Hong Kong, Cruise and Paris - August 2014

[churros]

With less than 3 months to go I am frantically booking my 12 week trip and thought it was time to share.

I am starting with 3 nights in HKDL staying at Disney's Hollywood Hotel. I will be joined on this leg by my sister Glenda and 5 girlfriends, one of which is a huge Disney fan too. I am making them all do a full Disney day with character breakfast and dinner at the Plaza then they can check out HK and Macau while I stay on in the park.

Then 4 of us fly on to Barcelona where we meet up with 3 more friends for our 12 night Disney Magic Mediterranean cruise. I have booked all our shore excursions and we have not used Disney for any of them and have been able to organise cheaper private tours just for the 7 of us.

Then we have 8 nights in Spain before we all go our separate ways and Glenda and I head to the UK for a week in London and 4 weeks self-drive of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. This will include the Dr Who experience in Cardiff, the Harry Potter experience in London and the Braemer Highland games with Liz and Phil.

Then we are off to France to see the countryside for about a week before we hit Paris Disneyland for my birthday. I have booked us for 5 nights at Disney's New York hotel which includes free half board. We will be joined by my sister-in-law in Paris DL and then we have a few nights in Paris before a Dubai 2 night stopover on the way home business class as a birthday present from Glenda.

I feel very excited, a bit overwhelmed, anxious about leaving my boys and very privileged to be able to do such an amazing trip!

[KeithS]

This sounds amazing Beth! What a great trip and your countdown in getting very close!

Can't wait to read the updates for this trip!

[mushu mama]

Awesome -/

Are you doing a blog again Beth... that was great to follow along on your last trip

[churros]

Yes this will be a long blog!

With just 5 weeks to go I've got most thing booked, except for some activities to avoid lines, train trips and a hotel in Dubai.

There are now 7 of us to start the trip in HKDL. I booked the character breakfasts today but still need to phone for Plaza Inn. Why can't they do this online?

I am also hoping to book Chez Remys in PDL as soon as it opens for my actual birthday.

[churros]

Last week I booked our 4th room at HK Hollywood Hotel. I put it in the name of my friend who is staying in it - naturally!

Disney then sent me multiple emails as they could not cope with the name being different to that of the card used to pay for it.

The issue could not be resolved by email. They required I FAX a third party authority. In addition via a separate email they wanted the same authorisation for the breakfast bookings I made for the group.Not having access to an international fax Glenda paid for it at the post office some $10.

Then disney ring and ask can they put the room in my name??? Sure said I. So now I have 4 rooms in my name - it doesn't take a brains trust to work out I will not be staying in all 4. Why such a big deal? Who cares who pays for the room?

Why can't Disney manage these things online. I still have to ring to book the Plaza Inn for dinner - puhleeze!

She did end the call with "Have a magical day"

[churros]

Won of my lovely girlfriends who is joining me in HKDL and on the Disney Cruise gave me an early birthday present today. Those of you on FB would have seen it but she made me a beautiful Mickey Mouse dressing gown. She saw the fabric and couldn't resist! I am toasty warm!

[KeithS]

Not long to go now Beth, just over a month! Early birthday presents are good - especially Disney ones

[mushu mama]

Getting close now

Dressing gown is awesome -/

[churros]

Glenda and I spent 5 hours yesterday checking all our bookings and working out what was left to be arranged. I've had some trouble with my booking for the 7 nights in London which I booked back in March. Booking.com emailed me cancelling it saying my visa debit card had not gone through. Hello it is now June. How long does it take to do your payments?

I rang the hotel who rebooked the room at twice the price. I asked if I could have the original price booked through booking.com and without hesitation she agreed. Pays to ask!

Organising 12 weeks of travel and accommodation is high risk and I don't want to turn up to say The Isle of Skye and find my booking was the night before!

Glenda was telling me of a story where a couple were forced to pay the airfares again in order to board their flight as they did not have the original credit with them. The fares had been paid by their travel agent with the agent's card but the airline believed agents double dipped with the frequent flyers. I would say the airline double dipped.

Well if nothing else I'll have some stories for my blog.

[churros]

Has anyone had to ring PDL to book restaurants? Any problems with the language? Anyone speak more than high school French. Ou est la bibliotheque? When would I ever ask to find the library in France?

I want to book Bistrot Chez Remy for my birthday but it doesn't open for bookings until 60 days out when I am on the cruise.

Quite a few different things won't open for booking until we are travelling. I guess that is the difficulty of travelling for a lengthy period of time, booking while on the move.

[KeithS]

Can't help you there unfortunately - the only French words I know is Peugeot and Renault.

[churros]

I have been planning a surprise thank you gift for all my fellow travellers. I am buying everyone a silver bracelet and will be giving them a bead/ charm for each leg of the journey.

I have not bought all of them yet as I have been hunting best prices due to the number I have to buy in some locations. All up there will be 11 travellers at various points. So some will only have 1 bead but others will have about 4 then Glenda and I will have a full bracelet by the end.

Chamilia retired a Spanish Small World Disney charm which would be ideal for Spain. I need 7 and have located 5.

Some places are tricky as I am looking for something that uniquely identifies the country such as Wales. I have considered a TARDIS

I have also found some knock-off beads. The eiffel towel one I got is great.

Any ideas?

[churros]

Does anyone have any spare DUD business cards? I'd like to given some out to fellow cruisers who I have been chatting with in a FB group.

[KeithS]

I'll have a look when I get home tonight but I think I used up all mine. Maybe Wayne still has some?

[churros]

Disney have organised a mixology for our cruise's fan Facebook page as a meet. They charge $15 each for a maximum of 40 participants. I'm not interested in learning how to mix drinks but I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet other Disney fans.

6 days of work left!