Rapport de Voyage: A WDW Local Goes to DLP (Also London and Efteling) UPDATED Day 1 Complete 12/22

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Continuing on, we have now reached the London portion of the trip. I've got the very vague, rough outline, then I break it down further below.

Most of the activities below I discovered through YouTube London vlogs or Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/london-england/places?page=1

Fri Nov 25 British Museum, West End show
Sat Nov 26 day of sightseeing around city
Sun Nov 27 later start Harry Potter WB Studio Tour
Mon Nov 28 sightsee around the city, might focus on Greenwich area
Tues Nov 29 Leave by train for Paris, check into DLP hotel

Friday Nov 25
British Museum 10 am
Afternoon Tea
Transportation Museum open until 6 pm
Maybe a West End show

Our top priority, so far as museums go, is the British Museum. We are going to try to be there for opening at 10 am. I am going back and forth on whether to schedule afternoon tea for this day, but I think we will. We've had several recommendations on good places for afternoon tea but haven't picked one yet, though once we do we'll make a reservation: Marriott Grosvenor house or Sheraton Grand Hotel or Jubilee Tea Room at Fortnum and Mason.

The Transportation Museum was something we saw on a blog that looked interesting. It's open until 6 so I imagine we'd try to have at least an hour there.

I am very much into Broadway, so I want to see at least one show if not two. I think we also might enter some Broadway ticket lotteries (for the unsold seats in the front row or on the end of aisles), see if we get any good shows for really cheap.

I thought this might be a good night to do one show.

Right now I think our top choices are: Back to the Future, My Neighbor Totoro or Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Not sure what we'd do about dinner, haven't researched too many dinner places yet.



Saturday Nov 26
Tate Britain 10 am
-Westminster Abbey
-Horse Guards Palace
-Churchill War Rooms
-Parliament
-St James Park
-Buckingham Palace
-Big Ben
-Trafalgar Square
-Piccadilly Circus
-Peter Pan statue

So these items are grouped on the same day because they are all relatively close, as you can see in the Google map below. The Tate Britain is kind of by itself far away, so it could be we take public transport from there to the rest of the activities.



We won't need more than two hours at the Tate Britain, we mostly just want to see the Van Gogh exhibit.

Besides the Churchill War Rooms, most of the places listed above will just be walk bys to get pictures and take a quick look.

We don't have any ideas for either lunch or dinner on this day yet.


Sunday Nov 27
Late start WB Studios Harry Potter Tour
West End show

I figured this might be a good day to sleep in and schedule our WB Studios Harry Potter tour for later in the day. We'll also need to get either train/bus or bus transportation.

If we are going to see Cursed Child we would most likely get tickets this day to make it a Harry Potter day.

Monday Nov 28
Tower of London
Roman/London Wall
St. Paul's Cathedral
Borough Market to walk along the South Thames. Food Market at Borough Market. Mon-Sat (wed-Sat has the most booths). Walk to the London Eye (Jubilee walkway), Globe theater is along the way. Gabriel's Warf, South Bank Book Market, London Eye.
-Greenwich Market, Cutty Sark and Royal Observatory
-take clippers along the Thames



Once again, I tried to lump together activities in the same area. These ones are a bit more spread out than the previous days so we might take some buses.

We plan to do the Yeoman Tour at the Tower of London. I am not sure if we'll really have time to do the Greenwich activities, but if we do we will most likely try to take a clipper along the Thames to get there and back.

We plan to have lunch at the Borough Market.


There are also a couple tours listed on Viator that I am considering taking. Most of them are at night which works better with our schedule. There are two Christmas light tours and I really am not sure what's different between the two. Obviously we would only do 1 of the lights tours.

Ghosts and Ghouls with boat ride: 7 pm $24.98
https://www.viator.com/tours/London/Ghost-Tour-of-London-with-a-Cruise-on-the-Thames/d737-49063P4
On this evening walking tour, you’ll creep through London’s most haunted Royal Parks and see the city’s most haunted house. You’ll also cruise the Thames to take in the exquisite views and to visit the Tower of London. Learn about London’s dark, secret history with your group.

Christmas Lights Tour London: 6 pm $33
https://www.viator.com/tours/London...mas-Lights-Experience/d737-3302P26?mcid=56757
Capture the magic of the city on a London Christmas lights bus tour. See the famous lights that decorate the iconic streets of London on board The Original Tour’s double-decker buses. Sit back, relax and watch the city sparkling as our tour takes you past the capital's famous Christmas lights. See Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and more while our live guide entertains you with stories of Christmas past and present. Each ticket includes a complimentary Santa hat on board to get you into the Christmas spirit.

London by Night Open Top Bus Tour with Christmas Lights: 5 pm $30
https://www.viator.com/tours/London/London-by-Night-Christmas-Lights-Open-Top-Bus-Tour/d737-5461P157
Experience a panoramic tour of London’s most remarkable regions and landmarks. Take a seat on the top deck of our open top bus and get ready to be spellbound by some of London’s most famous sights. The sun will have set on the city but the best part of the day is yet to begin! The bus will weave its way through London and past a number of celebrated attractions and landmarks. View iconic attractions like Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and many more. A live guide or multilingual audio guide will be on board the bus to tell you all about the parts of London the tour passes and share some fun facts. Sightseeing in London on Christmas has never been so stunning!

There two are during the day so would be harder to fit in. We wouldn't do both, we would pick either or.

Small-Group Tour: Historical Pub Walking Tour of London: 2 pm $31.24
https://www.viator.com/tours/London/London-Literary-Pub-Crawl-and-Tavern-Tour/d737-9279P1
Discover ancient ale houses and literary drinking dens on a 3-hour afternoon pub tour of London. Centered on the area in and around the City of London, the tour visits at least four of London’s finest historical pubs, your guide will recommend different ales in each (not included). Hear the history of the pubs, learn the differences between Elizabethan coaching inns and Victorian gin palaces, and visit the watering holes frequented by legendary British novelist Charles Dickens. Numbers are limited to 14 on this small-group pub tour, ensuring you’ll enjoy personalized attention from your guide.

Literary Pub Crawl and Tavern Tour: Saturday only 5 pm $37.23
https://www.viator.com/tours/London/London-Literary-Pub-Crawl-and-Tavern-Tour/d737-9279P1
Explore the writers pubs, secret members clubs and venues of Soho and Fitzrovia with Charles Dickens (Deceased)! Every Saturday at 5pm

I definitely want to do one of the Christmas light tours. Might do the ghost one. I like the sound of the pub tours but wonder if we can't do that on our own.

Tues Nov 29
Leave by train for Paris, check into DLP hotel

I still need to figure out the train schedules and figure out the timing for this. We would like to leave pretty early in the day.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

We plan to do the Yeoman Tour at the Tower of London.

Cannot recommend this enough - they absolutely made our visit. The Tower was probably our favorite thing we did in London.

And when you're near the globe be sure to turn around and check out the Millennium Bridge, which was in Half Blood Prince when the Death Eaters start causing trouble in London.

If they're still there, check out Pieminister at Borough Market. They have the most delicious hand pies.

 

[dachsie]

Sounds like a fabulous trip! I can't wait to see the pics!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Don't forget to breathe ;-) That's quite a full and intense schedule with a lot of impressions. Make sure you stop from time to time to process everything you see and do.

I'll put breathing on the schedule, thanks for the reminder.

Cannot recommend this enough - they absolutely made our visit. The Tower was probably our favorite thing we did in London.

And when you're near the globe be sure to turn around and check out the Millennium Bridge, which was in Half Blood Prince when the Death Eaters start causing trouble in London.

If they're still there, check out Pieminister at Borough Market. They have the most delicious hand pies.

I'm already hopefully excited that we'll get to see the ravens that live there.

Yes! All the Harry Potter stuff!!

The best pies in London, do you say?

Sounds like a fabulous trip! I can't wait to see the pics!

I can't wait to go!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

And finally for the piece de resistance of the trip:

Tues Nov 29 Leave by train for Paris, check into DLP hotel
Wed Nov 30 DLP
Thurs Dec 1 DLP
Fri Dec 2 depart Paris airport for home

Hopefully we won't arrive too late in the day on Tuesday. I have already booked our stay at the Sequoia Lodge. I booked express luggage transfer so we can leave our bags at the train station and go directly to the parks. I hear that Sequoia is a lot like the Grand Californian or Wilderness Lodge hotels, so it should be excellent.



I hope to be able to have a decent amount of time in the parks, but it's my best guess that the parks may close around 6 pm/1800 during our trip, so we might not have too much time on this day.

I would like to knock out a parade or a show on this day, just to clear way on the schedule for the other days.

Wed and Thurs we expect to spend most of the day in the parks, including whatever early time we may get from being hotel guests.

Sadly, I don't think we'll get any time in the parks on Friday as our flight leaves from Charles de Gaulle at 10:40 am. I did pay for the airport transfer from DLP. Also got the photopass.

I am very eager for the park hours calendar to come out and to be able to book our dining. I think we're still a while from being able to book dining, right now you can book through Sept 7. The park hours are only posted through the first week of August.

Nothing quite like visiting a brand new Disney theme park.

Right now on my list for dining reservations are Captain Jack's (we love a good themed restaurant), Walt's and probably a character dining. Not sure if we should do Auberge de Cendrillon or Plaza. I'm trying to figure out which characters frequent each and I'll pick whichever has the rarer characters.

I had thought about eating at Manhattan at the Marvel hotel, but it looks very pricey and we might just check out the hotel and go to the Skyline Bar or Bleecker Street.

Right now on my counter service list I only have Colonel Hathi's. It looks themed?

I've kind of neglected my DLP planning since the dining and park hours calendars are nowhere near updated for our dates. I have to assume there might be Christmas and 30th anniversary stuff?

Right now our major points of interest are new attractions (new to us) and characters.

Also, if anyone familiar with the parks is reading this, do DLP parks participate in the Duffy and friends craze? Or is that mostly the Asian parks that love Duffy.

At this point I appreciate and wholeheartedly welcome any and all DLP advice, tips/tricks, must dos.

 

[Karin1984]

Christmas starts mid November, so yes to Christmas and 30th anniversary entertainment and decorations.

Is there anything in particular you are interested in? Rides, shows, food, characters?

My tip from my current visit: when you ride the Molly Brown, go for the deck on the 1st floor, not 2nd. Stand close to the entrance (the rope separating the walking people from the wheelchair people), as soon as you can board, go right and up the first stairs to get to the front.

That is 1st floor in EU, which is 2nd floor in US

 

[Karin1984]

Oh practical tip of today:

Clean toilets in the studios > go to the toilets next to guest relations near the entrance. Dont use the ones in the main building. There is so much traffic in the main building, it is almost impossible to keep them clean properly.

 

[WeLoveABD]

And finally for the piece de resistance of the trip:

Tues Nov 29 Leave by train for Paris, check into DLP hotel
Wed Nov 30 DLP
Thurs Dec 1 DLP
Fri Dec 2 depart Paris airport for home

Hopefully we won't arrive too late in the day on Tuesday. I have already booked our stay at the Sequoia Lodge. I booked express luggage transfer so we can leave our bags at the train station and go directly to the parks. I hear that Sequoia is a lot like the Grand Californian or Wilderness Lodge hotels, so it should be excellent.

View attachment 682542

I hope to be able to have a decent amount of time in the parks, but it's my best guess that the parks may close around 6 pm/1800 during our trip, so we might not have too much time on this day.

I would like to knock out a parade or a show on this day, just to clear way on the schedule for the other days.

Wed and Thurs we expect to spend most of the day in the parks, including whatever early time we may get from being hotel guests.

Sadly, I don't think we'll get any time in the parks on Friday as our flight leaves from Charles de Gaulle at 10:40 am. I did pay for the airport transfer from DLP. Also got the photopass.

I am very eager for the park hours calendar to come out and to be able to book our dining. I think we're still a while from being able to book dining, right now you can book through Sept 7. The park hours are only posted through the first week of August.

Nothing quite like visiting a brand new Disney theme park.

Right now on my list for dining reservations are Captain Jack's (we love a good themed restaurant), Walt's and probably a character dining. Not sure if we should do Auberge de Cendrillon or Plaza. I'm trying to figure out which characters frequent each and I'll pick whichever has the rarer characters.

I had thought about eating at Manhattan at the Marvel hotel, but it looks very pricey and we might just check out the hotel and go to the Skyline Bar or Bleecker Street.

Right now on my counter service list I only have Colonel Hathi's. It looks themed?

I've kind of neglected my DLP planning since the dining and park hours calendars are nowhere near updated for our dates. I have to assume there might be Christmas and 30th anniversary stuff?

Right now our major points of interest are new attractions (new to us) and characters.

Also, if anyone familiar with the parks is reading this, do DLP parks participate in the Duffy and friends craze? Or is that mostly the Asian parks that love Duffy.

At this point I appreciate and wholeheartedly welcome any and all DLP advice, tips/tricks, must dos.

We stayed at Sequoia at the end of June. Bring an extension cord-- very limited outlets for your devices. And while the hotel is fine and a great back porch overlooking the small lake, the rooms are meh. Doesn't sound like you will have time for the pool or walking the wooded paths-- but the early entry hour is well worth it (plan to get in line around 8-- get a light bfast at Starbucks that is on the way, in the village, to eat in line. One thing we found: everyone is very polite in line, not much sneaking ahead or pushing etc.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Christmas starts mid November, so yes to Christmas and 30th anniversary entertainment and decorations.

Is there anything in particular you are interested in? Rides, shows, food, characters?

My tip from my current visit: when you ride the Molly Brown, go for the deck on the 1st floor, not 2nd. Stand close to the entrance (the rope separating the walking people from the wheelchair people), as soon as you can board, go right and up the first stairs to get to the front.

That is 1st floor in EU, which is 2nd floor in US

The short answer is we're really interested in everything. We love to meet characters, especially ones that aren't in the US parks. I do want to see all the shows, especially nighttime shows. Which is hard to plan for since the calendar isn't up to date yet. I think we'll go on most rides at least once since we'll be there for close to 3 days.

Thanks for the tip

We stayed at Sequoia at the end of June. Bring an extension cord-- very limited outlets for your devices. And while the hotel is fine and a great back porch overlooking the small lake, the rooms are meh. Doesn't sound like you will have time for the pool or walking the wooded paths-- but the early entry hour is well worth it (plan to get in line around 8-- get a light bfast at Starbucks that is on the way, in the village, to eat in line. One thing we found: everyone is very polite in line, not much sneaking ahead or pushing etc.

We're not usually big hotel swimmers so we probably won't even bring our suits. Good tip about the extension cord.

I was thinking we might try to grab some breakfast type items from a nearby convenience or grocery store. We plan to have dinner reservations each night since I'm reading that CS is not readably available or convenient towards night.

I like the sound of polite people in lines

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

London Eye.

I'm a sucker for these kinds of things.

We did the High Roller in Vegas and while some of the views are obstructed because of its location the very top is so pretty. Best of course to do that one at night because of the Vegas Strip lights. Is the London Eye better to do during the day?

Ghosts and Ghouls with boat ride:

Oh that would be so cool!

Christmas Lights Tour London:

But then Christmas in London I'm sure is so magical.

Yeoman Tour at the Tower of London.

Cannot recommend this enough - they absolutely made our visit.

Okay what is Yeoman tour?

I have already booked our stay at the Sequoia Lodge.

That pic does make it look cozy

Oh practical tip of today:

Clean toilets in the studios > go to the toilets next to guest relations near the entrance. Dont use the ones in the main building. There is so much traffic in the main building, it is almost impossible to keep them clean properly.

Such great advice! Not one I would even think of asking about.

 

[Karin1984]

People are usually pretty polite in lines, most pop up / unscheduled character meets usually also nowadays have a CM to create a line. The only thing where it does go wrong from time to time is parade time. It's not uncommon for parents to shove their kids to the front. Depending on my mood, the size of the child and especially the behaviour of the parents I sometimes let the child stand in front of me, sometimes I don't.

Yes, definitely bring an extension cord. I do the same when travelling to the US, the UK or whenever I am in a country with a different outlet system. It's just easier and saves you buying and bringing extra converters.

So... you want to do it all. Let's sum up what you can expect based on the previous years.

Characters:
Most characters will be different to you as you probably are not used to see most of them in winter wear ;-) Mickey and the gang will have Christmas outfits.
Most special character will probably be Jack Skellington in his Santa outfit. He has been meeting in the last few years, so I assume he will be this year as well. You can meet him in the gazebo left of Phantom Manor. Have a look at the waiting times and show up a bit before the set starts. As Phantom Manor is in a remote corner and the gazebo is not immediately in sight, most people miss it.
Santa Stitch, if he is out, can be met during EMH at the end of Main Street. Probably also pretty rare in the US. I guess?

Shows:
This is going to be busy. It's hard to predict some things as we had lockdowns in the previous Christmas periods. And I am not 100% sure how they will do it with the 30th anniversary entertainment. But to give you a list, you could be looking at.

From the regular entertainment
- We do not have a welcome show, but one thing they have kept from Covid is Mickey (and sometimes Minnie) waiving from the train station in the morning, and waiving goodbye in the evening. Last Halloween they also had the rest of the Fab Five up there. Could be coming back.
- 30th anniversary hub show. Not to be missed.
- Lion King: Rhythm of the Pride Lands, not sure if they will continue this, but they did during last November. It's a well done show, a mix of Broadway and the animation in 25-30 minutes, guaranteed entrance tickets available for 15 euro. (Will be a time saver).
- Pre-fireworks drone show, my favourite part of the nighttime entertainment.
- Illuminations, the fireworks show. Don't worry, unless it's extremely windy/rainy, the show goes on every day.

Christmas entertainment:
The last three are not confirmed yet, but my predictions
- Let's sing Christmas: 4 carollers, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy. 25-30 minute show singing Christmas carols in Videopolis. I like sitting in the audience part, where you will have to queue. If you are short time and want to see it, get something to eat in Hyperion before showtime and sit on the 'balcony' to eat and enjoy the show. If you are even shorter on time, go for standing room on the 'balcony'.
- Christmas Parade: 2 versions, 1 daytime, 1 nighttime. Pros and cons to both. During the daytime show you can see the floats and characters better. During the night time show they do the lighting of the tree (which is a bit overrated, tbh)
* Mickey's Christmas Big Band: Not to be missed. This show is popular, make time to queue. At the moment for Mickey and the Magician they open the queue 45 minutes before showtime, but you maybe want to be a bit before that.
* Goofy Christmas show in the Studios: Hard to predict what this will be, during Covid it was a 5 minute show between Goofy & Donald. But in the past they have done more elaborate versions. You will be going late November, by then the fansites will have youtube videos of all the new entertainment.
* Castle Stage Show: Next to the castle is a stage, they might have 1 or 2 different shows here. Could be Merry Stitchmas, which is just a bunch of dancers and characters doing an upbeat modernized Christmas carol show. Other option is the Royal Winter Waltz, which is opening a can of princesses and their princes waltzing together.

Snacks:
Last few years Disneyland Paris has upped their snack game. You can expect special cookies and probably milkshakes. Expect things with Nutella. The French love Nutella. Speaking of this, the French are not a fan of peanut butter. Expect limited peanut butter options at breakfast.
One of my favourite things to do: Milkshake break at Victoria's, check the opening times they are not open from open to close.
Oh, free refills are not allowed in France by law because of attempts to prevent obesity.

EMH strategies:
Do one morning at the Studios and go straight to Crush Coaster. Other Crush strategies, use the single rider's line or get in line right before closing time.
Do one morning at Disneyland Park and go to Big Thunder Mountain. For Big Thunder Mountain, use the left lane!

Premiere Access lanes:
Probably only worth it for Crush Coaster.

Weather:
Dress in layers, weather can go all ways in November. Waiting for a parade or fireworks in the cold in 30s-50s is not the most fun thing at Disneyland Paris. Expect rain.

Take time to roam around:
Disneyland Paris was built as a park, there are a lot of little distractions and the park is (even in the November weather) just gorgeous. The 30th anniversary statues at the hub are a perfect fit for this. But also how Frontierland is built with Big Thunder Mountain and Phantom manor fitting in.
Use the arcades parallel to Main Street to quickly get from the beginning to the end.

Such great advice! Not one I would even think of asking about.

It was really noticeable during my last visit. The toilets in the Studios near the entrance are hidden and not used as much.
It's not that in the main building I couldn't find a toilet to use, it was clean enough. But it's the same with toilets in Fantasyland (for DLP those are near Bella Notte and Pinocchio's restaurant), a lot of traffic, a lot of little kids, it's not a recipe for cleanliness.
Cleanest toilets in Fantasyland are behind Toad Hall.

 

[steve_rob]

For clean toilets in the main park, I always swear by the ones that are in the covered walkway that goes round the back of Frontierland on the way to Adventureland. Because most people don't take this route unless it's raining, they aren't all that well used, but they still get cleaned to the same schedule as all the others, so are normally spotless (or at least this was the case on previous trips).

Okay what is Yeoman tour?

Cribbed from Wikipedia:
The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels. They have also conducted guided tours of the Tower since the Victorian era.
All warders are retired from the British Armed Forces and must be former warrant officers with at least 22 years of service. They must also hold the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

Yes, you can just walk around the Tower yourself looking at the exhibits or following a guide books/audio tour and get a really good idea of the history and everything, but getting a tour from one of the people who work there does make for a much more immersive and enjoyable experience.

Is the London Eye better to do during the day?

Yes, definitely during the day. While you'd probably be able to pick out a number of landmarks at night, not all of them would be lit up - let's face it, quite a lot of buildings in that area are government offices, so outside of working hours there's no guarantee anyone would be in them - so it will be a lot easier to differentiate between sights in the daytime.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

People are usually pretty polite in lines, most pop up / unscheduled character meets usually also nowadays have a CM to create a line. The only thing where it does go wrong from time to time is parade time. It's not uncommon for parents to shove their kids to the front. Depending on my mood, the size of the child and especially the behaviour of the parents I sometimes let the child stand in front of me, sometimes I don't.

Yes, definitely bring an extension cord. I do the same when travelling to the US, the UK or whenever I am in a country with a different outlet system. It's just easier and saves you buying and bringing extra converters.

So... you want to do it all. Let's sum up what you can expect based on the previous years.

Characters:
Most characters will be different to you as you probably are not used to see most of them in winter wear ;-) Mickey and the gang will have Christmas outfits.
Most special character will probably be Jack Skellington in his Santa outfit. He has been meeting in the last few years, so I assume he will be this year as well. You can meet him in the gazebo left of Phantom Manor. Have a look at the waiting times and show up a bit before the set starts. As Phantom Manor is in a remote corner and the gazebo is not immediately in sight, most people miss it.
Santa Stitch, if he is out, can be met during EMH at the end of Main Street. Probably also pretty rare in the US. I guess?

Shows:
This is going to be busy. It's hard to predict some things as we had lockdowns in the previous Christmas periods. And I am not 100% sure how they will do it with the 30th anniversary entertainment. But to give you a list, you could be looking at.

From the regular entertainment
- We do not have a welcome show, but one thing they have kept from Covid is Mickey (and sometimes Minnie) waiving from the train station in the morning, and waiving goodbye in the evening. Last Halloween they also had the rest of the Fab Five up there. Could be coming back.
- 30th anniversary hub show. Not to be missed.
- Lion King: Rhythm of the Pride Lands, not sure if they will continue this, but they did during last November. It's a well done show, a mix of Broadway and the animation in 25-30 minutes, guaranteed entrance tickets available for 15 euro. (Will be a time saver).
- Pre-fireworks drone show, my favourite part of the nighttime entertainment.
- Illuminations, the fireworks show. Don't worry, unless it's extremely windy/rainy, the show goes on every day.

Christmas entertainment:
The last three are not confirmed yet, but my predictions
- Let's sing Christmas: 4 carollers, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy. 25-30 minute show singing Christmas carols in Videopolis. I like sitting in the audience part, where you will have to queue. If you are short time and want to see it, get something to eat in Hyperion before showtime and sit on the 'balcony' to eat and enjoy the show. If you are even shorter on time, go for standing room on the 'balcony'.
- Christmas Parade: 2 versions, 1 daytime, 1 nighttime. Pros and cons to both. During the daytime show you can see the floats and characters better. During the night time show they do the lighting of the tree (which is a bit overrated, tbh)
* Mickey's Christmas Big Band: Not to be missed. This show is popular, make time to queue. At the moment for Mickey and the Magician they open the queue 45 minutes before showtime, but you maybe want to be a bit before that.
* Goofy Christmas show in the Studios: Hard to predict what this will be, during Covid it was a 5 minute show between Goofy & Donald. But in the past they have done more elaborate versions. You will be going late November, by then the fansites will have youtube videos of all the new entertainment.
* Castle Stage Show: Next to the castle is a stage, they might have 1 or 2 different shows here. Could be Merry Stitchmas, which is just a bunch of dancers and characters doing an upbeat modernized Christmas carol show. Other option is the Royal Winter Waltz, which is opening a can of princesses and their princes waltzing together.

Snacks:
Last few years Disneyland Paris has upped their snack game. You can expect special cookies and probably milkshakes. Expect things with Nutella. The French love Nutella. Speaking of this, the French are not a fan of peanut butter. Expect limited peanut butter options at breakfast.
One of my favourite things to do: Milkshake break at Victoria's, check the opening times they are not open from open to close.
Oh, free refills are not allowed in France by law because of attempts to prevent obesity.

EMH strategies:
Do one morning at the Studios and go straight to Crush Coaster. Other Crush strategies, use the single rider's line or get in line right before closing time.
Do one morning at Disneyland Park and go to Big Thunder Mountain. For Big Thunder Mountain, use the left lane!

Premiere Access lanes:
Probably only worth it for Crush Coaster.

Weather:
Dress in layers, weather can go all ways in November. Waiting for a parade or fireworks in the cold in 30s-50s is not the most fun thing at Disneyland Paris. Expect rain.

Take time to roam around:
Disneyland Paris was built as a park, there are a lot of little distractions and the park is (even in the November weather) just gorgeous. The 30th anniversary statues at the hub are a perfect fit for this. But also how Frontierland is built with Big Thunder Mountain and Phantom manor fitting in.
Use the arcades parallel to Main Street to quickly get from the beginning to the end.

It was really noticeable during my last visit. The toilets in the Studios near the entrance are hidden and not used as much.
It's not that in the main building I couldn't find a toilet to use, it was clean enough. But it's the same with toilets in Fantasyland (for DLP those are near Bella Notte and Pinocchio's restaurant), a lot of traffic, a lot of little kids, it's not a recipe for cleanliness.
Cleanest toilets in Fantasyland are behind Toad Hall.

That was a lot! But reading it made me more excited to go. I did hear something about a separate app to look at characters? Or maybe something about booking a place in line?

So you really think paying for guaranteed access to the shows is worth it?

That was a lot of info but I'm taking notes and appreciate all of it

For clean toilets in the main park, I always swear by the ones that are in the covered walkway that goes round the back of Frontierland on the way to Adventureland. Because most people don't take this route unless it's raining, they aren't all that well used, but they still get cleaned to the same schedule as all the others, so are normally spotless (or at least this was the case on previous trips).


Cribbed from Wikipedia:
The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels. They have also conducted guided tours of the Tower since the Victorian era.
All warders are retired from the British Armed Forces and must be former warrant officers with at least 22 years of service. They must also hold the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

Yes, you can just walk around the Tower yourself looking at the exhibits or following a guide books/audio tour and get a really good idea of the history and everything, but getting a tour from one of the people who work there does make for a much more immersive and enjoyable experience.


Yes, definitely during the day. While you'd probably be able to pick out a number of landmarks at night, not all of them would be lit up - let's face it, quite a lot of buildings in that area are government offices, so outside of working hours there's no guarantee anyone would be in them - so it will be a lot easier to differentiate between sights in the daytime.

I know in WDW I think the grossest toilets are the bathroom in between Adventureland and Frontierland. Bleh.

We are definitely doing a Yeoman guided tour. We went to this great little sign museum in Cincinnati Ohio. Took the free tour the owner provided a couple times a day and we had a much better time than I imagine we would have otherwise.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Random Update Time

Have been a bit busy with July 4th and going to Silver Dollar City (small, historical amusement park with a cave) with friends. But now it's time to get back into planning.

Update 1: West End shows

Today I just got our seats for My Neighbor Totoro. This show premieres in October and seats were going fast so I grabbed us two for a Monday in late November. The other show we want to see is Back to The Future, there are still plenty of seats available for that one so I'll keep my eye on it and wait a bit to purchase.

Update 2: Efteling

Efteling published its hours!

Couple points about that. Our dates are Monday Nov 21 and Tuesday Nov 22. Monday is arrival day so we might just go in for the last couple hours. Hours are pretty much what I expected. 11 am-6 pm. At least we can sleep in a bit?

Looks like we will be there during the 'Winter Efteling' celebration. The big sadness that occurred is the attractions down for maintenance. Not being able to ride Droomvlucht is very, very disappointing. This is one of the rides that sold us on coming here. Actually I feel more like devastated than sad. Going to take a while to get past this one. It also looks like Caro will not be playing weekdays when we are there.



Beyond that, we are still struggling with how to get from Efteling to England. We had decided to take a very early flight out of Schiphol to Heathrow, but now we're very concerned about the airport situation. Hearing people talk about spending half the day waiting to get through security is pretty scary. I'm not sure if being on one of the earliest flights of the day would help any.... This is the flight we had our eye on. I guess we have time to wait and see how the situation unfolds. I'd still rather take the flight over a train to save time but it also makes me uneasy that some European airports are limiting the number of tickets they're selling through September. So we could potentially wait to see how the airport situations shake out and have them limit flights for our date. Not sure what to do right now.



Update 3: DLP Groupee

We have picked up a hitchhiker for our DLP trip. Yes, this is technically our honeymoon, but for the last day of our trip our friend will be flying from Orlando to meet us for our last day in the park, then flying back out the next morning with us. She had the airline miles to be able to do it and we're happy to have her. So she'll be with us in the parks most of the day on Thursday Dec 1. We are going to save our dinner at Walt's for this day so she can come as well. We'll also most likely save our drinks at Marvel hotel so she can check that out too.



Couple things we are focusing on over the next couple weeks:

-what in the world we are doing to get from Amsterdam to Heathrow/London.
-I now am thinking we should find a lunch place near Schiphol/Amsterdam for our arrival day so we can experience some of Amsterdam. Also might make a detour on our way and see Kinderdijk (windmills).
-keeping my eye on bookings for Roman Baths, WB HP Studio Tour and evening tours.

 

[Karin1984]

Oh, it's a real bummer that both Droomvlucht and Caro are closed! You have every right to be annoyed and devastated over it. And yes, at least you can sleep in? I do hope they will do the Raveleijn show. There should be audio translators available..

Don't get too worked up yet about the airport situation at Schiphol. Yes, things are bad, but it's high season now and things are improving. A few weeks ago they hired a whole bunch of people at customs and now they are ready to start working. And being there before the morning rush hour will be good.
It's a few more months before your trip and you are travelling in our absolute low season.
(And it's not half a day waiting, they don't let you in earlier than 4 hours before departure atm)

For the DLP character app, don't worry about it, it's not in use anymore. It retired with covid.
For me the guaranteed access is not important, as I have seen the shows multiple times. For you on a visit like this, yes, it could definitely be worth the investment.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Efteling published its hours!

Yay!

Not being able to ride Droomvlucht is very, very disappointing

Boooooo

Beyond that, we are still struggling with how to get from Efteling to England. We had decided to take a very early flight out of Schiphol to Heathrow, but now we're very concerned about the airport situation. Hearing people talk about spending half the day waiting to get through security is pretty scary. I'm not sure if being on one of the earliest flights of the day would help any.... This is the flight we had our eye on. I guess we have time to wait and see how the situation unfolds. I'd still rather take the flight over a train to save time but it also makes me uneasy that some European airports are limiting the number of tickets they're selling through September. So we could potentially wait to see how the airport situations shake out and have them limit flights for our date. Not sure what to do right now.

I would hope that being so early in the day would help...less time for crowds and lines to form? But still dicey.

How long was the train ride going to be?

Also - I thought for a minute that the flight from Amsterdam to England was only 25 minutes and I was very impressed. Then I remembered time zones.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Oh, it's a real bummer that both Droomvlucht and Caro are closed! You have every right to be annoyed and devastated over it. And yes, at least you can sleep in? I do hope they will do the Raveleijn show. There should be audio translators available..

Don't get too worked up yet about the airport situation at Schiphol. Yes, things are bad, but it's high season now and things are improving. A few weeks ago they hired a whole bunch of people at customs and now they are ready to start working. And being there before the morning rush hour will be good.
It's a few more months before your trip and you are travelling in our absolute low season.
(And it's not half a day waiting, they don't let you in earlier than 4 hours before departure atm)

For the DLP character app, don't worry about it, it's not in use anymore. It retired with covid.
For me the guaranteed access is not important, as I have seen the shows multiple times. For you on a visit like this, yes, it could definitely be worth the investment.

I'm going to keep my eye on the schedule and see what shows they add for the daytime. Maybe they'll change their minds on when to refurb Droomvlucht? There's always the option to be delusional

Thanks for calming me down a fair bit about the flight. I think that is good advice and we'll still plan on doing the flight and see how things work out.

Ok, so no more character app. Do they list most of the characters in the official DL app? Or not really?

Yay!


Boooooo


I would hope that being so early in the day would help...less time for crowds and lines to form? But still dicey.

How long was the train ride going to be?

Also - I thought for a minute that the flight from Amsterdam to England was only 25 minutes and I was very impressed. Then I remembered time zones.

I think the train ride would be pretty long, and it doesn't happen at great times. I think we still might go with the flight option, especially with Karin's reassurances.

It's still a pretty short flight.

There's not too much else going on with planning right now, just keeping my eye on tickets still to see if things start to book up.

 

[Karin1984]

Another Efteling tip, one thing I hear from American tourists is how enchanted they are with the Fairytale forest and spend more time there than they thought they would. It really is a place to wander through and to slow down. You might know some of the fairytales, but probably not all. Some are more obscure European fairytales. On the Efteling website there is a list of all the fairytales.
Fun fact: The fairytale of Vrouw Holle has the same scandinavian origin as Cate Blanchet's character Hela in the Marvel franchise.
They are currently rebuilding the Vrouw Holle display, I assume it will be done in November.

Also, if you see street performers and they approach you in Dutch, do not hesitate to say you speak English. The Dutch have the highest proficiency in English in Europe and performers will easily switch to English to engage with you.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Slight update.

I was keeping my eye on several tickets and went ahead and bought our Harry Potter WB Studios Tour tickets since our date was starting to fill up. I got a time later in the day so we can actually sleep in and rest a bit. I know, shocking.

We also decided that when we land we want to go into Amsterdam to have lunch and to spend an hour or two in the Van Gogh museum. If anyone has any restaurant recommendations please let me know. I think we'll take the train from the airport, then back and pick up the car after we're done in the city.

That's pretty much it for now. Have been a bit distracted planning our trip for the D23 Expo in early September. All my cosplays are finally coming together, just got my Scarlet Witch and am 3d printing the horns for President Loki.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Disneyland Paris trip portion update.

I am pretty sad that hours seem to be only posted a month in advance. I am really very curious what kind of hours we'll get in late November/early December.

I also randomly realized that I hadn't been signed into the app and that's why dining reservation options weren't coming up early for me.

I managed to get:

Tuesday Nov 29 4:15 pm Pym Kitchen
Wednesday Nov 30 11:30 Captain Jack's
Thursday Dec 1 2:45 pm Walt's

Our arrival day is Tuesday, we should be taking an early train from London to Paris and then transferring to a train to bring us to the DL station. So I think 4:15 pm is a safe bet for our reservation.

I think Tuesday we'll focus mostly on DL stuff, I'd like it to be our first park. Obviously we'll have to hop over to Studios for dinner. Might also try to get in fireworks this night. That way in case anything goes wrong or we absolutely love them we have plenty of chances to see them again. Might do the same strategy and try to focus heavily on shows this day. If we have favorites we'll have time to see them again.

Wednesday we'll most likely do Studios first thing for Crush's coaster.

I think one sit down reservation each day should be enough. I kind of want Auberge de Cendrillon but it's very pricey and hasn't even released times for our dates yet, even with our hotel reservation I only see up til the end of October available.

There are some counter services I'd like to try, more for ambience than the food. Colonel Hathi's and Toad Hall. Any other quick service worth a stop that have memorable themes?

I also think we might go to Bleecker Street Lounge one night to check out the Marvel hotel.