City of Knights and Lights Trip report

[MJGirl]

I was on the June 29 London Paris ABD. If anyone is interested in a trip report, please check out my blog (see my address below). This includes all that we did, plus stuff my daughter and I did in our spare time.

 

[stenogoddess]

Your trip report/blog, convienced my husband! Thanks

 

[MJGirl]

Your trip report/blog, convienced my husband! Thanks

Glad I could help! Hope you enjoy .. I know I did!

 

[stenogoddess]

Hey MJ!

I know that you and your daughter did the med after your tour (so jealous BTW) I was wondering if many people in your group went to Disneyland Paris, if you know. I was thinking about doing that and was sort of looking around for some input.

Thanks!
Lauren

 

[MJGirl]

Hey MJ!

I know that you and your daughter did the med after your tour (so jealous BTW) I was wondering if many people in your group went to Disneyland Paris, if you know. I was thinking about doing that and was sort of looking around for some input.

Thanks!
Lauren

Hi Lauren ... There were some families that went on to DLP after the trip, and I believe that ABD took them to the train station, instead of the airport. The train takes you right there. After the cruise, I went to DLP from the airport. The bus was 16 Euros per adult and 13 Euros per child (3-11) - Each way! DLP is nice, but WDW is nicer. The lineups were shorter at DLP.

 

[stenogoddess]

Hey MJ!

I just finished your blog. Thanks so much for the effort to do that. I don't know if I would have been so diligent. As far as DLP goes, I've been doing some research and it seems like some of the familer rides that I know from WDW have been sort of taken to the next level. I saw where you rode some of them so I wanted to ask about that, if you have a sec. Space Mt goes upside down? I'm not sure I like upside down. I'm a bit of a scaredy cat. Does Big Thunder Mt. do anything different, like go upside down or down a Splash Mt. sized drop?? What about Pirates, I've read online where some of the kids are scared of the waterfall. Is it a big fall you go down or is it an actual waterfall that gets you wet? And I so wanted to ride the Indy ride!! And now I find out that it goes upside down too! I don't suppose you know of any ways to get over not liking to go upside down, do you? And I guess the Crush ride isn't cute clamshells going around either? I don't really know what it is, but from what I've figured out so far it's high thrills.

I went to the bookstore to try and find a Disneyland Paris book, but no one seems to have one. Did you have a book or just wing it? I wish I had a book, then I wouldn't feel so stupid with all my questions.

Anyway, thanks for all the info you can give me. I really, really appreciate it!

 

[MJGirl]

Hi Lauren .. I found that the roller coasters at DLP were a little more harrowing than those at WDW. Big Thunder Mountain is similar to WDW, however the other (Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Rockin' Roller Coaster, and Crush) all do go upside down. I love coasters so they were all fine for me. I did find Crush to be a bit scary at first. If the line wasn't so long, I would have loved to do it again and again! The drop at Pirates is fine, you only get a little splash, nothing that will soak you! I loved all the rides. The only complaint I had is that the entry to a couple of them was really dark, although, they wouldn't be so bad if there was a crowd. There was no lineup, so you were walking in the dark without the benefits of others around you. I hope this helps. The new Cars ride is cool, it is kind of like the Teacup ride. Also, the Alice in Wonderland Maze is cool too!

 

[yargrnhoj]

I was on the June 29 London Paris ABD. If anyone is interested in a trip report, please check out my blog (see my address below). This includes all that we did, plus stuff my daughter and I did in our spare time.

Mary Jane, we're considering doing this tour next fall. My daughter is only 6 now -- do you think there is enough to keep her from being bored? (She's been going to WDW since she was 5 months old, so travel is not an issue; just afraid of too much 'boring' adult stuff.

Thanks,
J. R.

 

[3pirates]

Mary Jane, we're considering doing this tour next fall. My daughter is only 6 now -- do you think there is enough to keep her from being bored? (She's been going to WDW since she was 5 months old, so travel is not an issue; just afraid of too much 'boring' adult stuff.

Thanks,
J. R.

Hey JR...I have no answer for you, but wanted to say hi! We must be on the same schedule...we're looking at doing the Italy one next year!

Take care...

 

[MJGirl]

Mary Jane, we're considering doing this tour next fall. My daughter is only 6 now -- do you think there is enough to keep her from being bored? (She's been going to WDW since she was 5 months old, so travel is not an issue; just afraid of too much 'boring' adult stuff.

Thanks,
J. R.

Hi J.R.

The youngest Junior Adventurer on our tour was 6 or 7 and he seemed to have a lot of fun. He didn't seem bored at all and the guides really kept him entertained. At Versailles there is a bike tour and I believe they have smaller bikes as well. I seem to recall there being a park nearby but I could be wrong. None of the kids seemed bored on our tour, or at least they didn't complain too loud if they were. The main thing to remember is there is a lot of walking. On our tour a guide always stayed at the front and one at the back, and there were a lot of head counting! Good luck and I hope this helps.

 

[lovegrumpy]

We plan on doing this in 2011. I so hope they still have this adventure. We plan on doing dlp plus throwing in Normandy. Now its of to read your trip report.

 

[dingoballs]

We plan on doing this in 2011. I so hope they still have this adventure. We plan on doing dlp plus throwing in Normandy. Now its of to read your trip report.

I was just wondering... why are you waiting until 2011 to go?

 

[KLondon]

MJ... Loved your blog account! We were on the same ABD tour, but ours started July 13. I've been meaning to post a good trip report, but so far I've only managed a few posts on my blog about our adventure.

For anyone bored enough to look, there are posts:

Here

And here

MJ's report has inspired me to provide a few more posts of my own, so hopefully they'll show up in the near future.

Finally, I noticed a few comments/questions in this thread to which I thought I would respond:

DLP is, indeed, a beautiful park - but it is quite small by WDW standards. As MJ has pointed out, the rollercoasters are more - ummm - interesting. But we had a ton of fun just-the-same.

We booked an extra night in Paris so that we could visit DLP. We took the train - station is a block from the hotel - and spent a full day at DLP. We obviously did not see every show, etc. - but if you're a WDW veteran you can certainly do a DLP blitzgrieg tour in a single day.

The Blue Lagoon restaurant at DLP is, indeed, impressive (see the DLP message boards). That said, the food and service are pretty awful. I'd avoid it.

This ABD tour does have a lot of walking. But some of the walking tours are optional. That said, *do everything* if you can! This was pretty much the best vacation we've ever had (and we travel a lot!).

We liked the ABD tour so much, we're probably going to do the Costa Rica tour this Summer. My wallet can't wait!

 

[MJGirl]

Hi KLondon ... Thanks for the kind words. I briefly looked at your blog and loved your account of the trip to Windsor Castle. I'm impressed you managed that on day 1.

I see you are a Dr. Who fan as well. I love the new series. Have you been watching Torchwood? If so, did you see the season finale on Sunday? It was great and I loved the last 5 minutes. I can't wait to see what happens next. The problem is the season starts in England on Jan. 16, which means we will have to wait 8 months or so ...

 

[stenogoddess]

KLondon: Great blog! I enjoyed reading about your trip. One of the reasons we decided on a tour is the driving aspect. I just didn't want any marital ******* about the car on our vacation! LOL

Also, Doctor Who is "our" show too! And I don't secretly have a crush on the Doctor, I think they can plainly see it from the next town over. I can't wait for the new season to start. Though from what I understand from the rumor mill we may be losing our Doctor to the stage. He's accepted the role of Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company. There was talk of a Who hiatus to allow him to come back, switching filming around, etc. Let's all hope for that! And btw David Tennant was also in Harry Potter IV in a small but well acted role. I'll stop here because I really could go on.........and on......and on.

 

[MJGirl]

Wow Lauren ... I didn't know that David Tennant was in HP4. I checked IMDB and now that I know who he played, I'll have to re-watch it on DVD. Thanks for the info. I don't know if you get Torchwood in the states, but it is really good as well. It has a lot more adult content in it, so if your kids watch Dr. Who, I would screen Torchwood first before letting them watch it.

 

[KLondon]

MJGirl - Yes, we've included Torchwood in our viewing list. While it started off kind of slow, we became big fans by series end. We await Series 2 eagerly! We also managed to catch the Dr. Who Christmas episode last month, so now we're desperate to see Series 4!

Stenogoddess - I won't give anything away, but Our Mr. Tennant won't be abandoning the Good Doctor just yet. Stay tuned!

Lastly, I'm trying to make good on my pledge to start posting some reports on our July 2007 trip to Europe - including the ABD London/Paris tour. The next installment is freshly-minted right here.

 

[MJGirl]

KLondon

Are you talking about the Runaway bride xmas special or the one wigh Kylie Minogue (sp?)? If you are talking about the later, then I missed it . Was it aired on CBC, or did you have a special dish and saw it on BBC America or online? Thanks.

 

[stenogoddess]

KLondon: Better keep going on your Blog, I can't wait to see how you enjoyed your ABD portion. I'm glad "our" Doctor isn't leaving us. I hate change. I'm still not used to Martha, and now she's off.

Did y'all see David T on the Graham Norton Show? Normally that show is too adult content for me, but I made the sacrifice and it was worth it. Torchwood, maybe I'll give that another shot. The first couple ones didn't pull me in, though I do like Capt. Jack. So far I've managed to miss the Chirstmas eppis. I try to tapes both SciFi (which shows the new ones) and BBCA (which shows the old ones, go figure) So far no Christmas ones. At least being a Whovian gives us something to look out for while in London on our trip. It would awsome to find a little Tardis to put on the desk when we get back.

 

[MJGirl]

At least being a Whovian gives us something to look out for while in London on our trip. It would awsome to find a little Tardis to put on the desk when we get back.

When I was in London, we had some personal time and my daughter and I walked down to Covent Garden. I can't say exactly where the store was, or what the name was, but there was a great comic book store that sold all kinds of Dr. Who memorabilia. I know this is not that helpful, but just so you know there is stuff out there, and if you are in Covent Garden, you can keep your eyes peeled!