Value Resorts and Inside Staterooms? Bah Humbug! 30 days of Disney fun! 02/10 Day 30

[dizneeat]

Wow the outside sure looks....minimalistic......

I guess you are referring to our vacation home. This is NOT Disney property, just your regular vacation home. So there is no special theming and things are rather more practical. It might not look all that inviting, but to have a whole house for yourself is a lot of space here in Europe. Hotel rooms are tiny!
It was our first time in this particular community and we were pleasantly surprised.

 

[dizneeat]

Great update, Karin. The pictures are gorgeous--especially the flowers.

Thanks Kathy! I was so in awe with all the flowers there. The last few weeks before we went to Paris were so cold and wet here in Austria and then Paris was SO different and we enjoyed the wonderful weather and all the beautiful landscaping so much!

 

[YukiPhnx]

I guess you are referring to our vacation home. This is NOT Disney property, just your regular vacation home. So there is no special theming and things are rather more practical. It might not look all that inviting, but to have a whole house for yourself is a lot of space here in Europe. Hotel rooms are tiny!
It was our first time in this particular community and we were pleasantly surprised.

Ohh, I see. I guess I'm just more used to the vacation homes here. The inside is very nice. And that sink is so fancy!

 

[Stefy]

We will work out some time to meet at DLRP (if not in London )! There is always next year! When ARE you coming back from WDW, as we travel to DLRP on Oct 30 and stay until Nov 2 - only 4 days, but that's all I get off (public holiday in Austria) at that time of year.

Well I was waaaaay out on my calculations for when you are at DLRP We get back from WDW on 14th Oct.

Ok, gonna go and price up a weekend for those dates in Nov, see if its doable.

Loving the update and pictures. It looks so different

That was nice seeing one of your pupils there too and enjoying themselves alot

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Love your update. DLRP looks so pretty. I love all of your pictures.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Yes, the caste is really wonderful - I am real proud of OUR European Disney castle!

DLRP is about 50 km (30 miles) from Charles de Gaulle airport. There is a shuttle bus from both airports CDG and Orly to Disneyland Paris, or you can travel on the RER (train). We always rent a car as it gives us a lot more mobility. I love to shop at the Auchan Market (like Publix) and there are always a few things we need to take home. Don't laugh, but we do buy our salt there. They have the most amazing salt - and we take home several containers of it. I also buy some jam and this last trip we managed to get hold of some glasses of Dijon Mustard. (They used to sell it here, but they have stopped selling it)

Well, to be honest I think the writing on Main Street is a mix of English and French. The photo I posted was taken on Main Street and it is in French, menus usually are posted in French and English and most things in the shops have a French label. On the other hand many of the shops have the same English name - the Emporium is still the Emporium. Don't know if this answers your question.

Most CM do speak more or less English. Most do understand and if they don't they are quick to get someone who understands your language. Some of them even speak German and are so proud if they can show it off with us. The thing is that if I am asked for my preferred language Tom and I usually say English as German is "not very high" on their list! We have only come across a handful of CM who do NOT understand any English. (Yeah, Tom do you remember the one who only answered "ah, no" to every question. Our conversation ended in ....... "Are you a very clever person?" and the answer was - you guessed it "ah, no" - this cracked us up for a LOOOOOOOOOONG time!)

I can COMPLETELY understand about the salt. And frankly when you find the 'best' of anything, it's so fun to get it when you are there locally. For instance, I don't even smoke, but I love getting a 10 pack of cigarettes when I'm in London - the black pack with gold writing. Silly, I know... Of course, I'm sure we could all list about 10 things we MUST get at Disneyworld because it is the only place we have found it

Love your update. DLRP looks so pretty. I love all of your pictures.

Ditto - the park looks gorgeous!

 

[HeatherBelle614]

I'm so sad to hear that the Mickey shaped pizza isn't good! How disappointing!

Your villa is so cute! That had to be great to have so much space to spread out.

The outside of POC looks so different! I like the ship outside, too!

 

[Kellybelly777]

Wow! The park is absolutly gorgeous and even if they dont taste all that great, the mickey pizzas looked delicious!!! It's so cool how there can be so many of the same rides as in WDW and DLR, yet they all look completely different! I loved POC, that looked really cool!!

Does anyone know someone who's uploaded pictures of Disney in Hong Kong and Tokyo (sorry i'm not sure of the exact cities but that sounds about right...) ? I'd love to see what those look like too!

I would love to see more pictures if you've got some Karin!

 

[dizneeat]

Remember me????????

I do NOT want to use this as an excuse, but we are getting toward the end of the school year and things are starting to get a little crazy and out of hand, therefore less time for my favourite two things - DISNEY and the DISboards! Sorry!
There are less than 4 weeks of school left and lots of things going on. I have two huge tests tomorrow, one class of 27 and one of 20 pupils. Their tests are 4 pages long and include two essays each - so this is something I am NOT looking forward too! Guess what I will be doing all next weekend, yeah, right, marking tests!
On Thursday we have an all afternoon course, next week is just a regular week with no extras - I cannot believe it.
July 1st is excursion day - all day hiking!
And the same week we will have our last teacher's meeting for the school year!
July 5 starts "project week", and my class and I have decided that we would like to do some "together" time, so that day we will hike to a nearby village, try to climb up to the top of the old ruin there, have a picnic, hike back and end the day at 1pm.
Tuesday that week ALL pupils from our school will drive to Linz, the county capital for the festivities of the year of music. There will be choires all over town and we will walk from one to the other to enjoy their songs. We'll be off at 3pm that day!
Wednesday is going to be a fun and loooooooong day. My class and I have decided that we want to do a climbing adventure and we are going to visit a rope garden closeby. We will only meet at 2pm in the afternoon, then drive to the rope garden, and enjoy our time there for 2 - 3 hours before we drive back to our school. The kids have asked me if I would possibly consider spending the night with them at school and YES, we will spend the night at school. We will make pizza and popcorn and have a movie/football night at school. The next morning we will enjoy breakfast at school, hopefully provided by the parents association before we will hop over to the swimming pool from 9am to 12. I guess I will need some sleep after that - BIG time!
Friday, July 9th means going to church in the morning, handing our report cards and then I AM FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't wait!

So, now that I have given you an outlook on the future, here is a quick update on the past!
Long week with NO day off last week and on Saturday we had our teachers' outing, which means that we drive somewhere for the day. This year the teacher who organizes these trips (and loves beer) had the glorious idea to go and visit a brewery and then another and then another ........ you get the gist, ! Long day for someone who does not like beer!
When I got home a thunderstorm was about to start and right after a few minutes we had REAL heavy rain and high winds and it broke off two branches of our OLD walnut tree. We were SO lucky they did not fall on our garden shed and even worse on the neighbour's fence and shed!! We hope to have someone come in this week to clear the "debis".
Plus today is my day off and I hope to update today -

But let me answer your posts first!

Ohh, I see. I guess I'm just more used to the vacation homes here. The inside is very nice. And that sink is so fancy!

Yuki, you would be SO surprised at some of the "minimalistic" offerings of European hotels!
Rooms are tiny and you only get the real "bear necessities", but the prices are more in the moderate region!
We love the US room sizes and the huge beds and all the other luxuries.
The village we stayed at in Paris was new to us and we love having lots of space and being able to self cater - so much yummy food there!

Well I was waaaaay out on my calculations for when you are at DLRP We get back from WDW on 14th Oct.

Ok, gonna go and price up a weekend for those dates in Nov, see if its doable.

Loving the update and pictures. It looks so different

That was nice seeing one of your pupils there too and enjoying themselves alot

Don't worry to much about going to DLRP when we are there - if it is to be it will fall into place!

I was amazed with all the changes at DLRP too! Especially the Studios part grows steadily and that's a real good thing, as there were not enough things to do there anyway.

Love your update. DLRP looks so pretty. I love all of your pictures.

There are lots more pictures to come - all I need is some time for some updates!

 

[dizneeat]

I can COMPLETELY understand about the salt. And frankly when you find the 'best' of anything, it's so fun to get it when you are there locally. For instance, I don't even smoke, but I love getting a 10 pack of cigarettes when I'm in London - the black pack with gold writing. Silly, I know... Of course, I'm sure we could all list about 10 things we MUST get at Disneyworld because it is the only place we have found it

Ditto - the park looks gorgeous!

Thank you! I felt a little silly about the "salt", but as silly as it sounds it does taste different!

And speaking of that list of things we ALL have to get at WDW - may I put MORE than ten things on that list?

I'm so sad to hear that the Mickey shaped pizza isn't good! How disappointing!

Your villa is so cute! That had to be great to have so much space to spread out.

The outside of POC looks so different! I like the ship outside, too!

The pizza is very basic factory made and tasting pizza. It does not help that they keep it sitting in the paper container for a while before they sell them. If you go in the winter they are only lukewarm and it does not help the flavour at all!
But I LOVE the shape!!!!!!!!!!!

We were very happy with the size of the villa. Since this is my brother I am travelling with we need at least two beds and two "double" beds are even better.
And it makes you feel even saver staying in a guarded community. We love tasting new things and the supermarket was just a 5 minute drive away, so we REALLY enjoyed it there.

The pirate ship and skull rock are part of Adventure Isle and Pirates of the Caribbean is across the bridge on the far right on the map. It is a fun place to be at with caves and a play area on the ship, which also houses a snack bar.

Wow! The park is absolutly gorgeous and even if they dont taste all that great, the mickey pizzas looked delicious!!! It's so cool how there can be so many of the same rides as in WDW and DLR, yet they all look completely different! I loved POC, that looked really cool!!

Does anyone know someone who's uploaded pictures of Disney in Hong Kong and Tokyo (sorry i'm not sure of the exact cities but that sounds about right...) ? I'd love to see what those look like too!

I would love to see more pictures if you've got some Karin!

There is "something" about the shape of those pizzas, isn't it?

We too love the fact that there are exactly the same rides, but yet they look and sometimes even feel different.
I just love BTM - it is one of my ALL time favourite rides in ANY Disney park we have been to, but I am SURE that the one at DLRP is the best! It is the longest and it takes you under water to Thunder Mesa, which is on an island, so you have kind of a dark ride included as well.
I just wish the CMs would spread just a little more pixie dust - you can tell, that most of them are just doing a job, while I often get the impression that CMs at DL or WDW love their job.

I've got LOADS more photos and will update soon!

 

[tinacaplan]

Great update, Karin. I totally sympathize about it being the end of the school year. We have eight more days with the students, then next Friday is a teacher day. Then I will be off for two weeks before we start summer academy, which runs for two weeks. After that, I'm off for three weeks. I have a pile of work to do, including planning that needs to get done for next year! Yet I can't seem to curb my internet addiction at night!

Your villa looked lovely; but I love more modern architecture and styling. I can't get over the differences in DLRP from DW here. Looks so pretty!

Hang in there...summer break is coming for us all, I know it!

 

[YukiPhnx]

WOAH! What a busy busy week you have ahead of you! Do you teach high school or primary school? All those activities soun very tiring indeed. And then there are all the marking that needs to be done.

That rope garden terrifies me. Probably because I encountered something like that on a trip in Gr.8. I was holding onto a rope tied to the top of a tree, walking on a rope tied between two trees, to get to the other tree. I slipped, but held onto the rope and WHIP and CRACK, I hit another horizontally tied rope and nearly break my back. Not a good experience while you're hours away from home and won't be going home for another 3 days.

I hope you survive that week!

 

[dizneeat]

Great update, Karin. I totally sympathize about it being the end of the school year. We have eight more days with the students, then next Friday is a teacher day. Then I will be off for two weeks before we start summer academy, which runs for two weeks. After that, I'm off for three weeks. I have a pile of work to do, including planning that needs to get done for next year! Yet I can't seem to curb my internet addiction at night!

Your villa looked lovely; but I love more modern architecture and styling. I can't get over the differences in DLRP from DW here. Looks so pretty!

Hang in there...summer break is coming for us all, I know it!

Thanks for understanding, Tina! Us teachers need to stick together!

You have to teach during your holiday? Or are you taking courses (don't know what summer academy is ......... can you tell we don't have anything like it here, )

We seem to have the same internet (DIS) addiction, at the moment my nights are VERY short!

Oh, I have lots more DLRP photos (even of food, ) which I want to share with you all!

Only 3 1/2 more weeks until a 9 week break, I CANNOT wait!!!

WOAH! What a busy busy week you have ahead of you! Do you teach high school or primary school? All those activities soun very tiring indeed. And then there are all the marking that needs to be done.

That rope garden terrifies me. Probably because I encountered something like that on a trip in Gr.8. I was holding onto a rope tied to the top of a tree, walking on a rope tied between two trees, to get to the other tree. I slipped, but held onto the rope and WHIP and CRACK, I hit another horizontally tied rope and nearly break my back. Not a good experience while you're hours away from home and won't be going home for another 3 days.

I hope you survive that week!

Yes, it looks like a busy time until the end of the school year, but it is getting closer by the minute!
My pupils are all between 10 to 14 years old. Most of the boys and girls in my class are currently 12/13 years old. Tough age!

I do understand what you mean about the rope garden. I was a bit sceptic in the beginning but the kids all have to wear equipment to secure them on the rope. They have done something similar during our project week and loved it. But after reading your experience I REALLY hope we won't have any mishaps.

 

[KatMark]

THANK YOU FOR THE POSTCARD. Mark and I loved getting it.

 

[dizneeat]

Disneyland Paris, Day 1 continued

Now where did I stop last time ......... oh yes, we had just gotten to our villa.

Once we had checked it out and we were okay with it we then went back outside and got the car and brought our luggage into the villa. After chilling for a while we decided that we were both hungry and that it was time to do some shopping for groceries. So we headed out again, got in the car and drove to the bakery for more baguette and an éclair and another piece of choux pastry. Our next stop was the Auchan grocery story at Val d’Europe. It was hard to find a parking spot outdoors but once we headed to the garage there were plenty of spots to find. First we went to the Disney outlet that is there but there was nothing either reduced or new, so we went over to the grocery store to do our shopping. We just enjoy exploring the store, it is huge and there are so many things to look at. It took us about an hour to find everything we wanted, then headed for the cash desk and back to the car. Shortly before 6pm we returned back to our villa, laid the table and enjoyed our delicious dinner.

We had baguette, quiche, some salads, cut cold meats and tomatoes.

Tom had some of the puff pastry for dessert

and I enjoyed the choux pastry.

Once we were done we thought about going back to the park, since it was open until 10 pm and we still had about two hours of park time. But the early start to the day took its toll. After a few minutes we decided to just call it a day, watch a little more TV and have an early night, so we could have an early start to our only full day at the parks.

 

[dizneeat]

THANK YOU FOR THE POSTCARD. Mark and I loved getting it.

You are very welcome! Glad you got it!

 

[dizneeat]

And since you didn't get any DLRP photos, only French food, here are a few random ones from a previous trip.

Well, to follow with the food theme .............

Character caravan, going up Main Street to the hub

and to finish off with the food theme ...........

Dessert at Walt's, an American Restaurant located above Main Street

 

[YukiPhnx]

I see you have some brie there. I LOVE brie cheese. How much did all the food cost?

Those croissants just look so goooooooood!!!!! I'm so jealous.

That foggy ToT picture looks really good. Very appropriate

 

[dizneeat]

I see you have some brie there. I LOVE brie cheese. How much did all the food cost?

Those croissants just look so goooooooood!!!!! I'm so jealous.

That foggy ToT picture looks really good. Very appropriate

The supermarket where we shop sells some real yummy Camembert cheese - we love it! I actually cannot recall how much all the food was. I remember thinking that it was not expensive at all given the fact that we had two dinners and two breakfasts from it.

I love the French ToT on foggy winter mornings - makes it extra spooky!

 

[KatMark]

What a great update...love all the pics.

Can you PM me your email address? Our "mutual" friend in Florida would like to email you.