Any other Aussie posters ?

[emum]

First up, a quick "about me"

We're a large-ish Australian family, on our way to DL at the end of September. We will be staying 5 nights, and at this stage, look like staying at the DLH.

I'm wondering who other Australians have booked their accommodation / park hopper tickets through. I'm looking at doing a package through Expedia, as they give a good discount for flights and accommodation (flights from HNL to LAX with AA).

Are there any tips from an Australian perspective you may be able to pass on ?

I'm sooooooooooooooo excited at our upcoming trip - just a pity I have to contain the excitement for a few months yet ! LOL !

We do hope to make this sort of trip every two years now that the kids are easier to manage (read: less paraphernalia LOL).

Thanking you in advance.

Cheers,
Sally

 

[Czardas]

Hi Sally, I'm from Melbourne and my husband and I will be visting America in 5 weeks.
I always use frequent flyer points for airfares, so I can't help you with packages etc.
All my other bookings are always done online, I just search around for the best deals.
We will be at DL for 4 nights and then onto Vegas and then to Colorado for skiing. So I am getting pretty excited about the trip.

I will book my tickets directly online with DL. The only problem we have is making PS reservations for dining and having to get up at some ungodly hour to make the phone call.

How old are your kids?

 

[Jade+3]

Hi Sally

We did our third trip last month, with 2 toddlers. In Anaheim we stayed at HoJo which I booked direct using the entertainment rate. We travelled around California for nearly a month. I booked most other accom through Expedia, plus our park hopper tickets. Car hire I found cheaper booking direct as we could get an all inclusive rate covering all insurances. Flights I booked direct with Qantas.

We flew direct to LAX from Brisbane. Last time we went via HNL with Air New Zealand and United.

I wish I could talk my hubby into going every 2 years. He doesn't like to go back to the same place one he has been there, and I have already dragged him there twice.

Goodluck with your planning.

Jade

 

[Czardas]

Hi Sally


I wish I could talk my hubby into going every 2 years. He doesn't like to go back to the same place one he has been there, and I have already dragged him there twice.


Jade

My husband is exactly the same, not wanting to repeat a holiday. But I have managed to get him to Thailand twice with another trip there on the way

We will be staying at Camelot Inn & Suites, right accross the road. As we don't have any children travelling with us, I didn't want to spend the larger sums staying on site & we don't plan to spend too much time in our room.

I always book Travel insurance with travelinsurancedirect.com.au they always seem to have the best rates. I have been using them for years but have been lucky enough not to make a claim.

We will also be catching the Disneyresort shuttle bus and not hiring a car.

 

[kylieh]

Hi Sally - We'll be visiting at the same time - our school holidays!!!!!! We're going to Las Vegas on the Saturday, then on the Tuesday 30 September arriving in Anaheim for 9 nights.

I've booked our flights direct with Qantas, and our accom direct with the hotels. I've had a couple of people mention taking flights to HNL then changing planes to LA, often works out heaps cheaper. Hawaiian Airlines are also good value, and they will break the flight in HNL, but they don't fly from Sydney every day (not sure on Melbourne).

We're staying at Residence Inn Maingate, about 1km away with full kitchen. If we didn't need the kitchen we would stay probably at one of the hotels directly opposite.

I've heard good things about Expedia as they have a large pool of rooms available - to try and cut a long story short ... I was on a training course with a "Room Scheduler", yep that was his title, from a major chain. He explained, they have 1000 rooms available, they will make 20 available to this group, eg Flight Centre Group, 20 to Qantas and so forth. When they are used by a certain group, they are gone. So Qantas normally couldn't book arrange more rooms. Expedia Australia draws from the US base of rooms, so whereas an Australian operator may get 20 rooms, Expedia will have 200 rooms - you get the idea!

Although, if staying at DLH one of you may wish to investigate getting an annual pass and booking directly. I think then you get a 10% room discount. Plus all the discounts on dining, merchandise, etc. Have a look through the boards for posts on annual passes or create a new post, people on the Disboards are really helpful and will be able to let you know how to pre-order I guess the annual pass and receive a discount.

I think that you will find a lot of Aussies & Kiwis on Disboards. And everyone will be more than helpful.

 

[lampardcl]

Hi Sally, we a large family from melbourne 2 adults 4 children. We are very excited about our May disneyland holiday. We are flying with jetstar to hawaii and then ATA to lax. Staying 8 nights at the desert inn and suites and 3 nights in waikiki. We havent used any travel agents, all booked on line, This has been the cheapest option for us. As for park entry tickets you could have a look a keith prowse australia.

 

[melbarkwith]

We are also from Melbourne (2 adults, 3 kids - 5,4 and 11 months ) and visited DL this past May.

I booked our accommodation direct through the Desert Inn & Suites (about 3 months out seemed to be the cheapest prices).

We booked our airfares with travel.com.au because they were a little cheaper than directly through Air New Zealand. Next time I will pay extra to book directly with Air NZ (it was a nightmare chasing up tickets with travel.com.au)

I VERY highly recommend flying with Air New Zealand. They were nothing short of fabulous with the kids. If the kids slept through meals, they would always bring them something when they woke up. Our 11 month old was still breastfeeding, and every single time a flight attendant noticed me feeding her, they would bring me a drink.

Since you have young kids definitely check out the flight times. Ideally you want the longest part of the flight to be nighttime for them (and you!) We left Melbourne at noon, arrived in Auckland at 5.30pm (3.30pm Melb time). Then left Auckland at 7.45pm, had dinner (worked out perfectly since it was around 6.30pm Melb time by then). The kids watched a movie and then slept until we were about 2 hours from LA.

Our Disneyland tickets were booked through Air New Zealand - we got a 14 day pass for about $10 more than a 5 day pass. With 3 little kids it was well worth it to know that we had the option of going for half a day and it not being a big deal.

Have fun! (I'm already planning our return visit in May/November 2010) We have to make the most of the kids passports before they expire.

Mel

 

[emum]

Thanks for the quick influx of replies !

I've been reading pages and pages of threads on the boards, and the information has been fantastic, if not a little overwhelming

Czardas - we've used FF points to get us all to HNL and return on Qantas, so just need the HNL to LAX leg and return. The kids are in my sig - they'll be 11, 7, 6, and nearly 4 when we travel. Actually, you touched on another question I meant to ask - when you call to make PS reservations, do you use the same number as if in the US ? What times do you normally call ? (I know it's 60 days out from the reservation). I can see why you'd not want to stay at one of the Disney hotels - I'm sure if we were kid-less, our reasoning would be the same. By the Disney resort bus, do you mean the Greyhound bus ? We won't be hiring a car until after Disney, when we take off for Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

Jade - thanks so much for your input. I couldn't imagine travelling so far when the kids were any younger than what they will be, so I'm in awe of you As for getting Dh back to the same place, we're both very "into" adventure / theme parks, so it's not too difficult. We hope to do WDW next time, though. Neither of us has been there yet.

Kylie - all of that makes perfect sense - thankyou. Our flights to HNL are on Sat. 26th, and we'll be staying there two nights before flying in to LAX on the 29th. We may very well bump into each other ! LOL ! Thanks for the tip on the annual pass - I need to do (yet) more sums !

lampardcl - I hope you have a wonderful trip - you'll have to do a trip report for us when you arrive back

Mel - we cross-posted - thanks for all of your info. as well. Our flights to HNL are overnight, so I'm hoping the kids sleep for most of the flight. We're then looking at an early morning flight out of HNL to arrive in LAX mid-afternoon. Enjoy planning your next trip ! Travel is so enticing !

Thanks again.

Cheers,
Sally

 

[BecBennett]

Hello
We're heading to the states in 29 days!
We booked our hotel Parkvue Inn directly, booked our flights through flight centre, and our Disneyland tickets through Disneyland.com.
you've got lots of time so spend time looking around for the best prices. And if the AU$ gets back above 90c for gods sake get some!! I left it too long...

It's all very exciting!

If you need to call to confirm anything I usually call before 11am.

 

[emum]

Bec - wow - you're at the "business end" of things, now - very exciting ! With booking your tickets through Disneyland direct, do they FedEx them to you, or email printable ones ? Thanks for the tip on the $AU.... I watch the finance report intently every night

 

[scotttrippett]

Hi are you on a qantas flight or on Jetstar. Qantas only fly to Hawaii about 1 or 2 times a week. If you are on jetstar I hope they informed you that you wont get any meals or anything that you would get on a qantas flight. This happened to us last year and I was not happy.

Scott

 

[BecBennett]

The printable ones were emailed to us. I'm not sure whether I take them to the gates or if I need to swap them before hand...

 

[kylieh]

We won't be hiring a car until after Disney, when we take off for Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

We'll be hiring a car from LV to Anaheim and keeping it for a week. I've found that generally Avis and Hertz, through their respective Australian sites have the best rates and include the mandatory insurance in their quotes. Also, Hertz Australia https://www.hertz.com.au/rentacar/e...OverView.jsp&leftNavUserSelection=globNav_4_1 have their join Gold #1 Club at no charge, and receive a free day's rental in the US. We received our coupon in the mail last Friday. Under Californian and Nevada law, the 4 year old will need a booster seat, but not the 6, but recommended. (Our DD will be just 6 when we travel and although legally she won't require one, I will be hiring for her).

 

[emum]

This is great everyone ! Thanks !

Scott - def. Qantas. The only thing which is a bit of a downer is they fly a 767 to HI, with no in-seat entertainment. Of course, the flip-side is the window seats are only two across, so we should all be able to see the overhead screens OK. Dh is also considering purchasing portable DVD players in China when he travels there in May.

Bec - hmmm, that may need a separate question on the board, although surely there'd be some sort of ticket counter / booth where they could be exchanged at the entrance to DL ?

Kylie - thanks for that tip ! If we do a week-long booking, we'd have the car for a day while still in Anaheim, too, which may be good if we're a little "overdone" on Disney by then

Thanks again everyone... off to read some more threads (I certainly am of the "planning is half the fun" brigade )

 

[Czardas]

Sally, here's the link for the disney shuttle. http://graylineanaheim.com/airport_info.cfm

 

[emum]

Thanks, Czardas

 

[madfelice]

Hi. We're going in June and I booked my flight through the airline direct as it was cheaper than expedia. As to the Disney portion, I am using the following US online travel agent
http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/
because they are organizing everything like dining reservations etc for me at the 90 mark when you can make them so I know we will be totally sorted. They weren't any more or less expensive than any other quotes I got, but the fact that they will do the US reservations end for me made it more than worthwhile.
As to other hotel reservations etc, I find the place on expedia, then find the website for it and it almost always is a bit cheaper.
Hope this helps!

 

[Jade+3]

The printable ones were emailed to us. I'm not sure whether I take them to the gates or if I need to swap them before hand

We swapped ours at the ticket booth. I did see some people in line at the front gate holding their emails, so I am not sure if you can also do it there. The queues at the ticket booth were long first thing in the morning. We arrived late afternoon and didn't have to wait at all.

We booked our hire car through Alamo. On their website, change you country of residency to Australia and it will quote an all inclusive rate. Also check out National as their rates were cheaper to hire car seats. We needed 2, so ended up taking our own. I also recommend hiring a GPS.

 

[kiwitravel]

Airfares - We usually get two on Qantas FF points and pay for two direct to airline

Accommodation - I have booked direct on both occassions, got Tropicanna for $74 per night + Tax in 2004 and Carousel Inn for $69 + tax (US dollars) saving at least $20 per night. Book early (now for a September trip) as they have "advertised specials" as it is a low season for them, the trick is to get that special rate for the time you are going. We travel in June/July (peak season) and have booked in November the year before at the advertised rates at that time.

Walking distance to DL is key, be wary of hotels advertising 1 or 2 blocks from DL as a block can be over a 10 minute walk
Camelot, Carousel, Tropicanna, BW Park Place Inn, Park Vue are the closest.

DL Tickets - We have always found them cheaper to buy in NZ before you go, as someone else has said we got 14 day passes for only $10 less than 5 day ones. Ring around the local travel agents and get quotes.

 

[daffidyll]

Hi, Can I join? I'm actually american but have lived in QLD for 10 years now so hopefully I sort of count. DH and our DD are Australian though. We are going in March and staying at the Camelot Inn and then going on to Vegas and then back to my family in California. We ended up booking our flights through a travel agent just because we had so many connecting flights all over the place it got too confusing....glad we did too because they've already made changes that have turned into dramas! Our main int'l flight is the BNE to LAX one though on Qantas. We were able to use our FF for 2 of us and since we are also going for a conference in Vegas DH's business is paying for his.

We booked DL 5 day park hopper/character meal/Camelot Inn package through DL directly mainly because I wanted the little 'bonus extras' you get when you book through them like an EE day and TTMM, pins etc. They snail mailed us our itinerary or receipt...maybe it is the ticket??? though I was told our package of tickets/pins/buttons etc etc would be waiting for us at the Camelot when we checked in.

I just made our PSs this morning....we're in QLD and I called around 11.00 our time and had no problem.

We won't be hiring a car but still trying to decide whether to get the shuttle or the DL express bus and whether to make reservations or not. I'm not sure if you need to??? But if you do, how do you know what time to book for on arrival figuring we will land around 7.00 am I think and then have to get luggage and go through customs at LAX which is a nightmare in itself....also still trying to work out the carseat delimma. Someone suggested one of the backless type booster seats are easy to pack and bring but DD still has a fullbacked one so don't know how the others work...anyone know? Do they still need the tether which the u.s. cars don't have and how easy are they to install? Just wondering what shuttles are like in waiting whilst we try to install it???

For those that have already done the trip how do you get your little ones to sleep on the flight? I think our flight leaves at 11.00 am so have no idea how we're going to go with that. Last time we flew to Hawaii DD (4 now) was just soooo miserable and couldn't sleep sitting in the seat. I keep dreaming that by some miracle the flight won't be full and we can switch to 4 seats in the middle with an empty for her to stretch out but not holding my breath.

Anyway, hope everyone has a fantastic time!! We are so excited....well, DD and I are (not so much DH but if he just spent a little time on the DIS boards surely he'd get into it!!!)......how can you not!