A Spooky Disney Celebration

[Ariel2008]

It All Started With A Dream... And Then A Holiday... And Then Another Dream... Or Two... Or Three...

Okay now I am new to these forums so if this is in the wrong place please feel free to steer me in the right direction or move it if necessary. I have copied this report from where I originally posted it on another forum, where it was part of a report called 'It's A Small World'. 'Its A Small World' was a collaborated pre-trip report and trip report for 6 holidays that my boyfriend and I had planned for the next year, so you may here reference to some of those other reports in this one. Anyway enough blabbering, I will get on with the show...

The Where, When, Who, Why?
WHEN: 31st October – 4th November 2008 – 4 nights
WHERE: Disneyland Paris
WHO: Nick and Me; Mum, Dad and Sophie
WHY: For Halloween and to celebrate Nick and My 5 year dating anniversary

Well after the conclusion of our Magical WDW Adventure which was yet another holiday of a lifetime, the post Disney blues set in again, Big time, and I mean Big time with a capital B. Every time I turned the TV on there was yet another advert for Disney World or Orlando and everywhere I looked in our house was yet another reminder of my favorite place on earth, and the place I knew I wouldn’t be back to for a while. After this years trip to Disney World we knew we wouldn’t be able to go back until at least 2010, but how on earth could we survive with no WDW adventure to plan and look forward to, and what holiday could possibly fill the huge void not going to Disney had left in both of us...

...Well our solution came in the form of not one holiday but 6, yes you read it right, 6 holidays to plan and enjoy over the next year. Now not all these holidays are definite, only two are actually booked at the moment, but we are pretty sure that soon enough they will all be booked and we can get on with the all important planning, so fingers crossed.
And I thought that since sharing my plans with everyone on my Magical WDW Adventure (my trip report from our April/May 2008 trip) was both fun and helpful and that it really helped pass the time leading up to our great adventure that I would write a pre-trippie (or series of pre-trippies) to share with whoever wants to read :p.

Well before I tell you any more about our ideas and plans I will introduce the cast who will appear throughout this pre-trippie.

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The Cast
First off there is Me and my boyfriend Nick who will be planning and participating in all of the trips.
I am 23, a typical girly-girl who loves the usual girly related things – shopping, clothes, and jewelery, anything pink, sparkly and pretty.



And Nick is 24, loves typical boy things – cars, Top Gear, anything gadgetty, computer games and most sport – both playing and watching, especially Cricket, Rugby and golf.



Nick and I met on our first day at university nearly 5 years ago and have been together ever since and during that time have done some amazing things together. We have so much in common, we love the same things, share a lot of the same passions and have the same dreams and aspirations in life. From the moment we met we were completely comfortable with each other and have great fun planning our future.

Despite having a lot in common we have quite opposite personalities, I am a bit of a worrier, very particular and organised (Nick swears I have OCD but I find nothing wrong with colour-coding my wardrobe and having specific places for my DVD’s) as opposed to Nick who is so laid-back and takes everything as it comes…if it ever does. We therefore balance each other out perfectly which means we live, work and play together without killing each other in the process. It is also great because it means I get to make most of the decisions…like where we go on holiday !!

Our two main passions are Disney and traveling. We absolutely love to travel and have visited some amazing places together including Thailand and Cuba and plan to visit many, many more. We love reading about the countries, planning the trips and experiencing the culture, the countryside and especially the food and drink. We both especially love the US and would love to travel all around and visit all the different States. Its just so diverse and everything seems so interesting, we LOVE it. And with Disney being our other main passion we have been to WDW and Disneyland Paris several times and plan to go many, many more times in the future.

Here is a few pictures of us:










Next up is Mum, Dad and Sophie
I'll start with Mum as she is head of the household. She will be 50 is August and I think she looks damn good for her age - ever since she had Sophie she just seems to get younger and younger.
She is an amazing Mum, she is so loving and caring and has always puts us kids first, but she is also a great friend and great fun to hang out with.
She loves Disney and was the one who introduced me and my sisters to it. She has had major Disney depression ever since our last trip, she also loves the US despite initially being skeptical about going there, so much so she wants to spend all our holidays there. She loves great food, going to see great shows and visiting great places. She likes to help plan our trips but leaves all the major decisions to me.



Dad is 49, he will be 50 next July. He is actually only Sophie's real Dad but has been with Mum for 16 years and has been more than a dad to Kate (my older sister) and I and I absolutely love him to pieces. He is slightly crazy, but in a good way, and is so much fun to be around.
He works every waking minute to be able to pay for our amazing trips and nothing is ever too much for him. He loves Disney and is always talking about moving to America, he loves everything about the country and can’t wait to go back. He is really laid back and leaves all the decisions to Mum and I - might be something to do with living in a house full of women for 16 years.



Heres a few pictures of them:







Sophie - my baby sister, she is actually 12 (nearly) but will always be my baby. We are really close and I miss her so much when were not together. I love to spoil her and she is an angel child who deserves to be spoiled so it works out well. She is a lovely child, she is very well mannered and polite, she is kind-hearted and has lots of friends as a result, she tries hard at everything she does although sometimes finds things hard and grows into a more beautiful young lady every day.
She loves her family and is a Mummys girl, Daddys girl, Grandad's girl but most importantly My girl. She is quite young for her age and doesn't want to grow up, something not that common in children her age, meaning she still has that lovely innocence children have.
Her main passion is animals, from the day she was born she has had an obsession with all animals, initially she wanted to be an animal when she grew up but after figuring it wasn't really possible she decided she wants to either be a killer-whale trainer or be like Rosie Trevanion in Wild at Heart. She loves our holidays especially Disney and is happy-go-lucky with any plans we make, as long as it involves lots of pool time.










Mum, Dad, Sophie, Nick and I have spent several holidays together, including a whole month at WDW, and we all get along really well. We all love going on holiday, we all love Disney and the States and we all love being together. We like doing the same things which works really well, we like to pack a lot in and really make the most of all our time, we love to visit nice restaurants, see local sights, shows, theme parks, countryside and much more. We are all really looking forward to our upcoming trips, we are sure they will be a lot of fun.

[Ariel2008]

Oh and there is one more member of the cast. He has a real sense of adventure, loves traveling the world and has come with us on all our trips...and of course will be joining us on the ones we are planning. It's the one and only traveling Pig... It's Piggles. Here he is on some of his worldly adventures:

Relaxing in the Bahama's


Playing Poker in France


Eating at Annettes Diner, Disneyland Paris


His favorite place...Ohana


Waiting to ride Splash Mountain

[Ariel2008]

Plan, plan and plan some more... you can never plan too much, or can you?

As you can tell with all these amazing holiday ideas we have a lot of planning to do, which is another of my greatest passions (well as long as it involves something exciting like a brilliant holiday). I have already started a planning journal which will be used to document any hotels, attractions, restaurants we want to visit and also keep record of any confirmations. As you can see its got a slight Disney touch



I also plan to get lots of travel books to help with my planning, I love reading them they always give me new ideas and tips.



The trouble is I start to plan, get lots of good ideas, then find more good ideas, and then more and more and more. Our 2 week holiday soon becomes 3 weeks, then 23 nights, then 24 and our ‘value’ accommodation is no longer in the value range, nor the car or the flights or anything else for that matter. See thats the trouble with planning, there is always so much more to see and do and you have to stop somewhere, the trouble with me is working out just where !


So there we have it, the foundations for my pre-trippie are set and now it is time for the real fun and planning to begin... please come and join me

[Dawn]

Love the Piggles pictures. :rofl:

[Ariel2008]

A Bit of Our Disneyland Paris History
Some of you may have read about my previous trips to Disneyland Paris before in my Magical WDW Adventure, but for those who haven't, and to refresh the memories of those who have, I will relive with you our Disneyland Paris history in classic fairytale style.....

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful Queen who had 2 little princesses. The Queen liked to treat the 2 little Princesses by showing them magical Disney films and buying them small Disney gifts, starting a little Disney obsession in the smallest princess. Therefore when the magical Euro Disney first opened in 1992 the 2 Princesses begged the wonderful Queen and the boring old King to take them to this magical land of fairies, pirates and wondrous creatures. The Queen and King promised that in 1993 there wish would be granted ~ much to the Princesses delight.

But like in every good fairytale disaster struck and the boring old King left the beautiful Queen and the 2 Princesses, and their dream of visiting the wonderful and magical Euro Disney was left in pieces.

However, True to fairytale tradition a handsome and wonderful Knight came riding in on his beautiful black stallion to save the day. In 1994 The beautiful Queen and wonderful Knight took the 2 Princesses and the Knights young son to the magical World of Dreams, the most magical and wondrous surprise the young children had ever encountered.

Fortunately this was just the beginning of the magical adventures the young Princesses and young Knight would enjoy to this magical place, full of dreams and wishes.

And, of course, They all lived Happily Ever After"

So like the story tells in 1994 my wonderful Mum and step-dad took my older sister, myself and my younger step-brother to Euro Disney as a surprise. They told us some story about going to visit my Step-dad’s brother who worked on a ferry as a chef, except when we got on the ferry began to move. My Mum told us to all bet where we thought were going and the person who came closest would win a pound (talk about big money). Not knowing many places abroad, or perhaps it was my Disney-intuition, I said Paris. The journey down to Paris took a while but as soon as we close and started seeing the signs for Euro Disney I twigged and nudged my sister. When we eventually arrived and drove under the large wooden Davy Crockett Ranch sign, surrounded by trees and empty fields we were most disappointed. What we didn’t know was The Davy Crockett Ranch was a Disney resort. When we finally arrived at the park we were all so excited and couldn’t believe we were finally there, the place we had dreamed about going since it was first announced. My Mum and Step-dad had done such a good job keeping this a secret and were so excited to see our reaction, which of course was sheer amazement. We all instantly fell in love with the place and were so sad when it was time to leave.

Heres a few pictures:




I'm the little one in the middle

Luckily we got to visit a few times over the next few years, in 1995 we were having a family camping holiday in France when we had to move out of the area for an oncoming hurricane. Where did we go... Disneyland Paris of course.


1995

In 2000 I then got to visit for the day as part of a school trip, it was another great chance to visit this magical place, but I did miss sharing it with my family, especially my baby sister who had not yet been to Disney.

Therefore one of the most memorable trips was for my 16th birthday in 2001 which was to be Sophie's first visit (although I had made sure she had been brought up on Disney films). It was just as amazing to see her reaction to everything as it was to actually be there, and it made it as exciting as it had been that very first time.


2001 - My baby sisters 1st trip to Disney


Fast-forward 5 years...
Its the beginning of September 2006. We have just got back from WDW for our 2nd visit in 2 years. We had had the most amazing time and none of us wanted to leave. We all had major Disney depression and needed something to fill the huge void we all had. We knew we wouldn't be back to WDW for a while, so where would be a suitable alternative... why Disneyland Paris of course. We decided to go back, and then after some thought, decided that New Year would be a great time to visit. We never really did much for New Year so it would be nice to celebrate it in style this year. And this time Nick would be joining us too, luckily after his first trip to Disney with us that summer we had managed to convert him, quite willingly I will add, to a Disney park fanatic too.
We spent 4 nights, 5 days there, staying at the Davy Crockett Ranch for the third time. We had a wonderful time,enjoying the Christmas atmosphere, the special christmas decorations, parades and fireworks,the outdoor ice-skating at the hotel New York and wonderful Tinkerbell dinner show. We also got to visit the new Studio's park and also visited some DLP restaurants, something we had never done on our previous visits. We finally got to eat at the Blue Lagoon restaurant, a restaurant set inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and somewhere I had been longing to eat at since seeing it on our very first visit.

Its Minnie Mouse



Outside the entrance, in front of the Disneyland Hotel


Main Street in its holiday finest










The ice rink at the hotel New York


The brilliant Tinkerbell dinner show










The new Studios park

[Ariel2008]

The Disney Park christmas parade







The Christmas show








And New Years eve celebrations







Then for my birthday in 2007 Nick took me to Disneyland Paris to celebrate (our first Disney trip just the two of us). We stayed for 2 nights in Disney’s lovely Newport Bay hotel, staying on the Admiral's Floor. I had a wonderful birthday and Nick spoilt me loads. We ate in some really nice restaurants and rode all the rides and had another great visit.

The Newport Bay hotel


The Disney Village


The Disney Park decorated for its 15th Anniversary, with a special parade









One of my first and most memorable rides


The amazing Tarzan show


The HSM show at the Studio's





Our lovely dinner at The Steakhouse on my birthday



Well now that brings us to now...

How It All Began
We had a free 2 night trip to DLP to use, something that could be used at any time of the year. We thought when we could go, and this was the tricky part. We thought about Easter, but since Nick and I were going to WDW in May we thought it was far too close, as would the May half term be. We had been around christmas and it was too busy and too cold, and the summer holidays were out as we had Mum's birthday trip planned. So we decided on Halloween, again something we rarely celebrated. We all decided this would be a good time to go. We would get to see the park all decorated for Halloween, join in the Halloween celebrations for the first time in years, and it would also be over Nick and my 5 year dating anniversary. This was something we had planned to celebrate anyway so it worked out perfectly. So it was booked... then it was time to plan....

[Ariel2008]

Love the Piggles pictures. :rofl:

Thanks and to my trip report.

[Ariel2008]

The Planning

We had taken the first step of our holiday and booked our accommodation at the Davy Crockett Ranch. We had taken some time to choose the time of year we wanted to go, and chosen a time when we knew there would be lots of fun things going on. So the next step was to think about what we really wanted to do, where we really wanted to eat, how long we wanted to spend at each park and find out about the Halloween activities that would be going on, after all that is why we chose that time of year.

Our main planning tools for this holiday will be the following:
* Our knowledge and experience ~ as we have been to DLP many times (this will be my 7th visit), we know the parks, the rides, our accommodation and have ideas of where we want to eat.
* Disneyland Paris website ~ as we have not been to DLP for Halloween this will be our main planning tool in relation to that.
* The internet ~ the restaurant menu pages will help us to chose the restaurants we really want to eat in

And of course, who could forget my beloved BRIT GUIDE TO DISNEYLAND PARIS RESORT



This is my fountain of knowledge. I have read it a few times already but will be reading through it again over the next week or so to make sure I am up to speed with everything and know everything I need to to make this another brilliant holiday.

[Jodie]

I wonder if you can re-kindle my lost love for DLRP..... ? If anyones reports can it'll be one of your's



Jodie

[Ariel2008]

Daily Plans

Thursday 30th Oct:
Mum, Dad and Sophie will be coming up to ours at some point on the Wednesday.

We are leaving home around midday and driving to Bluewater shopping mall. The plan is to watch 'High School Musical 3' as Sophie is a BIG HSM fan, so this is a surprise for her. It will also be a great Disney start to our holiday. We will then be having tea at TGI's.



We will then be driving to Folkestone where we have booked the Express by Holiday Inn for the night, 2 rooms.





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Friday 31st October ~ Halloween:
Breakfast at the hotel

8.20am: Eurotunnel from Folkestone to Calais
Arrive in Calais and drive to DLP ~ this is about a 2-3 hour drive

Arrive at the Davy Crockett Ranch where we will be staying for 4 nights.







Drop off our drop off luggage and get ready for the evening ~ we all plan to dress up but as of yet only Sophie and I have costumes.

Drive to Disney Village and have tea at Rainforest Cafe


Disney's Halloween Party - a ticket only Halloween party in the Disney park from 8pm - 1am


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Saturday 1st November ~ Nick and my 5 year dating anniversary :
Breakfast in the cabin

Day at the Disney park

Tea at The Steakhouse in the Disney Village

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Sunday 2nd November:
Breakfast in the cabin

Day at the Studio's Park

6.30pm: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show


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Monday 3rd November:
Breakfast in the cabin

9.30am: Paris tour



Tea in the Disney Village, probably Billy Bob's


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Tuesday 4th November:
Breakfast in the cabin

Lunch: hopefully we will make it to Hard Rock Cafe in Paris, if not we will go to somewhere in the Disney village



8.40: Eurotunnel to Dover, then drive back home