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Old 17 Aug 20, 04:01 PM  
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Goldia
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At Last I See The Light - DLP August 2020 Pre trip and Pre travel day

Pre trip and Pre travel day – Sunday 9th August 2020

Like many of you we should have been going to Orlando this year and, well, we all know what the cancellation process feels like . It sucks So, what do you do when you are pining for a bit of WDW and you can’t get there?

Well I tell you what you shouldn’t do…

Watch vlogs of DLP re-opening and think ooh that looks good

Read threads on here about other people’s plans for a quick French getaway

At least don’t watch vlogs or read the threads unless you’re prepared to part with your money and embark on a pilgrimage .

So, that’s how this trip was borne, out of not really having any other options and, well, I reeeaaalllly wanted a bit of magic

Not wanting to give away too many spoilers, but that’s exactly what we got. Magic! Hence the title of the trip report. If you can spare 3 minutes to listen to the song from Tangled now then please do so as it's how I now feel about DLP because now I see the light and it's like the fog has lifted. DLP has a charm and a spirit and a magic all of it's own.

There was something in the hot, steamy air that felt like magic

Perhaps it was the Disney music that welcomes you into the parks

Perhaps it was the fact that this was all we could get and we were going to make the most of it

Perhaps knowing what you’re missing out on makes having a small piece of magic worth it’s weight in pixie dust

Clearly, you will have guessed by now that if you want an objective, candid, impartial account of what DLP has to offer then this is not the trip report for you . If you want shameless, barefaced, unabashed DLP praise then you’re in the right place, because this was the trip that I fell in love with DLP

Was it my first DLP outing?

Well, no. I’ve been twice before.

Once in 2000 which was an extended family trip with four generations for my grandmothers 80th birthday. We had a fun day at Euro Disney, but I didn’t come away all doe eyed.

This is a photo of me and my grandma on the trip. I don't have any photos of us from the Euro Disney part of the trip, this is the day after when we went to Monet's garden.



My second sojourn to DLP was in 2019 with my daughter Kate, our first mother-daughter trip just the two of us. It was February half term, I spent too long making comparisons between DLP and WDW and unfortunately DLP did not live up to the competition.



This time I knew not to compare and just to accept what DLP could offer. And, it blew me away. More than I thought it would and, oh my, I’m going to enjoy telling you all about it. I'm feeling like I may be underselling how much I loved it

Let’s get down to business.

Last summer was a magical Orlando holiday for us and my parents.



And as I haven’t actually introduced us at all yet and that’s what good trip report writers usually do first I better get on to that.

We are a family of four, I’m Abby, my DH is Dave. We have two children Max and Kate who we took on their once in a lifetime holiday to WDW in 2014 when they were 9 and 7. Little did we know at the time that the most magical place on earth kinda sucks you in We were planning on returning again this summer, but I'm starting to repeat myself and we all know that trip didn't go ahead.

I tried not to mope and tried to get on with things. On the day we were due to be driving to the airport hotel we went on holiday to … Somerset, we stayed in a caravan. Ok, so it’s not the same as Orlando, but we had a good week.

When we came home I was distracted with the idea of DLP. I kept reading about people booking DLP as a replacement for their lost trips. But, the fear of the rules changing and the Government announcing that non essential travel to France would not be permitted prevented me from actually booking anything. I checked the prices for hotels, tickets and Eurostar multiple times, I’ve lost count of how many times .

Then on Sunday 9th August I just kind of flipped and figured it was either do it now or give up on the idea and move on. Well, I think you know we didn't go for the latter option

I booked the trip, but not for next year, or next month, or even next week. I booked the trip for tomorrow eek it was a moment of madness and it turns out a moment of inspiration as we got incredibly lucky with our timing. I'm well aware that many others have not been as lucky as us and it's sad that still more trips have had to be cancelled. I'm so very grateful that our timing worked out and I'm sorry that others are now not able to enjoy their trips.

In the end it was a trip just for two of us and it became our second mother-daughter trip. Dave couldn’t come as he had to go back to work on the Monday, but he was happy for me to take the kids. Max and Kate were given a choice as I wanted to explain that it meant wearing a mask the whole time and for them to be able to say that this wasn't for them. In the end the lure of the playstation and his friends was too much for Max and he chose to stay at home. Kate was up for the trip though and very keen to come.

I booked the Hotel Santa Fe, checking in Monday 10th August for four nights, checking out Friday 14th August and we now know we couldn't have cut it any finer getting home before the 14 day isolation quarantine was introduced. The booking gave us 5 days of park tickets and no need to register or book for the parks. I booked the Eurostar from St Pancras, direct to Chessy with no need to change at Lille. The reason I went for the Friday check out was because there wasn’t a direct return train on the Thursday so we got a bonus extra day.

It was a very exciting morning booking everything, then the panic set it and I wondered what on earth I’d done . I was starting to doubt myself, thinking I was mental to be booking a trip for the two of us during a pandemic .

I phoned my mum to tell her what I’d done and she was great, she didn’t chastise me and ask what on earth I was doing, she just said that she knew we’d have a brilliant time and that she couldn’t wait until we got home so we could tell her all about it. Phew, what a relief! It’s funny that even at the age of 43 I still wanted the reassurance and approval of my mum

That afternoon Kate and me went shopping and picked up snacks and drinks for the journey and also some surprise treats for the boys who were staying at home.

Of course, we also had to do our packing. This was pretty simple though as the weather was due to be hot, hot, hot in Paris. Although we did see that storms were predicted towards the end of the trip and so we did pack our rain mac’s – this was starting to seem very familiar

We took one carry on case for the both of us, one half of it was clothes



And one half was drinks for the room, cherry coke for Kate and Gin and Tonic for me plus a few toiletries and electronics



I had already downloaded the DLP app earlier in the week when I’d started seeing other people talking about booking trips as I’d been curious about the wait times. So that was already sorted. I tried to think clearly and make a list of other things we needed or that had to be done. In the end we didn't forget anything or leave anything behind, despite the lack of planning.

One minute I was feeling 90% excited and 10% nervous, the next I was feeling 90% nervous and 10% excited. You can imagine that I didn’t sleep so well that night. But, then I never normally sleep that well the night before travel day and so that’s also a very familiar feeling .

And that’s it for the pre trip planning. No long build up of sorting out ADRs, itinerary planning and Fast Pass booking that results in plans being shifted about endlessly in a never ending rearrangement of daily plans. This was a last minute trip in the truest meaning. It didn’t suffer from not having the anticipation or excitement of the planning process.

It was just fine without all those things.

In fact, it was more than fine, it was the stuff dreams are made of. And at last I see the light

Step Count: 10,153


Next up Day 1 - Monday 10th August 2020 travel day getting the Eurostar, arriving at Disney Village, walking to the hotel and our first trip to a Disney park in 2020 And I promise there will be a whole lot more photos in the next day as we managed to take 131 photos.
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New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.

Edited at 05:25 PM.
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Old 17 Aug 20, 04:57 PM  
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Cutiepie
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Great start Abby, looking forward to the rest
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Old 17 Aug 20, 05:10 PM  
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clochette
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Wow, you haven't wasted much time getting this report started have you? I'm looking forward to reading. I am another who has looked at the prices and train times a hundred times but I wasn't brave enough to take the plunge and now it's too late😢. I shall just have to live through your trip.
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Old 17 Aug 20, 05:23 PM  
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Goldia
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Originally Posted by Cutiepie View Post
Great start Abby, looking forward to the rest
Hey lovely I'm looking forward to sharing it all too.

Originally Posted by clochette View Post
Wow, you haven't wasted much time getting this report started have you? I'm looking forward to reading. I am another who has looked at the prices and train times a hundred times but I wasn't brave enough to take the plunge and now it's too late😢. I shall just have to live through your trip.
The best thing about coming home from a trip is writing the trip report I'm sorry that you didn't get a chance to go this summer. I dithered about booking for quite a while and the vast majority of times I looked up prices I wasn't brave enough either. I'm so glad I did it in the end though. I hope you enjoy reading the trip report and that you get to have a trip soon.
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Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
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Old 17 Aug 20, 05:36 PM  
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OB1LukeLucas
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So excited...love a bit of spontaneity, I always find these adventures turn out to be the best!
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Old 17 Aug 20, 07:38 PM  
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Goldia
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Originally Posted by OB1LukeLucas View Post
So excited...love a bit of spontaneity, I always find these adventures turn out to be the best!
I was expecting (hoping) to have a good time. I was also at this point keeping everything crossed that we didn't have to cancel before we'd even begun. In the end I was surprised by how much I loved Disneyland park. It was a great trip.
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Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
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Old 17 Aug 20, 08:01 PM  
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Great start to the report - still cant believe how quickly you booked, packed and were off!

Diane
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Old 17 Aug 20, 08:52 PM  
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Wow what a great start.. can’t wait to read the rest 😊
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Old 17 Aug 20, 08:52 PM  
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I'm so glad you got your Disney magic this year! It already sounds amazing. As you know we were meant to be there at the same time but we would have been coming home a day later... Glad I cancelled because of the quarantine but reading this I am already wandering when I can sneak in a few days! Thanks so so much for sharing the magic with us all
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Old 17 Aug 20, 08:53 PM  
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Yay a disney trippie

I’ve never ever read a DLP trippie, well because Orlando is our go, probably the same as many on here. We too should have been in Florida this summer ( for a month ) and yes, like many feel pretty disappointed 😞 but I keep thinking maybe, just maybe me and my son ( hubby not really into Disney) could possibly attempt DLP. We ended up in Greece ha ha

So,I’m intrigued to read, what already sounds like an amazing trip and possibly will encourage me to look more favourably on Paris for a quick ( much much needed ) Disney fix
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