Trip Report
- Thread starter Aussiefamof5
- Start date
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Agree about the Hilton at universal, we stayed there in march and were very happy, easy walk to the park, not to expensive. It is a long trip from Anaheim to universal, so I would make it your first or last night
Yeah it is pretty cheap I was thinking about lowes in hollywood but we would need to take public transport to Universal.
We are planning to stay our first two nights here then out to Anaheim for 10 nights.
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Just caught up and are still enjoying your TR immensely.
Your faces on the Jurassic Park ride are classic
I agree with you about the Transformers ride. It's my favourite theme park ride to date. Also, I agree that the Shrek seats are rough. I had backache for hours after going to the Orlando Shrek show.
Thanks for reading along
Love Transformers its amazing!!! Jurassic well understatement of the year to say that ride freaked me out!!! But I'd do it again Oh gosh a backache for hours that's pretty bad, hope it didn't ruin anything for you.
I wont do Shrek again, not in this lifetime lol pretty sure miss tilly wont either
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Day 5
Im going to attempt to continue this trip report, but finding it extremely difficult in 40 degree heat, so if I start to sound crazy you will now why LOL
So here we are on day 5, it was our checkout day at DLH i was so devasted, I actually cried as i didn't want to leave.... we still had 3 more days at the disney parks, still did not want to leave. When its such a build up for so long of planning and excitement your stay goes super quick, but upon leaving I knew I would return. When we go this year (YAY!!!
) our stay at DLH is going to be our last hotel which will be far easier.
We didnt have a plan for today, we were checking in to HOJO's and thought perhaps a trip down south harbour boulevard.
Some Images of the DLH
Love this picture
We found ourselves at downtown disney for breakfast. My ultimate breakfast stop JAMBA JUICE .... simply to die for breakfast bowl, GF free muesli, chia seeds, frozen banana (which im now addicted to) peanut butter, nuts of choice.
You can just see in the above shot, my favouriote shop Sephora. Love love love their makeup goes on silky smooth, and the airbrush foundation is flawless. If you love designer perfume then this is the place to buy it. Needless to say that i spent some money there.
We rang HOJOS after breakfast and they said they had our room already for us, we had booked a kids suite and saved 15% by being mousesavers members.
My sadness of leaving DLH was still bothering me but HOJOS was fab!! We encountered so many Aussies, more so than american. We asked for our suite to be away from the elevators, it was fantastic, seperate room for mum and dad with a king size bed, small refrigerator, mircrowave coffee machine and your own bathroom and toilet. The kids had their own room with pullout sofa and a bunk bed also with their own bathroom. The kids loving being able to get all their toys out and just be messy and we loved having our own private space. HOJOS even has free wifi and a laptop size safe, we could easily fit two ipads, phones 3 cameras and passports.
We heading to the anaheim gardenwalk... omg THE LAMEST PLACE EVER... WHERE ARE THE SHOPS AND THE PPL!!!! It was a ghost town. However HELLO to California Pizza Kitchen, great food, average service, and BEER!!!
Could not believe the size for the price a mere $2.60 whooooo!! California Pizza Kitchen cater to the gluten intolerant like myself and dairy intolerant, with an enticing menu all listed with calories etc, too so after days of only crappy amusement park food this was fantastic. The boys often shared an adult pizza, Im sure my partner could have eaten 2 pizzas for himself as this was on his bucket list, and miss tilly loved the kids meals of pizza or mac cheese which is now her favourite meal.
After lunch we wandered down south harbour and went to Target. WOW!! why cant the australian targets be like this? We purchased a carton of water, ice coffees, breakfast options and heaps of great bargains on clothes. We decided to catch a cab back to HOJO's that cost us about $11.00 and then it was time for a much needed swim.
During our stay here we didnt use the water park, it was packed to capacity all day!! We did use the pool, which was less crowded, my favourite part of the day during our stay here was going to the mini market and purchasing 2 bud lights (aussies make sure you have id with you) and laying by the pool whilst waiting for the laundry. So yes my partner soon switched on where to find me when I said I was going to do the laundry.
Im going to attempt to continue this trip report, but finding it extremely difficult in 40 degree heat, so if I start to sound crazy you will now why LOL
So here we are on day 5, it was our checkout day at DLH i was so devasted, I actually cried as i didn't want to leave.... we still had 3 more days at the disney parks, still did not want to leave. When its such a build up for so long of planning and excitement your stay goes super quick, but upon leaving I knew I would return. When we go this year (YAY!!!
) our stay at DLH is going to be our last hotel which will be far easier.We didnt have a plan for today, we were checking in to HOJO's and thought perhaps a trip down south harbour boulevard.
Some Images of the DLH
Love this picture
We found ourselves at downtown disney for breakfast. My ultimate breakfast stop JAMBA JUICE .... simply to die for breakfast bowl, GF free muesli, chia seeds, frozen banana (which im now addicted to) peanut butter, nuts of choice.
You can just see in the above shot, my favouriote shop Sephora. Love love love their makeup goes on silky smooth, and the airbrush foundation is flawless. If you love designer perfume then this is the place to buy it. Needless to say that i spent some
money there. We rang HOJOS after breakfast and they said they had our room already for us, we had booked a kids suite and saved 15% by being mousesavers members.
My sadness of leaving DLH was still bothering me but HOJOS was fab!! We encountered so many Aussies, more so than american. We asked for our suite to be away from the elevators, it was fantastic, seperate room for mum and dad with a king size bed, small refrigerator, mircrowave coffee machine and your own bathroom and toilet. The kids had their own room with pullout sofa and a bunk bed also with their own bathroom. The kids loving being able to get all their toys out and just be messy and we loved having our own private space. HOJOS even has free wifi and a laptop size safe, we could easily fit two ipads, phones 3 cameras and passports.
We heading to the anaheim gardenwalk... omg THE LAMEST PLACE EVER... WHERE ARE THE SHOPS AND THE PPL!!!! It was a ghost town. However HELLO to California Pizza Kitchen, great food, average service, and BEER!!!
Could not believe the size for the price a mere $2.60 whooooo!! California Pizza Kitchen cater to the gluten intolerant like myself and dairy intolerant, with an enticing menu all listed with calories etc, too so after days of only crappy amusement park food this was fantastic. The boys often shared an adult pizza, Im sure my partner could have eaten 2 pizzas for himself as this was on his bucket list, and miss tilly loved the kids meals of pizza or mac cheese which is now her favourite meal.
After lunch we wandered down south harbour and went to Target. WOW!! why cant the australian targets be like this? We purchased a carton of water, ice coffees, breakfast options and heaps of great bargains on clothes. We decided to catch a cab back to HOJO's that cost us about $11.00 and then it was time for a much needed swim.
During our stay here we didnt use the water park, it was packed to capacity all day!! We did use the pool, which was less crowded, my favourite part of the day during our stay here was going to the mini market and purchasing 2 bud lights (aussies make sure you have id with you) and laying by the pool whilst waiting for the laundry. So yes my partner soon switched on where to find me when I said I was going to do the laundry.
PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
You're having a great trip!
Sad to be leaving Disney accommodation but at least HoJo would have been a lot more space.
Sad to be leaving Disney accommodation but at least HoJo would have been a lot more space.
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
You're having a great trip!
Sad to be leaving Disney accommodation but at least HoJo would have been a lot more space.
We sure did have a great time, but HOJO's was great for space
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Here is some links to a couple of videos we did
HOJOS KIDS SUITE - for anyone who is interested we found hardly any on youtube when we were researching
http://youtu.be/X-F4_eZkIFw
Some more universal videos,
http://youtu.be/NSm86psaaZA
This is a universal video with just some clips from the tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2QLA32XNNc&feature=share&list=FLpj146e6jXf2d4EQk9AbfKg
HOJOS KIDS SUITE - for anyone who is interested we found hardly any on youtube when we were researching
http://youtu.be/X-F4_eZkIFw
Some more universal videos,
http://youtu.be/NSm86psaaZA
This is a universal video with just some clips from the tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2QLA32XNNc&feature=share&list=FLpj146e6jXf2d4EQk9AbfKg
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Day 6
Today we were heading back to Disneyland Again being that we were only doing one park per day we didnt have a main plan the guys new what their fav rides were and we wanted to check out toon town this time.
The park is about a 10 minute casual walk from HOJOS which is roughly the same from DLH by the time you go through down town disney
Bumped in to a few characters on our way in
So we seperated I took Tilly to meet tinkerbell and my partner took the boys too tomorrowland.
Some pretty shots whilst we were waiting for tinkerbell (45 minute wait)
Tilly took great delight in emptying my purse from coinage here
Finally
Its a small world was up today so we went to check that out, BAD MISTAKE... there was a massive pram parking lot, sh insisted on going so we lined up. Today they were filming inside the ride so it was quiet a wait, around 1 hour.
It was a lovely ride especially for the little ones... Ill post a video link we took to the full ride later
Finally met up with the boys who had done tomorrowland, we went to Toontown next. I hated toontown its jammed packed of whining screaming kids!!! If you have to do it go as soon as its opened as its CRAZY!
So in to crazy town we go and Tilly and Saxon wanted to go in to Minnies House, for those that havnt done this before, this is not for the fainthearted. Its small, packed to the rafters with people and kids with no line and so much pushing........ and HOT at the end of minnies house she is there for photos. Well we spent a good half hour 45 mins in two rooms and we had enough we retreated and thought we would catch minnie elsewhere.
Saxon wanted to ride the mini rollercoaster so we lined up for that. 20 minutes later we piled in, the ride is over in at least a minute it goes a little bit fast in two spots and poor tilly snuggled in to her daddy, she was delighted when it was over but insisted that it was great.
We hurried our of crazy town so we could breathe again. Got some fastpasses for after lunch for splash. I think we ended up in near the winnie pooh ride for lunch mind you the boys had already eaten popcorn so they just wanted snacks. Now i cant remember the name of the little shop in their but they have TO DIE FOR snacks, cookies, cakes candy. OMG the way they are all set out is beautiful and you can watch the bakers making as you line up. The guys got a peanut butter and chocolate cookie and a mickey mouse ears mud cake.
We wandered around for a while then it was time for splash, having the fastpasses are a great idea for when it gets warmer in the day as you can go straight on. We rode that a few times, then Hamish and me wanted to do the matterhorn. Now the matterhorn quiet often breaks down, and Ive read so much about the awful seats. So it didnt break down but the seats were awful especially for ppl with bony behinds. They are really hard and you get banged about alot, but it is a pretty cool ride.
We headed out of the park at around two, after one more go of autopia which would have to be the kids favourite. We didnt mind leaving so early as it does get really packed, and if we felt like it later we would could always come back.
Back to HOJOS for some RnR as tomorrow we were shopping again, at the outlets at orange YAY.
The kids loved the games room at HOJOS and i wandered off to do some cough cough
yeah they all found me later LOL, but in my favour they all decided that it was a really nice quiet spot by the pool.
Today we were heading back to Disneyland
Again being that we were only doing one park per day we didnt have a main plan the guys new what their fav rides were and we wanted to check out toon town this time.The park is about a 10 minute casual walk from HOJOS which is roughly the same from DLH by the time you go through down town disney
Bumped in to a few characters on our way in
So we seperated I took Tilly to meet tinkerbell and my partner took the boys too tomorrowland.
Some pretty shots whilst we were waiting for tinkerbell (45 minute wait)
Tilly took great delight in emptying my purse from coinage here
Finally
Its a small world was up today so we went to check that out, BAD MISTAKE... there was a massive pram parking lot, sh insisted on going so we lined up. Today they were filming inside the ride so it was quiet a wait, around 1 hour.
It was a lovely ride especially for the little ones... Ill post a video link we took to the full ride later
Finally met up with the boys who had done tomorrowland, we went to Toontown next. I hated toontown its jammed packed of whining screaming kids!!! If you have to do it go as soon as its opened as its CRAZY!
So in to crazy town we go and Tilly and Saxon wanted to go in to Minnies House, for those that havnt done this before, this is not for the fainthearted. Its small, packed to the rafters with people and kids with no line and so much pushing........ and HOT at the end of minnies house she is there for photos. Well we spent a good half hour 45 mins in two rooms and we had enough we retreated and thought we would catch minnie elsewhere.
Saxon wanted to ride the mini rollercoaster so we lined up for that. 20 minutes later we piled in, the ride is over in at least a minute it goes a little bit fast in two spots and poor tilly snuggled in to her daddy, she was delighted when it was over but insisted that it was great.
We hurried our of crazy town so we could breathe again. Got some fastpasses for after lunch for splash. I think we ended up in near the winnie pooh ride for lunch mind you the boys had already eaten popcorn so they just wanted snacks. Now i cant remember the name of the little shop in their but they have TO DIE FOR snacks, cookies, cakes candy. OMG the way they are all set out is beautiful and you can watch the bakers making as you line up. The guys got a peanut butter and chocolate cookie and a mickey mouse ears mud cake.
We wandered around for a while then it was time for splash, having the fastpasses are a great idea for when it gets warmer in the day as you can go straight on. We rode that a few times, then Hamish and me wanted to do the matterhorn. Now the matterhorn quiet often breaks down, and Ive read so much about the awful seats. So it didnt break down but the seats were awful especially for ppl with bony behinds. They are really hard and you get banged about alot, but it is a pretty cool ride.
We headed out of the park at around two, after one more go of autopia which would have to be the kids favourite. We didnt mind leaving so early as it does get really packed, and if we felt like it later we would could always come back.
Back to HOJOS for some RnR as tomorrow we were shopping again, at the outlets at orange YAY.
The kids loved the games room at HOJOS and i wandered off to do some cough cough
yeah they all found me later LOL, but in my favour they all decided that it was a really nice quiet spot by the pool.
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Day 7
Today we wanted to check out the outlets at orange. A $15 cab ride got us there first thing. Plan of attack hamish myself and tilly went one way and my partner and saxon another. Now I have read that people think the Outlets at Orange are not worth it and no bargains or good shops. Really? I found heaps of bargains and great shops, Calvin Klein had some super cheap stuff in there I got 3 Tshirts for $30, two pairs of leggins for $30 some jeans for $20, I actually got alot of back to school things from some shops here too, *********** school bag for $20 a *********** belt for $10. The sports stores were great can never fault Nike they always have a great selection.
We met up with the guys who had found some great bargains as well, like quiksilver and rusty tshirts for $10, billabong jeans $10. The thing I liked about the outlets was that it wasnt too hot, as there was shade there, compared to citadel.
After a few hours of shopping we headed back to HOJOS it was pretty much a chill day today, as we had been flat out since we arrived. They have a great choice of TV channels at HOJOS and the free wifi, having the two rooms was great for us just to do our own thing.
Later that evening I think we had dinner at Mimis across the street, pretty good prices we paid about $65 all up. They guys just wanted to try and american dessert, they hadnt been able to get one since we arrived as the mains were massive. We just asked for 2 scoops of ice cream with topping. SHould have known that would be on a massive scale too. It came out in a huge glass and it looked like half a bottle of topping was in there, of course they couldnt get through it, but they had a good crack.
Tomorrow was our last day at disneyland and we were going to use our early morning entry.
Today we wanted to check out the outlets at orange. A $15 cab ride got us there first thing. Plan of attack hamish myself and tilly went one way and my partner and saxon another. Now I have read that people think the Outlets at Orange are not worth it and no bargains or good shops. Really? I found heaps of bargains and great shops, Calvin Klein had some super cheap stuff in there I got 3 Tshirts for $30, two pairs of leggins for $30 some jeans for $20, I actually got alot of back to school things from some shops here too, *********** school bag for $20 a *********** belt for $10. The sports stores were great can never fault Nike they always have a great selection.
We met up with the guys who had found some great bargains as well, like quiksilver and rusty tshirts for $10, billabong jeans $10. The thing I liked about the outlets was that it wasnt too hot, as there was shade there, compared to citadel.
After a few hours of shopping we headed back to HOJOS it was pretty much a chill day today, as we had been flat out since we arrived. They have a great choice of TV channels at HOJOS and the free wifi, having the two rooms was great for us just to do our own thing.
Later that evening I think we had dinner at Mimis across the street, pretty good prices we paid about $65 all up. They guys just wanted to try and american dessert, they hadnt been able to get one since we arrived as the mains were massive. We just asked for 2 scoops of ice cream with topping. SHould have known that would be on a massive scale too. It came out in a huge glass and it looked like half a bottle of topping was in there, of course they couldnt get through it, but they had a good crack.
Tomorrow was our last day at disneyland and we were going to use our early morning entry.
WanderlustNZ
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2012
Those pics of Miss Tilly with the fairies are so cute.
SnowWhite09
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2008
Having fun living vicariously through your trip report - thanks for posting; can't wait to hear more!
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Very sorry for not updating post have been extremely tied up with work and trip planning for our upcoming trip..... Thanks to everyone who has been reading along
Day 8 - Disneyland
Today was our last day at disneyland today, it was a saturday and we were going to use our early morning entry. The walk from HOJO's with 3 kids is about 7- 10 minutes. Ill post a link at the end of this to our videos on youtube, we have uploaded a lot and one of those is the walk from HOJOs to park.
So we arrived on this morning to ALOT of ppl already lining up ready to go in, to me there was heaps more then usual and although i did ask cast members they insisted it was like this everyday..... hmmmmm yeah right!! So having previously asked about the christmas parade taping and being told never heard of it, guess what was happenning today? Yep the christmas parade, which meant thousands more people, zoned off areas and excessive wait times.... which i did purchase parkhoppers. Oh well we had to make do and we werent really stressed... ok just a little.
We started in tomorrowland Hamish and me did star tours, a 30 minute wait....
we thought we should probably go from land to land to make it easier today, so next up we did Autopia which was the kids favourite. We had a 40 minute wait there
Over to fantasyland and Miss tilly wanted to see tinkerbell again. OMG that took one hour. So we all ended up doing Tea cups again, the boys werent really interested in Peter Pan or Toads wild ride, the line ups were huge!!
Hamish and me then did Matterhorn the wait wasnt too bad for us it moved through quickly but OH those seats, harder then a rock. Luckily it was ok when we were on there, but they ended up shutting down that ride not long after it kept on breaking down.
Fastpasses for splash, and we avoided crazy town like the plague. I cant even recall what we had for lunch.. oh yeah TURKEY LEG.... yummo the best turkey leg ever and it was HUGE!! also for a huge price $10.00.
After fastpasses were used it was around 2:00 the park was at peak capacity and we couldnt cope any longer, it was difficult to move let alone maneouvre a stroller. We made the decision to leave, I was sad to go as it was our last day at disneyland, and me being sentimentel as I am shed a wee little tear....
We headed back to our Hotel. Sorry for no pictures but realised I didnt take many that day, it was too hard.
http://www.youtube.com/user/veejaitilly
Here's the link to our videos
Day 8 - Disneyland
Today was our last day at disneyland today, it was a saturday and we were going to use our early morning entry. The walk from HOJO's with 3 kids is about 7- 10 minutes. Ill post a link at the end of this to our videos on youtube, we have uploaded a lot and one of those is the walk from HOJOs to park.
So we arrived on this morning to ALOT of ppl already lining up ready to go in, to me there was heaps more then usual and although i did ask cast members they insisted it was like this everyday..... hmmmmm yeah right!! So having previously asked about the christmas parade taping and being told never heard of it, guess what was happenning today? Yep the christmas parade, which meant thousands more people, zoned off areas and excessive wait times.... which i did purchase parkhoppers. Oh well we had to make do and we werent really stressed... ok just a little.
We started in tomorrowland Hamish and me did star tours, a 30 minute wait....
we thought we should probably go from land to land to make it easier today, so next up we did Autopia which was the kids favourite. We had a 40 minute wait there
Over to fantasyland and Miss tilly wanted to see tinkerbell again. OMG that took one hour. So we all ended up doing Tea cups again, the boys werent really interested in Peter Pan or Toads wild ride, the line ups were huge!!
Hamish and me then did Matterhorn the wait wasnt too bad for us it moved through quickly but OH those seats, harder then a rock. Luckily it was ok when we were on there, but they ended up shutting down that ride not long after it kept on breaking down.
Fastpasses for splash, and we avoided crazy town like the plague. I cant even recall what we had for lunch.. oh yeah TURKEY LEG.... yummo the best turkey leg ever and it was HUGE!! also for a huge price $10.00.
After fastpasses were used it was around 2:00 the park was at peak capacity and we couldnt cope any longer, it was difficult to move let alone maneouvre a stroller. We made the decision to leave, I was sad to go as it was our last day at disneyland, and me being sentimentel as I am shed a wee little tear....
We headed back to our Hotel. Sorry for no pictures but realised I didnt take many that day, it was too hard.
http://www.youtube.com/user/veejaitilly
Here's the link to our videos
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
so today is check out day and time for us to head home :
"What our last day" said Miss tilly
( Our flight is scheduled to leave LAX at 11:50pm so we had a whole day to fill. We had checked out of HOJO's and arranged for them to store our luggage. We had arranged a private trf to lax with JAG Transportation (more on them later)
So for now we had one day left with disney parks, so we were going to California Adventure Park. We only had two things on our bucket list, ride RSR as it was up today, and California Screaming. So upon entry in the park i realised i had packed our photpass plus
so we went in to kingswell photo shop in the hope they can help us.... SURE NO PROBLEM... whoooo, he asked us when our first photo was and what day and time, then if we had any ride shots or dining shots or princess shots, yep he found them all, and luckily I had taken a photo of our receipt and photo pass ID so he could load all of our photos on to a new card.
We then headed straight to RSR, and thought about fast passes... um not a good idea return time was 8:30pm oh well lets line up then
So after waiting and waiting ... for 50 minutes we were finally on the ride, yay we got lightning, the ride is amazing and is very loud. Poor miss tilly had her head buried in me the whole time, it does get quiet fast I had to put my legs over hers to stop her from lifting off the seat
We left cars land and made our way down buena vista street and lookie what I found !!!
Now this cleaner in the red hat was amazing!!!
He was dancing along and Miss Tilly thought he was great she got up and started dancing with him.... so cute
Link to the video here: http://www.youtube.com/user/veejaitilly
We then headed over to the pier to do california screamin.... only to find it was down for the day due to a problem.... oh well Miss tilly did the merrygo round and the boys did Toystory Midway Mania, they loved that ride.
We then went on golden zephyr ride, while we were waiting miss tilly broke out in to a dance lOL
THe golden zephyr ride is a must do, you have amazing views over the park!!!
The boys wanted to do mickeys wheel, and convinced me to line up with them... but I chickened out
of course they got in one that didnt move, but poor sax was still scared.
After the guys had something deep fried to eat...we did some last minute gift shopping and decided to head out.
I was so sad and sentimental me shed a quiet tear, I could not believe the effect this place had on me, it was so magical, I told my partner if we only ever go here for holidays for the rest of my life I will be happy
We then headed back to HOJOS and our transfer was waiting for us. Highly reccommend these guys for a quick seamless transfer, free car seats, icy cold water. We easily fitted 5 of us and all our luggage in to the SUV, our driver was very friendly. He got us to LAX and helped us with our luggage. $110 well spent, they also do meet and greet service for an extra $20 for incoming and transferring to Anaheim.
In to terminal 3 we go only to find out that the virgin australia SYD flight was cancelled as it was half full, so they packed that flight on to the BNE one.... we boarded the plane at scheduled time but WAIT they had no food on the plane....we finally departed LAX at 1:00am, all domestic and international connecting passengers were going to miss there flights!!!
After 6 hours of full on turbulence, so no meal service, poor saxon was sick.. the other guys slept quiet well and i chilled to some music. Before landing the flight attendant told us not to worry a virgin australia rep will be waiting for us at customs to take us to our next flight.
So we landed in sweltering QLD heat but breezed through customs, our luggage took about 30 mins, no VA rep anywhere..... headed downstairs and found all the passengers onboard our flight waiting for directions. I grabbed a VA rep and explained she said well you missed your connecting flight and the other one we put you on... well no **** lady FFS!!! My patience was being tested and I sent my dear partner outside for his nicotine fix. BNE only have one scheduled flight a day to HBA with VA so we new they were filling us with crap.... we got to the counter and the lady said we can get you on the next flight to syd but it leaves in 10 minutes... geeez folks COMEON cut me some slack... so i dragged all the kids over we just made it only to find they seated poor miss tilly on her own.... i believe i lost it ever so slightly at that stage and I know my partner was muttering things under his breath.... finally boarded to syd, and twenty minutes later boarded to HBA. Even though the drama from both leaving aussie and arriving home with VA ill still fly with them again, Im a loyal frequent flyer and well **** happens at airports.
Hints and Tips:
For those of you that are planning to visit disneyland in november, avoid the first and second saturday of the month as that is when they do the christmas parade taping.
Also avoid veterans day,/ weekend, as for us thats what happened christmas parade taping and vets day was the monday so it was jamm packed
For those that have never visited the parks before, go with the one park per day pass. it allows you to breathe and take it all in. It can be too much thinking you have to go between both parks in the one day.
If you stay onsite, take advantage of early morning entry for each theme park, you can get so much done in that first hour.
BBB get the castle package, you get the outfit the photos and direct VIP princess meet and greet, that is worth it alone.
Photopass plus is a must, purhase before you go, its $80 you get so many photos. Some photographers are better than others and take more time, look for the ones with the tripods, they are more inventive.
If you plan on visiting universal studios use southern california grayline they are amazing and if you get Charles be sure to tip he is brilliant.
Dont worry about Ridemax, etc just go with the flow choose your fav rides get them done first and use fast pass!!!
World of colour, go to mickeys wheel, amazing viewpoint.
HAVE FUN!!!!
thanks for reading along
The link to our videos :http://www.youtube.com/user/veejaitilly
"What our last day" said Miss tilly
( Our flight is scheduled to leave LAX at 11:50pm so we had a whole day to fill. We had checked out of HOJO's and arranged for them to store our luggage. We had arranged a private trf to lax with JAG Transportation (more on them later)
So for now we had one day left with disney parks, so we were going to California Adventure Park. We only had two things on our bucket list, ride RSR as it was up today, and California Screaming. So upon entry in the park i realised i had packed our photpass plus
so we went in to kingswell photo shop in the hope they can help us.... SURE NO PROBLEM... whoooo, he asked us when our first photo was and what day and time, then if we had any ride shots or dining shots or princess shots, yep he found them all, and luckily I had taken a photo of our receipt and photo pass ID so he could load all of our photos on to a new card. We then headed straight to RSR, and thought about fast passes... um not a good idea return time was 8:30pm oh well lets line up then
So after waiting and waiting ... for 50 minutes we were finally on the ride, yay we got lightning, the ride is amazing and is very loud. Poor miss tilly had her head buried in me the whole time, it does get quiet fast I had to put my legs over hers to stop her from lifting off the seat
We left cars land and made our way down buena vista street and lookie what I found !!!
Now this cleaner in the red hat was amazing!!!
He was dancing along and Miss Tilly thought he was great she got up and started dancing with him.... so cute
Link to the video here: http://www.youtube.com/user/veejaitilly
We then headed over to the pier to do california screamin.... only to find it was down for the day due to a problem.... oh well Miss tilly did the merrygo round and the boys did Toystory Midway Mania, they loved that ride.
We then went on golden zephyr ride, while we were waiting miss tilly broke out in to a dance lOL
THe golden zephyr ride is a must do, you have amazing views over the park!!!
The boys wanted to do mickeys wheel, and convinced me to line up with them... but I chickened out
of course they got in one that didnt move, but poor sax was still scared.
After the guys had something deep fried to eat...we did some last minute gift shopping and decided to head out.
I was so sad and sentimental me shed a quiet tear, I could not believe the effect this place had on me, it was so magical, I told my partner if we only ever go here for holidays for the rest of my life I will be happy
We then headed back to HOJOS and our transfer was waiting for us. Highly reccommend these guys for a quick seamless transfer, free car seats, icy cold water. We easily fitted 5 of us and all our luggage in to the SUV, our driver was very friendly. He got us to LAX and helped us with our luggage. $110 well spent, they also do meet and greet service for an extra $20 for incoming and transferring to Anaheim.
In to terminal 3 we go only to find out that the virgin australia SYD flight was cancelled as it was half full, so they packed that flight on to the BNE one.... we boarded the plane at scheduled time but WAIT they had no food on the plane....we finally departed LAX at 1:00am, all domestic and international connecting passengers were going to miss there flights!!!
After 6 hours of full on turbulence, so no meal service, poor saxon was sick.. the other guys slept quiet well and i chilled to some music. Before landing the flight attendant told us not to worry a virgin australia rep will be waiting for us at customs to take us to our next flight.
So we landed in sweltering QLD heat but breezed through customs, our luggage took about 30 mins, no VA rep anywhere..... headed downstairs and found all the passengers onboard our flight waiting for directions. I grabbed a VA rep and explained she said well you missed your connecting flight and the other one we put you on... well no **** lady FFS!!! My patience was being tested and I sent my dear partner outside for his nicotine fix. BNE only have one scheduled flight a day to HBA with VA so we new they were filling us with crap.... we got to the counter and the lady said we can get you on the next flight to syd but it leaves in 10 minutes... geeez folks COMEON cut me some slack... so i dragged all the kids over we just made it only to find they seated poor miss tilly on her own.... i believe i lost it ever so slightly at that stage and I know my partner was muttering things under his breath.... finally boarded to syd, and twenty minutes later boarded to HBA. Even though the drama from both leaving aussie and arriving home with VA ill still fly with them again, Im a loyal frequent flyer and well **** happens at airports.
Hints and Tips:
For those of you that are planning to visit disneyland in november, avoid the first and second saturday of the month as that is when they do the christmas parade taping.
Also avoid veterans day,/ weekend, as for us thats what happened christmas parade taping and vets day was the monday so it was jamm packed
For those that have never visited the parks before, go with the one park per day pass. it allows you to breathe and take it all in. It can be too much thinking you have to go between both parks in the one day.
If you stay onsite, take advantage of early morning entry for each theme park, you can get so much done in that first hour.
BBB get the castle package, you get the outfit the photos and direct VIP princess meet and greet, that is worth it alone.
Photopass plus is a must, purhase before you go, its $80 you get so many photos. Some photographers are better than others and take more time, look for the ones with the tripods, they are more inventive.
If you plan on visiting universal studios use southern california grayline they are amazing and if you get Charles be sure to tip he is brilliant.
Dont worry about Ridemax, etc just go with the flow choose your fav rides get them done first and use fast pass!!!
World of colour, go to mickeys wheel, amazing viewpoint.
HAVE FUN!!!!
thanks for reading along
The link to our videos :http://www.youtube.com/user/veejaitilly
AustralianJetsetter
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 12, 2012
Thanks for your great report. I've enjoyed reading about all your adventures!! Geez you guys sure do have all the luck (*sarcasm*) when flying!!! Poor things.
Good luck for your next trip
I'm just like you...always shed a sentimental tear when leaving the most magical place on earth 
Good luck for your next trip
I'm just like you...always shed a sentimental tear when leaving the most magical place on earth
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
THanks for reading along beejai, I cant wait to go back, Im sure some disney magic might sprinkle upon you.... never know
Aussiefamof5
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
Thanks for your great report. I've enjoyed reading about all your adventures!! Geez you guys sure do have all the luck (*sarcasm*) when flying!!! Poor things.
Good luck for your next trip
Thanks for reading along AustralianJetsetter
Yes well we did have alot of luck for our first time... i figure this year when we go thats the worst we can expect so surely its gotta be better than that. AustralianJetsetter
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 12, 2012
Thanks for reading along AustralianJetsetter
Surely!!! Lol
Happy planning. Your pics have made me really want to stay at DLH
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