As a surprise to Kaitlyn, we are considering spending two days at Disneyland Paris. But it seems the only way one can afford the trip is to be independently wealthy.
We’ve struggled to make sense of the website. We’ve read it in English, we’ve read it in French. In English the site quotes prices in pounds, so I switched to French just to get prices in Euros. If you try to say you are from the United States it refuses to quote any stay shorter than three days.
One night in the Disney Hotel right at the park entrance is like 860 Euros. That’s not even for a special room or anything! Even the mid-range hotels on the property is 600 Euros or so. Sure, it includes park admission. But it’s still hard to click on the “confirm” button. I just can’t bring myself to do it.
Bill managed to muddle through the website enough to figure out that it’s far cheaper to buy the annual passport as a resident of France than to buy even two days worth of passes into the park. Especially because right now Kaitlyn’s passport would be free. But good luck figuring out if you qualify for the special deal for residents.
So this morning we gave in and called. Well, I made Bill call because he was the one who figured out the whole annual pass thing. The toll-free number available for people calling from the US was busy. So we wrestled Kaitlyn away from the Slingbox and used our French phone to call the French version of a toll-free number. Here, it is the opposite of toll-free. It’s 15 cents a minute. And that’s not a Disney only thing. The French version of a 1-800 number is that it is an extra charge. I think it’s just to discourage people from bothering to call. It’s easier to enjoy your two hour lunch break if you don’t have pesky work keeping you at your desk.
He found out we should qualify for this special resident year pass. And we can buy them at…. where else…. Carrefour. So now we get to go to my favorite place… the least happy place on earth… Carrefour on Saturday!