September/October 2013 check in

[sarefromoz]

*ahem* hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my boys are going back to back this year Unfortunately after this trip, I won't be able to afford the trip down to see it. At least I was there for the last two!

You can't discount the swans, but I have a feeling, just like I did in 2010 it will be a black and white year

Well dh skypes the accent inn and we are all booked in Canada now. $113 for the night, so can't complain...love it when things come in under budget, it just means more spending money for me when we finally get there. Now we just have to book our San Diego accommodation. Anyone know of somewhere reasonable to stay?

Have a great day everyone, we're off to go and do school supply shopping today.

 

[alicia1506]

ok so i was trawling through this thread and i am sure some people have changed their plans, or changed dates etc so i just wanted to clarify... if things have changed and you would like them updated, just pm me and i will update the list on the main page.

if your plans are still up in the air and you haven't finalised and are happy for the current listing below to stay as is, just pm me when you have finalised and i will make sure i update it for you

nothing worse than seeing out of date/incorrect information

so... the list is currently:

Alicia1506 - Me, DP Carlo, Carlo's DBro and My DSis - s.20 - s.27 dlr, s.28 - o.5 dcl western, o.5 - o.8 ioa with one day at wdw for mk & mnsshp
Caroline NZ - Me, DH, DS(11), DD(9) 20Sep-21Oct California & surrounds
AustralianKaren - 8-13 BWV, 13-15 AKL, 15-22 FoS cruise, 22-29 FoS cruise
Lampardcl - September 17th 2013, check in at PORFQ for 14 nights
Cola - tentative trip to DLR in Oct 2013
Mrsreyrey - october trip for honeymoon
PrincessInOz - oct 2 - 8 wdw ... So far
KiwiMouseGirl (19) and friend Alicia (19) - dates unknown
Snickals - Oct 22 - Dec 18 - halloween + thanksgiving + christmas
TapDancer - 22 September LA, 23 September New York, 28 September POR, 8 October fly to Sydney then Home
MumfromOz - 28th October - 30 November - 10 days in WDW including MNSSHP, 9th November Western Caribbean Fantasy Cruise, Anaheim for a week to do Disneyland and more specificity Carsland!!
5ofus - September, weeks 2 & 3 - vegas and a week (+) at disneyland
Jade+3 - 15 Sep Freedom of the Seas cruise, 22 Sep POR 11 nights
Mareeld86 - 31st August until 10 October, wdw + 2 x cruises
jessiegirl84 - wedding 3 October, plus 1 week prior & 1 week after
WickedDreamer - oct/nov 2013 - halloween + christmas
Paula Sedley-Burke - SSR September 19th - September 29th, then Sept 29th - 3rd October Disney Dream 4 night Bahamas cruise! (our first UK member on this thread - welcome )
Wanderlust NZ - 18th Sep: 3 nights at a Universal Orlando hotel, 21st Sep: 7 night Fantasy cruise, 28th Sep - 9th Oct: WDW and a few other Orlando attractions.
Jade+3 - 9 sept - 8 oct, wdw + FoS cruise
Minniemum - 14/9-28/9 at POFQ with Free Dining
Sims11 - Simone, DD6 + mum - 6 weeks East coast trip - September/October 2013 - WDW + 7 night DCL Caribbean cruise + New York, Washington DC, and Niagara Falls and either L A. or Hawaii
Kristin 5 - kristen, dh and ds 6 turning 7 - sept 20 - oct 4 - dlr + denver + vegas
sarefromoz - sare & dh, dd8/9, dd6 and ds 4 - aug 28 - sept 30th - vancouver, vegas, dlr

 

[Kristin5]

You can't discount the swans, but I have a feeling, just like I did in 2010 it will be a black and white year

Well dh skypes the accent inn and we are all booked in Canada now. $113 for the night, so can't complain...love it when things come in under budget, it just means more spending money for me when we finally get there. Now we just have to book our San Diego accommodation. Anyone know of somewhere reasonable to stay?

Have a great day everyone, we're off to go and do school supply shopping today.

Have to agree with Sare - it's the Pies all the way in 2013!

Great to hear that you are booked in Vancouver. I don't think I've stayed in San Diego, so can't help you with that. What are you planning to see in San Diego? Might help others to offer nearby hotel suggestions?

Alicia, my confirmed dates are:
12 Sept Fly Mel - SFO
15 Sept Fly SFO - Vegas
20 Sept Drive Vegas to Disneyland
4 Oct Fly home

 

[alicia1506]

to those that have pm'd me before 6.30pm aest on 10.01.2013, i have updated your dates

kristin, i have also updated yours

 

[5ofus]

Have to agree with Sare - it's the Pies all the way in 2013!

Great to hear that you are booked in Vancouver. I don't think I've stayed in San Diego, so can't help you with that. What are you planning to see in San Diego? Might help others to offer nearby hotel suggestions?

Alicia, my confirmed dates are:
12 Sept Fly Mel - SFO
15 Sept Fly SFO - Vegas
20 Sept Drive Vegas to Disneyland
4 Oct Fly home

Hey Kristin, we now overlap a day or two in Disneyland . Are you going to the parks either the 20th or 21st? You might see us around

 

[Kristin5]

Hey Kristin, we now overlap a day or two in Disneyland . Are you going to the parks either the 20th or 21st? You might see us around

Great! I thought you were leaving before we got there, for some reason? Have you changed your dates? (But maybe I am just confusing it with your Vegas dates, *** I know we just miss you there. A shame, because i think my DS would love to play with your 3 boys, not that there's much time for that anyway, I suppose!)

We arrive on the 20th, so will be going to the parks on the 21st (DS wants to go to Carsland first, but our friends will want to go to DL. I think it's going to be a nightmare of a first day, being a Saturday! I much prefer to go Mon-Thurs). You're staying at Hojos too, aren't you? We can have an Aussie convention over there! (Last time we went, we were laughing that everyone we met in DL was an Aussie - it was hard to find an American!)

 

[WanderlustNZ]

to those that have pm'd me before 6.30pm aest on 10.01.2013, i have updated your dates

kristin, i have also updated yours

Thanks Alicia.

Will be a shame to miss out on a Dismeet on the cruise, but I fully understand why you changed. You need to pick the itinerary which interests you the most. Culturally, a Western one would be really interesting. I'll have to keep a Western cruise on the cards if I'm ever back in the area one day.

This WDW trip was only ever intended to be a once in a lifetime trip. But the more I read, and the more excited I get, the more I 'worry' that I'm going to get home and not be happy until I've booked to return.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

On a side note. It looks like this Fastpass + will be around by the time us Sep/Oct travelers arrive at WDW.
The rumor at the moment is that you can pick 3 per day, and all 3 need to be in the same park. It sounds like they'll include reserved firework and parade viewing spots.

So my question. For each park, what will be your top three choices?

I was thinking about it yesterday, and I was a bit stuck on some

AK - Kilamanjaro Safari, Lion King Show, Parade
HS - TSM, Parade, ?
Epcot - Soarin, Test Track, ?
MK - Splash Mountain, ?, ? Too many to pick from.

 

[Lewdannie]

: Now we just have to book our San Diego accommodation. Anyone know of somewhere reasonable to stay?
.

We stayed in this VRBO.com House in North Park which was centrally located and really well set up. Best of all it gave us a chance to chill out, cook our own food etc after the hustle and bustle of Disneyland.

http://www.vrbo.com/305926


It was a fantastic experience

 

[5ofus]

Great! I thought you were leaving before we got there, for some reason? Have you changed your dates? (But maybe I am just confusing it with your Vegas dates, *** I know we just miss you there. A shame, because i think my DS would love to play with your 3 boys, not that there's much time for that anyway, I suppose!)

We arrive on the 20th, so will be going to the parks on the 21st (DS wants to go to Carsland first, but our friends will want to go to DL. I think it's going to be a nightmare of a first day, being a Saturday! I much prefer to go Mon-Thurs). You're staying at Hojos too, aren't you? We can have an Aussie convention over there! (Last time we went, we were laughing that everyone we met in DL was an Aussie - it was hard to find an American!)

We are staying an extra day, so yes, we did change our dates We are staying at HoJos so we might see you around. My two youngest boys are blonde, the 2yo being white-blonde, but with all the Aussies, we might not stick out at all!

I don't know if we'll go to the parks much on the Saturday. Maybe a few last minute shopping items or must-ride-agains. We'll play it by ear

 

[Kristin5]

We are staying an extra day, so yes, we did change our dates We are staying at HoJos so we might see you around. My two youngest boys are blonde, the 2yo being white-blonde, but with all the Aussies, we might not stick out at all!

I don't know if we'll go to the parks much on the Saturday. Maybe a few last minute shopping items or must-ride-agains. We'll play it by ear

I will look out for the blonde boys then! I am fairly recognisable - I have long red (well, strawberry blonde actually ) hair.

(I wish this site would stop asterisking my slang word for 'because' - makes it look like I'm swearing all the time!!! Guess I'll just have to stop being lazy, and type out the whole word!)

 

[sarefromoz]

Looking at San Diego accommodation is doing my head in... I think that there's too much choice. We made another booking last night...2 nights at the new legoland hotel that opens in April. We booked the premium pirate theme room. The kids will love it when we surprise them with this hotel, especially ds who is lego mad and loves pirates too. I think I will have trouble keeping it a secret from them; it looks so good. We were planning on going to Legoland on the last day in San Diego but it was a Sunday and the rates at the legoland hotel were considerably cheaper for week days, so we now will stay there for 2 nights before heading closer to the San Diego attractions for 3 nights. And here's where my problem lies. I think I am struggling with San Diego, because I can't picture the area. Pretty much everywhere else we plan to go on this trip dh and I visited on our honeymoon, so it's easier to recall how far things are away from each other.
I thought I decided on the Doubletree in the Hotel Circle last night, but I read a few posts on here where people said that they wouldn't stay on the hotel circle again given the choice. Then I have just seen the best western plus Marina Gateway which is brand new, but it too seems a bit away from things. Does that really matter if we have a car? I keep on reading that the cost of parking in San Diego is $$$. . If anyone has any thoughts let me know because I am feeling befuddled. We want to visit sea world and San Diego zoo and possibly do a trolley tour in the 3 days that we have there.

Enough of my blabbering...

Kristin, how did the passport photo go?

Lewdannie - thanks for the tip. It looks lovely, I'm just not sure that I want a rental, because it mean that I'll have to do the things that I normally do at home (cooking, cleaning etc) and I want have a break from that if everyone else in my family is too.

 

[Kristin5]

I haven't stayed in San Diego (last time, we took a tour bus from Anaheim to both Legoland and Sea World), but have looked it up and parking is free at the zoo, and $15 at Sea World.

We wouldn't do Sea World again - they were doing a lot of renovations when we were there, so getting around was a bit of a problem (with fences blocking the way), and it really isn't much different to Qld Sea World (other than the killer whales, I suppose). But I know everyone enjoys different things And if you are in the area anyway, I guess it probably is somewhere you should visit (we just wouldn't make a special trip).

There is a nice hotel down by the beach - 20 mins drive to the zoo and 10 mins to Sea World. http://www.pacificterrace.com/default-en.html

Or this one (more inland, but still not in the city/downtown - roughly 10-15 mins drive to each park) http://www.marriott.com.au/hotels/t...bta&scid=b661a3c4-9c47-48c8-9e13-75b66089dd79

I don't think distance matters too much if you have a car, so long as it isn't much more than half an hour away, anyway. You don't want to waste too much time driving, but 15-20 minutes is doable, IMO.

That Legoland hotel sounds so cool! Does it come up with entry tickets too, as part of the package? If you still need to buy tickets, I think there are lots of 2 for 1 specials to be bought (via coupons or something). By the way, you know that Legoland isn't open everyday, right?

Got my passport photo done - I hate it that you're not allowed to smile anymore! My photo looks like I'm grumpy and half asleep (which the PO guy kindly told me that I'll look worse after my 14 hour flight anyway! ) Next step is to get it witnessed, signed and lodged.

 

[sarefromoz]

That Legoland hotel sounds so cool! Does it come up with entry tickets too, as part of the package? If you still need to buy tickets, I think there are lots of 2 for 1 specials to be bought (via coupons or something). By the way, you know that Legoland isn't open everyday, right?

Got my passport photo done - I hate it that you're not allowed to smile anymore! My photo looks like I'm grumpy and half asleep (which the PO guy kindly told me that I'll look worse after my 14 hour flight anyway! ) Next step is to get it witnessed, signed and lodged.

Umm...nope I didn't know that Legoland isn't open everyday...hence the cheaper midweek prices, right? Dh realised this afternoon and is trying to change the dates to the 20/21st. So we'll end up paying the higher rates, but it should all be good. If there's a problem, I told him that we could just stay there and extra night or two and trek from Carlsbad for the day to go to sea world or the zoo. I'll take a look at the hotels you linked after the kids go to bed, but probably can't do anything until dh speaks to the people from the legoland hotel in the morning.

I remember thinking the same thing about the San Diego sea world when we went. Loved the killer whale show and thought that the beluga whales were great, but the rest of it was like qld. The kids will love it though, they loved the qld one and are dying to see the killer whales.

 

[Kristin5]

Umm...nope I didn't know that Legoland isn't open everyday...hence the cheaper midweek prices, right? Dh realised this afternoon and is trying to change the dates to the 20/21st. So we'll end up paying the higher rates, but it should all be good. If there's a problem, I told him that we could just stay there and extra night or two and trek from Carlsbad for the day to go to sea world or the zoo. I'll take a look at the hotels you linked after the kids go to bed, but probably can't do anything until dh speaks to the people from the legoland hotel in the morning.

Have you been able to change the reservation, Sare?

Sadness in our house today, as the Broncos lost their playoff game Means no Superbowl for the Denver Broncos this year, at least. But maybe, when we go to a game on our trip, it means we can say we saw them during their Superbowl winning season (see, positive thinking! "There's always next year!")

 

[sarefromoz]

Have you been able to change the reservation, Sare?

Sadness in our house today, as the Broncos lost their playoff game Means no Superbowl for the Denver Broncos this year, at least. But maybe, when we go to a game on our trip, it means we can say we saw them during their Superbowl winning season (see, positive thinking! "There's always next year!")

Oh that sucks Kristin. I don't understand American football at all (I don't even understand NRL) but there's nothing worse than your team losing in the finals (speaking from lots of experience here ) Hopefully your positive thinking worksfor next year.

Yep, the reservation for San Diego has been changed and as of this afternoon, all accommodation for this holiday (except for the night that we're going to wing it on the drive between the Grand Canyon and San Diego) is BOOKED

So this is our holiday:
28th August MEL - YVR via LAX with Qantas (Alaska Airlines code share)
28th August - 1st Sept - Vancouver @ Best Western Plus Chateau Granville
1st - 4th Sept - Whistler @ Crystal Lodge
4th- 7th Sept - Victoria (Vancouver Island) @ Best Western Plus Carlton Plaza Hotel
7th - 8th Sept - Accent Inn Vancouver Airport
8th Sept - YVR - LAS with Air Canada
8th - 14th Sept - Las Vegas @ MGM Grand
14th - 16th Sept - South Rim of the Grand Canyon area @ Red Feather Lodge
16th - 17th Sept - Unknown (possibly Barstow for some outlet shopping)
17th - 20th Sept - San Diego @ Homewood Suites Liberty Station
20th - 22nd Sept - Carlsbad @ Legoland Hotel
22nd - 30th Sept - Anaheim @ Howard Johnson
30th Sept - Fly home LAX - MEL with Qantas
2nd Oct - Arrive home

So excited. Deposits are paid at quite a few hotels and all others are held against our credit card (and all bar hojos have free cancellation, which means that if a cheaper price comes up, they can match it or we can cancel and re-book at the cheaper price...we've already done that once with hojos, who were more than happy to give us the cheaper rate) , all flights are paid for, travel insurance is paid for. Now to start thinking about car hire, day tours and tickets to venues. Can you guess I am a bit of an organisation freak?

Hope that you're all enjoying your weekend.

 

[Kristin5]

Oh that sucks Kristin. I don't understand American football at all (I don't even understand NRL) but there's nothing worse than your team losing in the finals (speaking from lots of experience here ) Hopefully your positive thinking worksfor next year.

Yep, the reservation for San Diego has been changed and as of this afternoon, all accommodation for this holiday (except for the night that we're going to wing it on the drive between the Grand Canyon and San Diego) is BOOKED

So this is our holiday:
28th August MEL - YVR via LAX with Qantas (Alaska Airlines code share)
28th August - 1st Sept - Vancouver @ Best Western Plus Chateau Granville
1st - 4th Sept - Whistler @ Crystal Lodge
4th- 7th Sept - Victoria (Vancouver Island) @ Best Western Plus Carlton Plaza Hotel
7th - 8th Sept - Accent Inn Vancouver Airport
8th Sept - YVR - LAS with Air Canada
8th - 14th Sept - Las Vegas @ MGM Grand
14th - 16th Sept - South Rim of the Grand Canyon area @ Red Feather Lodge
16th - 17th Sept - Unknown (possibly Barstow for some outlet shopping)
17th - 20th Sept - San Diego @ Homewood Suites Liberty Station
20th - 22nd Sept - Carlsbad @ Legoland Hotel
22nd - 30th Sept - Anaheim @ Howard Johnson
30th Sept - Fly home LAX - MEL with Qantas
2nd Oct - Arrive home

So excited. Deposits are paid at quite a few hotels and all others are held against our credit card (and all bar hojos have free cancellation, which means that if a cheaper price comes up, they can match it or we can cancel and re-book at the cheaper price...we've already done that once with hojos, who were more than happy to give us the cheaper rate) , all flights are paid for, travel insurance is paid for. Now to start thinking about car hire, day tours and tickets to venues. Can you guess I am a bit of an organisation freak?

Hope that you're all enjoying your weekend.

Fantastic! You're all going to have so much fun, the best thing is seeing how excited the kids get!

We will miss you in Vegas by 1 day! We are staying in MGM's Signature Suites. I have heard/read that the pool at MGM is spectacular, so we are looking forward to that.

Looks like we are at similar stages in our planning (with flights and hotels booked). I have been looking at tours and tickets. My friend and i would like to see Celine Dion and Shania Twain in Vegas, but I can't find out if they'll be performing in September. If they aren't at all, then we will probably go to a cirque du soleil show.

I pretty much know what tours we'll book too, but don't know what days yet (it all depends on the NFL schedule to find out when, and where, we will be going to see a game). We want to see a baseball game too (we did last time, and it was great fun), so we will be going on the Monday or Tuesday night, depending on what day we do a day tour (probably universal studios will be first on the agenda).

Then it will be time for all the DL character meal bookings and Mickey's Halloween party (which we didn't do last time - we underestimated DS love for all things Halloween! After being at DL during Halloween time, he is now a total addict!).

I'm convinced that a lot of the excitement of a holiday is in the planning/booking stages!

 

[5ofus]

My planning has come to a halt. I have a job interview tomorrow so all my energies have been going into preparing for that. One Disney upside is that if I get it, the payout of leave from my current job will cover DL tickets and most of our accommodation. Added incentive!

 

[Kristin5]

My planning has come to a halt. I have a job interview tomorrow so all my energies have been going into preparing for that. One Disney upside is that if I get it, the payout of leave from my current job will cover DL tickets and most of our accommodation. Added incentive!

Good luck for tomorrow!

What a windfall that'd be, huh?! Fingers crossed for you

does anyone else have trouble logging onto Disboards around 8-8:30pm? This happens to me every night, where I get some sort of server error message

 

[aussie shaz]

does anyone else have trouble logging onto Disboards around 8-8:30pm? This happens to me every night, where I get some sort of server error message

Me too. Every night. I know not to go on at 8.30