A French Disney home for the holidays…. COMPLETED - Page 36 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Ok, I have to confess I've never seen Psycho and I didn't know what the Bates hotel looked like, but I just looked up the image and wow, I see what you mean!
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Monday 17 November – part ten: he’ll have fun on Pirate Night with that!
When we came out of Phantom Manor, we walked through Frontierland…
Mark went and browsed another shop, and couldn’t find the T-shirt he wanted, although he did find a couple of the glasses that we have at home, so he got those. They had some very neat stuff in here.
When we came out of there, we both concluded that the skies were, once again, looking ominous over Big Thunder Mountain, so maybe we shouldn’t stick around too much longer and tempt fate. We made our way out of Frontierland and headed down Main Street USA for one final time.
On the way out, Mark decided to try one more shop for his T-shirt, but didn’t end up finding one. However, he did find this…
Thankfully he didn’t buy that, but he did buy this, which I thought was much more “him”.
As he said, he’ll have some fun on Pirate Night on the cruise with it… I can’t wait to see what Captain Hook makes of this!
We headed back to the Disneyland Hotel, and asked for the luggage and my eye drops to be brought up to us. I grabbed a seat, as the lobby was a little busy, shall we say? Once we had everything gathered together, and had put today’s purchases into our existing cases, we settled down. Mark went to check what time to get to the station for. He’s always very keen to get there as early as possible, but my fear was that we might end up too early there, as I didn’t know what time they’d start immigration/security checks, as presumably they don’t have staff there all the time.
We decided to head over so that we’d be there for 5:00pm, but to be honest, about 20 minutes before that, we’d had enough of the noise level in the lobby and all the screaming kids there. The final straw was the stupid Italian woman who put her baby right down on the sofa next to me, literally missing my camera by about half an inch. I dread to think what that would’ve done to her baby’s skull had she hit in, but when I moved it, she seemed absolutely oblivious, trying to get a photo on her phone of her child. Good grief – enough!
I’ve come up with a solution to this problem at Disney… parents need to attend a parenting class before they come to Disney. Only when they can show that they can actually look after their kids, and stop them doing stupid things like handling things at buffets should they then be allowed to come here. I may sound like a grouchy old woman, and I am, but honestly, the level of bad behaviour from children and their parents this trip has just been intolerable. It certainly isn’t how it was when I was growing up, as my parents certainly bought me up, knowing how to behave. Ok, that’s it – take the soap box away from me now please!
We set off, and look at the state of Mark!
Anyone else think he enjoyed himself this trip? I got a few final shots as we headed out…
Then we headed over to Marne La Vallee, following the signs for Eurostar.
I’m glad we didn’t take the Disney Express bus service (a Cast Member had offered it to me earlier in the day, but I told him we were fine walking – good grief, it’s only a five minute walk), as you had to go over to their kiosk to reclaim your luggage. Too much hassle if you’re only staying at the Disneyland Hotel!
Somehow, problems with kids behaving completely obnoxious always seem worse at DLP than at WDW. I may be a grouchy old woman as well but it annoys me to no end. Had I behaved like that when I was a kid boy, I wouldn't have dared!
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A parenting class - brilliant!! I'd like this to apply to youth hockey games as well, please.
Mark was having a grand time - so glad he bought that hat!!
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Tanya
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A nice day in the parks on your final day and got quite a bit in! I've never taken the Riverboat cruise, but must some day. Some nice photos and views from the boat of Frontierland! Glad you enjoyed the Haunted Manor as it's a little different than WDW's version.
Glad you had some quality time with your donkey boy and those were some great photos of him! Love Mark's hat as it's a keeper!
That is ridiculous with the lack of parenting that you witnessed! You see a lot of this all over and in WDW as well! Perhaps, some people missed the boat on how to be good parents?
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
A nice day in the parks on your final day and got quite a bit in! I've never taken the Riverboat cruise, but must some day. Some nice photos and views from the boat of Frontierland! Glad you enjoyed the Haunted Manor as it's a little different than WDW's version.
Glad you had some quality time with your donkey boy and those were some great photos of him! Love Mark's hat as it's a keeper!
That is ridiculous with the lack of parenting that you witnessed! You see a lot of this all over and in WDW as well! Perhaps, some people missed the boat on how to be good parents?
We then got in line for boarding, with passport checks and ticket checks first. There was one very long line, which most people were in, and one very short line to the left. Can you guess which we opted for? You got it! The stupid woman in front of us tried to walk through without showing anything, then had to be hauled back, making me step back on to Mark - what do these people think or do they not think at all? Where else do you just carry on walking and get no checks at all?
Then we had to join the very long line for security. Of course, with it being a family destination, there were large numbers of strollers, and people didn’t seem to grasp that they couldn’t go through unless they were folded up. Again, people also didn’t seem to grasp the concept that this is airport type security, although I have to say not as strict, as I didn’t see anyone really checking on the detectors that we walked through, although luggage was being checked, so people weren’t ready to move, which didn’t help.
When we got out the other side, it was all a bit confusing. There were a few seats, with signs saying that you needed to head down to the platform. There was a large group clustered around the elevator, with the member of staff there saying that she wouldn’t be operating it until the platform opened.
Well, people seemed to be going down the escalator, so we followed them. We could see as we went down that another escalator had just literally been opened up, and it’s just as well, as there was a massive crowd of people, and I think we were the last two people to fit on the bottom of that escalator. Thank goodness there was no-one coming behind us, otherwise we could’ve been in problems.
We made our way round for the next escalator, and you know the really galling thing? We were on the level we’d entered the station on. Yep, you have to go upstairs to clear immigration and security, only to return to the level you first started on. As Mark then encountered with the escalator we were taking down to platform level (by the way, the only reason they opened this one up was that thankfully the train had come in), was that children do not necessarily do well on escalators.
The mother spotted me, and as I just had hand luggage, she told me I could go ahead of her, so I did. Mark was waiting behind the mother, and the daughter, who apparently just froze at the top of the escalator. In the end, Mark had to take the hand luggage off the girl, before she’d get on the escalator.
Then guess what happened when we both separately got to the bottom of the escalator? You’ve got it in one – there was a family standing there. This is not the place to stop – people were literally having to yell “incoming” to get them to move. You really could not make it up.
We found our way down to carriage 11, which was ours. Now this is the way to travel – it’s standard premier, rather than the standard class we came out on, in case you’re wondering what the difference is.
It turns out that there are three standard premier carriages on this train and, for about 40 blissful minutes, we were almost the only ones on here. Ok, so there was a family of six at the other end of the carriage, but we didn’t hear a word from them. We were thinking that this would be a nice, peaceful journey home. How wrong you can be! Less than 10 minutes before we were due to leave, a family of four crashed in and took up the table next to us. Let’s just say that we were both very grateful for headphones, so that we didn’t have to listen to them…
We set off exactly on time, and soon we were zipping through the countryside, not that we could see any of it, mind, as it was already dark outside.
They serve water when you depart, and both of us had double quantities, as we were desperate for something to drink. Well, apart from the mulled wine, we hadn’t had a drink since breakfast in fairness. They then serve dinner, which nearly turned out to be a disaster. I realised that I hadn’t said anywhere that I didn’t eat meat, and mentioned that when the food was served, but I was told it wasn’t a problem, as they only had a cheese dish…
I also got a small bottle of rose wine to go with it, and it complimented the cheese perfectly….
Ok, so that wasn’t going to work for Mark. We were told that, when they ran out of a selection, there was nothing they could do, but then again, when the other option is roast beef, d’uh, which one do you think is going to disappear first? The woman said she’d go off and see if she could find one final roast beef portion for Mark, after I pointed out he has a dairy allergy, and in the meantime, this was what he was left with…
For a few minutes, it really wasn’t looking good, and I was mentally starting to compose my complaint email (and trust me, I am very good at those ), especially given that we’d be back in Standard Premier for our weekend in Brussels in early December. However, before I was able to complete that mental complaint letter, the woman was back with some roast beef for Mark…
Although I think it was better than the cheese option, he wasn’t overly enamoured by the fact it came with carrots and lentils, and as he hates lentils (as do I!), I could understand that to some extent.
Once we were finished with dinner, we settled back down to our respective routines – for Mark watching a movie, and for me working on the trip report.
We were pulling into Ebbsfleet exactly on time, and we were the first ones off the train – just as well, as they were checking passports when we returned, and I’m sure there was a line later, as a lot of people followed us off. We split up when we got outside, with me paying the parking, and Mark retrieving the car from the other end of the car park.
We made our way home, and considering we were on the platform at Ebbsfleet at 7:30pm, we were home before 8:00pm – not bad going at all. It had certainly been a weekend away to remember and gave us a taste of Disney for the holidays…
The weather today was dry and cloudy in the morning with rain in the afternoon and temperatures in the high 40s. The best thing today was the magical encounter with Eeyore! The worst thing today was having to leave. The funniest thing today was Mark in his new hat! Today we tried going on the Disney Railroad And the result was it was fun, but a lot of time was spent in stations during the journey… The most magical moment today was having Eeyore all to myself!
Sometimes you wonder about how these clueless people get through life, don't you?!
Glad Mark was able to get something more than a roll for dinner!
Great trip, and I had a feeling your Eeyore encounter was going to be your best moment of the day!
What a mess at the train station! Kids are really scared of escalators? Wow. The whole thought process seems to be lacking there. They're not even thinking 1 minute ahead, are they? Indeed, how do they all function in real life? Yikes.
Anyway, glad your train was on time and you guys made it home quickly too! I can't believe Mark almost didn't get a meal. Premier seating should get priority!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Sometimes you wonder about how these clueless people get through life, don't you?!
I dread to think!
Quote:
Glad Mark was able to get something more than a roll for dinner!
Great trip, and I had a feeling your Eeyore encounter was going to be your best moment of the day!
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We made our way out of Frontierland and headed down Main Street USA for one final time. 
boy, I wouldn't have dared!
I'd like this to apply to youth hockey games as well, please. 
I've never taken the Riverboat cruise, but must some day. Some nice photos and views from the boat of Frontierland! 
- what do these people think or do they not think at all? Where else do you just carry on walking and get no checks at all? 
The woman said she’d go off and see if she could find one final roast beef portion for Mark, after I pointed out he has a dairy allergy, and in the meantime, this was what he was left with… 
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