jubileegirl
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2004
- Messages
- 211
oh yes, I remember it well..DLP January 2003
The cast of this 'no expenses spared extravaganza......'
Me - Alison, 50'ish, been to WDW and DL and always said that Disney 'just isn't France'.
DD - Chloe, 15, youngest of our tribe and AT LAST enjoying getting all the treats 'cause older brother and sister have left home!
My sis - Sally, approaching 50 herself but actually she's my little sister who needs taking care of and sorting out!
Nephew/cousin son - Thomas, just 8, knows the dialogue of most disney films but has never visited the Mouse!
Just to begin with, I hope all you readers have recognised the subtle link with France via the title of this trip report...
Maurice Chevalier??
No?
Oh, well, guess I'm as old as I feel!
(PS If Thomas had been female I could have called the thread 'zank 'eaven for leetle girls')
Anyway, the day of our trip arrived. Everyone except for poor old me had the day off from school/work. I'm a teacher and I finish for the week at midday on a Wed. so as we didn't need to leave until about 2pm I worked as usual. I teach Reception (4/5 year olds) so I had a lovely morning telling my class that I was going to see Mickey Mouse when Mrs Perry (who I do a jobshare with) came to school. I usually tell them that I'm going to have a sleep on my sofa and they don't believe that either even though both are true!!
So midday arrived and I hotfooted it home. Sally had already got to our house with MacDonalds for everyone and we set off on time. In fact we made such good time to Luton that we arrived, checked in the car and got to the check-in desk about a zillion hours early! (We'd seen so many episodes of Airline where people had got there too late due to trouble on the motorway that we played it VERY safe!!)
Talking of Airline we were really excited that this might be our big break, so we had rehearsed all kinds of scenarios where we had a row with someone just in case the cameras were about. However, no luck there so I guess our 15 minutes of fame is destined to be somewhere other than Luton Airport! Sally and I did try to explain to Chloe about the adverts from way back with Lorraine 'what's her name ' (now on Emmerdale) to promote Luton Airport, but as Chloe kept saying things like 'what does 'wafted' mean?' we felt our age and gave up!
I was pleasantly surprised with Luton Airport as I had a mental picture of a windswept runway and a check-in desk in a Portacabin (OK, so I haven't watched Airline all that closely! I just like the rows!)
We had a pleasant time there drinking coffee and wandering round the shops.
Finally it was time to go through to departures where we had something to eat and then completely ran out of time and almost didn't make it to the plane. I think that once you go through to 'departures' at any airport, time changes its meaning and accelerates. Anyone else found that?
When we got to our 'gate' the very lovely girl on duty looked at Thomas and told us we could board first as we had an infant with us. Now, you should know that Tom is (was) 8, but due to some health issues, which are mostly resolved now, he is very small for his age. He certainly doesn't look like an infant but we weren't going to argue and Sally hissed in his ear that it would be a good idea to say nothing! So basically we jumped the queue!
We enjoyed the flight, although it was very quick and Sally and I spent most of it giggling about the 'infant' scenario. Sounded like we'd put him in a Babygro or something!
We arrived at CDG Airport a bit early and I realised that now I had to face the bit I was dreading - getting a taxi to DLP. I knew we had missed the last shuttle and I couldn't really understand the train directions (it sounded like you had to go into Paris then out again), so we decided that the best option was to find a cab.
I was so nervous but in the end it was simple. We just queued up and when it was our turn we said 'Disneyland please,' and Bob was our Uncle , or Robert (said in a French way) etait our oncle.
There then followed a journey that made all those cliche's about french drivers come true. We drove fast, we changed lanes, we tooted, we gesticulated, I think we swore a bit too, and all in torrential rain. I crossed my fingers, I remembered I'm a Christian so I prayed, I shut my eyes and tried to have an 'out of body experience' and eventually we all cheered when we saw the lights of Disney and most particularly the entrance to the Newport Bay Club, where we were staying. HOORAY!
The taxi cost us about 80 Euros but we were so glad to have arrived safely we gave the driver a big tip, French kissed him (when in Rome etc), watched him drive off in terror and wearily turned ourselves towards the entrance (the very welcome entrance!) of our home for the next few nights.
To be continued........
The cast of this 'no expenses spared extravaganza......'
Me - Alison, 50'ish, been to WDW and DL and always said that Disney 'just isn't France'.
DD - Chloe, 15, youngest of our tribe and AT LAST enjoying getting all the treats 'cause older brother and sister have left home!
My sis - Sally, approaching 50 herself but actually she's my little sister who needs taking care of and sorting out!
Nephew/cousin son - Thomas, just 8, knows the dialogue of most disney films but has never visited the Mouse!
Just to begin with, I hope all you readers have recognised the subtle link with France via the title of this trip report...
Maurice Chevalier??
No?
Oh, well, guess I'm as old as I feel!
(PS If Thomas had been female I could have called the thread 'zank 'eaven for leetle girls')
Anyway, the day of our trip arrived. Everyone except for poor old me had the day off from school/work. I'm a teacher and I finish for the week at midday on a Wed. so as we didn't need to leave until about 2pm I worked as usual. I teach Reception (4/5 year olds) so I had a lovely morning telling my class that I was going to see Mickey Mouse when Mrs Perry (who I do a jobshare with) came to school. I usually tell them that I'm going to have a sleep on my sofa and they don't believe that either even though both are true!!
So midday arrived and I hotfooted it home. Sally had already got to our house with MacDonalds for everyone and we set off on time. In fact we made such good time to Luton that we arrived, checked in the car and got to the check-in desk about a zillion hours early! (We'd seen so many episodes of Airline where people had got there too late due to trouble on the motorway that we played it VERY safe!!)
Talking of Airline we were really excited that this might be our big break, so we had rehearsed all kinds of scenarios where we had a row with someone just in case the cameras were about. However, no luck there so I guess our 15 minutes of fame is destined to be somewhere other than Luton Airport! Sally and I did try to explain to Chloe about the adverts from way back with Lorraine 'what's her name ' (now on Emmerdale) to promote Luton Airport, but as Chloe kept saying things like 'what does 'wafted' mean?' we felt our age and gave up!
I was pleasantly surprised with Luton Airport as I had a mental picture of a windswept runway and a check-in desk in a Portacabin (OK, so I haven't watched Airline all that closely! I just like the rows!)
We had a pleasant time there drinking coffee and wandering round the shops.
Finally it was time to go through to departures where we had something to eat and then completely ran out of time and almost didn't make it to the plane. I think that once you go through to 'departures' at any airport, time changes its meaning and accelerates. Anyone else found that?
When we got to our 'gate' the very lovely girl on duty looked at Thomas and told us we could board first as we had an infant with us. Now, you should know that Tom is (was) 8, but due to some health issues, which are mostly resolved now, he is very small for his age. He certainly doesn't look like an infant but we weren't going to argue and Sally hissed in his ear that it would be a good idea to say nothing! So basically we jumped the queue!
We enjoyed the flight, although it was very quick and Sally and I spent most of it giggling about the 'infant' scenario. Sounded like we'd put him in a Babygro or something!
We arrived at CDG Airport a bit early and I realised that now I had to face the bit I was dreading - getting a taxi to DLP. I knew we had missed the last shuttle and I couldn't really understand the train directions (it sounded like you had to go into Paris then out again), so we decided that the best option was to find a cab.
I was so nervous but in the end it was simple. We just queued up and when it was our turn we said 'Disneyland please,' and Bob was our Uncle , or Robert (said in a French way) etait our oncle.
There then followed a journey that made all those cliche's about french drivers come true. We drove fast, we changed lanes, we tooted, we gesticulated, I think we swore a bit too, and all in torrential rain. I crossed my fingers, I remembered I'm a Christian so I prayed, I shut my eyes and tried to have an 'out of body experience' and eventually we all cheered when we saw the lights of Disney and most particularly the entrance to the Newport Bay Club, where we were staying. HOORAY!
The taxi cost us about 80 Euros but we were so glad to have arrived safely we gave the driver a big tip, French kissed him (when in Rome etc), watched him drive off in terror and wearily turned ourselves towards the entrance (the very welcome entrance!) of our home for the next few nights.
To be continued........
LOL jubileegirl - many thanks.
