"Not so" Live Report (With Photo's) DL, NY, WDW, DCL & NASA Done - U.S. in progress

[DizOz]

We arrived on Sunday morning after 13+ hours on a new Qantas A380.

We were aprroximately an hour late leaving Mlebourne but made up half of it on the way over.

LAX immigration is much improved with the new design and we were through in 10 minutes. Unfortunately our bags were one of the last off so we had about 20-30 minute wait.

Upon exiting into the arrivals hall we were met by our driver. He was great he had lollies for our 2 DD and kept us entertained on the long drive to GCH with stories on local events and landmarks we passed.

Anyway we arrived about 9.00 am at GCH and checked in but our rooms were not ready so we headed off to DCA for the day.

When parks opened we heaed to Bugs Land and its Tough to be a bug show. Love the special effects. We all rode most of the rides in Bugs Land.

Next we went to the Hollywood Backlot and Muppets 3D, as well as Monster Inc.

Unfortunately Toy Story Mania was closed as was Mulholland Madness. Anyway we had a good look around Paradise Pier.

We had any early lunch Ariel's Grotto. The location and princesses were great, the food was only so/so. DD loved getting their pictures taken with all the princesses.

After lunch we had a walk around the park and then headed for Grizzly River Rapids. Had a short wait and we all got soaked. My shorts were drenched and youngest DD top was soaked through.

Grils then went and had a play on the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. This gave mum and dad some quite time in the shade. It was quite warm mid to high 20's.

Around 2.30 we heaed back to GCH to see if our room was ready and it was. So we headed up to the room and unpacked a little and we all had showers, phew thank god.

That night we had an early dinner at Tortilla Jo's at DTD. Enjoyed an nice cold beer and DW had a Margaretta. It was so strong I thought I may have to carry her back to the room. Anyway food was great especially the dips they bring out as a starter. DW had combination meal and I had ribs, boiy were they spicy, but nice.

Anyway we heaed back to our room and were asleep by 8.30. That is when the ghosts starting playing up. Our TV set kept coming on through the night. I think it was due to the electrical works they had warned us about. Anyway we slept 12 hours and missed our breakfast booking.

Anyway about to head out to lunch will come back later and catch you up on Monday and Tuesday.

First photo on arrival. Straight from the airport to DCA. Our 2 Disney daughters.

DW and DD testing out their bug glasses at Tough to be a Bug

With the princesses at Ariel's Grotto for lunch our first day

Desert plate at Ariel's Grotto. We were so full we barely touched it.

All the boards up hiding the new cars land.

The girls in bed at GCH writing in the diaries about the day's events.

 

[Travel Mum]

Great to hear from you DizOz and appreciate the trip report. Wow, you did so well doing all that on your day despite just getting off a long haul flight! You must have got some sleep on the flight

 

[kyl]

Thanks so much for your trip report.....its so good reading all these reports as you guys are travelling and very thoughtful of you to think of us all here hanging onto the boards living the excitement through you!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Wow, what a big first day. You all did so well to get through it. Sounds like you are having a blast already.

 

[heidispidi]

Sounds like you're all having a great time so far! Hope the TV ghosts have been haunting someone else since your first night

 

[Kalice]

Wow, two Disers doing live reports, we are spoilt. It is great to read them. I'm sure it's easier to remember the events of a day on the trip than trying to recall them at home.

Is TSM and Mulholland closed for your whole trip? I loved Mulholland Madness felt like I was going off the edge most of the time, a bit like my life.

Anyhow getting greener and greener and will have to start checking out flights for next year.

 

[PrincessInOz]

but loving the vicarious living!

 

[kiwigirl]

What a busy first day - well done on getting through it! Look forward to more.

 

[DizOz]

Sorry for delay but things have been hectic with both holiday and work.

Anyway thanks for the replies. Just to add i had no sleep on the place and DW about 2 hours and 2DD about 5 hours, so it was rough going on the first day but we kept moving and it was fine.

On the Monday we headed to DL and we had a blast. The girls rode every ride and there was no queues, the worst we had was 10 minutes all day. Unfortunately Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain were closed to re-theme them for Halloween. But we had enough to keep us busy.

My youngest DD and I rode the remainder of the mountains at least twice each plus Matterhorn a few times.

Finished up about 3pm and headed back to the pool at GCH. Fantastic pool with a great slide and pool side waiter service for food and drinks.

That night we dined at Napa Rose oh what a treat. The food was perfect and the service was great after a minor hickup of forgetting our starters, but it was quickly fixed with the poor old Sous Chef copping it from everyone.

Had a great night sleep unfortunately we didn't wake up till 9.30 and missed the early morning start at DL and our character breakfast. But we did need it, still catching up from the first day.

Anyway we wondered back to DL and headed straight for Finding Nemo Submarine ride. Took a while to get on but can now tick it off our list. Also did the Storybook ride not great but again a bit of an icon. We managed to go on all the mountains again.

The weather in LA was superb, mid to high 20's everyday and clear evenings.

That night we headed to the Steakhouse 55 and it was fantastic. The steak I had was so tender and all our meals were great. The waiter we had was a little creepy, he just sort of appeared out of no where everytime he served us.

On Wednesday we had a rest day. The girls went shoppin while I had a business meeting. Thank god they came to the hotel.

Anyway we went to ESPN for lunch and had wings and a Cheesesteak. The wings were great and cheesesteak not bad. The service was great as we watched 20 TV's with all different sports on them.

That night we went to my favourite restaurant Ralph Brennan's. I must say it was a little disappointing after such a great meal last time. Anyway this time I managed to get my Banana's Foster, where it is cooked in front of you. Our server was new and so nervous with a crowd watching but he did great.

Anyway about to head out, will catch up soon on last days in LA and NY.

Girls and me on the jungle cruise.

At the Entrance to Tomorrowland

At DTD at the lego store

After lunch at ESPN. They have a great games arcade upstairs.

In the Teacups before the rise. You can tell as I am not green yet.

Buzz Lightyear ride. LOve this version compared to that at WDW.

My Banana's Foster being cooked at our table at Ralph Brennan's

Lunch at Big Thunder Ranch

DW and me at the Haunted Mansion. Which was closed for the day.

 

[Mum from oz]

Sounds like you are having an awesome time! Cant wait to hear more.

 

[BecBennett]

. . . o 0 (Just 5 more months, just 5 more months)

 

[PrincessInOz]

Looking forward to the continuation of the trip.....

 

[DizOz]

Woke up nice and early on Thursday and head straight to DL for the rope drop.

Again the lines were small all day. 20 minute waits were the extreme.

Youngest DD and I rode all the mountains again two and three times.

The teacups were also given a spin (pardon the pun). We also did Winnie the Pooh, Sleeping Beauty and Mr Toad's Wild Ride.

We had lunch at Big Thunder Ranch. A BBQ all you can eat with some Disney Entertainment while you eat. It was great fun and food wasn't bad.

We had ADR for ESPN but as we had been there early for lunch we decided to cancel and had a light snack especially after the big lunch.

On Friday we got up early and went to a character breakfast at Storytellers. We had the breakfast buffet. I had a made to order omlette which was huge. The girls had disney pancakes and waffles. Chip and Dale were there as well as characters from Brother Bear (Sorry not one of our favourite movies so I don't know the characters).

Talk about being spoilt early in the week the lines were 4 times the size today. Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion were open. Wait time was over an hour for each. USed a fast pass given to us as the hotel had to fix our TV (kept on turning itself on at night). Didn't even have to complain they just turned up to fix it and gave us a fast pass.

Went to space mountain and the wait was over an hour so we decided to head to Buzz Lightyear. This was about the fifth time for the trip and loved it so much.

We rode a few more rides before heading over to DCA. We had some lunch at Test Pilots Grill and then went on Soaring.

DW gets motion sickness but braved it this time to come on. She hated it as did our eldest daughter.

Anyway we did a Bugs Life again and a few more rides in Bugs land and then went to Grizzly River Rapids. We all got thru unscathed until the geyzer went off at the end and soaked me through. Never had it go off on top of us before, anyway it was great fun.

Back to the pool again and lazed around for the rest of the day until dinner at Napa Rose.

This time we had a table on the balcony. It was a beauty warm evening. Dinner took a long time but was beautiful again. We were given a desert wine for the delay not that we complained or asked for it. It was gratefully accepted. On the way out the girls saw Andrew Sutton the head chef (they had seen him on various Sam Brown travel shows on the Travel Channel).

We had an early night as we were being picked up for the airport at 6am.

We got up early and waited for our town car. We were entertained by an argument between a limo driver and the GCH doorman and security. He wanted to park right at the entrance and they wanted him to park in a designated area. Anyway our car arrived and as we pulled away the limo driver was trying how to fit 8 people and a dozen bags in the limo.

We had a Qantas flight to NY which was great. The movies on demand made the flight seem pretty short. Much better than a domestic flight which can be very boring with nothing to do.

We arrived at NY and got our bags. Unfortunately or driver was no where to be seen so I gave them a call and 5 minutes later he was there.

We had a nice drive into town and to our hotel The Muse. It was half a block off Time Square but far enough to be away from the hussle and noise. We settled into the horel it was quite and very modern. The rooms were a good size by NY standards. We rang our friends we were meeting up with. We agreed to meet in the bar downstairs so we headed down after a shower and cleanup.

Boy the prices were steep. Our friends arrived so we headed off at about 8.30pm for dinner.

We looked around a few places and decided to go to TGIF, there are a few around the Square. The meal was quite good and all the group enjoyed it (4 adults and 4 girls under 12).

We had a wake up call for 8am and we all hussled off to meet our travelling companions for a hop on and hop off bus tour. We used Grey Lines and they were great and had plenty of buses so the wait times were 10 minutes max at any stop.

First stop was Empire State building, a ticket was included in the tour. We headed up the observation level after clearing the various levels of security. The view was magnificent, you can see for miles.

We hopped on the next bus and went to ground zero. The buildings are starting to rise out of the vacant land there. It is truly a vast area that was destroyed. We went in the memorial preview site. I got in trouble for video taping. In my defence there we no signs and photography was allowed but no video, go figure. Anyway it was very moving you could listen to people speak about friends and relatives who died. Read stories about those who survived and many artifacts from the site. We went around the corner and saw the iron cross that was made out of the debris.

From there we walked down to Battery Park. We had lunch at a subway on the way and sat in the park as the girls played mainly trying to creep close to the squirrels. It was great to sit and watch the people and activity in the park. After a while we head to the ferry to take us to the statue of liberty again we went through security.

The ferry ride was short but we got some great video of Manhattan as we pulled away. We arrived at the island and checked in from the climb to the crown. We went through more security including chemical/explosives screening.

We started the climb and made it to the base. Phew I was puffed already and we were not quite half way. The rest of the way was a tight spiral stair case a steep as a climbing a ladder. Oh my god I thought I was going to die. Eldest daughter decided she didn't want to go to the top, so she stayed with DW while I took up our youngest DD and our friends.

I couldn't believe how small the space was up in the crown. You have little widnows and the platforms shakes. But the view was extraordinary and simply a once in a life type of thing. I went back down and let DW go up to have a look. My legs were like jelly and my thighs were burning from the climb. I would pay for the climb in the days to come.

We headed back down and then we all took an audio tour around the statue. It was quite interesting getting the history of the statue and how it was made and what it represented.

That night the wives headed off on a night bus tour while the dads and kids headed off for dinner. We chose a local dinner and had a great meal of roast and fried chicken. The portions we huge and most of us didn't finish. After a walk and ice cream we dropped our friends off at their hotel. My god there rooms were so small, about 60% the size of ours and they were staying at a well known brand.

Heading off to the pool so we finish the NY sector including my trip to watch the Yankees tomorrow and the first days at WDW.

 

[1rocky]

thank you for the trip report . Disney sounds awesome and cant wait to visit in Jan
Have a safe trip for the rest of your holiday

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you're have a fabulous time. At least you can now say that you've experienced the best and worst of DLR queueing....

I'm curious - for the TV fix, did you just get a fast pass for a couple of rides or did you get a dream fast pass?

 

[ehsmum]

I'm very impressed that you kept going on day 1 like that! We tried to stay up but we all passed out by 2pm.

I was really disappointed that we missed out on Statue of Liberty tickets but after hearing about the climb, I'm relieved now!

 

[shushh]

Ok last but definitely not least...I'm now up to date with everyones trips!

I don't know how you guys manage to report live taking into consideration your busy schedules! Awaiting more...

 

[DizOz]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you're have a fabulous time. At least you can now say that you've experienced the best and worst of DLR queueing....

I'm curious - for the TV fix, did you just get a fast pass for a couple of rides or did you get a dream fast pass?

We got a single fast pass for any ride on any day during our stay.

Anyway day 3 in NY we had a bit of a sleep in and head out to the hop on hop off tour. Our first stop was the Museum of Natural History. After seeing both Night in a Museum movies we were very excited to see it live.

Well it is very much the old style museum very little interaction in the main part sof the museum though very interesting. Ticket prices a little tricky as the price is suggested you can pay what you want. The additional shows you have to pay extra. The main museum is a little pricey for what you get.

After that we hopped on the bus again and went through Harlem and on to the Central PArk Zoo. We had a good look around and then had lunch in the zoo.

On the bus again and back to Times Square.

I did some work back in the room and the girls went shopping.

That night met our friends at their hotel and the boys headed off to the baseball and girls shopping. Took the subway to the baseball, the staff were very helpful telling us which tickets and train we needed. Got there with very little fuss at 116 St.

We followed the crowd out the subway and there was Yankee Stadium. It was huge.

Fir a massive crowd we went through security and into the stadium in less than 5 minutes, a lesson to be learnt by some of our Australian sporting stadiums.

That night was a memorial night for George Steinbrenner the owner who had just passed away. It was a ceremony very well done.

Our seats were along the third base line 5 rows from the front. Our seats had waiter service and very comfortable.

The Yankees in first place were playing Tampa Bay who were second. Great game with scores and momentum see sawing with the Yankees winning.

I will never complain about footy food prices again, $10 for a beer.

After the game we got out and on a train in under 10 minutes.

Next day we headed to JFK for our flight to Orlando. Traffic was a shambles as the UN general assembly had just started and whole blocks were closed off.

Anyway got there in time and then we had problems with our tickets. After 40 minutes it was sorted out and we got to the gate with plenty of time to spare.

Flight was great, I had the first economy row to myself with family in the next row, so we spread out and had a comfortable and quick flight down.

Our driver met us at the baggage claim area and soon we were on our way to WL.

Youngest DD loves to pose her she is on her bed at the Muse Hotel in NY

Here we are outside the Muse waiting for our friends to arrive for dinner.

Out to dinner at TGIF. The food was surprisingly good.

DD and friend on top of Grays Line bus as we did the Uptown Tour

Times Square from top of the bus.

The New Year eve ball that is permanently left in place now to save money pulling it down and putting it back up each year.

Empire State Building

View from the top of the Empire State Building

Ground Zero is a hive of building now.

Yougest DD and her friend on top of the bus

All the girls at Battery Park

View of Manhattan in the way to the Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty as we pull in on the ferry

The original torch which was replaced a few years back sits in the foyer at the base of the statue

The girls climbing the stairs. Phew I get tired just looking at the picture.

DW and friend inside the crown at the top.

View from the crown

Girls listening to the audio tour

 

[PrincessInOz]

You packed in a heap of stuff at NYC. The Yankees game sounds like fun! If beer was $10, what did they charge for a soft drink???

Waiting patiently for the next update at WDW

 

[Mum from oz]

I'd love to go to a baseball game. Sounds great! Also eagerly anticipating the WDW part!