Anemone
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 29, 2013
Hi everyone. I am so excited because I didn't dare dream I would be able to book a Disney holiday for Catherine this year and yet here I am with a new ticker and a new PTR. Those of you who have followed our adventures to date will know how unpredictable her health has been and that I doubted she would be well enough to go back after our Christmas trip last year. I did ask Fairy Godmother when I met her in DLR in March to make it happen - perhaps she helped - who knows?
So about our trip
The cast:
Here is my beautiful, brave and sweet sister with her hero Mickey Mouse at Christmas brunch last December.
and both of us together at New Year.
Catherine has Down's and was diagnosed with dementia nearly 6 years ago. We're busy busy filling all the time she has left to enjoy life with happy, joyful memories for us both and Disney plays a huge part in that. Since our December trip Catherine had been doing fine until she had an unexplainable fractured clavicle in May. There didn't appear to have been a fall so we asked the GP to organise a bone density scan which showed Catherine has advanced osteoporosis on top of all her other health concerns. She has started treatment for this and they hope to at least stop the bone density from getting worse. Thankfully the fracture healed well and we got the all clear a week ago for Catherine to travel and wrote to the court which supervises Catherine's finances to ask for permission to book a September Disney trip. We'd missed out on all the best UK offers so were on the lookout for other EU offers. I heard back from the court yesterday that she can go.
We live in Northern Ireland so pretty much have to fly. We are flying Aer Lingus from Dublin to CDG on Saturday 26th September, arriving around half 4 in the afternoon. We have booked Ezyshuttle for our airport transfer and will be staying that night at Hotel Elysee at Val d'Europe. Hope to get a visit to the Auchan supermarket that evening to pick up some treats for our stay in Sequoia Lodge Golden Forest. Not at all sure whether we will visit DLP that evening - will depend on how we feel after travelling. Dee pointed out that it is Dapper Day in DLP that day which sounds amazing but I need to see a programme to see what will be happening in the evening before I decide if it'd be worth our while getting park tickets for the Saturday.
I booked our package online on the Netherlands site. We paid Euro 1,569 as opposed to £1,596 on UK site - both offers had free HB included. That's a saving of nearly £500 on the current exchange rate so I am well chuffed. There was no problem paying with a UK Mastercard debit - I just left the country as Netherlands on the address page. Of course our confirmation letter is in double dutch but Google translate is a good friend.
We will get a taxi on Sunday morning for our transfer to SL - Catherine's mobility is very poor so she uses a wheelchair for Disney and I don't relish taking it and our bags on the train without help.
Meals: I've an ADR booked for Sunday Brunch at Inventions - Aristocats theme - at 1pm (is 1pm the first available time? If not I'll have to pop in earlier and ask them to keep us a table beside the buffet.) Catherine loves cats and is going to be made up to meet the kittens. I love the film, know every word of every song - the music has always blown me away. So well dare they change this last minute - I will not be pleased. lol
I'm still considering the rest of our ADRs - we have Half Board plus included. To be honest Catherine will want character dining all the way so it's pretty much a matter of which meal, when.
I would also like to try Bistro Chez Remy this trip - Catherine won't enjoy the starter on the plus menu, she's not a salad girl, but I thought we might compromise and get 1 plus and 1 premium meal and pay the difference - Catherine loves pate so the premium starter should be fine.
Auberge is a must and I thought we might do Cafe Mickey for lunch on our last day - the flight is at 5 so we should be picked up at 2 which means CM lunch is just doable. We missed CM at Christmas because our reservation was for 8pm and the early diners hadn't left by that time leaving a long queue outside and so we went to EOS instead of waiting.
Not sure whether to reserve early dinner in Inventions for our last evening or to just have a counter service meal instead. Might reserve Inventions and then decide on the day.
More to follow. Thanks for reading so far.
So about our trip
The cast:
Here is my beautiful, brave and sweet sister with her hero Mickey Mouse at Christmas brunch last December.
and both of us together at New Year.
Catherine has Down's and was diagnosed with dementia nearly 6 years ago. We're busy busy filling all the time she has left to enjoy life with happy, joyful memories for us both and Disney plays a huge part in that. Since our December trip Catherine had been doing fine until she had an unexplainable fractured clavicle in May. There didn't appear to have been a fall so we asked the GP to organise a bone density scan which showed Catherine has advanced osteoporosis on top of all her other health concerns. She has started treatment for this and they hope to at least stop the bone density from getting worse. Thankfully the fracture healed well and we got the all clear a week ago for Catherine to travel and wrote to the court which supervises Catherine's finances to ask for permission to book a September Disney trip. We'd missed out on all the best UK offers so were on the lookout for other EU offers. I heard back from the court yesterday that she can go.
We live in Northern Ireland so pretty much have to fly. We are flying Aer Lingus from Dublin to CDG on Saturday 26th September, arriving around half 4 in the afternoon. We have booked Ezyshuttle for our airport transfer and will be staying that night at Hotel Elysee at Val d'Europe. Hope to get a visit to the Auchan supermarket that evening to pick up some treats for our stay in Sequoia Lodge Golden Forest. Not at all sure whether we will visit DLP that evening - will depend on how we feel after travelling. Dee pointed out that it is Dapper Day in DLP that day which sounds amazing but I need to see a programme to see what will be happening in the evening before I decide if it'd be worth our while getting park tickets for the Saturday.
I booked our package online on the Netherlands site. We paid Euro 1,569 as opposed to £1,596 on UK site - both offers had free HB included. That's a saving of nearly £500 on the current exchange rate so I am well chuffed. There was no problem paying with a UK Mastercard debit - I just left the country as Netherlands on the address page. Of course our confirmation letter is in double dutch but Google translate is a good friend.
We will get a taxi on Sunday morning for our transfer to SL - Catherine's mobility is very poor so she uses a wheelchair for Disney and I don't relish taking it and our bags on the train without help.
Meals: I've an ADR booked for Sunday Brunch at Inventions - Aristocats theme - at 1pm (is 1pm the first available time? If not I'll have to pop in earlier and ask them to keep us a table beside the buffet.) Catherine loves cats and is going to be made up to meet the kittens. I love the film, know every word of every song - the music has always blown me away. So well dare they change this last minute - I will not be pleased. lol
I'm still considering the rest of our ADRs - we have Half Board plus included. To be honest Catherine will want character dining all the way so it's pretty much a matter of which meal, when.
I would also like to try Bistro Chez Remy this trip - Catherine won't enjoy the starter on the plus menu, she's not a salad girl, but I thought we might compromise and get 1 plus and 1 premium meal and pay the difference - Catherine loves pate so the premium starter should be fine.
Auberge is a must and I thought we might do Cafe Mickey for lunch on our last day - the flight is at 5 so we should be picked up at 2 which means CM lunch is just doable. We missed CM at Christmas because our reservation was for 8pm and the early diners hadn't left by that time leaving a long queue outside and so we went to EOS instead of waiting.
Not sure whether to reserve early dinner in Inventions for our last evening or to just have a counter service meal instead. Might reserve Inventions and then decide on the day.
More to follow. Thanks for reading so far.