Malton Seadog
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2007
So - I'm back in England.
After leaving St. Pancras at 15:00 on 26th June, I've finally arrived back on 3rd July at 22:00.
Seven wonderful nights spent in Bussy-Saint-Georges, four wonderful days spent in Disneyland.
I suppose the best place to begin is on the very first day. Ladies and Gentleman, if you're sitting comfortably, I shall begin...
Thursday 26th June 2008
The other half and I left Doncaster at around 10am, getting the train down to London. We'd booked it well in advance (April in fact), so an open return ticket cost us just £21 each. Of course, we had to specify which trains we would be travelling on, but with a walk on single fare costing £66, it's well worth planning in advance!
On arrival at London King's Cross, we had a three hour wait until our Eurostar left for Paris. We made our way to St. Pancras to find that there were around 12 seats in the entire 'pre-check in' area. We ended up sitting on a metal bar, getting a very numb bum, doing logic puzzles in a book we'd bought.
After two bum-numbing hours, we could finally check in. As is compulsory, I beeped as I went through the security gate. Turns out it was my railcard (?!) setting it off. Fair enough.
Anyway - after another hour of sitting around, we finally got on the Eurostar and we were underway.
Just outside Paris, I'd say 15 miles or so, we stopped. A minute passed. Ten minutes passed. Being rather sceptical at the best of times, I had a sneaky feeling that all was not well. I was proven correct when the announcer said there was a lineside fire near Paris, and that we couldn't progress until it was put out.
An hour and a quarter later, we progressed! Thankfully though, in a wonderful gesture by Eurostar, they have offered everyone on the train a half price ticket to anywhere on the Eurostar route.
When we got to Paris, we got robbed by a bloke in the metro station. One tip for you all - know which ticket to buy before you get there!
We asked a passerby(a bad move as it turns out) which ticket to buy, and he told us that a single to Bussy-Saint-Georges would cost us €12.50 each. He got us it on his travelcard and asked us for the money. We paid him €30.00 and he gave us 50c change before running off. The cheek of it! It could have been worse, we could have given him a €50 note.
We finally got on the metro (very very hot, and very smelly) to Chatelet-Les Halles, and changed onto an RER to Bussy-Saint-Georges.
It turns out the ticket should have cost us €4.95. Such is life.
The hotel was finally found at 10pm, as the sun was setting over our eventful, and not necessarily enjoyable, first day of our holiday. This was after walking ten minutes in the wrong direction after the map we printed out was wrong. We asked a local on a bike who was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction.
The Campanile hotel in Bussy-Saint-Georges is ideal for Disneyland-goers, as the walk to the station takes around 7-8 minutes, and it's far cheaper than the DLRP Hotels.
We went to bed tired and exhausted, but we knew that tomorrow we'd be going to the park - and oh boy were we excited!
(To be continued...)
After leaving St. Pancras at 15:00 on 26th June, I've finally arrived back on 3rd July at 22:00.
Seven wonderful nights spent in Bussy-Saint-Georges, four wonderful days spent in Disneyland.
I suppose the best place to begin is on the very first day. Ladies and Gentleman, if you're sitting comfortably, I shall begin...
Thursday 26th June 2008
The other half and I left Doncaster at around 10am, getting the train down to London. We'd booked it well in advance (April in fact), so an open return ticket cost us just £21 each. Of course, we had to specify which trains we would be travelling on, but with a walk on single fare costing £66, it's well worth planning in advance!
On arrival at London King's Cross, we had a three hour wait until our Eurostar left for Paris. We made our way to St. Pancras to find that there were around 12 seats in the entire 'pre-check in' area. We ended up sitting on a metal bar, getting a very numb bum, doing logic puzzles in a book we'd bought.
After two bum-numbing hours, we could finally check in. As is compulsory, I beeped as I went through the security gate. Turns out it was my railcard (?!) setting it off. Fair enough.
Anyway - after another hour of sitting around, we finally got on the Eurostar and we were underway.
Just outside Paris, I'd say 15 miles or so, we stopped. A minute passed. Ten minutes passed. Being rather sceptical at the best of times, I had a sneaky feeling that all was not well. I was proven correct when the announcer said there was a lineside fire near Paris, and that we couldn't progress until it was put out.
An hour and a quarter later, we progressed! Thankfully though, in a wonderful gesture by Eurostar, they have offered everyone on the train a half price ticket to anywhere on the Eurostar route.
When we got to Paris, we got robbed by a bloke in the metro station. One tip for you all - know which ticket to buy before you get there!
We asked a passerby(a bad move as it turns out) which ticket to buy, and he told us that a single to Bussy-Saint-Georges would cost us €12.50 each. He got us it on his travelcard and asked us for the money. We paid him €30.00 and he gave us 50c change before running off. The cheek of it! It could have been worse, we could have given him a €50 note.
We finally got on the metro (very very hot, and very smelly) to Chatelet-Les Halles, and changed onto an RER to Bussy-Saint-Georges.
It turns out the ticket should have cost us €4.95. Such is life.
The hotel was finally found at 10pm, as the sun was setting over our eventful, and not necessarily enjoyable, first day of our holiday. This was after walking ten minutes in the wrong direction after the map we printed out was wrong. We asked a local on a bike who was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction.
The Campanile hotel in Bussy-Saint-Georges is ideal for Disneyland-goers, as the walk to the station takes around 7-8 minutes, and it's far cheaper than the DLRP Hotels.
We went to bed tired and exhausted, but we knew that tomorrow we'd be going to the park - and oh boy were we excited!
(To be continued...)
cant wait to hear more 
hopefully tomorrow will be full of Disney Magic for you. 
(is the child price the same??) we also have 4 days in the park and tea at the plaza booked so I wil be hanging on your every word
