DREAMing, some MAGIC and a little bit of Paris! Trip report link!

[pas130]

I wish I would not have to cross the pond to get to WDW and my favourite cruise ships.

I wish that for you too

I REALLY love your room!!!

 

[dizneeat]

I wish that for you too

I REALLY love your room!!!

Ah, you are too nice!
The room was lovely, even though we were not happy with the bed situation.

 

[dizneeat]

Okay, sticking with the news theme .........


Our cruise docs came today! Makes it feel so much closer

AND

we are under 1 month from our vacation. 30 more days and we'll be on the way to the US again. ​

 

[Teri1]

Okay, sticking with the news theme ......... Our cruise docs came today! Makes it feel so much closer AND we are under 1 month from our vacation. 30 more days and we'll be on the way to the US again.

Won't be long! How wonderful you get to cruise again soon!

 

[pas130]

Ah, you are too nice!
The room was lovely, even though we were not happy with the bed situation.

Very true, didn't even consider..ugh that's what I get for reading too quickly LOL. Two beds are always better than one...dh loves having a bed to himself..at home even when I am at work the pup takes up our king

 

[scottny]

We really like flying Lufthansa. And the other issue is that we like to fly out of our home airport and since it is tiny there is not much choice.

We used to stay at the Santa Fe for years, then ventured to stay offsite and have now found a nice little villa resort that gives you a whole house with all the amenities. Makes a lot more sense for us as we like to self cater.
But if we stay for very short trips or special occasions we really like the NY. But it is on the more expensive side.

It is pricey but might choose NY. I am also looking at the Radisson outside the grounds and Holiday Inn. It will only be 1 night so don't need anything fancy.

As for your flights from Venice to Paris - be aware that here in Europe one way flights can often be FAR more expensive than round trip tickets. So don't rule out buying a round trip ticket and just forget about the flight back.

Easyjet is the cheapest I have found so far. One way $73 euros. Not bad. I will do that too.

When are you going to Paris? I guess it will not be the height of summer. We will be there next August for 10 days.

We arrive the 30th of September.

If you need any recommendations for hotels (there are good neighbour hotels) at DLRP, just let me know. The most economical on property is the Santa Fe. It is quite nice and just a 15 - 20 minute walk from the parks (easy walk and very scenic going past the Cheyenne, Sequoia and NY and through Disney Village). On property gives you EMHs in the morning (not many rides, but you get a fairly empty park) and Disney transportation.
For offsite (good neighbour) look at the Kyriad. They all offer free breakfast.

I have been looking at off site property. I will look up the one you mentioned. it is only me going to Disney as everyone else stays in the city.

Thanks for help.

 

[englishrose47]

Oh Scott I am jealous // you going to Paris !!

 

[dizneeat]

Won't be long! How wonderful you get to cruise again soon!

Can't believe that in four weeks from now we will already be on our way to Orlando!
We just heard that Captain Gus will be on the Dream then. You must just love him, as he really loves those Mickey whistles.

Very true, didn't even consider..ugh that's what I get for reading too quickly LOL. Two beds are always better than one...dh loves having a bed to himself..at home even when I am at work the pup takes up our king

We are just so used to having our own beds. Sometimes we just have to share, like at the Southernmost in Key West, but if I have a chance I really want both of us to have our own bed.

It is pricey but might choose NY. I am also looking at the Radisson outside the grounds and Holiday Inn. It will only be 1 night so don't need anything fancy.

The NY is very convenient as it is only a brief walk away from the parks. The Radisson is quite a way away and transport from offsite hotels (NOT the good neighbour ones) is sometimes pretty patchy.
The Holiday Inn is nice, but I think I'd rather stay at the Kyriad.

Easyjet is the cheapest I have found so far. One way $73 euros. Not bad. I will do that too.

I looked it up and yes it comes up pretty cheap - but please keep in mind that you need to pay for luggage and to reserve a seat. Some of these low cost carriers have really narrow seating, so Tom and I usually choose to sit in one of the rows with more space between rows - these are extra too.

We arrive the 30th of September.

This means we are missing you by around 6 weeks. Where else in Europe are you visiting?

I have been looking at off site property. I will look up the one you mentioned. it is only me going to Disney as everyone else stays in the city.

Thanks for help.

I think I was talking about the Kyriad. We have stayed there a few times and it was always nice. Their breakfast buffet is quite nice as well and it is included in the price (usually).

 

[eandesmom]

Can't believe that in four weeks from now we will already be on our way to Orlando! We just heard that Captain Gus will be on the Dream then. You must just love him, as he really loves those Mickey whistles.

We love Captain Gus!!!!

 

[dizneeat]

We love Captain Gus!!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 2, January 4
Christmas is still in the air ……- Part 1

We had an 8.30 breakfast time, so we decided to sleep in until 7am, then got up, got ready and packed up whatever things were still out. All the luggage was placed in one spot and then it was finally time to head downstairs for breakfast.
When the elevator doors on the ground floor opened we were shocked at how busy the hotel already was. People were lining up for character pics and it was hard to pass them by. We were surprised to see both main restaurants, the Manhattan restaurant and the Parkside Diner open for breakfast. Not knowing that we could choose which restaurant we wanted to go to we followed the family ahead of us to the Manhattan restaurant. At the entrance we waited to be seated and were finally led into the restaurant and seated at a smaller table to the side. I really liked the place setting





with a nice paper New York scene placemat. And once we had taken a photo of it we went right to the buffet.
We got ourselves some



coffee, Hot Chocolate and



orange juice before we went and picked up some food. Now, the buffet has hot and cold offerings and we went straight for the hot buffet. Not that it was overly large, but there were scrambled eggs, bacon, breakfast potatoes and small veal sausages. We both filled our plates,





got some tomatoes to add a bit of colour and some rolls and



butter, and headed back to our table. Last time we had been the food had been barely seasoned so this time I had put on some salt without even tasting anything.
Thank god I didn’t overdo it, as this time the food had been seasoned. We sat down and started to indulge in the breakfast food we had in front of us. Plates cleaned, Tom decided to get himself another plate of



savoury, this time cold breakfast items, some cheese and cold cuts and some rolls, while I felt more like finishing off my breakfast with something sweet. So I got myself



a “pain au chocolate”, a chocolate croissant and a regular croissant with some apricot jam.
We both enjoyed our choices very much, together with a second helping of drinks. Once we had finished our breakfast we walked through the small store and then over to the front desk to ask how our room swap would be handled. A cast member looked it up on the computer, then told us that we were to leave our luggage in the room and that our new room would be rather after 3 o’clock.
Oh fun ……. you did not read my reservation and now I won’t have a room for half of the day. But we did not say anything since we wanted to go and explore the parks in the morning and go and do some shopping at Auchan in the afternoon anyway.
When we walked away from the front desk I remembered something I had wanted to try and change as well. Our next day’s breakfast assignment. We had received a card that gave us access after 9.30 and we had actually planned on trying to get to the parks earlier. So I turned around, but there were now three people waiting in line and I didn’t want to queue up again. So we went over to the Concierge and asked if they could help.
They could, but the only card THEY had left was for 7.30. It was perfect – it would allow us to have breakfast between 7.30 and 8am! The Cast Member there was really very helpful, so in return we handed her some of our Merci chocolates. The smile on her face was more than worth it.
So then we went back to the room, checked for forgotten items and packed our valuables into our carry-ons, which we then took with us and locked in the car. We were allowed to keep our keys until we returned, so once the carry-ons were in the car we were free to leave for the parks.





It is just a few steps over to the baggage check at the entrance of the Disney village and I got pretty irritated again. They have some of those scanning devices like they have at the airport and while people with camera bags and handbags queue up, they are just waving people with strollers, loaded with bags through without checking THEIR bags. It is something that really angers me every time I see it happen and I see it happen a lot.
Okay, rant over, we got in line and had our bags scanned, then headed inside the Disney Village.



You go past the Café Mickey and while walking by we saw the characters interact with the diners. Once we were past we noticed the construction fence we had seen the day before in front one of the stores and were surprised to read that a Lego Store would open there in the near future. We were in no hurry as we no longer go to the parks to get on a lot of rides, but for the atmosphere and if we can fit in a ride or two, it’s an added bonus. There are lots of shops to check out and they had some new merchandise,



so we took our sweet time to stroll through them.



At the end of the village is the new World of Disney store, which we had to pay a visit to as well.



Then we finally walked over to the Disneyland park.







We usually use the entrance to the far right of the Disneyland Hotel, but this time, once we arrived we were diverted to the main entrance. Thankfully there were not too many people and we were inside the park with very little wait.





The decorations were awesome. We stopped and took them in before walking under the train station and onto the Main Square.







And we were stunned again, lots of decorations, beautiful decorations above Main Street and a brand new Christmas Tree with lots of fun pieces of decoration.

​

To be continued .....

 

[Leshaface]

Breakfast looks delicious!

Even though your were going to be out and about at the parks, it still stinks knowing your 'homeless' for half a day. But glad that you were able to change your breakfast time for the following day!

Wow the park is so gorgeous all decorated! Okay i'm trying to wrap my head around this. There are two entrances. Like California Adventure? Or is the other entrance very extravagent like the main entrance? Hope this makes sense

 

[dizneeat]

Breakfast looks delicious!

Even though your were going to be out and about at the parks, it still stinks knowing your 'homeless' for half a day. But glad that you were able to change your breakfast time for the following day!

Wow the park is so gorgeous all decorated! Okay i'm trying to wrap my head around this. There are two entrances. Like California Adventure? Or is the other entrance very extravagent like the main entrance? Hope this makes sense

Breakfast is included in the price of your stay and this one is actually quite nice - I did remember to take pics of the buffet the next day, so stay tuned.

It really irked me that we would not be able to get into a new room until the afternoon, but at least we were going to have two beds. Having the sofa bed out kind of "filled the room".

We loved all the Christmas decorations and the tree was awesome. They did have a tree lighting ceremony and it was just awesome to see the lights change colour with the music. Disney at its best.

Now, the entrances ...... there is the Disneyland Paris main entrance, which you will reach by walking past the ticket booths under the Disneyland Hotel. It you go to the far right of the hotel there is a little side entrance to Disneyland Park as well. It is usually less crowded there, so we always try to sneak into the park there.

 

[MEK]

I just love seeing DLP. That Disneyland Hotel is just so stunning. I can't imagine how wonderful it looks in person. I'm glad you didn't have to wait long to get inside the park. Yup - the bag scan thing would irritate me too!

 

[jenseib]

Wow...those decorations look fabulous!!!!

 

[pas130]

The decorations are awesome! It's funny how similar but different DLP is to DL in Cali Very neat, thank you for all the pics. That is really thoughtful of you to give the CM chocolates for her help. I am sure she LOVED them! AND you'll be back "home" soon (well your U.S.A. home anyway)

 

[dizneeat]

I just love seeing DLP. That Disneyland Hotel is just so stunning. I can't imagine how wonderful it looks in person. I'm glad you didn't have to wait long to get inside the park. Yup - the bag scan thing would irritate me too!

I am happy to hear that you like the photos as there are A LOT more to come. The hotel is beautiful, but SO expensive.

The bag check makes me so angry. Tom always tells me to let it go, but it is so worthless if the really huge BAGS they carry in in a stroller are not checked.

Wow...those decorations look fabulous!!!!

They did! We were so pleased with the garlands above Main Street!

The decorations are awesome! It's funny how similar but different DLP is to DL in Cali Very neat, thank you for all the pics. That is really thoughtful of you to give the CM chocolates for her help. I am sure she LOVED them! AND you'll be back "home" soon (well your U.S.A. home anyway)

It's funny as some parts of the park are so similar to the US ones and then so different. Don't know how to explain it.

We usually carry some chocolates for the outstanding CMs. There is that chocolate that is called "Merci" (which means thank you in French) and it is just so appropriate for the CMs.

Yes, you can call it going "home". Now that we earn DVC we really ARE going home.

 

[scrpbookr]

I'm really enjoying reading back through all your fun adventures at magicaldisneytrips.com. You've done a lovely job with the site. Thanks for sharing!

I'm spending a lot of time there but I'm trying not to feel too guilty about all the screen time since technically I'm doing research for our first Disney cruise on the Magic in March and my first trip to DLRP in September.

Again, thanks for sharing!

Question: Do you have a general idea of when the Halloween Decorations will be displayed at DLRP? I'm there the last week of September and I'm hoping to get to experience them. That would totally make my trip even more magical! I've seen Disneyworld at Christmastime but I have yet to experience the parks for Halloween. Thank in advance for any info you might be able to give.

 

[pas130]

There's nothing like hearing that WELCOME HOME

 

[dizneeat]

I'm really enjoying reading back through all your fun adventures at magicaldisneytrips.com. You've done a lovely job with the site. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so happy you enjoyed our other adventures as well.

I'm spending a lot of time there but I'm trying not to feel too guilty about all the screen time since technically I'm doing research for our first Disney cruise on the Magic in March and my first trip to DLRP in September.

I am sure you are going to love cruising with DCL. They do an awesome job when it comes to keep you happy!
And if you have any questions about DLRP, please just ask. I would love to help you out. Have you decided where to stay yet?

Again, thanks for sharing!

Question: Do you have a general idea of when the Halloween Decorations will be displayed at DLRP? I'm there the last week of September and I'm hoping to get to experience them. That would totally make my trip even more magical! I've seen Disneyworld at Christmastime but I have yet to experience the parks for Halloween. Thank in advance for any info you might be able to give.

If you are there the end of September you should have a good chance to see their Halloween Decorations.
They add things gradually, so parts might be fully decorated while others are still done, but it is nice to see things happen.
We just love the Christmas decorations at DLRP. So magical.

Please, if you have any other questions, just let me know and I'll try my best to find an answer for you!

There's nothing like hearing that WELCOME HOME

Best thing to hear EVER!!!!!!!!!!!