Knights and Lights May 29, 08

[PatriciaH]

When are you doing Knights and Lights? We are going Sep 19-26 ABD with the DLP addon for the 27/28.

I'm looking at British Airways but can't decide what class I want to go so I'm stalling. We flew coach when we went to Italy in 2005 and I was so uncomfortable (DH and I are both quite tall).

Since you work for Disney pt, do you know what VIP Fastpasses are that we are getting at DLP with our addon package? I'm already excited about them and I don't have any clue as to what they are.

We are doing Knights and Lights 9/5-9/12 followed by the 2 post nights in Paris. I booked all the flights on British Airways. They were the cheapest ($1268+tax) but were going up today due to fuel. We needed Orlando to Rome then Venice to London then Paris to Orlando. The flight from Paris leaves at 9:45am on the 14th and then we have to transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick to get to Orlando. I am not thrilled with that but at least there is a shuttle between the two. The other flights are great. DH is 6'3 so I know what you mean. I hope we get OK seats. I am 5'1 so no problem for me

I am not sure about the VIP passes. Sounds great

Patricia: What a great surprise!! And you work part time for the Mouse and get tickets, now that's just showing off! That's actually a dream I have, but until they open a location in Savannah I don't think it's going to happen. I surprised my DH with a 7 day DCL last month. I had planned that thing for a year! I can't believe I held it in that long. I'm a scrapper so I made a card with a pirate mickey theme and then did the MasterCard commercial on the inside. It went something like: Swimming with the dolphins $300, a verandah cabin $2,800, your husband's face when he realizes he's going on a cruise and we're compltely debt free, priceless. I gave it to him at dinner when we were out with his whole family, who also already knew. I can't believe he didn't notice how they all kept giggling and making sidelong glances at him! It was great though, and my card is going to look great in the scrapbook.

We have been wanting to do Europe for a long time now. We nearly went for our 5 year anniversary in 2001 but other trips came up. I have only been to Ireland and DH has only been to Spain so all of this will be new for us! The nice thing about our comp tickets is they can be used at WDW, DL/DCA, DL Paris/Disney Studios Paris and Hong Kong DL. No Tokyo DL or Disney Seas though.

I was hoping to find Eiffel Tower and Big Ben balloons and tie some info to them then wrap them in a big box. When DH opens it they will fly out. No one makes balloons like that though! I may have to get Remi

 

[Pakey]

I've booked my flights now too. I discussed it with my boss who travels frequently to Europe. We live in a smallish town with a smallish airport and I know he always leaves out of our local airport rather than driving to San Francisco or Los Angeles. So he hooked me up with the best flight connections and that's what we booked. So we get to fly out from here instead of driving 3 hours to SFO. We will connect in Dallas. And I got decent rates too--$1200 each. We are flying on American Airlines. I found the flights I wanted and then called ABD and booked through them. I'm very happy. When we went to Italy two years ago, we had horrible connections with a 7 hour layover at JFK. It felt like it took us a week to get there. Now we just have to wait for all of these months to hurry by.

 

[stenogoddess]

For those of you who are thinking of going out to Stonehenge consider going to Hampton Court Palace on that day as well.

Both are in the same area and both can easily be done on the same day.

Before you go you can purchase a Brit rail pass via the internet.

The UK trains are are on time. Clean as they can be (with a lot of people riding them.)

That's good to know. I was thinking about doing this on our free day. I was just worried that it might be too much with everything else and maybe we should take a slow day, but the more I think about it the more I want to do it!

Thanks!

 

[stenogoddess]

I've booked my flights now too. I discussed it with my boss who travels frequently to Europe. We live in a smallish town with a smallish airport and I know he always leaves out of our local airport rather than driving to San Francisco or Los Angeles. So he hooked me up with the best flight connections and that's what we booked. So we get to fly out from here instead of driving 3 hours to SFO. We will connect in Dallas. And I got decent rates too--$1200 each. We are flying on American Airlines. I found the flights I wanted and then called ABD and booked through them. I'm very happy. When we went to Italy two years ago, we had horrible connections with a 7 hour layover at JFK. It felt like it took us a week to get there. Now we just have to wait for all of these months to hurry by.

 

[Pakey]

I was hoping to find Eiffel Tower and Big Ben balloons and tie some info to them then wrap them in a big box. When DH opens it they will fly out. No one makes balloons like that though! I may have to get Remi

I think this is a great idea (wish I would have thought of it). I'm sure you could get plain mylar balloons with nothing on them and then add stickers that you could get at a scrapbooking store.

I just love the idea of them floating out of the box when opened. I'm going to have to figure out how I can use this idea for something else.

 

[PatriciaH]

I think this is a great idea (wish I would have thought of it). I'm sure you could get plain mylar balloons with nothing on them and then add stickers that you could get at a scrapbooking store.

I just love the idea of them floating out of the box when opened. I'm going to have to figure out how I can use this idea for something else.

Yes, someone posted this idea for Hanna Montana tickets for their daughter and I though it was great too

 

[stenogoddess]

Hi everyone! It's been an age, hasn't it? Nothing really to report, just reading guide books and marking pages with post it flags. Not much to report that is, until today............

I got my Adventures by Disney box!! I did! I did! I really did!

Who wants to know what's in it?? Oh, come on, you know you do.

**SPOILER ALERT** jUST IN CASE

Two ABD messanger style bags. Very cute and a nice dark gray, which is good and manly since the husband gets bag duty.

Two ABD blue things to put on your suitcases to help identify them. Very cool idea I thought.

Flight info sheet

Cute countdown calender thing (great for scrapbook)

Itineray book that listed what each day was about, emergancy numbers and had a nice little tear out sheet to leave with family with contact numbers in case of emergancy while you're gone. (we'll hope no one needs it

I'm a month and a week out. I'm VERY excited I must say. I've been shopping and trying to figure out how cold I'm going to be. LOL I found the cutest jacket on QVC that has a zip out lining. That way if I'm cold, liner in, and if I'm not liner out. That only took four months to find! LOL Oh, well, it's the hunt that's fun, right?? Husband got new chinos and shirts so he'll be cute. Still have to get chargers and adapters, make copies of important documents and make up a medicine kit.

It's really going to be here before I know it. And I know this because I GOT MY BOX! Oh, it's crazy how crazy I am about that box.

 

[CherylMomOf3]

Glad to hear you got your box, that means mine will be here soon! I leave the week after you. I'm getting so excited. Have you made any decisions about what you will do for free time? I can't make up my mind. I know I will want to shop but DH and kids will have to do something else.

I also found a great French tutor for the Nintendo DS. My kids love it. They have been practicing more than me. They may have to speak for us!

 

[KLondon]

Ack!! You guys are making me jealous! We soooo want to go back on this tour!

 

[stenogoddess]

Have you made any decisions about what you will do for free time?

I've sort of got lists of things made up with titles like Things to do When You Have Jetlag. LOL Mostly I list things I'm interested in that are near where the formal Disney tour leaves off. For Paris I've got two musems, two gardens, one cemetary, one mall and one opera house, and one scrapbookstore (yes, it's true!) picked out. I know we won't be able to see it all, but I figure I'll study up a little more on that long plane ride and then make final choices based on weather and how energetic we're feeling. London is a little easier for me because we've some local friends we'll be meeting up with and doing more catching up while sightseeing than sightseeing on our own. I'm not really a shopper myself so I can't help too much there. I only want a Paris charm for my charm bracelet and something from DLP (which I think is a book I actually have picked out on Ebay. It's $150 in the park or $75 on Ebay.)

If only Klondon would finish up his most excellent trip report so I can make final choices!

As for language *sigh* I don't know that southern translates to French very well. However, they say making an effort counts for something, if only to make them jump in with their bit of English to stop me from killing their language. I have learned all of my polite greetings (Mama will be so proud because, you know, please and thank you can get you around the world. Who knew when she was drilling that into me that I would actually be hoping it's true one day! I've also learned the word for chicken and also the phrase I would like. And also my name is but I don't know if that one will come up. I also learned I'm sorry because I figure one should at least know how to apologize for being gauche.

 

[jlou]

Glad to hear you got your box, that means mine will be here soon! I leave the week after you. I'm getting so excited. Have you made any decisions about what you will do for free time? I can't make up my mind. I know I will want to shop but DH and kids will have to do something else.

I also found a great French tutor for the Nintendo DS. My kids love it. They have been practicing more than me. They may have to speak for us!

Is it called "My French Coach"? It looks neat, I'm thinking of getting it.

 

[CherylMomOf3]

Yes, that's it. My girls love it. It has little games that make learning French fun. They learn spanish at school and picked up on it really quick. Some of the words are similar to spanish. I figure it will be good to play with on the long plane ride over.

 

[knelson]

can I ask a stupid question - we have annual Disneyland (California) passes + spent 10 days at Disneyworld (Florida) last year. We will be going to Knights and Lights for Christmas 08 - is there anything at Disney Paris that makes it worth adding to the trip?

Thank you

 

[stenogoddess]

I don't know if anyone can really answer that question for you. If you just to the parks because they are theme parks, then I suspect there won't be anything really new for you. I think some of the rides are slighty different, but overall it's about the same. If, on the other hand, you enjoy each park for itself and like comparing and contrasting the different ones, plus have a buring desire to see the, supposed, best Disney castle complete with dragon in the basement, then I suspect it will be well worth it for you. Good luck with your choice and have a great trip!

can I ask a stupid question - we have annual Disneyland (California) passes + spent 10 days at Disneyworld (Florida) last year. We will be going to Knights and Lights for Christmas 08 - is there anything at Disney Paris that makes it worth adding to the trip?

Thank you

 

[MJGirl]

can I ask a stupid question - we have annual Disneyland (California) passes + spent 10 days at Disneyworld (Florida) last year. We will be going to Knights and Lights for Christmas 08 - is there anything at Disney Paris that makes it worth adding to the trip?

Thank you

The only thing that might make it worth it is Crush's Coaster. It opened last summer and I loved it ... It is in my top 3 Disney coasters, which also includes Rock n Roller Coaster and the Indy Adventure at DLP. (I think it is the same as the one at DL though?

 

[knelson]

I don't know if anyone can really answer that question for you. If you just to the parks because they are theme parks, then I suspect there won't be anything really new for you. I think some of the rides are slighty different, but overall it's about the same. If, on the other hand, you enjoy each park for itself and like comparing and contrasting the different ones, plus have a buring desire to see the, supposed, best Disney castle complete with dragon in the basement, then I suspect it will be well worth it for you. Good luck with your choice and have a great trip!

That is why I love this board. I used it for about 6 months planning our trip last Christmas to WDW and the trip was awesome. I feel challenged because the range in ages of my children - my 17 year is one of the smartest people in the world (he will let you know often) and is in the stage of everything except football is stupid. I think 2 days at Disney will be a good end of our trip. Thank you.

 

[knelson]

The only thing that might make it worth it is Crush's Coaster. It opened last summer and I loved it ... It is in my top 3 Disney coasters, which also includes Rock n Roller Coaster and the Indy Adventure at DLP. (I think it is the same as the one at DL though?

The rollar coasters will keep my teenagers attention for a few hours.

 

[KLondon]

I'll echo MJGirl on the point about Crush's Coaster. For a Disney parks veteran, I think DLP is worth a day or two. Disneyland Park is absolutely beautiful. There are some unqiue rides, and even the familiar ones tend to have their own spin on things. For us, we simply could not leave France without being able to say we had visited DLP.

 

[stenogoddess]

YOU FINISHED

And before I left, too. Aww, thanks! Great trip report!

I'll echo MJGirl on the point about Crush's Coaster. For a Disney parks veteran, I think DLP is worth a day or two. Disneyland Park is absolutely beautiful. There are some unqiue rides, and even the familiar ones tend to have their own spin on things. For us, we simply could not leave France without being able to say we had visited DLP.

 

[KLondon]

Well, thanks Stenogoddess! I'm glad you liked it! I updated it with a short video last night. There's actually one more post to go to talk about a rather unique experience we had trying to get home (cue the mysterious music).