England & France: Cities of Knights & Lights (London & Paris) Meets Thread

I know the high speed boat tour was a new event for the itinerary and I have to say it was wonderful! I was able to get some great pics in the beginning of the ride down the river and then enjoy the increased speed towards the latter end. We had an option of riding a tame boat and a more thrilling boat. Had a great first day of touring!!!
I will comment that all of the guides said Europe and in particular Paris have been hit hard by decrease of tourism. Today they said was the quietest they have seen Westminster abbey in a long time.
 


I know the high speed boat tour was a new event for the itinerary and I have to say it was wonderful! I was able to get some great pics in the beginning of the ride down the river and then enjoy the increased speed towards the latter end. We had an option of riding a tame boat and a more thrilling boat. Had a great first day of touring!!!
I will comment that all of the guides said Europe and in particular Paris have been hit hard by decrease of tourism. Today they said was the quietest they have seen Westminster abbey in a long time.

Very cool about the boat trip! How has the weather been?

Interesting about the lower tourism... and kind of nice, really!
 


Returned home safely from my trip! I will try to put together a brief trip report that hits the major highlights. Anyone have any questions? Had a fabulous trip for my first ABD and loved how seamless it was. Time to save for another one!

Would love to hear the highlights of your trip since it has changed so much from previous trip reports. We are taken this trip in early June 2017 and would love any tips that you have.
 
Returned home safely from my trip! I will try to put together a brief trip report that hits the major highlights. Anyone have any questions? Had a fabulous trip for my first ABD and loved how seamless it was. Time to save for another one!

I would love to hear about your trip- we leave in 3 1/2 weeks!!
 
Returned home safely from my trip! I will try to put together a brief trip report that hits the major highlights. Anyone have any questions? Had a fabulous trip for my first ABD and loved how seamless it was. Time to save for another one!

Glad you made it back safely! I have a few specific questions, but would love to hear your overall thoughts.

  • Not sure if you will know this or not based on your experience, but are you able to check in early on the first day? (Our plane lands at 11 am, I figure we'd be at the hotel by 1-ish)
  • What was your favorite meal on the trip that Disney provided?
  • When you get off the Eurostar in Paris, do you go to the hotel first to drop off belongings, etc. before the "Tour of Paris" and "Eiffel Tower"?
  • How do you travel to Versailles - bus?

Thanks!
 
Glad you made it back safely! I have a few specific questions, but would love to hear your overall thoughts.

  • Not sure if you will know this or not based on your experience, but are you able to check in early on the first day? (Our plane lands at 11 am, I figure we'd be at the hotel by 1-ish)
  • What was your favorite meal on the trip that Disney provided?
  • When you get off the Eurostar in Paris, do you go to the hotel first to drop off belongings, etc. before the "Tour of Paris" and "Eiffel Tower"?
  • How do you travel to Versailles - bus?

Thanks!

I can answer some of these questions based on the old itinerary I went on...they should still be accurate.

1. Whether you can check in early at the hotel or not is dependent on if your room is ready and available. If it is, you can. If it isn't, you have to wait. Usually, it will be. However, if it's not, you should be able to drop your stuff off and have it waiting for you in your room later.

2. When you travel on the Eurostar, you will not have luggage. Just whatever purse/backpack/tote you want to carry. The luggage doesn't go with you and will just be waiting for you when you check in. You will (most likely) not go to the hotel before touring, as that is not practical. You'll hop on a tour bus at the Gare du Nord (the train station where you get off the Eurostar), and do your touring. Regarding the belongings that you might want to drop off, they can stay on the bus if you want, as you will (likely) have the same bus for all day, until you get to the hotel. Your tour of Paris will (likely) be just a sightseeing bus tour, with the Eiffel Tower being the only place you'll actual get out of the bus for.

3. Versailles is reached by tour bus. Much simpler than a train or anything. It's only about 40-45 minutes away from Paris.

Keep in mind, the tour buses are very very nice (usually Mercedes or Lexus brand, very comfy). Plus, the drivers generally stay with the bus, so belongings are perfectly safe being left on them. When the guides say you can leave anything you want, they mean it. I wouldn't leave money or serious valuables like a passport or credit card, but your stuff will be safe and looked after. Disney doesn't want trouble. So, dropping off stuff at the hotel is no big necessity, and using a bus will be fun, not a hassle. Really, they'll be better than the coach fight you took to get to the trip.
 
Where is the Sep 2017 Roll Call? My Husband and I are now going on this Adult ABD as well. We are also coming in a day early to do the tour of the Globe theater and hopefully a show that night. So excited. Btw we are adding on 3 nights after for Disneyland Paris. Which is celebrating 25 years while we're there!

I'm looking for the Sept 2017 roll call too. My husband and I just signed up for that trip! Our plans sound exactly like yours!
 
Is anyone going on the June 20 trip. I will be going with my 18 year old grandson (graduation gift).
 
I apologize for my absence but I graduated over the weekend and got caught up with many activities.
Glad you made it back safely! I have a few specific questions, but would love to hear your overall thoughts.

  • Not sure if you will know this or not based on your experience, but are you able to check in early on the first day? (Our plane lands at 11 am, I figure we'd be at the hotel by 1-ish) I checked in at about 11am and our room was ready! I cannot say if this is normal or not but they new we were arriving early. I also came in for 2 pre days through ABD so I was not checking in the first night of the tour.
  • What was your favorite meal on the trip that Disney provided? In London, I really enjoyed the meal following the Tower of London, and Paris, the meal at Versailles was amazing.
  • When you get off the Eurostar in Paris, do you go to the hotel first to drop off belongings, etc. before the "Tour of Paris" and "Eiffel Tower"? You travel from the train station to the tower so you will not see your belongings until after the Eiffel Tower. You can leave any belongings on the bus while you take the tour of the tower.
  • How do you travel to Versailles - bus? Yes bus! Its about 40 min drive.

Thanks!
 
So for that recap I promised! So for a little background this trip was to celebrate my graduation from medical school and it was my mom and me. It was an adults only trip and our group had 16 people. I will mention there are new guidelines for the international trips. The guides no longer where any clothing with the Disney name and guests are advised not to wear their lanyards. They held up random objects to help identify where they were going. This is a safety thing and everyone happily obliged.

Our guides: Fern and Kim (also training Suzanne and Jennifer)
Dates: May 16-23rd with 2 pre-days May 14th and 15th

Day 0-1: We flew the red eye from PHL at 8:45 and landed in Heathrow around 9am. We flew through Boarder control grabbed our bags and strolled through customs. We found our ABD rep and were on our way! It was about a 40 min drive and we arrived around 11am. Our room was ready so we dropped our bags and hit the streets for the British Museum. It was a short walk. The museum was very large but full of wonderful antiquities. After walking around we returned to the hotel for a quick nap because we were going to a show that night to see the Book of Mormon. Our room was very nice but the light switched were a little confusing. When we woke up we got some dinner around 6pm before our 7:30 show. The show was wonderful! I loved that you are able to eat and drink in the theater compared to ones in the states. After the show we wandered back to the hotel.

Day 2: We slept in today because of our late night and breakfast was served until 11 so why not? Well there was a huge bridal exhibition which caused huge crowds for the breakfast room. There was a long line just to check in so we patiently waited. We were finally seated after about 25 minutes. The breakfast is pretty basic with hot and cold options. After breakfast, we planned to go to Kensington Palace and Gardens. We walked to the Holburn station and took the Tube to Queensway station. The underground system was very easy to figure out. I would use the wifi in the hotel to figure out our route then screen shot the directions. We bought oyster cards because we were going to use it more than 1 day. We strolled through the gardens, found Princess Diana's memorial fountain, and took a tour of the palace. We loved it and I will say we are huge royals fans! The weather was sunny that day so being outside was perfect. Around 4:00pm, we made our journey to Euston station to catch a train to Watford Junction to see the Harry Potter Studios. I will recommend trying to catch the midlands train because it does not have as many stops as the other local trains. We were able to use our oyster card for all of the trains that day. We had an entrance to harry potter at 18:30 (which was all that was left about 1 month out). When we arrived at Watford junction we walked to the shuttle (which costs 2.5 pounds round trip so bring coins if you can). We picked up our tickets and started the tour! After the beginning part, it is mostly self guided. As harry potter fans we absolutely loved it! I will say I would not book a trip just to see it but if you are in the neighborhood why not? We left with a few souvenirs and an appreciation for film making. We took the train back to Euston and the tube back to Holburn.

Ill post more soon!
 
I will mention there are new guidelines for the international trips. The guides no longer where any clothing with the Disney name and guests are advised not to wear their lanyards. They held up random objects to help identify where they were going. This is a safety thing and everyone happily obliged.
That's kind of sad, but I totally understand why they're doing it. Sigh. It's the world we live in today.

Looking forward to more of your recap!

Sayhello
 

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