Natsynoo's Post-Christmas Blues Recovery Trip, January 2014

NatsyNoo · 12 Nov 13, 09:35 PM

Well this was not a pretrippie I expected to be writing! But what can you do when you find a cracking deal? You can’t exactly say no, can you?!

We are Natalie and Matt…I’m 27 and Matt is 35, and this will be our Disney trip number 7, I think.

Our story…I holidayed in Disneyland Paris and Disney World throughout my childhood and became hooked. Then I got my own job, and when I could choose how to spend my money, Disney was my top choice. Matt came along in the meantime, and he didn’t have any choice but to follow along really, and though he sometimes pretends that he doesn’t like it, he does really!
In fact, I’ll let you into a secret! He found this deal and suggested it! But we’ll come to that in a minute!

Our first Disney trip together was in 2007. It was his first, and my first without my parents (my sister tagged along!), and we went to WDW, staying at All Star Music for 14 nights with free DDP (full!) for £914 each! Bargain! We loved it and Matt, sceptical at first, had a ball!
In 2008, he turned 30, and as his gift, I paid for us both to go to DLP for 4 nights, staying at the Santa Fe with the meal plan
The next trip was in 2009, and an important one for us, as Matt proposed in front of Cinderella Castle in WDW. We spent 2 weeks staying at POFQ and had an absolute blast.

We got back and started planning our wedding, which took place in September 2012, where else but WDW.

We squeezed in a cheeky DLP visit in November 2010 so Matt could experience a Disney Christmas, and we had a great time again, this time staying at the Cheyenne, which we adored.

Most recently, we returned from Disneyland in California (we went to San Francisco, Hollywood and Las Vegas too!) and had a fab time!

51502210067 by nataliepope183, on Flickr

51502210011 by nataliepope183, on Flickr

51502210017 - Copy by nataliepope183, on Flickr

So back to this trip, we were sitting here one evening, all planned out for the California trip, and Matt spotted on Hot Deals that people were getting some cracking deals on DLP. He mentioned it to me, and we popped onto the Disneyland Paris website and found 4 nights/5 days at the Cheyenne in January for £380 ish. We have looked at DLP a few times since our November 2010 trip and nothing had really come close to that price wise, so we thought this was a brilliant price. Then, I was on the Dibb looking a potential Eurostar prices and release dates, and spotted that the Disney Holidays website was coming up even cheaper for some people, and as luck would have it, it brought our price down too…to £336!

Given that we had California to look forward to, plus the westbound transatlantic Disney Cruise Line trip booked for next summer, we couldn’t really ‘justify’ another holiday, when we have a bit of credit card debt to pay off and really we need to buy a new car, so we decided that instead of buying each other expensive Christmas presents, we would simply put our money together and pay for our little trip to Paris instead! (Don’t worry, we are still having stockings!)

So that’s what we did! I paid £50 deposit, balance not due til we were back from California in November, and we were going to DLP! As luck would have it, the Eurostar was going on sale the following Thursday, so at 9am, I phoned Eurostar, as I get a discount through work for my own ticket, so Matt’s ticket was £69 return, and mine was £41.40 return!

We opted for January, as it would be close to Christmas, give us something to look forward to in the new year and to break up the time between our two big holidays, and also, last year I had the most awful winter blues (worsened by post wedding blues I think) and so we thought it would help with that!

After that, the trip didn't get much more consideration until we returned from California, when firstly, the balance needed paying (done!) and a plan was required!

More to follow!

NatsyNoo · 12 Nov 13, 09:51 PM

So, the plans…

Originally we were going to go to Watford on Sunday 12th January to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour, then stay at my cousin’s in Kent, before driving down to Ashford the following morning for our train to DLP. However, we have since changed our minds, and the plan is as follows:

Friday 10th January pm/Saturday 11th January am – drive to my cousin’s in Kent and spend Saturday with her family. It’ll be her birthday the week before so we will probably go out for dinner to celebrate that!

Sunday 12th January – Matt and I will go into London. We thought we might go to the Imperial War Museum but the First and Second War exhibits are all closed til the summer so we don’t really fancy that now. We don’t have firm plans as such, but we think we will go to Chockywockydoodah in Carnaby Street, Bodeans in Tower Hill for lunch, and maybe over to Westfield in Stratford, but this is still to be sorted! I bet we don’t do any of it! Lol

Monday 13th January – we’ll bid farewell to the family fairly early, and head on down to Ashford for the Eurostar. The train departs at 11am and arrives in DLP at 2pm local time. We’re going to head straight to Earl of Sandwich for some lunch, before wandering up to the Cheyenne to check in. Then we’ll have a wander around Disneyland Park and do what we can, before watching Dreams at 7pm. We’ll probably just go to McDonalds for breakfast, before walking over to the Sequoia Lodge for a look around and maybe a drink in front of the fire!

Tuesday 14th January – today is the turn of Walt Disney Studios, which opens at 10am so we’ll head there for 9.30am, tackle Crush’s Coaster and Toy Story Playland first, and then hit the rest as we can! We don’t really like the counter service food in DLP so we’ll wander out for another Earl of Sandwich for lunch, before returning to the park for the afternoon. We might go to DL Park to watch Dreams again if we like it a lot! Dinner will be at Planet Hollywood, and tonight we’re visiting the Disneyland Hotel, and if we’ve room, some Mickey Waffles for pudding!

Wednesday 15th January – today we’re visiting Paris. I still need to firm up what we’re going to see and in what order, but the Eiffel Tower is a definite (and climbing it this time!) and we want to have something from a real French patisserie! Before we leave, we’re going to have breakfast at Inventions in the Disneyland Hotel for a touch of Disney before we head into the City. This evening, when we return to the DLP bubble, we’ll grab some dinner if we want it (Earl? Lol. We do love our Earls!) and we’re going to visit the Newport Bay

Thursday 16th January – Our penultimate day, and our full day in Disneyland Park, which opens at 10am. For lunch, we’re going to have a Croque Monsieur (well I will, Matt might have something else), and we want to go to the Descent of the Stairs at 4pm. We want to visit the Hotel New York, and we’re aiming for dinner at Chuck Wagon at the Cheyenne, but not sure what order we’ll do them in

Friday 17th January – and home day! We’ll probably head into the Studios first and do what needs to be done, and then finish up what we need to in Disneyland Park. Lunch will be whatever we grab, but we know we’re going to pick up an Earl for the train ride home. The train leaves just before 5pm and arrives at 6pm in Ashford, before we drive home, which shouldn’t take any more than 2 hours

And that’s it…our little Christmas treat!
I’ll have the weekend to recover but Matt will be back to work on Sunday!
You’ll notice not much dining going on, and that’s because in two visits, we are yet to be impressed and personally feel that everything is incredibly overpriced. We definitely visit DLP for the parks and not the food (I’m not sure we could say the same about WDW!) but we’re just going to take each day as it comes, as with the entire plan really!

I’ll update this pretrippie again before we go, definitely with Paris plans anyway!

**gtyrel10** · 12 Nov 13, 11:11 PM

Him

So glad to see you have started your pre trippy it sounds like a great trip and a perfect christmas present to each other!

I am already pricing up a cheeky January trip just need to convince the other half now!

Gemma xx

**margyloveswdw** · 12 Nov 13, 11:51 PM

Sounds like a great trip! Have fun.

**Gill H** · 13 Nov 13, 12:04 AM

Re the food - I beg to differ! Not the CS, sure. But the fine dining easily equals WDW.

We have had wonderful meals in California Grill (more like V&A in WDW), Walts, Blue Lagoon, Manhattan and Yacht Club. And the Inventions brunch was superb.

Pricey, sure. The euro rate is rubbish and you're in a theme park. But a couple of hours sat in a quiet, relaxing restaurant listening to a pianist and eating one of the best steaks ever (which was my experience at the Manhattan) is a great way to round off the day!

LaurenYorkshir · 15 Nov 13, 04:35 PM

Sounds great ! This will be our first trip and will be doing much the same on the planning front ... making the most of EMH and soaking up the magic. We too plan to eat at EOS quite a bit with just one 'proper' meal planned for an Inventions Sunday Brunch which I am looking forward to .
Thank you for sharing

NatsyNoo · 16 Nov 13, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by gtyrel10

Him

So glad to see you have started your pre trippy it sounds like a great trip and a perfect christmas present to each other!

I am already pricing up a cheeky January trip just need to convince the other half now!

Gemma xx

Thanks for reading! We're looking forward to it!
Good luck with convincing your OH!

Originally Posted by margyloveswdw

Sounds like a great trip! Have fun.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Gill H

Re the food - I beg to differ! Not the CS, sure. But the fine dining easily equals WDW.

We have had wonderful meals in California Grill (more like V&A in WDW), Walts, Blue Lagoon, Manhattan and Yacht Club. And the Inventions brunch was superb.

Pricey, sure. The euro rate is rubbish and you're in a theme park. But a couple of hours sat in a quiet, relaxing restaurant listening to a pianist and eating one of the best steaks ever (which was my experience at the Manhattan) is a great way to round off the day!

Thanks Gill. We've tried a few of the nicer places, and always been disappointed. The Steakhouse and I think Beaver Creak spring to mind. Some of the menus don't really appeal, and others we just can't justify, even on hols (I know it's partly due to the exchange rate)
I was very tempted to try Inventions but I just can't take the risk with that much money that it'll be anything like Beaver Creak
Last time we were disappointed by Cafe Mickey
We just can't seem to catch a break in DLP
So this time, instead of risking disappointment, we're just avoiding it largely
I tried to not make my opinion come across as a general statement, just our opinion after a couple of trips of disappointing dining experiences
I'm sure the Earl won't let us down!

Originally Posted by LaurenYorkshir

Sounds great ! This will be our first trip and will be doing much the same on the planning front ... making the most of EMH and soaking up the magic. We too plan to eat at EOS quite a bit with just one 'proper' meal planned for an Inventions Sunday Brunch which I am looking forward to .
Thank you for sharing

Sounds like an excellent plan! There's plenty of magic to be found!
Inventions Brunch sounds good but we're sadly not there on a Sunday! Breakfast is 100% on the list though!

NatsyNoo · 5 Jan 14, 04:26 PM

Just a little update from me with just a few days to go!

I've spent the morning doing some packing, with some extra bits to be added as the week goes on.

Our plans are largely unchanged, with Monday to Friday in DLP, and we'll be spending Wednesday in Paris. We've bought Eiffel Tower tickets, but that's all we've planned so far. This afternoon I'm going to plan a few more bits to do in Paris.

Next Saturday, we're heading to Kent to stay with some family. We toyed with Harry Potter or heading into London, but we've just decided to stick with our family for those two days.
Money has been a bit tighter than we would have liked as DH didn't get paid the sick pay we were expecting when he had his knee surgery, so we're keeping costs down as much as we can.

That's about it for now, but look out for the trippie when we return!