tiring_day
<font color=green>Founder member of the DJP<br><fo
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2007
- Messages
- 632
It was our final day and we did not have the time to see the parks or the tickets to get in even if we did have the time so we decided a quiet breakfast mixed with a nice walk would fill in the time until we needed to catch the bus to the airport. Well our bags were packed, I was ready to go and I was standing there outside the door waiting for my family to join me for our final breakfast walk. Breakfast followed the same routine as it did every other day, with me grabbing a sampling of everything from the buffet and Josh pretty much refusing to eat anything. Well I hate to see stuff go to waste so once again I had a very filling breakfast.
We went back to the room to make sure everything was ready to go and then went across to the Cheyenne for another bit nose around and to see if Josh would like to stay there on our next visit. Well he loved running along the boardwalks outside the hotel buildings and playing in the wagons and so we were set on staying there next time but then disaster struck. Like most 2-3 year olds he loves to run everywhere and like most 2-3 year olds he takes little or no notice of his surroundings or slight raises in the ground. He fell once but got his hands down, he wasnt happy but at least he wasnt hurt but the second time he tripped he went down hard. He also managed to find the only puddle in the place, so he skinned both elbows and ended up covered in mucky water. So picking him up we whisked him back to the Santa Fe to clean him up and to disinfect his scraped elbows, these would develop some fine manly scabs just a few days later. Josh still remembers falling down here and even blames his more recent scrapes on the Cheyenne, i.e. me Josh where did you scrape your arm? Josh in reply At the cowboy hotel, so the Santa Fe it is next time.
By the time he was calmed and cleaned we figured it was time to walk up to reception and wait for the bus to arrive. Just a note so you understand what happened next, we had gone to Information the day before to check if we needed cash for the VEA or if we could pay on a card, they said that would be fine, so we spent all our cash apart from around 20 (hey I have a euro sign on my keyboard). So that said we were waiting for the bus chatting to a woman and her son who by the way we had seen everyday either at breakfast or around the parks but never spoken to her. It was a little late but up pulled the VEA bus and we all slung our cases on and we went to board. So cases stowed I presented the driver with my card, he stuck it in the machine and tried to charge it, it didnt work, he tried it again and still no. He said something along the lines of card no work, I said thats okay try my wifes. No he said card machine no work. Well it was hot I was sweating and my internal thermometer was bubbling, he said to go back to reception and they would be able to charge my card and give me cash. I left Tracey and Josh on the bus and I went to reception, well the place was heaving as another bus had disgorged a load of holidaymakers into reception. I waited and waited only to be told to go to information, which I went to but also wall to wall people. Meanwhile Tracey was back on the bus and the driver is pointing at his watch and shouting Schedule, schedule, so she said should we just get off and he said yes. Well at this Josh grabbed his little case and ran to the back of the bus yelling Me no get off. So in the end the driver just said go and get your husband, Tracey had to leave Josh in the trust of another family on the bus while she came and got me. When I returned the driver wrote something on the back of a ticket and said something to me that I totally didnt get and waved me onto the bus. So the conclusions I drew from this were have cash for the VEA driver, expect little or no help from them and in our case use RS Transport both ways next time. A thanks should go to the nice couple who were sitting at the front of the bus and offered to help pay for it but didnt have the full amount, in the end their help was not needed but greatly appreciated.
So we were off and the next stop was the Sequoia Lodge to pick up Beth and Harry, they were getting worried that they had missed the bus and I was worried as they were going to pay by card too. Well they paid cash and then we imparted the story above to them and we were all on our way to the airport. Once we got to the airport we were all left to retrieve our own cases from the belly of the bus which in our case meant me climbing all the way through to retrieve them. Once we got into the airport we found out that our Easyjet flight was delayed by 4 hours. This at a decent airport would have been a long wait but at CDG 2B it was a nightmare, we got our bags checked in and were given a 5 token from Easyjet for the delay and chased away. Well it ended up that there was very little at this terminal, I spent a lot of time with Josh walking around the shop and going up and down escalators just to stop him getting bored. In the end we convinced him to have some sleep and we sat in the cafe drinking wine and eating snacks. Well I didnt drink as I had to drive when we arrived back in Newcastle. The temperature in the Terminal building was unbelievable and we kept wondering when they would introduce air conditioning anywhere in France. We were joined for some of the wait by another traveller from England called Steve (really popular name) who we chatted with and shared stories. So about 6 hours after we initially arrived at the airport our plane arrived. It ended up that our plane was grounded and they had to fly a plane from Stansted to Newcastle, pick up passengers coming to Paris and then take us home. Fortunately we were given Special Assistance boarding so we didnt have to queue with everyone else and got to go on first. Only problem is once again they asked for Speedy Boarding and Special Assistance to board the plane and everyone stood up. Well with the liberal use of excuse we and bruising ankles with Joshs buggy we got to the front. We did manage to keep the seat in front of us free so Beth and Harry could sit with us. We taught Beth and Harry the pat, pat, pat Little Einsteins theory on take off and they joined in. Fortunately most of us got a bit of sleep on the plane, unfortunately Beth and Harry slept through the woman coming round with entry forms and so we were delayed when we actually got to Newcastle.
The missed form slight delay was nothing compared with the Where the hell are our bags delay when we got the baggage claim. There were three planes luggage all coming to the carousel, none of it being ours. So we waited and waited and the kids grew restless and ran around screaming which for us is the norm. It was an hour of us standing by the carousel before it eventually turned up. We wheeled our bags out to my car and all luggage stuffed in the boot and packed around the occupants we were on our way. We dropped Beth and Harry at their hotel, went home and that is the end of our holiday.
Had a great time and would definitely return, as a matter of a fact we will be back in January in what I like to call The Dis does Disneyland Paris for the amount of us going to be around.
Hope you enjoyed
Steve
Day 1 : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1840525
Day 2 A : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1857295
Day 2 B : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1877353
Day 3 : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1884705
Day 4 : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1901352
We went back to the room to make sure everything was ready to go and then went across to the Cheyenne for another bit nose around and to see if Josh would like to stay there on our next visit. Well he loved running along the boardwalks outside the hotel buildings and playing in the wagons and so we were set on staying there next time but then disaster struck. Like most 2-3 year olds he loves to run everywhere and like most 2-3 year olds he takes little or no notice of his surroundings or slight raises in the ground. He fell once but got his hands down, he wasnt happy but at least he wasnt hurt but the second time he tripped he went down hard. He also managed to find the only puddle in the place, so he skinned both elbows and ended up covered in mucky water. So picking him up we whisked him back to the Santa Fe to clean him up and to disinfect his scraped elbows, these would develop some fine manly scabs just a few days later. Josh still remembers falling down here and even blames his more recent scrapes on the Cheyenne, i.e. me Josh where did you scrape your arm? Josh in reply At the cowboy hotel, so the Santa Fe it is next time.
By the time he was calmed and cleaned we figured it was time to walk up to reception and wait for the bus to arrive. Just a note so you understand what happened next, we had gone to Information the day before to check if we needed cash for the VEA or if we could pay on a card, they said that would be fine, so we spent all our cash apart from around 20 (hey I have a euro sign on my keyboard). So that said we were waiting for the bus chatting to a woman and her son who by the way we had seen everyday either at breakfast or around the parks but never spoken to her. It was a little late but up pulled the VEA bus and we all slung our cases on and we went to board. So cases stowed I presented the driver with my card, he stuck it in the machine and tried to charge it, it didnt work, he tried it again and still no. He said something along the lines of card no work, I said thats okay try my wifes. No he said card machine no work. Well it was hot I was sweating and my internal thermometer was bubbling, he said to go back to reception and they would be able to charge my card and give me cash. I left Tracey and Josh on the bus and I went to reception, well the place was heaving as another bus had disgorged a load of holidaymakers into reception. I waited and waited only to be told to go to information, which I went to but also wall to wall people. Meanwhile Tracey was back on the bus and the driver is pointing at his watch and shouting Schedule, schedule, so she said should we just get off and he said yes. Well at this Josh grabbed his little case and ran to the back of the bus yelling Me no get off. So in the end the driver just said go and get your husband, Tracey had to leave Josh in the trust of another family on the bus while she came and got me. When I returned the driver wrote something on the back of a ticket and said something to me that I totally didnt get and waved me onto the bus. So the conclusions I drew from this were have cash for the VEA driver, expect little or no help from them and in our case use RS Transport both ways next time. A thanks should go to the nice couple who were sitting at the front of the bus and offered to help pay for it but didnt have the full amount, in the end their help was not needed but greatly appreciated.
So we were off and the next stop was the Sequoia Lodge to pick up Beth and Harry, they were getting worried that they had missed the bus and I was worried as they were going to pay by card too. Well they paid cash and then we imparted the story above to them and we were all on our way to the airport. Once we got to the airport we were all left to retrieve our own cases from the belly of the bus which in our case meant me climbing all the way through to retrieve them. Once we got into the airport we found out that our Easyjet flight was delayed by 4 hours. This at a decent airport would have been a long wait but at CDG 2B it was a nightmare, we got our bags checked in and were given a 5 token from Easyjet for the delay and chased away. Well it ended up that there was very little at this terminal, I spent a lot of time with Josh walking around the shop and going up and down escalators just to stop him getting bored. In the end we convinced him to have some sleep and we sat in the cafe drinking wine and eating snacks. Well I didnt drink as I had to drive when we arrived back in Newcastle. The temperature in the Terminal building was unbelievable and we kept wondering when they would introduce air conditioning anywhere in France. We were joined for some of the wait by another traveller from England called Steve (really popular name) who we chatted with and shared stories. So about 6 hours after we initially arrived at the airport our plane arrived. It ended up that our plane was grounded and they had to fly a plane from Stansted to Newcastle, pick up passengers coming to Paris and then take us home. Fortunately we were given Special Assistance boarding so we didnt have to queue with everyone else and got to go on first. Only problem is once again they asked for Speedy Boarding and Special Assistance to board the plane and everyone stood up. Well with the liberal use of excuse we and bruising ankles with Joshs buggy we got to the front. We did manage to keep the seat in front of us free so Beth and Harry could sit with us. We taught Beth and Harry the pat, pat, pat Little Einsteins theory on take off and they joined in. Fortunately most of us got a bit of sleep on the plane, unfortunately Beth and Harry slept through the woman coming round with entry forms and so we were delayed when we actually got to Newcastle.
The missed form slight delay was nothing compared with the Where the hell are our bags delay when we got the baggage claim. There were three planes luggage all coming to the carousel, none of it being ours. So we waited and waited and the kids grew restless and ran around screaming which for us is the norm. It was an hour of us standing by the carousel before it eventually turned up. We wheeled our bags out to my car and all luggage stuffed in the boot and packed around the occupants we were on our way. We dropped Beth and Harry at their hotel, went home and that is the end of our holiday.
Had a great time and would definitely return, as a matter of a fact we will be back in January in what I like to call The Dis does Disneyland Paris for the amount of us going to be around.
Hope you enjoyed
Steve
Day 1 : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1840525
Day 2 A : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1857295
Day 2 B : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1877353
Day 3 : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1884705
Day 4 : http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1901352
Never mind though...at least you won't be embarrased by me!!!
