Day 850

Day 850...

A relaxed start to the day was followed by a rather sweaty 3.8 mile walk in 1 hour 16 minutes. A little slower than our normal pace but I think that may have been down to the cozy temperatures we are experiencing at the moment.

Although going by the reaction on main stream media you would think the apocalypse was happening. Yes it is rather warmer than what you would expect here in the UK, and yes we're really not set up for it as we don't have air conditioning like other countries do but the temperatures we are having are not completely unusual. We have had hot spells before, those of us of a certain age remember the summer of 1976 when we had weeks of hot weather with water shortages galore but we survived, and we will survive this blip. If we were on holiday in a foreign country we would be moaning if we didn't get these temperatures but with the scare mongering media as it is at the moment you would think we were heading into the pits of hell!!

Anyway...on with my day. After getting home rather sweaty we took a few minutes to cool down before making our first meal of the day, our brunch if you will.

We then decided to stay home for the rest of the day and keep as cool as we could. This involved several hours sat down with the telly...but for a very specific reason. Simon has been going through all our old home movies and converting them to a digital format that we can access easily. Once he has them edited and in the correct format it is then my job to watch them all to make sure there's no errors or glitches.

Well we haven't had chance to watch anything back for quite a while so this afternoon seemed like an ideal opportunity. I hadn't realised just how much we had to watch, there must have been close to three hours worth! We have vowed going forward to find the time to watch back once the video has been converted rather than let it all build up like today. The footage we were watching today was from 1999 and a big chunk of it was from our first visit to Disneyland Paris when Ethan was only 18 months old.

Having all this video footage is great as it reminds you of things that happened and experiences we have had as well as helping to keep the memories alive of people who are no longer with us. And watching the video today also highlighted just how much Ethan loved to ride It's A Small World back then, although I'm sure his opinion of it now may have changed somewhat! It will, however, always be one of my all time favourites as it encompasses so well what Walt Disney was all about; entertainment for the whole family to enjoy together, great innovation, storytelling and perhaps even a little education along the way.

With that I will see you tomorrow.

xx

 

Getting closer...

Well it's getting closer to our next visit to a Disney resort...in fact we're now in single digit countdown!

In a couple of days we shall be heading our way over to Disneyland Paris for a much needed dose of Disney.

It is almost 4 and a half years since we were at Disneyland Paris as a family and 6 years since we last visited Walt Disney World so we are very ready for Disney!

These last few years have been tough both financially and personally and this makes this trip all the more wanted.

So I am all ready? Well...err...maybe! I don't really feel like I've done any 'prep' work or research and to be honest I think I did most of that when we were deciding when to go and where to stay. It's not quite the same as visiting Walt Disney World when you have to think about booking fastpasses and dining reservations and perhaps scheduling all the different parks in to make sure you get to experience all that you want to. Paris is a much more compact resort in comparison and most of my 'research' has been done online or is something that I already know. So while there are things that are different to our last visit we shall all just be happy to experience some 'Disneyness'.

To get us in the mood myself and Molly had a little home pampering...we have matching toe nails that took inspiration from The Lion King & Jungle Festival currently happening at Disneyland Paris...

...and then we decided on a more classic, sophisticated look for our fingers!

Mine done by Molly!

Molly's done by me...although I had to ask Simon to complete the Mickey as my numerous attempts were not good!!

So what will we be doing over the next few days? Well, we will be getting there by Eurostar which will take us direct to Disneyland Paris where we will take advantage of their Disney Express service; this means that we will get our tickets and hotel information on the train and then leave our luggage at the station where it will be moved to our hotel leaving us free to go off and explore!

We will be staying at Hotel Cheyenne which will be a walk down memory lane as this was the hotel we stayed in on our first ever visit to Disneyland Paris way back in 1999. So it may be fun to try and recreate some of our photos from our first visit...although I'm not sure my eldest will be willing to join in the fun as a lot of the photos involve him being either in a pushchair or being held!!

So are there any must-do's for us on this trip? I think there are only a couple of attractions that we haven't actually rode in the past; one is the Tower of Terror which none of us have a strong desire to ride (love the themeing just not the mechanism) but the other is Crush's Coaster. Now last time we visited we tried a number of times to ride Crush's Coaster but were thwarted by either breakdowns or ridiculously long wait times so this is a definite rope drop/extra magic time objective!

Otherwise we are really looking forward to experiencing the newly refurbished Phantom Manor; Big Thunder Mountain is a big definite (this is probably my favourite version); Star Tours will just have to be done as will Hyperspace Mountain (although not by me!); the castle here is just stunning and made all the more special by a visit to its guest underneath at La Taniere du Dragon and it goes without saying (if you know me at all) that It's A Small World will be ridden...a lot!

So packing is done, euros have been bought, passports are at the ready and now it's time to have some Disney fun!

10 Days to Go...

10 Days to go until my next Disney trip!

So for the first time since February 2015 we, as a family, will be heading over to Disneyland Paris for a well deserved 5 day visit.

This trip will mark 20 years since our first visit to Disneyland Paris way back in August 1999. Back when we had just one child who was only 18 months old and whose favourite ride was It's A Small World; which he would point out to us by shouting 'windmill' because that was the nearest landmark to the ride! Don't think this will be his favourite this time around!

So here we are 20 years later heading back with two young adults and find ourselves staying in the same hotel...Hotel Cheyenne! Oh how times have changed; in fact that seems to sum up these last few months as we get used to our children leaving education and making their own way in the world.

Although we have visited numerous times since that first visit in 1999 it will be the first time staying at the Cheyenne for quite awhile as our most recent trips have seen us staying in the Sequoia Lodge. But it is merely a coincidence that our trip this time is back to the Cheyenne as it simply came down to a choice of availability and cost. Although the fact that the hotel has recently been refurbished and now has a Starbucks on site were both big pluses when making the decision. But I think it will be interesting to see just how much, or little perhaps, has changed from our first visit compared to now.

So I thought I'd have a look at the photos from our 1999 visit; this meant getting out the physical photo albums because this was pre-digital! Also these photos are so stuck, literally stuck, into the albums there was no way I could prise them out to scan them so had to take photos of the photos!

So here we go, and interestingly the dates of our visit back in 1999 and now are very similar which was a little spooky to realise!

Registration information from Hotel Cheyenne, including admission ticket and breakfast voucher!

I then remembered that while we were there back in 1999 there was an eclipse happening, which we experienced inside Disneyland Park and I kept the small information leaflet that Disney handed out along with some special 'glasses' to view the eclipse!

Information leaflet

Special viewing glasses and me wearing them!!

Here are a couple of photos of Discoveryland;

Outside Space Mountain & Les Mysteres du Nautilus

And of course there had to be photos of the parade...love the music to this parade...Dancin' a Catchy Rhythm was just the best parade music!

Wonderful World of Disney Parade

And then this was the time when the Main Street Electrical Parade had made its way over from the US which was a great surprise to us back then as this was the first night time parade we had ever seen when we'd visited Walt Disney World back in 1991. Unfortunately the photos were just too dark to include...lots of black with a few dots of light!!

I love looking back on old photos and all the memories it brings back but now I'm looking forward to creating some new memories.

69 Days and counting

Yes there is a countdown happening!

Finally four years after our last visit to a Disney park we have a trip booked. This August we will be heading our way over to Disneyland Paris for a 5 day trip.

The last few years have been tight financially which has meant any Disney trips have had to take a back seat. But we now find ourselves in a position to be able to dip our toes back into visiting the parks once more.

The last time we visited Disneyland Paris (February 2015) things were very different. Firstly our kids were still kids now we have two young adults who we are blessed still want to come on vacation with us, but who are also now able to pay for themselves - win!

Back in February 2015 we made the trip under very sad circumstances as my mum had died only a few days before we were due to go. We made the trip with the blessing of family but it was a very hard trip to make, filled with memories of visits gone by made with my parents. And then there was the weather...the freezing cold weather! The wearing of layers upon layers to keep warm, the struggle to find shelter to keep warm, navigating the parks with limited food options and areas of the parks closed for big refurbishments.

Do not be fooled by the brilliant blue sky...it was blooming freezing!!

And although I did make a small trip back in 2017 with my fellow podcaster, Disney Dream Girl Michelle, there is something about visiting Disney which to me says 'family' and I am ready for us to embrace the Disney magic as a family once more.

Disney Dream Girls take on DLP - June 2017

Our lives this year are changing; both children are now young adults and both of them are reaching the end of their respective education paths and will be entering the world of work. We also find ourselves in a position to begin planning for much missed Disney travel and adventures and with a desire to ensure that life does not pass us by and that we make the most of every moment. This was brought home earlier this year when I had a brush with cancer. Thankfully it was very early stage; I have had the necessary surgery and although I have a few weeks of further treatment ahead it will all be completed by the time we set off to Disneyland Paris. But when life throws you a curve ball like this it does make you stop, think and re-assess...and although it is a cliche it does make you take a long hard look at what you are doing, why you are doing it and how can you ensure you make the best of the time that you have.

And so began the process of booking a trip!

We decided that we wanted to get away sooner rather than later which meant that a trip over to Paris was the most obvious choice. I wanted us to be able to re-visit Paris to enjoy it at a warmer time of year, to put sad memories to rest and to be able to take the time to enjoy it all at whatever pace we liked!

We knew we would have to visit over the Summer months as my job working in education forces us to visit during the school holidays. We then had to factor in my sons university graduation ceremony, my daughter getting her A-level results, dates already booked for a concert and a theatre trip...this left us with just a few weeks in August to choose from!

We also wanted to make this trip as simple and as easy as possible for us; we need to get our travel legs back so to speak! Plus I just wanted us to be able to enjoy the trip with as few stresses as possible. So we knew we wanted to stay at a Disney hotel and to travel there by Eurostar...here's where hours at the laptop kicked in weighing up all the different options!

Now money as always will play a factor when planning any vacation but especially a Disney one. And despite looking around at various different options, selecting different dates, different days of the week and through various different companies I actually ended up booking with Disney themselves.  I would always recommend that when booking you take the time to look at all the options out there and then ask yourself what you want out of a vacation and which option best meets your needs. This time around booking direct ticked the most boxes for us and we were also able to take advantage of some discounts that Disney were offering. On this occasion our booking covers all travel, hotel and park tickets but we did briefly debate whether buying an annual pass would be a better option. But because we can't at this point in time guarantee being able to use the pass more than on just this occasion and knowing that if we could make more trips we would need the pass with the most accessible dates we decided not to bother. But this maybe something we come back to in the future if we find ourselves able to travel more freely around work commitments! Who knows?!

So we are getting there by Eurostar and using their direct service. There were other options available with changes at Lille but we decided that on this occasion we wanted the simplicity of the direct train.  It's worth noting that the direct service only runs on set days per week and that may have an impact on planning, availability and of course cost! We have also booked the Disney Express service; this means that we can drop our luggage at the Disney Express point at Marne-la-Vallee station (station at Disneyland Paris) and our luggage will be taken to our hotel so that we can go straight into the parks, and then on departure day the hotel will take the luggage to the station so we can make the most of our final day.

As we live in the center of the UK we will have to travel about 3 hours to get to Ebbsfleet which is where we are taking the Eurostar from. The train actually runs from St Pancras, London and picks up at Ebbsfleet and then Ashford before heading over to France. We did look into whether we could take a train from home to London and then pick up the Eurostar but it would have cost us more than the petrol for driving down to Ebbsfleet. We have decided to travel down the day before and have booked a cheap hotel for overnight; this will take the stress out of getting there on time as we would have had to have left home in the early hours as well as battle rush hour traffic! And it still works out cheaper than taking a train from home!!

Well that's the getting there sorted so where are we staying? We knew we wanted to stay in a Disney hotel but which one? We had two factors to consider - money and whether we wanted to try somewhere different to our last visit. To be fair this did limit our choice to the Santa Fe, Cheyenne and Sequoia Lodge hotels and having stayed most recently at the Sequoia Lodge we were leaning towards the other two.

Both the Santa Fe and Cheyenne are 'graded' as 'two keys' and tend to follow the same or very similar pricing structures. But it is worth checking these two and the Sequoia Lodge against each other as on some of my searches for accommodation across various different dates there were times when the Sequoia Lodge actually came out the cheapest. But for the dates we had settled on it came down to a choice between the Santa Fe and the Cheyenne.

We had, many years ago when the children were much smaller, stayed at the Cheyenne a number of times and had fond memories of staying there;

August 1999 - Hotel Cheyenne - our first visit to Disneyland Paris

August 1999 - Disneyland Park

(Excuse the photos as these were taken pre-digital and are now physically stuck inside a photo album, so much so that I couldn't remove them to scan them so I had to take a photo of them in situ!)

Coupled with a recent room refurbishment and the additions of a Starbucks we were swayed into picking the Cheyenne over the Santa Fe. For me personally the Santa Fe doesn't look as inviting as the Cheyenne but I am definitely going to have a wander over and have a look while we are there just to see for myself.

The Cheyenne is located within the Disney resort area but is classified as about a 15/20 minute walk to the main park. There are free shuttle buses should you not fancy the walk but we know from previous visits that the walk is easy enough to do and is a pleasant walk along the 'Rio Grande' river. Having visited before with very young children and never once used the shuttle bus we know that this short walk is not an issue for us; I'd much rather have a stroll along the river than fighting to get on a shuttle bus!

So we have hotel, park tickets and travel all sorted and booked which means that I can now start planning and researching! I really want to be able to take in all the details this trip and soak up all the 'Disney' that I have been missing.

Well that research won't get it done by itself now will it....

Let the Countdown Begin!

Well I suppose with a title like that it can only mean one thing...I'm going to Disney!!!

So as I type I am 120 days away from my next Disney vacation.  But where exactly am I going???

Well it's somewhere we haven't been in a lot of years, in fact we haven't visited here since 2006....and it's a lot closer to home than most of Disney...yes we're going to Disneyland Paris!!

Me and the kids back in 2006

Now I bet you're thinking why has it been such a long time since we visited Disneyland Paris, after all it's so close to us here in the UK...well let me explain!!

OK, so in 1996 we took a vacation to Orlando (our fourth at this point) and stayed in a Disney resort for the very first time and loved it. But then the following year we had our first child and this kinda meant a bit of a re-think when it came to our vacations.

Firstly there was the money aspect to think about; although I went back to work after having Ethan I was working reduced hours...but the good thing was that babies/toddlers often got to go 'free' on package deals or at the very least had cheaper rates than adults.  But Florida was a 9 hour flight away, did we really want to subject a small child to a flight that long...or more to the point did we want to subject ourselves to a flight that long with a very small child!!

So we began to look elsewhere and Disneyland Paris seemed the most logical answer; we got our vacation and we got our Disney fix but with much more reasonable travel times and expense!  In the Summer of 1999 we made our first visit which turned out to be the first of quite a few over the coming years.

The following year we visited twice, once in the Summer with my parents and then again during the Christmas season, where we had a little side adventure into Paris.  It was a couple of years before we visited again due to the arrival of child number two but when we did get to go we visited once more at Christmas (the weekend before to be exact - boy was it busy!).

In 2004 we took the kids to WDW for the very first time.  They were both of an age where we could easily take them out of school and therefore take advantage of the cheaper times of the year to go on vacation...we went in early December saving ourselves a significant amount of money compared to going during the school holidays. But a trip to Orlando from the UK is still not cheap and we knew it would be a few years before we could afford to go again as we would have to visit during the school holidays the next time.

So by 2006 we were in need of a Disney fix and Disneyland Paris beckoned again, the kids were still young enough that we could take advantage of cheap discounted rates and it filled the gap between visits to WDW.

I think it was probably around this time that we began to realise just how much we loved WDW and how DLP hadn't really changed or expanded in the few years that we'd been visiting.  It was also starting to get rather expensive to visit DLP with a 3/4 night visit costing sometimes the equivalent of nearly 40% of the cost of a 14 night visit to WDW. So we decided that we would rather not visit DLP in the future but that we would save the money it would have cost us and put it towards a future visit to WDW. After all although WDW costs more we figured we were getting better value for our money with more nights, travelling over 3 times the distance compared to DLP, better weather, more parks, water parks, better shopping, a more authentic Disney experience (there is something I feel that makes a US Disney park different/better compared to the Paris version!) and at Orlando you also have all the non-Disney entertainment to experience should you wish to do so!

So why then I hear you ask have I booked a trip to Paris?

Well...there are a few reasons!  The first (and probably the main reason) is cost...due to personal circumstances we are just not in a position to be able to afford a vacation to WDW at peak season for 2 adults and 2 teenagers! So when DLP started advertising 'free days' I was intrigued.  After some investigation I discovered that we could book for early next year, when the kids are off school, and get 2 days and nights for free!  So after doing some calculations and much family discussion we decided to go for it (this is going to be all of our Christmas presents this year I think!!). Plus having not been to DLP since 2006 there have been a number of changes and additions that we would really like the chance to see and experience.  And as the kids are now that much older compared to the last time they visited they will be able to appreciate it in a completely different way.  Oh and I NEED my Disney fix ;)

So let the planning commence!