Hello all, and thank goodness I've found you!
It all started last August when my son and I took advantage of an offer to stay with friends in the south east of France for a week. We thoroughly enjoyed it, especially holidaying together for the first time in five years (he'd been through a 'wouldn't be seen dead on holiday with mum' period), but both agreed that it wouldn't be the location or the holiday we'd choose for ourselves.
Between August 2010 and February 2011 it went like this...
Let's plan a joint celebration holiday in 2011 - my 50th birthday and his 21st
A city break in Paris appealed - within our tight budget, easy to get to, lots to see, and not too scary for us near-virgins to foreign travel
Way hay! We realise that Disneyland Paris is nearby, and my son loves theme parks
Hmm, we could plan a spilt holiday, couple of days in Paris, a couple in Disneyland
Actually, the planning is getting complicated, why not just stay on site in a Disneyland hotel and day-trip to Paris etc.
Ouch, hotel prices, maybe try an off-site hotel to stretch the budget
So, what have we ended up with? A week in the Santa Fe arriving Monday 12th September and leaving Monday 19th. Booked now and (almost!) paid for. Based on simplicity (on site stay with no mid-holiday hotel shuffling), using Santa Fe's cheapness to stay as long as we can afford for this first visit, taking advantage of hopefully quieter non-peak-season times, flying to and from CDG (we're a long way from London but pretty close an airport).
As of this week our holiday is just three months away and the nerves are properly kicking in. I know we'll love the parks, I know my son will love the rides, and we're pretty robust about 2 star hotel quality having never been able to afford anything better. But I'd still like to make this holiday as magical as possible, and I think that this forum is going to be a huge help!
So glad to have found you all, I imagine I'll have lots of questions over the coming weeks, but meanwhile I just wanted to say thank you to all the lovely people writing trip reports. It's so helpful for my planning!
Looking forward to learning loads....
It all started last August when my son and I took advantage of an offer to stay with friends in the south east of France for a week. We thoroughly enjoyed it, especially holidaying together for the first time in five years (he'd been through a 'wouldn't be seen dead on holiday with mum' period), but both agreed that it wouldn't be the location or the holiday we'd choose for ourselves.
Between August 2010 and February 2011 it went like this...
Let's plan a joint celebration holiday in 2011 - my 50th birthday and his 21st
A city break in Paris appealed - within our tight budget, easy to get to, lots to see, and not too scary for us near-virgins to foreign travel
Way hay! We realise that Disneyland Paris is nearby, and my son loves theme parks
Hmm, we could plan a spilt holiday, couple of days in Paris, a couple in Disneyland
Actually, the planning is getting complicated, why not just stay on site in a Disneyland hotel and day-trip to Paris etc.
Ouch, hotel prices, maybe try an off-site hotel to stretch the budget
So, what have we ended up with? A week in the Santa Fe arriving Monday 12th September and leaving Monday 19th. Booked now and (almost!) paid for. Based on simplicity (on site stay with no mid-holiday hotel shuffling), using Santa Fe's cheapness to stay as long as we can afford for this first visit, taking advantage of hopefully quieter non-peak-season times, flying to and from CDG (we're a long way from London but pretty close an airport).
As of this week our holiday is just three months away and the nerves are properly kicking in. I know we'll love the parks, I know my son will love the rides, and we're pretty robust about 2 star hotel quality having never been able to afford anything better. But I'd still like to make this holiday as magical as possible, and I think that this forum is going to be a huge help!
So glad to have found you all, I imagine I'll have lots of questions over the coming weeks, but meanwhile I just wanted to say thank you to all the lovely people writing trip reports. It's so helpful for my planning!
Looking forward to learning loads....