Convinced the hubby he won't die on the flight to Disneyland. A May PTR

[Caroline NZ]

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[Caroline NZ]

enjoying the PTR. I find it funny that so many of us on DIS have a trip coming up and then another one already in the back of our minds ! we go to LA in 55 days but already I am thinking 2014 WDW !

We are another family going to Disneyland this year and then to WDW ( our first time!) in 2014.
Can't wait to experience WDW!

 

[aussie shaz]

Thanks everyone. I just can't get WDW out of my head! That's my problem, once I want to do something, I just have to do it. Luckily I have a husband that's pretty laid back, and MOST of the time, just agrees

I have been making comments and showing pictures to hubby when I see or hear something that he might like.

I have been looking at the Nick Hotel as an option, either instead of or as well as a Disney hotel. It is so cheap with heaps of kids activities. My kids love Nickelodeon. Great to hear too, that even the teenagers enjoy it . Mine would be 11 and 13 next year, or a year older if we put it off until 2015.

I could deal with waiting until 2015 if that's what it would take to get me there. I'm hoping for September next year though.

I'm always planning my next holiday before I leave for the current one. It gets me through the post Disney blues when I come home.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Thanks everyone. I just can't get WDW out of my head! That's my problem, once I want to do something, I just have to do it. Luckily I have a husband that's pretty laid back, and MOST of the time, just agrees

I have been making comments and showing pictures to hubby when I see or hear something that he might like.

I have been looking at the Nick Hotel as an option, either instead of or as well as a Disney hotel. It is so cheap with heaps of kids activities. My kids love Nickelodeon. Great to hear too, that even the teenagers enjoy it . Mine would be 11 and 13 next year, or a year older if we put it off until 2015.

I could deal with waiting until 2015 if that's what it would take to get me there. I'm hoping for September next year though.


I'm always planning my next holiday before I leave for the current one. It gets me through the post Disney blues when I come home.

Aussie Shaz, I am planning the same as you, thinking about next years trip as well as this years. Our kids will be similar ages too for their first trip to WDW in 2014 ( they will be aged 12 & 10)

 

[hjd0411]

I'll be reading along with another trip report!!
Alas I have no trip planned at this stage - might have to be 2015 - just not sure yet!!

 

[marvel]

We may have to arrange a meet in wdw sep 2014!

 

[aussie shaz]

I've only just got hubby to agree to go today, but you know I've got it all planned out already

Do you know what dates you will be going? Just looking at airfares for this year, we may need to go outside the school holidays. I can't bear to pay nearly double just because it's school holidays! Need to work out if it's ok to take DS1 out of his first year of high school though.

I really, really want to o during Halloween. Not sure if the party would be worth the extra, but my kids would loove to trick or treat.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm taking my DS out of year 7 this year. He'll miss a week either side of the September school holidays.

 

[aussie shaz]

This is kind of turning into a WDW 2014 PTR

Looks like I've decided to do WDW late October 2014 and take the kids out of school for about 2 1/2 weeks. Holidays for me will be easier, and we can get to do both Halloween AND Christmas.

I'm very excited and having trouble sleeping

 

[aussie shaz]

So, tomorrow is BBQ dinner with the friends who are coming with us for the first 5 nights of the trip. Son is great friends with their daughter. I'm pretty good friends with the Mum, and we've met the Dad a few times. They are such a lovely family. I just wonder if their idea of doing Disney will be similar to ours.

I think I'll find out the things they want to do (seeing they only have 5 nights), and if we also want to do them, we'll plan on doing them together. If we have things that we want to do, but they don't (or they don't have time for), we'll do them in the next 9 days.

I'll just go with the thought that we'll see how things turn out when we get there. We'll probably do most things together, but don't want to be in each others pockets the whole time. Also, we will have a car, and I don't think they are planning to. So we might go further afield, say for lunch at In and Out Burger (Yumm) whereas they might walk somewhere locally.

I did think we could hire a minivan instead of a sedan, so we could all get places, but it's more expensive. If they need a car they can hire one! (Even though the minivan would have extra room to hold all our luggage on the way back to the airport)

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope it works out with the other family.

 

[aussie shaz]

Planning BBQ tonight. Looks like we're all on the same page

I did save them nearly $500 by suggesting a Southwest direct flight from San Diego to Las Vegas. They went onto the Webjet site and were going to pay $241pp one way, with one stop! With Delta. The other option on the site was direct with Spirit Airlines(???) for $121pp. Looked at reviews for them and they look pretty dodgy. Anyway, Southwest was about $82pp. Just shows how the Dis and places like Tripadvisor can save you money.

So, they bought their 5 day hoppers off the Disneyland website. At least if prices go up, they're good to go.

Decided we'd like to see a baseball game, so will look that up.

They will do both Minnie's breakfast and Goofys dinner with us.

We'll also share the Photopass Plus that I've already purchased.

We discussed movies we all need to watch (or re-watch) before we go. Star wars, Indiana Jones, Cars just to name a few.

At least now I have an idea what we'll do together, I can plan my days a bit more.

14 weeks to go! (or 97 days, not that I'm counting)

 

[aussie shaz]

90 days to go! I'm so jealous of those who have like 2 weeks to go (or really anything less than 90 days!)

I made another Disney store purchase. 25% off is just too good to go past. Even though last time I made my order I was sure there was nothing else I wanted.

I got the kids a personalized beach towel each, a Personalised Perry the Platypus cap for DS1, a couples of t shirts for the kids (so cheap) and a Mickey spoon measuring set for me (so cute!) So far 5 parcels will be waiting for us.

I had ordered some pins for the kids to trade when we get to Disneyland. I shared them out last weekend and they swapped between each other and decided which ones they wanted to keep. I realized that they really need more than about 6 each, especially when they want to keep a couple. So I ordered more. We didn't pin trade last time, but I think it will be fun.

Today I showed DS2 (9) a video of Jedi training academy because he was unsure if he wanted to do it or not. He watched and decided he wouldn't. At least I won't need to stress about whether he will or won't do it. I asked DS1 (12) and he said he would do it no matter how good or lame it might be! At least I'll get some good Photopass photos of him.

So that's about all that's happening here. Another month or so and we'll have to start watching the compulsory Disney movies on the list. I think we'll leave Cars till last, so it's fresh in our minds.

 

[aussie shaz]

I think it's time to get some cash!

The dollar isn't looking too good at the moment and is supposed to keep going down, however slowly.

We'll use the credit card for most things, but obviously need cash too. We got it at the Post Office last time.

Any suggestions where may give us the best rate?

 

[Busy Busy]

It definitely feels like the time to do it. I want the dollar to go back up to $1.08 like it was when we went in 2011 - I was such a happy shopper on that trip!!

We did the card from the post office last time, and they have changed it to make it more secure since 2011. They needed to - our card was skimmed while we were in WDW - we think it was when we paid for dinner at Downtown Disney. I was at the Grand Floridian gift shop with my daughter a few days later and my card wouldn't work - - I couldn't believe it. I charged my stuff to the room (couldn't leave without it!!!), then DH spent about 3 hours that night getting to the bottom of it.

By the time we had realised that the money was gone, somebody had been on a big old shopping spree at a Target in TEXAS!! They made about 24 purchases with the card, all about $100 each, until the card ran out of money. Ick - what a horrible feeling. We got the money back through our travel insurance, and we learned a HUGE lesson - pay CASH in restaurants!!!

 

[aussie shaz]

Wow. That is terrible. What did you do for money after that. You wouldn't want to re-load it?

We use credit card absolutely everywhere, and have once been victim to I guess skimmers. Don't know how it happened, but the bank cancelled the card, called us to confirm it wasnt us, then refunded the money back. It was a pain though.

We might need to make our last day a shopping day, so we can use up any unused cash. I hate having to lose money on changing it back to AUD. I'd rather spend it! I was disappointed last time that the airport at LAX didn't have many shops to spend my last cash in. I guess that's one of the downfalls of flying Virgin!

Must remember to tell the banks we're going on holidays too. Is it too early yet?

 

[battymum]

Oh busy busy, that's my worst nightmare. We used a travel card on our 2011 trip - but I don't like the idea of all out money being held electronically,
We pay cash for everything here at home.

Going to Japan is a whole different ball game - a lot of places don't take foreign cards - even travel cards - so it looks like wads of cash for us!!

 

[Busy Busy]

No - we didn't re-load it!! We used our other credit card and our debit card and they were fine - but it just felt awful. The upside was that when we came home and sorted it out with our travel insurance, we got a nice bunch of money credited to our account to replace what had been taken - we whacked it straight onto the credit card and things were back to normal.

We spent our last 4 days in Las Vegas in 2011, and will be doing the same thing again this time. It's a great way to get rid of any pesky spare cash!! Not by gambling, but by SHOPPING!! We loved the Premium Outlets and the Miracle Mile shops underneath Planet Hollywood, and we were very happy to fill another suitcase!! This time we will be staying at the Mirage (we think) which is very conveniently located right next door to the Fashion Show Mall!!! I love being such a good planner!!

I know what you mean about the Virgin terminal in LAX, we had dinner at the seafood restaurant there and that was the only place to spend any money!! I was a bit wary - a seafood restaurant in an airport - just before I get onto a 13 hour flight?? Things worked out fine though - and this time we will eat at the same place again - we are very lucky to be able to have eating at that restaurant in LAX airport as a tradition!!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Oh busy busy, that's my worst nightmare. We used a travel card on our 2011 trip - but I don't like the idea of all out money being held electronically,
We pay cash for everything here at home.

Going to Japan is a whole different ball game - a lot of places don't take foreign cards - even travel cards - so it looks like wads of cash for us!!

Re Japan-yes we used mostly cash we took with us rather than relying on getting money out of ATMs/cards as we usually do. We had our credit cards as back-ups and did use them but only occasionally eg when we needed to pay for our emergency accom the day the storm closed down all train lines for 18 hours.

 

[aussie shaz]

11 weeks to go!

I feel in a bit of a rut. There's really just nothing happening in the planning department. I'm still reading Disboards and Tripadvisor daily but that's about it. Not sure what the magic week will be when I can do more specific planning. Maybe when the calendar is released.

I still haven't ordered my cash yet. I look horrifyingly at the USD rate every night, while it dips quite quickly. Our friends got theirs a while ago and I felt quite smug thinking it would rise again before we left. All it's doing is falling
I'm at that point where I don't know whether to rush out and order it, and be disappointed at the rate, or wait and see if it'll come back. (with the good chance it will continue to drop)

I have said that I'd be happy if the dollar was at parity when we went, but I guess that's not really true. It was about $1.08 when we went last time. Now I'm wishing I had of booked and paid for the accommodation last year, not on arrival.