My take on Disneyland Paris and our DCL Med cruise

[Bellies23]

Don't stress about getting it done! It's gives us something to look forward to. Your report so far has been fantastic! I know trip reports are a lot of work so thank you for spending the time to do this report. I always thought I would like to take the family on a med cruise but your trip report has pushed me into starting to explore the possibility.

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks guys! I'm just glad I have some (patient) readers!! Now one of the cats seems to be sick so I'm off to the Vet. No more blogging for me yet today.

 

[CastawayJP]

I love crepes!! Nutella was really big in Europe...it was everywhere. I am allergic to Hazelnuts tho so I can't try it.

Hahaha... You will love my Nutella pic in my video!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey there guys! I FINALLY got "Day # 9 - Rome" published!! It's a LONG one peeps!! So if you're a reader who's ENJOYING my little trip report / blog please have at it!!


(PS) if you're my non-fan who's going by "Not Impressed" in the comments please don't feel obligated to continue reading!!!! I really don't want to have to go start policing it to delete rude comments. That's not why I'm writing it. THANK YOU!!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey there - not sure if I still have any readers out there....I had some major computer problems this week that made publishing Day #10 a nightmare (computer kept freezing up & shutting down) but I finally got it finished this morning.

This day we were in the port of Naples - we toured the Amalfi Coast (Positano & Sorrento) and then went to Pompeii which was absolutely INCREDIBLE. It was also Pirate Night. NEXT up will be our Sea Day so I hope that won't take me as long to get published since it wasn't so busy.

 

[nolanboys]

Thoroughly enjoying the report. I was able to view almost all your pictures in Rome, but most of the Naples pictures aren't coming through. It might be because I'm on an iPad. I'll have to try the computer. Your narratives are great though and I've really enjoyed reading them. What a great way to preserve your memories.

 

[Anal Annie]

Thoroughly enjoying the report. I was able to view almost all your pictures in Rome, but most of the Naples pictures aren't coming through. It might be because I'm on an iPad. I'll have to try the computer. Your narratives are great though and I've really enjoyed reading them. What a great way to preserve your memories.

Thanks...yes, I am also having trouble with the pics loading...the website is eating up all of my memory when I have it open & I keep getting messages to close my browser!! DH is supposed to work on it for me this weekend - cross your fingers!! Hopefully Sun-Mon I can get more work done on it.

 

[TosaTrio]

Great TR!

We are considering a trip to Paris, ending it at DLP. How many days do we need to see both Parks, enjoy the resort (not sure which one) and not feel super rushed?

 

[Anal Annie]

Great TR!

We are considering a trip to Paris, ending it at DLP. How many days do we need to see both Parks, enjoy the resort (not sure which one) and not feel super rushed?

Well, we had 2 (rushed) days - our first day was LONG (we went in the am during EMH's, took a 3 hour break in the late afternoon & went back & stayed until closing). Our 2nd day we went for EMH's in the am but had to cut it short at around 4:30 because we were moving into the city. The parks are much smaller...and we did ALMOST but not quite everything. For example, we skipped shows like Lights, Motors, Action. We've done that in FL a couple of times so didn't feel the need to make it a priority. We wanted to make sure that we rode anything that was different from WDW like Space Mountain & Big Thunder and we wanted to be sure to ride the things we don't have in FL. The one thing I wish we'd had time to ride a 2nd time was Crush's Coaster - that was AWESOME but the line was 2 hours long and we didn't feel we could spare the 2 hours again with our limited amount of time. I would say 2-3 days would be plenty. Obviously 3 days would allow a slower pace and time to ride stuff more than once if you wanted to.

We didn't stay at a fancy resort that had much of anything to enjoy. The Hotel Cheyenne had a cute theme but it was a Plain Jane "value" resort. No A/C. No elevators. No pool. One restaurant. We booked that because we knew we would only be there for 1 night & just needed a place to crash.

Beware that over there if you stay onsite you HAVE to buy "length of stay" park tickets. There is no exception to that. That is one reason why we went there FIRST. This way we could buy a package that was 1 night & only included 2 days of park tickets. If we stayed there 2 nights they would've forced us to buy 3 days of park tickets & we wouldn't have used the 3rd day 'cuz we were going into the city. I saw that as a waste of money as the tickets there are not cheap. Likewise if we stayed there for the duration of our 4 nights they would've made us buy 5 days of park tickets - 2 of those we would've been sightseeing & 1 we would've been GONE already to catch our flight. We didn't want or need that many days worth of tickets. They operate very differently there than here and I found that "rule" very annoying when I was trying to plan.

Sign up on the DLP website for emails so you'll know about sales & special deals. They also do not release park hours or take hotel ressies as far in advance as they do here. So you won't be able to plan as far ahead as we do here. There is a DLP board here on the DIS & I hung out over there a little too when I was planning. I caught a 30% off sale in Feb. for our Aug. trip which was most helpful but even with the sale it was a considerable amount more to upgrade hotels so we decided to go on the frugal side.

 

[bzzelady]

Leann,

Your trip report on the blog is fabulous! Though you had trouble with the pictures, they are terrific! You did a lot of pre-planning and it very obviously paid off with the amount of ground you were able to cover on that trip.

 

[Anal Annie]

Leann,

Your trip report on the blog is fabulous! Though you had trouble with the pictures, they are terrific! You did a lot of pre-planning and it very obviously paid off with the amount of ground you were able to cover on that trip.

Thanks. I had made rough itineraries for Paris with timetables alloting X amount of time for breakfast, getting around from point A to point B and an estimated amount of time for each venue (based on some touring books I had picked up). I also relied on those books to know which metro stops to use etc. Alloting 1 hour here & 2 hours there was the only way to fit it all in. We did pretty much everything I had mapped out for Paris except for the Pompidou Center. So I thought that was pretty good, although they really were marathon long days. One more day would've made for a more relaxing trip for sure. But we just couldn't squeeze in another day.

 

[Inkmahm]

I loved your report (although I admit I didn't read all of it) and especially your comments on DLP. I was there in 2008 and said the same thing about Space Mountain. It HURT my head so I only went on it once. At the time I said it was obvious that Paris didn't have the same rules for rides as we do in the U.S. because I just didn't think that ride was safe. My earrings were hit so hard that my ears really did hurt on that ride.

I also loved the Crush coaster and wish that the ride would end up at DL or WDW eventually. I think it is tied with TSMM as my favorite Disney ride anywhere. I was lucky in being able to ride it 3 times when I was there in early June, 2008. The park wasn't too crowded.

Another thing I loved at DLP was the Walt's restaurant on Main Street. It is very similar to the 33 club, I'm told. The food was great and so was the view of Main Street. We watched a parade there for lunch!

I didn't have the same take on the CM at the parks though that you did. I thought the CMs were just as friendly as at DL and WDW. And having worked for a French company for many years, I had a pre-existing idea of what the French would be like in the parks. I was wrong. I also didn't have a big problem with smokers even though I hate smoke. I must have been lucky to not run into them.

I really loved DLP and hope that I can return there someday with my DH this time. My first trip there was a tag on to a work trip.

Again, great job on your trip report! It brought back many pleasant memories for me.

 

[Anal Annie]

I loved your report (although I admit I didn't read all of it) and especially your comments on DLP. I was there in 2008 and said the same thing about Space Mountain. It HURT my head so I only went on it once. At the time I said it was obvious that Paris didn't have the same rules for rides as we do in the U.S. because I just didn't think that ride was safe. My earrings were hit so hard that my ears really did hurt on that ride.

I also loved the Crush coaster and wish that the ride would end up at DL or WDW eventually. I think it is tied with TSMM as my favorite Disney ride anywhere. I was lucky in being able to ride it 3 times when I was there in early June, 2008. The park wasn't too crowded.

Another thing I loved at DLP was the Walt's restaurant on Main Street. It is very similar to the 33 club, I'm told. The food was great and so was the view of Main Street. We watched a parade there for lunch!

I didn't have the same take on the CM at the parks though that you did. I thought the CMs were just as friendly as at DL and WDW. And having worked for a French company for many years, I had a pre-existing idea of what the French would be like in the parks. I was wrong. I also didn't have a big problem with smokers even though I hate smoke. I must have been lucky to not run into them.

I really loved DLP and hope that I can return there someday with my DH this time. My first trip there was a tag on to a work trip.

Again, great job on your trip report! It brought back many pleasant memories for me.

Hi - yes, it was a shame that Space Mountain was a bit of a let-down there. We'd heard that it had loops so we were excited to ride it. But it was definitely painful. I wear some diamond earrings all the time that have very long posts with the screw on backs and I thought for sure they'd punctured my head from all the banging! (Of course they hadn't but it was THAT painful!)

We LOVED Crush but it was such a slow loader - and no fastpasses so the line sucked big time. Two hours and we were behind a smoker who had zero regard for the rules. I am a former smoker (quit 4 years ago) living in a county that has had very strict smoking laws since the early 90's. I knew it wouldn't be like that in Europe but it was pretty prevelant everywhere. We even encounted them smoking on the metro trains at times. That would not be tolerated in D.C.

It wasn't that the CM's were UNfriendly they just weren't AS friendly and we didn't see as many of them. In FL you see them at every turn. But not at DLP. They were only at the ride entrances & stores & kiosks. Perhaps they've had staff cutbacks?! A DLP CM posted on my blog that they're in a union there so it's very difficult to get fired, whereas in FL they need to tow the line & be on their best behavior to avoid getting in trouble. Aparently the French labor laws are very different.

I had read that Walt's was good and I had looked at their menu some when trying to decide if we should do an ADR but decided against it. Our time was so short I didn't want to stress over making an ADR and the menu was pretty pricey (considering the exchange rate at the time - even lunch would've run us about $30-40 pp and I didn't feel we needed to eat there THAT BAD).

We are very glad we had the opportunity to go. It's hard to say if we'll ever get a chance to return to Europe so it may have been a once in a lifetime thing for us.

 

[jmatias]

Really enjoy reading your blog!

We were booked on the Med cruise but had to cancel due to summer school etc. Reading your report makes me so wish we had done the cruise!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey there peeps! DH spent several hours working on my computer over the weekend - wiped it clean & did new installs so I am running much better now. (Although I'm still getting stuff set back up in some instances.)

ANYWHO, I just published Day # 11 - our Sea Day if anybody's still reading!

 

[Anal Annie]

Really enjoy reading your blog!

We were booked on the Med cruise but had to cancel due to summer school etc. Reading your report makes me so wish we had done the cruise!

Oh I'm sorry you had to cancel. It really was a fabulous trip. Perhaps a once in a lifetime trip for us. I hope you get the chance to rebook one day.

I see you're from Hawaii (our fav destination). We were hoping to go to Aulani next summer but I don't think we'll be able to afford the flights now...Europe really set us back with the terrible Euro / USD conversion rate we had when we were there. We'll see. I'll have to figure it out in the next couple of months if we want to book at 7 months for early next August.

 

[Anal Annie]

Just posted Day # 12 - Palma de Mallorca on the trip report. It was a nice day. We took it easy & went to a beach. We were burnt out on the sightseeing thing by then and ready for some R & R.

I will start working on Day #13 (back to Barcelona) this weekend but it will probably take me a few days to get it done. We did a lot there and I don't have a lot of free time this weekend...but I'll get around to it eventually.

 

[Olaf]

Great trip report and photos. Thanks for the taking the time to post it. Somewhat bittersweet for us, as we had hoped to be on that cruise. Held out for a military rate, which never came through. In hindsight, probably should have just bit the bullet and gone.

Agree with all your observations of Disneyland Paris. The smoking everywhere was a total turnoff for me.

 

[Anal Annie]

Great trip report and photos. Thanks for the taking the time to post it. Somewhat bittersweet for us, as we had hoped to be on that cruise. Held out for a military rate, which never came through. In hindsight, probably should have just bit the bullet and gone.

Agree with all your observations of Disneyland Paris. The smoking everywhere was a total turnoff for me.

Thanks. I'm sorry your rate didn't come thru. Although there were a lot of rumors that these cruises weren't selling well I think the shorter 7 night ones DID sell OK because ours was completely sold out without any special promotions. There were no upgrades available at the port. I believe there were some military rates earlier in the summer on some of the longer cruises but I think the shorter ones sold well up until the end of August when schools started back & they lost a few people simply because they had school age kids. Personally I think with the higher cost of airfare these days the shorter ones were simply more affordable so they sold better & I think that's why on the surveys that DCL is doing they're asking about 7 night Med cruises out of Civitavecchia. I hope you get to go one day. I don't know if we'll ever get a chance to visit Europe again or not. Not sure our coins in Trevi Fountain will be enough to guarantee it!!

 

[Olaf]

Yes, I saw the military rates for earlier in the summer. We live over here, and my son is on a European school schedule, so those were a no go. It looks as if it was a great cruise. Could of, would of, should of . I made a bad decision. And now, they're not coming next summer.