"I'll have the Macaroni & Cheese!" Westbound Transatlantic 2016

[Plaid Princess]

Good morning (or afternoon, evening, or night depending on your timezone!) fellow DIS'ers!

Thought I'd give a shot at completing a Trip Report, since everyone else's were so helpful in planning this trip!

For those that like to just read the report, and skip the comments, I'll link the report posts here:
Disneyland Paris Part 1
Disneyland Paris Part 2
Disney Studios Paris & Travel to Barcelona
Barcelona Day 1
Girona and Teatre-Museu Dalí
Embarkation Day
First 3 Sea Days
Ponta Delgada
3 More Days at Sea

The Plan: 2 Days at Disneyland Paris, 2 Days in Barcelona, 11 Nights on the Disney Magic!

The Players:

Me: Airline employee, Disneyland lover, and travel enthusiast.
DH: Disney designer, and lover of all things Salvador Dali.

We met while working at the Magic Kingdom and got married at Disney's Wedding Pavilion, before relocating back to the West Coast, where we currently live in Long Beach, CA.

I had foolishly signed up for the Disneyland Half Marathon taking place the weekend prior to our departure. It was a lot of fun, but really ate into my packing schedule. Live and learn.

Despite the marathon, we managed to get everything organized and packed. We had planned to take one checked bag and one carryon each, and we packed all our items for the cruise in the larger bags. The goal was to only open the carryon bags while we were on our pre-cruise travels, rather than having 4 bags worth of stuff all over our hotel rooms. That meant that we needed to keep the weight of the bags down to the strictest limit (For our Ryanair flight).

So after weighing and re-weighing our bags, we loaded up the car to head for the airport. We had booked a round trip flight to JFK, since the cruise was ending in New York, and we planned to connect to Paris on Air France. Our flight was at 7:30, and we left the house at 5:30, planning to arrive nice and early for our flight.

Unfortunately, we had the bad luck of getting caught right behind an accident, and ended up running too close for comfort. In order to avoid missing the checked bag cutoff, we opted to check our bags in at curbside before parking the car. We both tried not to panic as we rode the shuttle from the parking lot, and of course this was a time when we got a shuttle driver who made the loop at about 15mph.

Fortunately luck was finally on our side, and not only was there no line at security, but we both had TSA Pre-check. We breezed through the checkpoint in about 3 minutes, and hurried to our gate. There were just a couple of minutes until they closed the door, and we just made it!

We settled into our seats, congratulated each other on actually making the flight, and ordered some breakfast (since we ended up not having enough time to eat at the airport). We even managed to nap a bit on the flight!

Once we got to JFK we had just about 3 hours to make our way over to Air France, so we picked up our bags at baggage claim to head for the air train. I then discovered that one of the wheels on my suitcase had snapped completely off. The bag is a spinner, so fortunately I could still pull it on two wheels, but it was a bummer as it had stickers from all the trips I had taken with it.

Once we made our way over to Air France, and checked in our bags, we had some pizza for dinner and headed to our gate. This was my first flight on an A380 and DH's first double decker aircraft, so we were pretty excited to board. The aircraft was beautiful, but I was a bit disappointed that they seemed to have repurposed seats from older equipment into the new airbus, because everything was quite dated.

But still, we were quite comfortable with an aisle and middle seat, and a quiet window seat occupant. The only real problem was there was a family of about 7 who had booked their seats on some kind of bargain site and ended up spread out all over the cabin. They kept trying to bully people into moving so they could sit together, and at one point one of the teens demanded that I plug her phone into my seat because she was using her USB port to charge her iPad.

We slept a decent chunk of the flight, and arrived at CDG feeling mostly human, which was good because we planned to hit the ground running! We cleared Customs and Immigration without issue, and only a bit of a wait, and headed for our shuttle. I had pre-booked the Magical Shuttle, and we waited about 15 minutes for a shuttle to arrive. It was quite easy to find the shuttle stop, and I had just enough time to grab some cash so we had a few Euros.

After about an hour, we pulled up in front of the Disneyland Hotel! We were very excited, as this was our first trip to DLP we had decided to spurge on the main hotel. Since it was only about 10:30 in the morning, we were pleasantly surprised that there was a room ready for us! We were thrilled to have the opportunity to freshen up and change before hitting the parks!

We had booked a standard room, and followed the map past the lounge to our room overlooking the pool. I was pleased with the decor, and our bags were quickly delivered by bell services. I like that they screen all the bags and people at the hotel entrance, so we didn't have to queue up for a security check for the rest of our stay.

We ended up with a room with two double beds, so DH jokingly pointed out that we'd be sleeping I Love Lucy style (Some math for you: 6' 8" person + 6' 2" person = we do not fit in one double bed ).

I loved all the detail in the room!

And I would LOVE to track down those star sconce lights from the bathroom!

And if the armoire had fit in my suitcase, it would no longer be in the hotel room.

Up next: Disneyland Paris!

 

[linetbo]

Following!! I still can't believe that we didn't have enough time to go to Disneyland Paris after our Mediterranean cruise. We visited Paris but not Disney

 

[Daisyde-lites]

Yay! We were on this cruise- can't wait for the rest of your report is I can re-live it again

 

[elphie101]

Following! We just visited DLP this year for the first time, and the transatlantic is my dream itinerary (not to mention we're also a DFTW couple!!)

 

[Plaid Princess]

Disneyland!

So after a few moments to freshen up, take a few pictures of the room, and pull our our park "equipment", we headed downstairs to Disneyland!

We knew going into the trip that the park would have a lot of construction going on for the upcoming 25th Anniversary, so we kept our expectations for how much we would accomplish low. We had a few attractions that were "must do", including Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and of course THE DRAGON! Our plan was to just take it slow, and enjoy what we could, rather than try to run ourselves ragged trying to "do it all". We also sought out anything with heavy dialog, hoping to experience the rides in French. This had been how we selected rides at Tokyo Disneyland, and it was so fun! (the Jungle Cruise in Japanese is fantastic!)

After picking up our park tickets, we headed through the gates! I was immediately struck with how their main street is cobbled, and I loved it! As usual, everything was super detailed, and gorgeous! We headed to City Hall to pick up a Birthday Button for DH. This whole trip was partially a 40th birthday adventure for him. As a former Guest Relations hostess, I was also curious about what their City Hall setup would be. As it had been build so much later than the US parks, I was curious if they had improved on the design of the building.

Birthday Button secured, our first mission was to get a look at that gorgeous castle! I'm a Disneyland CA girl at heart, I grew up on the west coast, and DL is my home park... but I have to say that Paris is for sure my favorite castle! Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney movie, so I loved the details like the hill and square trees that were a testament to the unique animation style.

After getting our pictures at the castle, our tummies were rumbly, so we immediately went to the the map to pick out a spot for lunch! We quickly decided on Restaurant Hakuna Matata and headed to Adventureland!

We were very pleased with the menu, and hopped in line to order. I liked the set menus that DLP has, we felt it was quite a lot of food for the money. I had the Spiced Chicken Strips, and DH had the Maafe Beef Stew. Since we bought the set meals, we also ended up with sides of rice and Hakuna fries (fries with tasty spices on them), a pineapple tart, and 2 drinks.

This was our first encounter with CM's who went above and beyond. Our cashier spotted DH's birthday button, and immediately started summoning people to sing for him. She even called over one of the atmosphere drummers to help. They were so friendly and sweet, and they really kicked off our vacation with a bang!

After they serenaded DH and we collected our lunch, we headed in to find seating. This was our first clue as to how empty the park was that day... the dining area was practically a ghost town. We settled into a table in "Timon Terrace", and genteelly ate our lunch. Just kidding, we'd not eaten since the plane and were starving--we dove into our food like a couple of piglets. Everything was quite tasty and I was pleasantly surprised, as most of the blogs and reviews I'd read had suggested that the food at DLP was rather dubious.

After lunch, we headed back to the castle to seek out The Dragon!

I was completely obsessed with her! we probably watched for a good 15 minutes. Every time we went to leave, she would wake up and do something else! I kept squealing with joy, and all the kids would look at me like I was nuts. She really is a fantastic addition to the park!

From there, we headed into Fantasyland to explore the castle further. I was thrilled to find the Walk Through open, as it had been listed on the website as closing the previous day for refurb.

Loved the snoring guards!

The stained glass and tapestry were a unique way to tell the story, and I loved all of it!

Again, Sleeping Beauty is my favorite movie, and Briar Rose is my favorite character... so I loved every minute of the walkthrough!

After we exited the castle, we headed to scope out the rest of Fantasyland. We didn't ride anything because we were still getting our bearings a bit, and didn't feel like waiting for anything.

I did enjoy the French names on all the attractions. So much of Tokyo Disney is in English, that it doesn't look that different on the surface, so I loved the change to French here.

And we also noticed a herd of managers moving through the park... no matter what country, Disney managers always look the same.

Then we made our way over to Alice's Curious Labyrinth. Alice in Wonderland is DH's favorite Disney movie (Actually, second favorite, but more on that when we get to Barcelona ;-) ), so he eagerly headed in. I really enjoyed this attraction. I thought it was a great "wait free" addition to the park. So much of Disney is a wait to enjoy experience, that I love creative additions like this that let people explore and play on their own without the queue.

Our first "Ride" was Le Pays des Contes de Fées. The Storybook Land Canal is one of my favorite rides at DL, so I was excited to experience the French version. I was disappointed that there was no Spieler on the attraction, but it was still fun. I like the addition of different stories such as Hansel and Gretel, Peter and the Wolf, the Wizard of Oz, and especially Night on Bald Mountain.

After Storybook, we decided it was time to quit messing around, and go ride Space Mountain! We had planned to use our Hotel Fastpasses for this ride, but when we arrived the wait was posted as 10 minutes. It was actually about 5, and most of it was the walk to the load platform. I really enjoyed the Mission 2 variation. I'm not big on roller coasters, Disney coasters are pretty much my limit. I'd say this one was quite similar to Rockin' Roller Coaster, so I enjoyed it because it didn't throw too much at me that I hadn't experienced before.

Note the empty queue.

After Space Mountain, we opted to check out Les Mystères du Nautilus. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is one of my favorite Disney Movies, and one of my favorite books! I was thrilled to be able to explore the Nautilus!

I hate using a flash anywhere at Disney, because it ruins the experience for others, so these pictures are quite dark!

At this point, it was about 3:00pm, and quite warm out. We opted to head back to the hotel for a swim, and to wait out the heat. Of course, once we got back to the nice cool room, the swimming plan was quickly abandoned for taking a nap! After an hour or so of snoozing, we headed back for the evening!

Up next: Disneyland Paris, Part 2!

 

[Gilland18]

We are on next year's WBTA so I'm excited to see what 2016 was like!

 

[thethreechunks]

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

 

[Plaid Princess]

Disneyland Paris: Part 2!

So after we took our nap, and were feeling more refreshed, we headed back to explore more of the park! I was initially worried that our nap would really mess us up, time zone wise. I'm a big proponent of staying up until a reasonable bedtime when switching to a new time zone. But the nap was the perfect refresher, and let us stay up until the park closed, which I was not anticipating us accomplishing!

On the way back into the park, we decided to explore the hallways behind main street. I love this design, operationally it's a great addition to the park, and I'm glad to see these being added to the US theme parks.

The themeing is a bit stronger in DLP though.

After we finished exploring Main Street, it was time to head to Frontierland and Haunted Mansion! This land was where the construction for the 25th Anniversary was most noticeable, and the river and BTMR were closed and walled off.

I was thrilled to see the Fort at the entrance, with lots of areas to explore. I really miss the one at Disneyland, which has been closed for quite a few years now.

I LOVED the whole aesthetic for the Haunted Mansion. The western theme was a unique change, and the CM's there really played their roles well!

I didn't notice until I got home, but this Mansion Butler photobombed all of our pictures with the same blank expression.

A few dark pictures from inside the Mansion:

After we rode Haunted Mansion, I apparently forgot how to take pictures, because I have none from most of the rest of the evening.

We wandered through Adventureland a bit, which also had a lot of things closed for refurb. We did get a chance to ride Pirates, and I was pleased that it was a bit different in Paris as the one in Tokyo is identical to WDW. That was also our longest wait of the day, at about 15 minutes.

At that point, we were kind of past wanting to get on rides, so we just wander around and explored until we got hungry. Because we're grown ups, we decided on Ice Cream and French Fries for dinner, and headed to Casey's.

The one thing I will say about the Paris restaurants is that the "Quick" locations really aren't. They really take their time... so our wait behind about 6 people was almost 30 minutes. Go figure.

But after we acquired our healthy, natural dinner, we noticed that the fireworks would be starting in about 20 minutes, so we opted to pull up a curb and wait for the show.

Now, you can prepare to flame me... but I don't really like fireworks. I don't dislike them, I don't really feel anything about them to be perfectly honest. I loved them as a kid, but I think 6 years of working for Disney and seeing them every night just burned me out. Particularly at MK where they change the show so rarely. I'll typically only watch if it's a show I haven't seen, or if I'm in the park with someone who wants to go.

So I hadn't put Disney Dreams! into my plan for the day, partially because I wasn't expecting to still be awake, and partially because I figured there would be other things that I wanted to do. So man was I glad that we just stumbled into the show, because I LOVED it! I really enjoyed the castle projections, and the transitions between English and French. I liked that they used the fireworks as more of an accent to the show, rather than the entire thing. Absolutely fabulous, and it's almost beat out Fantasmic (Disneyland's) as my favorite nighttime show! I would link some of my videos, but they're taken with my phone and quite shaky, so I'll just let you hit up YouTube if you want the full spectacular!

And of course, the Castle all lit up for the evening was beautiful.

One of DH's previous jobs at Disney was Retail design, and he was thrilled to find some of his creations for sale as we perused the shops on the way out. He had no idea they were being sold in Paris!

After our fill of shopping (or rather, pre-shopping because I wanted to see everything before I picked out our souvenirs) we leisurely made our way back to the hotel for a good nights sleep!

Up next: Disney Studios Paris, and the trip to Barcelona!

 

[Plaid Princess]

Yay! We were on this cruise- can't wait for the rest of your report is I can re-live it again

I was so sad when it ended! It was my first TA and it's completely spoiled me! I don't know if I can go back to a short cruise.

 

[Plaid Princess]

Disney Studios Paris!

So after a luxurious sleep (we had opted to skip the extra magic hours for sleeping in), we got ready for the day and packed up most of our things. We were checking out after breakfast, so we needed to have bell services store our gear.

After a tasty breakfast at Inventions (where I rustled up enough remedial French to order our drinks), we wrapped up the rest of our things and called bell services. After they instructed us to leave everything in the room for them, we headed down to the front desk to see if we could extend our charging privileges out, since we were staying in the parks until about 3:00pm. I loved that they had a resort charge option, because it meant fewer foreign transactions on the CC. Even with no foreign transaction fees, you always take a small hit with the exchanges.

The super helpful concierge happily pushed out the limit on the card for us, and we were off to Disney Studios!

I didn't really have many expectations for this park. We specifically wanted to ride Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy and Mickey et le Magicien.

I really liked the entrance to the park, I thought the "sound stage" was very clever. Being from California I enjoyed searching out all the Hollywoodesq names of the shops.

After some fun exploring the entrance, we headed straight for Ratatouille. Our magical bubble of no lines had ended, so we used our hotel Fastpasses to get past the 60 minute wait.

That ride was SO cute. I loved everything from the queue to the ride vehicles! It's so well done, I was giggling like a kid for most of the ride!

And to my delight, you exit right past Bistrot Chez Rémy, so we got a sneak peek at the adorable restaurant! We had opted to skip and Full Service dining to save on time, but I had really wanted to see the decor of this one!

After spying on Chez Rémy, we poked around in the nearby shops, before heading to Mickey and the Magician. One of DH's coworkers had designed the sets for this show, so he was quite excited to see it.

The concierge had recommended we get there at least 30 minutes early, and despite arriving just ahead of that, the queue was already half full. It's a pretty well designed theater, however, and I don't think there's a bad seat in the house. We ended up dead center, but quite a few rows back. It was a great spot to sit because the performers do utliize the aisles a bit, so we got a whole picture of the show.

It was like one step up from Mickey and the Magical Map (for those familiar with the Disneyland show). I was blown away. There were so many characters, and great dance numbers! They had half the characters speaking English, and half French, so it was pretty easy to follow even if you don't speak both languages. I am not ashamed to admit I teared up more than once in this show! I also liked their usage of Frozen in the show... it was brief and to the point. Elsa came out, did a magical dress change, belted a few lines of Let it Go, and moved on. I'm so used to Elsa overpowering everything that it was lovely to see her as just a small part of the show. Once again, I'll save you from my shaky iPhone videos, but I'm sure there's a great copy of this on YouTube.

Once the show let out, we were getting a bit hungry. There weren't really any other rides that we felt were "must do's" at the Studios, particularly with the long lines. So we wandered a bit and scoped out the rest of the park, before heading back to the entrance for lunch!

Once again, the "quick" service was not so quick, but we both had tasty Chicken sandwiches from Restaurant En Coulisse. They came with side salads that were almost big enough to be an entrée on their own. One of my favorite things about being outside the US is that salads come with much better dressing! Everything in the states comes with Ranch, and it's nice to have another option. We actually ended up packing the brownies that came with the meal for the plane.

After lunch, it was time for shopping!

Overall, I wasn't particularly impressed with the DLP merchandise. I'm a mouse ear collector, and that's apparently not really a thing in Paris. The only ears I found were the standard Minnie fuzzy ears.

We passed on the things we found at Studios, and opted to return to Disneyland to pick up our souvenirs. This gave us our first real look at the "entrance" to Disneyland Paris.

After hunting down our various souvenirs, we headed back to the Hotel to claim our luggage and wait for our shuttle.

We ended up taking less time than we thought getting everything done, so we relaxed and enjoyed the lobby wifi for about half an hour before we needed to be outside for our 4:30 Super Shuttle.

All in all, we felt like we had really kicked our trip off in a fabulous way! We loved every minute of our time at DLP, we never felt rushed, the whole thing was very relaxing!

And then the relaxation came crashing down around me as we waited for our Super Shuttle. Our reservation was for 4:30, and there's about a 30 minute pickup window. The 30 minutes came and went, no shuttle. Now, it's not my first rodeo, so I had booked the shuttle much earlier than we actually needed it in case something like this happened.

After an hour I was angry, and tried to call the company from the lobby payphone. I probably wasn't dialing the correct prefix or something, because I kept getting a busy signal. The concierge took pity on me and dialed the number. The operator assured me that my Shuttle would be there shortly, as I was booked for the 5:30 departure. Sure enough, at about 5:45 our shuttle driver pulled up, loaded our bags and we were on our way. We picked up one more family enroute, and headed to the Beauvais–Tillé Airport.

Despite it being farther away than CDG, I had also practically stolen our Ryanair tickets to Barcelona, even with all the upgrades they came in at about 40 Euros each. I also (letting my Aviation geek flag fly here) wanted to see the airport and try out Ryanair for the first time. We arrived plenty early for our flight, and checked in our bags.

It was a cute little airport, and to my delight had all tarmac boarding. I assume this is a Ryanair standard, because their 737's were equipped with Airstairs! DH was teasing me because this was more exciting to my AvGeek self than riding Space Mountain! Not even kidding, I started jumping up and down when the stairs were lowered.

Since we had purchased priority boarding, we were the first to board, and I made DH take a picture of me with the plane.

It was an uneventful flight, and I was quite pleased with the Ryanair service. I know they have a bit of a dubious reputation, but everyone I encountered was very pleasant. Our bags were among the first off the plane in Barcelona, and we quickly gathered them up.

I had pre-booked our Taxi in Barcelona, and it was fabulous to have the driver ready and waiting with our name on a sign. He quickly took charge of our bags and lead the way out to his car... past the taxi queue of about 100 people! Best. Decision. Ever. DH was thrilled.

The driver loaded us up, and headed straight to our hotel on La Rambla. The other nice thing about pre-booking the Taxi: no haggling over the price. It was pre-paid, so the driver just made time and got us there. Should have done the same thing going to the Port, but that's a story for later.

Despite our splurging on the Disneyland Hotel, I'm usually not a chain hotel kind of gal. I prefer to book small, independent hotels. They're usually cheaper, and often in better locations than the big chain hotels. Particularly in Europe where older buildings with no elevators aren't usually snapped up by the larger chains.

For our stay in Barca, I booked the Hotel Fornos. It was right in the middle of the Gothic Quarter on Las Ramblas, and walking distance to just about everything, including the port. It was after midnight when we arrived, so the front desk agent buzzed us in the front door. To our delight there actually was a tiny elevator! We squeezed in (there was just enough room for us and our bags), and went up to the first floor to check in. The night agent was friendly, and quickly got us situated.

I had emailed the hotel prior to arrival and requested a room overlooking Las Ramblas, and we were rewarded with a great view!

The hotel was just what I was expecting, small but clean! And totally worth the lack of frills for the location!

We opted to skip trying to find something to eat, despite Barcelona being wide awake, and went straight to bed so we could prep for our adventure the next day!

Up next: Barcelona, Park Güell, and Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família!

 

[m3owbox]

This report is making me want to go to DLP!

 

[tlynk]

Excellent report so far! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Plaid Princess]

It's time for Barcelona Day 1!

Because I had booked a full day tour for our last day in Barcelona, Thursday was really our only full day in the city. My original plan was to just wing it, but after chatting with a co-worker who had just returned from a trip to Barcelona, I went ahead and pre-booked our tickets to Park Güell and Sagrada Família.

I started our day at Park Güell, and our entrance time was 11:00am. We had breakfast at the hotel. Our room included complimentary Continental breakfast, which was pretty good. There was fruit, pastries, yogurt, cereals, and to DH's delight, a fancy coffee machine. All in all, not bad for a free breakfast!

After we ate, we opted to take the metro, which proved to be clean, cheap, and efficient. Since I planned to use the Metro a few times, we opted to purchase a T-10 card. The T-10 card is good for 10 trips and can be used for multiple people (Similar to an NYC subway card), you just swipe it for each person.

So we purchased our ticket from a vending machine (they have an English language option), headed to our appropriate line, and waited about 3 minutes for a train. I used Google Maps to get my directions, and it worked well. I had downloaded the offline maps, but I also use a wireless hot spot when I'm travelling for when I need internet. (I use the SkyRoam, for anyone who is curious).

Once we reached our stop, we had about a 10 minute walk to the park... straight up a hill. In fact, in some places the hill is so steep they have actually installed escalators and handrails. Time to earn our breakfast!

Despite our slow walk up the hill, we still arrived about 30 minutes early to our Park reservation to view the Gaudí architecture, so we opted to explore the rest of the park. It's really a gorgeous place, and the views are spectacular!

After exploring the park for a bit, we settled into a good spot to people watch. We were very intrigued by the vendors selling souvenirs in the park. They're apparently not meant to be there, because while we were sitting there, one of them gave off a whistle, and they all picked up their stuff and disappeared into the bushes. Sure enough, a few moments later a police vehicle slowly cruised by, and once it was gone they quickly returned and put their items back out. This happened several times while we were sitting there.

Finally it was 11:00, and time for us to enter the architecture area! DH was quite excited about this, as he studied Gaudí in college.

We chose to enter at the top of the park and work our way down. They sell tickets to try and keep the number of people in this area from getting too congested, and I'm glad they do, because it was pretty mobbed even with the restrictions.

The tile work is just beautiful and the architecture is so unique!

As we were walking up from the metro, we passed a few cafes who were trying to capitalize on the tourist flow. There were quite a few signs warning that there was no food for sale in the park, but in fact there is a cute little cafe in the architecture area. They were doing a pretty steady business selling sangria and beer, and they also had a great selection of fresh fruit and fruit juices. We stopped for a break and enjoyed some fresh pressed watermelon juice. Yum!

We settled in here for a bit an people watched (you're going to see a pattern here, we LOVE to people watch). After we felt refreshed from our morning snack, we continued exploring the park.

Over all, we really enjoyed seeing all the unique architecture, but the whole area was pretty overrun with tourists. As we left, we decided to just start wandering around the city to see what we could find. I had booked our Sagrada Família tickets for 3:30pm to give us plenty of time to make our way between locations.

We picked a random street and started walking. Barcelona, like much of Spain, is a night owl city. Everything stays open late into the night and early morning, which also means that many things don't open up early in the morning, or close for a bit in the afternoon. So we encountered a pretty random assortment of shop hours throughout the city. There was still plenty to choose from when we sought out drinks and things.

After an hour or so of walking we found a beautiful plaza, with a small church, and opted to have some ice cream and (you guessed it) people watch a bit.

For those unfamiliar, Barcelona is located in a part of Spain called Catalonia. This particular region has been trying to secede from Spain and become their own country for generations. They have their own language and traditions that are very different from the rest of Spain. Apparently the week before we arrived had been a big rally to promote the Independence push and here were lots of Catalonian flags hanging throughout the city.

We also saw a lot of street art throughout the city. Most of it seemed to be on the roll up doors on the the front of shops and restaurants, and some of it was pretty deliberate:

We also stumbled into one of the markets.

After a few hours wandering around the city, we figured we should head for Sagrada Família to make it on time. I pulled out my phone to see where the nearest metro stop was, and we discovered we were only about a mile away from the church! We'd been wandering for a while, but I didn't realize we'd made it so far. We skipped the metro, and opted to walk to the church.

We knew we were getting close when the crowds started growing, and finally we saw it ahead of us through the park!

We were still a bit early for our reservation, and decided that it was time for some lunch. After glancing at a few of the nearby restaurants, we realized we would need to get out of the touristy area unless we wanted to pay tourist prices.

We ducked a few streets over, and stumbled on to a tiny little Mediterranean restaurant, lodged between a bank and an office building.

The lady working there quickly beckoned us inside, and between pointing at the menu, her limited English, and our extremely limited Spanish, we managed to order a few plates of food.

It ended up being delicious and much more than we could finish, and she kept bringing more water and more appetizers. When we finally finished, and couldn't eat another bite, she brought us our bill. That whole feast cost us a whopping... 6 euros each! I was sure there was a mistake because it was so cheap, but she kept insisting that was the total! Feeling victorious in our delicious discovery, we headed back towards the church.

The tickets I had booked included audio guides, and a visit to one of the churches towers (we chose the Passion Tower). We found the entrance and queued up. Again, I was glad for my coworkers tip of pre-booking, because despite the crowds outside the church, the inside wasn't really that packed, and our wait at the security checkpoint was only a couple minutes.

DH was hopping with excitement at this point, as he had done a paper on the Sagrada Família in college. He's always been a bit of a hesitant traveler, but once we got inside he said "You're right, you can't just see it in books." Win for the Wifey! I wish my pictures captured how gorgeous the church really is. I don't know if there's a fancy enough camera in the world to really get a good picture, but we all tried anyway!

After following our audio guide around the main sanctuary, it was time for our trip up to the top of the tower.

Small fact about me: I am terrified of heights. But I couldn't come all the way to Barcelona and make DH go up to the top of the tower by himself, so up we went.

They take you up in an Elevator, and then you walk down the spiral staircase to the bottom. I'd picked the Passion tower, because reviews said it had slightly better views of the city. DH said it was a great view, I honestly spent the whole time cowering against the walls. The pictures (which DH took) turned out nice!

I did get close enough to the railing to get one shot of the two of us, and managed to look not terrified in the picture!

As we made our way down, the stairway got progressively more narrow, until it became a spiral with no railing in the middle. I refer to it as the Spiral Stairway from Hell. That thing terrified me, I was so afraid of falling down the middle. DH loved it:

Once we reached the bottom, I found a lovely bench and settled in to calm my nerves for a bit. We had planned to meet friends at about 5, thinking that the church would only take us about an hour to visit. So I was surprised when my phone rang and it was 5:30... and our friends were wondering where we were. We got so distracted by how pretty the church was that we completely lost track of time!

We advised them that we were just about done, and finished up our audio tour, and picked up some souvenirs. I got myself a tiny model of the towers, as a reminder of how I had managed to go all the way to the top!

We hopped on the metro, and headed back towards to Gothic Quarter to meet up with our friends for some early Tapas! Our friends were some of the group joining us on the cruise, but they'd traveled to Barcelona separately, and were doing their own thing. We regaled them with our day, and they decided to visit the park and the church the next day, and were able to buy tickets right then. The time selection they got was not as ideal as ours, but they weren't yet sold out for the following day.

After dinner, we wandered a bit with our friends who were trying to find one of the Cannabis Clubs that are scattered around Barcelona. Once they found the place they were looking for, we went our separate way to find the nearby Arc de Triomf. We settled in for another round of people watching, as there were lots of street performers, and all kinds of locals just hanging around for the evening.

At one point, DH noticed a kid was climbing one of the elaborate lamp posts with a giant stuffed gorilla on his back. He proceeded to attach the gorilla to the lamp, and climb back down. Performance Art?

After strolling around near the Arc for a bit, it started to get dark, and we decided to slowly make our way back to our hotel.

As we were navigating one of the narrow side streets, we passed a store selling a random assortment of purses, t-shirts, and touristy trinkets. We were about to walk by, when I noticed the purse I had been searching for for two years! I've wanted a particular shape of black saddle bag style purse, but I haven't ever been able to track one down. I did an about face and quickly scooped up the purse for the fantastic price of 10 Euros. I'm pretty sure it's made of plastic, and I have no idea how long it will last, but I was SO EXCITED to find it!

We stopped by a market to pick up some bottled water for the room, and headed home for the night! We were calling it quits a bit earlier than the rest of Barcelona, but we had an early morning the next day, and were worn out from the 12 miles (according to my FitBit) we'd ended up walking!

Next up: Girona and the Teatre-Museu Dalí!

 

[Plaid Princess]

Excellent report so far! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

 

[thethreechunks]

Reading your trip report is literally the highlight of my day! So fun! Thank you and keep it coming! We are going on next years WBTA and your posts are super helpful

 

[Plaid Princess]

Reading your trip report is literally the highlight of my day! So fun! Thank you and keep it coming! We are going on next years WBTA and your posts are super helpful

Awe thanks! There are so few WBTA Trip reports out there, I figured I had to share! I'm extremely jealous of you, I wish I was doing the Transatlantic again next year!

 

[cheermom2four]

Loving your report so far!!! heading over to Barcelona next Sept!

 

[elena_n2o]

Loving your TR!!

I love DLP, it feels like home to me.... Love to hear (or read) about other people's experiences (particularly those that know the other parks). One tip, if you ever come back, go and see Cinemagique in the Studios (if it's still there....)

Can't wait to read more about your trip!!

 

[Quellman]

You guys did DLParis similar to how we did. We knew we had limited time so we skipped any table service meals. Not a bad decision at all. I also love how the folding airplane stairs was a source of enjoyment. It is really cool! Barcelona looks amazing and it isn't an area of Spain I have been to yet. Also, can't wait to hear about the horrible cab ride to the port!

 

[Plaid Princess]

And now: Girona and Teatre-Museu Dalí!

So this day started off a bit challenging for me. DH absolutely loves Salvador Dalí, he's seen as many Dalí works as he can in the US, and we even have a "melting" clock in our guest room. Half the reason we opted to spend time before the cruise in Barcelona was to visit the Dalí Museum.

I had booked a full day tour months ahead of time to ensure that we saw all the main Dalí sites near Barcelona. The Museum and the Gala Castle (which he had built for his wife) are a pretty decent drive away from Downtown Barcelona. Unfortunately, two days before we were supposed to leave home, I got an email from the tour company saying that the tour we booked was actually sold out. I wrote back asking why we had been confirmed if there wasn't enough space, and he came up with something about there not being enough tickets to the Gala Castle.

I shopped around a bit, but at that point it was too late to book a similar tour with another company. The original company offered to put us on a similar tour and refund most of our tour price. With limited options, we went ahead and accepted their offer.

I received a new confirmation from the Tour Operator with the guide's name, and pickup time. We were downstairs and ready at our 8:00am pickup. And 8:15 came and went, 8:30 came and went, and the company wasn't answering their phones. I was really starting to get upset, when finally the tour guide pulled up at almost 9:00.

He apologized profusely and explained that they had rented a van for our group, and there was a problem picking it up.

There was one other couple already in the car, and we were stopping to pick up one more, and then we hit the road! Fortunately, our Tour Guide was worth the wait. He was very knowledgeable about the country and the culture and gave us lots of little tidbits as we drove.

Our first stop was Girona, a cute little city known for it's Medieval architecture.

After climbing around Girona, and giving us lots if interesting tidbits, our guide turned us loose for a bit to find some lunch and explore.

We found a fantastic looking restaurant in a beautiful plaza and settled in for a tasty lunch, with a pretty view:

Once we finished lunch, and met up with our group, it was on to Figueres and Teatre-Museu Dalí. DH could barely contain his excitement. This was the highlight of the whole trip for him.

The Dalí museum is a particularly unique experience, because he designed it himself. The entire museum is built in an historic theater, and not only houses Dalí works, but actually is a work of art itself. It is also home to the deceased artist's tomb.

The outside of the Museum is decorated with giant eggs and loaves of bread:

Once inside, you can see where the different levels of seating for the theater existed. In it's place is the main entrance to the museum:

Then as you first move inside, some of the first pieces you see are hung in what were the wings of the stage:

If you go beneath the stage, you actually enter into a darkened room that holds the tomb:

Near to the tomb is a piece that really caught my attention. It's one of the only "drab" colored pieces in the whole museum, and our guide explained that it was painted in the early days of WWII, and represented the shadow that Hitler had cast over Europe:

Throughout the museum, the building itself is a work of art, including this ceiling mural:

DH was over the moon the whole time, most of the Dalí works are a bit over my head, but he was so excited to see some of his favorites in person!

Next to the Theater, there is a smaller addition to the museum that houses Jewelry designed by Dalí. He was also a master jeweler, and there were a few dozen of his elaborate pieces on display. Unfortunately, my camera just wasn't cooperating, as all the pieces were behind glass... but they were gorgeous!

After a long day, we met up with our guide for the drive back to Barcelona, which took a little over 2 hours with traffic.

Rather than dropping us off at our hotel, we had the guide drop us off near the waterfront, and we went to explore and find some dinner.

As we were walking back to our hotel, we caught this gorgeous sunset:

At that point, we were trying to remind ourselves to enjoy our remaining time in Barcelona, as we were so excited about boarding the Magic the following day that we kept focusing on that!

After exploring the waterfront, we stopped at a market and picked up a few last minute odds and ends for the boat, and headed back to the hotel.

We spent the rest of the night doing this:

Up next: The Disney Magic!