London/Paris June 2017 - Trip Report-FInally finished 11/5 - Including Disney Paris

@hilarys - If you had enough Hilton points to get an executive level room at the Hilton Opera Paris? We’re going with friends who are staying in a hotel in Montmartre (1 mile away from Hilton). While I’d rather pick a little bit more luxurious hotel, 5 free nights is quite appealing Just wanted to get some perspective. Thanks in advance
 
Last edited:
@hilarys - If you had enough Hilton points to get an executive level room at the Hilton Opera Paris? We’re going with friends who are staying in a hotel in Montmartre (1 mile away from Hilton). While I’d rather pick a little bit more luxurious hotel, 5 free nights is quite appealing Just wanted to get some perspective. Thanks in advance
5 nights free would probably sway me. There was nothing wrong with the Hilton Opera, it just was not the same level as the Landmark and certainly not the same as some of the finer Paris hotels (I have not stayed in any of them but have seen pictures). The rooms we had were just a bit tight (again compared to the huge rooms in London) and not having any drawers or shelves to unpack onto bothered me. The appearance and finishes of the room and the hotel were quite nice and the location was convenient. If you are doing a lot of things with your friends, the one mile distance may get old.
 
5 nights free would probably sway me. There was nothing wrong with the Hilton Opera, it just was not the same level as the Landmark and certainly not the same as some of the finer Paris hotels (I have not stayed in any of them but have seen pictures). The rooms we had were just a bit tight (again compared to the huge rooms in London) and not having any drawers or shelves to unpack onto bothered me. The appearance and finishes of the room and the hotel were quite nice and the location was convenient. If you are doing a lot of things with your friends, the one mile distance may get old.

Thanks for your candid response. I go back and forth between staying there, staying at the boutique hotel they booked or going all out and booking something a little more luxurious. It is our ten year anniversary, so I could easily talk myself into something really nice. I think I’ll see what we decide to do with our friends and then make the decision of where to stay.
 
Last edited:
Departure Day/Post Day 1

On Monday morning we woke up and had one more breakfast at the Hilton. This was also our last chance to say goodbye to our guides and fellow adventurers. Frankie and Adam had already collected everyone’s email addresses and sent out a group email so that we could stay in touch. Quite a few people in our group were going to be heading to Disneyland Paris with stays ranging from a single day without an overnight to 5 days. Some people had booked independently as others had booked as an add-on. While planning this trip, I spent a lot of time agonizing over whether to book as an add-on. It was really expensive to do through ABD and the price was not for a club-level or even a theme park view room. The other downside was that because we had booked our ABD reservation as 2 reservations of 2 (no difference in price for the ABD portion and we were guaranteed two rooms), booking as an add-on through ABD required us to book two rooms for the add-on. The plus side was that all of our transfers both to DLP and to the airport would be included so the seamless ABD experience would continue all the way home. The ABD package included three days of park tickets for our two night stay (unfortunately we would only be able to us 2 days due to the time of our flight home Wednesday), breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel (which we did not get to use as the only day we were around the hotel at breakfast time we were in the parks), and the thing that really sealed the deal the “magic fast-pass.” This fast-pass is available with the ABD add-ons and I believe certain room types at the on-property hotel. It allows you to go in the fast-pass line as many times as you want for all the rides that have fast-pass at the parks. For a quick trip like ours this was a huge benefit. For a once in a lifetime trip to DLP, I bit the bullet and booked through ABD with the included transfers and magic fast pass being the big selling items.



Before our trip, my travel agent had confirmed that our pick-up time for transfer to DLP from the Hilton was going to be 10 am. I was happy with this as I knew the kids would be exhausted from the ABD and the farewell dinner. However, a few days before the end of the ABD, I asked the guides to see if it would be possible to arrange for the pick up at 9 am so that we could arrive at the resort a little earlier. It was no problem to change it, but it probably would have been easier on the guides if I had asked earlier in the week. Each family that booked the add-on had their own car service transfer from the Hilton. Our car was on time, we said our sad good-byes, and then we were off. Traffic through Paris was pretty heavy, and if I remember correctly it took a little longer than the expected one hour transit time. It was a very sad and quiet car ride, thank goodness we had the excitement of a Disney Park to help get us past the post ABD blues.

Lobby of the Disneyland Hotel Paris:
DLHP Lobby.jpg


Arriving at the hotel there was a ton of security. Our car went through a checkpoint where the luggage compartment was inspected and then when we arrived at the Disneyland Hotel, our bags went through a screening and we walked in through metal detectors. The hotel lobby was pretty quiet at this time of the morning and we were taken to a special desk where they were going to check in ABD package guests. We were given all of the typical items, breakfast passes, the magic fastpasses and a coupon for two pins. Our rooms were on the third floor and not too far off the main staircase. They faced the esplanade between the parks but really were mostly a garden view with lots of trees and a very park like feel. The rooms were very spacious and our two were connecting. Each room had fresh flowers and a small box of welcome chocolates. I do not know if these are standard features or if they were part of our ABD package but it was a nice touch.

DLHP exterior.jpg



The Disneyland Hotel is so convenient to the parks just like the Grand Calif. Hotel in Anaheim. It doesn’t have a separate entrance right into the park (or we did not notice it) but it was just a few steps away from the back entrance of the hotel. By the time we made it into the park it was probably 11 or 11:30. The only advance planning we had done for DLP was to read up a bit on the various attractions and restaurants, and we had made two dining reservations – Dinner Monday night at Walt’s and lunch at Chez Remy on Tuesday. Entering the park, we were struck by how beautiful the flowers were and that continued to be one of my favorite parts of the park. It seemed very spacious (especially compared to DL in California which is very jam packed) and the grounds were beautifully landscaped.

Train Station on Main Street:
train station.jpg

Castle (note that my son is still wearing is lanyard - he did not want the ABD experience to end):
castle daytime.jpg

First up we used our magic fast-pass to hit a family favorite, Star Tours. It was very fun to experience the very familiar ride in French with English sub-titles. After exploring this area of the park for a while and the guys taking a ride on Space Mountain (they really liked it), we headed over to find my daughter’s favorite ride, Thunder Mountain RR. Our whole family agreed that this was our favorite version of the ride anywhere. The “launching” start under the water over to the island was thrilling and the ride offered great views of the park. The family had split opinions on the Phantom Manor as to where it ranked compared to the WDW and DL attractions. We noticed that quite a few of the restaurants were closed (I had hoped to try the Agrabah Café which was closed) so we ended up wandering into the Lucky Nugget. The food was fine average park fare and the kids got their hamburger fix. We all enjoyed watching a show in French and English along with lunch. As we wandered the park, we noticed that Walt’s was closed that day which we were disappointed about. While we were in London, DH’s cell phone rang with a Paris number, but the call dropped immediately – we now figure it might have been Walt’s calling to let us know that our reservation was cancelled. Using the magic fast-pass we were able to hit a ton of rides but unfortunately it was the time of year that a few favorites were down for refurb to get ready for the official anniversary celebration. We left the park to drop stuff off in the room and then went to the Disney Village area to try to figure out dinner. I had not done a ton of research since the plan was to eat at Walt’s so we ended up at the tried and trusty Rainforest Café. After our early dinner, we did our souvenir shopping at the Disney Store (lots of unique to Paris items), dropped off packages and headed back into the parks. Loved the convenience.
Skull Rock:
skull rock.jpg


teacups.jpg
Many of the Fantasy Land rides closed early, but we tried to do as many as we could. My daughter and I ended up heading back to the room right before the fireworks which I regret (I wish I had just pushed through, because they looked amazing from DH’s video.

Castle fireworks.jpg
 
Last edited:


Post Day Two at Disneyland Paris

The next day had early entry at Disneyland Park and it was at a very civilized 8 am and lasted for two hours. Unfortunately, not that many rides were open during the early hours and those that were open, were mostly ones that we had been on the day before. In retrospect, I would have slept in later and had breakfast and just gone to Studios straight off and arrived before opening at 10:00. We also spent way too much time trying to round up breakfast. There was a little coffee and pastry window on main street, but the service, while very friendly, was not at the warp speed to those used to the efficiency of Starbucks. We ended up getting over to the Studios entrance right about or right after opening. I knew that we needed to make a bee-line for Crush’s Coaster.



Crush does not have a Fast-pass and the line builds really quickly. Even though we got to the gates of the park at just about opening time and hustled, straight over the line was already at 70 minutes. We usually do not wait in line for rides with a wait time of more than 35 minutes, but since this is such a well-regarded ride and we did not want to miss this one, we hopped in line. It turned out to be worth it – such a fun ride. DD was a bit hesitant as she does not like big coasters, but she even ended up loving it. We probably could have shortened our wait time a little bit if we had been waiting out front of the park before opening.


After Crush, we split up and hit a variety of rides. We really liked the theming of Toy Story Land – the rides reminded us a bit of Bug’s Land. Next up was the Ratatouille area. The theming here was great – so many little details on all of the buildings. The Ratatouille Adventure is a Fast-pass ride so we were able to use our magic Fast-Pass. We loved this ride – fun, unique and well themed. It does have elements of motion simulators though so if you are very sensitive to those rides, you might want to keep that in mind. We had a little bit of time before our lunch reservation so we immediately jumped back in the Fast-pass line to ride it a second time.

RemyFountain.JPG



Lunch was at Bistrot Chez Remy, we continued the very detailed theming of the restaurant. This is a prix-fixe restaurant with two different price level menus to choose from as well as vegetarian choices and kids menu choices. The restaurant also has a decent house wine and a full wine list. This was an expensive lunch and took a lot of time out of the day, but it is definitely one to do for the experience. Theming was great and everything was done on perspective so you felt like you were "rat" size. Overall many of the items were very good, but certainly not to the level of some of our favorite Disney dining experiences (Carthay Circle, Napa Rose, Remy, Palo, and Victoria & Albert’s).

remysign.JPG

remymenu.JPG

Ratatouille at Bistro Chez Remy

ratatouille.JPG

After lunch, we did the tram tour and then tried to catch Stitch Live, but the last show had just started. This park closes up pretty early and with a long, late lunch we did not get too much more done. We were able to get most of the rides done, but did not catch any of the shows during our time at the Studios Park.



We tried to do a bit of packing before heading back into DL Park for more rides and dinner. We rode more Fantasyland rides, Thunder Mtn again, and a few others. Because of the late lunch, we waited quite a while for dinner and by that time our choices were pretty limited. We ended up getting burgers (I was happy that most places had a veggie burger option) in Café Hyperion in Discoveryland. As I mentioned earlier, this park has several really nice “walk-throughs” that should not be missed. We enjoyed the Nautilus, the Castle/Dragon, Aladdin, and this park’s version of “Pirate’s Lair.” We really like Disneyland Paris and wish we had another day to enjoy it. It would have given us a chance to see some of the shows at studios and catch a few more rides.

Space Mountain at Night (it stayed light until 10pm at least when we were there)

spacemtn.jpg



Our car pick-up (included as part of our ABD post-stay package) was scheduled for 5 am (!) for our 9 am flight so we figured there would not be much sleep anyway this evening. We stayed until closing and then went back and packed. After just a couple of hours of sleep, we headed off to the airport sad that our big adventure was over. We did not have any traffic issues driving to CDG Airport and actually arrived before the United check-in counter opened for the day. No problems with check-in or security and we found the airport easy to navigate (although we spent most of our time in the Star Alliance lounge). We had one last bit of pixie dust when we did our on-line check-in the day before and the option to upgrade to business came up at a very reasonable price. We had booked the tickets on miles because I just could not bring myself to pay the full business fare from San Francisco, so being able to upgrade for the long sad flight home for way, way less than the original price difference was great.



In summary, this was probably our best family vacation ever. This was due to a lot of factors, but a big part of that was due to ABD. Often people overlook this trip because these two cities are very easy to do on your own, but for us the ABD difference was price-less. Our kids had never been to either of these cities, and DH and I had not been to Paris. We wanted to see some “big-ticket” sites on a trip and add Disneyland Paris into the mix, and we were sold on this one. Without ABD though, it definitely would not have been as memorable of a vacation. Our guides were amazing and had the best camaraderie with each other and the guests. Also, while I love vacation planning, I just don’t have enough time. Planning our 2 pre-days was more than enough. I loved the mix of activities that ABD has as part of this tour with the highlight being the food tour. We also really appreciated the VIP tours/access at a couple of our stops. My only minuses would be I felt we needed more time in London and more time at the Louvre – we just see these as reasons to go back some time.

farewell dinner.jpg
 
Beautiful picture of our darling Frankie! So happy you had such a nice trip!:tinker:
I thought you would like that one. Those two guys were real pros and made our trip so memorable. Kids are still talking about all their memories 5 months later.
 


Looks like a wonderful trip! That magical fast pass sounds pretty nice. I had not heard of that. I remember eating burgers with my son at Cafe Hyperion watching the Jedi training academy a year+ ago. At the time they had a Jedi Burger and Sith Burger. My son insisted we go back twice so he could try both. They were both just ok. Think I preferred the Sith for some reason.
 
Lovely trip report! Thanks so much! I really enjoyed reading it and would love to do this ABD some day!
 
Getting caught up on your tr -

love the pics -:goodvibes




T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL:santa:
 
Thank you for the trip report. We go this coming August and are starting the planning.... Great photos and great descriptions.
When did you learn the ages of the other kids who would be in your group? Wondering if there is any way for kids of similar ages to connect ahead of time like they do on the cruises....
 
Thank you for the trip report. We go this coming August and are starting the planning.... Great photos and great descriptions.
When did you learn the ages of the other kids who would be in your group? Wondering if there is any way for kids of similar ages to connect ahead of time like they do on the cruises....
You can call ABD at any time and they will tell you the age breakdown for the kids on your departure.

Sayhello
 
Thank you for the trip report. We go this coming August and are starting the planning.... Great photos and great descriptions.
When did you learn the ages of the other kids who would be in your group? Wondering if there is any way for kids of similar ages to connect ahead of time like they do on the cruises....

As sayhello said, you can get the breakdown from ABD anytime but they do not give out any contact info. The forums here can be a way to meet people on your trip, but since the size of an ABD is so much smaller than a cruise, usually the odds of your fellow travelers being on these forums is low. The guides do a great job of getting the kids to know each other and usually by the end of the second day, the kids are ditching their parents to hang out with the other kids on the tour.
 
Hello and thank you for a lovely trip report. We are taking this trip next summer 2020. Really excited and loved reading your tips! I have never done an ABD trip before so I am hoping this is a good first one to be doing. Thank you for all of the information!
 
Hello and thank you for a lovely trip report. We are taking this trip next summer 2020. Really excited and loved reading your tips! I have never done an ABD trip before so I am hoping this is a good first one to be doing. Thank you for all of the information!

Thank you for your compliments. This is a great first ABD. It has a great mix of activities and it has been led by some really senior, awesome guides over the last two years. If it works with your schedule, I would highly recommend coming into London early - there is so much to do that is not covered on the ABD and it is really easy to navigate London on your own. You will also adjust to the time change better with more days in advance of the busy ABD days. I am happy to answer any other questions you have.

Congrats on booking your first ABD - they are addictive.
 
Just found your trip report as we are looking forward to this trip as our first ABD this summer. I also really appreciate someone else taking care of all the planning for me! I need to re-read your report and document many of the tips especially for the pre-nights in London. We are meeting friends who live there before our ABD starts, but it's helpful if we can give them an idea of what we would like to do. I do have a few questions if you don't mind:

1. How far/much was the car service to Warner Brothers? Do you think we would have enough time for the studio tour in the morning of Day 1 of the ABD?
2. How much did you need to exchange for local funds vs using a credit card (I have several with no foreign transaction fees)?
3. Do taxis accept credit cards?

This is our first international flight (me + DD) and international city visit not from a Disney Cruise, so would appreciate any tips you could share specific to London and Paris. Your issues with figuring out metro cards when everything was in French is definitely among my concerns with transportation.

Thanks so much!
 
Just found your trip report as we are looking forward to this trip as our first ABD this summer. I also really appreciate someone else taking care of all the planning for me! I need to re-read your report and document many of the tips especially for the pre-nights in London. We are meeting friends who live there before our ABD starts, but it's helpful if we can give them an idea of what we would like to do. I do have a few questions if you don't mind:

1. How far/much was the car service to Warner Brothers? Do you think we would have enough time for the studio tour in the morning of Day 1 of the ABD?
2. How much did you need to exchange for local funds vs using a credit card (I have several with no foreign transaction fees)?
3. Do taxis accept credit cards?

This is our first international flight (me + DD) and international city visit not from a Disney Cruise, so would appreciate any tips you could share specific to London and Paris. Your issues with figuring out metro cards when everything was in French is definitely among my concerns with transportation.

Thanks so much!

Happy to provide some answers.
1) I think it was about a 45 min to 1 hour drive from the hotel to the studios. We called the hotel concierge to arrange the car service. I can't remember the price but it was pricey - similar to what we pay for a car service here in CA. London is an expensive city. It is definitely possible to take the train or even an organized shuttle bus, but we had plans to meet friends for dinner so we really wanted to be efficient with out time.
2) We did not use a lot of cash in London or Paris. We used credit cards for most everything. We did get some cash out - we just used ATM at airport to get some local currency in case we wanted to make a quick transaction for a small purchase (snack or drink while out and about).
3) Many of the taxis take credit cards - I think there was one where we paid cash. If you don't have cash on you, just ask before you get in the cab. The cabs are great and so easy in London.

Yes - please do ask any questions about London pre-days. We had two nights prior to our first ABD night. We booked an early studio tour so that we would be able to be back to the hotel in time to change and then meet friends for dinner.

Happy to answer any more questions. All four of our ABDs have been amazing but looking back at this trip report, this trip was a big wow. We hit so many big ticket sights and had a superb guide pair.
 
Happy to answer any more questions. All four of our ABDs have been amazing but looking back at this trip report, this trip was a big wow. We hit so many big ticket sights and had a superb guide pair.
Thanks so much! That’s exactly why we chose this ABD as our first but I know we’ll be booking our 2nd after this experience.
 
One more question regarding the London ABD - is there a time where you saw/had time to take pix of Big Ben or should we plan to do that during our pre-days?
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top