What a difference a day makes.
I ranted earlier on today about how I was fed up hearing about people’s amazing trips to Disney parks when I had no way of getting to any of them.
But this afternoon I got an e-mail from the mother of one of my students. Could he change his lesson next Monday to a different day? Ugh. But you know me, always eager to please and be helpful. So I called and we rescheduled.
And then I noticed something in my diary. From Saturday afternoon of this week to Thursday afternoon of next week I have no appointments.
Remind me why I can’t go to Disneyland Paris? No free time in the schedule?
After that, everything moved in something of a blur.
I first looked at the Eurostar webpage to see if trains to DLP were running. They were, but not direct. And they were hella pricey.
Hmm. OK. Let’s see what the DLP package pricing is looking like. Was there even availablity? There was. And a good price, too. At a hotel I want to try: Hotel Cheyenne — a Wild West-themed hotel that’s been recently refurbished to feature Toy Story characters. I selected a room, and clicked to the next page: flights.
OK, I’ll see what they’ve got. They had availability. At a sensible price. And decent timings.
The whole package — three nights, hotel, tickets and flights was £1,100 ($1,400).
I was desperate to click.
But Calvin! Can anyone look after him? And is this whole thing crazy? I sent frantic messages to friends. HURRY UP! REPLY ALREADY!
Eventually Sarah did. She could look after him.
Boom! I clicked.
I’m off to Disneyland Paris!
I fly out on Sunday evening, and return on Wednesday evening. That gives me two full days and one half-day at the parks.
I suddenly realised the enormity of what I’d done. I consider myself — ahem — something of a WDW expert. But DLP? I haven’t been in 11 years. I’m a total nube. And there’s so much to plan.
Not like WDW. Practical stuff. My flight to Paris arrives too late for the train. I had to find and book transportation. (No park access for me on arrival day. But I’ll be up bright and early to rope drop their equivalent of EMH. I’ll grab a quick Frappuccino on the way. The route from the hotel to the parks passes through their version of Disney Springs. It’s a twenty minute walk.)
Then I booked transportation from DLP back to the airport. Direct train. And I’d paid the extra for them to take my luggage from the hotel to the train station so that I can head straight to the parks on departure day. Via Starbucks. Obviously.
Then airport parking. And Fast Passes for security on the way out, and passport control on the way back.
Next up: Do I bother making ADRs? DLP does have them. You can even book them via the DLP app. I checked out some menus. The prices are hilarious. You think WDW dining is a rip-off? You should check out DLP. Then there’s Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show — dinner and show. Should I go?
I became a bit frozen with indecision. Besides, by this point I’d given myself a headache.
It wasn’t all good news. I had planned a two-night trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach at the beginning of September. I was even taking (i.e. paying for) two friends. But on my return I’ll have to quarantine for 14 days. Blackpool’s off. I told my friends they could go without me. I’d still pick up the tab. But they said it wouldn’t be the same. So we’re rain-checking it.
There’s still scope for it to go wrong. France is not currently requiring visitors to quarantine on arrival. When the UK announced that it would be, last week, France threatened to retaliate by requiring the same. They haven’t done so yet.
But — at this early stage — the weather looks reasonably decent.
So, I might actually be getting some Disney action in 2020 after all.
And, naturally, I’ll be bringing you all along.
If you want to, that is.
So happy for us… I mean you 
