Cyrano
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2004
Day 1 6th July were heading for Disneyland, whose turn to be sick!
Cast members
Me Disney fanatic - I stomped through Disneyland Paris in 1997, since why come to a theme park when youre in Paris, yes really!
Diane (DP) Long suffering Disney widow, buts loves it all anyway
Morgan (DD) 7 year old Disney fan. Favourites BTM, Pirates of the Caribbean
Jack (DS) 5 year old Disney, Star Wars and Power Rangers fan. Favourite Autopia
Robyn (DD) 3 year old Disney fan. Loves parades and Casey Jr
Were up at 4.30am and after showering wake up the kids.
Breakfast, pack the car and we are ready to head of at 5.45am. Jack does not eat anything and announces that he is feeling sick as we are getting ready to leave.
We travel with a tub for most of the journey, as Jack is determined we have to go to Disney but does not look forward to the car and flights.
Arrival at the airpark 1 hour later and the heavens have opened Wait 5 minutes for next courtesy bus as the previous one only had space for 3.
BMI flight departs on time and is uneventful. Thankfully cases are booked in and we wont see them till CDG. Fayre on the flight is pannini ham & cheese toastie.
We had a couple of hours to kill at Heathrow before the next leg of the journey to CDG.
Lunch was planned to be something nice to start off the holiday, but as Jack availed himself of one of the BMI travel bags the rest of us had to settle for a takeaway kids meal from Burger King.
We arrive at CDG 10 minutes late, but that is not too much of a problem - or so we thought.
Our hire car was a Renault Scenic booked through AVIS on-line with 3 car seats (2 boasters and a child seat). AVIS have a peculiar system. They wait until you arrive and after completing the paperwork phone for the car to be delivered from the storage area, rather than have it waiting for you. When the car arrived the child seat cannot be fitted as there are no instructions and we can find no method of anchoring it in place. The staff says they are not allowed to fit seats; presumably in case there is an accident. But since we are getting frustrated, one of the staff members decides that the best method is to wrap the seatbelt as many times around the car seat to make it work. At this stage I spot that the harness is fitted at the lowest level for a newborn definitely Robyn is not big but at 3 we would be pushing it for her to fit. They phone for a replacement seat to be delivered. After a time a seat arrives and the supervisor tries to fit it for us, but admits defeat. We spot that one of the harnesses does not have a buckle to go in the clip so have to wait for a third seat to be delivered.
Diane fits this one.
In all, we are in Terminal 1 CDG car park for over an hour. Kids, mum and dad by this time had lost all the magical feeling of where we were heading. I dont tend to fallout with people easily but when pushed the Glasgow Keelie come out in me
They offer us discount on the seat hire (we are 84 for the 3 seats) so we will have to wait until the credit card bill comes in to see how apologetic they were.
We had a fear of getting lost inside CDG and spending days trying to get out, but with the directions from www.disneylandparis.com we arrived at Davy Crockett ranch within 30 minutes.
Check in was quick and easy. A nice CM explained all the attractions, the keypad barrier entry and gave us maps of the village (is this new) and Disneyland park, along with details of Val deurope and Sealife centre. Our cabin was 1534 and on the Coyote Trail.
Our earlier plan was for me to go to Auchan and buy some food, wine essentials while Diane unpacked and then off to the Village for supper. But as it was now 7.00pm and we had been on the go for 14 hours we decided to stay at the Ranch. We headed off for a quick explore and then off to the Crockett Tavern. By now Jack was hungry as he had not eaten all day. So he went for a favourite of spag bol while the girls went for fish and chips. We both had Davy Crocketts. A frying pan dish of half a chicken and help yourself to potatoes, chips, corn on the cob, green beans and bread. Since the car had been safely parked for the night we enjoyed a carafe of red wine.
3 County Bears arrived about 8.00pm, although they were not that good at going round the tables but our seasoned campaigners prevailed and got the autograph of one.
A quick look around the shop and we head back to the cabin and the troop are sound by 9.00pm.
We are here but until we get to the park will not feel like we have arrived.
More tomorrow.
Cast members
Me Disney fanatic - I stomped through Disneyland Paris in 1997, since why come to a theme park when youre in Paris, yes really!
Diane (DP) Long suffering Disney widow, buts loves it all anyway
Morgan (DD) 7 year old Disney fan. Favourites BTM, Pirates of the Caribbean
Jack (DS) 5 year old Disney, Star Wars and Power Rangers fan. Favourite Autopia
Robyn (DD) 3 year old Disney fan. Loves parades and Casey Jr
Were up at 4.30am and after showering wake up the kids.
Breakfast, pack the car and we are ready to head of at 5.45am. Jack does not eat anything and announces that he is feeling sick as we are getting ready to leave.
We travel with a tub for most of the journey, as Jack is determined we have to go to Disney but does not look forward to the car and flights.
Arrival at the airpark 1 hour later and the heavens have opened Wait 5 minutes for next courtesy bus as the previous one only had space for 3.
BMI flight departs on time and is uneventful. Thankfully cases are booked in and we wont see them till CDG. Fayre on the flight is pannini ham & cheese toastie.
We had a couple of hours to kill at Heathrow before the next leg of the journey to CDG.
Lunch was planned to be something nice to start off the holiday, but as Jack availed himself of one of the BMI travel bags the rest of us had to settle for a takeaway kids meal from Burger King.
We arrive at CDG 10 minutes late, but that is not too much of a problem - or so we thought.
Our hire car was a Renault Scenic booked through AVIS on-line with 3 car seats (2 boasters and a child seat). AVIS have a peculiar system. They wait until you arrive and after completing the paperwork phone for the car to be delivered from the storage area, rather than have it waiting for you. When the car arrived the child seat cannot be fitted as there are no instructions and we can find no method of anchoring it in place. The staff says they are not allowed to fit seats; presumably in case there is an accident. But since we are getting frustrated, one of the staff members decides that the best method is to wrap the seatbelt as many times around the car seat to make it work. At this stage I spot that the harness is fitted at the lowest level for a newborn definitely Robyn is not big but at 3 we would be pushing it for her to fit. They phone for a replacement seat to be delivered. After a time a seat arrives and the supervisor tries to fit it for us, but admits defeat. We spot that one of the harnesses does not have a buckle to go in the clip so have to wait for a third seat to be delivered.
Diane fits this one.
In all, we are in Terminal 1 CDG car park for over an hour. Kids, mum and dad by this time had lost all the magical feeling of where we were heading. I dont tend to fallout with people easily but when pushed the Glasgow Keelie come out in me
They offer us discount on the seat hire (we are 84 for the 3 seats) so we will have to wait until the credit card bill comes in to see how apologetic they were.
We had a fear of getting lost inside CDG and spending days trying to get out, but with the directions from www.disneylandparis.com we arrived at Davy Crockett ranch within 30 minutes.
Check in was quick and easy. A nice CM explained all the attractions, the keypad barrier entry and gave us maps of the village (is this new) and Disneyland park, along with details of Val deurope and Sealife centre. Our cabin was 1534 and on the Coyote Trail.
Our earlier plan was for me to go to Auchan and buy some food, wine essentials while Diane unpacked and then off to the Village for supper. But as it was now 7.00pm and we had been on the go for 14 hours we decided to stay at the Ranch. We headed off for a quick explore and then off to the Crockett Tavern. By now Jack was hungry as he had not eaten all day. So he went for a favourite of spag bol while the girls went for fish and chips. We both had Davy Crocketts. A frying pan dish of half a chicken and help yourself to potatoes, chips, corn on the cob, green beans and bread. Since the car had been safely parked for the night we enjoyed a carafe of red wine.
3 County Bears arrived about 8.00pm, although they were not that good at going round the tables but our seasoned campaigners prevailed and got the autograph of one.
A quick look around the shop and we head back to the cabin and the troop are sound by 9.00pm.
We are here but until we get to the park will not feel like we have arrived.
More tomorrow.