DREAMing, some MAGIC and a little bit of Paris! Trip report link!

[dizneeat]

Let the planning begin!



Let’s get this show on the road

First off, how did we even come up with that trip?
Well, shortly after we had returned from our summer 2013 vacation to WDW we were both suffering from PDD or better known as Post Disney Depression.

Having an expensive vacation planned for summer 2014 made planning any extra trips a bit unrealistic, but after some intensive number crunching we thought why not giving a trip to DLRP a try.
We checked if there were some longer weekends, which would not require Tom to take a day off. And low and behold, Jan 6, Epiphany, falls on a Monday in 2014. So off I went to check for “cheap flights”. There were some reasonable ones, but nothing that we would have called cheap, leaving on Saturday and returning Monday.
So I tried to check if flights leaving on Friday would come cheaper. And yes, Bingo, there was one that was under 500 Euros for both of us, but it was leaving early on Friday afternoon. We didn’t think about it for a long time and just booked it, thinking that Tom might be able to just start out his work day even earlier than usual to be able to get off in time. But then Tom decided to give it a try and ask if he could have Friday off and to our huge surprise he was given the okay and even asked if he wanted Thursday the second of January off too.
There was no way to change the flights and not lose the price, so we stuck with flying out on Friday afternoon and coming back home late on Monday. Gives us a nice long weekend in the parks, but we still had to tackle where to stay.
So I crunched some numbers AGAIN and finally came up with a budget, next step was to look for the number for DLRP reservations and asked for AP discounts. The lady offered us Concierge Level at the Sequioa Lodge, but that had not been what I had been looking for, so I asked what Hotel New York was going to cost us.
Turns out that they only had lake view rooms and they were above our budget. Well, in the end I bit the bullet and booked us into Hotel New York. No tickets needed as we still have our APs, which we had renewed in May and received 18 months for the price of 12, so we are all set.

Okay, time for some serious planning.

Day 1, January 3rd - travel day!

As I mentioned earlier Tom will have time off starting with January 1st, which is a holiday anyway. I guess we will spend January 2nd doing some shopping and I will most likely do the packing in the morning of January 3rd. Pixie will stay home, but will have a friend of ours looking after her and after lunch we will lock up the house and drive to the airport.



Once we get there we will park our car in the short term lot and head to check in. Our flight leaves at quarter to three





and during the short flight we will definitely enjoy the





nice little snack Lufthansa provides.
We will arrive in Frankfurt shortly before 4pm and it will take about 20 minutes until we arrive in the terminal as flights from Linz always get an outside position. We will then check if our departure gate for our flight to Paris has changed, then head in that direction and try to check out the duty free shops.
I guess we will grab a Coke or coffee before boarding our flight to Paris, Charles de Gaulle. The flight will leave (hopefully) at ten to six and after another





on board snack and drink we should arrive in Paris at 7pm.
Tom will head to the Hertz counter to pick up our car, while I will be waiting for our luggage to appear. Luggage and car paperwork in hand we will head upstairs to the car park and find our ride.



And after thoroughly checking it for dents and anything unusual we will then head to Marne la Vallee and Disneyland Paris.



We should arrive at the Hotel New York









at around 8.30 to 9pm, park the car and head for check in.
And after finally getting to the room









we will head over to the Disney Village and get some dinner from Earl of Sandwich.





Dinner in hand we will head back to our room and have a little in room picnic.







I guess we will both be tired and after watching a little TV we will fall into bed and dream of the adventures that the next day will bring.
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[stephielela]

Lol you plan just like I do, down to each detail!

 

[englishrose47]

Great Plans Karin !! EOS for supper sounds great !!My mouth is watering thinking of that Holiday sandwich I had there this month .. yummy!!

 

[jedijill]

Awesome plans! Makes me want to hop a plane and go to DLP again too!

Jill in CO

 

[perfectmatch300]

I found it fun to be reading your PRE trip report with such detailed pictures of your plans! It was a great way for me to picture where you would be going!

Hopefully we will make it to Paris some day. I was there once, I turned 15 during that trip. That was a long time ago! DH has never been. Needless to say, there was no Disney resort for me to visit while I was there!

 

[perfectmatch300]

Yes, they have changed a lot - from the 18 month period for an OBB to blackout dates for cruises. And now they have raised the prices for excursions.
Oh, and if you are looking for a fun Magic cruise ..... the one on March 29, 2015 is a fun Western one, including Key West. Guess who will be sailing this one for his 50th birthday.

Wow! I knew about the OBB changes, but I don't remember seeing anything about price increases on excursions. I haven't done much looking at excursions for the Dream cruise we have booked for Sept since it was really meant as a placeholder. Having sailed the Dream twice I already have what I want to do in mind, not much planning needed.

Now if we do decide to move our placeholder cruise that, March 29 Magic cruise would fall within our time frame. Key West would be a nice change from the Fantasy itinerary we sailed this past Sept. I was originally planning to go for a southern itinerary in the fall of 2015, but you never know. We are waiting for the rest of the 2015 schedule to come out before we make any decisions.

 

[MEK]

Wow - if only you had known Tom was going to be offered 1/2 and 1/3. Still - nothing like budget friendly flights to make a trip a reality. Hotel NY looks so cool and EOS is a great way to start any trip! Sounds like so much fun!

So is Epiphany actually a holiday in Europe?

 

[pas130]

Karin, I am loving the plans. Those little airplane crackers are cute

 

[dizneeat]

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[dizneeat]

Lol you plan just like I do, down to each detail!

Yes, I just love to plan - it is at least half the fun of going on vacation. Our big downfall is that we have a hard time following the best of plans. Especially with going to DLRP, sometimes when the park is too crowded we just ditch those plans and do something completely different.
But at least we know what we CAN do, if we feel up to it.

Great Plans Karin !! EOS for supper sounds great !!My mouth is watering thinking of that Holiday sandwich I had there this month .. yummy!!

Thank you, Rosie!
There are not as many choices for a late dinner as there are in WDW. No quick service restaurant at the hotel either. EoS is right across the hotel at the entrance to the Disney village, so I guess not even will it be tasty but very convenient as well.
Just wish they had the holiday sandwich at DLRP as well. Guess a tuna melt will have to do.

Awesome plans! Makes me want to hop a plane and go to DLP again too!

Jill in CO

Thanks Jill!
When did you last visit DLRP? Did they have the Toy Story part then? You really need to come back here one day and maybe we could hook up there as well.
Oh, and we could show you that beautiful little bakery as well.

I found it fun to be reading your PRE trip report with such detailed pictures of your plans! It was a great way for me to picture where you would be going!

Hopefully we will make it to Paris some day. I was there once, I turned 15 during that trip. That was a long time ago! DH has never been. Needless to say, there was no Disney resort for me to visit while I was there!

We have been to DLRP so often that I can easily fill my pre-trip report with pics - makes them so much more interesting.
We usually stay offsite and will be again in the summer, but since this is such a short visit I thought I'd shell out the money and we stay inside the magic.

You really have to come to DLRP. Paris as a city is just so beautiful and that little bit of the US so close to it is just wonderful. The parks are a lot of fun - they are so similar to the US parks and then so different. You will soon discover what I mean by looking at the photos that are about to be posted.

 

[dizneeat]

Wow! I knew about the OBB changes, but I don't remember seeing anything about price increases on excursions. I haven't done much looking at excursions for the Dream cruise we have booked for Sept since it was really meant as a placeholder. Having sailed the Dream twice I already have what I want to do in mind, not much planning needed.

Now if we do decide to move our placeholder cruise that, March 29 Magic cruise would fall within our time frame. Key West would be a nice change from the Fantasy itinerary we sailed this past Sept. I was originally planning to go for a southern itinerary in the fall of 2015, but you never know. We are waiting for the rest of the 2015 schedule to come out before we make any decisions.

I posted a link to the price increase for shore adventures on my TR. So far, if we went somewhere "new" we had always booked with Disney and I guess we will stick with it if we see the need to do so, but I guess we will have to shop around more.

Be warned that March 29 Magic cruise is one of the blackout dates, so if you want to move an OBB you will loose your 10% discount. They will give you the OBC though.
I am really hoping that they come up with the rest of the 2015 itinerary soon. We would LOVE to sail on the Fantasy again, but the price needs to be right! Hoping for the last August one.

Wow - if only you had known Tom was going to be offered 1/2 and 1/3. Still - nothing like budget friendly flights to make a trip a reality. Hotel NY looks so cool and EOS is a great way to start any trip! Sounds like so much fun!

So is Epiphany actually a holiday in Europe?

Ah, it would have been awesome had we known about the two extra days earlier, but then when I looked at the flight prices I knew it would not have worked out - too expensive for me!
Plus we would not have been able to afford the hotel NY. It cost's me about 1200 Euros for three nights and that includes a 35% discount! They do feed you breakfast though.

As I explained to Rosie, there are not many options for a late dinner. We could either try and hit Anette's diner, or have McDonalds at around the time we will arrive. I checked the room service menu for our hotel and it does not excite me at all, so I guess hopping over to EoS will be fine and we both know that we will like what we get!

Yes, Epiphany is a holiday at least in the countries that are mostly catholic. For us it is the last day of our Christmas break and I love it when it falls on a Thursday as we then usually get Friday off as well and so we have a longer Christmas vacation. Yip! I am greedy like this.

Karin, I am loving the plans. Those little airplane crackers are cute

Ah, thanks for approving my plans! I hope it works out as planned, as you can never tell with Charles de Gaulle airport. They are notoriously slow with delivering luggage and we have been waiting for our suitcases for over an hour sometimes. I'll keep my fingers crossed we'll get to our hotel in time.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 2, January 4 - Part 1

Guess we will have an early breakfast ticket (breakfast is included at DLRP and you will get a ticket with a time on it, on when you have to be here – like a fastpass ticket), so we will get up a bit on the early side, then after getting ready we will head down to the assigned breakfast area to have a nice hearty breakfast.







Once we have filled our bellies we will head back to our room to get our bags, before heading over to the bag check for the Disney village.









The shops should be open by then, so we will take a stroll through them,





then heading towards the World of Disney for a peek before we will get in line to head into Disneyland Park.





If we follow or usual routine we will take the shortcut to Frontierland and pick up a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain railroad



before heading back to the Indiana Jones ride. I guess the Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion)



will be next before we will stroll through Discoveryland and Fantasyland. There are lots of shops to check out along the way



and maybe we can fit in another ride or two. Around 11 we will watch the “Christmas Parade”











and then have some lunch at a counter service place. Café Hyperion, Hakuna Matato or Toad Hall come to mind. If they are too crowded we will try to score a table at Anette’s Diner.

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[jedijill]

I was last at DLP in February 2008. I found a great sale on tickets to Germany so I flew to Frankfurt and took the train to Paris. I spent 2 nights at the DL Hotel and then headed back and spent the rest of the week in Paris.

I would love to meet up with you some of these days if we could coordinate trips!

Jill in CO

 

[scottny]

The plans sounds great. I saw Café Mickey, what a fun place that it. The cm’s really put on a show in there. I have to check and see how much a room is when I go. Looking forward to more.

 

[perfectmatch300]

Your comparison of WDW to DLRP reminds me of how DH and I both felt last time we went to DLR in CA! We had to laugh at ourselves when we realized we needed a park map! Being as close to WDW as we are, we never need a map there any more!

 

[dizneeat]

I was last at DLP in February 2008. I found a great sale on tickets to Germany so I flew to Frankfurt and took the train to Paris. I spent 2 nights at the DL Hotel and then headed back and spent the rest of the week in Paris.

I would love to meet up with you some of these days if we could coordinate trips!

Jill in CO

Wow! Going by train from Frankfurt? I would get myself on one of the regional flights as they are pretty reasonable to Paris.
And staying at the DL hotel! Too expensive for us. Love that you spent some time in Paris as well, it is such a beautiful city and there is so much to see and do .......... and eat.

Hopefully one day we WILL have overlapping trips and will be able to meet. It would be so much fun.

The plans sounds great. I saw Café Mickey, what a fun place that it. The cm’s really put on a show in there. I have to check and see how much a room is when I go. Looking forward to more.

Thank you!
Guess what, we have never been to Cafe Mickey, but it is so fun to walk past and watch the characters interact.
More coming up shortly - I need to get a move on as we leave in just 4 days.

Your comparison of WDW to DLRP reminds me of how DH and I both felt last time we went to DLR in CA! We had to laugh at ourselves when we realized we needed a park map! Being as close to WDW as we are, we never need a map there any more!

Oh my, I do understand what you mean - we both have been known to take the "wrong turn" because we forgot we were in another park.
We don't usually use a park map for either of the parks, we have been to DLRP, DL and WDW so many times and have held APs to all three of them at the same time quite a few times, but sometimes it hits you and you forget in which park you are.
DLRP has walkways behind the shops (fire regulations required them) and it is so nice to just get away from the crowds and head into or out of the park there. More than once have I said to Tom that we should use those walkways after a long day at the MK in WDW, only to discover there aren't any.

 

[dizneeat]

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[dizneeat]

Day 2, January 4 - Part 2

If they are too crowded we will try to score a table at Anette’s Diner.
After lunch we will return to the hotel and take a short rest before we drive over to the Auchan market to do some shopping.
First off, we will need something to drink for the rest of our stay and then we will need some dinner items. If there is something I am not wild about it is the food options in the parks.
Many restaurants are really overpriced for what they offer. We had some really bad experiences last time we visited in May and I would rather have a nice picnic dinner in the room than waiting in line and not liking what is served. So cold cuts, salad, cheese will be on our list as well as some spices. The shopping center in Val d’Europe is huge and I guess we will spend some time there and on the way back we will stop at the little bakery we always shop at.

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Guess we will pick up some baguette

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(I am sure we will) and some sweet treats like Eclairs

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and other baked goods.

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Shopping done we will return to our hotel room and have an early dinner

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before heading back to the park again. If we are still on time we will head into Disneyland Park to see Disney Magic on Parade,

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if not, we will head into the Walt Disney Studios for a while to check out the shops, have a look around and maybe fit in a show. At 7pm we will be at the Disneyland Park again to see Magical Christmas Wishes on the Main Square.

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Depending on how long lines for rides are we will try to ride a few things, guess Pirates

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will be one of them. If it is not too cold we will stay until 10pm to watch Disney Dreams! of Christmas, the new castle show.

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I really hope they are going to have the “glow with the show” hats, as we have not seen that yet and I am really looking forward to it. Once that is over we will try to get through the Disney village and back to our hotel,

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where we will have a late night snack and a drink before falling into bed.

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[KatMark]

I can't believe how fast the DL trip has come up. The plans sound wonderful.

In case I don't get back here, to you and Tom I wish you a

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[perfectmatch300]

I am loving the pics and stories from DLRP! Surprised the dinner options aren't very good.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!