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

[keptwoman]

And after all you guys mentioning going to a baseball game I thought I'd check. There are games every night we are in NY and the prices are actually affordable. Unlike the football!!

 

[aussiegirls]

Speaking of going other places, I don't know if I should admit this but I really want to go and see Dr. Phil I love him I might try and get tickets but they are apparently not easy to get - but they are free.

Yes, I know you are all laughing at me now

xxx

 

[Tina]

This may already be covered in this thread, but there are just too many pages to go through....

I'm helping an Aussie friend plan a 5 week trip to the US. What should she do about a cell phone? The international charges are too high on her aussie phone and she'll be traveling alone most of the time. She'll need a phone. Can anyone recommend a temporary phone?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

And after all you guys mentioning going to a baseball game I thought I'd check. There are games every night we are in NY and the prices are actually affordable. Unlike the football!!

Keptwoman, what baseball games are on in NYC? We are there from 7-12 Oct and there didn't apppear to be anything on. Are you able to share a link to what games are on, we would love to see something while we are there.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Oh what a shame you couldn't see O, I am an Cirque fanatic and I chose O when we went to Vegas as I knew it was a show that would never tour to Australia due to the water aspect.

Really no matter what show you see of Cique it will always be sensational.

I remember looking at tickets months before we left and was shocked at the prices, then I found a site that had great prices, I will try and see if I can find the details for everyone. We had great seats also.

Oh Czardas, you have no idea how disappointed I wanted to be about this. But then I reminded myself that we are going to Vegas and who can really complain about that .

You are so right, my thinking was exactly the same that O will never be a travelling show, however Mystere will be but the show just simply isn't on when we are there so that is that.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Speaking of going other places, I don't know if I should admit this but I really want to go and see Dr. Phil I love him I might try and get tickets but they are apparently not easy to get - but they are free.

Yes, I know you are all laughing at me now

xxx

I would so love to see Dr Phil. I hope you get the chance to go.

 

[keptwoman]

Keptwoman, what baseball games are on in NYC? We are there from 7-12 Oct and there didn't apppear to be anything on. Are you able to share a link to what games are on, we would love to see something while we are there.

We are there almost a month earlier than you. Looks like they are all over a few days before you arrive.
http://www.gotickets.com/sports/mlb/al/new_york_yankees_tickets.php
http://www.gotickets.com/sports/mlb/nl/new_york_mets_tickets.php

 

[princessmiki]

omg, we are soooo excited, we have got our tickets for the tot party for the 2nd october, cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have others been before?, its our first time.

 

[meandmygirl]

Hi all

This is my first post. It has taken me nearly 2 weeks to get through this entire thread. It is full of so much useful information.

I am planning on taking DD to Disneyland in the near future.

I am after a rough estimate on what it would cost us (me and her) for 2 weeks doing Disneyland, Seaworld, Zoo, Hollywood. I know there are many variables but could I do it for $10,000 or below?

 

[kylieh]

Hi all

This is my first post. It has taken me nearly 2 weeks to get through this entire thread. It is full of so much useful information.

I am planning on taking DD to Disneyland in the near future.

I am after a rough estimate on what it would cost us (me and her) for 2 weeks doing Disneyland, Seaworld, Zoo, Hollywood. I know there are many variables but could I do it for $10,000 or below?

With the Aussie $ at 80c I think it may be possible, but tight.

Airfares, I'm guessing you could be lucky and get them for $1000 each, $2000+
Accom, 12 nights inc tax at a budget/medium $100 night, so $1200+
Transfers to and from Airport $60

So taking those out, it would say $3300, miscellaneous costs etc for trip insurance, passports, etc lets say $4000. Leaving $6000 for entries and stuff. That equates to US$4800.

With our trip last year after airfares and accom we spent around AU$10,000 for the three of us, but we went a little, well a lot crazy with some stuff.

 

[melbarkwith]

Hi all

This is my first post. It has taken me nearly 2 weeks to get through this entire thread. It is full of so much useful information.

I am planning on taking DD to Disneyland in the near future.

I am after a rough estimate on what it would cost us (me and her) for 2 weeks doing Disneyland, Seaworld, Zoo, Hollywood. I know there are many variables but could I do it for $10,000 or below?

I think you could do it for under $10000 fairly easily. How old is your DD? Depending on her age, you would only pay child prices for airfare and accommodation.

To give you an idea, here are rough estimates of our expenses for 2 adults and 3 children:

Airfares - $4000
Accommodation - $1300 (9 nights in a Kid's Suite at Howard Johnson's - 2BR 2Bath)
Disney Passes - $1200 (1 Deluxe Annual Pass and 4 x 14 day park hoppers)
Food - $2000 (including character meals)
Groceries - $250 (we are getting basics like bottled water, soft drink, fruit, snacks etc delivered to our room when we arrive)
Transfers - $200 (I think, haven't organised this yet)
Spending - Whatever I end up with....

I still need to organise our Knott's and Legoland tickets, but I'll be doing that directly through the Grayline Anaheim website. I did it this way last time and had no problems.

I hope that helps you out a little,
Mel

 

[melbarkwith]

omg, we are soooo excited, we have got our tickets for the tot party for the 2nd october, cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have others been before?, its our first time.

How exciting!
It's our first time visiting DL at Halloween and I'm really looking forward to the TOT party.

 

[Flea]

ROFL!! A friend was just saying to me that I'm going to be the best Mum ever for a solid 6 weeks after the trip. Then it will wear off and I'll be back to boring old Mum who makes you do maths.

Oh and we are booked for 2 October. So we Aussies run the gamut of dates.... 2/15/21/29

We have our tickets too for Thursday 22nd

 

[keptwoman]

omg, we are soooo excited, we have got our tickets for the tot party for the 2nd october, cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have others been before?, its our first time.

We haven't been before. DH and J aren't going, so it's me and the two littlies. We are going the same day as you! Which hotel are you staying at?

Hi all

This is my first post. It has taken me nearly 2 weeks to get through this entire thread. It is full of so much useful information.

I am planning on taking DD to Disneyland in the near future.

I am after a rough estimate on what it would cost us (me and her) for 2 weeks doing Disneyland, Seaworld, Zoo, Hollywood. I know there are many variables but could I do it for $10,000 or below?

Yes I think you could do it for that. We are doing 3 weeks east and west coast for $14000 and there are 5 of us.
I think the main thing would be getting really good airfares, from there you should be OK as long as you are careful with your costs.

 

[kel77]

We are less than 2 weeks away from leaving Aus!!!!

We have our spending money in the bank at the moment and are trying to figure out what to do with it

We have $8000 for the USA and $1000 for Fiji.

We are not leaving the hotel in Fiji and breakfast is included. The exchange rate is great so we are just putting meals etc...on the credit card and I'll transfer from the bank to the card as I use it.

The USA is a different matter. We were looking at Travelex cash passport from the travel agent (that's how we booked as we won the trip) and now I have read here that it may be better to go to a bank. I think I may go to all the banks in my area and see who can give the better deal and then go back to the agent and see what they can do.


Oh and thanks for the Fireworks seat advantage tip I'll be keeping that in mind

 

[Andona]

Can we talk about tipping just one more time

For those who have travelled to the US previously, what do you usually tip when in restaurants, taxis, porters, housekeeping, etc????

And how many US $1 notes are you going to take away with you, hehe?

This will be our third trip. We've never taken more than $50 in $1 bills and it's been plenty. You start getting $1's in your change as soon as you start using cash.

We always leave about $2 on the pillow each morning for housekeeping and tip 15% in restaurants ( No need to tip in fast food joints) and around 10 to 15% for taxis. If you use valet parking anywhere you need to tip the valet guy a $1 when you collect your car. If there is a porter helping with your luggage then tip a $1 per bag. If we go on an organised tour with a tour guide we'll usually tip them about $5 or $10 at the end of the tour.

Hope that's helpful

Andona

 

[aussiegirls]

I was just thinking today, are you supposed to tip a bus driver? I don't mean on a tour or anything but just an ordinary bus that you might get on to go to the shops.

xxx

 

[marvel]

hi everyone, boy lots of info.

Tips, you don't tip a regular bus driver. We tip 15% on meals, $1 or $2 to get the car from the valet. Aussies have a real bad rep for tipping, so I really hope all the people on here start building up our rep. Apparently we are pretty tight compared to other nations.

For 5 weeks, we bought two cell phones from target for $30 each and that included $10 in calls, we used for emergencies and worked well and very cheap. For calling back to Oz, get a cheap calling card from a newsagent or petrol station.

Hey butterfly, which seats did you get for the angels game?? Still working out where to sit. I think we are going on a Tuesday night. We are going to see Mystere in vegas, but haven't bought tickets yet.

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

hi everyone, boy lots of info.

Hey butterfly, which seats did you get for the angels game?? Still working out where to sit. I think we are going on a Tuesday night. We are going to see Mystere in vegas, but haven't bought tickets yet.

We're going to the game on the 21st September. We have seats in section V422 row B. The closer seats they had were too far either right or left field so we thought we'd get a better view sitting up a bit higher as we'll be close to home plate.

 

[princessmiki]

We haven't been before. DH and J aren't going, so it's me and the two littlies. We are going the same day as you! Which hotel are you staying at?


hey keptwoman, we staying at hojo from 15th sept til 3rd oct.....we still jumping around the house with excitement from getting tot tickets...lol...we true disney fans!