Rachandgarry
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2011
- Messages
- 540
Hey there, hi there, ho there its a Disney kind of day.... 
here comes my first ever pre-trip report! So... This is page 1.
Link to page 2
Link to page 3
The Who (not the band, obviously hehe)
Me: Rachel, 36. Fave attraction: Stitch Live, fave character: Sulley.
DH: Garry, 36. Fave attraction: will ask him tonight, but I think it will be Big Thunder Mountain, fave character: probably something obvious like Mickey Mouse lol!
DS: Matthew, 5 and 1/2. Has Autism, Learning Disabilities and Sensory Processing Disorder. Fave attraction: Its a small world. Fave character: Winnie the Pooh
The When: February 9th - 12th 2012
The Where: Sequoia Lodge
The How: By car from Bristol, on Eurotunnel, in one go.
The What: A last minute 3 night stay to surprise our DS who is absolutely desperate to go back! Takes after me I think!
The latest
Plan:
Both DH and I have been to DLP several times, but as we now have a son, our time in the resort has changed completely. We used to alternate our days - one spent maxed out on thrill rides, running from one to the next and jumping in puddles along the way - then the next one going really slowly around the parks looking at the detail, the architecture, listening for sounds on Main St windows etc.... We loved spending the evening at Billy Bob's in the Village. Now, our days are pretty much guided by the 5 year old monster that is Matthew. We miss the nights out, and the ability to go on big rides together but there is nothing about our 'old life that could even come close to the satisfaction of watching DS's face as he rides IASW, Big Thunder, Dumbo and the Teacups, or seeing him squeeze Mickey Mouse so tight at the character meet and greets. I thought I 'got' the magic of Disney before, but now through Matthew's eyes, I'm seeing it totally differently. It really is quite amazing and I feel so privileged to be able to go and do this again.
Here's us in the Pocahontas play area last year:
I used to be a travel agent, so could go several times a year (Annual pass, and then travel agent hotel rate of 50% off, special £25 fares on Eurostar etc) and I've been lucky enough to stay at the Sequoia, the Newport Bay, the New York and the Disneyland Hotel itself. When I stopped working, I got such a shock having to pay real prices, my trip count dropped dramatically lol. DH and I stayed at the Kyriad a few times, which we really liked but then the prices seemed to rise quite considerably and it actually became better value staying in a Disney hotel and since we've been going with DS, we prefer having a hotel with a pool. We did Davy Crockett ranch with a few friends a couple of years ago, but it was too easy to be lazy and not get out in the morning!
We've tried the trip flying and on the Eurostar but for the last few years we've driven instead; we do the Eurotunnel with our Tesco clubcard reward vouchers, so only have to pay the petrol and tolls which comes out at about £160 round trip. When I was a travel agent, we lived nearer London, so jumping on the Eurostar at (then) Waterloo was really easy, and even driving to Ashford was brilliant because it was such a calm station and you could park your car right there and just walk in, through security and on to the platform. Now we live much further away, just near Bristol, it would be a complete nightmare trying to get to London to go from St Pancras, and it would take us 3 to 3 1/2 hours to drive to Ashford, so by the time we're there and we've paid the petrol there and back, we may as well just drive the rest of the way. The benefit of driving is that you can literally chuck whatever you want in the car, and go! I hate unloading it all at the other end though, absolutely hate it lol.
Matthew LOVED the Eurotunnel, this is him just as we were driving into the train:
Our favourite hotel by far is the Sequoia Lodge, because it is homely and warm, not too big, and because the pool has a groovy slide in it!!
This was Matthew and Garry when we first arrived at the hotel last year:
So, on to this trip...... DH has taken 2 days off work for the trip (he's a freelance Civil Engineer and doesn't get paid when he isn't there, which is a bugger and a massive additional cost on our trips), so on our departure date, Thursday 9th, we are going to get DS to school as normal, he still won't know anything about it.... then DH and I will have a good breakfast, load up the car carefully chuck it in and in an organised way any old how. We thought as the journey is long, it would be best for Matthew to eat his school lunch, which he has at 12:00, and have his run around the playground until about 12:50 so he's full up and had a good stretch of his legs before we start. Then we'll arrive at school and go in and get him (he is at a special school, and has learning disabilities so it won't occur to him that it is odd we are picking him up in the middle of the day. More about his special needs later..). When we get out to the car, he'll realise where we are going and hopefully be really really excited! Then we will be on our way for the drive to Folkestone for the channel tunnel and on to DLP!
We're hoping to get to Eurotunnel by about 4pm, which should mean we clear the nasty M25 before the major traffic hits in.. We'll book a departure time for about 5pm so we have time to check in, and if we are early they usually let you on an earlier train. We lose an hour going in to France, so if we leave here about 5pm, it would be 6pm French time, so by the time we arrive at SQL it should be about 9 - 9:30pm. We'll check-in, unpack and hit the hay ready for an early start the next day! I am planning on recreating the Mickey's Grand Welcome you can do in Orlando, so I will need to get in to the room quickly before Matthew - hopefully Garry can keep him occupied in and around the hotel for a short while or maybe even go swimming quickly if I have a swimming bag loose in the car.... My Grand Welcome is going to be a pre-report on its own so I think I shall end this page here and start the next one!
Thank you for reading so far, hopefully it isn't too rambly and ridiculous lol!
here comes my first ever pre-trip report! So... This is page 1. Link to page 2
Link to page 3
The Who (not the band, obviously hehe)
Me: Rachel, 36. Fave attraction: Stitch Live, fave character: Sulley.
DH: Garry, 36. Fave attraction: will ask him tonight, but I think it will be Big Thunder Mountain, fave character: probably something obvious like Mickey Mouse lol!
DS: Matthew, 5 and 1/2. Has Autism, Learning Disabilities and Sensory Processing Disorder. Fave attraction: Its a small world. Fave character: Winnie the Pooh
The When: February 9th - 12th 2012
The Where: Sequoia Lodge
The How: By car from Bristol, on Eurotunnel, in one go.
The What: A last minute 3 night stay to surprise our DS who is absolutely desperate to go back! Takes after me I think!
The latest
Plan:Both DH and I have been to DLP several times, but as we now have a son, our time in the resort has changed completely. We used to alternate our days - one spent maxed out on thrill rides, running from one to the next and jumping in puddles along the way - then the next one going really slowly around the parks looking at the detail, the architecture, listening for sounds on Main St windows etc.... We loved spending the evening at Billy Bob's in the Village. Now, our days are pretty much guided by the 5 year old monster that is Matthew. We miss the nights out, and the ability to go on big rides together but there is nothing about our 'old life that could even come close to the satisfaction of watching DS's face as he rides IASW, Big Thunder, Dumbo and the Teacups, or seeing him squeeze Mickey Mouse so tight at the character meet and greets. I thought I 'got' the magic of Disney before, but now through Matthew's eyes, I'm seeing it totally differently. It really is quite amazing and I feel so privileged to be able to go and do this again.
Here's us in the Pocahontas play area last year:
I used to be a travel agent, so could go several times a year (Annual pass, and then travel agent hotel rate of 50% off, special £25 fares on Eurostar etc) and I've been lucky enough to stay at the Sequoia, the Newport Bay, the New York and the Disneyland Hotel itself. When I stopped working, I got such a shock having to pay real prices, my trip count dropped dramatically lol. DH and I stayed at the Kyriad a few times, which we really liked but then the prices seemed to rise quite considerably and it actually became better value staying in a Disney hotel and since we've been going with DS, we prefer having a hotel with a pool. We did Davy Crockett ranch with a few friends a couple of years ago, but it was too easy to be lazy and not get out in the morning!
We've tried the trip flying and on the Eurostar but for the last few years we've driven instead; we do the Eurotunnel with our Tesco clubcard reward vouchers, so only have to pay the petrol and tolls which comes out at about £160 round trip. When I was a travel agent, we lived nearer London, so jumping on the Eurostar at (then) Waterloo was really easy, and even driving to Ashford was brilliant because it was such a calm station and you could park your car right there and just walk in, through security and on to the platform. Now we live much further away, just near Bristol, it would be a complete nightmare trying to get to London to go from St Pancras, and it would take us 3 to 3 1/2 hours to drive to Ashford, so by the time we're there and we've paid the petrol there and back, we may as well just drive the rest of the way. The benefit of driving is that you can literally chuck whatever you want in the car, and go! I hate unloading it all at the other end though, absolutely hate it lol.
Matthew LOVED the Eurotunnel, this is him just as we were driving into the train:
Our favourite hotel by far is the Sequoia Lodge, because it is homely and warm, not too big, and because the pool has a groovy slide in it!!
This was Matthew and Garry when we first arrived at the hotel last year:
So, on to this trip...... DH has taken 2 days off work for the trip (he's a freelance Civil Engineer and doesn't get paid when he isn't there, which is a bugger and a massive additional cost on our trips), so on our departure date, Thursday 9th, we are going to get DS to school as normal, he still won't know anything about it.... then DH and I will have a good breakfast, load up the car carefully chuck it in and in an organised way any old how. We thought as the journey is long, it would be best for Matthew to eat his school lunch, which he has at 12:00, and have his run around the playground until about 12:50 so he's full up and had a good stretch of his legs before we start. Then we'll arrive at school and go in and get him (he is at a special school, and has learning disabilities so it won't occur to him that it is odd we are picking him up in the middle of the day. More about his special needs later..). When we get out to the car, he'll realise where we are going and hopefully be really really excited! Then we will be on our way for the drive to Folkestone for the channel tunnel and on to DLP!
We're hoping to get to Eurotunnel by about 4pm, which should mean we clear the nasty M25 before the major traffic hits in.. We'll book a departure time for about 5pm so we have time to check in, and if we are early they usually let you on an earlier train. We lose an hour going in to France, so if we leave here about 5pm, it would be 6pm French time, so by the time we arrive at SQL it should be about 9 - 9:30pm. We'll check-in, unpack and hit the hay ready for an early start the next day! I am planning on recreating the Mickey's Grand Welcome you can do in Orlando, so I will need to get in to the room quickly before Matthew - hopefully Garry can keep him occupied in and around the hotel for a short while or maybe even go swimming quickly if I have a swimming bag loose in the car.... My Grand Welcome is going to be a pre-report on its own so I think I shall end this page here and start the next one!
Thank you for reading so far, hopefully it isn't too rambly and ridiculous lol!
so lovely and so much to read. Thank you for sharing 
(or should I say I'm silence-challenged as someone once put it, lol)
. We're going anyway, and DH was so cross about the way they replied to us, that he said fine we were going to take him out for half of Thursday now we might as well take him out for the whole day. Because he's at a special school, the curriculum is very differentiated to him, and even his teacher agrees that he'll learn just as much at DLP as at school! (sorry, I digressed there, lol) Thanks for reading along!
I crack myself up, I can't keep my feet glued to the floor for 5 minutes!
Of course not!! 
. I pack the car. DH gets home at about 5 or 6pm and we go pick Matthew up and surprise him that we aren't going home we are going on holiday!! 
Get to Ashford probably quite late, between 10 and 11pm and hit the sack ready for an early rise.
