Thursday, 5 March—Getting to DLP (and my birthday!)
Hi everyone! I’m finally getting started!
I apologize for the lack of photos in this update, but I promise there are tons in the upcoming ones! As I hinted at, this installment is going to describe a bit of a nightmare…
I had packed Tuesday because I knew Wednesday was going to be a long day/night and I had to leave for my flight right after class on Thursday. I would up choosing to use my rolling carry on that was at EasyJet’s size maximum and packed very carefully for 12 days… To save room in my suitcase, I put both of my coats and scarf into my Longchamp and pulled them out right before boarding and shoved the purse into my suitcase, so I got on the plane wearing a sweater, two coats, and a scarf. Toasty!
I celebrated my birthday with friends in Nice Wednesday night, so I was quite tired when I woke up Thursday, but SO EXCITED because I knew I would be in Disney within the day!
I made it through class and a presentation, and then ducked home to grab my suitcase (and eat some obligatory post-birthday celebration McDonalds of course
)! Then I was on my way!
Not Disney, but some birthday celebration photos! My friends are too sweet and surprised me with a cake and brownies.
I caught a bus to the airport and was there with perfect timing. Security went very smoothly and I was in the terminal by 18.45. My flight was at 20:20, so I was glad to have some time to relax. My gate wasn’t announced yet, so I sat near the monitors and waited… and waited… Finally the gate was posted and I went to it, only to find that they were already halfway through boarding… what?! I haven’t gotten the hang of European airports yet…
I was very nervous my suitcase would be too big and I would have to pay an ungodly amount to check it since it was stuffed full, but no one even batted an eye.
Luckily, there was plenty of overhead space left since I was getting on at the tail end of the flight. I slept from before takeoff until right before we landed (somehow I always manage to sleep from the second I get on a plane!) and within an hour I was almost at Disney!!
(or so I thought...)
My car from RS Transfers was scheduled for 22:30. We had landed about 15-20 minutes early, so I grabbed a croissant from a stand that was still open and went to the restroom (where I proceeded to slam my finger in the door and bleed everywhere, so then I was walking around the airport with my finger wrapped in toilet paper... cute!). Then I scouted out the meeting point and sat down nearby to eat and send a quick text to Paige, who didn’t respond. I thought that was odd, since her flight was supposed to land around 20:15 and she would have certainly been at the resort by now… right?! (Cue suspenseful music…)
When it was a few minutes until 22:30, I went outside to wait for the car. I arrived at the spot and waited… and waited… and waited… I walked up and down the car area in case I was missing it and double-checked all of my information. Finally around 22:40, I decided to call the company. I dialed one of the many numbers they had listed, but my phone wouldn’t work. Uh oh! I was not happy.
I tried a few more times and didn’t have any luck. So irritating since I pay for a French SIM card! It’s worked for texts and incoming calls in the past, so I’m not sure what the issue was.
I didn’t want to go inside and wander around looking for a phone in case the car arrived. I stopped the man directing taxis and asked where I would find a payphone. He handed me his cell phone and let me call on that, which was super nice of him. The workers let me know the car was late and would arrive within 15 minutes, but was not apologetic at all. I settled in to wait some more and decided to remain optimistic despite being pretty annoyed.
In the meantime, Paige texted me back saying her phone was at 1% battery and she still wasn’t at the hotel and the train stations were a nightmare… I was worried for her since she doesn’t speak any French at all and wouldn’t have a phone!
At 23:00, my car still hadn’t showed up. I was doing laps all around the pick up area so I wouldn’t miss it, and finally around 23:15 I was getting desperate and went inside to find a payphone and make one last call before giving up and getting a taxi… I didn’t have enough coins to make a call and was walking around trying to figure out what to do when I ran into a man holding a sign with my name on it… convenient! I was a little bit grumpy to him when he tried to blame me for him not being able to find me… Well the meeting point was outside door 10 and he was standing inside door 4 more than 45 minutes after the scheduled pick-up time, so I didn’t really feel like it was my fault!
I got in the van, which was quite nice and smelled lovely, and the driver explained that his last group had been late and he was the only driver working, which was somewhat understandable. He said he had tried to call me but couldn’t get through, which made sense since my darn phone wasn’t working. Then he launched into some long explanation about how I shouldn’t have been able to book a transfer after 22:00… sorry that your website let me! That’s not my fault!
After a few minutes of driving I had gotten over my anger some (mostly because I was excited to finally be on the way to my final destination and thrilled I wasn’t lost alone in Paris at night like I had been envisioning!
) and chatted with the driver about his family and where he was from… he was really very nice and I don’t feel like the delays were totally his fault! It sounded like much more of an organizational problem by the company.
After a fairly pleasant ride, we finally pulled up to the resort just a bit after midnight.
When I went to pay the driver I only had 50 euro bills and he said he didn’t have any change, which I thought was a bit odd. I went running into the lobby with my suitcase and was greeted at the desk by a cast member. Immediately upon walking into the hotel the atmosphere changed and I could just smile because I was finally in Disney! The cast member at the desk was a young guy who immediately said, “I know who you are… let me think of it… Emily!” I guess he had checked Paige in earlier and he was ready for my arrival! He quickly made change for me without any issues and I left my suitcase with him and ran out to pay the driver. FINALLY I was ready to go.
I was the only one in the lobby and chatted with the super-nice CM for a second before making a beeline for my room… Paige had texted me all of the info when she finally arrived so I didn’t need anything from the CMs. I was immediately in a better mood…
it’s like the atmosphere changes the second you enter the Disney bubble, and I can’t complain at all.
We were in a room on the 4th floor near the elevators, which was quite nice. It had been redone and was beautiful. Paige said the CM had told her there was one room with two double beds left that was quite far away or this one, which had a queen bed and bunk beds. He took her around to look at them and after seeing the bunk bed room she said that would be just fine, which it definitely was. She offered to sleep in the bunk bed, but we just wound up sharing the queen bed, which wasn’t an issue at all. We’re both small and have shared a bed plenty of times before!
Paige's Journey
Here’s Paige’s story of her terrible time making it to DLP from CDG. She’s used to using public transportation in London and usually has no issue, so it takes a lot to trip her up on this:
“I got to the train station and spent almost a full hour having people not answer my questions including one worker who was openly rude to me. Finally someone explained how to switch trains on the slow train (RER) because there was no one working the TGV ticket counter that all the employees kept directing me to and I knew the last train hadn’t left yet. Also my ticket didn't work because I was confused before they told me I had to change trains and exited through the turnstile. Since the tickets only work for one trip, I had to go up to the counter again and explain myself and get a ticket voucher to get back through without paying again. The TGV should have taken 15 min but the RER took me to a station in central Paris where my second train was then delayed by around 40 minutes. It took me two hours on the trains/waiting for trains once I figured everything out to actually get to the Disneyland Station. Neither my voucher or actual ticket worked to let me out and there was no employee around to let me through the turnstiles, so luckily a guy came through with a stroller so I was able to sneak through with him in the big turnstile. It overall took around three hours and I didn’t get to the hotel until around 11:15 instead of 9 or so like I was expecting… it was just difficult because everyone was so rude and everything kept going wrong.”
Needless to say, neither of us had a great time getting to the Newport Bay Club and had gotten in much later that expected... We were both more interested in getting to bed than exploring, so we didn't look around at all that night.
We were both soooo glad to finally be at the hotel and sooo exhausted from traveling that we scrapped the idea of doing anything at all that evening and decided our morning plans before heading straight to bed! The CMs had set us up with all the maps and times guides which was very convenient and meant we didn't have to run down to the lobby again.
And an obligatory "we finally made it!" selfie in our pajamas after a longggg day
Next..... our very first day in DLP and a princess-filled day at Disneyland Parc!
I promise the rest of the posts will be much happier and more interesting with many more photos!