London & DLP November 2014

[JRB]

Cast members –
Me – just turned 50 and as crazy about Disney as ever
DH – 52 year old Disney-convert with dreams of becoming a CM in Orlando when he retires!
DD – 19 year old princess who loves the big rides
DS – soon to be 18 year old “don’t-let-me-be-seen-with-my-parents”

As we live in the Middle East getting to WDW is long and extremely expensive. The last time we went was eight years ago when the kids were 9, 11 and 15. An amazing three week adventure which the kids (the oldest is now married and a father) still talk about a lot.

I’ve been desperate to go back and DD and I have been trying to find a way of convincing DH that it needs to happen. However after doing the figure work it really is a dream so then I got thinking about DLP.

We visited DLP about 10 years ago, having not been to WDW since 1988, and I was really disappointed. It just wasn’t WDW and I found myself comparing everything. I hated the smoke – something you just don’t find in WDW. But I’ve convinced myself that this time will be different and if it’s the only way I can get some of the magic again this will have to be it.

So this year, having not had a family holiday for about five years, we decided that this was our last opportunity before the younger two headed in different directions. It started with a plan to take them to London and then I started working on a way to include DLP in the plans.

DH and I lived in London for seven years but the kids have never been and always wanted to go. We thought that we should put in a couple of family visits to my family in Glasgow and DH’s in Manchester but decided that we’d end up not having a holiday at all so binned that idea. Then DD said that she wanted her boyfriend to come and we started working him into the plan but for various reasons that also fell by the wayside and so we’re back to the four of us and the dates have been finalized and the flights booked –

5th November fly to London for 4 nights
9th November fly to Paris for 4 nights

We now have 170 days until we leave which seemed like a good time to start writing everything down. The spreadsheet is open and I have figures and plans dancing around in my head – ### , we’re only going to be there for three full days (and one of these has to be spent in Paris) so how difficult or much can there be to plan but I’m a plan freak and I need to have a project so humour me everyone and let me get to work!

[Guest]

Nothing wrong with having a plan! I also love spreadsheets.
DLP is definitely different to WDW, but I think DLP has more charm. There are also some big differences in people, from staff through to guests. But for me, I love it!

[JRB]

So it's now 132 days until our trip and I guess I should update the plan.

DD's boyfriend isn't coming which is a shame but in the last two weeks they got engaged so now we have a wedding to plan too. I could do with actually saving the money that this trip is costing us for the wedding but it's already booked so we'll make a few tweaks and reduce some of the expenditure.

So we're now cutting back on the hotel. I still haven't made a final decision but as food is a big issue for us I've decided that we should go self-catering. It's a toss up between the Prestige Suites and the Adagio and I think I'm heading towards the Adagio as it's nearer to Val d'Europe and the supermarket which we're definitely going to need and we won't have a car to carry the stuff back in.

After spending hours trawling the internet I've booked a large suite which sleeps 6 for the 4 of us - it was so cheap that I thought I should give ourselves a bit more space and the kids a bit more space to themselves rather than being cramped into one room.

The price of the hotel together with Fantasy annual passes comes to a lot less than the one room at any of the Disney hotels would have cost us and we would have been on top of each other. I think one room is fine when you have young children but when you have an 18 and 19 year old everyone does need to have a bit of space.

[JRB]

I've also booked Ezyshuttle to take us from the airport to the hotel and back again and I've booked into the Gatwick Lounge for when we arrive at Gatwick at 7.40am on our way home - we'll have been up so early and I know the kids are going to be grumpy - at least if I can give them some quiet space and some food hopefully they'll not complain too much!

We've also narrowed down our options of what to do in London and it looks like we'll be going on the hop-on-hop-off bus together with a trip to the London Dungeon on the Thursday and then the Friday is going to be spent shopping, possibly for a wedding dress for DD while the men go off to something sporty.

So that's about it for the moment. I've bought a few things for the kids to get them in the Disney mood on the plane but I need to get some more stuff but it might also wait until we get to London where I can get some tops in Primark or somewhere like that.

[JRB]

So now with 85 days to go we've changed our bookings again! Thank goodness I did everything on booking.com so I can cancel all the previous bookings with no charge.

Having sat one evening with DH a few weeks ago discussing the various parts of the trip he suddenly said that we should live a little and treat ourselves. In London we're going to be staying with friends and probably all a bit squashed up but at least we don't have accommodation charges. So he decided that we should have a look at the Disney hotels.

I then started looking at Davy Crockett and we decided to go for that option and hire a car from CDG.

So tonight I've just booked and paid for three nights (9-12 November) in a premium cabin at DCR with four day passes. Our flight home leaves very early on the morning of the 13th so we decided to check out of DCR on the 12th and book into one of the nice airport hotels. I've got a couple on reservation at the moment and will make a final decision about that within the next few weeks.

I've also booked and paid for a hire car from CDG which means that we'll be able to get to and from the supermarket at Val d'Europe as we won't be eating in restaurants - this is where we'll save our money.

The plan to spend one afternoon in Paris might need to change as I'd planned this for the Tuesday but I've now realised that it's Armistace Day and I'm not sure whether we're better being in Paris or the parks on that day. If I change it we can only change it to the Monday. The plan is to use EMH to start early on that day and then be on a train to Paris by 11.00/11.30 and spend the rest of the day in Paris. This is the only day we'll treat ourselves in restaurants and I've found a couple I like the look of.

And that's about it for the moment as the rest of my time has been spent wedding planning - looking at dresses with DD and weighing up whether to buy or have it made. Tomorrow night we're going out with the "other" family for dinner and will discuss budget issues - that should be fun!

At the start of all my planning I decided that I really must do something about losing weight and getting fit for this holiday so I started #100daysofexercise. I'm now on day 71 and although my legs are killing me I'm feeling much fitter and I've lost 20lb. With 85 days to go until our trip it would be lovely to lose another 20lb but not sure that will happen.

[JRB]

It's now only 34 days until we leave for our trip and I can't believe how fast time has flown.

I've completed my 100 days of exercise, lost and gained some weight, spent an inordinate amount of time on the internet for what amounts to an eight day holiday but I'm super excited.

I actually don't understand how people go on trips without planning and when I hear some complain that they should have done x or should have gone to y etc I know that the way the majority of us Dibbers plan is the right way. When we went to WDW all these years ago it was the year after my business partner and his family went and when we told them things we did they said "we never knew about that" about so many things. To me if you're going to be spending such huge amounts of money (or even sometimes lesser amounts of money) it should be planned to get the maximum value - not many of us have money that comes that easily and if you work hard for it you want to know that you're going to be spending it wisely. Enough of that (steps off soapbox!).

So, having spent months and months on the internet (and now pounds and pounds too) our final (almost) plan looks like this -

November 5th -
Easyjet flight from Tel Aviv to Luton and overnight with friends - booked and paid

November 6th -
Early morning tube from north-west London to Charing Cross to start our Hop-on-Hop-off bus trip of London - Oyster cards ordered and paid; Tour bus booked and paid
London Dungeon at about 11am - tickets booked and paid
London Eye at about 2.30pm - tickets booked and paid
Continuation of bus tour
Ripley's Believe it or not at about 5.30pm - tickets booked and paid
Dinner in north-west London with my niece

November 7th -
Up with the lark again and off to Watford Mall for a day of shopping - DD intends spending many an hour and presumably a lot of money in there and many other places.
The menfolk are going back to Central London and are still debating over what to do. The plan had been to do a tour of Wembley Stadium but it's not open to the public on that day so now it's possibly a trip over the Thames on the Emirates Cable Car followed either by Up at the O2 (possibly not available on that day either! ) or a speedboat experience on the Thames
Dinner that evening with the friends we're staying with and all of the kids (not actually kids as the youngest is 18!)

November 8th -
Our only chill day of the trip with lots of friends who we haven't seen for a long time coming over for lunch
In the evening the kids are getting together with cousins and some of their friends and DH and I will take our friends out for dinner to thank them for their hospitality

November 9th -
Up early again to get our 10.15 Easyjet flight to CDG
Picking up a hire car at CDG and then off to Davy Crockett via the big Carrefour supermarket on the way
The parks are open until quite late that day so once we've checked in we'll head over there and hopefully get a few rides in before heading back to the ranch for supper and hopefully a fairly early bed

November 10th -
EMH at Disney Studios and then the plan is to head up to Central Paris on the train.
Not planned any particular sightseeing trips yet but I'll probably have a look at this during the coming month
Lunch and dinner in Paris and then back to the ranch

November 11th -
EMH at Disney Studios which we will probably try and take advantage of as it's a public holiday in France and I'm guessing the parks might get busy later on
We'll probably head back to Davy Crockett for lunch and some pool time in the afternoon
Depending on how we feel we might head over to Val d'Europe and have a look round the shops there or go to Disney Village

November 12th -
Last day at the Parks so we'll try and make EMH at the Studios and then go back and check out or we'll check out early and head straight to the Park spending most of the day redoing things and having a last wander around and doing any shopping.
We'll probably head off at around 5pm and head over to our hotel for the night at the airport Golden Tulip Paris at CDG
DH and I will take the car back and then get the hotel shuttle back to the hotel for final snacks and a reasonably early night before our early start tomorrow

November 13th -
Got to be up and on the early shuttle to the airport for our 7.30am flight to Gatwick
Booked into the Gatwick lounge for 3 hours before getting our connecting flight at 12.50 to Tel Aviv

As we've still got temperatures over here of 30-33 degrees it's going to be a bit cold for us so the next few weeks are going to be checking what things I still need to buy for everyone to make sure we're warm and dry enough. I'd love it if the weather was cold but dry but we need to be prepared for wet and dampness which hopefully won't put too much of a dampner on things.

[Gill H]

Sounds great!

Can I ask if there is any particular reason you're going to Watford? Intu (as it's now called, used to be Harlequin) is OK ... but you're much closer to Westfield (either the Shepherd's Bush or Stratford ones) which are huge and contain everything a DD could desire!

The Stratford one also has a branch of All Star Lanes (US food and bowling) which could be fun.

[JRB]

Originally Posted by Gill H

Sounds great!

Can I ask if there is any particular reason you're going to Watford? Intu (as it's now called, used to be Harlequin) is OK ... but you're much closer to Westfield (either the Shepherd's Bush or Stratford ones) which are huge and contain everything a DD could desire!

The Stratford one also has a branch of All Star Lanes (US food and bowling) which could be fun.

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We're staying with friends in Borehamwood and it's easier for them to take us there. Actually the only thing DD really wants is Primark which I know is there so she's more than happy!

[fd1972uk]

Cool. Bit confused I thought you had done a pre-trippy? I just remember you mentioning about visiting Glasgow (great city, hehe) before.

Maybe it was in a post you made.


FD

[JRB]

Originally Posted by fd1972uk

Cool. Bit confused I thought you had done a pre-trippy? I just remember you mentioning about visiting Glasgow (great city, hehe) before.

Maybe it was in a post you made.


FD

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This is a continuation of my pre-trippy - it's been a long one! Yes I did mention Glasgow - giving it a miss this trip though as it ends up being a serious of family visits and not a holiday in any way, shape or form!

I'll be in Glasgow probably in July next year - might even sneak in another DLP visit at that time