Please help plan

[live4christp1]

We are considering a trip to Europe when DH is on his two weeks of R&R. The trip will include Disneyland Paris but not solely restricted to that. As this might be a once in a lifetime trip we want to put as much into as we can but not be running around all crazy so that we are totally exhausted.

Need help. Have been to the UK once to visit London, Glasgow Scotland & the highlands, and Belfast Ireland. During that trip we were with a group so not really responsible for the planning, etc.

Things we would like to do:

Disneyland Paris (2 or 3 days)
The Eiffel Tower
A nice French meal (taking suggestions)
DD wants to shop (she's 7 but thinks she's a fashionista)
***** Please include other suggestions for Paris *****

Italy
The Colleseum
Would like a gondola ride in Venice but didn't realize how far apart Rome & Venice were.
A nice Italian meal (taking suggestions)

England (I think we can take a train from Paris to England)
London
Visit with DH's uncle (can't remember which city they are in)
maybe visit friends in Scotland

Other places we have tossed around are Spain and Greece (I think)

I am hoping some of the International members will give me tips and ideas on planning. From what I'm looking at so far it might be easier to fly in to Italy from the U.S., then fly from Italy to Paris.....then train from Paris to London......that's not adding any of the other places in there but like I mentioned we'd like to do as much as possible without running a marathon pace.

Thanks!
Cristy

 

[loladelorean]

Sounds like a busy but wonderful trip! You're right Rome and Venice are far apart i have never been to Rome myself but been to Venice it's one of my favourite places so I can give tips if you decide to include it in your itinerary.
Geographically speaking Spain might make more sense than Greece, Spain also offers a range of different cities of which I would recommend Barcelona for it's incredible architecture and bars lol
We can offer dlp tips aplenty on here, best to avoid visiting Disney at the weekend if you can and getting directly from Disney to London by train is very quick and easy so you may want to do Paris city first.
Lastly I know you've visited the uk before but I'm from Scotland and visit London often so also happy to give any advice on travel/restaurants/sights/accommodation if I can.

 

[live4christp1]

Sounds like a busy but wonderful trip! You're right Rome and Venice are far apart i have never been to Rome myself but been to Venice it's one of my favourite places so I can give tips if you decide to include it in your itinerary.
Geographically speaking Spain might make more sense than Greece, Spain also offers a range of different cities of which I would recommend Barcelona for it's incredible architecture and bars lol
We can offer dlp tips aplenty on here, best to avoid visiting Disney at the weekend if you can and getting directly from Disney to London by train is very quick and easy so you may want to do Paris city first.
Lastly I know you've visited the uk before but I'm from Scotland and visit London often so also happy to give any advice on travel/restaurants/sights/accommodation if I can.

Thank you so much! Yes, I was just looking and from what I read it seems that getting to Greece can be quiet challenging. We have to find out for sure about DH's R&R and if he is required to fly into and out of the same place as we (the kids and I) will be arriving from the states/returning to the states and he will not.

They have mentioned seeing Stonehenge while in England. Any idea how far that is in relation to London?

 

[loladelorean]

Thank you so much! Yes, I was just looking and from what I read it seems that getting to Greece can be quiet challenging. We have to find out for sure about DH's R&R and if he is required to fly into and out of the same place as we (the kids and I) will be arriving from the states/returning to the states and he will not.

They have mentioned seeing Stonehenge while in England. Any idea how far that is in relation to London?

I've not been to Stonehenge myself but I know you can get day trips from London and its less than 2 hours each way driving, so if you were staying in London for a few days that might be something you would want to do. Making your own way to Salisbury by train might be quicker though.
Fingers crossed that your husbands' holiday dates work out as it sounds like a very exciting trip. Obviously living in Scotland its very easy for us to do short breaks all over Europe, but we dream of visiting lots of different states in America in the future
Quick edit - sorry mods I realise this has gone a bit OT. OP, let us all know if you get the trip sorted out and need help with your DLP planning

 

[live4christp1]

OK.....Disneyland Paris - can someone give me a run down on the character meals.

Name of place, meals, characters that might make an appearance, your thoughts on quality, etc.

 

[sarahb74]

Hi there, sounds like a wonderful trip, I'd never dream of trying to do so much in one holiday but I have family from Canada who come over and "do Europe" in 3 weeks flat (including a week trekking round family in the uk!) - must be my small island mindset

For character meals there is:
Inventions, in DLH, buffet, expensive, characters in the evening only (starting from 6pm) - food is lovely, great selection, is you like fish its a must, interaction generally very good as they have time and space, but make sure you're seated away from the buffet as characters can get hijacked from there!
Cafe Mickey, in Disney Village, table service restaurant, characters lunch and evening (poss not between 3 & 6?) various food options, generally good, quite expensive but possible to eat more cheaply but not going the full 3 courses, can get pizzas to share for example. Lots of people have birthday celebrations here.
Lucky Nugget, in Frontierland, buffet, character lunch, food is ok, nothing particularly special, sometimes a band is playing, character interaction seems to be a bit hit and miss, some of the recent reports arent good and we were disappointed when we went in February.
Auberge de Cendrillon, in Fantasyland, posh table service with the princesses, understand its very expensive, someone with girls will have to tell you more about this one!!
Steakhouse does a character Sunday brunch but as we've always avoided weekends I cant tell you anything about that one.

Hope that helps

 

[Kittina]

Sounds like a wonderful trip and if you need any advice on London activities/restaurants let me know your favourite things, etc i've lived in London 23 years

 

[live4christp1]

Hi there, sounds like a wonderful trip, I'd never dream of trying to do so much in one holiday but I have family from Canada who come over and "do Europe" in 3 weeks flat (including a week trekking round family in the uk!) - must be my small island mindset

For character meals there is:
Inventions, in DLH, buffet, expensive, characters in the evening only (starting from 6pm) - food is lovely, great selection, is you like fish its a must, interaction generally very good as they have time and space, but make sure you're seated away from the buffet as characters can get hijacked from there!
Cafe Mickey, in Disney Village, table service restaurant, characters lunch and evening (poss not between 3 & 6?) various food options, generally good, quite expensive but possible to eat more cheaply but not going the full 3 courses, can get pizzas to share for example. Lots of people have birthday celebrations here.
Lucky Nugget, in Frontierland, buffet, character lunch, food is ok, nothing particularly special, sometimes a band is playing, character interaction seems to be a bit hit and miss, some of the recent reports arent good and we were disappointed when we went in February.
Auberge de Cendrillon, in Fantasyland, posh table service with the princesses, understand its very expensive, someone with girls will have to tell you more about this one!!
Steakhouse does a character Sunday brunch but as we've always avoided weekends I cant tell you anything about that one.

Hope that helps

Thank you! From what I'm hearing of the character meals I think we might pass and just enjoy a nice meal outside of Disneyland. Hoping some of you here have some suggestions.

 

[live4christp1]

Sounds like a wonderful trip and if you need any advice on London activities/restaurants let me know your favourite things, etc i've lived in London 23 years

Thank you! I think I will put together a list of "things to do" and "places to visit" and then we need to sit down as a family and kind of decide which one's are must do's, etc. or prioritize them as I know there is no way I am going to be able to fit it all into 2 weeks.

We spent one day in London on our last trip, just looking around some but not a lot, saw Buckingham Palace and a few other things (when I say saw it was like...."look, there it is, take a picture, move on" we didn't actually go into anything. Most of our time in England was in Stoke-on-Trent......loved the Toby Carvery and hope if we do make it to England we can eat at one again.

Our kids are 13 & 7, anything you would list as a must see in London?

 

[Willem]

Thank you! From what I'm hearing of the character meals I think we might pass and just enjoy a nice meal outside of Disneyland. Hoping some of you here have some suggestions.

If you're looking for a nice meal in Paris, look up La Framboisy. Great restaurant in Paris with a wonderful hostess (the chefs wife). They speak English too that might help

Do you plan to stay in Paris or at the Disney resort? You can travel easily between both by RER (small train). It takes about 40 minutes.

 

[live4christp1]

If you're looking for a nice meal in Paris, look up La Framboisy. Great restaurant in Paris with a wonderful hostess (the chefs wife). They speak English too that might help

Do you plan to stay in Paris or at the Disney resort? You can travel easily between both by RER (small train). It takes about 40 minutes.

I think we are going to stay at The Marriott Village d'lle France. Friends just came back from an 8 day stay there and said it was beautiful. Any idea where this is in proximety to Disneyland Paris.

Thanks for the recommendation. Adding that to my list.

 

[Willem]

I think we are going to stay at The Marriott Village d'lle France. Friends just came back from an 8 day stay there and said it was beautiful. Any idea where this is in proximety to Disneyland Paris.

Thanks for the recommendation. Adding that to my list.

We stayed there last year and absolutely loved it! Not sure if they have a shuttle, else you'll need a car. By car it takes about 5 minutes to get to the park (so really close).

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Hi Christy ,

I think for a 2 week trip you have way too much planned. Unless you want to spend you entire vacation in train stations and airports I would choose a maximum of 3 locations. You could do something like: 3 days DL, 5 days Paris, 5 days London (w/daytrips). This supposes 2 travel days to/from US.

I recommend renting apartments in the cities especially if you have kids. A kitchen and laundry are essentials. Our next trip to Europe is also next year in July and we have rented a gite in Northern Brittany and an apartment in Paris. Both for 1 week. We like to slow down and really experience the area we are visiting. We did the same when we visited England in 2007. We can't afford to travel to Europe often every 3-4 years so we want to make the most of the country we choose. Next up is Italy 2014!

I have lots of great websites for apartments and other sites for travel planning saved so you can let me know if you are interested in them.

Good luck with your planning.

 

[live4christp1]

Hi Christy ,

I think for a 2 week trip you have way too much planned. Unless you want to spend you entire vacation in train stations and airports I would choose a maximum of 3 locations. You could do something like: 3 days DL, 5 days Paris, 5 days London (w/daytrips). This supposes 2 travel days to/from US.

I recommend renting apartments in the cities especially if you have kids. A kitchen and laundry are essentials. Our next trip to Europe is also next year in July and we have rented a gite in Northern Brittany and an apartment in Paris. Both for 1 week. We like to slow down and really experience the area we are visiting. We did the same when we visited England in 2007. We can't afford to travel to Europe often every 3-4 years so we want to make the most of the country we choose. Next up is Italy 2014!

I have lots of great websites for apartments and other sites for travel planning saved so you can let me know if you are interested in them.

Good luck with your planning.

Thanks!

Yes, I actually told DH over the weekend that there was no way we could do all the things we had mentioned when first talking about it or we would be running from on to another and not enjoying any of it. We are planning to all sit down this weekend with a list of all the things we mentioned and then discuss which one's to narrow it down to letting everyone have some input. Hopefully we will come up with a rough idea that I can start to work on. Will let you know if I need that list you mentioned. I think we are definately decided upon Paris but have already decided on the accomodations mentioned above if we do, it would be a 2 bedroom unit much like what we stay at when we do WDW.

Thanks again! I can't wait to get down to planning it all out. Only bad thing is about the only time the kids and I can travel for two weeks will be when school lets out and that appears to be a pretty popular travel time in Paris as well. Would appreciate any crowd input anyone has. Earliest we could go would be May 25th and would have to travel in order to be home by 2nd week of August......so open to best suggestions during that time frame.

Thanks!
Cristy

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Most schools in Europe won't let out until the end of June/early July so you will mainly have the North American crowds. The UK will have a bank holiday the same weekend as our Memorial Day (so a 3 day weekend). We are going the 1st 2 weeks of July which will probably be busier in France due to the start of the Tour de France and then 14 juillet (Bastille Day).

We visited England the week of Memorial Day and the following week. The crowds in London and the country weren't too bad. We didn't have overly long waits at any museums or attractions. Since most of the museums are free you don't have to wait in entrance lines but may have to wait your turn to view the more popular pieces. We are planning for more crowded conditions in France though.