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Old 5 Sep 14, 09:50 PM  
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#1
CreakingStool
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"Wow, it really is Magic" Pretrip

The Introduction and beginnings

Hi There

Having just booked out first ever Disney adventure I thought I'd have a go at this trippie malarky, hope I can do a fairly decent job.

THE CAST



Me, Juliet aged 37.
Chief planner and arm twister, Disney is somewhere I've wanted to visit for some time now. It never appealed to me so much before having children but having the kids and then finding The Dibb I've become slightly obsessed. As a child I loved Mary Poppins, as a teen and adult the Toy Story films are my favourites, recently I've loved Tangled and Frozen.

DH, Gavin aged 37
Not overly bothered beforehand but will love it when we get there. Gav is a great husband and dad and happy to leave the organising to me and enjoy the outcome. Pixar would be his disney films of choice.

DS, Zachary aged 8
Zach is our firstborn and a real treasure. He's energetic and only sits still if he has a HUDL/iPhone/iPad in hand. Really growing into a confident, cheerful and loving boy. Lover of Pixar films and currently Planes in particular.

DD, Imogen aged 5
Our wonderful daughter Imogen is fun and lives in her own little world as all 5 year olds should, a dawdler and a dreamer she loves Princesses and My Little Pony. Frozen has been a huge influence in her life!

Background

I've wanted to go to Disney for some time now and when I spotted a thread on The Dibb about an offer a plan started to grow. There was a problem though, DH doesn't have many days annual leave left taking out Christmas he has 1.5 days which would mean leaving Manchester at 2pm earliest on a Thursday. I decided this just wasn't worth it once I'd done some calculations so I left it to DH to speak to his works. The result was that they hadn't made a decision about any closing at Christmas so it was decided that he'd book 2 days in February and then worry about a possible missing half day if required. YAY. I was off to make my plans permanent.

The Plan

Booking through the disneylandparis.fr site was giving us 35% off and under twelves free making this cheeky trip possible. We need to work around the school holidays and DH annual leave and so the dates we chose were Thursday 19th February to Sunday 22nd February - 3 nights and 4 days.

The plan is to travel down from Manchester to London on Wednesday evening when DH finishes work and stay overnight in cheapish hotel. Reason for this is that Thursday morning we would need to travel in peak rush hour and a quick price check says the prices are ridiculous, much cheaper to travel down and stay over.
We will then get Eurostar to Disney on Thursday morning, stay in the Cheyenne hotel for 3 nights, Eurostar back and Virgin home. All sounds good so far

We plan to not tell the children until Christmas at the earliest so I have a suprise to arrange.

The Booking

Disney
Cheyenne Hotel, Thursday 19th February to Sunday 22nd February.
£470.35

Eurostar
19th February - St Pancras to Marne Le Valley direct 10.15 £138.00
22nd February - Lille to St Pancras £175.00
Direct train was expensive coming back and so I've booked the indirect option.

Things To Do
Travel Insurance
Renew my passport
Decide how to suprise the kids
Book Virgin trains at approx 12 weeks out (may do this with Tesco points and a railcard)
Book TGV connecting service to Lille at approx 12 weeks out (will contact Eurostar and see if they can do this or book direct)
Book London hotel (Premier Inn St Pancras possibly)
Book Disney Express Luggage Service
Book meals where required
Some sort of plan!

Thanks for reading. I intend to update this pretrip as I sort things out and I'm very excited
__________________
Xx Juliet xX

A long awaited Disney Fix. DLP June 2023, me and my girl


Edited at 08:14 PM. Reason: Changing Trippie Name
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Old 9 Sep 14, 04:07 PM  
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JRB
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Oh you must be so excited and can only imagine how your little ones are going to be when you tell them.

Look forward to reading more.
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Jackie
WDW - 1989, 2006 Once in a Lifetime Trip to WDW
DLP - 2004, 2014
London & DLP November 2014 - pre-trip report
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Old 15 Sep 14, 02:04 PM  
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fd1972uk
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Should be a great surprise for them.

Love the theming at Cheyenne.


FD
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DLP Jun'09, Cheyenne
CBR, AKL, AOA, FL Jun'13
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Old 17 Nov 14, 09:54 PM  
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CreakingStool
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Time for an Update I think

Since my first post in September we've been busy.

We've been away for a couple of weekends in our caravan. Firstly up to Haven Lakeland, we visited South Lakes Safari Zoo which we thoroughly enjoyed (fed Giraffes and kangeroos) and we also went to Blackpool to the top of the Tower and to the Circus (brilliant) and to the Sandcastle where we had a great time, not been for years. Caravan has been put to bed for the winter now and we need to plan our 2015 trips.

We also went to Alton Towers last weekend for the fireworks. We stayed in apartments at Heywood Hall which we highly recommended by us. Visited the parks on 2 days and the fireworks were amazing. We had Merlin passes this year and have really got our money out of them visting London Eye, Legoland Windsor and Discovery centre, Chessington, Alton Towers, Blackpool Tower attractions, Madame Tussauds and various Sea life centres. For £79 each a bargain

Back to Disneyland though and I've sorted quite a few of my to do list out now.

1. Booked our TGV train from MLV to Lille for our jouney home. We booked this on Capitainetrain site and it cost £29 for the 4 of us, bargain. They went on sale on the 7th of November and I booked that day.

2. Insurance. Travel insurance booked, not much else to say!

3. My passport. A painful extra cost for our trip. £72.50 I think, done online and waiting for new passport to arrive.

4. Travelodge in London. Booked Euston travelodge for the 18th as we will travel down to London then ready for our direct Eurostar on the 19th. Cost £85, should have booked a little earlier as I could have got it cheaper.

5. Buffalo Bills. I've booked BBWWS for the 20th February 6.30 show on ticketmaster.fr. For some reason I couldn't get the 37euro tickets on Disney but I got tickets for a total of £144 so I'm happy.

I'm waiting for Virgin trains to go on sale but have used Tesco points to buy a family railcard and to get some Red Spotted Hanky vouchers so I'm ready!

Plan wise - I'm not sure about booking the luggage service now unless we are actually checked into our room at the station. If this isn't the case then we will likely get the bus to hotel and just book luggage service for our journey home.

Thursday - I'm thinking of eating in the park in the evening at a quick service (will get Subway for dinner on the way in Eurostar and pack lots of snacks). Planning on watching Dreams tonight.
Friday is Buffalo Bills evening show so some sort of quick service daytime or maybe Annettes which I really fancy.
Saturday - I'm considering booking Inventions for tea (dinner!) but its a huge expense so thinking carefully. We were planning Cafe Mickey but with the new changes I don't like the menu really so its messed our plans up. Lunch will be something MUCH cheaper LOL!
Sunday - We leave on Eurostar at 2pm. Thinking an Plaza Gardens Buffet before we leave but need to work out timings.

To do.
Book Virgin trains
Book Photopass in advance
Book Restraunts where necessary
Sort out suprise reveal.

Thats it for now. Thanks for reading

Edited at 11:49 AM.
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Old 16 Jan 15, 10:44 AM  
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CreakingStool
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Join Date: May 11

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Reviews: 3
Time for another update

Christmas has been and gone. We told the kids about the trip on Christmas day, to be honest I probably wouldn't do this next time as there is just too much going on and I was left feeling like I was still the most excited person As the days passed though the excitement built and the countdown chart has been a great idea, here it is currently,



Started thinking about warm clothes and waterproofs so have picked up some bits from Go Outdoors and Aldi of all places

Ive been thinking of a rough plan so I can book anything I need to,

DAY1 - Weds
Travel to London Weds evening when DH finishes work (Virgin train). Overnight at Travelodge Euston. Snacks and supper cereals required.

DAY2 - Thurs
Breakfast at McDonalds near St Pancras and also picking up Subway for lunch while on Eurostar. Direct Eurostar to DLP so arrive around 2pm.
Check in at Cheyenne and then out to Disneyland Park. Plan to get a counter service meal maybe at Toad Hall as we all like fish and chips. Maybe catch parade if we can. Definately watching Dreams tonight at 8pm before heading back to hotel.

DAY3 - Fri
Up early, early slot for Cheyenne breakfast and then head to Disneyland Park for EMH.
Lunch possibly at Lucky Nugget Saloon.
Watch parade and have an afternoon stop for cake or something similar.
Head to BBWWS for show at 6.30 (booked) - Going to arrive around 5.30.
Back to hotel shattered no doubt!

DAY4 - Sat
Up and off to Cafe Mickey for breakfast at 8am (not booked yet).
Disney studios for opening and straight to Ratatouille then on to anything else we fancy.
Lunch - nothing takes my fancy at all TBH :/ Food options seem quite limited but something quick and not too heavy.
Tea at The Steakhouse (Mmmmmmm). Not booked yet but thinking about 5.30.
See how everyone feels but no plans to watch Dreams as its not on until 10pm and I can't see us lasting that long!

DAY5 - Sun
Up for Cheyenne breakfast. Check out and pay for luggage service.
Head to Disneyland Park and just do whatever people fancy. We'll need to get some lunch at some point, not sure what. Maybe Annettes early at opening but worried we'll be worrying about time.

Train home is indirect via Lille at 2ish so thinking we need to head to station at about 1.00 to get luggage in plenty of time? From St Pancras we need to get home to Manchester from Kings Cross due to West Coast mainline being closed.

Still to Do
Book Cafe Mickey breakfast and Steakhouse reservation
Buy a few more bits of clothing
Disney bit and bobs for the kids on the train.
Book photopass in advance maybe

Thanks for reading, can't wait to get on the train now
__________________
Xx Juliet xX

A long awaited Disney Fix. DLP June 2023, me and my girl


Edited at 10:15 PM.
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Old 15 Feb 15, 10:32 PM  
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#6
CreakingStool
Thread Starter
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Join Date: May 11

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Reviews: 3
WE GO THIS WEEK!

After a couple of busy weekends its almost Disney time.

Thought I'd post a further update, we are all getting very excited in our household. Here is a picture of the countdown chart,



So its off to London on Wednesday evening then the Eurostar Thursday morning. This past couple of weeks I've bought a few bits for the kids for on the journey and some clothes we needed.

Disney wise I've booked Cafe Mickey breakfast for the Saturday morning and also pre booked the photopass. I made a reservation at The Steakhouse for Saturday evening too.

All thats left to do is 2 days in work and pack the suitcase. I've printed off all the documents so we are ready in that sense.

Thanks for reading
__________________
Xx Juliet xX

A long awaited Disney Fix. DLP June 2023, me and my girl


Edited at 10:16 PM.
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Old 7 Mar 15, 09:37 PM  
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darbs
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Love your pre-trippie... we are very unorgansied for our trip!
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Old 7 Mar 15, 10:20 PM  
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CreakingStool
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Guidebook Reviews: 3
Originally Posted by darbs View Post
Love your pre-trippie... we are very unorgansied for our trip!
Thanks, we were a bit excited and I think The Dibb has a lot to answer for
__________________
Xx Juliet xX

A long awaited Disney Fix. DLP June 2023, me and my girl

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Old 7 Mar 15, 11:54 PM  
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darbs
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Mobile

I agree that the dibb does have a lot to answer for ... but I love it!
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