PTR Oct 2010 - An Aussie returns: Back home and TR started (11/02)

[DisneyFirefly]

Well, on the bright side, if you guys do have a layover in Chicago, you may be able to get some Eli's Cheesecake in the terminal

That's a pretty convoluted route, though... I guess it could always be worse, right? Could have another stop tacked on

[PrincessInOz]

Even more on the brighter side, if I travel on a different plane, I might just have to look at my return date.....and possibly staying an extra night at Anaheim to catch the WOC show.....

[DisneyFirefly]

That's a very bright and colorful side to look on!

[PrincessInOz]

Who would have thought that I would have been in a position to actually swing it round this way?

BTW - I forgot to mention....that's a good looking spreadsheet! Thanks for posting it!

[DisneyFirefly]

You're welcome Oddly enough, I actually found a couple of errors on it from when I still had a six-day trip, instead of a seven-day. So I fixed them But yeah, Google Docs is awesome, I love it

[queenie82]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

His travel arrangements are purely at the mercy of what the automagic on-line TA will or will not let him do. And it turns out that he has a choice of flying United.....or United! I guess he'll have a tough choice to make and will probably debate the issue for another week or two; but I suspect that he will end up flying United.

Anyone who has spent a bit of time in the Other Lands>Australia subforum will know that I am not a fan of United. No offence to anyone (and there are a lot of you out there) that LOVE flying United; it is a personal opinion.
My not enthusiasm for United stems from personal experience. I have flown with them 3 times in the past and have found their service somewhat lacking. Maybe I've just been (not) plainly unlucky....and I am prepared to try them again.

And to cap off the not wonderful euphoria in which I received the news of the airline of choice, it seems that the automagic TA is telling DH that he will be flying Melbourne to Orlando via Sydney, Los Angeles and Chicago. I'm sure that there is a straight line that I can draw on a map somewhere with the proposed route.....after I've had a few more 'well made' drinks at the Tequila Cave in Mexico.

Looks like I'm going to have to have a think about whether I want to travel on the same plane as DH.....

As I'm sure you have worked out I'm one of those United fans. They are good value and have always been reliable for us.
They also have a special place in my heart as they were my first international flight when I was 8 and I got to visit the captain in the cockpit

The whole Chicago situation is to do with hubs. If you look at the actual flights the flight Syd-LA goes onto Chicago. That is its complete route. And that is what we are taking advantage of and doing this time It is a 1hr 20min layover or something close.

The Syd-SFO goes to somewhere else...I can't remember.
So that is WHERE it has come from I think.
BUT
That is really really really really annoying given how short a trip it is.

So if this more easily enables choosing a different flight
That is interesting

Anyway...at least things are progressing
Let's stay on the bright side of life

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by queenie82

As I'm sure you have worked out I'm one of those United fans. They are good value and have always been reliable for us.
They also have a special place in my heart as they were my first international flight when I was 8 and I got to visit the captain in the cockpit

The whole Chicago situation is to do with hubs. If you look at the actual flights the flight Syd-LA goes onto Chicago. That is its complete route. And that is what we are taking advantage of and doing this time It is a 1hr 20min layover or something close.

The Syd-SFO goes to somewhere else...I can't remember.
So that is WHERE it has come from I think.
BUT
That is really really really really annoying given how short a trip it is.

So if this more easily enables choosing a different flight
That is interesting

Anyway...at least things are progressing
Let's stay on the bright side of life

Yes, I know that United hubs out of Chicago and then possibly Denver or Dullas in the South. American hubs out of Dallas Fort Worth; which is a much straighter route to Orlando.

I've been checking out pricing; and need multi-city as we'd be going MEL to MCO and MCO to SFO and then SFO back to MEL. I'd like to try V Australia....but I suspect that I'm going to end up doing the dutiful wifely thing and sticking with DH on United.

What was the name of that Cheesecake place again?

[DisneyFirefly]

Eli's Cheesecake

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Even more on the brighter side, if I travel on a different plane, I might just have to look at my return date.....and possibly staying an extra night at Anaheim to catch the WOC show.....

If you traveled through LA then I could join in on this whole crazy plan!

[queenie82]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Yes, I know that United hubs out of Chicago and then possibly Denver or Dullas in the South. American hubs out of Dallas Fort Worth; which is a much straighter route to Orlando.

I've been checking out pricing; and need multi-city as we'd be going MEL to MCO and MCO to SFO and then SFO back to MEL. I'd like to try V Australia....but I suspect that I'm going to end up doing the dutiful wifely thing and sticking with DH on United.

What was the name of that Cheesecake place again?

lol...I never meant to imply you didn't know about hubs
Heck you fly these places more than me
Just more of a - this is a specific route we are taking - anecdote

The V Australia timing really really sux. One of the things that works great about the united/delta routes is arriving at 11pm or so...crashing...etc

ANYWAY...back to the fun stuff...
I'm going to come back home the size of one of those big pumpkins the rate I'm going. I've found that Webers bakery through you...now this cheesecake place.
Then there is the Ghirardelli and hersheys places in Chicago (not your fault)

Man... you really found my weaknesses.

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by franandaj

If you traveled through LA then I could join in on this whole crazy plan!

Catching up with you is the MAIN attraction of me travelling solo and stopping for an extra day in LA.....but I don't think I'll be doing it this trip. I just couldn't do this to DS!

Originally Posted by queenie82

lol...I never meant to imply you didn't know about hubs
Heck you fly these places more than me
Just more of a - this is a specific route we are taking - anecdote

The V Australia timing really really sux. One of the things that works great about the united/delta routes is arriving at 11pm or so...crashing...etc

ANYWAY...back to the fun stuff...
I'm going to come back home the size of one of those big pumpkins the rate I'm going. I've found that Webers bakery through you...now this cheesecake place.
Then there is the Ghirardelli and hersheys places in Chicago (not your fault)

Man... you really found my weaknesses.

I've been checking out the timings of the different carriers. Yes, the V Australia timings are awful! Oh well.....united here I come; and I'm definitely going to have to look out for Eli's Cheesecake at the airport.

Did you see the cupcakes I made for DS to take to school this week to celebrate his 10th birthday?



And I need a picture of a trifle for the scavenger hunt on the photography board. I'm going to make one this weekend .

[queenie82]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

.Did you see the cupcakes I made for DS to take to school this week to celebrate his 10th birthday?



And I need a picture of a trifle for the scavenger hunt on the photography board. I'm going to make one this weekend .

I'm going to bed
Tomorrow there will be banana bread and muffins at 10 paces

[DisneyFirefly]

Originally Posted by queenie82

lol...I never meant to imply you didn't know about hubs
Heck you fly these places more than me
Just more of a - this is a specific route we are taking - anecdote

The V Australia timing really really sux. One of the things that works great about the united/delta routes is arriving at 11pm or so...crashing...etc

ANYWAY...back to the fun stuff...
I'm going to come back home the size of one of those big pumpkins the rate I'm going. I've found that Webers bakery through you...now this cheesecake place.
Then there is the Ghirardelli and hersheys places in Chicago (not your fault)

Man... you really found my weaknesses.

I can also recommend pizza and hot dog places, and my favorite italian beef in Chicago

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by DisneyFirefly

I can also recommend pizza and hot dog places, and my favorite italian beef in Chicago

Firefly - put your recommendations up and any links up . I'm sure Queenie will *flame* up when she gets out of bed .

[PrincessInOz]

Another age old navel-gazing that seems to constantly pop-up in the Disboard is around photography. Afterall, what better way to remember (or not depending on the quality of the photograpsh) the perfect WDW holiday than with a few thousand photographs (give or take a couple of hundred)? So it is important to work out the best strategy on how to shoot that perfect shot!

And this topic, as with so many others, splits the Boards into two major parties, not necessarily mutually exclusive and with a great deal of overlap (in Venn Diagram parlance)!

It would seem that many of us Dis-ers are wannabe (not) photographers as a lot of the PTR threads will invariable post something around upgrading their existing camera.
Do we buy the next greatest and best-est model out? Should we upgrade to a dSLR?
And more importantly....how do we SHOOT fireworks?

The other major party are hunters and gatherers. Their strategy for a good SHOT at the Parks is to hunt out as many Photopass photographers that they can find and gather as many hits on their cards as they can for those elusive memory shoots. This line of thought will then lead to the occassionally seen and available discount pin for a pre-purchase Disney Photopass CD.

Me? I'm going to follow the majority herd that sits firmly in that huge Venn Diagram middle bit with heaps of overlap in both parties.

I acquired a new snazzy dSLR camera for my trip in May. And following the tried and true standard procedure, I did NOT know how to really operate the camera before I hit the World. If any of you reading this have checked out my May TR (link in signature below), you may note that there are some decent shots included. For those pro-sumers out there, it WAS the camera NOT the photographer!

I also hooked in with a pin and pre-ordered a Photopass CD.

Can I just say that I am so pleased with both our photographs AND the Disney Photopass CD? So, if you're debating this snappy topic, do what the general consensus of Dis-ers do.....get both!

Disclaimers and Things you need to Know about getting a New Camera.
1. If you are going to get a new camera, you need to make sure that you WANT one.
2. Do your research on the models/brands before walking into a store.
3. Try each model/brand that you are interested to buy before making your decision.
4. Make sure that the camera fits nice in your hand and that you can easily change the settings.
5. Do not let the salesman talk you into a camera that you know nothing about.
6. Remember that you will still have the camera AFTER your trip. What you do with it afterwards is more important than what you will do with it at WDW.....or it may well become an expensive toy that sits in the bag.