Trip Report Summer at HNY - Day 3

[Ms Poppins]

Tuesday 26 July

The Cast:

Me - Julie, 36
DH - John, 40
DS1 - Mark, 17
DD - Abbey, 14
DS2 - Lewis, 6 (7 in 2 weeks)

Pre-trippie

Day 1

Day 2

I forgot to add these pics from last night:

Running ball things outside the HNY- I meant to check out the prices but forgot.

The kids in the hotel lobby

We were all absolutely shattered last night and I made the very difficult decision not to try and squeeze in EMH before our Paris trip

Breakfast was in the Parkside diner today. When we sat down I remembered that I wanted to try and preserve some of the breakfast place mats. Someone on here mentioned they took them home and had them laminated and I wanted to do the same. We wouldn't have time for me to go back to the room after breakfast so I made a mental note to remember tomorrow.

Today was our Cityrama coach tour to Paris. I've read the Brit guide and our trip differed slightly, so I'll do a full report now

The tickets say departure at 9:45 and to meet for 9:15. The coaches pick up point is the Hotel New York, handy for us:

There were 3 double decker coaches and a single decker waiting outside. Already people were lined up and one of the tour guides was putting people into lines beside coaches. As we approached she asked us 'Espanol?' (we get that a lot) and was surprised when we said we spoke English. She was lovely and asked us to line up and gave us yellow stickers to wear.

The inside of the coach is nice and modern, very spacious and we found seats on the top deck at the back.

We left Disney just after 9:45 and were on our way to Paris! During the drive the tour guide gave us a brief itinery of the day ahead and handed out earphones for once in Paris. There are various languages to choose from and they plug into the seat in front.

A different option is available for children which Lewis seemed happy with. The coach drove around various parts of Paris starting with Bastille and the commentary provided interesting information about the buildings as we passed. They obviously are able to stop and start the commentary depending on traffic as we always seemed to be wherever they were talking about which was good. I cannot remember all the facts, but here are some of the buildings we saw.

We drove up the Champs Elysees and to the Arc de Triomphe

The roof of the bus had glass windows which were great for catching our first view of the Eiffel Tower

 

[Ms Poppins]

The coach parked in a underground car park beneath the Louvre. We got off the coach and our tour guide said we had some free time to see the gardens and have lunch. The museum was closed today, so unfortunately couldn't see that. We had from about 12:15 - 13:30 to explore.

We went outside to stretch our legs and see the gardens.

Mark referred to this as a horse and cart

We went back inside and had a wander

There as some shops including an Apple store that Mark spend some time in. Abbey bought some pretty charm bracelets. Upstairs there is a food court with various choices. We stuck with what we know, McDonalds.

We met up at 13:30 and were back on the coach. Our tour guide explained we were now going to the Eiffel Tower. We parked across the road beside the Seine, where our boat trip would be, and an agreed meeting point was made for our boat trip for 15:30. Our tickets included entry to the 2nd floor of the tower and our group were shown in a different entrance. The queues for people just walking up were absolutely massive I honestly think if we'd gone here alone, we would not have waited to go up.

We were in the lift and up within about 5 minutes of getting there

The view is just breathtaking:

The kids liked the glass roofs on some of buildings

Then we walked down to the first floor which took longer than I thought!! From there we caught the lift and went outside for some drinks/ice cream

We all loved the tower and Lewis was chuffed to be somewhere Remy had been

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Nice to see a picture of you as you seem to take them more than being in them

I think you look Spanish, if I didn't know I would have put your family as been Mediterranean and would have got a shock to hear you talk

Glad you found the food court no bother and got to see a bit around the Louvre
The gardens beyond that are a fab place to walk about

 

[Ms Poppins]

We met up at the dock for our boat trip at 4pm. Again the tour guide had the tickets for this and whilst we waited for our tickets we noticed there were some seats along the side of the boat which we agreed we would go for. Everyone else went inside, and we were lucky to get the seats we wanted

The boat goes up one end and then back down, so you get to see both sides. There is commentary too, but it's a hand held big phone type thing and after a while I got a bit fed up with it and just enjoyed the view.

This lasted about an hour and then it was onto the coach and back to Disney.

We all really enjoyed this. The coach was very comfortable and also sells drinks for only 1E which is a real bargain.

Back at the hotel we popped up to the room to re-charge the camera and camcorder for tonight. Then we went to the Parkside Diner for a buffet dinner.

The meal was delicious, sorry didn't take any pics as it was quite busy and I was knackered We ate well, salmon, chicken, turkey, duck, beef dishes. Kids stuff included chicken nuggets, potato things, pizza. Also loads of veg, the best cheesy potato ever, roast potato, pork, loads of starter stuff, cold meat etc and of course some delicious deserts. It costs 28.70E per adult and 13.30E for kids. The kids price includes drink, but the adults doesn't. With shareholder discount total bill was 121.18E. This proved to be our most expensive meal, but I think for 5 of us it was good value. We spend quite a while in there

Our waiter was very nice and as we were leaving DH asked if he had any breakfast table mats (the dinner ones were different). He came back with a huge bundle for us

I popped back upstairs to get the camcorder.

The kids messing about at the taxi

Then we were on our way to the park. It was about 8pm now.

We again tried for BTM via Liberty Arcade, but the wait was 75m and no FP again. We wandered into Adventureland looking for Aladdin's lamp but couldn't find it (we did later in the holiday) and went over to try for Buzz. It had a 90m wait The kids were going to try for Space Mountain but it had huge wait time too. So, into Fantasyland and we did Small World. The queue was not too big, but they must be cutting back on staff in the evening because it was only every second boat going, so took longer than it should have.

I kept myself amused on this by listening to the dad behind me explain to his kids that this was all the different countries of the world. 'Look, there's Ireland, and Scotland and Wales. Oh and look there's London' (Is London actually a country of it's own?) Then we had 'That's China, and Denmark and.....It's a small world after all, la, la,la,la' He just sang when he didn't know where we were

Some pictures outside Alice's Maze

Then onto the Carousel, where Lewis being at the front of the queue made the classic mistake of going the wrong way and us having to scramble to get on a horse

After that he said 'Mum, I think you should be the leader from now on'

 

[Ms Poppins]

I had been reading the Designing Disney website before the trip and had read about the shop beside Snow White. Lewis was on the hunt for Captain Jack stuff so we had a wee look inside.

The attention to detail in here is amazing.

Some hat trying

When we came back outside it was getting dark and I wanted to see the teacups lit up

It's the little things that make me happy

It was about 9:50 now so we headed to find a spot for Fantillusion. It was almost empty near Bella Note

Lewis wanted a drink so I went in search of one. All the kiosks were closing, and I was directed to Videopolis in Discoveryland. Inside the queues were massive and I didn't have any change for the vending machine. So I went back out to a kiosk and practically begged for change so I could use the vending machine. Luckily the CM took pity on me and gave me some change

Then it was back to my spot and the parade started

 

[Ms Poppins]

After the parade we turned round and went the back way out of Fantasyland and into Discoveryland. Everyone else followed the parade so this was a much easier option.

Mark and Abbey went to do Space Mountain and Lewis and I went on Orbitron.

It looked lovely lit up - pics not so good, but in real life Lewis was thrilled with it

When we were done the Enchanted Fireworks were just starting and we got a view from the edge of Discoveryland. My photos aren't great, but to be honest I was just enjoying watching it and listening to the lovely Enchanted Music

Again the castle was stunning.

We queued with the masses to get out of the park and were back in the hotel by about 11:30. I downloaded the photos from my camera to the laptop to free up some space and then we were sleeping.

EMH tomorrow?

 

[tennisfan]

Another busy day. I love the part about the Paris tour, it makes me want to go again. I last went in 2004. I haven't managed to go up the Eiffle Tower in Paris as the queues were long but I did do the one in Vegas which was awesome for the views.

I'm really looking forward to the fireworks when I go the end of August

 

[Ms Poppins]

Nice to see a picture of you as you seem to take them more than being in them

I think you look Spanish, if I didn't know I would have put your family as been Mediterranean and would have got a shock to hear you talk

Glad you found the food court no bother and got to see a bit around the Louvre
The gardens beyond that are a fab place to walk about

Ha! Everyone looks at us abroad and expects us to be Spanish. They do get a shock when they hear our accents

It really was a fantastic day in Pairs and well worth the cost. We wouldn't have seen half of what we did if we'd gone alone.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Another busy day. I love the part about the Paris tour, it makes me want to go again. I last went in 2004. I haven't managed to go up the Eiffle Tower in Paris as the queues were long but I did do the one in Vegas which was awesome for the views.

I'm really looking forward to the fireworks when I go the end of August

It was a fantastic day. Fireworks were amazing, and with that music

 

[dontcallmeprincess]

Eeep! They play the music from Enchanted at the fireworks??? Favourite disney film ever, and easily mine and DS's favourite soundtrack... Looks like you had a great time. DS is looking at the photos with me, and is now completely sold on the idea...

 

[Princess Clayre]

Great day. The tour of Paris looked great. We actually went up the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday. The queue took 2 hours . We almost gave up but my son had been looking forward to it ever since we said we were off to Paris.

Your photo's of Fantillusion are great, I could hold my camera still enough!

 

[Ms Poppins]

Eeep! They play the music from Enchanted at the fireworks??? Favourite disney film ever, and easily mine and DS's favourite soundtrack... Looks like you had a great time. DS is looking at the photos with me, and is now completely sold on the idea...

I love Enchanted too, it was fantastic

Great day. The tour of Paris looked great. We actually went up the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday. The queue took 2 hours . We almost gave up but my son had been looking forward to it ever since we said we were off to Paris.

Your photo's of Fantillusion are great, I could hold my camera still enough!

We had a fantastic spot for the parade, which helped with the photos

 

[Ware Bears]

What a fantastic day. I second that it's nice to see what you look like.

Love all your photos but especially the poses with the New York taxi!!

 

[Ms Poppins]

What a fantastic day. I second that it's nice to see what you look like.

Love all your photos but especially the poses with the New York taxi!!

The kids love those too and want me to get one poster size for our dining room....funny how a little shaped car can make a 17 year old go a bit crazy

 

[Anemone]

It really was a fantastic day in Pairs and well worth the cost. We wouldn't have seen half of what we did if we'd gone alone.

Hope you don't mind me asking a question. I know it's a couple of years since you went but can you remember if it was possible to book this in the resort? I think it would be a good option for us to see some of Paris without making my sister who has limited mobility too exhausted. Just need to know if we have to pre-book as it says in the brochure. Thanks.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Hope you don't mind me asking a question. I know it's a couple of years since you went but can you remember if it was possible to book this in the resort? I think it would be a good option for us to see some of Paris without making my sister who has limited mobility too exhausted. Just need to know if we have to pre-book as it says in the brochure. Thanks.

Yes, I think you can book at your hotel concierge - but with everything, there may not be availability on the day you want if you don't pre-book. It was busy on our day, I think about 3 other busses were filled. It was great though

 

[Anemone]

Thank you. x