April 2012 - Disneyland, NYC and more

[Toy Story]

We got our tickets to the Yankees through StubHub a few months ago. They are just about to release single game tickets on the Yankees website if you are interested.

Use your MasterCard® card for an exclusive opportunity to purchase tickets to 2012 regular season Yankees games before they go on sale to the general public. Tickets for individual Yankees games at Yankee Stadium will first be made available to the public through a MasterCard Pre-On-Sale online at yankees.com from March 22 at 10:00 a.m. until March 25 at 10:00 p.m. This Pre-On-Sale opportunity is exclusively for MasterCard cardholders.

Thanks for the information, not sure if we are going to try and get tickets or not.

 

[periwinkle20]

I got our tickets to Mystere at Treasure Island

I can't wait!

34 days to go

 

[periwinkle20]

Hi All,

Hoping you can help me with the New York part of our trip. We have 4 days (3 really as we arrive 5pm) in New York and have bought the New York Pass. I want to try to fit as much as possible in but I will need a plan of attack so we are not back and forth on the subway and make the most of our time.

The only thing booked in is the 9/11 memorial and baseball

Sunday arrive 5pm
Monday - 9/11 memorial 10.00am
Tuesday - baseball 7pm
Wednesday -
Thursday - 12.00 flight to LA

We hope to visit:
Empire State Building
TOTR
Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island
Madame Tussauds
American Museum of Natural History
Brooklyn Bridge
Times Square
Grand Central Station
Central Park
FAO Schwartz
New York Public Library

What have I missed? and are we going to be able to fit this in? I know we don't have long enough but I am hoping we can see as much as we can.

Would appreciate your advice

 

[alicia1506]

if you're doing TOTR, do it either really early in the morning or late in the afternoon (so at either sunrise or sunset). the lines at all other times are crazy, and the benefit of sunrise/sunset is great natural lighting for those panorama shots.

if you've got one of those hop on/hop off tours where you can do unlimited loops for like 24/48/72 hours, you should be fine to do the things you want, providing that you're cool with not spending a huge amount of time inside them, visiting.

TOTR and rockefeller plaza can suck up all your time, as can ESB and statue of liberty etc, so i would say pick your top ones, create a must see shortlist, and then a 'backup' list of stuff you would love to see but would be ok if you have to cut it..

as you know, my 3 day dream trip to NYC got cut short cause i got sick... so i ended up cramming all of my sightseeing into 1 huge day... it is definitely possible.. the only thing is you won't really get to spend a huge amount of time in places like NY public library and museum of natural history unless your last day is going to be a really, really long day (like out the door at 8am, return to your room at 1am) etc like we did.

i sincerely hope that you get to see everything on your list. NYC is amazing and i'm desperately hoping we can get back there on our trip next year

 

[Kangarucci]

Toys R Us, Broadway show, M and M World, Strawberry Fields....

 

[battymum]

Hi Periwinkle,

You can achieve everything on your list if you group them geographically -we recently spent 3full days and 2 half days and saw everything on your list. Does your flight arrive at 5 or will you be in the city by five?


My suggestion,
Statue of Liberty after the 9/11 memorial, not sure if you want to just cruise by using the Staten Island ferry, doesnt actually stop at SOL but goes close for some good pictures. If you want to get off and walk around the island you have to use statuecruises and there can be lengthy queues and you have to go through security twice. . After this an easy trip on the subway to Brooklyn and then walk back to Manhatten across the bridge.

Next day, Museum of Natural History, (some people spend hours here, we were happy with an hour) then cross the road walk diagonally through the park, then down 5th Avenue, Tiffanys, FAO Schwartz , then TOTR, then Times Square. (actually make this Wednesday- you dont want to be late for baseball)

Tuesday -Grand Central Station, Madame Tusauds, Times Square, Macys -

This just leaves Empire State Building, which you could do on the night of your arrival - its open till 2:00am - this is a bit hit and miss, a lot of reports of massive queues, but we went in the evening, about 8:00 and it was empty, , no queue at all.

So thats it 3 - non stop days in NYC!!!

 

[periwinkle20]

Thank you so much for your replies

That is exactly the advice I was looking for, grouping stuff together geographically

I will add Tots R Us and M&M World (don't think I would have got away with missing those with the kids!)

17 days and counting woohoo

 

[Melbourne5]

Hi periwinkle

Don't underestimate central park. You know,we nearly did, as it was 'just a park ' wasn't it? It doesn't cost to talk a walk , people watch, read a book, play in the playgrounds. Some of best memories are still the hour or so our kids spent playing with kids from all walks of life in one of the playgrounds.

Happy countdown!

 

[periwinkle20]

3 days!

 

[periwinkle20]

We got home on Monday and I already want to go again! I miss being in the States and eating bagels for breakfast...

We were away for 23 days and time just flew. We had busy days every day from morning until 10-11pm each night. The girls travelled really well and got on great given that we were all together 24/7 for pretty much the whole holiday.

Flights

Our flights were booked by our travel agent with Delta SYD – LA – NYC – LA – SYD with codeshare with Virgin Australia. Our flight over was delayed by 3 and a half hours and as we were at the airport early that meant around 7 hours of waiting at the airport even before we got on our 14 hour flight. When we checked in I asked for seating allocation of 2 and 2 and was told that it wasn’t possible. We were allocated 3 seats on the side and my husband in the aisle across from us. When we got on the plane there were so many spare seats and single travellers had snapped up three seats each. We were served dinner and breakfast and overall flight was good. Didn’t really get any sleep on the way over and got to Anaheim around 3pm and checked in all very tired.

Our flights from LA to NYC were with Delta and they tried to charge us baggage of $25 per piece. I had already contacted our TA a few days before and he assured me he had spoken with Delta and as we had a ‘through ticket we would not have to pay. I had decided to leave two suitcases back at our hotel as we were returning there after our trip to New York. Fortunately we had a lovely lady check us in and she didn’t charge but commented that the TA’s get it wrong all the time on codeshare flights, we were the 5th of the morning. She put a note on our file for the return flight in case we were asked again (and we were!)

Flight was OK on Delta, no food just drinks and peanut, pretzels or cookies.
Our flight home we managed to get 2 & 2 in rows 51 and 52 in the middle (2nd last and last row). At first I thought it would be really noisy right near the toilets but it was fine and my hubby snapped up two extra seats on the window side – so we all managed to stretch out and get some sleep. Crew were great and meals lovely. Would definitely fly with V Australia again.

Anaheim – Candy Cane Inn

We stayed here on two occasions, first for 7 nights and then after New York for two nights. They had the most comfortable beds ever! Room was nice with 2 queen size beds, beds in first room felt better than second room for some reason. Complimentary breakfast and free shuttle bus to Disneyland which ran every half hour. The breakfast was juice, coffee, tea, yoghurt, fruit, cereal, bagels, donuts and muffins. Quite a lot of choice but got a little sick of the same stuff after a week. They had trays in your room so you could collect it and eat back at your room or sit by the pool. Gardens and pool area were lovely. We felt happy and comfortable here and would stay again.

Disneyland

We had a 14 day pass so we didn’t have to rush around which I’m so grateful for as we could go for a few hours a day and do other things as well to break it up a bit. After our long flight we all needed a little nap to keep going, I set the alarm for 2 hours and we woke at 5.30pm and went to Disneyland for the first time to watch the fireworks. As I was standing watching the fireworks and looking at my girls I got rather emotional, the fireworks over the castle were just magical and it was many months in planning and saving and we were finally there!

We all loved DL and California Adventure, even my DH which surprised me a little, although it is the happiest place on earth. My girls spent up big on the first few days and had to slow down as they would soon run out of their spending money. They got into pin trading and bought a starter lanyard with pins and off they went. Our favourite rides were Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. In California Adventure Park they were California Screamin, Soarin over California, Grizzly River Run and Toy Story Mania. The girls played on the sideshow games and both won big stuffed toys which were a challenge fitting in to the suitcases!

Aladdin was awesome, one of my highlights..Muppet Vision 3D was also great. We got Fast Passes for World of Color and lined up about an hour before and got a great spot in the middle of our section standing in front of a railing so nobody in front of us just a garden…that we later discovered had a fountain in there too

LA – Airport Marriott

We had an early flight to New York so decided to stay here overnight. Hotel was nice with Starbucks and free wifi in the lobby, we were also able to check in and print our boarding passes here. Girls enjoyed relaxing in the pool for the afternoon as it was quite warm. Our room faced the pool and was not that high up so we had quite a bit of noise from there until after midnight which was annoying as we had an early start.

New York – Hotel Beacon

We stayed for 4 nights in this beautiful hotel, location was perfect for us as I preferred to be away from the hustle and bustle of Times Square. We had a 1 bedroom suite which had 2 x QB in a separate room with TV and lounge, dining and kitchenette with full size fridge, oven, microwave, kettle! (I got to make tea ) and full crockery set and kitchen utensils. Hotel staff were really helpful and it was a 2 minute walk to subway and across the road there was a supermarket with a huge selection and pre-made hot meals and salads. One night we bought a cooked chicken for dinner for $4.79!
4 days was never going to be enough to cover New York. We had the New York Pass and bought a 7 day subway ticket for $29 for each of us. The nice guy at the subway station suggested we need not buy one for DD11 and that she just duck under the barriers…so that is what we did. Subways were a little daunting at first and there were a few crazy people along the way but we all got quite good at using the trains and DD13 was very good at working out which lines/trains we needed to be on. We also caught the subway to the baseball game in The Bronx so all in all it was great value. We managed to see most things on our list and the baseball game was so much fun, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see as much of Central Park as we had hoped as we had set aside our last day to do that and it rained. The only day it rained on our three weeks away! New York is definitely a place that will leave you wanting more. DD13 has already told me she is going back when she is older. I think apart from DL this was the most enjoyable part of our trip.

Carlsbad – West Inn and Suites

We picked up our car (a lovely black brand new Dodge Journey) on our last day in Anaheim and drove down to Carlsbad – about and hour and a half and good for me to get used to driving…7 lanes on my side was pretty daunting – thank god for the GPS. Another beautiful hotel with lots of complimentary inclusions. Our room was spacious and well-appointed and rates included hot buffet breakfast (probably the best all trip), milk and cookies each night, social pour (wine and snacks), complimentary water and shuttle to Legoland and anywhere within 5 miles of hotel. This saved us $12 day parking at Legoland. We had a 5 day pass to Legoland, it was a buy one day get 5 online special. We were only able to use it for 3 days as it is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We went to the water park and Sealife Aquarium with the pass also. The girls enjoyed it but it is aimed at younger kids and I guess after being at Disneyland it is hard not to compare. They loved one ride – Knights Tournament, no way I would go on that one but they wanted to keep going on at the scariest level.
We drove down to San Diego and visited Balboa Park and drove over the huge bridge to Coronado island which was lovely.

Las Vegas – Desert Inn and Suites

We drove across the desert from Carlsbad to Vegas with a stop at Barstow on the way. Took about 5 hours to get there. We stayed here for two nights and I booked the accommodation when the Black Friday sales were on so it cost us $60 a night including breakfast. It was located one block away from the strip which I preferred with the kids. The room was spacious and had a full kitchen, we had our own room and the girls shared a sofa bed. Was probably my least favourite place but still fine to stay in. Everyone enjoyed seeing Las Vegas but it is not somewhere I would go back to. The highlight of this part of our trip was the Cirque du Soleil show – just amazing. So worth going to see a show if you can.

Anaheim – Park Vue Inn

Drove back from Vegas to stay our last night in Anaheim before our 10pm flight home. Park Vue Inn was OK, right across from DL and included breakfast (make your own waffles yum) and supper. I preferred the Candy Cane but the Park Vue were nice enough to let us check out an hour later and store our bags until we were ready to get our transport to the airport. We filled our day in returning the hire car and shopping at The Block at Orange. We went there at the start of the trip and the girls still had their eye on a few things. We used the ART shuttle to get there which costs $4 for adults and $1 for kids for an all day pass.

Transfers

LAX to Anaheim we used Disneyland Express and had no problems at all. In New York we used Dial 7, got our bags and headed for the courtesy phones and the car was there within 5 minutes. The driver avoided all of the traffic and got us to the hotel in good time. Dial7 driver back to the airport was quite rude and prompted us to tip the hotel porter who had not done anything for us, we brought our own bags to the car and he put them in. The porter was quite shocked to receive a tip. When we arrived at JFK I paid him a tip of 15%, he spent most of the trip checking his mobile. He insisted I should tip 20% but it was my discretion, I said I was happy with 15%...he pushed more went to his car and pulled out a receipt book which had pre printed 20% tip on it but it was my discretion. All over $3 – I handed it over and must say he was the only rude person we came across, everyone else was lovely and really helpful. People stopped in the street and asked if they could offer directions as we obviously stood out as lost tourists!

Shopping

Well this deserves it’s own heading! We did a lot, visited Carlsbad Outlets, Las Vegas Outlets – both North and South, Outlets on way to Vegas at Barstow, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Century 21, Target, Ross’. The best bargains we had were on shoes, bought heaps of Converse and Vans. DD13 found really nice clothes in Forever 21 and DD10 liked Old Navy and Osh Kosh. They did very nicely in the clothes department. I bought Clinique from Macys, a Fossil wallet, watch, clothes and Converse. The shopping is really good, may even need another trip just for the shopping!

We are still adjusting to time back in Australia and struggling to get to 8pm each night, we have come home to much colder weather which is a bit of a shock to the system…wish we were still on holidays in the US. Will have to dream about our next adventure

Thank you all so much for all of your help and advice in planning our trip. It made everything run smoothly and all went to plan

 

[5ofus]

Welcome home!

A great summary, thanks for posting it.

How long did the drive to Vegas take? We will need to make it next year, with our boys who will be 2, 4 and 6 I drove it once - but that was in 2002 and it was the Thanksgiving long weekend so not a good indication.

Time to start thinking about your next trip...

 

[Andona]

Glad to hear you had such a great trip!

I'm particularly interested in your comments about the LA Airport Marriott - I have to book an overnighter at LAX and at the moment I'm tossing up between the Marriott and the Westin.

I thought the outlook from the Pool view rooms would be nice at the Marriott but you worry me a bit when you say they were noisy? Maybe if I requested a high floor?

Anyway, I'm sure you'll have fun looking back at your photos - and planning the next trip!

Andona

 

[periwinkle20]

Welcome home!

A great summary, thanks for posting it.

How long did the drive to Vegas take? We will need to make it next year, with our boys who will be 2, 4 and 6 I drove it once - but that was in 2002 and it was the Thanksgiving long weekend so not a good indication.

Time to start thinking about your next trip...

We drove from Carlsbad to Las Vegas and it took around 5 hours. The drive was quite easy once out of the main towns, although not much to look at other than desert! I still found it interesting as it is all new and nothing like our landscapes. We stopped at Barstow for a break, lunch and a bit of a shop.

 

[periwinkle20]

Glad to hear you had such a great trip!

I'm particularly interested in your comments about the LA Airport Marriott - I have to book an overnighter at LAX and at the moment I'm tossing up between the Marriott and the Westin.

I thought the outlook from the Pool view rooms would be nice at the Marriott but you worry me a bit when you say they were noisy? Maybe if I requested a high floor?

Anyway, I'm sure you'll have fun looking back at your photos - and planning the next trip!

Andona

Andona - I had requested a high floor as well for the noise factor but we were quite low maybe 3rd or 5th I can't exactly remember. There was a large group of people there for a conference and another group that looked like older school kids which is who was making the noise. Pool is supposed to close at 11pm but it went beyond that. Maybe we were just unlucky? but I am a terrible sleeper so take that into consideration lol

Happy with facilities in the hotel and they have free shuttle and easy walk to Denny's and other family restaurants.

 

[alicia1506]

welcome back - glad you had a really great trip. thanks for the summary

 

[BecBennett]

Any photos? Would love to see photos!

 

[Travel Mum]

Thanks so much for the trip report! Sounds like you had an awesome time and thanks for sharing with us - very helpful