3 Generations on a Christmas tour - Dec. 12-14 - Pre-trip planning

the_princess

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 8, 2006
When: Dec. 12-14 2019
Where: Disneyland Hotel at DLP
Who: Me (30-something), my mom (60-something), my daughter (15 months)

Table of Content

Pre-trip planning:
Introductions
Pre-planning and booking

Trip report:
Dec. 12
Dec. 13
Dec. 14


Before I get started, please enjoy a few shots from our last Christmas trip to DLP back in 2016
IMG_8508.jpg

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Introduction
I haven’t been active on these boards for some times. I used to be on here every day and make trip reports for all of my trips but since the boards moved I kind of lost interest in making reports. Does anyone actually remember the old boards? I’m not going to bother you with old reports but I would like to share one special trip report with you.
Back in 2013 we did the Holiday Time – Christmas tour at DL which still is my best Christmas memory. See it here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3210059
I know the pictures are blurry but after the new only 10 picture per thread-policy, I don’t want to re-upload the pictures since that will mean that I have to remove quite a few. Just click on the picture if you want to see it clearly.


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After this little walk down memory lane it’s time to look ahead. This trip to DLP will be very different and very special. This will be the first time I bring my daughter, which means that suddenly everything has to be tailored to her and her needs. That is why I thought it would be fun to do a trip report. To share the experience of travelling with a toddler.

WHEN:
Christmas is my favorite time of year and is there anywhere better to spend some Christmas time than in a Disney park? We are going Dec. 12-14 2019.


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WHERE:
We are staying at the Disneyland Hotel. This will be the second time we are staying here. Normally we don’t want to spend that much on a hotel. We love staying at HNY (before the Marvel make over!) because it’s nice, close to Village and the price is acceptable. DLH is a step up, but the price is more like 10 steps up. This time since we are travelling with a toddler we want to stay close to the parks and we don’t know how babyL will take the experience, so we want a lovely hotel where we can hang out in case she doesn’t want to spend the whole day outside.

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WHO:

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Me, my name is Stephanie, I’m 30-something and a Disneyholic. This will be my 15th visit to DLP and my 21st visit to a Disney themepark. What can I say, I’m a fan! I live in Denmark with my husband and daughter, babyL who hopefully will grow up and become a Disneyfan herself. My favorite character is Marie from Aristocats.

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My mom, called Mom, she is 60-something and my partner in crime when it comes to Disney. Most of my trips has been with her, so it makes perfectly sense that she was the one who suggested this little Christmas get-away. In her own words: “Isn’t it about time that babyL goes to Disney?” babyL was 5 months old at that time. My mom’s favorite character is Tinkerbell

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BabyL, she will be 15months old when we go so she won’t remember at thing from this trip, but I’m sure she will have fun. She hasn’t found her favorite character yet, but she really likes Let it go from Frozen, so maybe Elsa is her favorite?!

Fun fact: this is not babayL’s first time at a Disney themepark. Last year when I was pregnant, I went to Japan on my honeymoon and got to spend a few days at Tokyo Disneyland.
This is me waiting for the parade at Tokyo Disneyland, eating the best Mickey cake ever. In Tokyo DL everyone sits down on the ground and watch the parade, which is so relaxing. Other theme parks could learn from this! Of course, no one lets a pregnant woman sit on the ground, so I got a bench.

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I hope you'll follow along
 
Pre-planning and bookings

We started the planning of this trip back in February. My mom suggested that it was time to introduce babyL to Disneyland. We have been to DLP so many times that we by now have covered most of the year and we have realized that Christmas time is our favorite time. We enjoy looking at the decorations and the lights, and listening to the Christmas music that fills the parks at this time of year. When it comes to shopping, it also feels like there is so much more to buy for adults around Christmas time. So we have had to wait for 10 months before the next Christmas season hits the parks.

We started looking up flights and after some research and monitoring the prices, we ended up booking a Scandinavian Airlines flight out on the 12th. We wanted a morning flight but not too early since my mom lives a few hours from the airport. Me and my daughter lives about 40mins from the airport so we can leave at any point, but who wants to get up at 3 at night to go on vacation?! Ok, I would if I didn’t have to bring a toddler.

So we ended up with an 8:30 flight, which means that we will arrive at CDG at 10:30.

For the homebound flight we decided on an Air France flight. First of all because they had a nice afternoon flight and because Air France is the main airline company of CDG which means the gates are quick to get to and located in the main shopping area. Departing on Scandinavian Airlines means that you have to wait in an area with absolutely nothing to do farthest away from everything.

Maybe we should have booked with Scandinavian because a few months ago Air France contacted us to let us know that our flight times was moved. Now we had to depart at 9pm, which means we would be home just before midnight. Not an ideal situation when you have a toddler who want to go to bed at 7pm and a mom who can’t get home after 8pm.

I ended up calling Air France asking them to change our flight to an earlier departure, so now we are scheduled to depart at 12:30 pm, so we need to leave DLP at 10:00. We lost the last day but the thought of travelling with a tired toddler kind of made the decision.

Long story about the flights, now on with the more interesting stuff. The hotel!

We always book a package with hotel and park tickets, this is easy and we always search for the best deal on all the European sites. We have previous booked through the UK, the Dutch and the Belgium sites to get the best deals. For some reason the Danes are always the last ones to get a good offer, however this time it actually turned out that the best offer was on the Danish site. At that time, something better can have been released since February.

So we ended up booking the Disneyland Hotel to two nights with half board premium included. We never had a food package at DLP before so we are excited to try it out. We once had free dining at WDW and that was lovely, however a bit stressful.

The Disneyland Hotel is by far our favorite hotel. It is so beautiful; the theming is fantastic and the location… You don’t get any closer to the park.

We always make it a priority to go and get Irish coffee at the Café Fantasia and to visit the hotel shop when we are at DLP and I always feel a little jealous of the people staying here. Well, now it’s our turn to stay here. We stayed there once before and enjoyed it so much, so we can’t wait to stay here again!

Last step of the pre-planning is getting from the airport to DLP. We always take the Magical Shuttle, but this time we are taking a private transfer. It cost a bit more than the bus but it also means no waiting time and a direct drive to the hotel. After looking at the different car companies I ended up booking Easy Go Shuttle. They got really good ratings and you don’t pay anything beforehand, you don’t even have to give a credit card number.

So now everything is ready and we are counting down for departure.

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