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

[aussiegirls]

When I first called V Australia (a couple of months ago) to get seats assigned a lovely lady told me that she would give me the extra roomy bassinet row (even though I don't have a small baby) because it just gives the kids a little extra wriggle room.

Well, I called back a few weeks ago about something else and whilst on the phone confirmed seat assignment. I was told I was in some random row in the middle of the plane. When I told them about the previous seat assignment I was advised that they are not allowed to allocate the bassinet row unless you need a bassinet, and if they are not all taken then they assign them on the day of the flight, not before at all. So they gave me a choice of new seat assignments and I got row 23 one way and 22 the other. They are great rows because they are up the front in a little section with only about 5 or 6 rows, and not far from the toilets for the kids.

So reading your guys posts got me worried so I got on the phone again tonight to re-check assignment. We still have the rows I want and the girls on the phone said it is unlikely we will be booted from there and confirmed that it is a great little section because "I deserve rock star treatment"

Hey question for anyone that has flown V Australia, how does the bar work? Does it have all sorts of food there that you can just walk up and get at anytime? And just to confirm, you don't have to pay any extra for it do you?

Thanks so much guys. I am getting so excited reading about all of your planning. I am also half planning in my head our next DL trip (even though we haven't gone on this one yet ) I want to be there at Christmas

xxx

 

[Andona]

Since we are on the subject of luggage. Ages ago I said we were going carry-on only. Well we've changed our minds. I've rung United a couple of times and because our domestic tickets are in conjunction with our international ones we definitely will not get charged for check in. So we will check in. Much easier! We are still sticking with the smaller check-in size suitcases (which are not really very small at all!!!) as we have 5 people and luggage to fit in a rental car so we will have to pack smart but it makes it a little easier.

I'd love to go carry-on only but we just never seem to manage it. The problem is we need to allow for freezing weather/snow as well as possibly really hot weather in Anaheim. Those parkas take up a lot of space ( even squashed into space bags)

DH's carryon is full of laptop and photography gear (this trip he insists he needs a tripod and a monopod!) and DS's is full of books, PSP, games etc.

I'm really interested to hear how other people pack?? For the last few trips I've used several Eagle Creek packing folders and packing "cubes" etc. These make everything very organised and easy to find but I do think they contribute a lot of weight.

Andona

 

[marvel]

boy, I step away from the pc for a while and really missed a lot of action.
Sorry to hear about all the flight problems, but you can definetly change your seat allocation at check in, no matter what seats you have unless you are really late at checking in.

We did ours on-line with AirNZ and they confirm your seat, however if we get there early, as we usually do, they always check to see what is available that may be better. Alot of the blocked seats are reserved for the dearer airfares that eventually don't get filled, unless the plane is packed.

I gotta say I am suprised at how many people still travel with Qantas. Other than their frequent flyers, which isn't really that good anyway, I rarely hear about good service or experiences with their flight crew. And I worked at the airport for 10 years.

Oh, and I agree with Sydney airport, one of the worst. Can take over 1hr to get from the domestic terminal to the international.

Oh, make sure you work out how big your rental car is in terms of luggage it will fit. On our trip a few years ago, we just barely fit in a 4wd once all the luggage started adding up. The smaller 4wd only hold 2 or 3 big cases max even though they look big.

Who have you guys used for booking hire cars? I am going to use yescarhire.

Just checked our hotel prices just to compare with what we booked, and our vegas hotel is now $400US - $600US per night!! lucky we booked this one early.

 

[keptwoman]

All our rental cars are booked through National.
My plan this week is to sort out luggage: who is taking what and also what we need to take for eating and picnics. Then I need to decide whether suitcase #5 will be the large or small variety.

 

[Czardas]

I gotta say I am suprised at how many people still travel with Qantas. Other than their frequent flyers, which isn't really that good anyway, I rarely hear about good service or experiences with their flight crew. And I worked at the airport for 10 years.

I'm a frequent flyer and I'm not sure why you are saying it isn't very good.
I can't complain about Qantas on international flights, as we have always had exceptional service but we aren't sitting down the back either, so that might have something to do with it.

 

[gogo65]

I'd love to go carry-on only but we just never seem to manage it. The problem is we need to allow for freezing weather/snow as well as possibly really hot weather in Anaheim. Those parkas take up a lot of space ( even squashed into space bags)

DH's carryon is full of laptop and photography gear (this trip he insists he needs a tripod and a monopod!) and DS's is full of books, PSP, games etc.

I'm really interested to hear how other people pack?? For the last few trips I've used several Eagle Creek packing folders and packing "cubes" etc. These make everything very organised and easy to find but I do think they contribute a lot of weight.

Andona

Last time we went to WDW and then skied in Canada, we had a range of clothes for every season. 2 suitcases with all our ski gear and 2 suitcase with everything else.
This year we will have 10 days in disney/vegas, 2 weeks skiing in canada then 9 nights in Hawaii/Fiji. So summer winter and everything in between again, as well as 1 snowboard/3 pairs of skis and 4 pairs of boots. Every airline we are using allows 2 bags except Pacific blue from Fiji, Oh well I think I may have a little extra luggage allowance

 

[Jade+3]

We are using National for all our car hire.

I am going to try and take 3 suitcases. Not sure how we will go there, but I do plan on buying another there for the shopping. We will also be taking 3 car seats and a pram. I am trying to keep the luggage down as we will have to take it on the cruise.

 

[gogo65]

Hey I just noticed that Marvel, kept woman and Czardas all leave within a day of each other

 

[Jade+3]

gogo65 we did the California, Canada, Hawaii trip a few years ago. Thank goodness that was before the kids as we had 4 cases for the 2 of us.

 

[keptwoman]

I much prefer Qantas to Air NZ. I'd much much rather be flying them than United. No idea how they compare to V Australia but on the whole I think they are pretty good.

Hey I just noticed that Marvel, kept woman and Czardas all leave within a day of each other

Oh we do leave close together don't we! My ticker is a day out I think; we leave on the 12th of September. First stop New York

We are using National for all our car hire.

I am going to try and take 3 suitcases. Not sure how we will go there, but I do plan on buying another there for the shopping. We will also be taking 3 car seats and a pram. I am trying to keep the luggage down as we will have to take it on the cruise.

LOL Oh SOOOO BTDT. It's worth lugging around a decent pram I think. I'm so looking forward to going this time with every person responsible for their own luggage we will each have one suitcase and one carry on bag. Then I'll have one other small carry on with a change of undies and shirts in case of airplane or spillage disaster That will slip over the handle of one of the suitcases. We will have a proper camera bag but that will fit in one of the other carry ons for flights Admittedly I'm planning to buy a folding booster for DD which we will have to carry for all but the first flights. But still it's nothing like we have had before.

 

[princessmiki]

Hey I just noticed that Marvel, kept woman and Czardas all leave within a day of each other

and we leave from christchurch nz on the 11th sept!!!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Hi everyone, I had to stay away from the thread when you were all talking about things going wrong with your flights I don't even want to contemplate that something could change or go wrong

35 sleeps for us now, so excited

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Since many of us are about to head off, just wondering what medicine/first aid things you will be packing to take?

I am a complete over thinker/planner so I am giving this stuff far too much thought

I'm planning on taking nurofen tablets, children's nurofen, bandaids, moleskin (for feet), quickeze, Immodium, anti bac stuff.

That's all I can think of for now.

Would love to hear any further suggestions.

 

[dave73]

V Australia seating allocation and change of flight - very impressed!

We are flying out to LAX on 25th October. We fly Melb to Syd then direct to LAX. I rang them yesterday to organise seating allocation, I did this and was allocated 2 seats in the middle row in the front section of economy, so far so good and an easy process.

While on the phone I am advised there is a change to our flight schedule. leaving 20 mins later from Syd which is no problem, but on the return flight I am advised instead of flying out at 11.50PM or there abouts it's now leaving at 8.10pm.

We had planned booked in an extra night at the hotel (Fairfield Inn) so we could check out late afternoon so we didn't have to leave our room at 2pm and just hang around. We thought we had pretty much a whole day for our last day to do what we please, which was now cut short. Now we will have to leave 3 or 4 hours earlier than planned to LAX so we can get the flight.

So we rang V Australia to ask if we could get a flight the next day out of LAX, explaining the change in schedule has meant we needed to reorganise accom and so forth. Normally it's $200 pp to change a flight so we asked if they can do anything for us. Well they came back and changed the flight to the next day, same time which is fine since we already booked the extra night. And now we get an extra day at DL!.

The best thing is that they didn't charge the $200 pp, waiving this fee, saving us $400.

So I can certainly say so far V Australia has been more than accommodating to us and we were more than impressed in their efforts to assist us and waive this fee.

I am unsure with seat allocation if it's going to remain, but we plan to get to the airport before check in opens so we can ensure decent seats.

 

[keptwoman]

Yeah Ms. Shuttergirl, it seems the flight issues are catching, I'd stay away too :rofl:

I'm not planning to take much at all in the way of medical stuff because things are really cheap over there. I'm planning to take nurofen, bandaids, compeed (for blisters), rescue remedy and rescue remedy sleep and that's about it. I might also take a little bottle of anti-bac for the airport, although it's not something I ordinarily use much.

On the other hand while I'm over there I'm stocking up on their elastic bandages because they are THE BEST!! I'm also buying heaps of Noxema face wash and I'll probably completely restock my makeup case. And of course duty free perfume

We are going to picnic quite a lot and also make simple meals in our hotel room from time to time so I'm taking a Coles cooler bag and cutting board, sharp knife, plates and cups, thermos and a few other bits and pieces too.

Actually the worst list for us is the electronic gadgets and charger list, oh my word we have a bit to take!!
Camera/tripod/lens and charger
Point and shoot camera and charger
Video camera and charger
2 iPhones and chargers
Nintendo DS and charger
iPod and charger
MP3 player (and, you guessed it, charger)
And of course laptop, and charger
We are also taking an Australian power board wired up to a US plug, this will work fine for the chargers because they will run on either voltage. That way we don't have to get twenty bazillion adapters for all the chargers.

 

[Flea]

YAY I've finally caught up - it's taken me a week to get to this last page .

Wow lots of people in the final countdown now. We have 55 day 5 hours according to my countdown on my computer hehe.

 

[keptwoman]

Oops double post

 

[Flea]

Yeah Ms. Shuttergirl, it seems the flight issues are catching, I'd stay away too :rofl:

I'm not planning to take much at all in the way of medical stuff because things are really cheap over there. I'm planning to take nurofen, bandaids, compeed (for blisters), rescue remedy and rescue remedy sleep and that's about it. I might also take a little bottle of anti-bac for the airport, although it's not something I ordinarily use much.

On the other hand while I'm over there I'm stocking up on their elastic bandages because they are THE BEST!! I'm also buying heaps of Noxema face wash and I'll probably completely restock my makeup case. And of course duty free perfume

We are going to picnic quite a lot and also make simple meals in our hotel room from time to time so I'm taking a Coles cooler bag and cutting board, sharp knife, plates and cups, thermos and a few other bits and pieces too.

Actually the worst list for us is the electronic gadgets and charger list, oh my word we have a bit to take!!
Camera/tripod/lens and charger
Point and shoot camera and charger
Video camera and charger
2 iPhones and chargers
Nintendo DS and charger
iPod and charger
MP3 player (and, you guessed it, charger)
And of course laptop, and charger
We are also taking an Australian power board wired up to a US plug, this will work fine for the chargers because they will run on either voltage. That way we don't have to get twenty bazillion adapters for all the chargers.

I'll take our
thermometer
Kids Paracetamol.....I think I read somewhere that we can't take Ibuprofen is that correct does anyone know??
Inhalers for DD4
bandaids
Tweezers
Savlon or something like that for cuts
Definitely Rescue Remedy
and arnica
Panadol


Jet lag tablets for DH

 

[Andona]

We had planned booked in an extra night at the hotel (Fairfield Inn) so we could check out late afternoon so we didn't have to leave our room at 2pm and just hang around.

Brilliant idea, Dave!

Our flight change now has us flying out at 11.45pm. I was aiming to get us to the DL gates by 6 am that day as its our only Early Entry day and I've been worrying about how tired we'd be by the afternoon. Was trying to think of ways that we could relax and rest a bit in the park but you're plan looks much better.

So, I've just booked us an extra night at the BWPPI, even though we'll have to leave there by 8pm It will make the packing up and checking out much more relaxed.

Now I just have to convince Dh that it's worth the extra expense

Andona

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I'll take our
thermometer
Kids Paracetamol.....I think I read somewhere that we can't take Ibuprofen is that correct does anyone know??
Inhalers for DD4
bandaids
Tweezers
Savlon or something like that for cuts
Definitely Rescue Remedy
and arnica
Panadol


Jet lag tablets for DH

Is that right about the Ibuprofen??? Why would that be?