Aussie Disneyland Planners come on in and lets plan together :)

[soak01]

How exciting, Maree!!




Thanks for the tips! We are going to have a car in LA but I want to book a limo to pick us up from the airport and take us to our Hollywood Hotel. I'll have a look at tony the limo king.

I have the 2 day DL touring plan from the Unofficial Guide already packed in my documents folder - good to hear that it works!

ehsmum, can I also suggest that you send Ray at economy tours an email as he also offers airport transfers.

 

[rossip]

My Trip


I regret booking Legoland package, but I clicked confirm before I realised it was one of those non refundable things. I've read reviews about LL and they sound pretty bad; a bit of a downer after seeing DL, and nothing for adults. Perhaps my son will like it as he loves lego anyway, and then I might just let dh and son go by themselves while I do some shopping instead.

NO don't be . We went to legoland in october , we have 2 girls 9 & 11 and they loved it and they are not into Lego at all . Your 10 yr old we have a ball . In fact the scariest ride we went on the whole trip was at legoland .
We enjoyed Legoland , yes its suitable mainly for the up to 12s but it is a good fun day.

If you get tired of legoland there is plenty of other stuff to do in the San Diego area . not far from legoland are the Carlsbad outlet shops and Sea World and the Zoo are only a short drive away .

Enjoy !

 

[SnowWhite09]

Hi All - has anyone taken their GPS from Australia with them to the US. Do you have to download the US maps and if so, how do you go about doing this? Further, what GPS would you recommend I buy?

TIA everyone!

 

[Kalice]

My Trip

Any comments, constructive criticism, suggestions or tips on this plan so far? This will be our first time to DL and the US, and travelling with my husband and son, nearly 10yrs old:

Mon 9th May - Leave Perth 9pm
Mon 10th May - arrive very jetlagged at Anaheim (around 3-4pm) after 2 nights in plane, one day in Auckland in between (they were cheap tickets!).
Tues 11 Disneyland - staying at Park Vue Inn
Wed 12 Disneyland
Thurs 13 Disneyland
Fri 14 Disneyland
Sat 15 Drive to Williams near Grand Canyon, stay at Railway Hotel.
Sun 16 Williams - GC - Williams
Mon 17 Williams - Las Vegas by midday hopefully: Flamingo Hotel
Tues 18 Las Vegas - Sequoia; Buckeye lodge
Wed 19 Sequoia - Yosemite; Wawona Hotel
Thurs 20 Yosemite
Fri 21Yosemite
Sat 22 Yosemite
Sun 23 Yosemite to SF; Marines Memorial Hotel
Mon 24 SF
Tues 25 SF
Wed 26 SF to Camarillo - arrive probably in the evening. Visit a friend
Thur 27 Camarillo to Legoland; Holiday Inn (in the evening)
Fri 28 Legoland
Sat 29 Maybe we'll see the peir and beach? We have to be at LA airport at about 5pm. Then we leave for Perth around 9pm.

I regret booking Legoland package, but I clicked confirm before I realised it was one of those non refundable things. I've read reviews about LL and they sound pretty bad; a bit of a downer after seeing DL, and nothing for adults. Perhaps my son will like it as he loves lego anyway, and then I might just let dh and son go by themselves while I do some shopping instead.

Hi, Wow, it sounds great, you're covering a lot of ground. Just a couple of small things. Did you try to book a hotel in the Grand Canyon NP, it makes it much easier to get onto the rim for sunrise. We LOVED El Tovar. It made for much less travelling for our short stay in GC. I wouldn't head to LAX four hours before a flight, perhaps 2.5, gives you time to see a little more.
It's definately not the best airport in the world. We hired bikes at Venice beach and rode up to Santa Monica Pier, it was a lovely way to spend two hours. I agree with the previous poster it's a shame you have to criss cross back to San Diego, but it is a beautiful city.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the Aussie thread!

 

[platypus67]

Hi All - has anyone taken their GPS from Australia with them to the US. Do you have to download the US maps and if so, how do you go about doing this? Further, what GPS would you recommend I buy?

TIA everyone!

I've recently purchased the Garmin Nuvi and although I haven't used it overseas as yet, I have used my sister's which is an earlier model, while visiting her in Canada in October. The Aussie maps came with my GPS, any others have to be purchased. I will be purchasing the US maps just before we leave in December. I checked about a month ago and they cost around 88.00 AUD. The maps can be purchased from the website. I don't know anything about any other brands but really like the one I have. For us it worked out cheaper to buy the GPS & maps as our car rental is split so we won't get the capped GPS rental rate. I also think it will be easier to use something that I'm familiar with and know works.

 

[ehsmum]

oh and we must do Medieval Times again as that was the best time I have had for a long time.

I've been trying to decide whether to do Medieval Times while in Anaheim. A couple of people have said it's cheesy and expensive but more have said it's a great night. I'm leaning towards it now that I've read your review . I used to go to one in England that I loved, but that was in a real medieval abbey and was very authentic. I've been worried that the American version will feel fake :dunno:. Either way, I think my kids will love it.

ehsmum, can I also suggest that you send Ray at economy tours an email as he also offers airport transfers.

Thanks for the tip, I will try him. Do you have an email address (or I'll look in the aussie links thread).

We're trying to find a way to squeeze Legoland into our trip as I know my kids (well the boys anyway) will love it, but I don't know if we can do it. Our LA itinerary is currently like this:

arrive 11Jun 6.30am. Spend that day doing the Hollywood touristy stuff (although we will be tired so I don't know how much we'll get done)
12Jun -Universal Studios
13 Jun - drive to San Diego
14 Jun - Sea World/ San Diego Zoo
15 Jun - Disneyland
16 Jun - Disneyland
17 Jun - Disneyland
then at the end of our trip, we leave San Franciso on 20 July to drive back to LAX with our flight home at 11.30pm on 21 July. So depending how long it takes us to drive and where we decide to spend the night, we will have some more time in LA on the last day.

So my options are to do Legoland on 13Jun on the way to San Diego but that will mean sacrificing time in Los Angeles/Hollywood. Or do more of LA on the 13th before driving to SD and do Legoland on our last day before we fly home. Or forget Legoland and spend the 13th June and the 21 July doing the LA thing/shopping.

 

[ehsmum]

ehsmum, can I also suggest that you send Ray at economy tours an email as he also offers airport transfers.

I went back and found the link in your original post. Will check it out, thanks!

 

[ehsmum]

Kalice - have you posted a trip report anywhere? We're doing both DL and WDW in June/July so I'm interested to hear how your trip went!

 

[Kalice]

Kalice - have you posted a trip report anywhere? We're doing both DL and WDW in June/July so I'm interested to hear how your trip went!

Hi, I started to write one, but it's so long. We had a five week trip. I have to be honest and say we did DL first then WDW, we wouldn't bother with WDW if we went again. I know that this goes against some opinions, but we have friends that agree. Disneyland is themed so much better, it is more compact and some of the rides are better too. Magic Kingdom in WDW seemed to not have the same 'magic' it was more spread out and seemed like it was lacking. We loved that you could just walk between the parks and walk to the parks from our hotel. So for me Disneyland ROCKS and I am so keen to go back.

 

[ehsmum]

We're going for 6 weeks and I know I probably won't feel like doing a trip report by the end either!

I've been to both WDW and DL but both when I was young and single so I know they are going to be different now that I'm travelling as a family with young kids. I only went to Magic Kingdom and MGM studios at WDW, never made Epcot and AK wasn't there back then. We're doing the opposite to you - DL first, then WDW. I'm hoping that seeming as we will have already done a lot of the MK rides at DL that the kids will be happier at Epcot, AK and DHS as MK is going to be a nightmare in July. I'd like to avoid it as much as possible!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hey Ehsmum, how old are your kids?

We're trying to find a way to squeeze Legoland into our trip as I know my kids (well the boys anyway) will love it,

My son is 9 and he loves Legoland. It's a lot less busy than DL and some of the other SoCal theme parks. It's not as interesting for the adults but there are enough rides there to keep me happy for a day.

 

[Cassy & Shaun]

We are (DH DW DD15) heading to the USA leaving May 21st.

5 nights at the Disneyland Hotel – Just doing Disneyland this time might have a look around Anaheim
Fly to Miami May 26th drive up to Orlando, where we are going to spend 4 nights at Crown Plaza Universal, doing Seaworld, Daytona and looking around Orlando.
May 30th going to Disney’s Saratoga Spa & Resort for 10 nights gotta love having DVC.
Fly back to LA on June 9th stay in LA for the night and fly back home on the 10th.
Can’t wait, we have been looking forward to this trip since our last trip in September 2007

 

[ehsmum]

Hey Ehsmum, how old are your kids?

I have a 10yr old girl and two boys aged 8 and 6. The 6 yr old is Lego mad. When we were looking at the Anaheim map, he saw the Lego Imagination Centre at Downtown Disney and said that's the only place he wants to go! So I know he would love it. It's just finding time to get there.

Is it a full day? Do you think we could do it in an afternoon or should we try to get there early and spend all day (meaning missing some of Hollywood)?

We are (DH DW DD15) heading to the USA leaving May 21st.

5 nights at the Disneyland Hotel – Just doing Disneyland this time might have a look around Anaheim
Fly to Miami May 26th drive up to Orlando, where we are going to spend 4 nights at Crown Plaza Universal, doing Seaworld, Daytona and looking around Orlando.
May 30th going to Disney’s Saratoga Spa & Resort for 10 nights gotta love having DVC.
Fly back to LA on June 9th stay in LA for the night and fly back home on the 10th.
Can’t wait, we have been looking forward to this trip since our last trip in September 2007

Sounds great! We'll cross paths in the air - we're flying out to LAX on June 11th!

 

[mareeld86]

OK so im in America.
In Sanfrancisco after a delayed flight 3.5 hours only 4 minutes in fiji rater than 4 hours only to get to LA to find out they have left my bag behind and I wont get it until tuesday so no clothes for me!!!
Lucky I packed a spare pair of undies in my Carry on!!
Then we get to our flight to San Francisco and thats delayed to by this stage we are starting to feel like will we ever make it to our hotel to sleep!!!
We arrived at the hotel after taking the shuttle at around 7.45..
And slept quite well...
Woke up at 5am so not too shabbyy!!
Talk soon

 

[PrincessInOz]

I have a 10yr old girl and two boys aged 8 and 6. The 6 yr old is Lego mad. When we were looking at the Anaheim map, he saw the Lego Imagination Centre at Downtown Disney and said that's the only place he wants to go! So I know he would love it. It's just finding time to get there.

Is it a full day? Do you think we could do it in an afternoon or should we try to get there early and spend all day (meaning missing some of Hollywood)?

The Lego Imagination Centre in DTD is a big Lego shop. It only sells Lego. You'll be done in 30 minutes.

LegoLand is near Carlsbad. It is a full day; complete with rides and 3D show. There are places where the kids can go and build lego cars/trucks; play in playgrounds, ride on big "wheels" like the teacup ride, see lots of HUGE lego displays - there are even mini versions of New York, San Francisco and Vegas buildings. If you had 3/4 or a full day to spare, your sons will love this. There will be enough for your daughter to enjoy as well. The rides are more like traditional roller coaster rides like we have in Luna Park type centres - but they are decent enough for a mild but not scary thrill.

 

[aussietravellers]

OK so im in America.
In Sanfrancisco after a delayed flight 3.5 hours only 4 minutes in fiji rater than 4 hours only to get to LA to find out they have left my bag behind and I wont get it until tuesday so no clothes for me!!!
Lucky I packed a spare pair of undies in my Carry on!!
Then we get to our flight to San Francisco and thats delayed to by this stage we are starting to feel like will we ever make it to our hotel to sleep!!!
We arrived at the hotel after taking the shuttle at around 7.45..
And slept quite well...
Woke up at 5am so not too shabbyy!!
Talk soon

Oh what a nightmare The joys of travelling. We've arrived in LAX before to find our onward cancelled and not another seat to Orlando for 5 days!!!! Luckily they then rerouted us through NY but it took an extra 24hrs of travelling so we arrived at WDW a day late, then our luggage didn't make it, but we got it that night.

So... I am hoping that this is all of your trips travel drama all rolled into one disaster and the rest of the trip will be a breeze. I hope they are buying you some clothes and essentials! If you don't get your luggage until then they should!

Hope the rest of the trip is fantastic

 

[CairnsGirl]

Hi Mareeld86,

I feel your pain. On our trip in 2007 our bags did not make the Sydney to Los Angeles flight after traveling down from Cairns.

Lucky there was a later flight and our bags finally arrived at 9.00pm that night.

I now always travel with an overnight bag of spare clothes and nightwear just incase it happens again.

Hope you have a great trip!!

 

[Hibino]

Went to DL/WDW/etc Feb 2009 and going back this year probably around october for honeymoon! Can't wait!

 

[SnowWhite09]

I've recently purchased the Garmin Nuvi and although I haven't used it overseas as yet, I have used my sister's which is an earlier model, while visiting her in Canada in October. The Aussie maps came with my GPS, any others have to be purchased. I will be purchasing the US maps just before we leave in December. I checked about a month ago and they cost around 88.00 AUD. The maps can be purchased from the website. I don't know anything about any other brands but really like the one I have. For us it worked out cheaper to buy the GPS & maps as our car rental is split so we won't get the capped GPS rental rate. I also think it will be easier to use something that I'm familiar with and know works.

Thanks so much platypus67. Which model have you got?

We are leaving for California on exactly the same day that you leave for WDW and Canada!

Have a great trip and thanks again!