The heaven that is Disney and the hell that is trying to get home

[PrettyP]

Hi All,

We got back from DLP last night after over 24 horrible hours. Firstly let me say my heart goes out to those of you who couldn't go at all because of the weather. We left Dublin last Sunday the 28th of November and it was touch and go as the snow was starting to fall (will do a trip report with all the details) but thankfully we made it to Paris.

We had a great time there although on Tuesday the temperature, taking wind chill into account, fell to about minus 7 or minus 8 and despite layers and layers of clothes and DD in a ski suit we were sooooooo cold. DD got to a stage where she was crying and sobbing that she was too cold. It was the best year to have chosen to stay at the DLH as we could get back to the hotel to heat up throughout the day.

We were due to fly home on Thursday, flight was cancelled, had to try and find a room for the night near the airport. DH who was in Dublin rang Air France and got us transferred to a flight on Friday. When we got to the airport yesterday there was no record of us on that or any other flight and every flight to Dublin was fully booked (some were over booked) and we were put on standby. After a long day finally we got a flight and I literally cried with relief.

I'll give all the details in my trip report but as someone else said in another thread if you are trying to get home the best thing to do is to book into a hotel in the close vicinity of the airport and on the day you think you might fly go to the terminal itself. It's awful and it's hard but if you stay at DLP you will be too far away to keep up with the minute to minute changes in the situation.

If anyone has any questions or needs any advice let me know.

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Welcome home - awful about your delay were you alone with your DD? Well done on not panicking! can't wait to read your trip report!

 

[DLPdaft]

its very scary what bad weather can do to all our plans, so glad you finally got home and had DH on the case!

 

[poppie123]

I am glad you are home safely. It brings back awful memories of when i was stuck in CDG for 27 hours last December due to snow.
We were booked into a hotel with Easyjet but when we arrived (over an hour away by coach i might add) they had no record of us coming and refused to let us stay unless we paid. Thankfully the coach that dropped us off was still outside and there were a group of Spanish people who begged the driver to take us back to the airport, which he did.
The whole experience was very scary and i was totally on my own. I always used to say as long as i get there i don't care about getting home but now i have completely changed my mind on that front.

 

[kizzabel]

welcome home prettyp, that sounds awful. if we could move europe further south we'd be sorted.

 

[Asker Family]

Oh dear your trip home sounds like a nightmare, but now you are back looking forward to your trip report and how you got on at the DLH We are there in about 2 weeks.

 

[poppyolivia]

aww glad you got home, can't wait to read your trup report, -8 seems no bad!..Kidding..was -9 here the other day and I swear I thought my ears were going to crumble!..-15 here tonight..I'm staying indoors..crumbling will defo happen if not!lol

 

[Ware Bears]

Welcome back

 

[rottie155]

Welcome back PrettyP. So sorry about your awful journey home - but hope you had a magical time in DLP all the same?

 

[Mum to Belle]

Welcome back, what a nightmare journey back hope the Disney magic compensated a little bit!

 

[PrettyP]

Hi All,

Thanks for all your replies. Apologies for my absence from the forum over the past few days but after sleeping Saturday away because of the tierdness of getting home I then woke up on Sunday with a stomach bug, throwing up all over the place. I was thinking, seriously, how much more can happen?? Anyway I seem back to normal now so will try and do my trip report in the next couple of days.

Just as a quick note I found people very, very rude in DLP this year. I've never had a problem with CMs before but this year I met quite a few rude ones and I lost all faith in humanity as the general public in the parks were so rude. It seems the extreme cold brings out the worst in most people! If it had been my first time I wouldn't have come away with a very good impression.

Hope the rest of you manage to get away. Here in Ireland they're saying there'll be a thaw in the next few days but that another arctic storm front is on its way. So I guess I'd better get everything done for Christmas in the next few days!!

 

[PrettyP]

Poppie123, I completely agree with you. I too always thought that once you got to your destination that was all that mattered and on Nov 28 when we were sitting in the airport wondering if we would be allowed take off that was all I was thinking. And yes it was great to get away and have our holiday when so many others didn't but it really is awful trying to get back when something goes wrong. It certainly made me very grateful I didn't use a low-fares airline

 

[wmoon]

Hi Prettyp

Sounds like a nightmare journey home., Our flight over was cancelled on the 29th was cancelled and we are hoping to try again, booked for Tuesday to Friday next week.

Trying to prepare for all eventuallities..... What airport hotel did you stay in, planning to take a list with phone numbers with me and we are flying Easyjet so will be up to ourselves to sort things out.

Hope you still enjoyed your trip away though.

Wendy

 

[PrettyP]

As Charles de Gaulle is so big you should try and stay at a hotel near your terminal. We were flying out of terminal 2 so the hotel we stayed at had a shuttle bus to terminal 2 A, B,C etc.

However great as it was to have a bed for the night it was probably one of the worst hotels I've ever stayed in. It was called Premiere Classe and boy was that the wrong name for it!! Bottom class would have been more apt. But hey it was clean (so clean there was a constant smell of cheap cleaning fluid) and it was warm and it was better than sleeping in the airport. I'm no snob, I've stayed in many budget hotels in my life but seriously the room felt more like a cell than a room.

I will say though that there was a restaurant called Hippopotamus just opposite and we had a beautiful meal there and the service was great even though they were run off their feet will all us stranded passengers!

Right next door there was the F1 Hotel, Novotel, Ibis and Hyatt. They were all in a row. All were booked out and even if Hyatt had a room free I've heard they're about 400 euro a night so I'd have to be pretty desperate to be staying there!!

Don't know if that helps at all but feel free to ask me any questions I haven't answered.