First Time For Everything Day Two Journey and First day
Cast Members
Tracy, 41 (me) Chief Planner, WDW lover and mild scaredy cat Know limits and easily motion sick
Juz, 40 MAD ABOUT ALL THINGS DISNEY (Orlando Family Guide Author) LOVES COASTERS
DS Kristian 14 Loves all rides but inherited my motion sickness
DD Kayleigh 12 COASTER FREAK the wilder the better!!!!
DS Kyle 9 COASTER FREAK only limit is his height! Loves teddies!
Monday 30th July
We set the alarm for 6am and congregated in the room with a view to eat breakfast of brioche , wrapped pancakes and rice pudding pots! Packing up the overnight clothes we set off to Ashford International to catch the Eurostar. Needless to say the AA Autoroute we had printed was so confusing we ended up around the same roundabout twice
then decided to make our own way and got back on the motorway! Thankfully well signposted from there we pulled in to the car park and drove to level 5 . We secured the car and walked across the bridge to the station. Great timing as the check in doors just opened as we arrived and before long we had passed through the security checks and sat to wait for our train.
Announcement to board came so we got our bags and went to the platform. Minutes later our train arrived spot on time at 9:55 am. We were in carriage 14 with a family and additional seat table booked. We squeezed the luggage into the holding area and into the carriage to find all our seats occupied by young French students!! We politely told them to budge
then settled down for the journey. We were surprised how quick the tunnel passed and admired the French countryside on the way. Spotting the Eiffel Tower in the distance our journey passed smoothly.
On arrival at the station we easily found our BS driver waiting for us who had parked directly outside the exit door. Off through the streets of Paris like something from the French Connection
our driver steered through the hazards .Amazed at the driving protocol Juz was pleased that we had decided against hiring our own car!!
The journey from there was uneventful if not MANIC. We spotted the park landmarks and pulled in to the Explorers hotel thankfully all in one piece at 2:00pm.
A short check in ahead where I filled in passport details etc we were told to come back after 3pm for our room. Quick loo stop we left the luggage in the secure lockers and set off to the park on bus 54 .
After picking up from the other local hotels we soon arrived at the parks. First impression very good however found it ill signposted as to where to get the entrance tickets as it was around the side. A short queue took a long time as a poor chap from USA was having trouble communicating which held us up a while. We then bought 5 Dream annual passes with both shareholder and family of 5 discounts at a very reasonable cost. We received an entrance ticket each which we then had to convert to passes at the office in the park by the entrance to Discoveryland.
We walked through the turnstile and that Disney magic set in
. Nothing beats the first view of Main Street and the Castle. We felt like we were home and were in no way disappointed in comparison to WDW.
We found the passport office and gave all our details and pics taken (twice as the operator didn’t apply discounts first time) . The kids received Disney Buzz Lightyear lanyards and we got all the literature on discounts.
Gripe; I have a small knowledge of French but WHY is this only in French when I am sure there are quite a few Brit pass holders.
We walked around the park taking in the atmosphere . First stop was Pirates of the Caribbean
which said was a 30 minute wait thankfully not that long. Starting to get hungry we entered the Blue Lagoon and were seated immediately. It was so quite, we had a lovely seat near the water and a very good server. We had the starter of Shrimp cocktail curry followed by Snapper fillet for me and Chicken Seafood with rice for Juz. The kids had the teen menu of chicken burger and potato scallops followed by desert of chocolate muffins for 2 of them and fruit salad with ice cream. We had flambé crème brulee which was to die for.Annual pass discount on top we really enjoyed our meal.
We then walked to Phantom Manor which was again was a very short wait. Not as impressive as WDW. We avoided the big rides as it was very busy and knew we would have plenty of time to enjoy them.
By this point we were flagging a bit so decided to head back to the hotel and get our room and unpack.
We had a few issues regarding the interconnecting door needed unlocking and the the tv in the main room wouldn’t work but apart from that we were impressed with the hotel. We then headed down for a drink whilst the younger 2 played in the jungle jim and DS 14 spoke via MSN to his DGF on his laptop…..very frustrated that there was no WIFI access in the room and he could only connect sat in the lobby.
We ordered some pizza to take up to our room then by 1030 pm we crashed ready for early 7am breakfast all week.
More pics tomorrow as I forgot to take my camera into the park
Its a new camera for my early birthday pressie and frustrated I hadnt realised the date stamp was on and for some reason was a day out too 
Cast Members
Tracy, 41 (me) Chief Planner, WDW lover and mild scaredy cat Know limits and easily motion sick
Juz, 40 MAD ABOUT ALL THINGS DISNEY (Orlando Family Guide Author) LOVES COASTERS
DS Kristian 14 Loves all rides but inherited my motion sickness
DD Kayleigh 12 COASTER FREAK the wilder the better!!!!
DS Kyle 9 COASTER FREAK only limit is his height! Loves teddies!
Monday 30th July
We set the alarm for 6am and congregated in the room with a view to eat breakfast of brioche , wrapped pancakes and rice pudding pots! Packing up the overnight clothes we set off to Ashford International to catch the Eurostar. Needless to say the AA Autoroute we had printed was so confusing we ended up around the same roundabout twice
then decided to make our own way and got back on the motorway! Thankfully well signposted from there we pulled in to the car park and drove to level 5 . We secured the car and walked across the bridge to the station. Great timing as the check in doors just opened as we arrived and before long we had passed through the security checks and sat to wait for our train.
Announcement to board came so we got our bags and went to the platform. Minutes later our train arrived spot on time at 9:55 am. We were in carriage 14 with a family and additional seat table booked. We squeezed the luggage into the holding area and into the carriage to find all our seats occupied by young French students!! We politely told them to budge
then settled down for the journey. We were surprised how quick the tunnel passed and admired the French countryside on the way. Spotting the Eiffel Tower in the distance our journey passed smoothly.On arrival at the station we easily found our BS driver waiting for us who had parked directly outside the exit door. Off through the streets of Paris like something from the French Connection
our driver steered through the hazards .Amazed at the driving protocol Juz was pleased that we had decided against hiring our own car!! The journey from there was uneventful if not MANIC. We spotted the park landmarks and pulled in to the Explorers hotel thankfully all in one piece at 2:00pm.
A short check in ahead where I filled in passport details etc we were told to come back after 3pm for our room. Quick loo stop we left the luggage in the secure lockers and set off to the park on bus 54 .
After picking up from the other local hotels we soon arrived at the parks. First impression very good however found it ill signposted as to where to get the entrance tickets as it was around the side. A short queue took a long time as a poor chap from USA was having trouble communicating which held us up a while. We then bought 5 Dream annual passes with both shareholder and family of 5 discounts at a very reasonable cost. We received an entrance ticket each which we then had to convert to passes at the office in the park by the entrance to Discoveryland.
We walked through the turnstile and that Disney magic set in
. Nothing beats the first view of Main Street and the Castle. We felt like we were home and were in no way disappointed in comparison to WDW. We found the passport office and gave all our details and pics taken (twice as the operator didn’t apply discounts first time) . The kids received Disney Buzz Lightyear lanyards and we got all the literature on discounts.
Gripe; I have a small knowledge of French but WHY is this only in French when I am sure there are quite a few Brit pass holders. We walked around the park taking in the atmosphere . First stop was Pirates of the Caribbean
which said was a 30 minute wait thankfully not that long. Starting to get hungry we entered the Blue Lagoon and were seated immediately. It was so quite, we had a lovely seat near the water and a very good server. We had the starter of Shrimp cocktail curry followed by Snapper fillet for me and Chicken Seafood with rice for Juz. The kids had the teen menu of chicken burger and potato scallops followed by desert of chocolate muffins for 2 of them and fruit salad with ice cream. We had flambé crème brulee which was to die for.Annual pass discount on top we really enjoyed our meal.We then walked to Phantom Manor
which was again was a very short wait. Not as impressive as WDW. We avoided the big rides as it was very busy and knew we would have plenty of time to enjoy them.By this point we were flagging a bit so decided to head back to the hotel and get our room and unpack.
We had a few issues regarding the interconnecting door needed unlocking and the the tv in the main room wouldn’t work but apart from that we were impressed with the hotel. We then headed down for a drink whilst the younger 2 played in the jungle jim and DS 14 spoke via MSN to his DGF
on his laptop…..very frustrated that there was no WIFI access in the room and he could only connect sat in the lobby.We ordered some pizza to take up to our room then by 1030 pm we crashed ready for early 7am breakfast all week.
More pics tomorrow as I forgot to take my camera into the park
Its a new camera for my early birthday pressie and frustrated I hadnt realised the date stamp was on and for some reason was a day out too 
