Aussie Disneyland Planners come on in and lets plan together :)

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We also used a limo (Tony the Limo King) for our 2007 trip. It worked out the same price as the bus tours for the 6 of us to do the LA,Rodeo Drive, Hollywood, Stars Homes etc etc. Basically we had 6 hrs and we just told the driver what we wanted to see and he took us there. It was fantastic and soooo exciting for the kids. we also used him to take us to Universal Studios the next day, again which was cheaper than the bus tours. I just bought our Universal tickets online at home. It was a much comfier way to travel too. I have photo's of my three exhausted kids lying down asleep on the way home. Hubby also enjoyed the complimentary cold beers as well.

Thanks for sharing this info. When we go we'd be only 4 people but I'd prefer something like this than a bus tour. Are you able to share rough costs?

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

A question for those that have been to Disneyland before;

Do you take a backpack or bag with you into the parks to carry things like water bottles, snacks, camera, wallet etc? What kind of bag do you use? I'm thinking of getting an insulated backpack of some sort so I can take snacks and drinks and be able to keep them cold.

Also do you wear a lanyard to keep your tickets/fast passes in or do you just carry them in a purse/wallet?

 

[platypus67]

If my husband travels with us he will carry a small backpack, for things like extra jumpers, water and fruit. Last trip it was just dd and myself so we didn't bother. I just carried a tiny little backpack, the same one I use for my handbag. Just enough room for wallets, small bottle of water and my small digital camera. We got a locker and put the extra stuff in there. This worked well for us as we don't mind walking, so the trip back to the locker if we wanted something didn't worry us. We also had a camera bag that my dd carried for part of the day, but we ended up putting this in the locker as well. I think the lockers are around $7.00 for the day and you can access them whenever you want. They are pretty handy, located on Main Street.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

A question for those that have been to Disneyland before;

Do you take a backpack or bag with you into the parks to carry things like water bottles, snacks, camera, wallet etc? What kind of bag do you use? I'm thinking of getting an insulated backpack of some sort so I can take snacks and drinks and be able to keep them cold.

Also do you wear a lanyard to keep your tickets/fast passes in or do you just carry them in a purse/wallet?

Great question, I've been wondering the same thing. I am the queen of overpacking and wanting to have everything with me but I see this as being a real weight around my families neck if I try to take too much stuff into the park. I'm a photographer so will need my big heavy camera bag but I know that will be worth the struggle because there is so much visual stuff to be captured at DL, I will be completely obsessed with capturing some of the magic. DH will have the backpack with essentials so I need to keep things to a minimum. Can't wait to hear more responses on this.

 

[kylieh]

A question for those that have been to Disneyland before;

Do you take a backpack or bag with you into the parks to carry things like water bottles, snacks, camera, wallet etc? What kind of bag do you use? I'm thinking of getting an insulated backpack of some sort so I can take snacks and drinks and be able to keep them cold.

Also do you wear a lanyard to keep your tickets/fast passes in or do you just carry them in a purse/wallet?

We did a combination depending on our plans.

DH carried a backpack from Carribee. It was a basic model in black. I also used it as my bigger carryon on the plane. We carried a change of clothes, jumper for DD, thongs (just in case she got a blister,) sunscreen, and bits and pieces. Some days we didn't take it at all depending on the weather, what our plans were, etc. I think we got it from either oo.com.au or dealsdirect.com.au - I can't remember which - around $25. As DH gets motion sickness he couldn't go on a lot of rides so it wasn't really an issue. On ones that he went on there was normally room for it, and on a lot of rides they have a net either in front or under the seat for your bag.

I carried, and I recommend, it's size is deceiving a Pac-Safe handbag. I carried it over my body like a messenger bag. It's slash proof, tamper proof, and has other features similar. In that I carried my purse, DH's phone, camera, video camera (it's one of the newer smaller types,) tissues, hairbrush, pen, and the list goes on. I also put some muselli bars in there for quick snacks. http://www.gogogear.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=1513 When we had to carry passports, ie, between destinations, I used this. OK - it's not over-stylish!!!!

Funny enough, when we went to the Easter Show a couple of weeks ago I picked up this combo without even thinking about it!

We did have lanyards and I put our fastpasses in them, a little cash for quick access. In DD's I put a pack of pocket tissues. DH carried the tickets in his wallet.

 

[lovintheland]

Ms. Shutter girl it was roughtly $500 including a 20% tip. May be different now. Jump on their website and check them out. www.TonyTheLimoKing.com.

I'm so excited 19 days to go woo hoo!!!!!

 

[kylieh]

I'm a photographer so will need my big heavy camera bag but I know that will be worth the struggle because there is so much visual stuff to be captured at DL.

Ms Shuttergirl - I've been thinking about your photography - there was a thread a while back on taking photography gear into DL, and that included not allowing any "professional gear." I think that was defined as lenses over a certain length or it was removable lenses. I'll search and see what I can find. I didn't pay that much attention to it as DH had already decided not to take his kit with him.

ETA... Found them, looks like they have eased up on it since we were there in October.

A post today... http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2159068&highlight=camera+lens

And a bit older http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2034514&highlight=camera+lens

 

[lovintheland]

Butterfly Kisses or anyone else who can help me. I have 19 days to go and want to create a countdown ticker. I have worked out how to create it and I have cut it but don't know where to paste it. Can anyone advise me?

 

[gogo65]

A question for those that have been to Disneyland before;

Do you take a backpack or bag with you into the parks to carry things like water bottles, snacks, camera, wallet etc? What kind of bag do you use? I'm thinking of getting an insulated backpack of some sort so I can take snacks and drinks and be able to keep them cold.

Also do you wear a lanyard to keep your tickets/fast passes in or do you just carry them in a purse/wallet?

Butterfly kisses,
I bought a great little sling/messenger bag from Kathmandu.(the shop)
It had 1 compartment where I stored a few snacks and 2 bottles of water, a smaller compartment for a small wallet,phone and camera, and the at the front a small compartment that was easily accessed for tickets and fastpasses. My DH or DS carried a backpack with jumpers and jackets some days. They had different sizes and it only cost about $25. It was fantastic.

A lot of Disers talk about a bagalini. The one from Kathmandu was similar.

I have since taken the bag on a trip to Thailand, I used this bag the whole time in Thailand, my handbag stayed at home (well not really-but it didn't come out of my suitcase)

 

[gogo65]

Butterfly Kisses or anyone else who can help me. I have 19 days to go and want to create a countdown ticker. I have worked out how to create it and I have cut it but don't know where to paste it. Can anyone advise me?

Go into your control panel (top right hand corner)
Once in control panel click on edit signature (left hand side)
Then you can just paste it there.

 

[Flea]

yay I'm all caught up

I'm going to the bank tomorrow/tuesday to pay for our accommodation (well get a travel card for the accommodation amount) All these little things are exciting and make the trip more real
I'm finding it easier now to save that we have confirmations etc.

Bags- We have a pocket backpack from kathmandu that we will take (we have 2 the other can sit inside just incase we need 2) DH will be on bag duty. I'll probably carry my camera mostly around my neck. I'll sew up some sort of lightweight cover for it. I haven't decided what lens/lenses to take - I don't want to be hauling around my lens stash as I can see that would be quite cumbersome. We will be taking advantage of Photopass wherever possible so that I can be in some pics too. I also have a kathmandu shoulder bag that I picked up on clearance for $10 or $15 (we have an outlet store not far from us).


Kids stuff: I was annoyed to find AirNZ changed their rules about kids gear (carseats, strollers etc) so now they must be included in their 2 bag allowance. We were hoping to take their carseats and a stroller which last year was in addition to the 2 pieces of baggage. We have decided to hire 2 carseats when we have our rental car at a cost of $52+tax USD for 2 days
We can include our umbrella stroller in with our cabin baggage if we lose one of our own cabin bags from the allowance.
SO..My question is..... What do you pack for the flights for kids and yourself? I'm trying to figure out if losing one cabin baggage is better/worse than losing one checked bag in our allowance?

 

[keptwoman]

I don't know how old your kids are Flea but I find mine are fairly well entertained with the small screen system in the backs of the seats.
In addition to that I would take a notebook and some pencils and colouring pens and some small toys. Some people go to the $2 shop and buy lots of little things and wrap them to give to their children on the plane when they start to get scratchy.

Unbelievably United doesn't have them so we have to endure the flight without them. We will have my iPhone with games on it and my sons Nintendo DS. Also we all have MP3 players (incl the 5yr old) I'm going to take some Colour Wonder for DD and some travel diaries and lots of paper to draw on. Also a few snacks for the flight from LAX to NYC because you have to buy food on it. DD will probably take a few of her Littlest Pet Shop toys as well. I won't do the $2 shop thing because I refuse to spend hard earnt money on crap.

 

[Flea]

I don't know how old your kids are Flea but I find mine are fairly well entertained with the small screen system in the backs of the seats.
In addition to that I would take a notebook and some pencils and colouring pens and some small toys. Some people go to the $2 shop and buy lots of little things and wrap them to give to their children on the plane when they start to get scratchy.

Unbelievably United doesn't have them so we have to endure the flight without them. We will have my iPhone with games on it and my sons Nintendo DS. Also we all have MP3 players (incl the 5yr old) I'm going to take some Colour Wonder for DD and some travel diaries and lots of paper to draw on. Also a few snacks for the flight from LAX to NYC because you have to buy food on it. DD will probably take a few of her Littlest Pet Shop toys as well. I won't do the $2 shop thing because I refuse to spend hard earnt money on crap.

My girls will be almost 3 and almost 5 - this is their first longhaul plane trip. We have the flights for their bedtime so I'm hoping they will sleep. I don't sleep on planes- never have. They could possibly be entertained with the tv but they still have quite short attention spans.

I was thinking things like colouring in stuff as this is what they do alot of at home.

 

[BecBennett]

Personally I'd prefer to have the extra checked baggage. I don't travel with kids, but really how much do you need to take on board? I'm going to be taking my lap top and my handbag on board with me - it's a big handbag, so in those two cases I can fit my book, my ipod & headphones, my laptop -of course-, my wallet and DF's wallet, 2 toothbrushes, spare underwear (incase our checked luggage goes missing.) Some required medication, glasses & case, brush, neck pillow thingy, my camera, our passports, all our tickets for everything, sunnies, lip gloss and lollies... and I think there's more stuff, but I can't quite think of it right now.

That's all DF and I need as carry on, and the lap top is considered as a personal item, so it isn't considered as 2 items of carryon if that makes sense. DF would then be able to have his own carryon bag if needed.



Now for my question - Does anyone know whether Delta considers us to be travelling internationally? As in - we're flying from Sydney to LAX with Virgin, so we're each allowed 2 pieces of checked luggage at a total of 32kg. Then we're flying from LAX to JFK with Delta, Delta's website reads "Currently when traveling to or from cities outside the United States you can check two bags, per passenger at no extra charge." and also reads "When traveling within the United States, customers will be charged $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second checked bag"

So should I take that as I'm going to be charged for checked baggage for my domestic part of our flight??

 

[keptwoman]

Flea. The screens have lots of kids shows and also kids movies and you can choose the ones your kids like. They won't fill in all the time but enough between meals and stuff. I think the thing is lots of bits and pieces so you can pull out something different. DD is looking forward to the Colour Wonder as I won't usually buy it.

Last time to the US ours were 6 and 2 with no little screens and it went OK. The meals take time. Oh and perhaps you might want to think about eye masks to block the light so they can sleep (make your own with nice soft fabric) and some soothing music on an MP3 player... something like Music for Dreaming.

We got DD a Sansa Shake from Dick Smiths for about $20 and she can shake it to change the song.. it's super handy.

BecBennet. Yes those will be considered internal flights. We are in the same boat. Ours are $15 per piece for 3 flights! That would be USD225 if we just took one bag each. That was the impetus for us to go Carry-On only which will be an interesting experience in good packing.

 

[lovintheland]

GoGo65 thanks for your help! Checking if it worked.

 

[keptwoman]

You need to add IMG code to either end of it so

But take out the spaces between the code and URL.

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

We are also looking at doing some day trips this time as Aussie Dad (the newbie Disney traveller) would like to see a bit of California. Thinking of doing one of the Grayline beach tours and also the Universal delux combo tour....would be interested if anyone has done these and if they are worth doing??

We are thinking of doing the Universal deluxe combo also. Sounds great! I emailed reservations at grayline tours and they said I can book the Front of line tour and add the LA night city tour for only an extra $10 per person. So I think that's what we'll do.

We were originally going to do just the universal day tour and then another day tour of LA/Hollywood but I think the LA tour would be too long and have things that didn't interest me a whole lot.

I really just want to see the walk of fame and chinese theatre. Anything else in LA would be a bonus.

 

[gogo65]

GoGo65 thanks for your help! Checking if it worked.

It worked

 

[platypus67]

Flea - When my dd was small, I always put together a little pack of new items she had never seen before. Colouring books, kids puzzle books little travel games etc. and would bring them out once the plane was in the air. I found this always worked well. When she was the age of your children, she generally slept really well on the flights. So well that she was well rested and ready to go when we landed and we only wanted our beds. As she got a little older I started making up crosswords and word searches (Disney themed of course) and added these to the little stash of things. Small snacks are always good to take. In the years we ordered the special kids meals, I don't think she ever managed to stay awake for the dinner service. Enjoy your trip