Anybody visiting Disney from outside the USA?

[alanburger88]

I would really like to hear from people who are coming from outside the USA to Disneyworld.

My family DW, DD10, DD14 and me are going from 6 to 16 December 2007 all the way from South Africa. After Disney off to a cruise and then skiing in Steamboat.

A trip to Disney has some special challenges for us visitors:

- Saving - need to save for ages as airfare is not cheap and the exchange rate does not help. (R7.50 = $1.00)
- Planning - Need to book flights, connecting flights, transfers and hope all goes well and nothing is late The internet helps here a huge deal. Did all the reservations over the web
- Advance booking - Need to deal with time changes and make sure we are awake and at our phones when the booking window opens for ADRs and other events.
- Passports - Making sure we have valid passports. Ours expired and we had to get new ones which was a huge effort as Home Affairs here is not very efficient.
- VISA - Need to go get USA Visa. This is not trivial as they require your (and kids) whole life history and a bunch of letters from employers and schools before getting issued

Anyway would love to hear from other people coming from far far away The excitment is building even though it is still a while to go

 

[tasha88]

Yep hi, my dh and I are going in October. Dh has a conference to go to so I have four days in Orlando to visit Disney World.

Sadly we have had to leave our three little girls at home due to $$$$. Mind you they will be spoilt rotten by grandparents.

We are also going to Texas, New York City, Washington and San Francisco. We will be away for three and a half weeks all up. I am really looking forward to it as I haven't been to the U.S.A. before.

Oh by the way we are from Australia. Our exchange rate is fantastic at this very moment and we hope it stays that way.

 

[curtisrs]

Hi
It is really hard booking at trip from the other side of the world you are right. We are heading to WDW 6 Oct to 18th Oct. We were also there last year in May for 2 weeks during a 10 week round the world trip we did with our children DD 4 and DS 7. I remeber having to stay up to 1am one time so I could get reservations at CRT, but it was worth it and I will do it again for this trip though the times seem better this time as we are not in day light savings. Anyway have fun planning if you have any question just drop me a line happy to help. Were are you guys staying. We normally rent a house to give us that extra room and have our own pool. Doing this again this time but with two other families from Australia so 6 adults and 6 children but it has 7 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.

Take care

 

[alanburger88]

Glad to have to hear from people who have the same issues with booking etc.

We are staying at POR (Port Orleans Riverside) and were last at Disneyworld in December 1999. Your place sounds huge but we think we will do better on property to take advantage of the transport, dining package and extra park hours.

 

[Willow25]

Hello I am an american living in Australia with my australian husband. It is definitely more challenging booking plane flights, adr's etc from across the world. But soooo worth it. We are heading over December 2-14th staying at Old Key West (renting points). Holler if you need any advice??

 

[bigglesworth003]

From Australia here too!, but as said our $$$ great at the moment

Going in August, used DU Travel agent, cause they will add the free dining automatically in oh 3-4hrs

 

[PrincessNikki]

Me & My DBF are going in Nov -

we are having 12 days at Disneyworld staying at pop then 10 in Vegas, Then to Canada

we are away for 5 weeks

we booked through a travel agent but im still worried something wont be booked properly. expecially the flights we are going from Brisbane to Orlando without out an overnight stop It will be 26 Hours

Has anyone done this before???

How long did it take to get over the Jet Lag

I cant wait

 

[alanburger88]

Me & My DBF are going in Nov -

we are having 12 days at Disneyworld staying at pop then 10 in Vegas, Then to Canada

we are away for 5 weeks

we booked through a travel agent but im still worried something wont be booked properly. expecially the flights we are going from Brisbane to Orlando without out an overnight stop It will be 26 Hours

Has anyone done this before???

How long did it take to get over the Jet Lag

I cant wait

Wow the Australians are going to Disney in force

When we last travelled to Disneyworld it was in December 1999 (17 hour flight), it took us about 2 days to recover and get in sync with the other people. However we went on a 7 night cruise 1st and by the time we got to Disney we were fully adjusted and ready to enjoy.

This year we are going to Disney 1st (10 days ) and then on to a cruise (7 nights) and then on to a skiing holiday (11 days). I am sure we will be a bit wrecked the 1st couple of days. The flight this time is about 19 hours with a stopover in Washington DC.

Still so far but so excited - A very kind lady going by the handle POOH2001 sent me her Disney planning DVD and I recieved it today. Just took a peek and it is wonderful. Must drop her a thank you note.

Looking forward to more posts here

 

[JPS]

Hi Allan,
I'm from Worcester in the Cape! I was planning a trip to WDW in June, but have had to postpone until next Sept. My DS5 is well travelled, but for us it will be a 23hr trip which will be quite a challange!
My USA visa expires this year so I will have to re-apply and get a visa for my DS as well. I haven't been to the US since 1997 and believe that many things have changed at WDW in the past 10 years. I'm really looking forward to our trip. You are SO lucky to get that DVD!

 

[alanburger88]

Hi Allan,
I'm from Worcester in the Cape! I was planning a trip to WDW in June, but have had to postpone until next Sept. My DS5 is well travelled, but for us it will be a 23hr trip which will be quite a challange!
My USA visa expires this year so I will have to re-apply and get a visa for my DS as well. I haven't been to the US since 1997 and believe that many things have changed at WDW in the past 10 years. I'm really looking forward to our trip. You are SO lucky to get that DVD!

Great to hear from a fellow South African

Sorry to hear you had to postpone your visit until next year June. You can get our DVD January next year when we get back if you like?

The VISA requirements are really extensive. They are at the moment:

1. Passports
2. R60.00 cash for courier to send back to you
3. Capture the VISA form (DS156) for each person at https://evisaforms.state.gov/ds156.asp. Print and take along.
4. 3 x months bank statement.
5. Proof of property ownership and / or any other investments.
6. Letter from school for child(ren).
7. Unabridged birth certificates for child(ren).
8. Proof of trip – bookings, air tickets and itinerary.
9. VISA photo’s.
10. Receipt from FNB for VISA payment. Currently R750.00 or $100 per VISA.

Also must pay R85.00 for each 9 minutes of time you talk to the US embassy. Pay by credit card on the phone or get a voucher from Pick 'n Pay.

Anyway you have lots of time... the time will pass and you will have a blast. Need any other advice or info (We have done a ton of planning already) Just holler

 

[islandmum]

well just to change things a bit I'm coming from the Caribbean - southern Caribbean.

Its not that far away but thanks to useless connections we have to take 3 flights and from the time we take off here until we land in Miami is 8 HOURS!! thats like flying transatlantic!

anyway, 6 days in Miami, 11 days in Disney, 5 days in Barbados, 4 days in St Lucia. Should be a fun trip and the rugrats will love it.

Had problems with booking Disney though - there are no zip codes or postcodes here and their system wold not accept our address without one - therefore not accept our booking. We've had to use our parents address in the UK instead and do all correspondance by email - which they say they cant do but will if you ask enough!

 

[alanburger88]

Keep them coming... maybe we can out number the US locals (Just kidding)

 

[U2_rocks!]

As you can see from my ticker, we are going in 8 days!!!

We are in Barbados (West Indies), where World Cup cricket is currently being played. Your South Africa team is still in the running, and beat the West Indies the other day, effectively knocking them out of the running, barring some miracle!

We have some of the same challenges as you do, though luckily there is no time difference for half the year (and just 1 hour the other half - we don't do DST). One thing that adds to the cost of things is that 800 numbers don't work from here for the most part. So I paid a reservation service to make all my ADRs for me - it took away the hassle, and was only slightly more expensive than if I'd had to make them myself (it was woth it, I thought, for the convenience!).

DH and I have had passports and US Visas since we were kids, so renewal every 5/10 years isn't a big deal, and not nearly as involved as if we were getting new ones now as adults! It's easy to get passports and visas for the kids.

Also, we are lucky that we have a few direct flights to choose from to get to Miami, then there are tons of flights between Miami and Orlando. So a delay in one flight might not necessarily impact our schedule too much.

Coming from a small island, one of our greatest pleasures while in the U.S. is shopping! Even a place like Wal-Mart or Target brings us great joy! And the restaurants!!! We have some wonderful upscale restaurants in my country, but we lack variety in the mid-range and inexpensive categories, and even mid-range can be pricey compared to the U.S.

Another thing that we find amazing is portion sizes! We share so much food, or take home leftovers (when staying in a condo with kitchen) - there's no way we can eat half of what we are given! I don't know how South Africa is in comparison.

This trip is doable thanks to airmiles and timeshare exchange (my parents' 2 weeks). That is why we are unlikely to be back for quite a while! Plus, there are other places we want to visit, and it takes $$ to go anywhere off the island (airfares between islands aren't that cheap), so we have to spread out our holidays. If we had had to pay completely out of pocket for this trip it would have been horribly expensive!

 

[U2_rocks!]

well just to change things a bit I'm coming from the Caribbean - southern Caribbean.

Its not that far away but thanks to useless connections we have to take 3 flights and from the time we take off here until we land in Miami is 8 HOURS!! thats like flying transatlantic!

anyway, 6 days in Miami, 11 days in Disney, 5 days in Barbados, 4 days in St Lucia. Should be a fun trip and the rugrats will love it.

Had problems with booking Disney though - there are no zip codes or postcodes here and their system wold not accept our address without one - therefore not accept our booking. We've had to use our parents address in the UK instead and do all correspondance by email - which they say they cant do but will if you ask enough!

Yuck! Thankfully it's 3.5 hours direct to Miami for us on AA.

One trick for post codes - enter all zeros or all 9s. I've booked many places online and bought lots of goods online, and never had a problem. However, I have never made a booking with Disney. Now we do have postcodes at last!

 

[JPS]

Allan, Thanks for the offer of the DVD - I might just take you up on it! I've done quite a bit of research myself, especially the cost of things in order to budget properly and have found that it far less expensive to travel in Sept/Oct rather than Jun/Jul or Dec/Jan. I will be taking my son out of school for a couple of days, but as a Gr 1er I consider it as an educational trip! I'm sure your kids are really excited - I'll wait till a couple of weeks before we leave to tell my DS. He's seen the some of my research and keeps telling me that he also wants to go there!
Anyway, let's see who all responds from our neck of the woods!

 

[islandmum]

Coming from a small island, one of our greatest pleasures while in the U.S. is shopping! Even a place like Wal-Mart or Target brings us great joy! And the restaurants!!! We have some wonderful upscale restaurants in my country, but we lack variety in the mid-range and inexpensive categories, and even mid-range can be pricey compared to the U.S.

!

oh I'm soooo with you there! we have only a couple of basic provisions stores here so even a supermarket in Bbds is huge for us!

we have to leave here about 7am, fly to SLU, stop there, then onto SJU, stop there, then onto Miami - landing 3.40pm. A total drag when its not really that far! But its all with AEagle so at least theres no changing airlines halfway through. Its more expensive for us to go through Bbds but a long way so we put up with this!

8 days to go ..... you damn lucky things - you have to write a big report with pics of food for us down the islands!!

 

[U2_rocks!]

oh I'm soooo with you there! we have only a couple of basic provisions stores here so even a supermarket in Bbds is huge for us!

we have to leave here about 7am, fly to SLU, stop there, then onto SJU, stop there, then onto Miami - landing 3.40pm. A total drag when its not really that far! But its all with AEagle so at least theres no changing airlines halfway through. Its more expensive for us to go through Bbds but a long way so we put up with this!

8 days to go ..... you damn lucky things - you have to write a big report with pics of food for us down the islands!!

Ugh, I hate the Eagle! It's a very reliable little plane, but it's noisy and takes twice as long to get anywhere! We used to have direct flights on AA jets to SJU, but several years ago they changed to Eagle, and what used to take a little over 1 hour now takes 2.5!

 

[alanburger88]

As you can see from my ticker, we are going in 8 days!!!

We are in Barbados (West Indies), where World Cup cricket is currently being played. Your South Africa team is still in the running, and beat the West Indies the other day, effectively knocking them out of the running, barring some miracle!

We have some of the same challenges as you do, though luckily there is no time difference for half the year (and just 1 hour the other half - we don't do DST). One thing that adds to the cost of things is that 800 numbers don't work from here for the most part. So I paid a reservation service to make all my ADRs for me - it took away the hassle, and was only slightly more expensive than if I'd had to make them myself (it was woth it, I thought, for the convenience!).

DH and I have had passports and US Visas since we were kids, so renewal every 5/10 years isn't a big deal, and not nearly as involved as if we were getting new ones now as adults! It's easy to get passports and visas for the kids.

Also, we are lucky that we have a few direct flights to choose from to get to Miami, then there are tons of flights between Miami and Orlando. So a delay in one flight might not necessarily impact our schedule too much.

Coming from a small island, one of our greatest pleasures while in the U.S. is shopping! Even a place like Wal-Mart or Target brings us great joy! And the restaurants!!! We have some wonderful upscale restaurants in my country, but we lack variety in the mid-range and inexpensive categories, and even mid-range can be pricey compared to the U.S.

Another thing that we find amazing is portion sizes! We share so much food, or take home leftovers (when staying in a condo with kitchen) - there's no way we can eat half of what we are given! I don't know how South Africa is in comparison.

This trip is doable thanks to airmiles and timeshare exchange (my parents' 2 weeks). That is why we are unlikely to be back for quite a while! Plus, there are other places we want to visit, and it takes $$ to go anywhere off the island (airfares between islands aren't that cheap), so we have to spread out our holidays. If we had had to pay completely out of pocket for this trip it would have been horribly expensive!

Go South Africa Go Cricket is great

You are going to have a blast at Disney.

My DW, DD10, DD14 and myself have 10 year VISA but they are expiring - so we need to go through the process all over again.

Even though we have great malls and a big variety of shops we still enjoy the new products and wider range of things we can find while in the USA.

The food tends to be huge portions as you said but I find our local food has better flavour. Once we went to the Rainforest Cafe and we could have fed our whole family on a single serving of pasta.

Luckily we have a huge range and variety of vaction places here in Southern Africa - but it is still great to go abroad once in a while.

Enjoy your trip - 8 days wow.... I can only wish.

Post a trip report when you get back....

 

[Willow25]

Me & My DBF are going in Nov -


we booked through a travel agent but im still worried something wont be booked properly. expecially the flights we are going from Brisbane to Orlando without out an overnight stop It will be 26 Hours

Has anyone done this before???

How long did it take to get over the Jet Lag

I cant wait

In 2005 I flew from Melbourne to Orlando with no overnight stays. It was the best way to go because you get it all over with at once. I did not find the jet lag to be too terrible because by the time I landed in Orlando it was like 10:00pm there. I took a hot shower and stumbled into bed. The main thing is to get up early and stay awake that whole next day.

Have a great trip!!!

Be careful with Australian travel agents booking your internal US flights though. It is so expensive. I have always booked through american websites such as expedia and found that we would save $100's.

 

[alanburger88]

In 2005 I flew from Melbourne to Orlando with no overnight stays. It was the best way to go because you get it all over with at once. I did not find the jet lag to be too terrible because by the time I landed in Orlando it was like 10:00pm there. I took a hot shower and stumbled into bed. The main thing is to get up early and stay awake that whole next day.

Have a great trip!!!

Be careful with Australian travel agents booking your internal US flights though. It is so expensive. I have always booked through american websites such as expedia and found that we would save $100's.

I agree - get the flying over with in one go. That way you only need to be irritated and stinky once as opposed to a couple of times and besides you get to see Mickey all the sooner.