Notices
Disneyland Paris Trip Reports Trip Reports

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 30 Jan 22, 03:22 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
Gill H
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Jan 08
Location: South Wales

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 86
Guidebook Reviews: 24
The Tri-City Tour November 2021: London

I'm going to run the two days together, and apologies in advance for the lack of photos!

London Day 1: Saturday 13 Nov

I woke at 7am in our room, and then got ready and pottered about until Peter was awake at about 8am. We weren’t in a rush this morning so we had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel, and then Peter popped across the road for some mouthwash and toothpaste as we’d left our previous ones in Preston. When he got back, we asked at reception whether it would be OK for us to leave one of our suitcases locked in their luggage room until we got back from DLP (as we were staying at the same hotel on Thursday night also). They were happy to allow this, which was good news.

We then phoned a local firm and booked our taxi for 4am on Monday morning. This was part of the reason we’d chosen to stay in Ealing – it was an easy 20 minute taxi journey to Heathrow, but also close to our old stamping ground of Acton, so we could meet up with friends easily, and also get into town for theatre trips.

We uploaded all the necessary details onto the VeriFLY app in preparation for Monday’s flight, and then went downstairs to meet our friend Kris, who was picking us up in her car. She took us back to her house so we could spend some time with the family. We’re godparents to two of her children, and regard ourselves as honorary godparents to the others, so we have tried to keep in touch even though we’re so far away now. There was great excitement as her youngest had been a tiny baby when we saw them last, whereas now she was a lively toddler. They’d also got two new cats, who were fun to meet. It was lovely just chatting and catching up on each other’s news.

Kris then dropped us back at the hotel where we had a brief snooze. We had no plans until the evening, and after our big breakfast we didn’t need any lunch. Eventually we decided to jump on a bus and go to Westfield shopping centre for a few hours. It was great to see it all ready for Christmas and we enjoyed a mooch around the shops. We popped into Next, which is not somewhere we usually go, but we were interested to see their new Bath and Body Works range. We knew this was one of the few branches in the UK to stock it. Well, they didn’t exactly do a great job of publicizing it – everything was squeezed into one small corner upstairs.



Not really knowing what to buy, we came away with a Winter Candy Apple body wash and two foaming hand soaps – Vanilla Bean Noel and Twisted Peppermint. This cost us £30 in total.



We were feeling rather hungry by now so we decided to eat in one of our favourite places in Westfield – Ichiba Japanese food hall. It’s a mixture of a café and a shop – you can buy Japanese ingredients, books and homeware, but you can also buy and eat all kinds of delicious food. We both chose the ‘Dracula tonkotsu ramen’ so called because of the caramelised black garlic mayo included. It’s really tasty and always a good deal.



Peter had a ‘cider flavoured’ soft drink with it, and I had an aloe vera drink.



Afterwards we wanted to buy a filled bun for dessert so went round to their bakery counter, but it didn’t seem to be open at the moment. So instead we walked through the ‘winter garden’ set up outside, and made our way to White City station.

It’s a walk we took many times, even before Westfield existed, as Peter used to live in a shared house near there when we first met. But it still felt strange to me, to be walking past the old BBC TV Centre. It was such a feature of our lives as children – even though we’d never been to London, the address ‘BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London W12 8QT’ was burned into the brains of most people our age!



Much of it is now luxury accommodation, which is a little sad for a building with so much history, but some of it is still used as TV studios.
__________________
DLP: day trips 2000, 2003; Cheyenne Sep 2009, Feb 2011, Nov 2018; Sequoia Lodge June 2008, May 2012; Elysee May 2012, Jan 2013, Sep 2013; Disneyland Hotel Mar 2015, Santa Fe Nov 2016; Newport Bay Sep 2017, Ibis Sep 2019, Hotel NY Art of Marvel Nov 2021
WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14

Edited at 03:26 PM.
Gill H is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 30 Jan 22, 03:25 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
Gill H
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Jan 08
Location: South Wales

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 86
Guidebook Reviews: 24
From White City we got the Central Line to Tottenham Court Road, which was the nearest station to the Dominion Theatre where we were going tonight to see Prince of Egypt.

However, we still had plenty of time to kill, so we decided to walk down to the Theatre Café in St Martin’s Lane for a cuppa. This was another of our favourite places to hang out. Their original location in Shaftesbury Avenue had been so small it was rarely possible to get in, but their current home opposite the Coliseum has quickly become a haven for musical theatre fans. The jukebox features everyone’s favourites as well as some seriously obscure stuff, and anyone can choose a song. They often have special events featuring current musicals and performers too.



We settled in with a coffee, and joined in with everyone singing along to ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ from Hairspray. Then someone put on ‘My Shot’ from Hamilton, and again people were singing along, even the staff. I really wish there was somewhere like this near where I’m living now. These are my people!

Even going to the loo is exciting here.



Perhaps we should have gone to see one of these shows...



As we sat enjoying the coffee and the music, someone came up to us and said hello. I was frantically trying to place where I knew her from – maybe Acton, maybe work? But then she reminded me, she had been on the same UK staycation cruise on the Disney Magic in August! We had spoken before we got on the ship, and several times during the cruise. One of her group’s photos had ended up in our photo package by mistake, and I’d managed to send it to them afterwards. It was amazing to bump into each other – particularly as she didn’t live in London, and was there to see a show too.

After our surprise encounter we headed back up to the Dominion Theatre. It was a good 20 minute walk, and one we had often done previously without thinking twice about it, but my knees were beginning to complain by the time we reached the theatre! As yesterday, there was a big queue outside because of the need to show covid passes as well as tickets, but it wasn’t long before we were through and heading to our seats.

We’ve sat in many places in the Dominion (and even stood at the back for £10 to watch We Will Rock You) but these seats were probably the most uncomfortable ones I’d encountered there. Or perhaps it was because my knees were so sore by now. It really didn’t help matters. But nevertheless we settled down to see the show.

Prince of Egypt is based on the Dreamworks film – yes, the one with ‘When You Believe’ in it. It tells the story of Moses, and also of the Pharaoh and his family. Now, you would think there was a lot of scope for excitement in that, right? A young man discovering his heritage and his destiny, bringing freedom for his people; the burning bush, the plagues, crossing the Red Sea … wow, this should be good.

So how on earth did they manage to make it so deadly dull? I haven’t a clue but somehow they did. It took far too long to get to the heart of the story, and there were many plodding, anonymous ballads. I knew they weren’t going to use ‘Playing With The Big Boys’ from the film, which was a shame. They did use several other of the film’s songs, including the lively ‘Through Heaven’s Eyes’ as well as ‘When You Believe’ which we had to wait almost to the end for. However, the new songs really didn’t make an impression and the story was dragged out to an interminable length. There were some great performers on that stage, but the show itself really wasn’t worthy of them.
Still, a night in the theatre is never a wasted night as far as we are concerned, even a bad show is better than no show!

We went down the subway to Tottenham Court Road station and were soon speeding back to Ealing Broadway. And it wasn’t long before we were tucked up in bed in the hotel, recovering from another busy day.
__________________
DLP: day trips 2000, 2003; Cheyenne Sep 2009, Feb 2011, Nov 2018; Sequoia Lodge June 2008, May 2012; Elysee May 2012, Jan 2013, Sep 2013; Disneyland Hotel Mar 2015, Santa Fe Nov 2016; Newport Bay Sep 2017, Ibis Sep 2019, Hotel NY Art of Marvel Nov 2021
WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14
Gill H is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 30 Jan 22, 03:29 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
Gill H
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Jan 08
Location: South Wales

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 86
Guidebook Reviews: 24
London Day 2: Sunday 14 Nov

This morning we didn’t have breakfast at the hotel, and instead just made a coffee in our room while we checked in online for tomorrow’s flight and chose our seats.



We then had a job to do – laundry! We put all our dirty clothes into a suitcase and jumped on the bus to go into Acton. It felt so strange walking down our old street and seeing our front door.





The launderette wasn’t open yet, so our first stop was Fragola, a café we used to go to when we lived in Acton. The owner was outside as we walked up, and he recognised us straight away, even though we had been gone two years.



We were soon settled in with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee. We had often gone in there with our previous cat Spikey, who we used to take out on a lead as she was a placid old lady. The owners used to let us sit at the front table so Spikey could look out of the window. On one occasion we had gone in and someone else had been sitting at that table. We weren’t bothered, but the owners immediately asked him to move so Spikey could have her regular place! They were such kind people and it was lovely to see them again.

I then popped up to the nearest cashpoint, since the one we’d expected to use had now closed. I got some cash out and nipped into Sainsburys for some drinks to get change for the washing machines. While I was gone, a friend of ours came into Fragola to say hello to Peter, but unfortunately he had to rush off before I got back.

By now the launderette was open so we spent a couple of hours washing and drying all our clothes. While we were waiting for them to dry, we met another friend, Pam, in the nearby Costa for a coffee.

Pam had taught ballroom dancing at a local class we used to attend, and in fact Peter had often helped out with the teaching. (He’s a former competition dancer and really knows his ballroom and latin – Strictly is a must-see event in our house!) It was good to catch up on all the news, and although the class wasn’t currently running, Pam was still in touch with many of the members and filled us in on how they all were.
__________________
DLP: day trips 2000, 2003; Cheyenne Sep 2009, Feb 2011, Nov 2018; Sequoia Lodge June 2008, May 2012; Elysee May 2012, Jan 2013, Sep 2013; Disneyland Hotel Mar 2015, Santa Fe Nov 2016; Newport Bay Sep 2017, Ibis Sep 2019, Hotel NY Art of Marvel Nov 2021
WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14
Gill H is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 30 Jan 22, 03:29 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
Gill H
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Jan 08
Location: South Wales

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 86
Guidebook Reviews: 24
Then it was back on the bus to the hotel where we dropped the case off in our room, and immediately went out to meet our friend Jackie for lunch. This was at Bill’s (chain restaurant), which was a favourite with Jackie as she is coeliac and their gluten free options tended to be very good. In fact they had a separate menu for her and we were impressed with how well they did.

After a leisurely lunch with good food (no photos, sorry!) and lots of chat, we said goodbye and went back to the room to pack our cases. One case had everything we would need for DLP. We put everything else into the other case and took it downstairs to reception, where it was locked away in the luggage room until our return.

Back we went on the 207 bus again to Acton, to go to our former church for their service at 4.30 pm. I say ‘former’ but to be honest, we have been joining them on YouTube for services for the last two years, so in some ways it felt like we had never left. It was so good to catch up with people, even though we had to wear masks and couldn’t hug anyone! We had to leave as soon as the service was over, to get to the tube station, because – you guessed it – we were off to the theatre again.

Tonight’s show was Magic Goes Wrong, at the Apollo Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue (which is different from the Apollo Victoria where Wicked is, and different again from the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith – fortunately we knew which one we were going to!)

I had booked a special offer for this show and to be honest, it wasn’t until the payment was going through that I realised I’d booked the Sunday night. No wonder it was cheaper! We hadn’t originally intended going to see something on the Sunday night, but hey, it would be a while before we were in London again, so why not?

We had great seats for this one with pretty decent leg room for an older theatre. And the show itself was definitely the best of the three we saw on this trip. If you’ve seen any of the ‘Goes Wrong’ shows on stage or TV you will know the set up – a group try to put on a show, and everything falls apart (often literally). In this case the story is that you are at a charity concert to benefit the victims of magic-related accidents. And of course, the number of accidents that happen during the course of the evening just makes things worse. Penn and Teller had overseen the magic tricks so the quality was high. This was an extremely funny show and the genuine magic tricks were really impressive. Best fun we’d had in ages. It is touring this spring, so do look out for it if you enjoy magic and having a laugh.

Once the show was over, we jumped on the Piccadilly Line to Acton Town and then changed to the District Line to finish our journey to Ealing Broadway, and were soon tucked up in bed to catch a few hours’ sleep before our 3am alarm.

See you tomorrow for our next travel day, and the start of our DLP visit!

>>Travel Day 3 - London to DLP

INDEX
__________________
DLP: day trips 2000, 2003; Cheyenne Sep 2009, Feb 2011, Nov 2018; Sequoia Lodge June 2008, May 2012; Elysee May 2012, Jan 2013, Sep 2013; Disneyland Hotel Mar 2015, Santa Fe Nov 2016; Newport Bay Sep 2017, Ibis Sep 2019, Hotel NY Art of Marvel Nov 2021
WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14

Edited at 12:16 PM.
Gill H is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 30 Jan 22, 08:58 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
P&S
Imagineer
 
P&S's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 06
What a few busy fun filled days/nights you had It must of been so strange to walk past where you lived though! So good to meet up in person with friends
__________________
P&S is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:26 PM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2348
CaxtonFX  $1.2314
Covent Garden FX  $1.2518
FAIRFX  $1.2365
John Lewis  $1.2398
M&S  $1.2191
Sainsburys  $1.2343
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2361
Updated: 13:00 29/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1441
CaxtonFX  €1.1405
Covent Garden FX  €1.1513
FAIRFX  €1.1468
John Lewis  €1.1477
M&S  €1.1289
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1469
Updated: 13:00 29/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X