Me myself and I - A Solo Pre-Trip report

[dav220588]

Hey everyone, welcome to the pre-trip report for my August trip to Disneyland Paris! Let me introduce myself (no pictures - have to post a bit more to get permission for that) -

I'm David, 27 years old, originally from Scotland but living in London for the last 3 years. I'm a self confessed Disney nut having visited Disney World 7 times (most recently last year) and Disneyland Paris also 7 times (most recently a short trip in May).

So how did I end up going solo for the first time on my eighth trip? A combination of

- Deciding at the last minute I wanted to go on another holiday this year after trying to be sensible
- My girlfriend getting a new job with no holiday leave to go away again (we went together for the May trip)

I have a week off work, and have decided to spend 3 nights/ 4 days of it in Disneyland Paris. This is exciting for me as I've never spent more than 2 days there on any one trip! Details of my trip are :-

- Indirect train via Lille on Tuesday 25th August (departing at 6.50am which sounds bad but I got an even earlier train to Paris in May haha)
- 3 nights at the Ibis in Val D'Europe - stayed here before and it's a decent budget hotel. Only cost me £44 a night.
- I'll be picking up my first ever annual pass for a Disney park! I decided to go with the fantasy pass as didn't think the extra perks of the Dream pass were justified to me. I'm super excited about this as it basically guarantees I'll go back in the next year (December, Spring and Summer is what I'm thinking...)
- Indirect train back at around 5pm on the 28th. I'm trying not to think of that at the moment.

Obviously I'm looking forward to the attractions, but having recently got an interest in photography and picked up a DSLR camera I can't wait to take lots of pictures and videos (I'll be doing a vlog along with the written trip report - shameless plug to my youtube channel dav2205 !) and just have time to sit and watch the world go by!

That's all for now, once I've posted enough around the boards I'll put up some more pics along with some of my thoughts on what I'll do for the trip!

[mariecolette]

You are brave! I half considered booking Florida by myself... but chickened out!
Hope you have the best time!

[dav220588]

Originally Posted by mariecolette

You are brave! I half considered booking Florida by myself... but chickened out!
Hope you have the best time!

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You should just go for it, I think there may be times when I feel it being there alone but it's so easy to stay in touch with people these days you're never truly alone at anytime right?

Thanks I will have a great time, can't wait! I dropped the cereal bowl I bought in May and broke it, so I've been framing this trip as a 'bowl replacement trip' haha

[gettingthere]

ENJOY,i AM GOING SOLO to orlando in just over five weeks,just been out clothes shopping today,sooooooooooooo excited,cant wait

[dav220588]

Originally Posted by gettingthere

ENJOY,i AM GOING SOLO to orlando in just over five weeks,just been out clothes shopping today,sooooooooooooo excited,cant wait

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Have a brilliant time, make sure to visit the tequila bar in the Mexico pavilion for me! (assuming you are over 21 haha)

[gettingthere]

Originally Posted by dav220588

Have a brilliant time, make sure to visit the tequila bar in the Mexico pavilion for me! (assuming you are over 21 haha)

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shhh ...52.dont tell anyone.

[Clare]

Looking forward to this Have been solo to Orlando a few times but my next trip I'm seriously thinking about DLP.

[dav220588]

Originally Posted by Clare

Looking forward to this Have been solo to Orlando a few times but my next trip I'm seriously thinking about DLP.

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Thanks! Hopefully I can convince you it'a a good idea

[dav220588]

As promised here's a few pics!


Me at DLP May 2015

I've just recently got a DSLR so thought I'd just share some of the pics I've taken. Hopefully they'll get better as we go. They were taken in Bath and at Bristol zoo.

[dav220588]

In 3 weeks I'll be back at Disneyland Paris so in preparation, and to beef out this thread a little, I thought I'd give a small outline of the plans I have so far for the trip by day. I'm not a completely military planner (and one of the things I'm looking forward to about this trip is the ability to wing it a bit more!) so it's not going to be a minute by minute plan. If you have any comments or suggestions on anything feel free to chime in!

Day 1 - Tuesday 25th August

My indirect Eurostar leaves St Pancras at 6:50am - luckily I live in central London already so it's a bit of an early start (4:30am ) but saves on a hotel and means I get more of the day at DLP. The reason I'm going to indirect is due to only booking this a few weeks ago - the direct train was about 3x as much as this one!

Arrive at Marne le Vallee around midday, but I then need to jump back on the RER one stop to Val D'Europe where I'll check into the Ibis Budget hotel. If you haven't been to this before it's right next door to the regular Ibis hotel which in turn is next door to the station so ultimate convenience! It's the same hotel my Girlfriend and I stayed in May, and my thoughts after that were you can't complain for the money but I wouldn't stay there again unless I was on my own (even with two of us I found it a bit claustrophobic - can't imagine it with 3!) It was however only £40 a night and for somewhere to crash it'll be fine, I'll be sure to include some pictures in the trip report and video on the Vlog. Back on topic though (sorry I go on tangents a lot... ) hopefully the room will be ready and I can dump my crap!

With camera and other assorted electronics in hand I'll be heading back to DLP (who needs a nap? !) and going through the process of getting my Fantasy AP . To some of you this won't be a big deal but I've ALWAYS wanted to be an annual pass holder at a Disney park and now it's actually happening. I went for the fantasy over the dream because I don't think the blackout dates will affect me and wasn't fussed with the extra perks - but if anyone thinks the Dream pass is worth the extra please let me know!

I'm thinking by the time I've been through all that process (imagine it'll be around 2pm as I'll be taking a leisurely walk up Main Street) I'm going to be HUNGRY! so will probably try and check out the refurbed Cafe Hyperion if the Jedi training academy is on around that time and watch the show.

After that I'm thinking of concentrating on lands that won't be open during EMH the next day, which means riding Phantom Manor, Big Thunder Mountain (I'll be riding this a lot when I'm there as I won't be back again before the refurb starts) and Pirates. It doesn't sound like much but to be honest I'm going to be trying to take a lot of pictures and video for youtube and trip reports so it'll probably take a good few hours once I wander round and get all the pictures I want.

After I've done those it'll probably be a wander back through the park, and shops, before I retreat to the village (or Cafe Fantasia if I'm feeling flush..) for a few drinks and a light meal before I get an early night. I'm not planning on doing Dreams the first night because I want to get up for EMH on the second morning. I'll go into plans for the other days in more detail over the next few days but in terms of EMH dreams I'm thinking of

Tuesday night - No dreams
Wednesday morning - EMH
Wednesday night - Dreams (long ass day!)
Thursday morning - no EMH
Thursday evening - Dreams
Friday - EMH (make the most of my last day!)

That's all I've been thinking about for day 1. I have been to the parks loads of times so am fairly confident on what I want to do but if anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them, especially as I'm going alone!