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

[~ButterflyKisses~]

Does anyone know how far in advance you receive your airline tickets, hotel confirmations ect before you go on holiday? That is if you book with a travel agent. Do they send them out to you straight away or do you pick them up closer to the day you fly out?

 

[kylieh]

Does anyone know how far in advance you receive your airline tickets, hotel confirmations ect before you go on holiday? That is if you book with a travel agent. Do they send them out to you straight away or do you pick them up closer to the day you fly out?

We booked and fully paid with GetAway Today for accom and tickets for last years trip, about 6 months or so out. We received our documents within a week, including lanyards, photoalbums, etc.

Our flights were all Qantas, and we got "e-ticket" confirmations by email straight away.

I've noticed that a lot of people on these boards book accom through Walt Disney Travel Company and they say even if fully paid, they only get their paperwork about 3 weeks out.

 

[aussietravellers]

Does anyone know how far in advance you receive your airline tickets, hotel confirmations ect before you go on holiday? That is if you book with a travel agent. Do they send them out to you straight away or do you pick them up closer to the day you fly out?

Not being a travel agent I am not 100% sure on what they do, but from experience, I usually find they don't issue tickets until they are paid, once paid they can issue the airline tickets and the last few trips I've done they are all etickets, so you can get them pretty quickly.

For our WDW trip last year with flight centre they cut it REALLY fine, I was very nervous as had never had things issued so close to travel. I received all of my WDW package documents at 5pm when we were flying out the next morning! However our usual wonderful travel agent who we have used for about 15 or more years, we get them maybe up to two weeks before we go, but I can't remember exactly. There is always enough time to check everything over and if anything is not right than fix it. Our trip to Europe this last christmas I had organised some travel and the agent had done some, I had given her the wrong dates for our London accommodation, I had cut short two nights, but there was time for two nights to be added and another voucher to be organised and delivered to me for the change. So usually travel agents deliver the documentation in plenty of time. We usually have them delivered to us by courier by our agent.

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

Because we won our trip we have had to book everything through the travel agent. We just received our final itinerary via email today and when I asked when we'd receive our airline tickets and paperwork ect, the travel agent said she couldn't give us an exact date but hopefully sometime in July. I was wondering if this was a standard thing as I just assumed that once everything had been fully paid we'd get all the paperwork straight away.

 

[aussiegirls]

Just wondering if anyone else is not hiring a car? I am not, I am guessing that public transport will be ok - should I be worried? Just seems like everyone else is getting a car, do you guys know something I don't?

xxx

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

Just wondering if anyone else is not hiring a car? I am not, I am guessing that public transport will be ok - should I be worried? Just seems like everyone else is getting a car, do you guys know something I don't?

xxx

We're not hiring a car. I don't think we'll really need one. We're spending 7 nights in Vegas and are staying on the strip so everything is withing walking distance. We'll just get a bus to the outlet shopping centre there and we'll have our own transfers when we visit the grand canyon. When we're in Anaheim we plan on using Grayline bus tours to get to and from LA when we visit universal studios & do a hollywood tour.

Then when we're in San Diego, we'll be visiting Seaworld & the zoo and I don't see much point in hiring a car when it will just be sitting in a carpark all day as we'll be there all day.

Then in New York, we're staying in the Times Square area so most things will be in walking distance. We've also got tickets to the double decker, hop on, hop off bus so that will get us around where we need to go.

 

[kylieh]

Just wondering if anyone else is not hiring a car? I am not, I am guessing that public transport will be ok - should I be worried? Just seems like everyone else is getting a car, do you guys know something I don't?

xxx

Depends where you're off to, and how comfortable you are with the other side of the road. Around DL, Las Vegas, our day trip to LA and Sea World we used tours or cabs.

We didn't hire a car last trip, but next year, we're thinking about it. I'm a really good navigator, and can drive in peak hour Sydney and MElbourne without any probs but driving on the other side is another story. Even as a pedestrian walking on the right I struggled at times. It wore me out thinking about it DH says looking at the traffic he could drive, so it's an option next time.

 

[aussietravellers]

Just wondering if anyone else is not hiring a car? I am not, I am guessing that public transport will be ok - should I be worried? Just seems like everyone else is getting a car, do you guys know something I don't?

xxx

We travel regularly all over the world and have never hired a car. We find public transport, taxi's, tours and walking to be what suits us. We always try to have accommodation where ever we are going that is close to things that we are going to want to do, central I guess I mean, where it is easy to walk or by cab,bus,train. That is just our preference, not to hire a car, so I would not worry, find out about bus routes, train routes, bus tours before you go, but your hotel concierge will always be a wonderful help with giving you maps and pointing you in the direction of where you are wanting to go and helping you find the best way to get there without a car.

 

[keptwoman]

We are using a car when we are headed out of NY for a 2 week road trip. In Anaheim we are using a 1 day hire to see Hollywood on the way to Disneyland because our son's birthday is that day and that's what he wants to do. I've booked a car to go back to the airport but I'm still undecided and we may go with a transfer. We haven't got the car in either NY or Anaheim because it would just sit there costing money and the PT is fine.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Hey thanks everyone for the replies. I think I will do some research and then go to a travel agent, or maybe two and see what they come up with.

Do you mention to the travel agent that you have already done some investigating and these are the prices you've found, or do you not mention it and just see what they come back with?

 

[aussietravellers]

Hey thanks everyone for the replies. I think I will do some research and then go to a travel agent, or maybe two and see what they come up with.

Do you mention to the travel agent that you have already done some investigating and these are the prices you've found, or do you not mention it and just see what they come back with?

I don't mention it, let them come up with the pricing for you. For disneyland as an example in price differences. I will book disney direct, probably, but I have been to various travel agents and picked up their disneyland brochures just to have a sticky at different prices (different travel agents (companies) have different brochures, so when I pass one, I grab brochures).

Ok, Price Differences from brochures on a 14 day Disneyland park pass.
Creative Holidays (from flight centre), Adult $327, Child $280
Infinity Holidays (from flight centre) - Doesn't have it
Harvey's Choice (from Harvey world travel) Adult $349 Child $299
Travel 2 (from Harvey world travel) Adult $360 Child $309
Then Expedia has prices that are cheaper than all of those.

Now with some of those above, their park passes may be more than another, but their accommodation at the same hotel is cheaper, so it's best to price different parts at different places because it may be cheaper to do accommodation with one person (travel agent) but passes cheaper with Expedia. Another example, for our Europe trip this last christmas, we were getting the London 7 day travel card which in London is a set price in pounds, I found it here on an Australian travel website (can't remember the name offhand) and in $AUD was cheaper than if I had bought it when I got there at a tube station calculating the exchange rate and it was cheaper by about $5 a ticket.

Anyway time to get child to school and get to work! I could chat about holiday planning all day,

 

[marvel]

I don't even bother asking agents these days, many of the hotels guarantee that they will beat any internet price so I generally book through them or if I happen to find some great deal on expedia etc.

We are the opposite in terms of having a car. We find it much easier to travel if we have a car and hate to have to rely on tours or buses. Have always found that they are not as good as they advertise, ie- they pick up from numerous other hotels and you have to wait ages to get where you are going etc. IMHO it is also much easier to get around everywhere with a car. Parking in vegas at all the hotels is free, you only have to tip the valet if you want valet parking so only a dollar or two. The regular bus in Vegas can take ages and is also regularly packed to the rafters, so with two kids much easier to use the car, plus our drive back and to LA from Vegas is much easier via car than relying on a bus.

I find it very easy to drive in the US and find the naming of their roads etc makes it easier to navigate than in Australia. The van we are getting is going to cost around $50AUD per day. Now that is cheap, parking at the hotels where we are staying is free, so if you work out how much it would cost 4 people to say take a tour bus to Lego Land from Anaheim you realise how much of a bonus a car is. That is just us though, I know others are worried about driving, so to each their own.

You don't need to have a car, but we find it makes our trip more enjoyable to have the freedom of one.

i actually hate catching cabs in Australia, which makes me a little hesitant to use them in the US although they are much much better than here.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I don't mention it, let them come up with the pricing for you. For disneyland as an example in price differences. I will book disney direct, probably, but I have been to various travel agents and picked up their disneyland brochures just to have a sticky at different prices (different travel agents (companies) have different brochures, so when I pass one, I grab brochures).

Ok, Price Differences from brochures on a 14 day Disneyland park pass.
Creative Holidays (from flight centre), Adult $327, Child $280
Infinity Holidays (from flight centre) - Doesn't have it
Harvey's Choice (from Harvey world travel) Adult $349 Child $299
Travel 2 (from Harvey world travel) Adult $360 Child $309
Then Expedia has prices that are cheaper than all of those.

Now with some of those above, their park passes may be more than another, but their accommodation at the same hotel is cheaper, so it's best to price different parts at different places because it may be cheaper to do accommodation with one person (travel agent) but passes cheaper with Expedia. Another example, for our Europe trip this last christmas, we were getting the London 7 day travel card which in London is a set price in pounds, I found it here on an Australian travel website (can't remember the name offhand) and in $AUD was cheaper than if I had bought it when I got there at a tube station calculating the exchange rate and it was cheaper by about $5 a ticket.

Anyway time to get child to school and get to work! I could chat about holiday planning all day,

Thanks so much for sharing that comparison. Can you actually just book accom with a travel agent? That's interesting. I will definitely do this with a few agents

 

[arje]

We've always had a car when we've been to DL/West Coast. Having a car allows more freedom for travelling to spots either around LA or to other cities. I agree with others that have said that driving around is quite easy, I actually really enjoy it and prefer it. The road rules make sense (especially the turn right at lights on red and the U-Turn lanes at lights) and the freeway/road system is quite easy - once you know how!

However, when we go to the East side next year, I am planning on not having a car. The only reason is we'll be primarily staying on site wherever we go and will need limited transportation between sites. My plan is to use pre-booked transport like shuttles or town cars. If we were moving around often, I would definitely hire a car.

 

[aussietravellers]

Thanks so much for sharing that comparison. Can you actually just book accom with a travel agent? That's interesting. I will definitely do this with a few agents

Yes you can just book accommodation with a travel agent, you could book just a tour if you wanted to (say a universal studios day tour etc). You can book anything big or small from a travel agent (even though it is sometimes easier to do it online, but some people are not happy giving credit card details online, so that makes booking some things impossible, so a travel agent is great for that and sometimes with exchange rates changing you can get a better price. Like the company I purchase only a 7 day travel card, prepaid tickets to Madame Tussards and Prepaid tickets to London Eye only. I got a better rate in Australian $'s from that company than if I had purchased those items in pounds from their individual websites or whilst there in pounds in person. As previously said by someone, you can call the hotel that you are wanting to stay in direct and ask them about any specials as they often to have specials going too that agents and booking websites don't have.

 

[aussietravellers]

We've always had a car when we've been to DL/West Coast. Having a car allows more freedom for travelling to spots either around LA or to other cities. I agree with others that have said that driving around is quite easy, I actually really enjoy it and prefer it. The road rules make sense (especially the turn right at lights on red and the U-Turn lanes at lights) and the freeway/road system is quite easy - once you know how!

Turning is what terrifies me I am terrified that I'll turn down the wrong side and be driving into oncoming traffic A friend did this once in Europe years ago and we were all screaming for him that we were going the wrong way.

 

[melbarkwith]

Just thought I'd pop in and say 'hi' here!

I have just managed to convice DH that we *need* to go to Disneyland this year and take advantage of the super airfare prices. I've figured that it will cost us less to go in Oct/Nov this year including accommodation, than it did 2 years ago for airfare only (and that was with an infant who was practically free at the time).

We'll be booking tonight, woohooo. All I need to do is figure out where we are going to stay - tossing up between slightly more $$ for a free decent breakfast, or cheaper accommodation and buying it every day.

Off to watch my holiday planning DVD

Melissa

_____________________________________________
Disneyland Visits
February 1998 - Park Vue Inn
February 2000 - Super 8 Katella
May 2007 - Desert Inn and Suites
November 2009 - ???

 

[ozdisfan]

i know when you book online you can't really choose until check in (eg window or aisle seat). for qantas you can choose a seat at online check in 24hrs before the departure but i'm thinking that the plane would likely to be full by then so the selection is rather limited. so would it be better to book flights through travel agents because they can allocate a seat that you request ?

 

[kylieh]

i know when you book online you can't really choose until check in (eg window or aisle seat). for qantas you can choose a seat at online check in 24hrs before the departure but i'm thinking that the plane would likely to be full by then so the selection is rather limited. so would it be better to book flights through travel agents because they can allocate a seat that you request ?

For Qantas flights go to checkmytrip.com You'll need your booking reservation number, usually 6 digit alphanumeric, eg 6GE45S. Drill through the options and you'll find your seat allocation, and what is free on that flight. Ring Qantas and ask for prefered seats based upon what you see. We had no problems doing that. I think, but someone will probably correct me on this, that seat allocation like that closes 24-48 hours before the flight.

 

[aussiegirls]

I just called V Australia today to talk seat allocations and they were wonderful.

The girl told me that I didn't have a seat allocation yet so she asked me what I wanted. When I told her window she said that she had a row of extra leg-room available on both my flights and would I like it. Of course I would, so she allocated those for us. YAAAAYYY!!!!!

xxxx