Christmas Trip Report 12th to 15th Dec

[manicdave]

Myself my wife and our 2 kids DS3 and DD 4 traveled to Paris for our 4th trip in 2 years on Thursday.

Was a surprise for the kids, who found out at 4am when we woke them to drive to the airport.

Highs, Aerlingus - ill never use EasyJet/Airfrance after the 2nd time we went. Everything about Aerlingus is better. Better Terminal, easy with the bus connections, and for me just a better airline.

Christmas Dreams, wow, just wow. enjoyed the theme no end.

Wild West show. always thought this was silly money, but after you get used to the "aroma" great show, the kids loved it.

Very little time spent in a que, was great Thursday and Friday. Sunday was busy, but you expect that.

Steakhouse - great food and great service, even manged to get us in despite the hotel booking the wrong date for us.

Tree- what an amazing Christmas Tree. Stunning

Pizza Planet - Brilliant, food was ok, but being able to let the kids run riot while we had a sit down and a bit to eat, priceless.

Lows.

Not many

Disney have to ban smoking in the Parks, its getting silly. You have all seen it, its the same group of people in shiny jackets smoking in the que and at every door. its sick, there are Children in the park. BAN IT

New York Hotel. I just don't see the advantage in paying more to stay here. Had a plaza room. Was for me the same as the Newport Bay, where we have stayed a few times. Food not great in the New York, and breakfast, they are not sausages !

Not so much a low but,

Buzzlight Year, was on this about 10 times. My son loves it, but its always breaking down, and feels like its going to die any day now. Maybe its time to upgrade to the one they have in the states?

Crush, 4th trip and still the que is nuts for this. A single rider lane would be a great edition. still have not managed to get on this.

we are going to go back for Christmas again next year. But midweek for all our days there. Cant wait for the new ride, loos amazing from what we could see.

 

[lularose]

Welcome back, sounds like you had a lovely trip! Your kids must have been so excited when they found out where they were going!

I completely agree about the smoking, when I went last week I was sad to see so many parents smoking so closely to their children. Disney really should enforce the smoking areas because it really isn't very pleasant for other guests.

 

[tennisfan]

Welcome back

 

[HappyPanda]

Crush, 4th trip and still the que is nuts for this. A single rider lane would be a great edition. still have not managed to get on this.

Crush is closing for a longer than normal refurb in March and it's rumoured (or maybe even confirmed!) that they will be implementing the single rider queue then!

Nice to read your highs and lows - it sounds like you had a lovely trip!

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Welcome home..
Sounds like you had a great trip....agree about smoking...yeuck! Disagree about HNY....its my favourite!! Sausages are veal.....I like them but perhaps not to everyone's taste.

 

[kizzabel]

Myself my wife and our 2 kids DS3 and DD 4 traveled to Paris for our 4th trip in 2 years on Thursday.

Was a surprise for the kids, who found out at 4am when we woke them to drive to the airport.

Highs, Aerlingus - ill never use EasyJet/Airfrance after the 2nd time we went. Everything about Aerlingus is better. Better Terminal, easy with the bus connections, and for me just a better airline.

Christmas Dreams, wow, just wow. enjoyed the theme no end.

Wild West show. always thought this was silly money, but after you get used to the "aroma" great show, the kids loved it.

Very little time spent in a que, was great Thursday and Friday. Sunday was busy, but you expect that.

Steakhouse - great food and great service, even manged to get us in despite the hotel booking the wrong date for us.

Tree- what an amazing Christmas Tree. Stunning

Pizza Planet - Brilliant, food was ok, but being able to let the kids run riot while we had a sit down and a bit to eat, priceless.

Lows.

Not many

Disney have to ban smoking in the Parks, its getting silly. You have all seen it, its the same group of people in shiny jackets smoking in the que and at every door. its sick, there are Children in the park. BAN IT

New York Hotel. I just don't see the advantage in paying more to stay here. Had a plaza room. Was for me the same as the Newport Bay, where we have stayed a few times. Food not great in the New York, and breakfast, they are not sausages !

Not so much a low but,

Buzzlight Year, was on this about 10 times. My son loves it, but its always breaking down, and feels like its going to die any day now. Maybe its time to upgrade to the one they have in the states?

Crush, 4th trip and still the que is nuts for this. A single rider lane would be a great edition. still have not managed to get on this.

we are going to go back for Christmas again next year. But midweek for all our days there. Cant wait for the new ride, loos amazing from what we could see.

Welcome back. Glad you have a lovely time. Can i get more info on your experience with air France / city jet? We are about to book and its between air France (operated by cityjet) or aer lingus who we normally fly with. Thanks

 

[wiigirl]

Welcome back.

 

[manicdave]

Welcome back. Glad you have a lovely time. Can i get more info on your experience with air France / city jet? We are about to book and its between air France (operated by cityjet) or aer lingus who we normally fly with. Thanks

Sure no problem.

Cityjet is a business flight. I never understood why they booked kids going to onto these. Most of these people traveling for business have prebooked the seats so they have most of the say first 8 to 10 rows booked up. Now you arrive on with 2 kids and you send up beside some poor man or woman trying to read the paper or work for a meeting. Its not fair on either party. I have been on both sides. Its also hard when they start moving people to keep a family together. Personally i find the staff very cold on Cityjet.

On the airport side you have to be bussed to the plane in Dublin and you land at T2 i think it is in Paris. Also a bus ride to the terminal. doing that with two toddlers is not fun. Aerlingus T2 in Dublin into a tunnel and a tunnel in T1 in Paris.

Getting to the Bus in CDG is a tram ride from both locations so its much of a much, but the bus does stop beside T1 when you are coming back so that very handy.

They worst of T2 in CDG for Cityjet on the way back is you have to carry a buddy down 2 flights of stairs to get into the bus to go to the plane. Thats a nightmare.

I find booking Disney with Abbey Travel and Aerlingus Direct is cheaper.
I also find the staff on Aerlingus brilliant, they also arrange to get your buggy to the plane in Dublin, which is just a lifesaver.

Better choice of food on Aerlingus.

I always book seats and get row 1. only adds 40 quid to the trip and well worth it.

BTW i don't work for Aerlingus

 

[kizzabel]

Sure no problem.

Cityjet is a business flight. I never understood why they booked kids going to onto these. Most of these people traveling for business have prebooked the seats so they have most of the say first 8 to 10 rows booked up. Now you arrive on with 2 kids and you send up beside some poor man or woman trying to read the paper or work for a meeting. Its not fair on either party. I have been on both sides. Its also hard when they start moving people to keep a family together. Personally i find the staff very cold on Cityjet.

On the airport side you have to be bussed to the plane in Dublin and you land at T2 i think it is in Paris. Also a bus ride to the terminal. doing that with two toddlers is not fun. Aerlingus T2 in Dublin into a tunnel and a tunnel in T1 in Paris.

Getting to the Bus in CDG is a tram ride from both locations so its much of a much, but the bus does stop beside T1 when you are coming back so that very handy.

They worst of T2 in CDG for Cityjet on the way back is you have to carry a buddy down 2 flights of stairs to get into the bus to go to the plane. Thats a nightmare.

I find booking Disney with Abbey Travel and Aerlingus Direct is cheaper.
I also find the staff on Aerlingus brilliant, they also arrange to get your buggy to the plane in Dublin, which is just a lifesaver.

Better choice of food on Aerlingus.

I always book seats and get row 1. only adds 40 quid to the trip and well worth it.

BTW i don't work for Aerlingus

Lol are you sure!?!
We use the shared shuttle service from RS Transport so the bus isn't a factor for us and we are finished with buggies but if its a pain to get seats together I'll stick with aer lingus if its a similar price. AF/cityjet is coming in at ¬125 each at the minute and AL prices will be available next week but they've been on a steep rise the last year or two

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Welcome back, sounds like it was a lovely trip and a great start to Christmas!