Great question - funny that it's taken a Disney turn. My kids are 13, 11, and 8 and I considered Paris, London and WDW for spring break. I chose Paris. As between Paris and London, Paris won hands down mostly because (1) I love the food, and (2) so much is in walking distance and I don't get that feeling in London. Plus, we will spend a day or two at Disneyland Paris...I'm actually willing to spend up to 3 days there but I hope that after being in Paris, they won't want to spend that much time away.

I always said that we would take one-and only one-Disney vacation. We waited until all the kids were tall enough to ride everything, then went to DL in California last spring break. I - the Theme Park Hater - loved it...so next I want the kids to experience DLP - finally, probably in June of '05 we'll experience WDW. We'll never be the type of family that vacations at the same place every year. What's wrong with Disneyland one trip, hiking in National Parks the next trip, and wandering around Paris the next?

Quietly getting back to the original question (and our 3 kids didn't like Disneyland either and grown, still don't; it's not a universal love), I would like to recommend Paris since you speak French and possibly your children do also. If you want to see what the French do for an amusement park, visit Parc Asterix. I believe they open in the spring on April first. They have a web site you could check.

There are lots of things to do in Paris, especially if your kids like museums. (Ours did too and are now taking our grandkids to museums). You know all the obvious ones, but you might find some sort of off-beat museums, like the Museum of Music out at Villette. You wander through with laser activated headphones. When you're through, you can spend some time in the park there or visit the Geode at the Science Center and see a movie inside the huge sphere.

At the Tuileries and Luxembourg gardens, your 9-yr-old can rent a little sail boat and sail it in the fountain with the little Parisians. That would be a real thrill.

There's a book about all the museums in Paris. You might get it and go through it with your kids and see if there is anything that particularly appeals.

Susan:

I would take the kids to Paris, both because it's my favorite city in the world and because you can get a lot more accomplished for the money. I love London, but IMO it is just ridiculously expensive.

Since you speak French and have been to Paris, you'll start off with a certain comfort level there.

There are a million things to do in Paris with 9- and 11-year-olds: the bâteaux-mouches, the Batobus, Paristoric, the parks and gardens, Berthillon for ice cream, a gazillion museums (don't know about your kids, but mine genuinely enjoy a lot of museums), the Conciergerie, the Cité de Science and Musée de la Musique, the shopping, the cafés, the outdoor markets.............definitely a wealth of things to do and see. With 8 days you could also take a daytrip to someplace like Auvers-sur-Oise or Chantilly or Giverny or Fontainebleau as well.

Tat, I was just noticing the past few days that you have been very discourteous to a number of the posters on this board. The purpose of the board is to share our travel experiences with others and to learn from them. I don't think it is necessary to be judgemental of others.

SugarPlum, when my son was 9, we took him for the first time to England. I chose to make his first internatioal trip "user friendly", by eliminating any language barrier. He absolutely loved the trip (London, Cotswolds, Wales, Bristol) and it whet his appetite for further international travel. Since then, he has also been to Italy and, I'm thrilled to say, can't wait to explore the rest of the world. By the way, learning enough Italian to communicate was very important to him and he had fun communicating with the people. That being said, he also enjoys travel within this country (big cities, national parks, etc.) For your "quick" vacation, I think a lot depends on where you live. If you're on the east coast, its not as time intensive getting to Europe. What would they like for this trip? Have you asked them? Whatever you choose, have fun!

My sons are now 12 and 15 and we have been to both London and Paris with them. They enjoyed Paris, but really LOVED London. We rented an apartment last March in Chelsea near King's Road and it was wonderful. They liked the Tower of London, the British Museum, pizza at Pizza Express, taking the Tube, shopping for soccer shoes, going to the theater, Greenwich, going to tea, etc., etc. They loved it so much, we are going back this summer and staying in the very same apartment.

You can't go wrong with either. And to put my 2 cents in, neither of my kids would have any interest in going to Disney Paris. They like to experience the real thing while in Europe!

Susan

My teenage son loved Paris. He has a good sense of history and I arranged a day trip for him and his dad to Normandy. They both loved it. He also liked Versaille. He loved the Louvre, we spent a lot of time trying to find the Code of Hammurabi (spelling?), the kids learn about it in school and it was in the Louvre, trouble is, they moved it from where the printed guide said it was! We had fun wandering around to find it!

Sorry, I just realized that my last post made it to the wrong thread! Ignore that I was trying to help on a question about "Paris and teenage boys"!