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As I have until February to wait for my next trip to WDW and we have our next two trips already planned I need to get my head out of Disney and think about something else so I decided to try a Pre-trip report for our upcoming trip to London and the Harry Potter Studios.
This idea for this trip came in Orlando so even this doesn't totally get me out of the bubble. Our trip to Orlando in July 2012 was definitely more of a Universal trip than disney which is unusual for us. The main reason for this is we have been living in Paris for a year with annual passes to DLP and had probably overdone Disney a little (not in my opinion but my hubby and teenagers were ready for a change). At least until the last weekend when we finally went back to the MK and remembered how much more we love it than DLP and decided to buy into DVC. While in Universal my then 8 year old was totally taken with Harry Potter Land so we promised him a trip to Harry Potter Studios in Watford for his birthday in August. We were planning a driving trip to Scotland in August and the idea was to stop for a few hours at the Harry Potter studio on the way. Unfortunatley when we got back from Orlando the Studios were fully booked for August so our upcoming trip was born.
Who are we:
Me Hazel 45 and the family Disney fanatic. even my now 9 year old wants to know why i am looking at Disney stuff all the time. We had our first trip to WDW in 1998 and I started collecting Mickey and Minnie figurines and now have at least 30 pairs from Paris, Florida and California. I am an engineer in the Oil and Gas Industry and was moved from Scotland to Paris France for my job a year ago.
My husband Graeme 48 long suffering disney mad wife follower. He is happy to go to Florida and California but please don't ask him to organise anything or worse choose anything but as long as he can turn up on the day and go where we are going he is happy.
Daughter Gemma almost 18 and in her last year of school. she is planning on moving back to Scotland for university so i am trying to pack as much as possible (around exams) into her last year as part of the family at home as i don't even want to think about how much i am going to miss her
And my two boys Peter 14 and Rory 9 both typical boys and typical brothers with a love hate relationship. Rory has ADD so we need to watch that we don't let him get too high otherwise we struggle to bring him back down again but all in all it is manageable.
Our trip.
We will be leaving home on the 1st of November. The fall holidays are very last in France. We will be leaving with two cars as we will be travelling with two adults, three kids, a dog, a cat and two rabbits. We haven't found suitable pet kennels here to look after the animals so we take them to England when we go and drop them off at Kennels in Maidstone in Kent. So we will leave about 9am on the 1st of November and drive to the channel tunnel. It is about a 3 hour drive from our home. When we get there we check the animals in the usually check in and drive straight on to the next train. The tricky bit is keeping the two cars together through security checks, passport control and train boarding so we can share the picnic I pack into the coolbox. We are usually in England by late lunchtime and drive about 45 mins to drop the animals off in maidstone. Once the animals are dropped off we are driving to the Holiday Inn near gatwick airport as it is nearby and has good access to London by train. not to mention it is reasonably cheap. We have three rooms for 5 nights for £600.
Our Plans;
Friday 2nd november
We are going to go into London in the morning to visit Westminster abbey. I have booked lunch at a nice littel cafe just outside. in the afternoon we have booked tickets to Madame Tussauds in London. The Sherlock Holmes museum is very near madame Tussauds so we will try and fit that in too.
Saturday 3rd of November
This is our day for the Harry Potter studios. My daughter and i have already been but none of the boys have. We will drive here for about 10am. It is a fantastic tour with lots of props from the movie as well as many of the rooms fully set up. They have the Griffindor common room, harry and ron's bedroom as well as Dumbledors office. They also have a full model of diagon alley and a huge model of the castle. The visit ends in the biggest gift shop you could imagine and we will hopefully have lunch in the cafe. No doubt i will end up having to buy a wand. in the afternoon we are going to do some Christmas shopping so we can send some heavier things to family from the UK rather then posting from France.
Sunday 4th november.
The plan is to head back to London to visit the tower of London then ride the London eye.
Monday 5th of November.
This is what we call bonfire night in the UK where we remember a plot to blow up the king that was foiled and the perpitrator burned at the stake. It ends with a lot of fireworks in the evening which the dog hates. The plan today will be to get back to Maidstone and pick up the animals, go to Sainsbury's and fill the car with the goodies we miss and get out of the UK before the fireworks start.
Tuesday 6th November
We have a parents treat planned for this day back at home. 20 years ago we went just the two of us on a holiday to Paris and had a dinner on a boat on the river Seine. We really enjoyed it and have remember it fondly ever since so we are leaving my daughter babysitting and repeating the experience. just wish it costs what it costed 20 years ago.
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Scottish Hogmanay (with a stolen Picture)
Last edited by Thomhazel; 11-19-2012 at 02:34 PM..
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Sounds great! I never knew there's a studio tour of the actual HP sets. It's so kind that you're planning to get out of England before the fireworks the night of the 5th. I had a dog who was terrified of fireworks and it was so pitiful as there was nothing that could comfort him.
The studio tour is fab it shows a lot of things used and a lot of the cinematic tricks used. It is where a lot of the indoor scenes were actually shot. I'll try and post some pictures
Now seriously... your kennels are in Maidstone? Look where I'm from! Talk about a small world.... So come on - I need to know more... where exactly are the kennels? What a shame it's not a weekend, we could've met up briefly, although if you plan on lunch around Maidstone, I can always check my work diary and see what it's looking like for those days....
The dogs and cats go somewhere on Norton road which we have to drive past Leeds Castle to get to. The rabbits go to a place in Teston about 8 miles away. Maidstone was the easiest place for us easily on the road from folkestone to Gatwick. It will probably be about 2pm by the time we get the animals there. We regualrly do trips to Kent just for shopping at weekends and although Canterbury has been a favorite the last weekend shopping trip we did was to Maidstone due to droopping the animals. I will need to do a shopping trip again before Christmas we could maybe do lunch then if you are not off the the USA when I am over.
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The dogs and cats go somewhere on Norton road which we have to drive past Leeds Castle to get to. The rabbits go to a place in Teston about 8 miles away. Maidstone was the easiest place for us easily on the road from folkestone to Gatwick. It will probably be about 2pm by the time we get the animals there. We regualrly do trips to Kent just for shopping at weekends and although Canterbury has been a favorite the last weekend shopping trip we did was to Maidstone due to droopping the animals. I will need to do a shopping trip again before Christmas we could maybe do lunch then if you are not off the the USA when I am over.
Wow, you will see a lot of the area with those two destinations! If you are over before Christmas, let me know - we're off to the States in early December, although we won't be around any weekend in December, as we need to do Christmas with my parents before we go away.
It is looking very like I will be over the weekend of the 17th November. Most likely staying in Kent but i will have a car we could maybe meet then if that suits.
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It is looking very like I will be over the weekend of the 17th November. Most likely staying in Kent but i will have a car we could maybe meet then if that suits.
I will do my best to post lots of pics.
That sounds like it could work. I'll PM you and hopefully we'll sort something out....
I was in a meeting at work today and people were trying to organise a follow up meeting for next week. Monday is out as there are workshops tuesaday and Wednesday are busy what abnout next thursday. yeah great wait no! I'm on holiday next thursday. And thats how i realised it is as soon as next wek we go on our trip. Luckily I'm organised (or so i think!), tunnel tickets bought, pets booked into kennels, hotle booked and paid for, tickets for London and Harry potter bought and printed. Will need to start packing soon and make sure the kids don't wear the clothes they want to take the day before.
Looking forward to a road trip, some family time and some downtime from work before the crazy Christmas preparations begin. Especialyl since i have a buisness trip to Brisbane the last week in November. Photo's to follow
Well i have just checked the weather for our trip and it will rain every day. We wil have to break out the waterproofs and spend lots of time indoors. Long pub lunches now seem a good idea but I shouldn't be complaining after watching Sandy on the news
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So come on - I need to know more... where exactly are the kennels? 
What a shame it's not a weekend, we could've met up briefly, although if you plan on lunch around Maidstone, I can always check my work diary and see what it's looking like for those days....
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