FSU Girl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2016
Welcome!
Full disclosure, this is not a cruise trip report and doesn't really have any Disney elements. Some people asked for me to write a trip report of my recent honeymoon trip where I spent two weeks in England and Scotland. I figured since these can be places to visit either on a cruise or before or after a cruise some of this can be helpful to planning a British Isles cruise with Disney. I'm going to try and keep this short since there isn't a Disney element to this. If you want to read a more in depth view into my trip I have a travel blog I recently started called Travelswithalysia.com
The Who's, Where's and Why's
Who: My husband and I. This was our third and final honeymoon trip.
Where: England and Scotland, a week in each
Why: This was the main honeymoon trip I wanted to do, we added our other two honeymoons to be closer to our actual wedding date and my love of Disney.
We flew from Miami to London Heathrow airport direct. We decided to travel in style and fly first class, something I've never done before and has totally spoiled me for future flights. I chose a later flight that left at 8:20pm so we would arrive in London around 10am. I hoped that with the later time I'd be able to sleep on the plane and not be as jet lagged as normal. We chose the Double Tree by Hilton West-End for the first two nights of our trip. I had booked this specifically for it's location. I had booked a tour to visit Highclere Castle, the filming location for Downton Abbey. The pick-up location for this tour was at the British Museum, so I figured it would be easiest to get there if we stayed nearby.
One thing that worried me before our trip was transportation from the airport to our hotel. We decided to get Oyster Cards and take the Tube into the city. There are a few different ways you can get into the city, but this is by far the cheapest option. It will take about an hour though with all the stops along the way. We went to a person instead of using the machines while stay at the airport. They had a 7 day pass that we would end up buying later, but it needed to be used consecutively and we were going to Scotland for a week in the middle of our trip, so we just added money to our cards to use for two days. If staying in the British Museum area there are two Tube stations you can use, either Holborn or Russell Square. We did this with two huge suitcases and didn't have any issues. There were some stations that didn't have elevators though, so if you can't lift a heavy suitcase be sure to check which stops are handicap accessible.
When we arrived at our hotel the room wasn't ready yet so we went to the British Museum to kill a few hours, fight off jet lag and explore all the history that's inside there. A nice thing about this museum is that it is free to get in. You are also allowed to bring big backpacks inside, although they will make you take everything out to inspect it. This really helped us since we had our carry-ons with us after dropping off our luggage at the hotel.
Hotel rooms in Europe are smaller than a standard hotel room in America. Our other two hotels we were upgraded and had larger rooms, but this first hotel was small. It had two twin beds and not much room to get around them.
A thing I found common over here that is not common back home was the glass wall over the shower would only cover half the length. I was not a fan of this, it made the shower feel colder and water would get out more. All three of our hotels had this style so I think it's just what's common in the UK.
For cruises, I highly recommend flying in a day or two before in case there are any delays with your flight. When I had first started planning this trip I had planned on doing a British Isles cruise, which is why we had two days in London and then went to Scotland then came back due to our flights being locked in. I had planned two days in London originally with the cruise.
This trip was the first time I ever booked tours outside of a cruise. Before going I was very nervous how this would go and did a lot of research on each company we used. I really love the show Downton Abbey and wanted to visit Highclere Castle. They are only opened a small portion of the year since the family still lives there. It technically should have been closed when we were there, but they were having a special event for a week. I booked a tour with a company called International Friends. This was probably my favorite tour out of our entire trip.
How this tour worked. They gave three different options for pick-up locations within London and then at the end of the day dropped off at a single point at Victoria Station. This is probably my only complaint for this company. I didn't like being picked up and dropped off in two different spots. It was especially confusing since we had just gotten to London and didn't know our way around well. I also forgot my Oyster Card and had to pay a one way ticket to get back to our hotel. We chose the British Museum spot since I knew what that building was and could easily figure out a way to get to it. The meet time was also 7am so I didn't want to rely on transportation that early in the morning and wanted to be able to walk.
This tour was slightly different from a normal tour here with the company. Due to the special event we had to visit Highclere Castle first, normally they go there last. We got to sit in on a lecture from the real Countess that lives here, which was really cool. We spent a few hours here, having enough time to explore the gardens, listen to the lecture and get a guided tour of the inside of the castle. We also got to go to the Cotswolds where they filmed the city of Downton and a farm that was used within the show. It is an all day tour and we got back around 6pm.
This tour could easily be done before going on a cruise. Highclere Castle can be visited on your own, but it is complicated to get there without a car. It's two hours outside of London and not near the train station. I'm not sure what the child restriction is on the tour, but the website does have children as young as 3 available to book, so I believe they could go on this tour. There were only adults on ours, but when we were at Highclere castle I did see children running around as well as the farm we visited.
One Disney element we did have on this trip, our dinner that night. We decided to eat at our hotel, which was actually a fantastic meal. It turned out that our waitress used to work at Disney and was so excited to learn we had gotten married there. She was super sweet and brought us out complementary champagne and a dessert. It felt like we were back at Disney.
To get to Scotland we decided on traveling by train. We took the Tube to Kings Cross Station and then a train to Edinburgh. I highly recommend buying tickets as far out as possible (3 months) to get the cheapest rate. We decided to go first class, which I would definitely recommend and do again. Unlike flying, it isn't crazy expensive and if you book out far it can be a reasonable price. It comes with unlimited drinks and they serve food to you at your seat along the way.
In the lobby of Kings Cross Station they have platform 9 3/4 set up. They have a photographer there, but also let you take pictures on your phone. The line for this can get very long, so I highly recommend getting there early.
If traveling in first class they have a lounge you can wait in that has drinks and snacks. They have TV screens with the trains and platforms. When we arrived we didn't have a platform number yet, so we waited there. Once we did, we hurried off to get on our train. The luggage storage is limited and we wanted to ensure that we could see our suitcases from our seats.
Yes, we have Mickey and Minnie suitcases
If you are doing a Disney cruise that begins or ends in Dover all of the activities we did can easily be accomplished before or after a cruise. Our Scotland trip could also be accomplished if you have a few more days. I hope this can help some who are planning what to do around their cruises or if they are looking at taking a trip to England or Scotland. I did so much research I'd love to be able to help someone out with the knowledge I acquired.
Up next Scotland...
Full disclosure, this is not a cruise trip report and doesn't really have any Disney elements. Some people asked for me to write a trip report of my recent honeymoon trip where I spent two weeks in England and Scotland. I figured since these can be places to visit either on a cruise or before or after a cruise some of this can be helpful to planning a British Isles cruise with Disney. I'm going to try and keep this short since there isn't a Disney element to this. If you want to read a more in depth view into my trip I have a travel blog I recently started called Travelswithalysia.com
The Who's, Where's and Why's
Who: My husband and I. This was our third and final honeymoon trip.
Where: England and Scotland, a week in each
Why: This was the main honeymoon trip I wanted to do, we added our other two honeymoons to be closer to our actual wedding date and my love of Disney.
We flew from Miami to London Heathrow airport direct. We decided to travel in style and fly first class, something I've never done before and has totally spoiled me for future flights. I chose a later flight that left at 8:20pm so we would arrive in London around 10am. I hoped that with the later time I'd be able to sleep on the plane and not be as jet lagged as normal. We chose the Double Tree by Hilton West-End for the first two nights of our trip. I had booked this specifically for it's location. I had booked a tour to visit Highclere Castle, the filming location for Downton Abbey. The pick-up location for this tour was at the British Museum, so I figured it would be easiest to get there if we stayed nearby.
One thing that worried me before our trip was transportation from the airport to our hotel. We decided to get Oyster Cards and take the Tube into the city. There are a few different ways you can get into the city, but this is by far the cheapest option. It will take about an hour though with all the stops along the way. We went to a person instead of using the machines while stay at the airport. They had a 7 day pass that we would end up buying later, but it needed to be used consecutively and we were going to Scotland for a week in the middle of our trip, so we just added money to our cards to use for two days. If staying in the British Museum area there are two Tube stations you can use, either Holborn or Russell Square. We did this with two huge suitcases and didn't have any issues. There were some stations that didn't have elevators though, so if you can't lift a heavy suitcase be sure to check which stops are handicap accessible.
When we arrived at our hotel the room wasn't ready yet so we went to the British Museum to kill a few hours, fight off jet lag and explore all the history that's inside there. A nice thing about this museum is that it is free to get in. You are also allowed to bring big backpacks inside, although they will make you take everything out to inspect it. This really helped us since we had our carry-ons with us after dropping off our luggage at the hotel.
Hotel rooms in Europe are smaller than a standard hotel room in America. Our other two hotels we were upgraded and had larger rooms, but this first hotel was small. It had two twin beds and not much room to get around them.
A thing I found common over here that is not common back home was the glass wall over the shower would only cover half the length. I was not a fan of this, it made the shower feel colder and water would get out more. All three of our hotels had this style so I think it's just what's common in the UK.
For cruises, I highly recommend flying in a day or two before in case there are any delays with your flight. When I had first started planning this trip I had planned on doing a British Isles cruise, which is why we had two days in London and then went to Scotland then came back due to our flights being locked in. I had planned two days in London originally with the cruise.
This trip was the first time I ever booked tours outside of a cruise. Before going I was very nervous how this would go and did a lot of research on each company we used. I really love the show Downton Abbey and wanted to visit Highclere Castle. They are only opened a small portion of the year since the family still lives there. It technically should have been closed when we were there, but they were having a special event for a week. I booked a tour with a company called International Friends. This was probably my favorite tour out of our entire trip.
How this tour worked. They gave three different options for pick-up locations within London and then at the end of the day dropped off at a single point at Victoria Station. This is probably my only complaint for this company. I didn't like being picked up and dropped off in two different spots. It was especially confusing since we had just gotten to London and didn't know our way around well. I also forgot my Oyster Card and had to pay a one way ticket to get back to our hotel. We chose the British Museum spot since I knew what that building was and could easily figure out a way to get to it. The meet time was also 7am so I didn't want to rely on transportation that early in the morning and wanted to be able to walk.
This tour was slightly different from a normal tour here with the company. Due to the special event we had to visit Highclere Castle first, normally they go there last. We got to sit in on a lecture from the real Countess that lives here, which was really cool. We spent a few hours here, having enough time to explore the gardens, listen to the lecture and get a guided tour of the inside of the castle. We also got to go to the Cotswolds where they filmed the city of Downton and a farm that was used within the show. It is an all day tour and we got back around 6pm.
This tour could easily be done before going on a cruise. Highclere Castle can be visited on your own, but it is complicated to get there without a car. It's two hours outside of London and not near the train station. I'm not sure what the child restriction is on the tour, but the website does have children as young as 3 available to book, so I believe they could go on this tour. There were only adults on ours, but when we were at Highclere castle I did see children running around as well as the farm we visited.
One Disney element we did have on this trip, our dinner that night. We decided to eat at our hotel, which was actually a fantastic meal. It turned out that our waitress used to work at Disney and was so excited to learn we had gotten married there. She was super sweet and brought us out complementary champagne and a dessert. It felt like we were back at Disney.
To get to Scotland we decided on traveling by train. We took the Tube to Kings Cross Station and then a train to Edinburgh. I highly recommend buying tickets as far out as possible (3 months) to get the cheapest rate. We decided to go first class, which I would definitely recommend and do again. Unlike flying, it isn't crazy expensive and if you book out far it can be a reasonable price. It comes with unlimited drinks and they serve food to you at your seat along the way.
In the lobby of Kings Cross Station they have platform 9 3/4 set up. They have a photographer there, but also let you take pictures on your phone. The line for this can get very long, so I highly recommend getting there early.
If traveling in first class they have a lounge you can wait in that has drinks and snacks. They have TV screens with the trains and platforms. When we arrived we didn't have a platform number yet, so we waited there. Once we did, we hurried off to get on our train. The luggage storage is limited and we wanted to ensure that we could see our suitcases from our seats.
Yes, we have Mickey and Minnie suitcases
If you are doing a Disney cruise that begins or ends in Dover all of the activities we did can easily be accomplished before or after a cruise. Our Scotland trip could also be accomplished if you have a few more days. I hope this can help some who are planning what to do around their cruises or if they are looking at taking a trip to England or Scotland. I did so much research I'd love to be able to help someone out with the knowledge I acquired.
Up next Scotland...