Skipping Disney next year to visit the UK

[TammiMcMan]

Cast of Characters:

Jim 40; Tammi 40; Meagan 19; Colin 14; Casey 8

Just as I started planning a 2005 family trip to Disney World, my husband came home to tell me that we had all been invited to a co-workers wedding. It will be the last weekend of April, 2005 in Galway, Ireland. The only one not too excited about this prospect is Casey. She wants to know if Ireland has any fun rides. I told her that they have a lot of cool castles, but I'm not too sure that's appealing to her right now. I'm very excited. The kids and I have ventured out of America only as far as Bermuda. Jim has stayed previously in Dublin for a little over 2 months for business. He can't wait to get back.

So far, the plans are to spend two weeks across the pond. I would like to set us up in Dublin for the first week and from there, visit England and possibly France. I've only researched this as far as a few websites, including the Irish Ferry site, but it looks like it could work. What I'm not sure about, is if I should plan on us staying in London for a night or if we could see the city in a day trip. It does sound like France would be an overnighter just because of the travel time. For the second week, we'd be staying on the West Coast of Ireland for the wedding festivities and sightseeing.

I'm looking for any recommendations on where we should stay and any other insight that you may have. We're used to American hotels, which normally include restaurants, and indoor pool and a health club. I was thinking of the area around St. Stephens Green because that seemed to be a central location and I don't know if we'll be renting a car or not.

I'm open to any suggestions that you might have, or websites that you think might help in my planning.

Thanks,
Tammi

 

[WDWfan uk]

Hi Tammi
I haven't been to Dublin and so I hope someone who has will post but I did find a few websites that may help for hotels in the St Stephens Green area.

Take a look at www.CentralR.com and www.hoteldirect.co.uk - a couple of nice 5 star hotels on that last link, the Westbury and the Conrad.

The Fitzwilliam sounds very nice - with great facilities and a gym too. You can find it on http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk

Here a couple of other hotels on that site -

http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk/ireland/dublin309510.html

http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk/ireland/dublin.html

 

[TammiMcMan]

Shirley,

Thank you for the websites, they will really help me out. We're going to be in the Dublin area for 8 to 9 days, but I would like to break that up with trips to London and France. I haven't quite figured out the logistics yet though. I thought maybe we could fly in and out of Dublin or Shannon airport, and stay in the Dublin area for a few days. We could then head over to London for one night/two days of sightseeing. France would be next, although I'm not sure how far or what the transportation would be to Paris. For the kids, especially my youngest, I thought maybe we could plan on staying at Disneyland Paris for two nights. I saw that Paris has something called the RER, which we could take for some sightseeing also. Do you know anything about what's available for transportation between London and Paris and what the approximate travel time is? I don't think my family will mind the whirlwind tour of Europe because we'll still have 4-5 days of relaxation over in Galway afterwards. I'm just happy that I have plenty of time to plan this trip. There is so much that I'd like to see and a few French lessons would probably help out also.

Thanks,
Tammi

 

[WDWfan uk]

Eurostar!

The Eurostar is a train that will take you from London, and at the time you are going hopefully direct to DLP!

You get the Eurostar from Waterloo - www.eurostar.com has to be the right url for this service!

 

[chunkster20uk]

I am guessing that it would be cheaper to fly into London and then get flights to Ireland from London with one of our budget airlines like http://www.ryanair.co.uk/

So you could do a couple of days in London at the beginning and the end.

 

[edie w]

I don't think day trips from Ireland (btw Dublin is not in the UK - it's in the Republic of Ireland) are really feasible. You'd spend too much time hanging about in airports. It would be much better to check into an hotel for at least one night. Luggage can be kept securely (Xrayed) at one of the main British Rail stations for £10 per item per 24 hours so you don't have to cart it about before check-in time.

You're going to want to do the London Eye, see the Tower of London and have a quick look at Buckingham Palace at the very least (not to mention taking in a show, visiting Madame Tussaud's and eating far too much) and it will be a tall order to get this done in a day.

We went from Leeds on the train (arrived 08.30 and left 20.00) last year, and although it was fun we will stay overnight next time.

I'd have thought

- fly to London
- spend one or two nights
- take Eurostar to Paris
- stay at least one night and see some of the sights
- back to London, and maybe stay a night
- back to Dublin

would be a reasonable use of time.

I've never been, but have heard said that Eurodisney is disappointing in comparison to MK. Maybe visiting an English theme park (there are a couple near London - someone will give you a recommendation) would be another idea?

Oh and as a northerner I should point out that there's so much more to the UK than London. How about visiting Liverpool, or Edinburgh (I love Edinburgh!), or taking a ferry trip from Dublin to Holyhead (Anglesey, Wales), or Leeds

You need at least a month! We feel the same when visiting the US. So many places and so little time!

 

[daipp]

Tammi

Personally I'd go to Disney!

Remember if you are using the Ferry to get from Ireland to to England you will be going through another country - Wales - which is still part of the United Kingdom.
You can always say you've been there then!

 

[TammiMcMan]

Thank you all for the tips. I'm beginning to think that 2 weeks isn't nearly enough time, but if we want to bring the kids, then that's all we'll have.

I've managed to jump my first hurdle and that's convincing my DH that we should take this whirlwind tour of Europe. He does like to settle into one place, but attempting day trips sounds like it will be much more hectic. The kids and I have been talking up "backpacking" our way around the countries and he's starting to come around.

I'm really leaning towards arriving via plane to London instead of Ireland. We'll stay a minimum of 2 nights in both London and Paris. For the trip over to Ireland, we could maybe go up to Holyhead for a night and take the ferry to Dublin the next day. That would give us a chance to see that area (Wales?).

We have to keep Disneyland Paris on our list of things to do. That was the one request made by our 7 year old. We may notice the difference between it and the American MK, but I don't think she'll mind at all.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Tammi

 

[daipp]

When you enter Wales to go to Hollyhead, beware of the dreaded bi-lingual signs. In Wales, all signs are in Welsh AND English - it's there to confuse everyone, not just visitors!

 

[vernon]

With limited time I think you'd find the ferry to take up too much time ( and leaving you with a long drve). I think the cheapest and easiest option is to fly to and from London and get a cheap flight to Dublin on one of the many discount carriers. To Paris I would agree that Eurostar is the best option, you can get direct trains to and from DLP. If you choose to stay at DLP, the run tourist trips to Paris on a coach that will allow you time to see Notra Dame Cathederal, the Eiffle tower and a boat trip along the Seine. Obviously it's impossible to cover all of Paris in a couple of days but that day trip will give you a small glimpse of what's on offer. You could manage one day in DLP and one day sightseeing fairly easily. The hotels at DLP will be a little smaller than you're used to, but still a lot closer to US standards than most European hotels are. If you're staying in London I wouldn't bother hiring a car, the subway (underground train) is a much easier and cheaper way to get around.

You could fly into London have 3 days sight seeing, train to DLP one day in the park and one day sightseeing the city then fly to Ireland for your wedding party. It's gonna be hard work, but it is doable

 

[TammiMcMan]

I'm not sure when the wedding festivities will get underway in Galway, but I do think that we'll have about 9-10 days for sightseeing in Europe. My only concern is the hotel rooms. From what I've seen on-line, they are for a maximum of 4 people and we will be travelling with 5. Do European hotels also offer connecting rooms as an option? Our oldest will be 19 when we travel, so it won't be a problem putting her into a separate room, but I would like for us to be close. We weren't going to bother with renting a car, so I'm glad to hear that public transportation is a good option.

Tammi

 

[vernon]

You can get connecting rooms at most modern European hotels, it might be worth your while if you go to DLP to check out the Marriott timeshare resort next to the parks. Hopefully here's a link to it, if not go to mariott.com and but in Paris France, the resort you want is village D'ile de France http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage.mi?marshaCode=PARDP . It is a little expensive, but it gives you the space you want, it's right next to DLP and it's easy to go sightseeing in Paris from this area, either on a scheduled tour or by taking the train into Paris on your own.