Sept 2016 WBTA, Disneyland Paris, Iceland, Barcelona & More

dr&momto2boys

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Welcome everyone!

Thanks for coming along on my planning adventure. I welcome any advice you have for me along the way as this trip is LOADED with new experiences for our family. I'll go into details later but this trip will include Reykjavik, Iceland; Disneyland Paris; Paris, France; Barcelona, Spain; an 11 night DCL cruise across the Atlantic Ocean with 3 ports of call; and New York City.

As you can see from all the trip reports in my signature, long trips and Disney trips are nothing new to us, but this one takes the cake. We will be gone almost the entire month of September 2016! We leave on my DH's birthday...September 2nd and plan to return September 30th if everything works out right.

Before we go too far, I will introduce our family.

The kids will be the main focus so let's start there. We have five kids and they will range in age from 3 to 11 at the time of this trip. I will list their current age below but they'll all have a birthday before this trip. We home school and this will be quite a learning experience for all of us. In fact much of our study will revolve around this trip for the next 10 months. I just love being able to do that! It makes learning real.

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Jacob (10): A pretty serious kid, but also lots of fun. A planner by nature like me. He made his first trip to WDW when he was 5 months old. He plans to be CEO of Disney when he grows up. We always talk about him putting us up in Cinderella's Castle and hosting a big 50th wedding anniversary party for us when he is CEO.

Max (9): He has a very funny sense of humor and also has very intense emotions. He has been the most hesitant to go on rides of all of our kids. He goes on more now, but still won't go on most roller coasters. He is just starting to try foods that he's not familiar with. Let's hope this continues and expands as we travel to foreign countries on this trip. Both of these boys are growing fast now and eating a lot more than they used to. This will be one expensive family to feed! Max already says he will require 3 croissants per day. He LOVES bread! As long as there is some form of bread available this kid will be okay.

Ella (6): She is our sweet and easy going child, or at least was easy going. She recently broke her arm and while it's unlikely related to that, she's started complaining a lot more lately and has started to get very emotional for not much reason. We're in trouble when she reaches her teen years! Ella is delicate but brave. The wind could blow her over. But she will go on any ride,anywhere! She's also very smart but ditsy.

Zoe (4): FULL of life! Intense! She's a big "Peppa Pig" fan. She has started speaking with a British accent. She will be the toughest to keep happy on "holiday."

Zachary (2): A younger male copy of Zoe. These "baby Zs" are double trouble but super cute and seasoned travelers already.

Marc and Kyrie: We've been married 20 years! In fact this transatlantic cruise was going to be our 20th anniversary present to ourselves this year. BUT we were booked on Royal Caribbean and after taking a fun but not great cruise on RCCL earlier in the year, we canceled our 2015 plans in favor of booking on Disney Cruise Line in 2016. Now I'm glad we did for many reasons I'll go into later. Marc is a stay-at-home dad and a travel agent on the side and I am an upper cervical chiropractor in my own practice along with associates. Our hobbies are Disney and travel. I bet you never would have guessed!
 
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We just booked our airline tickets a few days ago, so I can tell you with confidence about the first leg of our trip. We leave Chicago at 7:30pm on Friday night and arrive in Reykjavik, Iceland at 6:35am. (That's 1:35am Chicago time!) We are looking into options on lodging right now. Most likely we will rent an apartment for 2 nights. Our objective with this portion of the trip is to get used to the time change while seeing as much of Iceland as possible without torturing our tired kids (or ourselves.)
Why Iceland? I was researching airfare (yes, my DH is a travel agent and I was the one researching airfare) and found it was significantly cheaper to fly to Paris versus Barcelona. This is when the whole trip made an amazing transformation. I started dreaming about a pre-trip to Paris, and we can't go to Paris without considering a day or two at Disneyland Paris. Wait...what about Iceland? The cheap airfare is on Icelandair. All their flights connect through Reykjavik Iceland and they allow you to stop over there for as long as you want at no additional charge. That's hard to resist for us wanna-be world travelers! So, 2 days in Iceland it is!
We are hoping to hire a private tour guide at a decent price. The most popular tour here is a ten hour "Circle Tour". I do not want to subject ourselves or others to a "ten hour tour with tired toddlers"! I have a few options to look into.
So really, all I know so far is that our trip begins with 2 nights in Iceland. Then we have an early morning flight to Paris. It leaves at 7:40am on Monday. I think it's about an hour drive to the airport and hear the airport is super busy in the morning, so we'll have our work cut out for us. What else is new?! We love having a big family and traveling with them. The kids really are well behaved too. But you have to know it's never EASY! But it is AWESOME!

If you'd like to get to know our traveling family a little faster, read some of our past trip reports linked below. Our most recent trip was to WDW and Universal Studios. It was particularly challenging because we took turns being ill. But it was still a fun trip.
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I will fill in more details about our Iceland plans as we make them. But next let's talk about the second leg...Paris including Disneyland Paris (DLP). We'll probably spend 7 nights here total but we're not sure how we'll split them up yet. I'm hoping we can find a good deal to stay on property at DLP. So that may determine how we split it up. Right now I think we'll head to DLP right from the airport. We'll lose another hour in time change and arrive around 1pm. I think we'll spend a day at Disneyland Paris and a day at Walt Disney Studios (2 parks here in Paris in case that isn't clear) then we'll take the train into Paris and check into an apartment for the next 5 nights. There's much to discuss as far as what we'll do in Paris. After our week total here, we'll take a train to Barcelona Spain where we actually already have our apartment picked out since we were originally going this year. In fact if we had take the 2015 WBTA on RCCL we'd be on our 3rd day on the ship right now! Still glad we changed plans since we got to add so much more to this trip! AND because it's Disney of course!
 


I'll have to take a break from planning for a few days. I have to work the next couple days and then just DH and I are off to a seminar in Las Vegas at the end of the week. MIL is watching the children. This will be the first time Zach will be away from both of us overnight. That's always tougher on us than on the kids! Still, it will be nice to have some alone time with my husband! It's been almost 3 years since our last mini trip without the kids.
 
Thanks! And thanks for reminding me to get back to this!
We have secured most of our accommodations now. We booked apartments in Iceland, Paris, and Barcelona all through airbnb. It was surprisingly difficult to find apartments with a washer and dryer or at least a washer/dryer. The machines in Europe look to be low capacity and most are a washer and dryer combined. It is intriguing to me that this is so different than the US. Beds are also much smaller than we're used to. Anyway, I think/hope we've found three great places!
We still have to book 2 nights at Disneyland Paris and perhaps a night or 2 in New York City. We also have to buy train tickets from Paris to Barcelona and our return flight from NYC.
 


We bought everyone in our family a hard covered rolling carry-on suitcase for Christmas. They were a good deal ($40 each) and we each have a different color. I've been thinking about how to pack for this trip. I'd like to just have a carry-on for each of us plus a personal item (backpack with coat, electronics, and snacks while we travel.) I'll also bring a couple of collapsible tote bags that we can put souvenirs that we buy into and stop by post offices to mail the stuff home before hopping to the next destination.
Rather than packing individually, I plan to pack one day's clothes for the whole family in each carry-on bag. Then we can wash and re-pack and stay organized. We'll have to reserve one bag for dress up clothes/shoes and swimsuits. We'll have laundry access for almost the whole trip, so theoretically this will work!
We'll practice this method on a 2 1/2 week trip we have coming up at the end of this month. 12 days at Walt Disney World followed by 6 nights in Punta Cana. No laundry access at PC though!
 
We bought everyone in our family a hard covered rolling carry-on suitcase for Christmas. They were a good deal ($40 each) and we each have a different color. I've been thinking about how to pack for this trip. I'd like to just have a carry-on for each of us plus a personal item (backpack with coat, electronics, and snacks while we travel.) I'll also bring a couple of collapsible tote bags that we can put souvenirs that we buy into and stop by post offices to mail the stuff home before hopping to the next destination.
Rather than packing individually, I plan to pack one day's clothes for the whole family in each carry-on bag. Then we can wash and re-pack and stay organized. We'll have to reserve one bag for dress up clothes/shoes and swimsuits. We'll have laundry access for almost the whole trip, so theoretically this will work!
We'll practice this method on a 2 1/2 week trip we have coming up at the end of this month. 12 days at Walt Disney World followed by 6 nights in Punta Cana. No laundry access at PC though!

Where did you find that awesome deal on the suitcases? I told myself that I wouldn't book another trip without buying new ones, and well we have 2 trips already booked.
 
We bought the "rockland melbourne 20 inch hardside spinner carry on luggage" at Kohl's before Christmas. Right now they are listed at $119 each buy one get one half off. There's always some sort of coupon code to apply at Kohl's.
I watch Brad's Deals website for special deals like the one I got before Christmas.
 
Following! I would love to do this cruise! It's not in the cards right now, but maybe in a few years. It sounds wonderful and the additional Iceland/Paris/Barcelona time sounds amazing as well.
 
Hi everyone! We're back from our WDW and Punta Cana trip! Our travel method (all carry-ons) got a trial and I think we did pretty well, but it's still a lot of chaos since there are so many of us! If you'd like to see the luggage or better yet read about our 12 nights at WDW and 6 nights in Punta Cana trip you can check out our travel blog. AND it's nearly complete so you don't have to wait for my rare updates like on this pre-trippie.
 
We did it! We booked our Disneyland Paris stay today! This trip is getting more and more exciting as we hammer out the details. We will stay at Disney's Hotel Cheyenne for the first 2 nights we are in Paris. Our package includes 3 days tickets with the ability to hop to both parks. We tediously searched every countries' offers again (have been stalking offers for months) and found a great deal on the Netherlands site. We got 25% off and kids under 12 free. All 5 of our kids are under 12 so this is fabulous! Our 2 nights stay in 2 rooms and our (7) 3-day tickets came out to $1025 with all fees included. Staying on property always includes a free breakfast too. If you compare this to what we would pay for a similar package at WDW, this is pretty awesome!
We are sending in a request to join the Shareholders Club at DLP too. I think membership is free, but you have to own a 1000 shares of DLP stock which we did invest in a few months ago. This membership card will get us 15% table service restaurants and a discount in stores too. I think there is access to a lounge in DLP too.
I'm also in the process of talking my husband into staying 2 nights in New York City at the end of this trip. It seems a shame to not stay a couple days and see the sights in NYC while we are there. After all, the kids have never been, and 7 airline fares back there would be a bunch of $$$! I found a pretty good deal at a hotel with a fantastic location and free breakfast included that I could book with no cancellation fee; so I did it. I think all we have left to book (in the hotel or transportation categories) are the train from Paris to Barcelona, our flight home, and probably a rental van in Iceland.
My thread should pick up a bit as we get closer to this trip. Thanks for hanging in there with me!
 
Wow, what a trip this is going to be! I almost booked this cruise and then waited too long and the fares jumped out of our price range, so now I'm hoping to do it next year. What a great idea to do DLP at the same time. Can't wait to read about more of your plans!

You got a great deal at DLP - that is awesome!
 
So excited for your trip - for you, too! We are spending a few days in Paris and a day at DLP in June before our Iceland and Norway Disney cruise with our two kids 6 and 13. One of the things I am most excited about is a concert in Sainte Chapelle! It is my favorite church in Paris because of the amazing stained glass. We were planning on visiting it this trip, but because of its location near judicial building lines/ security can be quite long. So I was really stuggling to find the "perfect" time to visit with the shortest wait. Somehow, doing a google search I came across the concert reservation website. There are two times most evenings and it will be a very intimate experience as Sainte Chapelle is quite small. Having a specific time with minimal wait and a beautiful musical experience surrounded by amazing stained glass for not too much more than regular admission made this a must do for us. There are some videos on youtube if you are interested in taking a peek. Also, the concert is only about 45 minutes, so doable with small children.

Our tips for Barcelona with kids is to not miss a day at Cosmo Caixa. It is an awesome, interactive science museum and more. We spent most of a day here, including lunch in their cafe, before also visitting Parc Guell on our way back into town. We were there in 2013 and our kids still talk about going back! They also have a "chocolate museum" and store, and you can prereserve a chocolate making class. This is fun for kids and interesting for adults. There is also a beautiful park with a zoo and a lake where you can rent rowboats.

Hope these help! We are always looking for things that will be a different experience for our kids rather than just seeing the sight which can get so overwhelming for them. Happy planning!
 
So excited for your trip - for you, too! We are spending a few days in Paris and a day at DLP in June before our Iceland and Norway Disney cruise with our two kids 6 and 13. One of the things I am most excited about is a concert in Sainte Chapelle! It is my favorite church in Paris because of the amazing stained glass. We were planning on visiting it this trip, but because of its location near judicial building lines/ security can be quite long. So I was really stuggling to find the "perfect" time to visit with the shortest wait. Somehow, doing a google search I came across the concert reservation website. There are two times most evenings and it will be a very intimate experience as Sainte Chapelle is quite small. Having a specific time with minimal wait and a beautiful musical experience surrounded by amazing stained glass for not too much more than regular admission made this a must do for us. There are some videos on youtube if you are interested in taking a peek. Also, the concert is only about 45 minutes, so doable with small children.

Our tips for Barcelona with kids is to not miss a day at Cosmo Caixa. It is an awesome, interactive science museum and more. We spent most of a day here, including lunch in their cafe, before also visitting Parc Guell on our way back into town. We were there in 2013 and our kids still talk about going back! They also have a "chocolate museum" and store, and you can prereserve a chocolate making class. This is fun for kids and interesting for adults. There is also a beautiful park with a zoo and a lake where you can rent rowboats.

Hope these help! We are always looking for things that will be a different experience for our kids rather than just seeing the sight which can get so overwhelming for them. Happy planning!

Very helpful! Thank you!
I would love to hear more about your trip! Will you write a trip report or a blog? Have a wonderful time!
 
Very helpful! Thank you!
I would love to hear more about your trip! Will you write a trip report or a blog? Have a wonderful time!

Glad to know I may have helped. I do not plan on either, but I can give you highlights of what worked and what did not work when we return. Don't hesitate to ask me anything!
 
Just got back yesterday. All went very well. It was a wondeful vacation! It seems that Cosmo Caixa still gets brought up quite often. We were visiting an aquarium in Denmark, and they had a rain forest area, and the kids bring up the rainforest at cosmo caixa and how much fun they had there and how they can not wait to go back! Funny how some places really stand out to kids! :) Let me know if you have any questions.
 

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