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

[kel77]

Good to hear. We're going in August so I'll have to give them a call and see if they will be available then. Thanks for the tip

 

[aussiemum174]

I think it is cheaper to do Disney than some pacific islands. Flights to FIJI can get up to $900 which is what adult fares to the US are.

welcome Karen, sounds like you had a great trip. A couple of questions. Which room type and building did you have at HOJOs? I am still a bit wary of the noise issue, we have the new Kids Suites and apparently some are closer to the freeway and other closer to the elevator. Where did you stay in Vegas? We are driving to and from Vegas as well, so if you made any good stops on the way let us know.

We were in a premium disney room I think building 1, but the first room was closest to the freeway, I can remember my husband opening the emergency exit door next to our room and seeing 12 lanes of freeway, we were then moved to the opposite end of the building overlooking the hotel reception foyer, and it was much quieter. We stayed at the Desert Rose resort in LV,in a two bedroom self contained apartment, within walking distance to the strip, but no casino onsite, very nice, breakfast included - great for us all to have a little personal space.

 

[kylieh]

We stayed at the Desert Rose resort in LV,in a two bedroom self contained apartment, within walking distance to the strip, but no casino onsite, very nice, breakfast included - great for us all to have a little personal space.

Aussiemum - did the Desert Rose have a shopping service or a little shop at all? It's one of the places I'm thinking of for our next visit.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Great photo tips shuttergirl. Just one thing about photopass. Don't expect that the photos you get from them will always be good. We have bought the DVD of photos from our last two trips and will do so again this coming trip, however many of our photos are pretty ordinary. I think alot of the photo pass photographers may be people who take photos and not photographers. Quite a number of our photos from WDW were out of focus or had tops of characters cut off. However the majority were pretty good and some taken were fantastic. I try to get someone else besides the photopass person to take a group photo with my little camera so we have a back up. This being said I still love photo pass and since you can view your photos online you won't get any surprises when the DVD arrives. One other thing about photo pass remember you must download them into a photo pass account online within 30 days and then edit and purchase them within 30 days. You can view and purchase them while in the park, but then you can't edit them online. I like the edit option because I'm a scrapbooker and can add things like character signatures to the photos.
My plan of attack for photos is generally take the SLR and go around getting those planned photo shots. Things like close ups of flowers and other "disney details" DD is a budding photographer so she does alot of photos as well. We generally carry the big camera around for part of the day and then pop it in a locker. I also had a little 10x optical zoom on the last two trips and this was great for just about everything including shots together when we were on rides.

Thanks for the heads up on the Photopass thing. I figured the quality of the photos would be questionable but I just want to make sure I get into some of the images, . I will edit them to death once I get the disc anyway to make them as good as I can.

 

[lovintheland]

Hi everyone! lying in bed doing this while the kids sleep. Hubby & I couldn't sleep last night. Must be on our time still.

We arrived at LAX about 24 hours ago on the best fight I have ever taken. V Australia! can't recommend them enough for space, service with a smile (these people actually look like they love their jobs) food, entertainment etc etc. They leave Qantas way behind.

CHecked into the HoJo. Was a little disappointed at first as I had booked the room from the previous day so that we could check in and go straight to sleep for a few hours. I emailed them to let them know we wouldn't actually be checking in until the morning of the 15th but wanted the room for the 14th for that reason. They emailed back and said no problem it was noted in the computer, and also that I wanted a rollaway bed. They couldn't find our name in the computer or booking. Eventually they did and said "you were meant to be coming yesterday", I thought don't even tell me you don't have a room for us after all the organisation and the emails. Anyway they eventually sorted out and we are in a nice room with a Disney view on the 4th floor. I also had requested a room without view obstruction and we have a big pine right in front of us. p.s there was no rollway here either, so we had to wait for them to bring one so we could all jump into bed for 2 hrs.
Any hoo, not stressing everything else here seems great.

After a quick sleep catch up we were all starving and headed out to try the In & Out Burger place I'd heard so much about. Caught the bus to Orangethorpe and this was one yummy burger! then headed next door to the Disney Warehouse. Didn't really find anything here. A lot of things had 2008 on. There were some bargains but nothing that I was looking for. Then went to a shoe warehouse where they were plenty of bargains and Target across the road for food & water supplies for the room. Oh and some clothes & make up. Didn't get the phones yet, Hubby said Walmart actually has them cheaper so will have to look there. The food choices even in Target are amazing and so interesting to loo at.

Head dinner at Mimi's (love this place) could happily eat there every night, but I won't because I have a looooong must eat list for the great places here

That's all for now. About to head off for our first day to the "Happiest Place On Earth"

Have a great day

 

[lovintheland]

that was meant to be "had" dinner. Still sleep deprived

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Hi everyone! lying in bed doing this while the kids sleep. Hubby & I couldn't sleep last night. Must be on our time still.

We arrived at LAX about 24 hours ago on the best fight I have ever taken. V Australia! can't recommend them enough for space, service with a smile (these people actually look like they love their jobs) food, entertainment etc etc. They leave Qantas way behind.

CHecked into the HoJo. Was a little disappointed at first as I had booked the room from the previous day so that we could check in and go straight to sleep for a few hours. I emailed them to let them know we wouldn't actually be checking in until the morning of the 15th but wanted the room for the 14th for that reason. They emailed back and said no problem it was noted in the computer, and also that I wanted a rollaway bed. They couldn't find our name in the computer or booking. Eventually they did and said "you were meant to be coming yesterday", I thought don't even tell me you don't have a room for us after all the organisation and the emails. Anyway they eventually sorted out and we are in a nice room with a Disney view on the 4th floor. I also had requested a room without view obstruction and we have a big pine right in front of us. p.s there was no rollway here either, so we had to wait for them to bring one so we could all jump into bed for 2 hrs.
Any hoo, not stressing everything else here seems great.

After a quick sleep catch up we were all starving and headed out to try the In & Out Burger place I'd heard so much about. Caught the bus to Orangethorpe and this was one yummy burger! then headed next door to the Disney Warehouse. Didn't really find anything here. A lot of things had 2008 on. There were some bargains but nothing that I was looking for. Then went to a shoe warehouse where they were plenty of bargains and Target across the road for food & water supplies for the room. Oh and some clothes & make up. Didn't get the phones yet, Hubby said Walmart actually has them cheaper so will have to look there. The food choices even in Target are amazing and so interesting to loo at.

Head dinner at Mimi's (love this place) could happily eat there every night, but I won't because I have a looooong must eat list for the great places here

That's all for now. About to head off for our first day to the "Happiest Place On Earth"

Have a great day

WOOHOO lovintheland. Great to hear things are going well and that V Australia was better than you could've hoped. Did you just have economy tickets or premium economy?

So is Target and Walmart just a short taxi ride from the parks? Think I will definitely go to one of them to buy a mobile phone.

Have a wonderful day, keep us posted on your activities

 

[gogo65]

Hi everyone! lying in bed doing this while the kids sleep. Hubby & I couldn't sleep last night. Must be on our time still.

We arrived at LAX about 24 hours ago on the best fight I have ever taken. V Australia! can't recommend them enough for space, service with a smile (these people actually look like they love their jobs) food, entertainment etc etc. They leave Qantas way behind.

CHecked into the HoJo. Was a little disappointed at first as I had booked the room from the previous day so that we could check in and go straight to sleep for a few hours. I emailed them to let them know we wouldn't actually be checking in until the morning of the 15th but wanted the room for the 14th for that reason. They emailed back and said no problem it was noted in the computer, and also that I wanted a rollaway bed. They couldn't find our name in the computer or booking. Eventually they did and said "you were meant to be coming yesterday", I thought don't even tell me you don't have a room for us after all the organisation and the emails. Anyway they eventually sorted out and we are in a nice room with a Disney view on the 4th floor. I also had requested a room without view obstruction and we have a big pine right in front of us. p.s there was no rollway here either, so we had to wait for them to bring one so we could all jump into bed for 2 hrs.
Any hoo, not stressing everything else here seems great.

After a quick sleep catch up we were all starving and headed out to try the In & Out Burger place I'd heard so much about. Caught the bus to Orangethorpe and this was one yummy burger! then headed next door to the Disney Warehouse. Didn't really find anything here. A lot of things had 2008 on. There were some bargains but nothing that I was looking for. Then went to a shoe warehouse where they were plenty of bargains and Target across the road for food & water supplies for the room. Oh and some clothes & make up. Didn't get the phones yet, Hubby said Walmart actually has them cheaper so will have to look there. The food choices even in Target are amazing and so interesting to loo at.

Head dinner at Mimi's (love this place) could happily eat there every night, but I won't because I have a looooong must eat list for the great places here

That's all for now. About to head off for our first day to the "Happiest Place On Earth"

Have a great day

Wow Hope you have a fantastic time
So happy to hear about V Australia, can't wait to fly with them now.

Sorry to hear about your mix up on checkin, at least it is all sorted.

So I have noticed you have a new ticker already, now that is planning

Enjoy the rest of the trip

 

[gogo65]

Another quick question does any one know the name of the airport closest to Disneyland?
To lazy to do a search
Just need to book flights to San Francisco for our friends and thought it would be worth getting a quote from there rather than LAX

Any views on getting from Disney to Las Vegas. We are heading there after Disney and can't decide between flying, lux bus or hiring a car

 

[aussiegirls]

gogo65 you can add us to your little list. We are going to be at the HoJo on the 16th to the 25th of October

Lovintheland I am so glad to hear about your flights. We are going Virgin too and nobody knew anybody that had flown with them. So it is great to hear from someone that it was a good experience. I am looking forward to the flight now too. Was the food any good?

Enjoy your trip.


xxxx

 

[gogo65]

Aussie trip planners 2009-Updated 17/5


May

BecBennett - 18th-22nd - Parkvue Inn
Renderman7-
lovintheland-16/5-???
snow white09

June

July

August
Kel77 -17-21/8 - Hojo's
September

Marvel -19-27/9 – Hojo’s
Czardas -9/9-12/9 - Park Vue Inn
Butterflykisses- 21-28/9 - Hojo
rossip
keptwoman 28/9-3/10 Hojo

October

Platypus67 -14-18/10 -Hojo
aussiegirls -16-25/10 -Hojo
Ihaveamickeymousekid – 18-26/10 - Carousal Inn
Flea 18/10-1/11 Hojo’s
CinderALLIE - 22/10-2/11 at GCH

November

Aussiemickeys 15-17/11
Aussiedaisy & youngaussienurse - 17-24/11 - Hojo
*Nessa* - 28/11 Getting married on DCL

December

ColB
Gogo65 25-30/12 - Carousal Inn


Aussie trip planners 2009 WDW

Sharkmeister
Dollarmite
ColB 8/12



Aussie trip planners 2010
alyssacameronsdad - 3-6/1 - Hojo
KylieH Oct 2010
Becpee Oct 2010
Ms. Shuttergirl Dec 2010-DLH
Mareeld86

 

[marvel]

glad you are enjoying the trip lovintheland, wonderful to get news from someone actually there right now. Yes, we love target and walmart, I was amazed at the variety of everything especially the food. How is the noise at HOJOs?

gogo, we are driving to vegas both up and back, once from LA and then back to Anaheim, we have done the drive before in 2005 and found it pretty easy. With all the hassle of catching a flight i love to take the opportunity to drive and it is very handy to have a car in vegas, it gives you much more freedom and parking is free in vegas other than tips.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

My DH is refusing to wear a "bum bag" when we go on our trip, haha . He says it is so NOT cool. Doesn't he realise that even without the bum bag he is so NOT cool .

Anyway, I don't want to have to carry all of the money, etc. For those experienced travellers, how do you carry the important stuff, around the parks, and also when travelling to other places.

 

[marvel]

Whenever possible I leave the passports and other stuff in the hotel safe, I carry and smallish backpack where I am able to carry most everything. I have a small wallet as well as cash in my pockets. Luckily my camera fits in the bag or on my belt which you cannot notice under your shirt. sometimes it gets a bit heavy with the water bottles but usually my hands are free and the backpack you get used to. But it's not a big back back it is kind of a shoulder one, but still masculine !

I agree with hubby about the bum bag, uncool.

 

[Czardas]

Anyway, I don't want to have to carry all of the money, etc. For those experienced travellers, how do you carry the important stuff, around the parks, and also when travelling to other places.

Hubby & I use our trusty travelling backpacks. Not too large but big enough to pop our bottle of water, cameras and bits and pieces.

I never take a huge amount of cash into the parks but sufficient amount for the day, backed up with credit cards if I need more spending money.

Also thanks for the photographic tips, they will come in handy. When I finally get into a photo my husband always has me as a small spec in the distance, so I will print off your hints and stick them under his nose.

 

[kylieh]

My DH is refusing to wear a "bum bag" when we go on our trip, haha . He says it is so NOT cool. Doesn't he realise that even without the bum bag he is so NOT cool .

Anyway, I don't want to have to carry all of the money, etc. For those experienced travellers, how do you carry the important stuff, around the parks, and also when travelling to other places.

I had a pac-safe handbag. It's supposed to protect you against theft and stuff. It was a good size and I wore it a bit like a messenger bag - as per this unflattering photo coming off Splash Mountain (I'm also sans a lot of those kilos now ) One of the reasons to go back - to retake the photos, but that's another story!!!!

This is the bag...
http://www.gogogear.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=1513&bc=no

Normally in the day we had the passports lodged in the safety deposit. My handbag carried my point and shoot camera, DH's video camera, it's a smaller digital one, my purse, tissues, bandaids, sunscreen, mobile, and other stuff. Got quite a bit in.

Between destinations I used it to also carry our passports. Again, normally worn like the above so I could keep my hands free.

Ooh, and I little hint - if you purchase baseball caps with the velcro closure you can wrap them around the handbag (like in the above photo) for rides like Splash Mountain.

 

[gogo65]

I had a pac-safe handbag. It's supposed to protect you against theft and stuff. It was a good size and I wore it a bit like a messenger bag - as per this unflattering photo coming off Splash Mountain (I'm also sans a lot of those kilos now ) One of the reasons to go back - to retake the photos, but that's another story!!!!

This is the bag...
http://www.gogogear.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=1513&bc=no

Normally in the day we had the passports lodged in the safety deposit. My handbag carried my point and shoot camera, DH's video camera, it's a smaller digital one, my purse, tissues, bandaids, sunscreen, mobile, and other stuff. Got quite a bit in.

Between destinations I used it to also carry our passports. Again, normally worn like the above so I could keep my hands free.

Ooh, and I little hint - if you purchase baseball caps with the velcro closure you can wrap them around the handbag (like in the above photo) for rides like Splash Mountain.

We also have a bag very similar that I bought from kathmandu, worn messenger style, on days when it was a bit cooler hubby took a backpack for jackets etc, otherwise I carried the camera, money, sunscreen etc in the messenger bag.


Kylie I have also just lost a large amount of weight and can't wait to go back to get some decent photos.
When we were in WDW all our photos (except photopass) are without me, and the few with me in it I am busy hiding behind the hubby and kids, which is a major problem as they are all skinny minnies. I have since lost nearly 30kg and can't wait to go back. I am especially looking forward to skiing again. Oh and the shopping....... (much nicer shopping for size 12 instead of size 18)

 

[SnowWhite09]

But I'm excited about going to the US supermarket My American friend tells me it's like a themepark in itself.

I'm excited about Churro's.

And I'm excited about department stores - Macy's I'm excited about wal-mart and joannes and I'm especially excited about www.wildfiber.org which we are going to on our SantaMonica excursion

I am also super excited about going to US supermarkets - I thought I was the only one. I'm excited about Churros and US department stores as well!!

CAN'T WAIT!!

 

[keptwoman]

I'm still pondering what bag to take. I make most of my handbags so I think I'll make a messenger style bag. I'm pondering the extra pockets and stuff at the moment.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I had a pac-safe handbag. It's supposed to protect you against theft and stuff. It was a good size and I wore it a bit like a messenger bag - as per this unflattering photo coming off Splash Mountain (I'm also sans a lot of those kilos now ) One of the reasons to go back - to retake the photos, but that's another story!!!!

This is the bag...
http://www.gogogear.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=1513&bc=no

Normally in the day we had the passports lodged in the safety deposit. My handbag carried my point and shoot camera, DH's video camera, it's a smaller digital one, my purse, tissues, bandaids, sunscreen, mobile, and other stuff. Got quite a bit in.

Between destinations I used it to also carry our passports. Again, normally worn like the above so I could keep my hands free.

Ooh, and I little hint - if you purchase baseball caps with the velcro closure you can wrap them around the handbag (like in the above photo) for rides like Splash Mountain.

That bag looks great Kylie. Good on you about the weight loss. I am hoping to lose some (well alot) before we go too. Thanks for the bag info.