November/December 2012?

[Luisa]

Have you decided where you are staying in Boston and New York? So many gorgeous options.

Not sure about Boston, first time there so looking at options. Have found its quite expensive and as I'm travelling on my own may just stay at the HI for a budget option.

Last time I was in New York I stayed at Hotel 31, on 31st st just near Madison Ave. It's fairly basic and in most rooms the bathrooms were shared but that was no problem. It's kept really clean and the people running it are friendly and helpful and best of all you can get great rates on it which is perfect for me as all I want is somewhere to sleep!

Boston and Philly are both new to me and I'm really looking forward to getting out and exploring the historical sights. Any tips on can't miss places?

 

[Beee]

Hi everyone we are planning our first trip to the US for December this year - 11-17th in LA and 18th-24th in Hawaii. I think I am more excited than DD12 but the organising of it all is quite daunting! We're currently debating 3 or 4 days at Disneyland, have heard it gets busier the closer to christmas so the plan is to go to DL first from the 12th to the 14th or 15th. Given the 15th is a Saturday so will be busier is it worth going that extra day? We figure this is probably our one trip to DL so we plan on staying at the Disneyland Hotel and getting the full on disney experience, has anyone stayed there and is it worth the extra $$?

 

[aussietravellers]

Hi everyone we are planning our first trip to the US for December this year - 11-17th in LA and 18th-24th in Hawaii. I think I am more excited than DD12 but the organising of it all is quite daunting! We're currently debating 3 or 4 days at Disneyland, have heard it gets busier the closer to christmas so the plan is to go to DL first from the 12th to the 14th or 15th. Given the 15th is a Saturday so will be busier is it worth going that extra day? We figure this is probably our one trip to DL so we plan on staying at the Disneyland Hotel and getting the full on disney experience, has anyone stayed there and is it worth the extra $$?

to the boards Beee (had to put my glasses on then to make sure I added enough eee's )

Disneyland and Hawaii what a heaven holiday! How exciting having your first trip to the USA in December. It is just magical over there at that time of year, so festive, so many decorations, carols playing everywhere (even in taxis!). I just saw that you are going to miss Christmas Day, you will leave Hawaii Christmas Eve, arrive back in Australia Boxing Day.

I definately think it's worth staying at one of the DL hotels! You will hear from many here that will say no, but it's really a personal thing. For us, for my family, it's worth it, we love it! I have never not stayed on property, I just love being completely at Disney and it's just something I have always done, since I was a child. My next trip I am going to do our first stay offsite, which I am actually looking forward to, having a change. In saying that who knows what will happen, we may end up at Paradise Pier as we haven't stayed there before. DLH (Disneyland Hotel) has recently been renovated so I haven't seen it or stayed there since the reno but it looks fantastic and seems to be getting great reviews.

The couple of weekends before Christmas are really busy. The year we were there, the Saturday nights had signs up out on the street saying that they were at capacity. But during the week, until the week before Christmas it was really nice. Sure it was busy, it's Disney, but no where near as busy as the week before Christmas. We really noticed the crowd levels from week to week when we were there for 2.5 weeks.

If you are staying at DLH (Disneyland Hotel), then you will have magical mornings, where you can go into the park before the general public. It is really great going in then, you get so many rides in over the first couple of hours that morning. Although not every ride in the park is open during magic mornings, you can still get many of the good rides done, before the crowds start building later in the morning. So you could go on the Saturday for a few hours in the morning and take advantage of the magic mornings. We didn't go on Saturdays on that last December trip, we went shopping and did day tours, but we were there for a long time so we could do that.

You can upgrade your ticket. So if you are there on the Friday and decide that you would like to do the Saturday, you can upgrade your ticket there at the ticket windows (maybe guest services too? )

We Aussies, love to hear about travels so feel free to share your details of your Hawaii trip too

 

[Beee]

thanks aussietravellers, lots of great info there! Yes we miss christmas day and christmas is my favourite day of the year so I was quite pained by that discovery lol! We are actually in NZ so limited by flights, the rest of my family live in Aus and are leaving on the 25th but there are no direct flights on tuesdays from HNL so as disappointing as it is it makes sense to leave the night before and save ourselves a few hours in the air. I had read about the early morning entry but didn't really get how important they are - I think the extra day is only another $60 on the package price so when it is $3000ish NZ what's another $60! We can go in the morning and then head off in the afternoon if it is too busy - the Mr is NOT a crowd person so it will be interesting to see how he goes. Glad you think it is worth staying on site, everyone else I've talked to think we are absolutely crazy to pay all that extra - I did look at Howard Johnsons and it was so cheap! But just not the same magic.
More questions, how do you go booking the character dining things etc on the phone from over this way - just suck it up and call at 4am (8am there)?

 

[dabecs]

We've just booked flights!!!! So it's all happening. We were really wondering if we should cancel the whole trip as we're both looking for new jobs but ... nope, it's all locked in now and come hell or high water, we are going!!!

We're flying with Delta (Virgin Australia code share) and got a fantastic deal. We are flying to LA, three hour layover, then to NY for a week before heading to Disney World for 8 days, and then Disneyland for 4 days. The return flights including the connecting NY flight cost us $1300. We had to snap them up! I got a quote the day before for $1800 - thought I could do better, and then went in the following day because I saw a flash sale on the website. They beat the price and now I'm a happy little prince.

Here's to Disney in NOV!

I'll add your dates to the OP - what dates are you away and what dates in DL and WDW? Also where are you staying for the Disney bits?

Great to have another Nov/Dec Diser!

 

[dabecs]

Hi everyone we are planning our first trip to the US for December this year - 11-17th in LA and 18th-24th in Hawaii. I think I am more excited than DD12 but the organising of it all is quite daunting! We're currently debating 3 or 4 days at Disneyland, have heard it gets busier the closer to christmas so the plan is to go to DL first from the 12th to the 14th or 15th. Given the 15th is a Saturday so will be busier is it worth going that extra day? We figure this is probably our one trip to DL so we plan on staying at the Disneyland Hotel and getting the full on disney experience, has anyone stayed there and is it worth the extra $$?

I've added you to the roll call in the opening post! And welcome to the boards!

 

[AussiePossum]

Hi Everyone..

I was wondering if I can join in as well... We are leaving on the 22 October (well that is the plan but haven't found any good flights yet). Staying at DLH for 3 nights and then going to WDW and splitting our stay between CSR and POR over the next 3 weeks.

My problem is airfares.... When I type in the dates for late October and most of November I end up with a price of approx $2200 return for the adults. And this is only to LAX from Adelaide. Have also signed up with webjet and other various travel sites and check out the specials when I receive them but they are not "great" specials. Is it because of the internal flight to get to either Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane? I also rang a TA and the price I was given was $9400 from Adelaide to Orlando.

I hope it's not to rude to ask but what sort of prices did your flights cost?
Would love to hear some feedback.

Thanks

 

[Royal Consort]

Hi Everyone..


My problem is airfares.... When I type in the dates for late October and most of November I end up with a price of approx $2200 return for the adults. And this is only to LAX from Adelaide. Have also signed up with webjet and other various travel sites and check out the specials when I receive them but they are not "great" specials. Is it because of the internal flight to get to either Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane? I also rang a TA and the price I was given was $9400 from Adelaide to Orlando.

I hope it's not to rude to ask but what sort of prices did your flights cost?
Would love to hear some feedback.

Thanks

Hi AussiePossum!
We were also in a similar position as we are going in November this year. We were quoted between $1800 and $2000 return from Melbourne to LA. That didn't fly with me (pardon the pun ) so we waited and I continually checked with multiple sources including travel agents and airline websites. A week and a bit ago I was casually checking Virgin Australia and noticed they had a flash sale on! $1400 return from LA. I contacted Flight Centre and they quoted me $1500 for Melb to NYC (our first stop) and then from LA to Melb. I further investigated and that day Delta Airlines were also on sale so Flight Centre beat their price. We are now flying Melb to New York and from LA to Melb for $1326. I checked if the prices remained the same but they're back up to their usual $1800 round trip the other day. My advice is to continually check!!!!!!

Remember that Delta and Virgin are code share so when you check out flights with one you should do so with the other. I hope this helps! Also, if you're dealing with a travel agent, try different ones. I was quoted several different prices calling various flight centre outlets within 10 minutes of each other! A combination of travel agents and online checking does wonders.

Best of luck!

 

[Royal Consort]

I'll add your dates to the OP - what dates are you away and what dates in DL and WDW? Also where are you staying for the Disney bits?

Great to have another Nov/Dec Diser!

Thanks dabecs, great to be here!

We're at Port Orleans French Quarter from 24th of Nov until 3rd Dec and in Disneyland from the 4th Dec until the 7th of Dec. We cannot wait! Our first non Paris Disney experience!

 

[Caroline NZ]

More questions, how do you go booking the character dining things etc on the phone from over this way - just suck it up and call at 4am (8am there)?

I booked on the phone, but not that early in the morning. I booked later ( around 10am our time so 2pm LA time). Not sure about how busy Dec is , but for DL there has always been space available at all of the places I have booked ( we have travelled in May). I even left the Fantasmic Dining reservation until we got there, and there was still space available. Oh, and I don'r recall the phone call costing that much, it only took a couple of minutes to book around 4 places.

 

[monica9]

We booked November 24- December 1 already. Wilderness Lodge Woods view!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

For those of us who will be there when the decorations are up and the Christmas season is in full swing at WDW, here is a thread with info, tips and tricks and must sees:-

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2233038

 

[dabecs]

Hi Everyone..

I was wondering if I can join in as well... We are leaving on the 22 October (well that is the plan but haven't found any good flights yet). Staying at DLH for 3 nights and then going to WDW and splitting our stay between CSR and POR over the next 3 weeks.

My problem is airfares.... When I type in the dates for late October and most of November I end up with a price of approx $2200 return for the adults. And this is only to LAX from Adelaide. Have also signed up with webjet and other various travel sites and check out the specials when I receive them but they are not "great" specials. Is it because of the internal flight to get to either Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane? I also rang a TA and the price I was given was $9400 from Adelaide to Orlando.

I hope it's not to rude to ask but what sort of prices did your flights cost?
Would love to hear some feedback.

Thanks

I've added you to the OP, once you work out exact dates I will fill in the gaps. And welcome!

 

[dabecs]

Thanks dabecs, great to be here!

We're at Port Orleans French Quarter from 24th of Nov until 3rd Dec and in Disneyland from the 4th Dec until the 7th of Dec. We cannot wait! Our first non Paris Disney experience!

Added!

 

[dabecs]

We booked November 24- December 1 already. Wilderness Lodge Woods view!

I've added you to the OP

 

[AussiePossum]

Hi dabecs

We are staying at DL Hotel on the 22 Oct till the 25 Oct.
In WDW at the CSR 25 Oct till 5 Nov.
CBR from the 8 Nov till the 12 Nov (because CBR is a host hotel for me to do the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon).
And if I am still alive after doing the half marathon our final stay is at POR from the 12 Nov to the 19 Nov.
Then back to LA for 4 days (nothing Disney related planned for these days) before flying back home.....

Went into a different travel agent today to get a quote and the best he could do was $1893 but that doesn't include the internal flight from Adelaide to Sydney. Don't know if I should wait or just say.. "book it"

 

[dabecs]

Hi dabecs

We are staying at DL Hotel on the 22 Oct till the 25 Oct.
In WDW at the CSR 25 Oct till 5 Nov.
CBR from the 8 Nov till the 12 Nov (because CBR is a host hotel for me to do the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon).
And if I am still alive after doing the half marathon our final stay is at POR from the 12 Nov to the 19 Nov.
Then back to LA for 4 days (nothing Disney related planned for these days) before flying back home.....

Went into a different travel agent today to get a quote and the best he could do was $1893 but that doesn't include the internal flight from Adelaide to Sydney. Don't know if I should wait or just say.. "book it"

added Just hope I got it right!

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Hi and I would love to join in on the fun

My darling DD and I are off for 16 fun filled Disney days departing Sydney October 24th and returning November 9th.

This is a "we want to see the park done up for Halloween" trip as we have been in regular time and for Christmas but not for Halloween! AND we will be attending Mickey's Halloween party!

We will be staying for the first 11 nights at the Howard Johnson and the remaining 4 nights at The Carousel Inn and Suites.
We have stayed at the Ho Jo previously and love it! The reason for the 4 nights at the Carousel is I got a fantastic package deal with airfares and 4 nights accommodation were included!
We really didn't mind that at all as we get to stay 4 extra nights!!!!

Really cannot wait!!!!

 

[dabecs]

Hi and I would love to join in on the fun

My darling DD and I are off for 16 fun filled Disney days departing Sydney October 24th and returning November 9th.

This is a "we want to see the park done up for Halloween" trip as we have been in regular time and for Christmas but not for Halloween! AND we will be attending Mickey's Halloween party!

We will be staying for the first 11 nights at the Howard Johnson and the remaining 4 nights at The Carousel Inn and Suites.
We have stayed at the Ho Jo previously and love it! The reason for the 4 nights at the Carousel is I got a fantastic package deal with airfares and 4 nights accommodation were included!
We really didn't mind that at all as we get to stay 4 extra nights!!!!

Really cannot wait!!!!

added

We are getting quite a list now! 9 including me I wonder how many of us will cross paths?

 

[dabecs]

I just bought tickets for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular!

If anyone else is interested here is the link:

http://www.radiocitychristmas.com/newyork/tickets.html?code=prerccs

with the code: PRERCSS to buy tickets before they go on general sale. I bought tickets in the back of the Ochestra section (after reading this review: http://www.nytix.com/Links/Broadway/Shows/Annual/radiocityxmasspectacular.html). They were just over US$100 each, there were no children's prices.

I'm sure closer to the time they will offer discounts and deals but I am happy to pay full price for this one