro to the dollar!!) So CS food it will have to be at DLP. Kelly had posted a link once to some menus and I figured we'd just have to try to find some sort of sandwiches or croissants or pizza or something. 40 or 50 euro pp is just not in my budget. Must admit ya'll don't have me looking forward to any of our meals tho! I am starting to think I'm going to need to pack some food to bring with us! I think I will bring some nuts & crackers or something.

 

[mikki.young]

If desperate think there may be a mcdonalds in the village - at least they know how to do some kind of burger They are made to look good by the other counter service options! There is a CS place in the village that does croque monsiers (cheese and ham toastie french style) that is not bad but can't remember what it was called.

I was only thinking about RER if you wanted to go into Paris for a meal - transfers with luggage sounds like you have very well sorted.

I'll have to look at the rate for sterling to euro as I know I need some!

 

[MallenBeadle]

Just back from Mallorca catching up on things

 

[MallenBeadle]

Oops wrong button here goes again

Hi all finally back from Mallorca apologies for disappearing for a couple of weeks.

Annie - We have always used RS Transports to get from CDG to DLP and have found them really helpful, understanding and on time

In terms of restuarants if you use this link you can see menu's, reviews etc www.dlrpmagic.com/planning/dining. We also love Blue Lagoon but I guess it depends on your taste in food. Also Auberge de Cendrillon is DLP's version of CRT and in our opinion better (less rushed and more character interaction) but remember we have two DD's under 10, who both aspire to be Disney Princesses when they grow up (at the moment)

Again we also think BTM is great, beware Space Mountain the DLP goes upside down and is a much more serious roller coaster than its WDW equivalent. If you are into Tower of Terror the DLP one is slightly different from the WDW one.

Finally (and this is just our opinion) Fantillusion is well worth staying late if it's on when you are there.

Anyway time to start some serious cruise planning in the sunny North East of England, including booking the flights to Barcelona which we seem to have overlooked

Jon

 

[Anal Annie]

If desperate think there may be a mcdonalds in the village - at least they know how to do some kind of burger They are made to look good by the other counter service options! There is a CS place in the village that does croque monsiers (cheese and ham toastie french style) that is not bad but can't remember what it was called.

I was only thinking about RER if you wanted to go into Paris for a meal - transfers with luggage sounds like you have very well sorted.

I'll have to look at the rate for sterling to euro as I know I need some!

I think I read thru that menu - was it called New York deli or something?! I will look again - I thought those sounded yummy and were affordable! We may be living on them for a couple of days! I am bummed about this conversion rate with the dollar - it's really biting into my budget BIG TIME!! And our hotels that we haven't paid for up front are going to cost us a bundle too...I am HOPING that the darned rate drops some before we go. Back in January it was hovering around 1.38 and I thought that was bad. But 1.45 is REALLLLY bad!

Oops wrong button here goes again

Hi all finally back from Mallorca apologies for disappearing for a couple of weeks.

OK, you are forgiven BUT we need a full report on Mallorca please!! Was it wonderful? Did you have a good time?! Did you visit any beaches? Were you able to scout out anybody you would use for an excursion outside of DCL?! I'd really like more than 4 hours at a beach!!

Annie - We have always used RS Transports to get from CDG to DLP and have found them really helpful, understanding and on time

GOOD, GOOD, GOOD to hear!!! Another thing I'm glad that I've prepaid for now that the darned rates are so high!!

In terms of restuarants if you use this link you can see menu's, reviews etc www.dlrpmagic.com/planning/dining. We also love Blue Lagoon but I guess it depends on your taste in food. Also Auberge de Cendrillon is DLP's version of CRT and in our opinion better (less rushed and more character interaction) but remember we have two DD's under 10, who both aspire to be Disney Princesses when they grow up (at the moment)

That's cute you have princesses...I only have a snotty 14 yr old pirate with an attitude!! He is not so much fun to dress up now! Is there a way to book dining online at DLP like at WDW? I haven't really looked into it. I got worried about the cost...and didn't want to make an international call. Sigh. Am I making a mistake by not booking a TS meal?

Again we also think BTM is great, beware Space Mountain the DLP goes upside down and is a much more serious roller coaster than its WDW equivalent. If you are into Tower of Terror the DLP one is slightly different from the WDW one.

Finally (and this is just our opinion) Fantillusion is well worth staying late if it's on when you are there.

We love coasters! Space Mountain was DS's first "real" coaster and Aerosmiths Rock N Roll Coaster was his first "loop 'd loop". Our most FAVORITE one tho is Expedition Everest!! The first time DS rode TT he was about 6 I think. He didn't want to go again until about 3 days later then he LOVED it and wanted to go over & over. Just took him a couple of days to decide. He played TT with his window shade on the plane ride home! He would pull it down real fast & yell like there were people riding it. I'm sure the people around us were THRILLED!!! When / how can I find out about this Fantillusion? Is this like Fantasmic or Illuminations?! Is there a calendar out for summer yet? I guess I should go visit the DLP board some huh?!

Anyway time to start some serious cruise planning in the sunny North East of England, including booking the flights to Barcelona which we seem to have overlooked

Jon

Yes! You need to book your flights!! Are you coming in a day early?! That's always best if you can!!

Took DS to the orthodontist today. He had a limited amount of braces a couple years ago for a short time - and he ended up allergic to the metal (nickel) and his face got all swollen so we had to get them yanked out & replaced with plastic coated wires. He has always been VERY SLOW in losing his baby teeth. He had his 2 eye teeth pulled about 18 months ago to make room but the adult teeth still aren't in. Meanwhile in almost every case his adult teeth have come in before the baby teeth have fallen out so that he has 2 rows of teeth. Well, so now there are 2 more coming in & the baby teeth aren't even loose at all so we have to go get them pulled. They're just messing everything up. I got an appt. on Friday to go get that done. He is NOT happy with me. He will EVENTUALLY have to have braces again but not until we get rid of all of these baby teeth. There will still be 3 to go after these 2.

 

[MallenBeadle]

Fantillusion is their nighttime parade but is only shown at certain times during the year. The website implies it will be on in August. It's similar to Spectro/MSEP.

http://www.dlrpmagic.com/guidebook/disneyland-park/entertainment/disneysfantillusion/

Unfortunately I'm not aware of an online booking system like at WDW, we have always phoned them

Glad you are EE fans, I actually dragged the rest of the family to WDW during the soft opening of EE in 2006 just to ride it and get the opening celebratory lanyard. Pregnant DW was slightly less enthusiastic

We are looking to spend some time in Barcelona/surrounding area before and after the cruise depending on flight times and dates

We have some info on Mallorca and will workout how to share with people, but we were quite suprised how small the island was, it only took an hour in the hire car to get from the airport in the South to where we were staying on the Northern coast

We all had a great time, it was sunny and warm enough to spend time on the beach and in the pool for some chill out time as planned

The kids loved the kids club although DD1 dragged us around some Roman Ruins in Alcudia so she can take a report back to school

We didn’t do any organised trips but whilst planning the trip came across these recommendations

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTo...lma_de_Mallorca_Majorca_Balearic_Islands.html.

and used this website

http://www.majorca-mallorca.co.uk/index.htm

I quite fancy the train trip to Soller but not sure the kids would appreciate it, so if we do make it off the ship we will probably go to a beach.

Jon

 

[MallenBeadle]

PS : We hadn't told DD's about the DCL trip as we were going to surprise them unfortunately DD1 was looking at my laptop and saw our signature on here with the comment re DCL cruise in August and proceeded to run around manically and share the news with her sister - so much for the plan

 

[Kels Sem]

I think I read thru that menu - was it called New York deli or something?! I will look again - I thought those sounded yummy and were affordable! We may be living on them for a couple of days! I am bummed about this conversion rate with the dollar - it's really biting into my budget BIG TIME!! And our hotels that we haven't paid for up front are going to cost us a bundle too...I am HOPING that the darned rate drops some before we go. Back in January it was hovering around 1.38 and I thought that was bad. But 1.45 is REALLLLY bad!




Yes! You need to book your flights!! Are you coming in a day early?! That's always best if you can!!

Took DS to the orthodontist today. He had a limited amount of braces a couple years ago for a short time - and he ended up allergic to the metal (nickel) and his face got all swollen so we had to get them yanked out & replaced with plastic coated wires. He has always been VERY SLOW in losing his baby teeth. He had his 2 eye teeth pulled about 18 months ago to make room but the adult teeth still aren't in. Meanwhile in almost every case his adult teeth have come in before the baby teeth have fallen out so that he has 2 rows of teeth. Well, so now there are 2 more coming in & the baby teeth aren't even loose at all so we have to go get them pulled. They're just messing everything up. I got an appt. on Friday to go get that done. He is NOT happy with me. He will EVENTUALLY have to have braces again but not until we get rid of all of these baby teeth. There will still be 3 to go after these 2.

Oh Annie, your son's teeth sound exactly like mine when I was his age. i know he'll hate it now but he will thank you in the long run.

 

[Anal Annie]

We have some info on Mallorca and will workout how to share with people, but we were quite suprised how small the island was, it only took an hour in the hire car to get from the airport in the South to where we were staying on the Northern coast

We all had a great time, it was sunny and warm enough to spend time on the beach and in the pool for some chill out time as planned

The kids loved the kids club although DD1 dragged us around some Roman Ruins in Alcudia so she can take a report back to school

We didn’t do any organised trips but whilst planning the trip came across these recommendations

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTo...lma_de_Mallorca_Majorca_Balearic_Islands.html.

and used this website

http://www.majorca-mallorca.co.uk/index.htm

I quite fancy the train trip to Soller but not sure the kids would appreciate it, so if we do make it off the ship we will probably go to a beach.

Jon

I took a peek at your links...I have emailed the "contact us" link on the last site looking for suggestions on beaches and the best way to get to them. I would really like to be able to have a leisurely start to the day with a nice breakfast in Lumiere's before we rush off the ship and then about 5 or 6 hours for a nice family beach with restroom facilities, some sort of food & perhaps some snorkeling opportunities. I am afraid to try to just grab a taxi at the port and then not have an arranged ride back to the port. Palma Nova is probably a good choice but there may be others worth considering too - and at a savings over what DCL is charging just to ride a bus to & from.

That's cute about your DD's...they must be SOO excited...sorry they ruined your surprise!


Next subject...back to dining at DLP...can anybody tell me about any of the buffet restaurants? I was thinking those might be a better value than say Walts or something. Any in particular that any of you would recommend or avoid?!

 

[mikki.young]

Annie, have you heard of the Brits guide to Disneyland Paris? I have the 2010/11 edition because of my day trip last year. I was going to take it to the Disney Sale next weekend but I could post it out to you instead if it would be any help. it reviews all the dining places and rides etc. It mentions Agrabah buffet at about 20 euros a head which it reckons does good food.

 

[Anal Annie]

Annie, have you heard of the Brits guide to Disneyland Paris? I have the 2010/11 edition because of my day trip last year. I was going to take it to the Disney Sale next weekend but I could post it out to you instead if it would be any help. it reviews all the dining places and rides etc. It mentions Agrabah buffet at about 20 euros a head which it reckons does good food.

Do I sound like I am moving there or something?! That's really sweet of you to offer to mail it to me! Go ahead & sell it - I trust you & the other peeps to steer me in the right direction & to tell me if there's anything important to consider. The problem with the buffets is that there's not usually fixed menus to read thru online since the food changes. I was asking about Walts on the DLP board & then I looked at the thread with the pictures of the food & I thought the portions looked a little small for what we'd end up paying (could probably be about $175 for dinner with the current conversion rate). I am hoping to eat more like 3 meals for that much! So I started wondering if any of the buffets would be a better idea. They seemed like they may be priced more reasonable maybe.

 

[Anal Annie]

OK peeps...I just today remembered that I should price parking here at our airport at home! We usually use BWI (Baltimore) and use an off-site lot which is cheaper. But for this trip we're flying in / out of Washington-Dulles in Virginia. Their parking is a lot higher & there really aren't any off-site lots. I priced it out at $155 because it's $10 / day +$5 / hour if we go over a 24 hr. limit which we likely will because we'll need to allow about 30 minutes to get between the parking lot and the terminal. Then I started looking for shuttles / limos & they were about $160-180 to / from where we live. So I guess paying the parking for the airport lot is just as good of a deal...but it's a long schlep between the lot & the terminal so the one advantage with a car service or shuttle would be that it would literally be door to door. Some of them charge extra for waiting on you too so that would be my luck on our return that we'd have a delay getting our luggage or thru customs or something & then they'd start charging extra.

 

[mikki.young]

That's something I haven't looked at yet. I think in the back of my mind I am hoping one of our kind neighbours will take us to the airport as we are going to a relatively near one in East Midlands.

We are actually flying out on the Monday evening so will have 4 full days in Barcelona to explore. Choice of flights was Monday or Thursday so we went for the longer trip as we have not seen Barcelona before.

I'll take the book to the sale - if no-one wants it maybe we can reconsider I found looking at it ahead of time did help me plan what I wanted to do as my memory was a bit fuzzy.

 

[Goofygoof]

~Just a quick hello to everyone one from sunny Egypt temp seems to be same as Uk now which is good as we left dh behind due work commitments , still nice for us to spend some time with my parents even sis and nephew flying over from dubai this evng
hope everybody is enjoying their Easter break

 

[SharonL]

Hey, Just back from a week in Suffolk / Norfolk, how good has the weather been here in UK....fantastic

Now when does everyone arrive in Barcelona - are any of you arriving early enough to take advantage of a city tour full day for up to 6 people for 300 euros - or half day for 200 euros?

I have two days in Barcelona pre-cruise. Not planning any organised trips I will use the tourist bus which covers all the tourist sites and you can jump on and off or go round as many times as you like. Costs around £20 and/or the local buses or underground...much cheaper.

Hi we arrive on the sat morning so will go straight to the Port, coming back our flight is not till 21.00pm but are thinking about Barcelona zoo as not too far, does anyone know if there is anywhere to store suitcases at the port as can't check in bags at airport that early.

There is no where to store cases at the port, which is a pity. I believe the only place is the main line train station; not sure how you would get there from the port but if you Google sure you will find there is an underground or local bus to it; or jump in a cab would be easier with all your cases...you could then get the train back to the airport.

Busy weekend washing and ironing holiday clothes...boo hoo but will manage to fit in an Egg Hunt for DS. Can't believe how quick the school holidays have gone by, back to school next week (for only two days) before another long weekend. Hey Ho

Regards
Sharon