Points make Paris... TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 31 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
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Oh right, the animals! I'd nearly forgotten about them already. So well behaved, those bovines....
How could you forget about my bovines?
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The hotels look very cool from up there. I see Hotel Cheyenne and Santa Fe are a little bit of a walk away - but perhaps the others are worth the extra expense to be closer. Then you don't really need to use the shuttle and can just walk.
They are much further away. Either you'd have a very long walk from there or need to take the shuttle. That's why they don't appeal to us.
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Here we go again with the rude and oblivious. These people are everywhere!
That sadly is a constant problem at Disneyland Paris. It's such a shame.
Ugh. There's just something about folks exiting an elevator or escalator that they can't imagine anyone behind them. It's insane! This seems to happen to me every time I take the escalator in The Land at EPCOT. Oblivious...
Just love all the photos of the hotels - from above and on land.
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
The fireworks show looks good with some great photos! It's amazing as you pointed out how poorly some people behave in public and you're right, she shouldn't leave their homes! More great photos from the balloon ride and looks like a lot of fun. A completely different perspective on DLP!
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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!
Ugh. There's just something about folks exiting an elevator or escalator that they can't imagine anyone behind them. It's insane! This seems to happen to me every time I take the escalator in The Land at EPCOT. Oblivious....
It does make you wonder what they are thinking about.
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Just love all the photos of the hotels - from above and on land.
Great views from up ther! I did think the animals could use a bit more space - and some softer surfaces as it seems to be hay over concrete.
You just can't escape the rude people there, can you?
We finally got down to the hotel lobby at maybe 10:50am, and considering check-out time was 11:00am, we were cutting it close. There was a massive line at reception, but I’d noticed a small area at the back of the lobby that said “departures” and there was no-one there, so I headed over there, and checked out in literally seconds, after confirming that we had no charges on our room. That’s got to be a first for us, but then again, this is the first time we’ve ever been on a Disney trip without a joint credit card.
We made our way over to the car, and loaded up the rest of our things, and headed out to the hotel entrance to wait for Sara, Tom and the kids who were due to be coming over to us, as then we’d head out in convoy back to the tunnel. I got a couple of final shots of our lovely hotel as we waited there…
Sara called us at about 11:05am to say they were just outside the security gate for our hotel, so we headed over there to meet them.
As we left, we saw the Panoramagique balloon up again – it looks like it was having a good day!
We made our way out of the complex, seeing bits of Disneyland Paris as we did…
However, what amazed me was just how much open space there still seems to be around here…
As Mark said, they could easily build a third park here, and in all honesty, I’d been hoping for that for the 25th anniversary celebrations, rather than a set of refurbishments of old classics.
You don’t often see this sight either – a farmer at work just outside Disney property…
Not long after that sighting, we saw property…
… and there was more of it being built. Mind you, I can see the attraction. You can be in the centre of Paris in 40 minutes from here by train, and at the weekend, if you’ve got children, you can pop over to Disneyland Paris.
We were soon on the motorway…
… and passing by Charles de Gaulle airport…
There was a plane taxiing across the motorway, but sadly we had a van in front of us at the time, so I couldn’t capture the sight.
We saw this prison and wondered whether it was the space prison that Mr. Tom from England had escaped from!
There were a lot more lorries out on the road than we’d expected…
There had been a debate over breakfast about whether or not today was a national holiday in France, as it is in England, but it looked from everything I could read about it that the holiday was actually yesterday, on 1 May. It seems this year the French got a bit of a bum deal, given that most things are closed in France on a Sunday anyway… That would certainly account for all the lorries, given they can’t travel on a Sunday or holiday, unless they are carrying a refrigerated load.
Mark found the lorries to be an absolute nightmare, as they all had a habit of just deciding to pull out without any form of indication. He also found it tough going in convoy with Tom behind, as we lost him a few times, as their car isn’t as powerful as ours, so it would lose speed going up hills for example…
Despite that, we did have a remarkably clear run back to the tunnel, especially once we got on the toll road.
Joining the toll road
Mark even found it a bit boring – he told me this was his bored driving pose!
We even spotted some bovine buddies on the way back!
We saw quite a lot actually, although most of them were just too far away to photograph sadly.
You accomplished a lot on your weekend get way. Did Tom and Sara get the Disney bug?
It's hard to say. I know they absolutely loved the weekend away, but whether they'll go again, I don't know. It's quite pricey for them and I know Florida's definitely not an option right now, as Evie couldn't do the flight. I'm sure anyone who's been to Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World from the UK would agree that DLP is very much the poor cousin and I know they would like to do Florida one day.
I see all that land and road space - and can see now how they are creating a half marathon route! It will be a traffic nightmare though, on that date. Thank goodness the parks open later as the race should be nearly completely over by the time the parks open.
I didn't know that about the lorries driving on Sundays/holidays! (although.... you probably mentioned it in a past TR and I forgot... )
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I see all that land and road space - and can see now how they are creating a half marathon route!
Ah, now you say that, so can I!
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It will be a traffic nightmare though, on that date. Thank goodness the parks open later as the race should be nearly completely over by the time the parks open.
I am so glad we won't be driving around there on that day. I did love the idea of doing a 5k there, but that just didn't work out, as it was more important we were in the States at that time of the year than at Disneyland Paris. Maybe one day...
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I didn't know that about the lorries driving on Sundays/holidays! (although.... you probably mentioned it in a past TR and I forgot... )
As far as I recall, it applies across much of continental Europe, but not in the UK, so you quite often see a lot of lorries on the roads over here on a Sunday.
Just catching up after a busy weekend. It was nice that you got a chance to go up in the balloon! We've done it once at DTD, and I'm thinking it would be fun to give it another go in September.
Wow, another run-in with some rude, oblivious people! The kind that think they are the only ones on the planet!