Dimplenose
Stranger from the outside
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2002
- Messages
- 5,956
I hope this isn't too long and boring, but we had such a good trip I wanted to share it.
Disneyland Paris
23rd to 25th January 2003
The Prologue
A joke remark to a work colleague led to her, myself and our daughters (aged 9 and nearly 6) planning a 2 night trip to Disneyland Paris to coincide with 2 inset days which, unusually, fell on a Thursday and Friday.
Fortunately our husbands agreed and our sons (one each!) weren't too miffed at having to go to school while we played. So we booked tickets to go on the Eurostar (via Lille, unfortunately) and to spend 2 nights at the Newport Bay Club.
The Journey
So early on Thursday we caught a train at our local station (full of commuters - one of whom put my bag on a rack then moved seats so the four of us could sit together, chivalry isn't dead!) to get to Waterloo.
I was impressed with the Eurostar part of the station at Waterloo. We had coffee and then made ourselves comfy until our train was called. I was very nervous at this point at the thought of 20 minutes under the Channel (I don't like going from Waterloo to Embankment under the Thames and that just takes moments!).
We soon were called for our train and found our seats. The journey to Lille was uneventful and I'm glad to say the tunnel bit wasn't at all scary but I was surprised that my ears "popped" at the beginning. We arrived in Lille 10 minutes late and nearly forgot to get off the train as we couldn't see the platform on our side. Luckily we realised in time and didn't end up in Brussels.
Lille is a very dull station. We had 45 minutes to kill here and we spent it just wandering up and down waiting for our platform number to be announced. Once the train arrived we found our seats were in a little compartment at one end of the carriage - perfect for travelling with children. An hour and a quarter later at our 3rd stop (CDG airport) we found we were sitting in the wrong carriage when the rightful owners of the seats got on. So we struggled up the train with our bags to the right seats, which were rather cramped, but as we were getting off soon it didn't matter.
The Arrival
We arrived at Marne la Vallee and seemed to be the only people getting off. We wandered out to the bus stop and didn't have to wait long for a Newport Bay bus.
We arrived at the hotel at 2:15 - a very bad time as the room wouldn't be ready until 3pm. We put our luggage into the bag store and decided we'd explore the hotel and wait for our room rather than sort it out later. The hotel had a nautical theme, reminiscent of the Yacht and Beach Club hotels at WDW. It also seemed a bit shabby, but there was a team of decorators working during our stay so I suppose it was being sorted out. We also booked our breakfast times while we waited.
We went back to reception just before three and were given keys. We had requested a non-smoking room but when we got to our room it was very, very smokey. We requested a room change but were told that was all that they had and could they spray it for us. When we insisted that we changed room they conceded and issued new keys.
The new room was a lot better although the view was bad but we didn't intend spending a lot of time there anyway. We found the safe didn't work properly so we bagged up our valuables and train tickets and left them in a safety deposit box at the concierge desk.
Once our bags were retrieved we made our way to the park.
The Park
We took a walk along the lake to the Disneyland Park. This was my first visit to Disneyland Paris and I was very impressed with what I saw. We arrived in Main Street at 4pm just as Mickey's boat came along for the parade. It couldn't have been better timing. The "crowds" were one deep and in places non-existent. We had a great view of the parade and my daughter danced with the Alladin dancers at one point. My friend's little girl was too shy of the characters to go with them.
After the show a lot of the visitors started leaving the park. We made our way to Phantom Manor. There were only 6 people in the stretching room (including us). This was fun, but maybe would have been creepier if I'd understood the commentary. We had a wander round the graveyard afterwards.
Next we went on Thunder Mountain the adults taking it in turns to look after my friend's daughter who although tall enough didn't want to ride. This was a wonderful ride especially as it was on an island in the middle of the lake.
We wanted to go on Pirates but as neither girl wanted to try we left it for later when we'd have a chance to persuade or bribe them! We started looking for somewhere to eat but a lot of the places we fancied were either shut or only served lunch.
We had tea at Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost. This was very good value, especially the kid's meals.
We then went to Fantasy Land. We rode Dumbo, the Carosel and Peter Pan all with no wait. The park was eerily quiet now and very dark. The paths were lit but the lights were not strong. My daughter decided she'd like some popcorn but all the stalls in the park were closed. We started to wander down Main Street to find a snack but everywhere was running low or closing. Then without any planning on our part the Electrical Parade was announced. Again the crowds were very thin so we just stood and watched. It was beautiful especially when the castle twinkled with lights. I'd seen Spectromagic during both my visits to Florida but I'd not seen the Main Street Electrical parade before.
After the parade we browsed through the shops then wandered out of the park. We walked through the Village and had a look in the shops there. We then found a crepe stall that also sold popcorn. So we bought crepes for the adults and popcorn for the girls and wandered back to the hotel via the lake.
We were all very tired, it had been a long day and we'd done far more than we'd expected. We set the alarm as we had breakfast booked for 8:40 and went to bed.
Disneyland Paris
23rd to 25th January 2003
The Prologue
A joke remark to a work colleague led to her, myself and our daughters (aged 9 and nearly 6) planning a 2 night trip to Disneyland Paris to coincide with 2 inset days which, unusually, fell on a Thursday and Friday.
Fortunately our husbands agreed and our sons (one each!) weren't too miffed at having to go to school while we played. So we booked tickets to go on the Eurostar (via Lille, unfortunately) and to spend 2 nights at the Newport Bay Club.
The Journey
So early on Thursday we caught a train at our local station (full of commuters - one of whom put my bag on a rack then moved seats so the four of us could sit together, chivalry isn't dead!) to get to Waterloo.
I was impressed with the Eurostar part of the station at Waterloo. We had coffee and then made ourselves comfy until our train was called. I was very nervous at this point at the thought of 20 minutes under the Channel (I don't like going from Waterloo to Embankment under the Thames and that just takes moments!).
We soon were called for our train and found our seats. The journey to Lille was uneventful and I'm glad to say the tunnel bit wasn't at all scary but I was surprised that my ears "popped" at the beginning. We arrived in Lille 10 minutes late and nearly forgot to get off the train as we couldn't see the platform on our side. Luckily we realised in time and didn't end up in Brussels.
Lille is a very dull station. We had 45 minutes to kill here and we spent it just wandering up and down waiting for our platform number to be announced. Once the train arrived we found our seats were in a little compartment at one end of the carriage - perfect for travelling with children. An hour and a quarter later at our 3rd stop (CDG airport) we found we were sitting in the wrong carriage when the rightful owners of the seats got on. So we struggled up the train with our bags to the right seats, which were rather cramped, but as we were getting off soon it didn't matter.
The Arrival
We arrived at Marne la Vallee and seemed to be the only people getting off. We wandered out to the bus stop and didn't have to wait long for a Newport Bay bus.
We arrived at the hotel at 2:15 - a very bad time as the room wouldn't be ready until 3pm. We put our luggage into the bag store and decided we'd explore the hotel and wait for our room rather than sort it out later. The hotel had a nautical theme, reminiscent of the Yacht and Beach Club hotels at WDW. It also seemed a bit shabby, but there was a team of decorators working during our stay so I suppose it was being sorted out. We also booked our breakfast times while we waited.
We went back to reception just before three and were given keys. We had requested a non-smoking room but when we got to our room it was very, very smokey. We requested a room change but were told that was all that they had and could they spray it for us. When we insisted that we changed room they conceded and issued new keys.
The new room was a lot better although the view was bad but we didn't intend spending a lot of time there anyway. We found the safe didn't work properly so we bagged up our valuables and train tickets and left them in a safety deposit box at the concierge desk.
Once our bags were retrieved we made our way to the park.
The Park
We took a walk along the lake to the Disneyland Park. This was my first visit to Disneyland Paris and I was very impressed with what I saw. We arrived in Main Street at 4pm just as Mickey's boat came along for the parade. It couldn't have been better timing. The "crowds" were one deep and in places non-existent. We had a great view of the parade and my daughter danced with the Alladin dancers at one point. My friend's little girl was too shy of the characters to go with them.
After the show a lot of the visitors started leaving the park. We made our way to Phantom Manor. There were only 6 people in the stretching room (including us). This was fun, but maybe would have been creepier if I'd understood the commentary. We had a wander round the graveyard afterwards.
Next we went on Thunder Mountain the adults taking it in turns to look after my friend's daughter who although tall enough didn't want to ride. This was a wonderful ride especially as it was on an island in the middle of the lake.
We wanted to go on Pirates but as neither girl wanted to try we left it for later when we'd have a chance to persuade or bribe them! We started looking for somewhere to eat but a lot of the places we fancied were either shut or only served lunch.
We had tea at Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost. This was very good value, especially the kid's meals.
We then went to Fantasy Land. We rode Dumbo, the Carosel and Peter Pan all with no wait. The park was eerily quiet now and very dark. The paths were lit but the lights were not strong. My daughter decided she'd like some popcorn but all the stalls in the park were closed. We started to wander down Main Street to find a snack but everywhere was running low or closing. Then without any planning on our part the Electrical Parade was announced. Again the crowds were very thin so we just stood and watched. It was beautiful especially when the castle twinkled with lights. I'd seen Spectromagic during both my visits to Florida but I'd not seen the Main Street Electrical parade before.
After the parade we browsed through the shops then wandered out of the park. We walked through the Village and had a look in the shops there. We then found a crepe stall that also sold popcorn. So we bought crepes for the adults and popcorn for the girls and wandered back to the hotel via the lake.
We were all very tired, it had been a long day and we'd done far more than we'd expected. We set the alarm as we had breakfast booked for 8:40 and went to bed.
