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

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Personally I don't think that DLR is worth the difference over the other close hotels like HOJO's based on what all the reports are on DIS. Looking at double and more per room per night.

I agree with keptwoman's itinerary. You might find internal flights in the US pricey though depending on your travel dates. I have seen SF to NY for $360US, but there is no issue with booking internal flights yourself. WE booked via American Airlines website with no issues at all.

Have a look at the aussie travel links sticky on DIS it has all the links for insurance and travel card. I just got insurance from travel insurance direct after actually ringing around all the major providers regarding the swine flu issues.
I totally agree with your husband about the time issue. if you are going to go, adding a few nights here or there is not much of an issue, compared to the effort and expense of actually getting there.

Hehehe Marvel I so know that you are right about DLR not being worth the extra money, esp since HOJO does sound beautiful. With that said, we have been planning/saving for this trip (well the original Christmas version) for quite a while and one of DH's stipulations was to stay onsite. DH and my son will really need to rest in the afternoons, haha or they will sook and DH feels we work hard, he says we will never go back (little does he know once I go once, I'm hooked for sure, hehe) so he wants to do DL right, as well as NY. The other places he's not as fussed about accom and we will really be more conservative then. Sounds crazy probably but that's our family, we're all a little crazy

 

[melbarkwith]

You could get 14 day passes for $952, or 5 day passes for $928 through Expedia.

 

[keptwoman]

Well you will be able to buy the "get two free" park tickets even if you can't get two nights free accom, so keep that in mind.

Also on the flights, I'm unconvinced you will need to pay for internal flights, except for LAX- Las Vegas I'd say you should be able to get a through flights to NY via LAX and back via SFO. You might have to pay a stopover fee because you are stopping over in both directions rather than one but that should still be quite a bit cheaper than all your flights being seperate from your international itinerary. Not to mention that you won't have to pay for checked baggage if it is part of a through fare.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Ideally you will likely get a flight to NYC with a stopover in LAX in one direction and in San Francisco on the return. Your date to leave the US for home would be 16 October. And hey! we will be at Disney for 5 nights from the 28th too, just it's our last nights of the holiday instead of the first.
Have you thought abotu leaving Disney until last, last time I found everything was an anticlimax for the kids when we did Disney first.
I'd suggest you do it in this order with Disney first
Disney
LA
LV
NY
San Fran
Home

And this with Disney last:

San Fran
NY
LV
LA
Disney

That way you don't have the hell East-Coast to home trip. But in the end personally I'd be looking at the dates I could get the flights cheapest and basing the order of the cities on that.

I love the idea of doing DL last, and agree about keeping the exciting part to last would be very cool. This is my concern with that plan:-

I think we will all be a little weary by then and I would hate the main reason for me wanting to take this trip to be marred in anyway from tiredness or homesickness or grumbling children and DH.

However, I love love love your idea of Vegas to New York and then back to San Fran, then home. I think that would work so much better for us. San Fran to me is going to be the most laid back part of the trip as other than the Pier, Alcatraz, those cute houses that you see in all the movies and where Haight Ashbury was or is, I'm just planning on soaking in the place and DH is planning on shopping (he is the shopper in this family ) I think it might be a fabulous day to round off the trip. I would even pay a little more for the flights if our beautiful trip ended in a relaxing way

 

[gogo65]

Hehehe Marvel I so know that you are right about DLR not being worth the extra money, esp since HOJO does sound beautiful. With that said, we have been planning/saving for this trip (well the original Christmas version) for quite a while and one of DH's stipulations was to stay onsite. DH and my son will really need to rest in the afternoons, haha or they will sook and DH feels we work hard, he says we will never go back (little does he know once I go once, I'm hooked for sure, hehe) so he wants to do DL right, as well as NY. The other places he's not as fussed about accom and we will really be more conservative then. Sounds crazy probably but that's our family, we're all a little crazy

The problem with DLH is that it is not really that much closer than Hojos etc.
In WDW absolutely stay on site it is a must do, but with Disneyland everything is so close. In saying that if someone said to me you can stay at DLH for the same price as Hojo's I would be at DLH in an instant

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

You could get 14 day passes for $952, or 5 day passes for $928 through Expedia.

Okay, well are those prices aussie dollars? If they are, that would bring the accom and tickets in at around $2575, which would save me over $200, woohoo.

 

[keptwoman]

I love the idea of doing DL last, and agree about keeping the exciting part to last would be very cool. This is my concern with that plan:-

I think we will all be a little weary by then and I would hate the main reason for me wanting to take this trip to be marred in anyway from tiredness or homesickness or grumbling children and DH.

However, I love love love your idea of Vegas to New York and then back to San Fran, then home. I think that would work so much better for us. San Fran to me is going to be the most laid back part of the trip as other than the Pier, Alcatraz, those cute houses that you see in all the movies and where Haight Ashbury was or is, I'm just planning on soaking in the place and DH is planning on shopping (he is the shopper in this family ) I think it might be a fabulous day to round off the trip. I would even pay a little more for the flights if our beautiful trip ended in a relaxing way

Thats how we did it last time. We went to LA then Disney, then Seattle then San Fran then home. San Fran was a lovely way to end the trip. I do think that in the kids minds EVERYTHING was slightly less exciting for not being Disney, and this time I have been very careful to do Disney last for that reason, but San Fran is not a bad way to finish a holiday.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Well you will be able to buy the "get two free" park tickets even if you can't get two nights free accom, so keep that in mind.

Also on the flights, I'm unconvinced you will need to pay for internal flights, except for LAX- Las Vegas I'd say you should be able to get a through flights to NY via LAX and back via SFO. You might have to pay a stopover fee because you are stopping over in both directions rather than one but that should still be quite a bit cheaper than all your flights being seperate from your international itinerary. Not to mention that you won't have to pay for checked baggage if it is part of a through fare.

Keptwoman, you've lost me here, hehe, not sure I understand the not needing to pay for internal flights and stopovers part. Sorry, are you able to dumb it down for me?

 

[melbarkwith]

Okay, well are those prices aussie dollars? If they are, that would bring the accom and tickets in at around $2575, which would save me over $200, woohoo.

Yep, just checked them on expedia.com.au
I assumed 2 adults, 2 kids.

Mel

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Yep, just checked them on expedia.com.au
I assumed 2 adults, 2 kids.

Mel

Well that is cool. Thanks Mel.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Okay I am off to bed, I never go to bed this early but I think all of the excitement and adrenalin has exhausted me .

Thanks everyone for all of your amazing help so far. Hopefully you won't tire of me over the next few weeks while I get the basics sorted, I need you guys, hehe.

Talk tomorrow everyone.

 

[keptwoman]

Keptwoman, you've lost me here, hehe, not sure I understand the not needing to pay for internal flights and stopovers part. Sorry, are you able to dumb it down for me?

OK.
Your furthest point is NY. So ideally you would look for a return fare to NY. This will leave you with 3 airline choices before you even start: Qantas, United, Air New Zealand. As far as I can tell, Virgin does not do through fares.
So your aim is a fare to NY. Stopover in one direction would be LA and in the other direction would be SF.
Now I'm not sure where LV sits on this, like whether you can open-jaw (use land over one portion of your itineray) to fly direct from LV to NY,

So your main itinerary may look like this:
Australia - LA
LA - NY
NY - San Fran
San Fran - Australia

From that point you would need to drive or arrange flights LA - LV - LA.

Alternatively you may be able to "open jaw" LA LV so your MAIN flights would look like this

Australia - LA
LV - NY
NY - SF
SF - Australia

Then you book the flights between LA and LV seperately. I guess this is where a Travel Agent comes in for someone not confident doing it themselves, but I personally would play with the different combinations in the different airline systems and see what you can come up with. I don't mind looking up the initial specials and conditions to help you, what is your starting city?

 

[Jade+3]

I assumed 2 adults, 2 kids.

I think I read a few pages back that your eldest is 11, therefore will be needing an adult ticket.

 

[keptwoman]

No an 11 yr old is still a child. 12 is adult. We went to the US last time when we had one 11.5 and one 23 months, talk about squeeking in!!

 

[Jade+3]

Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to Disney tickets not airfares.

 

[keptwoman]

Ah yes. Sorry. Yes I'm seriously bummed. Our middle DS turns 10 on the 28th.

 

[marvel]

I fully understand the allure of DLH, last trip to DL we stayed at the Grand Californian so you can't get any closer. But that was back when offsite hotels weren't so well supported or well reviewed.

But even though it was really nice, it is now 3 times the price of HOJO's. But I can appreciate if money were not an issue I would probably book the GCH or DLH myself. Just to get a bit more Disney magic.

As for travelling in Sept, we are leaving Sept10 one week into the finals, so we will have to watch the CATS win the Grand Final somewhere in Anaheim. Hope the doggies get there as well.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I fully understand the allure of DLH, last trip to DL we stayed at the Grand Californian so you can't get any closer. But that was back when offsite hotels weren't so well supported or well reviewed.

But even though it was really nice, it is now 3 times the price of HOJO's. But I can appreciate if money were not an issue I would probably book the GCH or DLH myself. Just to get a bit more Disney magic.

As for travelling in Sept, we are leaving Sept10 one week into the finals, so we will have to watch the CATS win the Grand Final somewhere in Anaheim. Hope the doggies get there as well.

Hehehe Marvel, I am actually a Cats supporter, grew up in Geelong and even though I've been gone for 10 years, they are still my faves. With that said, I'm not the die hard fan that my DH is so I must admit to wanting him to experience a little Grand Final magic just once.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

No an 11 yr old is still a child. 12 is adult. We went to the US last time when we had one 11.5 and one 23 months, talk about squeeking in!!

Yes, my DD being 11 was one of my selling points to DH,

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

OK.
Your furthest point is NY. So ideally you would look for a return fare to NY. This will leave you with 3 airline choices before you even start: Qantas, United, Air New Zealand. As far as I can tell, Virgin does not do through fares.
So your aim is a fare to NY. Stopover in one direction would be LA and in the other direction would be SF.
Now I'm not sure where LV sits on this, like whether you can open-jaw (use land over one portion of your itineray) to fly direct from LV to NY,

So your main itinerary may look like this:
Australia - LA
LA - NY
NY - San Fran
San Fran - Australia

From that point you would need to drive or arrange flights LA - LV - LA.

Alternatively you may be able to "open jaw" LA LV so your MAIN flights would look like this

Australia - LA
LV - NY
NY - SF
SF - Australia

Then you book the flights between LA and LV seperately. I guess this is where a Travel Agent comes in for someone not confident doing it themselves, but I personally would play with the different combinations in the different airline systems and see what you can come up with. I don't mind looking up the initial specials and conditions to help you, what is your starting city?

Hmmm, I kind of understand now. Although I wouldn't have a clue as to how to look this up on the airline websites. Would just be ever so grateful if you wouldn't mind having a look for me. Starting city is boring old Canberra