It's A Small World - A Never-ending Pre-trip Report

Sounds like a lot of plans are up in the air, but I'm sorry you won't be visiting here next fall.
 
Boo to missing out on DL but the new cruise sounds fantastic!

Jill in CO
 
Sounds like fabulous plans for special celebrations!

I think so, too.

Sounds like a lot of plans are up in the air,

By now very much less so. There were three major puzzle pieces that had to fall into place for the November trip to happen. The first one fell into place on Wednesday and the second today. The third one is not quite as important, but will be the icing on the cake. Once this has slotted into place as well, I will share the details of this trip.

but I'm sorry you won't be visiting here next fall.

I am sorry about this, too, but at the same time I am hugely excited that I get to revisit some of my favourite places.

Boo to missing out on DL

I get to go to two of the international Disneyland parks instead and I am pretty happy about this.

but the new cruise sounds fantastic!

I am really excited about this cruise.

Corinna
 


The Baltic cruise sounds marvelous. Glad everything worked out. Your boss sounds like an awesome person.
 


This tread has been woefully neglected again. There is just so much going on in my life at the moment. Still, a lot of this is actually hardcore planning. I am pretty much ready for the big winter holiday apart from some loose ends that need tying up, but I still have 2 months to do this in.

The mini cruise has come and gone and was amazing. I had every intention to do a mini trip report for this, but in the end, we just chilled and I hardly took any photos.

If everything had gone according to plan, I would be on the next trip today. This weekend is the Run Disney race weekend at Disneyland Paris. Unfortunately I missed the the first wave of bib only entries as by the time I was home from work on the release date, the 5K bibs had sold out. They released more bibs on 21st August, but again I missed out. I figured there was no point going if I could not run.

I managed to shift the time off and I am now going for the Halloween Festival from 2nd to 5th October. I fly out in the morning of the 2nd and should be in the park by lunchtime. One of the perks of my annual pass is that I get VIP seating for Illuminations, which is the night time show at Paris. I will book this next week. Graham is also coming, but he cannot leave until Tuesday evening. This works out fabulously well. I get free luggage storage with my annual pass so I will head straight from the airport to the parks and leave my bag at left luggage. After Illuminations, I will head to the hotel and check in. Graham should hopefully arrive soon afterwards.

There is still pretty little information about what will be on offer for the Halloween Festival. The 25th anniversary celebrations end this weekend so things should be back to normal. I know that the Halloween Calvacade will return. I also know Stitch will be out and I am hoping Marie and Cheshire Cat will be, too.

Graham will actually come to the parks with me on one day. The idea is that I will have a day and a half by myself in the parks and will concentrate on the characters, shows and parades. When Graham comes with me, we will concentrate on the rides. We fly back home late afternoon on the Friday. Originally I was planning to spend half a day on Friday in the parks as well, but then Graham mentioned that he was planning on going to Versaille that day and I kind of want to see this. So I may go with him 2.5 days in the parks should be plenty.

Corinna
 
Have a great time at DLP! We will be there later in October. What a shame to miss you by just a few days!!

We are getting new APs (but the lower tier) and will be back within the next 12 months. Maybe we end up seeing each other in spring or summer! I will be in touch if we start planning more visits there!
 
Glad that you enjoyed your mini cruise!

Even though it wasn't your original plan, it sounds like the DLP trip will be fun!
 
What a shame to miss you by just a few days!!

That is indeed a shame.

Maybe we end up seeing each other in spring or summer!

I keep my fingers crossed. My annual pass is valid until the beginning of September so I will probably getting another two trips out of this.

I will be in touch if we start planning more visits there!

Please do.

Even though it wasn't your original plan, it sounds like the DLP trip will be fun!

I love the Halloween festival there so I am pretty happy that it has worked out that way. I am even happier as the weather this weekend is pretty atrocious in Paris and it would not have been fun to run in heavy rain.

Corinna
 
Sounds like a fun time in DLP, and nice that Graham will even go with you for a day. Versailles is a nice place, I enjoyed it when I visited there. Have a great trip!
 
Sounds like a fun time in DLP, and nice that Graham will even go with you for a day.

I was really surprised by this. He is even talking about coming to Hong Kong Disneyland with me and of course, he is coming to Shanghai Disneyland as he loves this park. So it looks like he will do three Disney parks in as many months. I am starting to wonder if somebody has kidnapped and replaced my husband.

Versailles is a nice place, I enjoyed it when I visited there.

Unfortunately that has turned out to be impractical with a half day so Graham is going by himself on Wednesday.

Have a great trip!

Thanks.

Corinna
 
When I get back from Disneyland Paris, the countdown definitely has started for next big adventure. We are heading back to Hong Kong, China and Japan.

Graham will leave ahead of me as he has more leave to play with. He will fly to Hong Kong in the afternoon of 21st November and I will follow after work on 24th November. He is under strict instructions to come and meet me at the airport when I arrive in the evening of the 25th. Originally we were booked to fly with Emirates, but it saved us £100per person with Qatar airways so that is what we are now doing. While Graham is in Hong Kong by himself, he will stay in Kowloon. When I join him, we will move to Lantau.

This part of the trip slowed down the planning process. I had been saving my DVC points as we had originally planned to go to Disneyland and Aulani, but that meant that I had a bunch of points that I either had to use or lose. So we decided that we would use them at one of the resort hotels at Hong Kong Disneyland. Very early on, we dismissed the Hollywood Hotel. It just did not look very appealing on their website. I have since done a bit of reading up about all of their hotels and I have come to the conclusion that I should not have dismissed it quite as readily. Still, I think the outcome would have remained the same.

I was kind of torn between the newest hotel, Explorer’s Lodge and the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. I like the theme of the Explorer’s Lodge, but the extra facilities at the Disneyland Hotel swung it in the end. I am sure we will visit all three hotels while we are there, especially as they will be decorated for the holidays. Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel looks like a mix of the Grand Floridian Hotel and the Disneyland Hotel in Paris. I am sure we will love our stay there.







We have not given much thought yet to what we are doing to do in Hong Kong. One day will definitely be spent at Hong Kong Disneyland and Graham is talking about coming with me. I just have to make up my mind if I will get just get a one day ticket or the entry level annual pass. Essentially this costs the same as two days admission. This would give me the flexibility to go into the park when we come back from whatever we are doing to do a couple of rides and watch Paint The Night. However, the main advantage is that November is one of three months where you can get 25% off all food in the park and in the hotels. That alone should make it worthwhile.

Apart from a full day in the park, I want to go back to Po Lin Monastery. Although it will still be warm in November, it will not be as hot as it was in June and definitely not as humid. So hopefully we will be able to climb up to the big Buddha this time round. This will most likely be combined with a visit to the Tai O fishing village with the famous stilt houses. Other than this, we will go with the flow. There is a chance we will do another tour with the tour guide we had in June. He lives in another fishing village on one of the smaller islands and this may be both interesting and fun.



 

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Wow! Your love of the Asian mystique is definitely in play! Your plans sound very solid and I'm glad the two of you are in sync!
 
So it was you I saw in Fantasyland this morning! I will say hello if I see you again:-)
 
So it was you I saw in Fantasyland this morning! I will say hello if I see you again:-)
 
So it was you I saw in Fantasyland this morning! I will say hello if I see you again:-)

Quite likely. I will be at Disneyland Paris all day tomorrow and until around lunchtime on Friday. Feel free to say “hi” if you spot me.

Corinna
 

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