Mattnkatsmum does Disneyland Paris with Matt but not Kat UPDATE 12/27 COMPLETE
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mattnkatsmum · 10-29-2006, 05:00 AM

[b] <font color="#2F4F4F"> Day 1 – Thursday 19th October 2006

I’ll be as brief as I can with the background. I’ve been to Disneyland Paris three times previously. Our first time was when Matt was two, and DLP had only been open for a couple of years and was still known as Euro Disney. We added a couple of days onto a camping trip to France and spent two nights at the Hotel Cheyenne. I don’t recall being over-enamoured with Euro Disney, but at that time I hadn’t discovered the Disney Magic.

I visited again with Matt in 1996, when he was four. We had a mum and son trip to Paris and headed to Euro Disney for a day. It was fun, but again, I don’t remember thinking ‘wow’.

Finally, Steve and I had a brief trip to Paris, between Christmas and New Year in 1997. It was bitterly cold and we agreed that we had ‘been there, seen it, done it’. In short, we felt Disneyland Paris (I think it had changed its name by that point) compared unfavourably to WDW and we wouldn’t be back.

Of course, we didn’t legislate for the love affair which would subsequently develop between us and Disney. And given that it’s not exactly practical to jump on a plane to WDW for a weekend break (9 hour flight), I decided to try out DLP once more.

The rise of budget airlines in the UK has made Paris very accessible and affordable now. Even though we live in the north of England, Paris is just over an hours flight away.

I decided that my companion of choice would be Matt (DS14), as he won’t be joining us in January. I wanted some quality time with him, but also wanted to assess whether DLP was ‘Kat friendly’ for a future trip.

I booked reasonably cheap flights with Easy Jet (£90 each return, that’s about $170 – it doesn’t sound that cheap when I convert into dollars, but for school holidays that isn’t bad and half the price British Airways and Air France were charging). I would normally fly from Manchester but Easyjet fly out of Liverpool (home of the Beatles – more on this in a moment) about 45 minutes drive from our home.

My plan had been to travel Friday until Sunday, to coincide with Matt’s half term, but as I was playing around on the Disneyland Paris website, I discovered a special two night promotion, departing on the Thursday night. A two night, 3 three day stay at the Sequoia Lodge was discounted by 25% to £253 (about $420). This included park passes and breakfast, so wasn’t too bad. Luck would have it that Matt wasn’t in school on the Friday, so I booked there and then.

I won’t take Matt out of school ( forget the moral arguments, if you paid as much in school fees as I do, you wouldn’t either [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] ) so I booked a 7pm flight with Easyjet and prayed we’d make the flight in time.

So ……..on with the report.

I’d had the brains to print off our boarding passes on line, and we were travelling with hand luggage only. This was fortuitous as we arrived at Liverpool Airport with just 30 minutes to spare before the flight. Remember how I said that Liverpool is proud of its Beatles connection?

Its motto is ‘Above us Only Sky’, which I thought hilarious, but it’s not supposed to be.

We boarded promptly and we were in the air in no time. All the while I was imagining all the people, living life in peace…yoo hoo hoo hoo hoo.

After just one beautiful hour we landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Terminal 3 ( a satellite terminal for the budget airlines). We walked straight from the plane to the RER train terminal (ten minute walk) and bought tickets for the Marne le Vallee station. This involved one train into central Paris and then a change of train to take us to DLP. As it was now 9.30 pm (Paris is an hour ahead of the UK) we had no other transport option other than a cab. The journey was straightforward enough but took an hour and a half. DLP is about 20 miles to the east of Paris.

One definite advantage of DLP is the proximity of everything. The train takes you right to the Disneyland entrance. It was now 11.00pm and everything was closing. We wandered through Disney Village (I’ll elaborate on this as my report unfolds) and then found ourselves facing Lake Disney and The Sequoia Lodge.

I have a theory about hotel rooms. I reckon that those who check in early get the dross rooms, so that there’s somewhere to upgrade them to if they complain too hard. The later you check in, the better room you get. I had paid for the cheapest room possible and we got…………a mini suite, overlooking Lake Disney and the parks.

Here are some photos ( not all taken that night, you understand)

To the left we had the Newport Bay Club

To the right, the Hotel New York

And right in front, Lake Disney, Disneyland, the Studios and the Disney Village. The pink building in the background is the Disneyland Hotel. You can just about make out the castle to the right and you can see the Tower of Terror which is still under construction.

The balloon is tethered and known as Panoramagique. For a few Euros you can take a flight (I think it rises 200 metres) but it wasn't operational during our stay.

We wandered to the bar as we were thirsty, but it was 4 euros for a coke ($5.50), and I wasn’t prepared to pay that so we made do with water!

Coming next: Disneyland Park. How will it compare to the MK?

poohbear.u.k. · 10-29-2006, 07:35 AM

Great start Karen. I look forward to reading more of your experiences as we've never been to DLP.

BethC · 10-29-2006, 07:51 AM

Hurry back with more PLEASE Karen!!!

lauren-roxy · 10-29-2006, 07:53 AM

Wonderful start Karen!!!! I am so excited to hear all about DLP!! What a great room!! Can't wait to read more!!!!

simbarel · 10-29-2006, 09:00 AM

LOVE the airport!!! And what a great room, hope DLP ends up inspiring at least some magic in you (even with its $5.50 sodas. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img])