Advertisement
Published: December 11th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Family at EuroDisney
Linda and Bob with Tamara, Rosanna, and Will at Cinderella's castle The day after school was out we went on the first of two summer vacations...this one to the French Atlantic Coast. Staying at hotels with three kids was turning out to be quite expensive as hotels charged by the bed rather than by the room. We learned about Pierre et Vacnaces, a resort company similar to Club Med, but without the food, thus costing much less.
So we decided to reserve a room at the Port Bourgenay Pierre et Vacances resort at the Vendee region of France. It turned out to be a great place, and we would stay at another Pierre et Vacances resort on the French Riviera in April 1995.
11 June 1993 Friday. We left early from our home in Overijse, Belgium and three hours later were checking into the Sequoia Lodge at EuroDisney, since renamed Disneyland Paris. After dropping off our bags we went to the amusement park for the rest of the day.
As the kids were still pretty short (under 48"), we took mostly the childrens' rides, including the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, and saw a stage presentation of Beauty and the Beast. The weather cooperated, and
the lines weren't too long, so we had a great time.
EuroDisney has a distinct French flavor, as many of the Disney stories originated from French fairy tales. Indeed, Disney was originally D'Isney or something like that. None the less, it is also quite American in other areas...especially its portrayal of the Wild West. The kids went to bed exhausted.
12 June 1993 Saturday. We headed southwest out of the Paris area to the Loire Valley, which was on the way to the Atlantic Coast. We stopped at the Chenonceua chateau and toured the gardens and the chateau which spans a tributary river. Linda and I had been to the Loire in 1978 and several times since then, so enjoyed watching the kids reactions to a fairy tale castle.
Then we were off again. As we approached the coast, we encountered scattered remnants of Bronze and Iron Age man, with neolithic menhirs and dolmens scattered across the countryside. We stopped to climb a dolmen, which the kids enjoyed.
We arrived at Port Bourgenay by late afternoon and checked into out one bedrooom apartment. Besides the one bedroom where Linda and I stayed, we had
a living room area with couches that converted to beds for the kids. The apartment also had a kitchen/dining room area where we would cook and eat most of our meals for the next week, thus saving considerable expense for food.
We then took a tour of the resort. It had a central area where we checked in previously, with a groceriy store where we bought food, a laudromat, a childcare center for the youngest, including Rosanna and Will, a lake side restaurant, and a swimming pool. Other recreational facilities included tennis courts, archery, golf, sailing, and boating.
About a kilometer away was the beach where we could either take a small train like they had at Disney to take people from the parking lot to the entrance, or walk along the cliff to get there. Use of all sporting equipment and facilities was included in the price of our apartment, which was only about $500 for the week.
13 - 18 June 1993 Sunday through Friday. We spent the week at Port Bourgenay, enjoying all they had to offer. Each morning, we checked Rosanna and Will into their playgroup and Tamara into hers, each
enjoying activities appropriate for their age group. Linda and I had time to ourselves just relaxing; mostly going to the beach. The kids would join us at the beach after lunch.
19 June 1993 Saturday. We drove back to EuroDisney to stay at the Cheyenne Village, a western themed hotel complex, for the night. There was plenty to see and do in the evening without going into the amusement park.
20 June 1993 Sunday. We took our time getting up and having breakfast at the ranch house, and left late morning for our return to Overijse.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0387s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Leander
non-member comment
the summer of 1993
In the summer of 1993, I was one of the sport entertainers at Port Bourgenay for kids from 6-12 years old. So there is a big chance they were in my group. I was wondering do you have any photos of that time, with the guys from the entertainment team?