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

[dollarmite]

I know this sounds horrible but have any of you given your young children a little " something " to sleep on the plane ?
We will have a 3 , 5 , 7 and 9 year old on a 12 hr flight and need some ideas

Is their first time on a plane? The novelty of that might keep them entertained for a while, and then hopefully boredom will send them to sleep.

I've found that portable DVD players (with headphones) and Nintendos (on mute) are great We also found being strapped into airline seats was a great time/place for making the kids do any schoolwork we took with us.

DS12 was 17 months when we took him to the US for the first time. He was an extremely active child and I was dreading the flghts (10 in all). I tried him with phenergan (antihistemine) a week prior to our departure.

He was that 1 in 100 that it made hyper. Thank heavens we tried it before we left and not on the plane! So, I started to stress, but miracle of miracles, as soon as we boarded each plane he'd fall straight asleep. He slept 12 hours between Sydney-LAX-Sydney. The trouble is DH and I can't sleep on planes, so a wide awake toddler and 2 exhausted parents made an interesting combination once we arrived at the hotel.

 

[becpee]

I know this sounds horrible but have any of you given your young children a little " something " to sleep on the plane ?
We will have a 3 , 5 , 7 and 9 year old on a 12 hr flight and need some ideas

This is something i'm still thinking about, with a 3 year old who doesn't stop he may need it (or I may need it).
One of my friends suggested Phenergan, her mum is a nurse and they used to travel alot (ex army) so she used to give them Phenergan on long haul flights, beware though because apparently it can have the opposite effect, so maybe a good idea to test it out first....

 

[dollarmite]

As to everything being near Sydney....so are you telling me Brisbane isn't near Sydney!!! How about Perth???? I was sure it was part of the Western suburbs of Sydney!!!

Well, according to Delta it probably is!

 

[melbarkwith]

I know this sounds horrible but have any of you given your young children a little " something " to sleep on the plane ?
We will have a 3 , 5 , 7 and 9 year old on a 12 hr flight and need some ideas

Not at all horrible I have a really bad reaction to Phenergan (hallucinations), so I've been told never to give it to my kids.

However, my middle DD has terrible eczema and there is an antihistamine called Polaramine which works fabulously for stopping her scratching. It also has the added side effect of completely knocking her out for quite a while. I may have been known to give this to other children in my house when they just.can.not.sleep I'm seriously considering taking this with me for the flight - actually should go and check the size of the bottle.

Dimetapp used to make my older DD quite drowsy when she was younger.

 

[Jade+3]

I hope your Delta flights go well next week. How long are you staying at WDW for?

Stupid me booked the red eye. We land at 6am, and our condo at Windsor Hills is not available until 4pm. I should have checked the availability before I booked the flight. At least the kids should sleep.

We are in Orlando for 2 weeks. I have 7 day WDW tickets, that I will add days too if we need it. DH would freak if he was at WDW the whole time, so planning a couple of day trips for some boy stuff - most likely Daytona and Kennedy Space Center. I also wouldn't mind checking out the airboats, and of course some shopping.

I also hate Delta's website. I can never find the info that I need.

 

[Jade+3]

I know this sounds horrible but have any of you given your young children a little " something " to sleep on the plane ?
We will have a 3 , 5 , 7 and 9 year old on a 12 hr flight and need some ideas

I spoke with the kids peaditrician about Phenergan, and he warned that altitude could make them hyper instead of sleepy. Knowing my luck, that would happen to us.

I am taking plenty of food. I have brought the kids their own smaller kiddie sized headphones and a few colouring books etc. They will have a late night the night before, and will have to be up early the day off the flight, so fingers crossed that they will be stuffed.

DD was 3 on her last trip, and we had no problems with her at all. She was happy to watch TV the whole time.

It is a pity that the Brisbane departures are daytime flights. Night is so much easier.

 

[aussiegirls]

Sorry to change subject but I have a question about LAX for those that have been there.

I have been told that LAX is horrible. That there is virtually nothing there and that waiting there is about as exciting as watching paint dry. When we fly out it will be quite late at night. And the thought of waiting for 3 hours in a boring (and maybe scary) airport late at night with 2 kids is not thrilling me. So do you think that it would be worth my while to buy passes into an airline lounge? Alaska Air has a lounge in the terminal I need to leave from that I can buy passes into so I am wondering if it would be better to be able to be in there at night than sitting around the airport.

Any thoughts???

xxxx

 

[melbarkwith]

From what I remember, Burger King IS the entertainment at the LAX departure terminal.

Quite honestly though, by the time we had checked in, gone through security (so much fun taking off your shoes with a sleeping baby in a sling) and got some dinner, the time went pretty quickly. I think we bought some last minute chocolate (as you do!) and the kids were chatting to some flight attendants who were sitting near us. We were so stuffed from our trip, that it was fairly easy to sit and veg while we waited. I did buy them a colouring book at Disneyland, and they hadn't seen that so it filled in some time.

 

[Jade+3]

I remember the time in the departure lounge going quickly too. It took forever too go through security. The terminal was being renovated and there was nowhere to buy anything to eat or drink once through security. The kids ended up falling asleep on the floor.

 

[dollarmite]

Sorry to change subject but I have a question about LAX for those that have been there.

I have been told that LAX is horrible. That there is virtually nothing there and that waiting there is about as exciting as watching paint dry. When we fly out it will be quite late at night. And the thought of waiting for 3 hours in a boring (and maybe scary) airport late at night with 2 kids is not thrilling me. So do you think that it would be worth my while to buy passes into an airline lounge? Alaska Air has a lounge in the terminal I need to leave from that I can buy passes into so I am wondering if it would be better to be able to be in there at night than sitting around the airport.

Any thoughts???

xxxx

You've been told right, unfortunately. I once had to spend 8 hours there and just about went out of my mind due to boredom (and lack of sleep).

For such a busy/major airport it's amazingly underwhelming and under resourced.

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

We're back!

Absolutely LOVED Disneyland. Can't wait to go back one day. I've decided we're definately going back when we have kids. It's so much fun! We got sick on day 3 at Disneyland with suspected swine flu and were in bed for 3 days! We were really sick for a week and couldn't do anything and still don't feel 100% now. So we only ended up doing 2 and a half days at Disneyland and half a day at DCA. I think we managed to only do about 4 rides at DCA and my fiance didn't even get past the Hollywood backlot. Sucked big time!! I spent a day walking around DL on my own while my fiance was sick in bed. I haven't seen him that sick for a long time. So make sure you take lots of medication with you and some of that antibacterial handwash to use all the time! We missed out on our tour of LA/Hollywood also as we were too sick to go!

So many great shops at Disneyland and downtown disney. I spent ages in the world of disney shop and bought heaps of cute stuff. We got the Disney version of the monopoly & cluedo games and the Haunted Mansion version of the game of life. Also got Mickey Mouse shaped pancake thingos to make Mickey shaped pancakes, Mickey shaped biscuit cutter, Mickey shaped egg rings and Mickey ice cube trays! Build a Bear in DTD is fantastic! So much cute stuff to choose from!

 

[Andona]

Sorry to change subject but I have a question about LAX for those that have been there.

I have been told that LAX is horrible. That there is virtually nothing there and that waiting there is about as exciting as watching paint dry. When we fly out it will be quite late at night. And the thought of waiting for 3 hours in a boring (and maybe scary) airport late at night with 2 kids is not thrilling me. So do you think that it would be worth my while to buy passes into an airline lounge? Alaska Air has a lounge in the terminal I need to leave from that I can buy passes into so I am wondering if it would be better to be able to be in there at night than sitting around the airport.

Any thoughts???

xxxx

Aussiegirls,
To some extent it depends whcih terminal you're flying out of. If its Tom Bradley International then there are several shops and some places to eat there. It also has a few shops etc prior to the security line ( landside) , whereas most of the other terminals have nothing at all on the landside and limited amounts of entertainment airside. Terminal 4 is a dump - there is very little to occupy your time. The last time we were in Terminal 4 we paid $75 for access to the American Airlines Admirals Club lounge - it was the only thing that made a 6 hour layover bearable.

This trip we spent some time in the Delta Terminal ( T5) and were reasonaly impressed - it's certainly better than T4 but still not heaps to entertain you.

On our trip home ( 7 days from now) we'll be coming out through T3 ( V Australia) I have no idea what that one is like as I've never been through there before.

Do you know what terminal you'll be waiting in?

Andona

 

[aussiegirls]

Andona we are flying out with V Australia too so I think we are in T3. As far as I am aware the only thing in that terminal is the Alaska Air Boardroom.

Welcome back Butterflykisses. Bummer about the flu!!!!

 

[gogo65]

When we spent 6 hours at LAX for our flight to Orlando, our kids found a powerpoint and plugged their portable DVD player in and watched a couple of movies, just make sure you have the US adaptor handy

Welcome back butterfly kisses

 

[LesleyP]

Well thanks to the fabulous advice of everyone here, I rang V Australia and they were able to change my flight, so I am now leaving direct from Brissie 2 days earlier!!

Now I just have to figure out what to do with 2 extra days in LA!

At the moment my return flight is still direct, but they changed the time and so I'm now leaving an hour later. I think I can handle that!!!

That totally sucks about being sick at Disney, butterflykisses! I am definitely getting the swine flu vaccination before I go.

 

[Jade+3]

Thats excellent that you could change.

Don't forget to change the dates on your travel insurance.

 

[queenie82]

Welcome back ~ButterflyKisses~
It is good to see a wonderful report in spite of being so sick!
I'm really sorry you got so sick though

I'm not going to get the vaccine but I think I'll take some Tamiflu with me incase

LesleyP...I really don't know what you could possibly do with 2 extra days in LA...hmmmm....yeah I just can't think of anything to do
Great news you got a direct!!
And yes don't forget to update the Travel Insurance!!

 

[aussiegirls]

I was thinking about getting the swine flu vaccine but then I thought that seeing as the kids can't get it (both under 10) there was hardly any point in just me getting it.

 

[Jade+3]

I was thinking about getting the swine flu vaccine but then I thought that seeing as the kids can't get it (both under 10) there was hardly any point in just me getting it.

Same here.

 

[Kalice]

Just wondering, do you take your own vegemite with them? (I can't manage for 5 weeks without it) Do you have trouble when you declare it? Should I try to remember where I put it so I can show off my good taste? Any other food items that you take?