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

[marvel]

OMG I thought I was the only one that gets really excited about US supermarkets and fast food chains. It is a highlight, I even love going to get petrol (gas). We brought back a suitcase full of food last time!

For New York, we stayed at the Affinia Dumont and it was wonderful. Highly recommend it, the service was great and we had a view of the chrysler building. It was ranked number 1 on tripadvisor and it is just outside of times square, an easy walk and close to the subway. I personally wouldn't say in Times Square, a bit too noisy and crowded, but great to visit. PM me if anyone wants more details.

For Vegas, the Venetian is mid strip, close to all the action. We stayed at MGM last time and loved it, but this time trying something different. Bellagio is great as well, but they charge $35 per child per night on top of the room rate, and the Venetian rate we got was unbelievable and if you see what their suites look like on the web you will be amazed. For a first trip I would stay mid strip, either Bellagio, Caesars, Venetian or similar, so you can walk to most places easily.

Thanks for all the other tips, i think the disney tickets are still cheaper on line than from FlightCenter with the current 5 for 3 offer, and I can't see needing more than 5 days to do Disney.

I don't really think there are many places in DL that you need do ADR's or PS, whatever they are called, only Bayou and maybe a character meal, but last time we ate at the PPH one with stitch and just walked in without a problem. It's not like WDW which has so many food options.

Anyone staying in LA at all? Having problems deciding on where to stay for our first 4 nights prior to driving to Vegas.

Oh, love target and Wallmart, just love it.

 

[platypus67]

I was planning on staying at either Desert Inn and Suites or BW Anaheim Inn as they are so close to the entrance, but I had a look at Ho Jos and managed to get a room for $79.00 night for three nights and $89.00 night for two. A little less than BW but slightly higher than DI. I have read so many good reviews here that I decided to give it a go. I've booked an extra night as our flight back to Brisbane is at 11pm and I figure we will want to have a shower before heading to the airport after a day in the parks. We leave oz on Sept 18, travel to Toronto for a family visit and Thanksgiving and then fly back to LA on Oct 13. DD wants to do some shopping so we will have two full days in the parks plus our departure day. I just have to buy our park tickets and hopefully trick or treat party tickets for the Friday night. Flights have been booked for awhile now. Can't wait

 

[Sharkmeister]

"Once in a lifetime trip" ...... that's exactly what we said too. We planned on doing everything we could over 14 days. Stayed at AKL and Poly. Now look, we are heading back in the same year for the Halloween Party. (Thanks to cheap airfares and our AP's).

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

Does anyone know what the time difference between Anaheim and Perth is? I want to call in-house reservations at Hojos but I have no idea what time I would need to ring. Can anyone help?

 

[kylieh]

Does anyone know what the time difference between Anaheim and Perth is? I want to call in-house reservations at Hojos but I have no idea what time I would need to ring. Can anyone help?

15 hours: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclo...=4&year=2009&hour=0&min=0&sec=0&p1=196&p2=137

I use www.timeanddate.com a lot, it has a time zone converter that I rely upon!

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

Thanks for that! What time do you think in-house reservations would be open? If I rang at 9am their time, someone should be able to help me right? Do you think I'd be able to talk to someone earlier at say 8am their time? Just trying to work out how late I need to stay up!

 

[kylieh]

Thanks for that! What time do you think in-house reservations would be open? If I rang at 9am their time, someone should be able to help me right? Do you think I'd be able to talk to someone earlier at say 8am their time? Just trying to work out how late I need to stay up!

Monday morning LA 8am is 11pm Perth Time.

Try this link - the middle column is Perth time and the right is LA time. It shows conversions between the two.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meetingtime.html?day=20&month=4&year=2009&p1=196&p2=137&iv=0

 

[aussiedaisy]

Love this thread, so yes please count us in as well.
We are two sisters from WA who just love, love, love the Disney Parks. We have been lucky enough to visit every park worldwide (except the 2nd Disney Paris one).

Dollarmite I couldn't help laughing when I read your comment about it being a once in a lifetime trip. That is exactly what we told ourselves for the 2 years we planned & planned our first WDW trip. Every time we went over our planned budget, we would just shrug it off with "it is a once in a lifetime trip". So here we are 5 years later with another 2 trips there (& DVC members as well!!). Have a ball - you are going to love it (& be blown away by how vast it is).

I would also like to offer an alternative that may be helpful to some people purchasing the 14 day Disneyland passes. Compare the cost of purchasing a Premium Annual Pass with how many days you want to do. Firstly if you are lucky enough to be planning 2 trips within the space of a year this may be a more economical option. Secondly the PAP comes with extra perks such as (please double check these next figures) 15% off most Dining in the Parks & Hotels & 10% off most dining at Downtown Disney. Also 10% of a lot of shops including World of Disney. Hope this can save someone some money!

We had absolutely no intention of a US trip this year, but were blown away by the airfare specials that were out. We snapped up a flight to New York from Perth for $1590. Unbelievable. Disney won't be the MAIN focus of this trip but of course we have to stop at Disneyland on the way home for 3 days (Woo Hoo).

Just curious - does anyone else get excited about all the US chain restaurants like we do? Love just about all the ones on South Harbour accross fom Disneyland (the IHOP, Denny's, Tony Romas, Quiznos). Or is just us saddos?

Hi Aussiemickeys I also rememeber our first trip to Disneyland, we were leaving the park on the last day and I remember thinking "have a good last look because this will be our only trip here" HA HA HA.... 5 trips later we're going back again!!! Don't worry, were also saddos and get excited about the US chain restaraunts and little shops too. This trip we are definately going to take the ART over to the Target store.....can't wait, apparently all their makeup is heaps cheaper....think I will need to take an extra suitcase!

We're getting so excited....still got 7ish months to go though but I'm thinking of making us some Disney themed tshirts (with the iron on transfers) for our trip in the mean time for a little disney fix. I have a Disney craft room called 'The Mickey Room' it's all disney themed and I enjoy going in there in my spare time, listening to my disney podcasts and doing my disney craft ready for the trip (only Disney freaks would understand this) I will have to take some pics of my Disney room to show you all soon. I also deal with my disney addiction by wearing Mickey crocs at work (I'm a theatre nurse), my twin and I do a regular saturday paediatric list at work and on that day there are only 2 of us in recovery so we dis board all day in between patients . Would love to hear how everyone else gets their disney fix before their trips.....come on fess up

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

Monday morning LA 8am is 11pm Perth Time.

Try this link - the middle column is Perth time and the right is LA time. It shows conversions between the two.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meetingtime.html?day=20&month=4&year=2009&p1=196&p2=137&iv=0

Thanks for that! What time do you think they'll be there to start answering phones? How early in the morning?

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

Do I need to wait til Monday to ring them or can I call tonight? I don't really want to put it off much longer as I know it's going to be hard to book the dates I want.

Help!

 

[aussiedaisy]

Okay, here are some pics of my various Disney bits and pieces around the house along with some trip photos of me and my twin in Disney

My twin and I at Disneylands halloween party 08. Minnie costume made by me

Our framed Disneyland map with pics etc in the 'Mickey Room'

Our ear collection in the 'Mickey Room'

Disney themed kitchen wear

Pal Mickey and some other Disney bits and bobs in the 'Mickey Room'

the mickey head earrings I have made

Signed Tink photo in the 'Mickey Room'

My twin and I at work in recovery room. I'm wearing lavender and my twin is in pink.

A note left for me by 'Tinkerbell' prior to our trip last year.

A custom made tshirt for one of our trips to WDW.

My twin modelling another disney outfit made by me...inspired by the disboutiquers thread on the boards
Hope you enjoyed a little look into my Disney obsession

 

[ColB]

4 more Aussies here, planning our December trip to WDW and DLR. Me, Wife, Son (5) and Mother-in-law thanks to V Australia's cheap deal.

Still have some extensive planning to do, It'll be a first trip to both parks for everyone except me.

My biggest worry at the moment are cheap flights from LAX to MCO in December.

I'll just keep stalking the web until I get a good rate.

One more thing, my wife hates the 'thrill' rides, my son is too small for some of them, and my Mother-in-law is too old, so I have to go on most of the faster rides by myself. Ahh the fun....

Cheers,

Col.

 

[gogo65]

4 more Aussies here, planning our December trip to WDW and DLR. Me, Wife, Son (5) and Mother-in-law thanks to V Australia's cheap deal.

Still have some extensive planning to do, It'll be a first trip to both parks for everyone except me.

My biggest worry at the moment are cheap flights from LAX to MCO in December.

I'll just keep stalking the web until I get a good rate.

One more thing, my wife hates the 'thrill' rides, my son is too small for some of them, and my Mother-in-law is too old, so iI have to go on most of the faster rides by myself. Ahh the fun....

Cheers,

Col.

Hi Col,

We booked our flights from LAX-MCO in about Aug for Jan 3rd 08. We paid $150USD. I kept an eye out for a few months and it didn't seem to get much cheaper. We flew with United and although they seem to have a bad reputation, we found them to be fantastic. The seats were the widest we had in the states and we had great leg room. It was on time etc..

With the economy at the moment it will probably only get cheaper except if you are flying around Xmas & New years.

 

[ColB]

Thanks, at the moment they are about US$399 but should be discounted hopefully around July - Aug. I'll use United or Delta because they fly non-stop, and I'm going to go straight from LAX to MCO four hours after arriving at LAX from MEL. I know, I'm a sucker for punishment, especially with a 5yo.

I arrive at LAX @ 0640hrs and there is a United flight at 1040hrs, do you think 4 hours will be enough (taking into account delays, customs, check-in etc etc)

Dates are Dec 8 - 21.

 

[gogo65]

Thanks, at the moment they are about US$399 but should be discounted hopefully around July - Aug. I'll use United or Delta because they fly non-stop, and I'm going to go straight from LAX to MCO four hours after arriving at LAX from MEL. I know, I'm a sucker for punishment, especially with a 5yo.

I arrive at LAX @ 0640hrs and there is a United flight at 1040hrs, do you think 4 hours will be enough (taking into account delays, customs, check-in etc etc)

Dates are Dec 8 - 21.

We did the same thing.
We flew on FF points so flew SYD-Nadi-LAX (3 hours stopover in Nadi) then had 6 hours at LAX before our flight to MCO. We arrived at 6am in the morning after more than 30 hours
We had arranged for a car to pick us up from MCO went shopping at a supermarket before arriving at the Hard rock hotel at Universal at 8am, quick bite to eat and off to the parks till 2pm when our room was available, then finally a quick sleep before going out again that night for dinner.

Crazy, absolutely. would I do it again. YES!!

4 hours should be enough but maybe someone who knows LAX well can help more.

Dec 8 shouldn't be to bad for cheap flights,

 

[ColB]

LOL, the things Aussies will do to see other parts of the world.

One more thing, I noticed you stayed at the Contemporary, we are tossing up between that and the Wilderness Lodge. From the internet, the Wilderness lodge looks the better one because the theme will appeal to my son, whereas the contemporary looks more like a standard hotel, other than the great big monorail running through the middle.

What are your thoughts?

 

[gogo65]

Col,

We loved the contemporary but we were also tossing up between WL and AKL.
We chose the CR because of the monorail etc,
The rooms are beautiful and really spacious, but the rooms at the WL look fantastic as well.
We wanted at least bunks or 2 queens and a day bed so our kids could have their own bed
The pools were not a big selling point for us as it was winter, as it was, our kids only swam once at the CR.
The poly didn't appeal as we have been to Fiji, Hawaii, Samoa, Vanuatu and numerous QLD islands, I was worried it wouldn't be quite the same.

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

We just booked our room at the Hojo for the 22nd-29th September. I feel so relieved that it is now secured. There is a convention on in Anaheim from 20th-24th and heaps of the hotels are booked out already. I was so worried that we weren't going to get in anywhere. We were meant to arrive on the 20th but had to push our dates back by 2 days so that we could still stay at Hojo. They were already totally booked out for the 20/21st.

We wanted a King room but they didn't have any left so we booked a Deluxe queen room instead. It will only be me and my fiance staying there so I guess we'll just have an extra bed.

I just checked our dates again on the reservation site and our first day is now sold out. We must have booked the last room! OMG, I am sooooo glad we booked now instead of waiting until Monday to call them.

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

AussieDaisy, I love your disney outfits. They are so cute!

 

[becpee]

Hi everybody, sorry to join in so late in the piece
I am Bec, mum of one gorgeous 3 year old and wife of one gorgeous husband, we're planning a trip for October next year, long way away but it's going to be a big trip for us.
I am obsessed with Disneyland and am trying (successfully I might add) to brainwash my son
I have been to DL once (October 2001) which was a very solemn time to go after the events of September 11 and I think disney maybe lacked a bit of it's atmosphere, it was so quiet.
This time I will share it with two of the people I love most in the world, and make it a trip we will never forget.
I haven't old my DH that I plan to make Disney a semi regular trip in our life