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

[kylieh]

Nobody has posted today so I just thought I would stop by and say hi!!!!

Great minds.... I was just thinking the same thing.

 

[marvel]

hi everyone. it has gone a bit quiet. I think once people end up booking their hotels and things they run out of questions to ask?

I am still all over the place with where to stay in LA. Now I am looking at either the Hilton Universal or Sheraton Universal !!

Has anyone been to the tar pits in LA? Just wondering if they are worth a few hours or not. It keep reading mixed reports.

 

[aussiegirls]

We are going to the tar pits. Have never been before but have only heard really, really great things about it. Actually my boss told me that I absolutely have to go there if I am in LA, he said it is amazing. Plus some of the others on here have mentioned how great it is, so we will be going definately. It's also quite cheap so I suppose no great loss if we don't love it

xxx

 

[Czardas]

I read a trip report on the tar pits and it sounded amazing. I never knew they existed and still can't believe it. Always reminds me of something from that cute show by the muppet creators- Dinosaurs, where they always threatened to take the grandmother

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

hi everyone. it has gone a bit quiet. I think once people end up booking their hotels and things they run out of questions to ask?

I am still all over the place with where to stay in LA. Now I am looking at either the Hilton Universal or Sheraton Universal !!

Has anyone been to the tar pits in LA? Just wondering if they are worth a few hours or not. It keep reading mixed reports.

Marvel, why are you now looking at the Hilton Universal and Sheraton Universal, I thought you were set for somewhere already? I'm still considering Renaissance.

I haven't heard about the tar pits, must take a bit of a look on the net and find out more.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Well I've finally decided how to tell the kids about our trip. I will do it tomorrow night. I will do a treasure hunt. I have used some cute Disney autograph card images that I got from some talented people in the DISign section on here, added some cryptic clues that will have them racing all over the house. The last clue will lead them to a Hangman puzzle on the dining table that tells them there is a present under their pillows. I have wrapped up a t-shirt (Princesses for daughter, Mickey for son) and their passports. There is a riddle on the outside of the present that reads:-

OPEN UP THIS PRESENT
AND SEE IF YOU CAN BELIEVE
THE WONDERFUL AMAZING SURPRISE
THAT YOUR PARENTS HAVE UP THEIR SLEEVE.

After they open the present they should have a fair idea, and then I will give them an itinerary of the whole holiday (on disney letterhead of course) and then we will have hotdogs and Mickey shaped pancakes for dinner, then watch a Disney movie. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[BrizMarc]

Heya guys, I only just found this thread, Im a fellow Disney nut from Brisbane. Look forward to chatting to you all here.

 

[arje]

G'day Marc, good to see you here as well.

ajp.

 

[Flea]

Well I've finally decided how to tell the kids about our trip. I will do it tomorrow night. I will do a treasure hunt. I have used some cute Disney autograph card images that I got from some talented people in the DISign section on here, added some cryptic clues that will have them racing all over the house. The last clue will lead them to a Hangman puzzle on the dining table that tells them there is a present under their pillows. I have wrapped up a t-shirt (Princesses for daughter, Mickey for son) and their passports. There is a riddle on the outside of the present that reads:-

OPEN UP THIS PRESENT
AND SEE IF YOU CAN BELIEVE
THE WONDERFUL AMAZING SURPRISE
THAT YOUR PARENTS HAVE UP THEIR SLEEVE.

After they open the present they should have a fair idea, and then I will give them an itinerary of the whole holiday (on disney letterhead of course) and then we will have hotdogs and Mickey shaped pancakes for dinner, then watch a Disney movie. I will let you know how it goes.

How exciting - I would love to do that for my kids when they are older and understand it a bit better Let us know how it goes

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

OMGoodness, we did the treasure hunt tonight, the kids were so excited, giggling as they raced to the next clue and the next clue until finally that got the last one which said there was a present under their pillow which contained the Disney t-shirt and passport. They were still looking kinda bewildered although it was starting to dawn on them so I handed them a rolled up scroll with an itinerary on it and I swear my 11 year old daughter jumped around the house for an hour. DS 7, he was excited about DL, but in a quieter way, but still thrilled. DD had to make a few calls to friends and grandparents and it was just so perfectly perfect, I swear I barely need to go now, that was just pure heaven, their joy just makes me smile.

 

[marvel]

hi marc and welcome.

great stuff with the treasure hunt, they must have been blown away.

With LA, i was kind of leaning towards holiday inn walk of fame but a bit put off by only being 2.5 stars and a few reports of very thin walls, so started looking at both the sheraton and hilton universal. They only seem 5 or 10 mins from hollywood itself and I figure it will be good to be close to city walk and universal and we can catch a cheap cab to go into the city or the metro line which is only 1 stop from universal. It's not as if we are going to be enjoying the nightlife in hollywood, so at this stage Hilton Universal is looking good. It has really great reveiws and the price on their website is $170US or $200 for the executive level which includes breakfast. so would save a fair bit as well.

Comparing that to $270US for renaissance, over 4 days means $400US saving, and I just cannot see if the marriott is worth than much more.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I might check the Hilton out too then. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[aussiemickeys]

Ms Shuttergirl,
I have just got back from hols (Penang & Kuala Lumpur) last night, so of course one of the first things to do was to catch up on about 20 pages of this thread. I screamed like a mad thing when I read you guys were going to see Springsteen (& in Jersey!). We absolutely love him. When the first lot of amazing airfares came out they had a time limit to buy them & we waited as long as we could (& checked his website constantly to see his tour dates), but then just had to gamble on dates & buy our plane tickets without knowing if it would match up. It DIDN'T! (& of course then the great airfares were extended). We are going at the start of November & even if we could change our tickets, we can't get away any earlier now because of work. On the one hand we are so upset, but then we think how lucky we are to even travel & that we have got to see him before. Your whole trip sounds amazing & that concert will be a definate highlight.
We went to 3 concerts at Giants Stadium back in 2003 & what we did, was go to the Port Authority bus terminal in New York on the night. You will see heaps of other people there that are going to the concert as well. They have special buses to & from the stadium so it couldn't have been easier to get there & back. Try & go a bit earlier if you can, I was blown away to arrive there & see the parking lot half full already with people having tailgate parties (just like in the movies). Just curious - do your kids like him? I'm sorry if I am rambling on a bit, but I am so excited for you! Have a brilliant time & I hope he puts on one of his legendary 3 hour shows for you!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Ms Shuttergirl,
I have just got back from hols (Penang & Kuala Lumpur) last night, so of course one of the first things to do was to catch up on about 20 pages of this thread. I screamed like a mad thing when I read you guys were going to see Springsteen (& in Jersey!). We absolutely love him. When the first lot of amazing airfares came out they had a time limit to buy them & we waited as long as we could (& checked his website constantly to see his tour dates), but then just had to gamble on dates & buy our plane tickets without knowing if it would match up. It DIDN'T! (& of course then the great airfares were extended). We are going at the start of November & even if we could change our tickets, we can't get away any earlier now because of work. On the one hand we are so upset, but then we think how lucky we are to even travel & that we have got to see him before. Your whole trip sounds amazing & that concert will be a definate highlight.
We went to 3 concerts at Giants Stadium back in 2003 & what we did, was go to the Port Authority bus terminal in New York on the night. You will see heaps of other people there that are going to the concert as well. They have special buses to & from the stadium so it couldn't have been easier to get there & back. Try & go a bit earlier if you can, I was blown away to arrive there & see the parking lot half full already with people having tailgate parties (just like in the movies). Just curious - do your kids like him? I'm sorry if I am rambling on a bit, but I am so excited for you! Have a brilliant time & I hope he puts on one of his legendary 3 hour shows for you!

OH what a shame that the dates didn't line up, isn't it always the way. Yes we are so excited. The kids like Bruce (don't love him, but like him) but my husband will work his magic over the next 3 months and by the time they get to the concert they'll know every song. We take the kids to live events as much as possible, esp DD and we are just a complete music family so they will love it I just know. It is the 2nd last concert ever at Giants stadium, the next night is the last and everything we've read says that it is fitting that Bruce is the last performer. I am so anxious about getting there and back I have to say. If it was just us going (no kids) we'd just wing it, but because we are taking our babies I'm concerned about getting home. I wouldn't want to walk out of a Sydney concert with out a ride home plan, so in another country, well I feel a little ill. I have looked into hiring a car and driver for the night and lets just say it's crazy expensive, but at the same time I would feel organised. With that said, it's hard to know when the concert will finish and you need to pay by the hour. Concert starts at 7.30, I was thinking to arrive at 7pm, Bruce probably won't come on until 9-9.30 I assume and if it goes for 3 hours, my it would be great but would throw the limo hire thing out the window. I'll be honest, I'm a bit nervous about how we are going to make this work.

Any tips would be great. I promise to tell you all about it when I get back okay.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

hi marc and welcome.

great stuff with the treasure hunt, they must have been blown away.

With LA, i was kind of leaning towards holiday inn walk of fame but a bit put off by only being 2.5 stars and a few reports of very thin walls, so started looking at both the sheraton and hilton universal. They only seem 5 or 10 mins from hollywood itself and I figure it will be good to be close to city walk and universal and we can catch a cheap cab to go into the city or the metro line which is only 1 stop from universal. It's not as if we are going to be enjoying the nightlife in hollywood, so at this stage Hilton Universal is looking good. It has really great reveiws and the price on their website is $170US or $200 for the executive level which includes breakfast. so would save a fair bit as well.

Comparing that to $270US for renaissance, over 4 days means $400US saving, and I just cannot see if the marriott is worth than much more.

Okay looking on Expedia today, Hilton is $814 for 3 nights and Renaissance is $863, would probably prefer to pay the extra $50. Haven't checked out the Sheraton yet though. Where are you getting the $200 inc. breakfast price from, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Okay looking on Expedia today, Hilton is $814 for 3 nights and Renaissance is $863, would probably prefer to pay the extra $50. Haven't checked out the Sheraton yet though. Where are you getting the $200 inc. breakfast price from, if you don't mind me asking?

Okay, by going directly to Renaissance website, and using my NRMA/AAA code, I can get it for $845 for 3 nights. You can also put in a request for early check in, which would be great for us because we fly into LA at 6.30am (yuk, but the cheap flights just worked that way). I like that Renaissance is more central than the Hilton at Universal. What do other's think? Does is matter where you stay when in LA?

 

[Czardas]

I am sticking with booking Renaissance as we wont have a car and it just seems to be the best location for us. The only problem is we will arrive late from Mexico so that's a nights a write off. We plan to stay for 2 nights and as Qantas don't fly out until 11pm ish we will try to get a late checkout.

Is anyone doing any tours in LA? We are going to do the Cardillac convertible 4 hour private tour. You can basically tell them what you want to see and leave it up to them from there ( I hate group tours). We will also be doing the segway tour to the Hollywood sign. We had such a blast on the Segway tour at Disneyland (actually Californian Adventure Park) that we couldn't wait to do it again.


Ms. Shuttergirl I am so glad you really got a buzz out of telling the kids they are going, wow they will be on such a high. Sounds like you got just as much out of it. After reading your post on asking for ideas, I popped over to youtube to watch other parents "breaking" the news and got such a laugh at watching as it sunk in that they were going. Priceless!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I am sticking with booking Renaissance as we wont have a car and it just seems to be the best location for us. The only problem is we will arrive late from Mexico so that's a nights a write off. We plan to stay for 2 nights and as Qantas don't fly out until 11pm ish we will try to get a late checkout.

Is anyone doing any tours in LA? We are going to do the Cardillac convertible 4 hour private tour. You can basically tell them what you want to see and leave it up to them from there ( I hate group tours). We will also be doing the segway tour to the Hollywood sign. We had such a blast on the Segway tour at Disneyland (actually Californian Adventure Park) that we couldn't wait to do it again.


Ms. Shuttergirl I am so glad you really got a buzz out of telling the kids they are going, wow they will be on such a high. Sounds like you got just as much out of it. After reading your post on asking for ideas, I popped over to youtube to watch other parents "breaking" the news and got such a laugh at watching as it sunk in that they were going. Priceless!

We would like to do a tour too in LA, and I totally agree, it won't be on a group tour. We were thinking of hiring a stretch limo, a friend just did this recently and said it was a blast. I love the idea of the Cadillac convertible, do you have a link for the company so I can check it out?

I haven't watched any of the Youtube things, I didn't want to confuse myself with too many ideas but I will definitely check them out now.

 

[kel77]

Hi everyone, just thought I'd pop in and say hi while I could :S I've been lurking in here reading the pages but have been having keyboard issues (or rather keyboard connection to computer issuses!) so haven't always been able to reply.

I love, love, love reading about all the planning going on. My plans are well underway - there are less than 2 months until we leave Aus!!!

Monday, (if I don't get called into work) I'll start packing the kids suitcases They don't need there Summer stuff now so, I thought I'd get a head start on the holiday packing Am going shopping for toiletries - deoderant, razors, hand sanitizer, hair brush, toothbrushes etc... - so I don't have to worry about leaving anything behind on the morning we leave. I really should make a proper list so I don't forget anything - I'm getting to excited to think straight

Oh, I also have to shop for a few supplies my Mum wants - Tim Tams, Tetley Allrounders, Fry's Turkish Delight and Maggi Beef Goulash recipe bases

Happy planning

 

[marvel]

Hi everyone.

I would book the renaissance for those prices, I just can't get it cheap for our dates so looking at all the options.

Let us know what tours/limo's you guys end up booking. I hadn't planned to do any as I can't work out what to see other than the stuff already in line like tar pits and observatory. The homes of the rich and famous are a waste of time IMHO, mostly just looking at fences and hedges of large homes, and most of the streets you aren't allowed to actually stop at so you have to drive past.

But would love to know where you guys want the drivers to take you. Always looking to add to the list.

good idea to pack early kel, we pledged to get everything ready weeks in advance, I really hate the last night packing till 3am and then travelling that morning! have done that a few times so far.