An American Mouseketeer in Paris - July 2016 (New 1/11)

You guys must have been exhausted!! So many different forms of transportation :) But nothing like travel adrenaline to keep you pumped and the tiredness away!
 
[QUOTE="elphie101, post: 56185304, member: 213232"
Awwwwww I can't believe you read that behemoth! (Well, I suppose that's why I wrote it all in the first place). Glad you enjoyed and welcome to this ride![/QUOTE]

Oh I did! I skipped a lot of the comments though lol.

I cannot believe your flight issues! I am glad you made it there (and it sounds like you got home)! Logan international terminal can be so confusing. I also think it is the nicest of them all (I live just south of Boston).

How nice that the train takes you right to DLP! Your hotel is cute too! Small but clean!
 
ONE outlet? That's really sad!

I have to admit, I was very amused by your panic about "entering the country illegally". Then again, I'm weird like that.
 
Subscribing! Even though it's our closest resort.. I've never been to DLP! Looking forward to reading about your trip x
 


Yay! I can't wait to hear what you thought of everything. I went to London with my best friend for 2 weeks last fall, and we did a day in Paris and a day at DLP. I wish we'd had more time in Paris/had done what you did, and flew into one city and out of the other... but oh well. The problems with traveling is there's just so many things to do and not enough time!

Oh my goodness the flights! We flew Icelandair and I was concerned because we read a few poor reviews online, but we had a good experience. It was several hundred dollars less per person than the next flight with United. I can't believe they kept cancelling them. The baggage policies are funny, too, compared to here. I think Icelandair had a weight limit for carry ons but I don't remember them checking...
Because of course it couldn't be easy!
It's no fun if it's easy!
We had a layover in Iceland around the same time, and my first thought was, I feel like I'm in Ikea! We had to wait almost an hour for the little shop to open so we could get sandwiches.


As it turned out, the plane was too big for the gate, so we were loaded into a weird little holding pen and then bused to the plane itself - poor Kevin was absolutely freezing in his shorts thanks to the 45 degree Icelandic weather.

We Were opposite - we landed, after almost an 8hr flight, we barely dozed off for the last hour... and they shuffle us off the plane... Out into the freezing cold down a staircase, and make us wait for a bus! We were very awake after that! :laughing: We were able to get on the next plane from inside the airport.
About 10 minutes later, we arrived at Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy - we made it!! I have to say, I wish we had a train station steps away from WDW or DL, it was incredibly convenient.

We went across the street to catch the free shuttle to the Kyriad hotel, and immediately noticed the increased security presence in the area - obvious military folks patrolling the area with the biggest guns I have ever seen in my life. Considering recent events in France, we weren't at all surprised.



I didn't realize how close the station was until we came out! It was strange to us to see all the military people around the Eiffel tower, and the train stations even in November... We got back maybe a week before the first attack there. :sad2:
 
I'll be anxious to hear about your trip! We are hoping to do a DLP and French countryside trip in the near future!

Sounds like a difficult travel day. Why is it that European hotels seems to put the bed up against one wall? That means one person needs to climb over the other to get out of the bed. Very strange!
 
Oh my! That is quite the travel day! I think that is one of the few things that I will find hardest when I finally travel overseas- I am not a fan of travel days, and it will be much longer than just a little hop to FL!

Oh it was long alright! Do you have a direct flight? As much as I hate airplane bathrooms and not walking around forever a direct flight is ultimately the way to go IMO (we had an almost direct flight coming home)


You guys must have been exhausted!! So many different forms of transportation :) But nothing like travel adrenaline to keep you pumped and the tiredness away!

Oh we were! Not just any travel adrenaline, but travel adrenaline with being in a different country for (almost) the first time and knowing you aren't fluent in the language! Of course, the tiredness didn't stay away for long....

Oh I did! I skipped a lot of the comments though lol.

I cannot believe your flight issues! I am glad you made it there (and it sounds like you got home)! Logan international terminal can be so confusing. I also think it is the nicest of them all (I live just south of Boston).

How nice that the train takes you right to DLP! Your hotel is cute too! Small but clean!

I skip the chatter too when I'm reading threads :) Always nice to have a local reader aboard!

ONE outlet? That's really sad!

I have to admit, I was very amused by your panic about "entering the country illegally". Then again, I'm weird like that.

Ahahaha in hindsight our panic was totally unnecessary, but one does funny things when sleep deprived!

Seriously, just the one!! Not even any in the bathroom! Very baffling.


Subscribing! Even though it's our closest resort.. I've never been to DLP! Looking forward to reading about your trip x

Hello again!! I can't believe you've never made it over to DLP! You'll have to asap!

Yay! I can't wait to hear what you thought of everything. I went to London with my best friend for 2 weeks last fall, and we did a day in Paris and a day at DLP. I wish we'd had more time in Paris/had done what you did, and flew into one city and out of the other... but oh well. The problems with traveling is there's just so many things to do and not enough time!

Oh my goodness the flights! We flew Icelandair and I was concerned because we read a few poor reviews online, but we had a good experience. It was several hundred dollars less per person than the next flight with United. I can't believe they kept cancelling them. The baggage policies are funny, too, compared to here. I think Icelandair had a weight limit for carry ons but I don't remember them checking...
It's no fun if it's easy!

We had a layover in Iceland around the same time, and my first thought was, I feel like I'm in Ikea! We had to wait almost an hour for the little shop to open so we could get sandwiches.

We Were opposite - we landed, after almost an 8hr flight, we barely dozed off for the last hour... and they shuffle us off the plane... Out into the freezing cold down a staircase, and make us wait for a bus! We were very awake after that! :laughing: We were able to get on the next plane from inside the airport.


I didn't realize how close the station was until we came out! It was strange to us to see all the military people around the Eiffel tower, and the train stations even in November... We got back maybe a week before the first attack there. :sad2:

There's never enough time to see all of anywhere in Europe, not in a lifetime! We'll revisit all these destinations again for sure. So funny that we had somewhat similar flight experiences!

I'll be anxious to hear about your trip! We are hoping to do a DLP and French countryside trip in the near future!

Sounds like a difficult travel day. Why is it that European hotels seems to put the bed up against one wall? That means one person needs to climb over the other to get out of the bed. Very strange!

I would love to see other parts of France someday! I took a high school trip to Strasbourg, which was libey, and Kevin is a big WWII buff so he'd like to go to Normandy, but that's a long ways away. We're definitely sticking to the States for the time being!

It was so odd with the bed! Of course we have our habitual "sides" of the bed, so you're truly got to hug the wall for the night!
 


Day 1 Proper - Disney Village and Hotel Exploring

Considering that our last decent meal had been all the way back in the States, our hunger was currently overpowering our exhaustion. There was a bar/restaurant in the Kyriad lobby, but we were FINALLY at DLP - nothing but Disney Village would do! We headed out to the bus stop and after about 10 minutes were on our way to the European version of Downtown Disney (and/or Disney Springs now I guess!)

Once we returned to the train station bus stop, we had the first of many encounters with DLP's 'newest' security measures (I say 'newest' as I'm not exactly sure when they started, though I know they've been in place for several months now). Anytime we entered the Disney Village parameter either from the train station or from our hotel once we moved onto property we had to feed any bag through a scanner as if we were at the airport, as well as go through a metal detector. Again, like the military officials outside the train we weren't exactly surprised, nor did we mind.

It had started to sprinkle a bit, and figuring that the later we ate the more our late lunch could serve as an early dinner, we decided to do a bit of window shopping as well as stroll by the available restaurants once inside Disney Village. First up was the World of Disney, though it was certainly the smallest World we had been to. We were a bit disappointed to see that almost all of the French Disney merchandise we immediately recognized from the France Pavilion back home in Epcot. We didn't find anything we absolutely needed to purchase in that moment, so we continued onward.



We strolled through the Village, though I have to admit the weather didn't help our first impressions - it was trending towards the chilly side, not at all helped by the on and off drizzling. On top of that though, we felt like we could definitely tell that DLP has the unique Disney problem of having to deal with snow and proper winter weather and all the wonderful effects it has on the paint and buildings in the area. (I do hope I'm not coming off too negatively in comparing DLP to the Stateside parks, truly it is a stunning resort, though I've gathered even DLP regulars would agree that Disney Village isn't the best showcase of the resort in general).



We made it to the end of the Village and noticed the security points leading out to Hotel New York and Newport Bay Club, and so decided to double back to select a restaurant. Originally we had planned to pick something quick service to save money, but after all our traveling and the wet weather we figured we could treat ourselves to some proper table service, and settled on Annette's Diner.







I do have to say, we immediately noticed the difference in server treatment compared to what we're used to in the States, and we both agreed we actually preferred the more hands off, only around when we needed serving approach we encountered in Europe. Kevin got a fish sandwich and I got a burger. I don't know if it was because we were so exhausted and starving as well as eating our first hot meal in nearly a day, but the food was absolutely delicious!


The "Green Burger" ... €15.99 - Burger, Mozzarella, avocado, tomato confit, Annette's sauce and coleslaw


Fish Burger ... €17.99 - Breaded cod fillet, black pepper tarragon sauce, red onions, cucumber, salad, tomato and coleslaw (tomato and coleslaw removed)

By the time we had finished our meal it was coming up on 5:00pm local time, and we truly felt like we could have gone to sleep at that point (going on 28 hours since our last sleep beside the plane) but we knew the later we stayed up the easier the time change would be the next day. In the interest of staying awake we decided to explore the hotels in the area, though we agreed to skip Newport Bay Club since we would be checking in there the next day.

And so, Hotel New York it was!







Originally I had wanted to stay here, if only because the other options we considered (Newport Bay Club and Sequoia Lodge) had similar counterparts back "home" and Hotel NY was truly unique. Ultimately I'm glad we ended up where we did, but I'm really glad we got to explore a Disney hotel unlike any other ones we had seen before. I'm also glad as we got to play around with the cutouts inside ;)



We continued around the lake and stopped next at Sequoia Lodge.



I didn't take as many pictures of the interior, but we were definitely feeling the Wilderness Lodge vibes. Or as I said, if Wilderness Lodge is the little brother of the Grand Californian, Sequioa Lodge was like the half brother or distant cousin you never knew about - the kinds of metaphors you come up with when you're severely jet lagged and exhausted.

We ended up finding a couch within the lobby and just plopped down to connect to the WiFi for a bit, as our feet were starting to protest from all the walking. It was nice to reconnect with home for a bit, but we quickly realized that if we didn't keep moving it was nearly impossible to keep our eyes open. Originally I had thought we could walk over to Hotels Cheyenne and Santa Fe to explore them as well and keep ourselves awake, but the exhaustion was finally winning and so we threw in the towel and headed back through Disney Village to the bus stop.

We made it back to the hotel by around 6:45pm, and I was determined to make it till at least 9:00pm to reset our body clocks. We made it about an hour by watching some BBC, surfing social media and reorganizing our luggage before completely crashing at 8:00pm. I remember my last thought before we fell asleep was how I hoped we got onto French time well enough!

Coming up next: Our first Disney day!
 
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Joining in...I can't wait to read about the parks! We are planning a trip for next March. :)
 
I love this! I visited DLP years ago when I was studying abroad in Scotland (apparently DLP was my biggest sightseeing priority!) so I love revisiting through your eyes. As far as security, I have to say that I've seen a huge military police presence every time I've been to Paris. It's understandably increased, but I remember being a little thrown off seeing them in the metro stations when I was in high school.

As for the hotel taking your passport numbers, that's just part of the European Union rules. They have to collect certain information from guests so as to have it readily available to law enforcement if necessary.
 
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Great TR!

Thanks for joining in!

Joining in...I can't wait to read about the parks! We are planning a trip for next March. :)

Welcome! You're going to love DLP and I hope this is helpful!


I love this! I visited DLP years ago when I was studying abroad in Scotland (apparently DLP was my biggest sightseeing priority!) so I love revisiting through your eyes. As far as security, I have to say that I've seen a huge military police presence every time I've been to Paris. It's understandably increased, but I remember being a little thrown off seeing them in the metro stations when I was in high school.

As for the hotel taking your passport numbers, that's just part of the European Union rules. They have to collect certain information from guests so as to have it readily available to law enforcement if necessary.

Who'd of known that was an EU rule? Makes sense though. We were initially thrown off too by all the military presence (it was even heavier in Paris around Notre Dame and other such sites) but considering current events it certainly made sense to us.
 
Day 2 - Disneyland Paris!

When we last left off, I was hoping that crashing at 8:00pm would be enough to reset our body clocks to our new time zone. It turned out I had nothing to worry about - we slept 11 hours! I call that a success.

A continental breakfast was included in our room rate and given that dinner hadn't quite happened we quickly headed over to the restaurant to eat.





I didn't grab any pictures of the buffet spread, but it included a meats section with bacon, ham etc, eggs, yogurt, cereals, and plenty of croissants - the first of many vastly superior croissants we had while in France (good god what I would do for one of those right about now!). They also had a coffee machine with espresso drinks as well as juice and milk dispensers. Bellies full, we went back to our room, picked up our luggage and headed out to the bus stop.

Given that our hotel was the second stop on the loop of Partner Hotels, it took about 15 minutes to make it back to the train station/bus stop at Disneyland Paris, and considering the security at Disney Village was filled with people coming off the train and local countryside buses we decided to wait for the Newport Bay Club bus. After a few minutes, the bus pulled up and we were soon off to our home for the next two nights!





We pulled up to Newport Bay Club right around 9:00am and made to head into the hotel before we were quickly stopped by security, who had us feed our bags through another x-ray scanner before we were allowed to enter the lobby. Before we could head to check in though, still more security officers were waiting for us with security wands for every person that came off the bus. Having successfully passed through security, we headed to check in where our room was of course not ready yet. We were however given our park tickets as well as our breakfast time cards for the next two mornings. I have to say, this was such a brilliant system - I wish we could implement it in the States! I know it'll never happen, but having every guest planning on eating at the hotel pick their arrival time right at check in is simply brilliant.

We double backed outside to drop off our luggage with bell services, and then we were off to the parks! Walt Disney Studios actually hadn't opened yet, so I asked Kevin if he wanted to rope drop the park and got a scathing look for my troubles - we only had one true destination in mind:



After stopping right outside the turnstiles to answer a survey castmember's questions, we turned the corner and were greeted by this beautiful, beautiful sight -




Doesn't everyone have a castle photo with this expression? I know we do for every castle we've seen!

I have to say, my heart will always belong to Cinderella Castle, and DL's Sleeping Beauty will always be the mothership of the castles, but man - this is hands down the most beautiful of the castles I've seen yet. I can't put my finger on it, but something about the charm and elegance was just simply breathtaking. We couldn't stop taking photos!




(I have a photo in this pose from every castle I've seen in person - gotta keep tradition alive!)

There was about 10 minutes left of Extra Magic House and until proper park opening, so we joined the line of folks waiting to enter Tomorrowland. I worked in Tomorrowland during my college program at WDW, and because of that it was the first land we properly visited on our first Disneyland trip, and as such hitting Tomorrowland first has become another tradition for us. As we were waiting, Kevin noticed some people passing the CM blocking the entrance, and went up to inquire - as it turned out, we were eligible to enter right at that moment thanks to having checked into Newport Bay Club already. Well, I'm never going to say no to a few extra minutes of less-crowded park time!



Space Mountain was closed for refurbishment (it was scheduled to open the next day, my birthday!) so once inside Tomorrowland proper we headed over to Buzz Lightyear - also our first ride at DL's Tomorrowland, and my former work location at WDW!




What's ironic about this is people stopping to get this photo was always a nightmare for me when working (because of the tendency to hold up the line) and yet now I always need to get the photo myself! Don't worry, we let people pass ;)

Hearing Buzz in French was definitely a different experience! Despite Kevin regularly kicking my behind at Toy Story Mania back home and at many video games, I did Star Command proud and managed to beat him.



We grabbed a Fastpass when we got out, even though we weren't sure if we would necessarily ride Buzz again in that time frame, just because we miss collecting paper Fastpasses back home! We wandered through Tomorrowland a bit, but waits were already starting to build as the non-EMH guests had been let in while we were off saving the galaxy from the Evil Emperor Zurg. So when we saw a 5 minute wait for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, we ran right in. What we didn't know however was that 20,000 Leagues was only a walk through attraction - oops. It was still kind of neat to see all the detail put into the place, albeit a bit more so when we thought it was just the queue for a ride ;)







By now the park was fully open, and I was ready to hop in the Autopia line being that it was right there, but Kevin was desperate to go to Phantom Manor, probably the thing he had been looking forward to the most out of all of DLP. So off to Frontierland we went!



The overcast sky definitely helped to add to the spookiness of the area! I love how themed the whole hilltop is.


Reason Number 1 why we NEED to make a trip to DLP again someday - I'm so bummed we missed out on Big Thunder!!

As for Phantom Manor itself - words do not do it justice (and neither would any crappy, dark cell phone pictures). Luckily we knew enough about the storyline that the French preshow wasn't too over our heads, but the whole bride storyline just made everything so interesting - not to mention the whole end scene!As much as we wanted to ride again we decided to continue onward, heading for Indiana Jones (after getting a bit lost thanks to construction on the Swiss Family Treehouse - so weird to not know your way around a Disney park!) We were able to walk right on Indy and it was a rush, and a LOT rougher than I expected - my ears hurt from being banged around after!Thank again to the construction, there was really only one path out from where Indiana Jones is, and so as we meandered up to Adventureland we decided to take a spin on Pirates of the Caribbean, knowing that DLP still had the pre-Johnny Depp additions. It was so good! Super long and combining the best parts of both WDW and DL's Pirates.








And they took a photo!!

With that, we had virtually done all of Adventureland, so we continued on to Fantasyland. On the way we started to feel a little peckish, so we stopped into a shop to pick up a snack I had spotted at a few different places along the way -




For the firsts time in my life, I can say this tasted like chicken and not actually be talking about chicken! They were pretty weird and we didn't finish them in the end.

We continued on to hop onto Small World (again strong reminders of DL here, with the big facade and outdoor loading zone). I missed the photo, but this was our first time seeing a "USA" land and Kevin and I both instantly cracked up at the dolls chosen to represent our country!After our tour around the world we decided to do something totally new to us - the Alice in Wonderland maze! I wished we had been able to visit when it was less crowded though, as it kind of ruined the whole maze effect that we were basically following everyone in front of us through the hedges until the end. We did make it to the castle in the center though - it was cute but SO crowded!







By now we were quite ready for lunch, and our first meal in park! And I had only one place in mind...

Coming up next: lunchtime and our room at Newport Bay!
 
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Great start to some Disney Paris fun!

I totally had to go and look up the storyline for Phantom Manor- I was dying to know more!!
 
Great start to some Disney Paris fun!

I totally had to go and look up the storyline for Phantom Manor- I was dying to know more!!

Isn't it so cool? I think the one in Tokyo has a funky storyline as well, but it'll be awhile before we get over there :goodvibes

Lovely first day :goodvibes

Thanks for following along!!

Phantom Manor is beautiful! I can't wait to read more :teeth:

Isn't it so pretty? I love how all the Mansions have such a different look to them (at least the three we've seen in person!)
 
We continued on to hop onto Small World (again strong reminders of DL here, with the big facade and outdoor loading zone). I missed the photo, but this was our first time seeing a "USA" land and Kevin and I both instantly cracked up at the dolls chosen to represent our country!After our tour around the world we decided to do something totally new to us - the Alice in Wonderland maze! I wished we had been able to visit when it was less crowded though, as it kind of ruined the whole maze effect that we were basically following everyone in front of us through the hedges until the end. We did make it to the castle in the center though - it was cute but SO crowded!

One of my favorite things is seeing how other people interpret my homeland -- definitely looking forward to seeing the USA dolls in DLP's IASW, and to seeing the hotels themed to different parts of America. Also good to know about the maze -- wouldn't have thought about it before you mentioned the crowds ruining the effect, but that may have to be a rope drop first stop when I go to DLP next year, to get the full effect. It's a pain to wait in lines, but at least once you get on a ride it's still the same experience. Not so much with a maze, I guess.
 
What a great TR so far! It's wonderful to read stories from someone overseas while this is my home park. :) Thanks for sharing and I'm excited to read the rest!
 
Great so far! Do you speak French or did you take it in school? I'm probably going to have to do a serious refresher as I really didn't have a lot of French.

I did crack up at the Poulet chips, that sounds a bit strange. I'm going to have to look up the back story of Phantom Manor. Sounds like it will have a lot of research to do before planning a trip there!
 

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