Free Disneyland Paris tickets? On y va! COMPLETED - Page 5 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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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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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.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Wow, €1.36 for diesel, that's not bad! We're paying €1.52 for it here right now.
Don't feel too bad - most places in France were around the €1.50 mark - we always go to Carrefour because it's the cheapest diesel we've seen anywhere in France.... a tip to remember if you're ever near Calais.
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Cheryl - thank you for this wonderful trip report. I'm really enjoying it so far... I can't wait until you get to the parks! I lived in Brussels for 2 years, and we had annual passes to DLP. So, I actually am more familiar with the Paris resort than WDW. I haven't been back to Paris in years, so you are helping me to live vicariously.
Looking forward to the next installment...
Ah I'm so glad you explained that, as I've always wondered about the Madame Leota quote in your signature. Brussels is a beautiful city - we need to get back there, as we haven't been in about 10 years now.
Beautiful countryside photos, as always. And even cows.
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All caught up Cheryl!! The foliage is just lovely. One of these days we are going to make it to Europe, although if the idea of an 8ish hour flight with children isn't enough to scare me, the price of the Disneyland Paris hotels is- yeesh!!!
Sorry, I'm still all caught up on the horror of the trains. I'm glad to hear it isn't the super-fast one, but did I see correctly in the picture that there are no windows??? You are just sitting in your car in the dark? Or at the very least with a solid wall next to you? I would flip out. Super claustrophobic!
Glad to see the weather cleared up some as you got closer!
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All caught up Cheryl!! The foliage is just lovely. One of these days we are going to make it to Europe, although if the idea of an 8ish hour flight with children isn't enough to scare me, the price of the Disneyland Paris hotels is- yeesh!!!
In fairness, while the prices are high, you don't have to stay at Disneyland Paris to have a good time, as hopefully this trip will prove.....
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Sorry, I'm still all caught up on the horror of the trains. I'm glad to hear it isn't the super-fast one, but did I see correctly in the picture that there are no windows??? You are just sitting in your car in the dark? Or at the very least with a solid wall next to you? I would flip out. Super claustrophobic!
there are windows in each of the carriages and of course there's lighting in there. They wouldn't leave you sitting in the dark...
However, equally of course you're not going to see anything through the windows once you're in the tunnel... that was the gag we used on Sue and Steve when we took them to Paris on the Eurostar a few years ago. We kept telling them to look out for the fish because I was told that was the most common when the tunnel first opened!
It's no different to being in any other train going through a tunnel - it's just you're in this one for 25-30 minutes. I have to say as well that Mark's mother is claustrophobic, but she's managed the tunnel in the past Ok...
Friday 5 October – part three: this looks very nice
Soon the Disneyland Paris signs started to appear!
Around this point, we also passed by Charles de Gaulle airport, which was very surreal, with this plane starting to taxi out to the runway behind the autoroute...
... and then crossing the bridge above us!
There were some interesting sights as we drove along...
A few miles later, we were off the autoroute, and heading into Bussy Saint Georges, where our hotel was located. It looked like a beautiful area, and one that’s obviously undergoing a lot of development, with houses being built everywhere. It was what I’d describe as very typically French in terms of the architecture.
The sun sinking behind the train station Playing the traditional French game of boules
Soon we saw our hotel for the next two nights, the Tulip Inn, and very nice it looked too.
Mark parked up outside, while I went in to check in. The reception area was very nice:
And I was very impressed that the main square was literally right outside the hotel.
Once we were all checked in, I headed back to Mark and directed him to the hotel’s underground car park. It was very nice, and I was quite happy to pay €10 a night for it. That didn’t seem too bad to me.
We headed up to our room, and before we unpacked, I got the obligatory room photos....
... and photos of the view from our window. Very nice!
We spent a little while in the room, but soon headed out to find dinner. As France (along with the rest of continental Europe) is an hour ahead of the UK, it wasn’t feeling that late to our stomachs, but it was in local time.
We had a look at the hotel restaurant, but the only non-meat option was “slices of cod with mashed potato” for €15... er thanks!
We wandered around the square outside, but nothing grabbed either of us.
We headed for the road in front of the hotel...
... and saw a Chinese buffet, but it wasn’t exactly busy shall we say, so we passed on that.
We carried on walking, and as you can see, it was a lovely evening.
I loved the colour of this tree with the light behind it
Eventually, we headed towards the station, which is very close to our hotel – literally five minutes’ walk, which is perfect. We found another Chinese buffet, Le Canard d’Or, and this one was a lot busier. They had the buffet choices in the window, so I could see that there were plenty of fish and vegetable choices for me, so in we went.
We were seated straight away and we were, for a while anyway, the only English speakers in there, which we took to be a good sign, if it’s popular with the locals. We did have a few problems communicating, although I just about managed with my pigeon French. The first guy who served us wasn’t very friendly, but I have to say the others were lovely, especially the older woman in there who helped me to break my chopsticks in two (I can never do that! ). When I thanked her (in French! ) at the end of the night, she thanked me back and wished me a good evening.
I have to say the buffet was excellent, but the stand-out for me was the sushi, which was just beautiful and melt in the mouth. They also had a good selection of choices, which is unusual for a buffet place. I didn’t take a single photo inside, as it just didn’t feel right, so my apologies for that, but I can say that we both thoroughly enjoyed it. As well as the sushi, and the main Chinese dishes, with lots of fish selections, you could also get soups, and a variety of desserts.
Considering it cost €14.80 ($19) for each of us, we thought that was pretty good value.
I did manage to get a shot of it as we came out...
We walked back to the hotel, which was a lovely walk, although it was certainly colder than recent nights, which fitted in with the forecast we’d seen earlier, which had said temperatures in the UK would be getting down towards freezing in rural areas over the night. I could believe that.
When we got back to the room, we let our food go down and watched some of the BBC programmes (not the greatest selection on a Friday night ) and tried to identify all the Tube stations (all 75 of them on Look for Longer. http://www.lookforlonger.com/
The weather today was dry and cloudy with temperatures in the low 60s when we left the UK and The best thing today was dinner. The worst thing today was the rain on the way down. The funniest thing today was the ET parking space! Today we tried staying at the Tulip Inn in Bussy Saint Georges And the result was it appears to be a lovely hotel, very well located. The most magical moment today was seeing our hotel’s location.
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Somehow, I missed you were staying at the Tulip Inn....we stayed there for one night prior to checking into an on site hotel. We found the location to be excellent and the hotel to be more than adequate. As we had arrived late Sunday night, there were just a few options for dining but we found a wonderful cafe that took great care of us!
Looking forward to your arrival at DLP!
Danielle
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Brussels is a beautiful city - we need to get back there, as we haven't been in about 10 years now. 
there are windows in each of the carriages and of course there's lighting in there. They wouldn't leave you sitting in the dark... 
because I was told that was the most common when the tunnel first opened! 
) and tried to identify all the Tube stations (all 75 of them 
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