Our Big Aussie Adventure: 372 days to go till WDW!!!

[ozsammyboy]

Firstly, G'day all... I am a new DIS reader from Australia... and as the title says we're off to Disneyworld on November, 25th 2007 for 22 nights.

At the moment there is 372 days to go and we are all super excited.

In my efforts to start planning for the trip I came across the DIS and was most impressed. I thought I knew a lot about Disney and WDW but fair dinkum was I wrong on that one!

At this point I understand it's customary to introduce the cast of characters who will be attending this monumental family event. So, here goes: -

Me (DH, 34) - loves Disney, and Theme Parks in general. Proposed to my now wife in Disneyland, on September 4th, 1998 on our first trip to the US. Spent five days in Disneyland then, and a further 16 nights in Florida staying at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. I've also stayed at Disney's Coronado Springs in 2003, for a work conference. Our daughter was only 1 year old at the time, so I didn't take the wife - and crikey have I heard about it since then!!

Jodi (DW, 31) - also loves Disney with a passion.

Jade (DD#1, 5) - turns 6 when we are actually going to be in Disneyworld this upcoming trip. Knows all the characters because I made it my Fatherly KPI that she watched every Disney film on DVD. I even tracked down an old VHS copy of Song of the South so she could get to know Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear. Loves the characters, and I can hardly wait to get some shots of her with them.

Emily (DD#2, 6 months) - will be 18 months by the time of our trip. Probably won't get too much from the trip but I figured it is never too young to get a dose of Disney Pixie Dust.

Sussi (Mother, 56) - my mum worked her butt to put me through university, and as such has never been overseas. She introduced me to Disney as a kid, taking to me to all the movies. I had always dreamed of shouting her a trip to Disney, and my darling wife agreed. Mum has MS (thankfully her symptoms are not debilitating) and I figure whilst she is still healthy it would be a great experience to be able to share my my love of the WDW with my Mum. So, she's going to get a big 22 day Disney Experience. Don't think she knows what she's in for.

Plan's thus far: -

We have booked into Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort on 25/11/07 for 22 nights. I have requested Martinique (Building 25 or so - I think). My wife has rheumatoid arthritis, so I figured it was smart to request a preferred location to minimise the walking at night / morning. She'll have enough on her plate with the walking around the parks.

I have even mocked up a spreadsheet working out when the EMH's are for what parks, etc.

So, for me I thought Erik, you've got everything planned to a T.

Then I came across DIS.

What was I thinking... I hadnt planned ANYTHING!!

- What is ADR?!?
- What is PS for CRT??
- What are the best character breakfasts
- Is it a good idea to have a Fantasmic / Dinner Package
- Is it best to actually go to parks that have EMH?
- What the hell are codes??
- Being at the world for 22 nights, how does a 10 MYW ticket going to cover it?

I basically had so many questions, and so few answers.

I felt like confidence in my Disney-Knowledge was shattered in a moment.

So, I thought what do I do?? How do I harness some of the information in these forums, how do I get to know some of the real experts on this board?

Answer: Start a Pre-Trip Report.

I understand, a pre-trip report 372 days out is probably really a "pre-pre-trip report", but what the hell!

Anyway, I hope this thread is the start of a long association with my fellow DIS'ers (sp?).

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Erik

 

[Minniespal]

Looking forward to hearing more

 

[youngaussienurse]

Hi there, we are coming from Australia as well (may 07). We were there in Nov 05 at the contemporary and will be staying there again Nice to hear of a fellow Aussie on the DIS boards! Who will you be flying with? We are going Air New Zealand this time (went United last time). YAY for the Aussies in Disney WOrld!!

 

[AussieFan]

I am so happy to see another aussie disney fan.

You will have a sensational time at CBR. My husband and I spent a week there in 1995 and loved it.

We will be there again in April next year this time with our two daughters. We will first be doing a 4 night cruise on the Disney Wonder then we have 11 nights
at CBR followed by 4 nights at BCR.

Our last Disney fix was 2 years ago in Disneyland. I just wish WDW was a lot closer to Australia so we could visit more often.l

 

[ozsammyboy]

Hey guys!

Thanks for the response.

Don't know who we are flying with at the moment - am waiting for the specials that get released around July. Fingers crossed we can pick up something nice!

Yes, I can hardly wait to go... am watching all our old footage of Disneyworld from 1998 and 2003. Am wearing out our WDW Planning DVD. Just love it!

What did you think of the weather in November / December?

 

[AussieTink]

Hi, from another Aussie Disney nut. We can't wait for our first Disney World experience - counting down with 9 days to go. We also started planning our trip a year ago and can not believe we will be on our way so soon. We are hoping it won't be too cold over there - we are more used to very hot temperatures. We will be flying Qantas to America this time - not looking forward to the long flight. But I'm sure it will be worth it.... Enjoy planning!!

 

[ozsammyboy]

Hey Tink,

I am jealous!!! 9 days... make sure you send me some piccys!! You will have a ball.

 

[ColinA]

Welcome to Disboards, you will learn a lot here.

We leave on 13th Dec for 25 nights at BWV

 

[Caltha]

Hi there fellow Aussie. I am from the West and are going to WDW for the very first time in just 42 days. I am soooo excited I have packed already. We will be at WDW for 11 days including a day at Seaworld and one day at Universal. We are a family of five, kids aged 14 ,12, 9. We are staying at AKL, and are flying with Emirates to NewYork for a few days via Dubia for a few days also, then when we finish at WDW we are making our way down to Miami and flying out of there back to New York - Dubia - Perth. Definately not looking forward to those flights.
I can understand exactly what you discovered when finding the Dis site. I did the exact same as you. Thought I was all ready to go until I found Dis and started reading .Theres was so much unexpected planning to do once you start reading everything on here. But boy, I am so glad I discovered it before it was too late. I would have never known to book resturants in advance, not to mention how many hundreds I saved just by applying the code to my booking. We were orginally booked into the ASMu, until I started reading the reviews on here, and decided that we just would not be happy there. So I changed to AKL (big jump I know). But I also then learnt that we should get a code that would help heaps. Well, enough about me, this is your trip report that I have now crashed on. SORRY!!!

 

[ozsammyboy]

Hey Caltha,

Sounds like fun!! Look forward to seeing some pictures...

How much discount did you get with your code?? I am paying around $US195 a night at the moment for a preferred location at Caribbean Beach Resort. Was wondering how much discount I could potentially get once the Annual Pass / Other Miscellaneous Discount come out.

Take it easy!

 

[Caltha]

Our discount totalled about $750 US plus we got the water passes for free, which I haven't worried about getting, as it will be winter there in January. But we have three kids which makes a big diffrence when trying to find suitable rooms, very few places fit five to a room, and we didn't want two rooms.
Wow, 22 nights at disney, do you have other plans other than the theme parks??
We are away 26 days in total, but are covering quite a bit more than just Disney in this time.
Have you booked DDP??

 

[ozsammyboy]

Did you want to meet in the chat room for a quick chat??

 

[Caltha]

I am not familiar with the chat room, SORRY

 

[OhMari]

Hi,
I am going to move you over to Pre-trip reports. You can post and keep us updated on all your planning. I will move you over to this board when you get back, or if you report live and do a "live update."

Happy Planning!

OhMari
Trip Report Moderator

 

[mlill]

Hi! I just found your pre-TR!!! Happy Planning!

Happy Holidays!
-Michelle

 

[hjd0411]

Gee whiz - there are more Aussies here!! I am also going Nov next year - but early. We'll be gone by the time you arrive! Look forward to hearing more about your plannine etc. I have been "planning" (also read saving!)for over a year already, and can't wait, but I don't want to wish my life away!!
I'll keep up with your pre-pre-trip report!!

Oh, and welcome to the Dis!! It is very addictive, can I tell you!

Heather

 

[aussiemickeys]

Welcome to the DIS boards - as others have said, you will learn heaps & it makes for such a better holiday.
As you can see we too are Aussies (from WA - the best state of course. Ha Ha!). We have been to WDW twice before & are currently planning our next trip for early to mid November 2007.
Look forward to hearing about all your planning!

 

[ozsammyboy]

It's awesome hearing from so many Aussies on the boards!

Planning in proceeding - next thing for me to lock in is my ADR's. I am trying to work out when is the best time to go to character meals / dining experiences. My wife and I will have annual passes so we are thinking of doing the Disney Dining Experience - is it worth the money?

If you fellow Aussies are keen perhaps we could organise to meet in the chat-room one night for a Aussie Disney Chin-wag.

Let me know if you guys are interested.

 

[ColinA]

Welcome to the DIS boards - as others have said, you will learn heaps & it makes for such a better holiday.
As you can see we too are Aussies (from WA - the best state of course. Ha Ha!). We have been to WDW twice before & are currently planning our next trip for early to mid November 2007.
Look forward to hearing about all your planning!

You might claim to have the best state Teresa, but we own at the best DVC resort, BWV

 

[ColinA]

It's awesome hearing from so many Aussies on the boards!

Planning in proceeding - next thing for me to lock in is my ADR's. I am trying to work out when is the best time to go to character meals / dining experiences. My wife and I will have annual passes so we are thinking of doing the Disney Dining Experience - is it worth the money?

If you fellow Aussies are keen perhaps we could organise to meet in the chat-room one night for a Aussie Disney Chin-wag.

Let me know if you guys are interested.

My wife recently bought Song of The South on DVD, Splash Mountain is my favourite ride.

I would make the following suggestions re your upcoming trip.

You are doing the best thing in getting Annual Passes for a 22 night stay, because we renew every year we get a discount, and then a further discount for being a DVC member. We do not get the premium pass to include the waterparks, if you want the waterparks, just buy individual passes.

We tend to book ADR,s for lunch or dinner, the only breakfast we have ever been to was this current trip when we went to Boma at AK lodge. ADRs are a must, Keep in mind the 180 day plus 10 day booking window, if I interpret it correct you can book the first 10 ADRs at the 180 day out. When we are checking in for the ADR it is amazing the amount of people that get turned away trying to book in at the restuarant. I can suggest a list of our favourite meals for dine in and takeaway, but not everybodies tastes are the same.

Disney Dining Experience card is certainly worth the cost, I think the cost is US$60.00, you only need 1 person in the party of up to 10 people to get the 20% discount on the whole meal.

Some of the meal costs so far for my wife and I including a 20% tip included are San Angel Inn $52.00, Boma for breakfast $42.00, Mama Melrose $65.60, Garden Grill in the Land $44.00, Crystal Palace for lunch $43.00

The best value and including the characters would have to be Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree Tavern, and the Garden Grill, all buffet meals with a difference exceptional high quality meals and not the typical overcooked steam pan dishes.

We always pre purchase the Fantasmic dinner package, and the Candlelight Processional package which would be running at the time you are at WDW next year.

EMH are the best, we only do the night hours, never out of bed that early, often we go in to say MK for lunch, back to the resort for a few hours, and then go back for the evening. Yesterday we had lunch at Crystal Palace and then back to MK at 7.00 pm for MVMCP until 12 midnight, the night before we were at MK until 1.00 am with the 3 hours EMH.

I do not need to use the codes, so cant help you there, we are DVC members with 700 points at BWV, the best resort in WDW.

If you intend to visit WDW often I would suggest looking at DVC, simply the best money we have spent, just take the calculator and add up the figures.

Staying on Disney property is the best, use Magical Express, straight out of the airport, bags in the room a few hours later while we are out to dinner, on the flight back check in the bags and get the boarding passes at the resort, no car hire and using the disney buses, boats and Monorail is part of the Disney experience.

Hope that helps, email or PM if I can help more, and enjoy the planning