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

[melbarkwith]

How many times have you been to Disneyland?

DH & Me - this will be our fourth visit. First visit in 1998, second in 2000 (we took DH's 10 year old brother), then May 2007 with the kids and my mum.

DD8, DD6 and DD3 - second visit. Our youngest DD was just 11 months old last time, so she pretty much slept in the sling the entire time or cried when she saw Mickey However, she was VERY much in love with Minnie.

 

[melbarkwith]

Do you like your houses absolutely spotless before you go? I do and that just adds to the pressure. But it's so nice to come home to a clean home.

Yes, but I don't know why I'm bothering. DH's 19YO brother is staying here to look after our dog (and the house!). I know it won't be clean when we get back, or worse, we'll arrive home to MIL cleaning our house...

 

[queenie82]

Andona - OH NO!!! That really sucks. I hope it gets fixed quickly! I know I am errand girl in the weeks before we go anywhere because I'm usually not working then and yes you think of a million little things...and not all at once!
But thankfully you weren't hurt so that is the most important thing
[my mum loves retelling the tale of when she had a sewing needle go into her foot and break off just before leaving for a holiday so she had to have a wheelchair to and from the plane!]

jacs - DL-5, WDW-3, Paris-1, Tokyo-1. WDW and DL will be going up to 6 and 4 this next trip.
We have mostly done WDW and DL in the one trip except in 2000 during the olympics when we got cheap backfill fares and in 96.

I hope you guys leaving soon have an AMAZING time. I know I go through the massive panic and rarely sleep the night before so when the plane takes off there is this massive sigh *** even if you did forget something they ain't turning that plane around for you

 

[dollarmite]

How many times have you been to Disneyland?

1990 (with my dad)
1992 (with a friend)
1993 (with my 2 bridesmaids to be)
1994 (with DH - honeymoon)
1998 (with DH and DS1 then aged 17 months)

Can't wait to go back this time with DS2, (and DS1 and DH) who'll turn 9 during our trip.

I've told DS1, now aged 12, that if he starts screaming in terror at the characters like he did last time, that he's on his own. He's too big to carry now.

 

[jacs1234]

BTW I have three free child passes to Legoland California if anyone wants them ( one free child with one paying adult ), I can post them out to you , just PM me .

We worked out it was cheaper to go on a Grayline tour there instead of renting a car with the free tickets
Still have to figure out a way to get to In-n-out burger now

 

[darren123]

queenie82 are you planning to go to Hong Kong Disneyland in the near future. We went in Feb this year and had a great time spent 4 days in Hong Kong 2 days sightseeing and 2 days in the park. They had a 2 day pass for one deal we stayed at the Disney Hollywood Hotel it was amazing even through the park is small it took 2 days just to see everything.

 

[Andona]

Andona - OH NO!!! That really sucks. I hope it gets fixed quickly! I know I am errand girl in the weeks before we go anywhere because I'm usually not working then and yes you think of a million little things...and not all at once!
But thankfully you weren't hurt so that is the most important thing
[my mum loves retelling the tale of when she had a sewing needle go into her foot and break off just before leaving for a holiday so she had to have a wheelchair to and from the plane!]

Thanks Queenie Your story about you Mum reminds me of my friend that broke her foot just before the Sydney Olympics - they had tickets to several events and she was pushed to everything in a wheelchair!

I'm very thankful that the damage to the car (and me!) wasn't bad

The last minute panic is such a pain! Not only is it the preparations for the trip but I run my own business ( web design) and my clients always send me so much work to do in the last few days before the trip. One of them sent a great pile of stuff by courier today :-(

I've promised to take DS to see "UP" tomorrow but otherwise I'll be working all weekend.

Has anyone seen UP yet - It's had some really good reviews?

Andona

 

[melbarkwith]

Has anyone seen UP yet - It's had some really good reviews?

Andona

My 8YO DD saw it the other day with a friend and loved it. According to her friend's mum it was quite teary in parts, but DD thought it was fantastic.

 

[melbarkwith]

BTW I have three free child passes to Legoland California if anyone wants them ( one free child with one paying adult ), I can post them out to you , just PM me .

We worked out it was cheaper to go on a Grayline tour there instead of renting a car with the free tickets
Still have to figure out a way to get to In-n-out burger now

Jacs, did you go to Legoland on your last trip? If you did, what did you think of it? We are considering it, but are a little unsure since it's such a huge amount of money even for the Grayline tour.

 

[jacs1234]

Our boys LOVED lego land and we'll be going this time too.
We think it's worth the money. It's not as glamorous as Disneyland and doesn't have that "magic" but we still had an awesome time and it sure does beat the Aussie fun parks.

Some things seemed a bit dated especially compared to DL but it just seemed made for our kids.

 

[jacs1234]

I've promised to take DS to see "UP" tomorrow but otherwise I'll be working all weekend.

We saw it and the kids really enjoyed it. It's a bit sad but I don't know if the kids noticed that part.

 

[melbarkwith]

Our boys LOVED lego land and we'll be going this time too.
We think it's worth the money. It's not as glamorous as Disneyland and doesn't have that "magic" but we still had an awesome time and it sure does beat the Aussie fun parks.

Some things seemed a bit dated especially compared to DL but it just seemed made for our kids.

Thanks for the feedback We have decided to pass on San Diego Zoo etc (feel that Melb Zoo is *way* better) and we wanted to do something else.

 

[dollarmite]

Do you like your houses absolutely spotless before you go? I do and that just adds to the pressure. But it's so nice to come home to a clean home.

Yes, nothing like adding a bit of last minute pressure by cleaning the house from top to bottom.

Plus I don't want the lady who comes in to feed the cat to think we're pigs.

 

[Jade+3]

jacs1234, I have sent you a PM.

Does anyone else enter competitions where the prize is a trip to Disneyland? I have just entered the Home and Away one.

 

[aussiegirls]

Yep, I entered that same competition. They had it in the Sunday Telegraph last week. Had to write 25 words why you want to go. I won one of those 25 word comps once so I figured I should just give it a go.

Apparently V Australia is doing a complete Disney Experience charter flight in January and it will be full of people that have won their tickets. It's 5 days at DLH (I think) and a 5 day hopper, then home

xxx

 

[jacs1234]

just a side note, dh and I both share this user name here so if sometimes I sound a bit manly, then I probably am and if I sound a bit feminine, that's probably him too. Just joking. The girly threads are me lol. I hope we don't double up too much on what we say

 

[queenie82]

I've promised to take DS to see "UP" tomorrow but otherwise I'll be working all weekend.

Has anyone seen UP yet - It's had some really good reviews?

Andona

I saw UP yesterday and it is a beautiful story with sad and happy/sad and funny moments with amazing animation. I splurged seeing it in 3D which was very nice (even though the price is a bit steep).

It isn't my favourite Pixar movie. I know a number of people who it has become their fav though. Even in saying that though there is no bad pixar and this IS beautiful and I was crying in parts.

queenie82 are you planning to go to Hong Kong Disneyland in the near future. We went in Feb this year and had a great time spent 4 days in Hong Kong 2 days sightseeing and 2 days in the park. They had a 2 day pass for one deal we stayed at the Disney Hollywood Hotel it was amazing even through the park is small it took 2 days just to see everything.

We do plan to go there but we aren't going to make a special trip. It is so small and there are other things higher on the list of "to do." Plus with the expansion announced I may as well wait for that to finish.
If you ever get the opportunity you MUST go to Tokyo. There is a massive language barrier as nearly all the CMs don't speak english but it is amazing and beautiful (and ridiculously clean ) and the good old point on the map works wonders

 

[jacs1234]

We have decided to pass on San Diego Zoo etc

We're not doing the zoo either. We're there for 10 days and already seem so pressed for time. How will we fit it all in?

We made our ps's for the character breakfasts, blue bayou, cafe orleans and for bibbidy bobbidy today. We're getting closer and closer

 

[queenie82]

San Diego Zoo is very nice but we have pretty good zoos now as well. You aren't really missing anything.
I think the best place to see tigers remains Tiger Island at Dreamworld. The tigers at SanDiego are closer to you but behind glass.

And I agree Melbourne Zoo is pretty darn nice! We weren't planning to go there but we got the 3 zoo pass with Werribee and it was wonderful. I love the red pandas and tree kangaroos :

 

[darren123]

We do plan to go there but we aren't going to make a special trip. It is so small and there are other things higher on the list of "to do." Plus with the expansion announced I may as well wait for that to finish.
If you ever get the opportunity you MUST go to Tokyo. There is a massive language barrier as nearly all the CMs don't speak english but it is amazing and beautiful (and ridiculously clean ) and the good old point on the map works wonders

We were thinking of going over to Tokyo next year but were advised against because of the language barriers. Rather than to take our son it would be better for just the two of us to go to later. He was 9 when we went to Anaheim so it will be good for him to rekindle some of the memories he had back then.