Month: December 2005

This is our last full day and we have opted for the room service breakfast. Though we have paid for inclusive breakfast and one of the advantages of staying on the Admiral’s floor and paying extra for it is room service, we still have to pay an additional €10 for the food which is the same as we would get in the main ‘canteen’. I have also opted for the English breakfast which is supposed to be an extra €6.40. Now, the menu mentions this is (room service breakfast) a price per room up to 5 people yet, I suspect, this €6.40 is actually per person. Hell, it would not surprise me if they didn’t charge the whole thing per person! One thing I have become more and more aware of is just how much of a rip off Disney in Paris is especially compared to Florida. Clearly they are cutting costs wherever they can. There are no lit arches as part of the Christmas decorations over Main Street USA. The lights have gone from the Village. The hotel does not provide chocolates on the pillows anymore. The inflatable toys have gone from the pool; several rides are either closed or have restricted opening times. There does seem to be a lot less cast members than ever before too, I could be imagining it but that’s what it looks like.
Breakfast was OK, I was right, that was €6.40 each not per room. This theory of the Admiral’s floor having room service, WiFi etc is all well and good but it reminds me of the joke of the hotel that charges for use of the Rolls Royce, the waiter, the laundry etc and when the guest claims they didn’t use any of that, they are told “But it was there is you wanted it sir”. This is, of course, different because whilst we have paid extra for the facilities of WiFi, Room Service etc, we can’t actually access them unless we pay extra so, unless these things are a vital requirement, what is the point in paying twice for them? I mean, it is not as though they ask a notional fee, the fee for staying on the Admirals floor (there are 4 of them by the way) is something over £200 so that just gets permission to pay extra for additional services? Yeah, this is another Disney rip-off.

Time to head off to the parks and, this time, no cameras as I am travelling light! OK, I lied about no cameras as I did take the still camera!

It has been a good day, none of the kids really unhappy, a few gripes but not as many as I would expect. I am certainly missing adult company, that of a very few select people as it happens … still, bought some gifts for those people today which doesn’t make me feel any better but at least they will know I was thinking about them.

Had dinner at the Blue Lagoon in the Disneyland Park, a very enjoyable couple of hours, not a cheap meal at €115 but I guess I shall not be doing that sort of thing too often!

Matt and Daisy did some ice skating earlier and seemed to enjoy it, Zoey and I didn’t, me because I am scared for my legs and Zoey as she just can’t skate!

All packed up and ready to go. (Ipod started working again)

This is our last full day and we have opted for the room service breakfast. Though we have paid for inclusive breakfast and one of the advantages of staying on the Admiral’s floor and paying extra for it is room service, we still have to pay an additional €10 for the food which is the same as we would get in the main ‘canteen’. I have also opted for the English breakfast which is supposed to be an extra €6.40. Now, the menu mentions this is (room service breakfast) a price per room up to 5 people yet, I suspect, this €6.40 is actually per person. Hell, it would not surprise me if they didn’t charge the whole thing per person! One thing I have become more and more aware of is just how much of a rip off Disney in Paris is especially compared to Florida. Clearly they are cutting costs wherever they can. There are no lit arches as part of the Christmas decorations over Main Street USA. The lights have gone from the Village. The hotel does not provide chocolates on the pillows anymore. The inflatable toys have gone from the pool; several rides are either closed or have restricted opening times. There does seem to be a lot less cast members than ever before too, I could be imagining it but that’s what it looks like.
Breakfast was OK, I was right, that was €6.40 each not per room. This theory of the Admiral’s floor having room service, WiFi etc is all well and good but it reminds me of the joke of the hotel that charges for use of the Rolls Royce, the waiter, the laundry etc and when the guest claims they didn’t use any of that, they are told “But it was there is you wanted it sir”. This is, of course, different because whilst we have paid extra for the facilities of WiFi, Room Service etc, we can’t actually access them unless we pay extra so, unless these things are a vital requirement, what is the point in paying twice for them? I mean, it is not as though they ask a notional fee, the fee for staying on the Admirals floor (there are 4 of them by the way) is something over £200 so that just gets permission to pay extra for additional services? Yeah, this is another Disney rip-off.

Time to head off to the parks and, this time, no cameras as I am travelling light! OK, I lied about no cameras as I did take the still camera!

It has been a good day, none of the kids really unhappy, a few gripes but not as many as I would expect. I am certainly missing adult company, that of a very few select people as it happens … still, bought some gifts for those people today which doesn’t make me feel any better but at least they will know I was thinking about them.

Had dinner at the Blue Lagoon in the Disneyland Park, a very enjoyable couple of hours, not a cheap meal at €115 but I guess I shall not be doing that sort of thing too often!

Matt and Daisy did some ice skating earlier and seemed to enjoy it, Zoey and I didn’t, me because I am scared for my legs and Zoey as she just can’t skate!

All packed up and ready to go. (Ipod started working again)

On Thursday we got up late … I would have tried to sleep all day I think as I got hardly any during the night. The kids reckon I have sleep apnoea from the sound of my snoring so perhaps I’d best sort that out but worse than that was the agony I was getting from my right knee, any pressure at all and it was like having it twisted off my leg, no way could I sleep through it. This sharing a bed with Daisy thing is not so clever either, never have I known someone move about so much in bed! At one point, no word of a lie, she was on top of me then kicked me in the privates!

Breakfast was a fiasco; they didn’t quite sort out what they were doing in the hotel so when we got down there around 10:30 we had to go to the conference room which felt as though it had been converted to breakfast on the quick. There was no refrigeration for the fresh meats, they could not supply bowls quick enough, all in all, a mess. To make matters worse, they were clearing up before guests had finished eating. I am sure, just a few minutes more and there would have been the vacuum cleaner over the floor too.

Paris was just fine, just where I had left it. We did the galleries to death, had a quick peak at the Eiffel Tower, walked to the Moulin Rouge and then got totally lost heading for the Champs Elysee where we just went in the Virgin Megastore for some reason. Got some pictures of the Arc de Triomphe then hopped on the double Decker train back the Disney.

As a little sub note, at some point my ipod died, these really are such incredibly good inventions with such an amazingly poor reliability record! Hopefully I will be able to get a replacement.

On Thursday we got up late … I would have tried to sleep all day I think as I got hardly any during the night. The kids reckon I have sleep apnoea from the sound of my snoring so perhaps I’d best sort that out but worse than that was the agony I was getting from my right knee, any pressure at all and it was like having it twisted off my leg, no way could I sleep through it. This sharing a bed with Daisy thing is not so clever either, never have I known someone move about so much in bed! At one point, no word of a lie, she was on top of me then kicked me in the privates!

Breakfast was a fiasco; they didn’t quite sort out what they were doing in the hotel so when we got down there around 10:30 we had to go to the conference room which felt as though it had been converted to breakfast on the quick. There was no refrigeration for the fresh meats, they could not supply bowls quick enough, all in all, a mess. To make matters worse, they were clearing up before guests had finished eating. I am sure, just a few minutes more and there would have been the vacuum cleaner over the floor too.

Paris was just fine, just where I had left it. We did the galleries to death, had a quick peak at the Eiffel Tower, walked to the Moulin Rouge and then got totally lost heading for the Champs Elysee where we just went in the Virgin Megastore for some reason. Got some pictures of the Arc de Triomphe then hopped on the double Decker train back the Disney.

As a little sub note, at some point my ipod died, these really are such incredibly good inventions with such an amazingly poor reliability record! Hopefully I will be able to get a replacement.