June 5, 2016 - Magic Goes to England, Ireland, Scotland and France

[scgustafson]

Here's the trailer for Finding Dory which opens on the day we get off the ship. Anyone planning to stay up if DCL shows it at Midnight?

Of course! Did it for the Monsters University and Inside Out when they premiered on previous cruises.

 

[BadPinkTink]

If you're doing Dublin on your own, are you planning to use one of the HOHO buses? If so, the green one or the red one? We're trying to decide. We like to use HOHO's for an overview so we definitely one one with the live narration. We'll be picking it up after we visit Trinity College and we know at some point we'll probably want to get a snack/light meal while we're out.

I printed out the routes and stops so that might help us figure out if there's something particular we want to be sure to visit but we haven't gotten that far yet. It looks like you can pre-purchase tickets and save a little bit.

BadPinkTink, if we were your guests and wanting to do a HOHO tour, which would you tell us to do? And what stops would you tell us to get off at? I figure we'll have about 4 hours for HOHO route plus any sights we get off to view.

I would do the red one, I did this with my family a few years ago when we had guest from The UK https://citysightseeingdublin.ie/hop-on-hop-off/ They have live commentary, some are the driver talking, some have an separate guide, commentator. One of each passed by this evening as I was waiting for my bus to come home.

The stops are just down the street from Trinity. I would estimate you would get on the bus about 11.30am, which allows for seeing the Book of Kells, shopping in the souvenir shop and then finding your way out of the college to the bus stop.

They have 2 routes
The stops I would recommend on the Red Route (South Side of Dublin) Dame Street Stop

• Either Christchurch Cathedral or St Patrick's Cathedral (both are worth a visit)
• Guinness Store House (if you went in here around 12.30pm you might not have time to do much else as it really needs about 2 hours)
• Kilmainham Gaol (I would visit here over Guinness Store House, its a real 1920's jail, and the exhibition follows the real stories of the leaders of the Irish Upraising against the British occupying army,from the time the prisoners where brought to the jail, to their executions. Its not light hearted or a happy place but its an important part of Irish history)
• Phoenix Park, Dublin Zoo (great place to take kids, one of Dublins most famous and popular parks)
  
• National Museum - Decorative Arts & History (one of the main Museums in Dublin, another great place for kids)
  
• Smithfield ( Get off here if you want to visit Jameson Whiskey Distillery)

The stops I would recommend on the Blue Route (North Side of Dublin)Trinity College / Nassau Street Stop

• National Art Gallery (if you are interested in art museums)
• St. Stephen's Green (beautiful city park, great for kids, also this is the the other end of Grafton Street Shopping area)
• Christ Church Cathedral, Dublinia / St.Patrick's cathedral ( see above, they overlap with Red Route)
• Guinness Storehouse ( see above, overlap with Red Route)
• Glasnevin Cemetery (historical cemetery, burial place of Dermot Morgan -Father Ted writer and main actor, Jonathan Swift - author of Guillivers Travels, John Noyd Dunlop -inventor of pneumatic tire and many important people in Irish history)
• Croke Park -home stadium of Irish sport

Out of these lists, I would pick maybe 3 to get off the bus for, given your time frame. You will only have time a full loop of the red route OR the blue route. They both finish on O'Connell Street, the main street of Dublin, on the north side of the river

 

[nanaguide]

I would do the red one, I did this with my family a few years ago when we had guest from The UK https://citysightseeingdublin.ie/hop-on-hop-off/ They have live commentary, some are the driver talking, some have an separate guide, commentator. One of each passed by this evening as I was waiting for my bus to come home.

The stops are just down the street from Trinity. I would estimate you would get on the bus about 11.30am, which allows for seeing the Book of Kells, shopping in the souvenir shop and then finding your way out of the college to the bus stop.

They have 2 routes
The stops I would recommend on the Red Route (South Side of Dublin) Dame Street Stop

• Either Christchurch Cathedral or St Patrick's Cathedral (both are worth a visit)
• Guinness Store House (if you went in here around 12.30pm you might not have time to do much else as it really needs about 2 hours)
• Kilmainham Gaol (I would visit here over Guinness Store House, its a real 1920's jail, and the exhibition follows the real stories of the leaders of the Irish Upraising against the British occupying army,from the time the prisoners where brought to the jail, to their executions. Its not light hearted or a happy place but its an important part of Irish history)
• Phoenix Park, Dublin Zoo (great place to take kids, one of Dublins most famous and popular parks)
  
• National Museum - Decorative Arts & History (one of the main Museums in Dublin, another great place for kids)
  
• Smithfield ( Get off here if you want to visit Jameson Whiskey Distillery)

The stops I would recommend on the Blue Route (North Side of Dublin)Trinity College / Nassau Street Stop

• National Art Gallery (if you are interested in art museums)
• St. Stephen's Green (beautiful city park, great for kids, also this is the the other end of Grafton Street Shopping area)
• Christ Church Cathedral, Dublinia / St.Patrick's cathedral ( see above, they overlap with Red Route)
• Guinness Storehouse ( see above, overlap with Red Route)
• Glasnevin Cemetery (historical cemetery, burial place of Dermot Morgan -Father Ted writer and main actor, Jonathan Swift - author of Guillivers Travels, John Noyd Dunlop -inventor of pneumatic tire and many important people in Irish history)
• Croke Park -home stadium of Irish sport

Out of these lists, I would pick maybe 3 to get off the bus for, given your time frame. You will only have time a full loop of the red route OR the blue route. They both finish on O'Connell Street, the main street of Dublin, on the north side of the river

Thanks so much for the great suggestions. I took a picture on my phone so I can follow your suggestions. Again Thanks!

 

[Alohagirl73]

Just 13 weeks until we start our cruise of the British Isles!

 

[scgustafson]

Just 13 weeks until we start our cruise of the British Isles!

And here I thought it was 91 days.

 

[Alohagirl73]

To me weeks sounds better! Lol.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Good luck to those booking excursions tonight.

 

[gumbosquirrel]

We are trying (2 adults) to find a private tour of Normandy - do you know if your van is already full? Thanks in advance for any info you can give me.

Hi Nanaguide! We have a private tour reservation in Normandy for 4 that I'm going to cancel tomorrow. Would you like to me to transfer it to you instead? We're traveling with children and, because this is a long day of touring, I ultimately decided they'd rather be on a tour with other kids than in a van with parents and a driver.

 

[gumbosquirrel]

Hi! We're late to the conversation-- hope we can still be added. We're a family of four, DH, DS who will turn 10 two weeks before we cruise and DD will turn 3 two weeks after we cruise. This is our 5th Disney Cruise (goodbye silver!), we sailed on the first Norway voyage last summer and we had a ball. Our kiddos love to travel. DD turned 1 in London-- this will be her 3rd trip to Europe, son's 4th trip. We took our son on the Adventures by Disney Germany trip when he was 6. Can't recommend ABD highly enough-- it's amazing. We're already counting down to 2017 when our daughter is 4 and can travel with ABD. This is our 3rd trip on the Magic, we also enjoyed the Wonder for the 2012 Pixar California Coast cruise. We've sailed on the Dream too-- definitely prefer the classic ships.

Booked our excursions last night. It's going to be a great trip! This itinerary screams elementary school boy (and his parents are pretty excited too!). We can't wait for Loch Ness, Braveheart, Harry Potter scenes at Alnwick, vikings and standing stones, St Patrick, castles, kings, D-Day.... all of it!!

 

[Alohagirl73]

Welcome Gumbosquirrel!

Definitely not to late to join conversation. The trip is getting close. I'm glad to see another family with young kids. My children will be when we sail 5 and 13 months. Any tips on long plane rides with a 1 year old. My 5 year has flown across the country twice for our cruises. (Only been on the Fantasy) However the baby has only flown short flights (less than 3 hours). Would love some tips since you travel so much.

 

[Rapunzel22]

We'll be traveling with a three year old and 23 month old too! We always have long flights from Honolulu, and our trip to Europe will be our longest, 17-18 hours in the air, over 24 hours total. We load up our I phones with tons of videos and bought toddler headphones. We also like the melissa and Doug Magic wow activity books. It's color with water and dries back to clear when dry. It's so much better than pens, crayons or playdoh (tried all of it and we have made big messes that are a huge pain to clean!). Lots of stickers, snacks (yay for dum dums) and positive thoughts are also very helpful.

[sQUOTE="Alohagirl73, post: 55311857, member: 423484"]Welcome Gumbosquirrel!

Definitely not to late to join conversation. The trip is getting close. I'm glad to see another family with young kids. My children will be when we sail 5 and 13 months. Any tips on long plane rides with a 1 year old. My 5 year has flown across the country twice for our cruises. (Only been on the Fantasy) However the baby has only flown short flights (less than 3 hours). Would love some tips since you travel so much.[/QUOTE]

 

[Rapunzel22]

Welcome Gumbosquirrel!

Definitely not to late to join conversation. The trip is getting close. I'm glad to see another family with young kids. My children will be when we sail 5 and 13 months. Any tips on long plane rides with a 1 year old. My 5 year has flown across the country twice for our cruises. (Only been on the Fantasy) However the baby has only flown short flights (less than 3 hours). Would love some tips since you travel so much.

Welcome Gumbosquirrel!

Definitely not to late to join conversation. The trip is getting close. I'm glad to see another family with young kids. My children will be when we sail 5 and 13 months. Any tips on long plane rides with a 1 year old. My 5 year has flown across the country twice for our cruises. (Only been on the Fantasy) However the baby has only flown short flights (less than 3 hours). Would love some tips since you travel so much.

We'll be traveling with a three year old and 23 month old too! We always have long flights from Honolulu, and our trip to Europe will be our longest, 17-18 hours in the air, over 24 hours total. We load up our I phones with tons of videos and bought toddler headphones. We also like the melissa and Doug Magic wow activity books. It's color with water and dries back to clear when dry. It's so much better than pens, crayons or playdoh (tried all of it and we have made big messes that are a huge pain to clean!). Lots of stickers, snacks (yay for dum dums) and positive thoughts are also very helpful.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Welcome gumbosquirrel and family! I'll add you to the Who's Sailing on the first page of the thread.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Another family is putting together a group for the Harry Potter studios tour that would include transportation from the port at Dover to the Harry Potter tour and then drop off at Gatwick airport on June 17th. Right now it's her family (two adults, one child) and probably us (4 adults) but we wanted to see if anyone else might be interested as well. They don't normally do a drop off at Gatwick but would do it for a private group. Their family and ours are both staying at the Hilton at Gatwick and flying home on the 18th. We wanted to see if anyone else might be interested in this to help share the cost of the transportation, etc.

We are looking at International Friends: https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/private-small-group-tours.html

Some basic costs: Service
5-7 people in luxury minivan
8-16 people in luxury minicoach

Driver only £599 £799
Driver/guide £699 £899
Driver with additional guide £849 £1049

This is the link for the Harry Potter tour: https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/ - tickets are 35GBP per adult.

If you are interested, let me know either here or by PM.

 

[nzdisneymom]

If you are interested in participating in a Fish Extender gift exchange, please PM the following information to Alohagirl73:

Name(s)
Cabin Number - if you have more than one cabin in your sailing party and each cabin wants to participate, please sign up each cabin separately.
Number of people in Cabin
Age and Gender
Favorite Character
Allergies
Special Occasions
# Cabins Participating - this means if you want to only participate with a limited number of cabins due to space, etc., then put how many cabins you'd like to exchange with - this is how many gifts you would bring and then ultimately receive - so if you say 10, you bring gifts for the other 9; if you say all, then that's everyone who's participating.

If you aren't sure what a Fish Extender gift exchange is all about, this link explains:
DISboards Fish-Extender Basics - http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-cruise-line/fish-extender-basics.htm

Questions? Feel free to ask here or by PM. Sign-ups are due by April 30th.

 

[Alohagirl73]

Just 12 weeks until our cruise!

 

[gumbosquirrel]

We'll be traveling with a three year old and 23 month old too! We always have long flights from Honolulu, and our trip to Europe will be our longest, 17-18 hours in the air, over 24 hours total. We load up our I phones with tons of videos and bought toddler headphones. We also like the melissa and Doug Magic wow activity books. It's color with water and dries back to clear when dry. It's so much better than pens, crayons or playdoh (tried all of it and we have made big messes that are a huge pain to clean!). Lots of stickers, snacks (yay for dum dums) and positive thoughts are also very helpful.

Hi Alohagirl and Rapunzel! Sooo-- traveling transatlantic with little ones: I book a late evening flight. I stay as close to bedtime routine as I can-- including packing PJs in carry-on and lovies, we brush teeth and "wash face" (with wipes), we have dinner and watch PART of one on board movie and then we "turn out lights" above us, use neck pillows and eye shades, say prayers and say "good night." I try to make it as close to the evening ritual as possible while also making it at travel adventure. Like Rapunzel, I carry activity packs for the children-- no surprise, Disney makes great ones with simple watercolor pages with paint on the page, invisible marker, etc. I carry simple new mini Lego sets and a book for my son. We bring our own earphones b/c the airline ones are terrible and we load movies on iPad but I rely on airline movie options because they're generally new and interesting for my children. Once they nap, walk around and watch a movie, we're usually most of the way to landing. We fly direct, generally. Our one trying trip was last year's Norway cruise when we had to connect through Amsterdam with tight connections and high stress-- that's where the activity packs came in handy. Whatever it is, it's not going to be fun---- the fun is what waits on the other side of the Atlantic

 

[gumbosquirrel]

Another family is putting together a group for the Harry Potter studios tour that would include transportation from the port at Dover to the Harry Potter tour and then drop off at Gatwick airport on June 17th. Right now it's her family (two adults, one child) and probably us (4 adults) but we wanted to see if anyone else might be interested as well. They don't normally do a drop off at Gatwick but would do it for a private group. Their family and ours are both staying at the Hilton at Gatwick and flying home on the 18th. We wanted to see if anyone else might be interested in this to help share the cost of the transportation, etc.

We are looking at International Friends: https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/private-small-group-tours.html

Some basic costs: Service
5-7 people in luxury minivan
8-16 people in luxury minicoach

Driver only £599 £799
Driver/guide £699 £899
Driver with additional guide £849 £1049

This is the link for the Harry Potter tour: https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/ - tickets are 35GBP per adult.

If you are interested, let me know either here or by PM.

 

[nanaguide]

Hi Nanaguide! We have a private tour reservation in Normandy for 4 that I'm going to cancel tomorrow. Would you like to me to transfer it to you instead? We're traveling with children and, because this is a long day of touring, I ultimately decided they'd rather be on a tour with other kids than in a van with parents and a driver.

I'm so sorry I didn't see your post. I forget to check in here on a regular basis. I signed up for the adult DCL tour so we are good. I do thank you for offering.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Happy St Patricks Day everyone. If you are online for the next 2 hours only from the time of this post, check out this link http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/live/8/ Its the live stream of the Dublin St Patricks Day Parade