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

[gogo65]

Hey Gogo65...i can see you are online!!!!


Anyone interested in taking part in the DISUNPLUGGED aussie meet here are the details


Saturday the 19th is the winner! We're going to meet at 12.00 noon for lunch at James Squire's on King St Wharf, near Darling Harbour


Hey maybe this is a way to get our own forum...ask Pete himself!!!!

if you are coming let me know so i can let the organiser know numbers!

Jess

Just a little background about Jess(downunder) and myself.
We met on the dis in 2007 while planning our trips to WDW in the Jan of 08.
We realised that we were both going to be in WDW at the same time, so started PM'ing each other, after a few conversations we realised that we lived 5 minutes apart. So we decided to meet for coffee, well that is nearly 2 years ago and we now both have a good friend that loves disney in fact we just met this week for coffee.
So its nice to know that you can really meet nice people that can become good friends right here on the dis.

 

[keptwoman]

Please tell me about your tripit feature on your iphone

www.tripit.com is the main website. You can just forward your confirmation emails there. I've added in attractions and plans for days where we have plans.
Then the app is just called tripit and it's a freebie. There are other apps that cost and also sych with Tripit but I couldn't figure out what they gave me that the free one doesn't; there must be something because my friend got two others but I'm good with the tripit app. I've got a few guidebook apps and a GPS one too which might come in handy. The only issue is the data cost: very very expensive!! I'm trying to only get apps that can be used without network data.

 

[kylieh]

Hey Gogo65...i can see you are online!!!!


Anyone interested in taking part in the DISUNPLUGGED aussie meet here are the details


Saturday the 19th is the winner! We're going to meet at 12.00 noon for lunch at James Squire's on King St Wharf, near Darling Harbour


Hey maybe this is a way to get our own forum...ask Pete himself!!!!

if you are coming let me know so i can let the organiser know numbers!

Jess

I must send my apologies - DD's birthday party day. But thank you for letting us all know.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Does anyone know whether you can put a worldwide Sim card into an iphone?

We can't put our phones on International roaming because both of our phones are used heavily for business and we couldn't cope with the charges from all of those calls. So we ideally would like to pop the worldwide sims we bought into our iphones but I heard that maybe you can't do that?

If that's the case I've got a couple of old phones we can use but would prefer to take the iphones.

 

[dave73]

I would always suggest printing off all your confirmations and tickets. I have never needed them but it's good piece of mind should something happen. I also email everything to my webmail account so I have access to them oveseas should my copies get lost or go missing.

In '05 at the end of our trip we were booked in to the Holiday in San Fran near China town, booked in for 6 nights. At check in we were told they were closing the hotel in 2 days as a new hotel was being built. Luckily they put us up at another Holiday Inn. But the travel wholesaler (Infinity) had not advised us, according to the hotel we should of been.

We were lucky as the cost was covered, but had no other hotel been available we would of spent time looking for another hotel and having to pay for that, eating into our spending money. it had the potential for ruining our trip.

We will take a copy each of our documents and leave a copy with our folks back here so they can also fax them if needed. I would rather spend the extra time to have all bases covered so I don't have to worry while away.

What I do is call the hotel and tour company's we have organised or any bookings a couple of days before arriving just to ensure it's on their system. We need to book so far in advance for some things I like to know they haven't 'lost' us in the system. This way I am assured when we arrive there is unlikely to be any issues.

I understand things go wrong and accept that. As long as it can be rectified with minimal disruption, a bit of planning can save a heap of grief.

For me all the pre planning is half the fun also.

 

[keptwoman]

Does anyone know whether you can put a worldwide Sim card into an iphone?

We can't put our phones on International roaming because both of our phones are used heavily for business and we couldn't cope with the charges from all of those calls. So we ideally would like to pop the worldwide sims we bought into our iphones but I heard that maybe you can't do that?

If that's the case I've got a couple of old phones we can use but would prefer to take the iphones.

Ms Shuttergirl, I looked into this a lot a few months ago so I'm a bit rusty. First of all you would need to have your telco unlock your phone, and you may have to pay a fee. Once it's unlocked (which can take a few days apparantly) you need to plug your phone into itunes and reset it, from experience that can take quite some time, mine took over an hour. So it's not something to be done on the day before you leave. Then you could try the Worldwide Sim and see if it works.
A friend is also currently travelling with her iPhone and she also did not want international roaming. She chose to buy Vodaphone prepay cards and put them in the phone, there was something to do with data but I can't remember if it was very expensive or you couldn't have it.
In the US is only one iPhone carrier, AT&T. I know there is another telco or two that support GSM but a lot use a different system. You can absolutely buy an AT&T prepaid card and put that in your phone, the data is USD10/MB so it's not something you would want to use a lot but at least it would give you data connectivity.
We decided to stick with our Telstra sims at the appalling data rate of $15/MB. We just won't be using data unless we have WiFi coverage. I may even delete most of the data-using apps so that I can't click them by accident. Apparantly the biggest danger is the email app because if you open it it starts downloading the email details andyou can't stop it.
I don't know if that's any help at all, none of it is simple.

 

[Ihaveamickeymousekid]

Hi Everyone

We are getting our ANZ travel card today

The dollar is going ok and for our $5000 AUD we are putting on we get over $4000 USD which is what i wanted.

I'm scared that we will do it and the dollar will jump but i guess if you get too greedy you can loose out.... i'm just going to do it

A little over a month and a half now getting excited

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Ms Shuttergirl, I looked into this a lot a few months ago so I'm a bit rusty. First of all you would need to have your telco unlock your phone, and you may have to pay a fee. Once it's unlocked (which can take a few days apparantly) you need to plug your phone into itunes and reset it, from experience that can take quite some time, mine took over an hour. So it's not something to be done on the day before you leave. Then you could try the Worldwide Sim and see if it works.
A friend is also currently travelling with her iPhone and she also did not want international roaming. She chose to buy Vodaphone prepay cards and put them in the phone, there was something to do with data but I can't remember if it was very expensive or you couldn't have it.
In the US is only one iPhone carrier, AT&T. I know there is another telco or two that support GSM but a lot use a different system. You can absolutely buy an AT&T prepaid card and put that in your phone, the data is USD10/MB so it's not something you would want to use a lot but at least it would give you data connectivity.
We decided to stick with our Telstra sims at the appalling data rate of $15/MB. We just won't be using data unless we have WiFi coverage. I may even delete most of the data-using apps so that I can't click them by accident. Apparantly the biggest danger is the email app because if you open it it starts downloading the email details andyou can't stop it.
I don't know if that's any help at all, none of it is simple.

Keptwoman, I swear my eyes glazed over and I got a headache reading all of what I would have to do to make the iphones work . Is it seriously that complicated? Wow.

It seems it would be worth it if we wanted to use them for the internet, however we will be taking our laptop and using wifi where possible so i think the easiest solution will be to just take the other old phones i have, and leave the iphones at home.

What do you think?

Thanks so much for sharing all of that info by the way. I really appreciate it.

 

[melbarkwith]

Hi Everyone

We are getting our ANZ travel card today

The dollar is going ok and for our $5000 AUD we are putting on we get over $4000 USD which is what i wanted.

I'm scared that we will do it and the dollar will jump but i guess if you get too greedy you can loose out.... i'm just going to do it

A little over a month and a half now getting excited

Wooohooo! How exciting. And at least if the dollar nosedives, you'll be laughing I need to organise the rest of our spending money soon too.

Mel

 

[Ihaveamickeymousekid]

Thanks its making me feel like its more real.

I also just called and made my Priority Seatings!! I swear i almost cried i was so excited.

The only thing i realised after i hung up was that i booked Goofys Kitchen for 4 people my mum included but then realised she is not coming and we will have the voucher from our travel agent, so you think that they will care if we turn up with a party of 3 not 4?

Maybe i should call back...

 

[platypus67]

Ms shuttergirl You may be able to enable roaming and redirect all incoming voice calls to voice mail and receive only text messages. This way you can still use your phones to dial out and anyone you want to be able to reach you when you are away can send a text and then if needed you can call them back.
I have the two phones as well for business, but I only give out the one number. I re-direct everything to the one phone so when I am overseas I can remove or change the re-direction and still have the use of a phone without worrying about anyone calling regarding business.

 

[Ihaveamickeymousekid]

ok stress head i am called back and changed it to 3 of us.

Hopefully the phone bill isn't huge or hubby will kill me

 

[keptwoman]

Keptwoman, I swear my eyes glazed over and I got a headache reading all of what I would have to do to make the iphones work . Is it seriously that complicated? Wow.

It seems it would be worth it if we wanted to use them for the internet, however we will be taking our laptop and using wifi where possible so i think the easiest solution will be to just take the other old phones i have, and leave the iphones at home.

What do you think?

Thanks so much for sharing all of that info by the way. I really appreciate it.

they don't make it easy do they!
Honestly, I'd unlock and try the Worldwide Sim, it would allow you to use all the wonderful bits that the phone has to offer for travel. Then if for some reason that doesn't work you could buy the AT&T cards.
We are also taking the laptop, but the phone has so much on it I just can't bear to leave it behind. Because we are sticking with our Telstra sim, we are also buying a couple of cheapie prepaids over there so that we can call each other for a decent price (and as I type that I'm rethinking that decision for the 50th time...should we just get them unlocked and get the AT&T sim )

 

[keptwoman]

Ms shuttergirl You may be able to enable roaming and redirect all incoming voice calls to voice mail and receive only text messages. This way you can still use your phones to dial out and anyone you want to be able to reach you when you are away can send a text and then if needed you can call them back.
I have the two phones as well for business, but I only give out the one number. I re-direct everything to the one phone so when I am overseas I can remove or change the re-direction and still have the use of a phone without worrying about anyone calling regarding business.

Oh that sounds like a brilliant option! Much easier

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Hi Everyone

We are getting our ANZ travel card today

The dollar is going ok and for our $5000 AUD we are putting on we get over $4000 USD which is what i wanted.

I'm scared that we will do it and the dollar will jump but i guess if you get too greedy you can loose out.... i'm just going to do it

A little over a month and a half now getting excited

I did this same thing nearly a month ago and I have stopped looking at the exchange rates all of the time I do check it once a week though, just for interest. I have never regretted doing it when I did. I figure that anything over .80c was a bonus, I believe I was lucky to exchange when it was around .83c

The one mistake I made though was I didn't realise that fees applied for subsequent deposits into the card so I didn't put the whole amount on first time. But I decided not to dwell on it, hehe.

I deposited $11,000AU and got around 9k US. It will be interesting to see if that amount of money lasts us. My family goes a little crazy when we go on holidays But we have credit cards as back ups plus $600US in cash.

I can't get over how like Monopoly money the US notes are. We were given all brand spanking new notes and they are so stuck together I fear I will hand over too much money when I actually have to start using it.

My 7 year old DS wondered if we might take the money out of our Monopoly games and take that too

 

[platypus67]

Ms Shuttergirl I would also check that your telco doesn't have any hidden charges for this service. I'm with Virgin so I know I pay a little more to check messages from overseas, but it beats paying for calls.

 

[platypus67]

I've just booked my PS for The Blue bayou. We have a late lunch PS for October 14th at 2:10pm.
I also transferred to book Fantasmic Dessert Buffet for Oct 16th but appearently I can't book that until Sept 16th. Which will be the day before we leave.
Now I just have to remember to do so.

 

[keptwoman]

Hey guys I know others are going to NY. I hadn't heard of this place and apparantly the views are better, queues shorter and staff friendlier than the Empire State Building
http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Hey guys I know others are going to NY. I hadn't heard of this place and apparantly the views are better, queues shorter and staff friendlier than the Empire State Building
http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/

I had heard this too Keptwoman so mentioned it to my DH. It's funny he doesn't seem as excited about this holiday as me, he's not a gusher that's for sure, hehe, but he straight away said that if we are going to New York, we are going up the Empire State Building. So I guess that's what we are doing, hehe. Will just have to arrive really early.

For those going to New York I came across this cute idea the other day that I just love. There is a Hershey store in Times Square, actually right next door to where we are staying which is convenient. Apparently you can go inside and pay 5 bucks and they will put a personal message on their neon sign for you. My kids would just flip if they saw their names up in lights in the middle of Times Square. And of course, what a great photo op.

 

[Flea]

Buy yourself the 50mm 1.8, rather than the 1.4 and it is cheap as chips. I think they are only $169. If you bought one in the US it would be heaps cheaper too. The 50mm's are brilliant for just about anything.

Ok I'm almost ready to buy this lens.....they are about $170 in NZ so it fits in the budget before we go....

Do the hard sell on me hehe - why should I get this lens apart from price. I have a the 18-55mm lens and the 55-200mm lens that came with the camera. What is the benefit of having a 50mm at disneyland?? I'm by no means a photographer but I do love taking fun photos of my kids etc and like them to look nice. I don't use a flash if I can help it as I like the natural light in my photos and the softness it seems to give (and I can't afford a decent flash yet...maybe while we are away I'll have a looksie).

I was almost considering getting a 28mm-200mm as I thought it would be a carry one lens only type of job but I'm guessing that's not right.