DL Oct/Nov 2014

[hellosue]

Hi Everyone, I need help! I have read so many reviews (outside of Disboard) and now come to the experts....

1/ VAust v Air New Zealand v Delta v United v Qantas
my requirements: (Economy)Good seating I am not skinny or short/Food/Entertainment/Service

2/ spending 12 days in Anaheim then traveling 15 days then returning to Anaheim having another 2 days at DL
? Tickets ? is it worth buying a Premium Annual Ticket x 3

3/ Staying at Desert Inn & Suites C1 Family - 2 rooms
Has anyone stayed here - what's it like?

Thanks in advance

 

[PrincessInOz]

Have a great time planning!

Hi Everyone, I need help! I have read so many reviews (outside of Disboard) and now come to the experts....

1/ VAust v Air New Zealand v Delta v United v Qantas
my requirements: (Economy)Good seating I am not skinny or short/Food/Entertainment/Service

It may come down to price and what your preference is. I'm not fond of United as at the time of my previous travels, they don't have in-seat entertainment. But that is a very personal preference.

I've travelled ANZ, Qantas and VAust. All have the good and not so good. I've never done Delta; but they codeshare with VAust and might offer a cheaper price for the same flight as VAust.

2/ spending 12 days in Anaheim then traveling 15 days then returning to Anaheim having another 2 days at DL
? Tickets ? is it worth buying a Premium Annual Ticket x 3

I'm not sure if anyone offers a 14 day ticket anymore. I think the longest we can get is 10 days; and that would normally have a use within 14 days of the first date stamp?

That being the case, it would be beneficial to purchase the Annual Pass.

Have you checked out the block-out dates of the Deluxe Annual Pass against your travel dates? It may be that there are no block-out dates for your duration. In which case, it would be even more worth your money to get the Deluxe. I just took a quick look and it seems that for October/November the only 3 blockout dates for the Deluxe Pass are 27, 28, 29 November.

If your dates don't cover this period, I would consider the Deluxe instead of the Premium. There is a $170 difference in price between the two tickets. That's a total difference of $510 for 3 people. Unless you're spending a LOT on souvenirs and food and parking everyday, it may be a better option.

3/ Staying at Desert Inn & Suites C1 Family - 2 rooms
Has anyone stayed here - what's it like?

Thanks in advance

I'll pass on this one. I haven't stayed there.

 

[zanzibar138]

1/ VAust v Air New Zealand v Delta v United v Qantas
my requirements: (Economy)Good seating I am not skinny or short/Food/Entertainment/Service

The only one of them I wouldn't fly with would be United, due to the no entertainment thing. I've done long haul on Virgin and Qantas and enjoyed it, Delta is a code-share with Virgin so that wouldn't be a problem. Haven't flown ANZ personally, but have heard good things about them.

2/ spending 12 days in Anaheim then traveling 15 days then returning to Anaheim having another 2 days at DL
? Tickets ? is it worth buying a Premium Annual Ticket x 3

If you plan to spend all that time in the park, you would need to buy APs of some description. I'm no expert on them, but if the block-out dates aren't going to be a problem, I'd go with the deluxe.

3/ Staying at Desert Inn & Suites C1 Family - 2 rooms
Has anyone stayed here - what's it like?

We're staying there on our next trip. I'll be writing up a TR, but unfortunately it won't be until September, which is probably too late to be much use to you. We're staying in a Family Parlor Suite with my parents. Looks like we'll have 2 very early morning starts (ie 4am ), so location was a high priority for us!

 

[hellosue]

Thanks,

I didn't know how long a 10 day pass would last ..... so now going for Deluxe AP .... no blackout days during our stay.... yipee!

 

[Tashinwdw]

Annual Pass sounds like a good ideas, especially if you are intending to spend a lot of time at disney.

We flew Air New Zealand on our last trip and they were great, we were intending to use them again this year but decided to go Qantas as we got the exact same pricing and it meant we didnt have to sit around in the airport for the stopover. Since our last trip we had 9 flights we were so sick of waiting in airports we wanted to cut down on that as much as possible. Other than that, food was good, seating was reasonable for economy, inflight entertainment was good, a good range for adults and children. I must admit though, after such a long flight it didnt matter what entertainment they had we were all sick of being on the plane

Good luck with your planning

 

[zanzibar138]

Thanks,

I didn't know how long a 10 day pass would last ..... so now going for Deluxe AP .... no blackout days during our stay.... yipee!

 

[hellosue]

Great advice yet again....

Came across what I consider fantastic airfares last night ..... raced to travel agent this morning and through price match ..... secured 3 x Return Air New Zealand Mel-Lax for $1,128.00 each incl taxes.... I am one happy lady.... even beats my fares from 5 years ago...

Its official now .....

 

[zanzibar138]

Great advice yet again....

Came across what I consider fantastic airfares last night ..... raced to travel agent this morning and through price match ..... secured 3 x Return Air New Zealand Mel-Lax for $1,128.00 each incl taxes.... I am one happy lady.... even beats my fares from 5 years ago...

Its official now .....

Woohoo! Great price on airfares If Qantas don't come through with a comparable sale soon, we will be jumping on those ones too!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Finalising dates and I am on to them too. DH keeps thinking about Skycouch but it blows the savings - I am not convinced ($=spending money and I am the one who curls up anyway not him).

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Great advice yet again.... Came across what I consider fantastic airfares last night ..... raced to travel agent this morning and through price match ..... secured 3 x Return Air New Zealand Mel-Lax for $1,128.00 each incl taxes.... I am one happy lady.... even beats my fares from 5 years ago... Its official now .....

Yay, that's a great price.

Virgin had a similar special here in NZ a few months back if we were prepared to travel via Sydney. Unfortunately the AKL - SYD - LAX route is really quite long.
At least when you guys travel via AKL it doesn't involve the same amount of backtracking and makes Air NZ a very viable choice. They are a great airline and I think you'll be pleased.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Finalising dates and I am on to them too. DH keeps thinking about Skycouch but it blows the savings - I am not convinced ($=spending money and I am the one who curls up anyway not him).

Are you considering buying a skycouch for 2 people or 3?

I'm not convinced it would be worth the extra cost for two people unless you are very skinny, short people. Once the seats in front of you recline (and it's highly likely they will), your space becomes very limited. I'm not sure it would be possible for two adults to lie side by side without the one in front becoming crushed by the reclining seats. In saying that, if you're happy enough turning on a 90 degree angle and propping up your legs on or across the middle seat, then I guess it could be worth it. Just try not to view it as a bed-like option where you can lie your whole body flat as I think this would be difficult for much of the flight.

For the smaller cost (about $200 unless it's gone up) of buying the skycouch for a family of 3, then it's okay value. You can angle the leg rests at 60 degrees and it does make sitting more comfortable.

If you are a group of two and don't book the sky couches, I would consider the sets of two seats near the front of economy (Looking at seat guru, I think these are rows 34 and 35). The reason being is that they provide you with more aisle space. Aisles on the 777-300 are VERY narrow, and the person in the aisle seats can get their shoulders and ankles bumped if they protrude into the aisle. This is even more of an issue if you are located near the back of the plane where the bathrooms are. I had to make a real conscious effort not to bang all the sleeping passengers every time I went to the loo.
Economy passengers can not use the forward bathrooms, so rows 34 and 35 should have little thru traffic.

There is a longer review of Sky Couches on my blog.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Air NZ just came out top dog in an international airline ratings award. However Qantas gave them a run for their money winning the 'best economy' category. It's nice to know our ANZAC airlines are so highly regarded in the world

http://www.airlineratings.com/news/205/worlds-best-airlines-awarded-by-airlineratings

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Are you considering buying a skycouch for 2 people or 3?

I'm not convinced it would be worth the extra cost for two people unless you are very skinny, short people. Once the seats in front of you recline (and it's highly likely they will), your space becomes very limited. I'm not sure it would be possible for two adults to lie side by side without the one in front becoming crushed by the reclining seats. In saying that, if you're happy enough turning on a 90 degree angle and propping up your legs on or across the middle seat, then I guess it could be worth it. Just try not to view it as a bed-like option where you can lie your whole body flat as I think this would be difficult for much of the flight.

For the smaller cost (about $200 unless it's gone up) of buying the skycouch for a family of 3, then it's okay value. You can angle the leg rests at 60 degrees and it does make sitting more comfortable.

If you are a group of two and don't book the sky couches, I would consider the sets of two seats near the front of economy (Looking at seat guru, I think these are rows 34 and 35). The reason being is that they provide you with more aisle space. Aisles on the 777-300 are VERY narrow, and the person in the aisle seats can get their shoulders and ankles bumped if they protrude into the aisle. This is even more of an issue if you are located near the back of the plane where the bathrooms are. I had to make a real conscious effort not to bang all the sleeping passengers every time I went to the loo.
Economy passengers can not use the forward bathrooms, so rows 34 and 35 should have little thru traffic.

There is a longer review of Sky Couches on my blog.

Thanks WanderlustNZ. Yes I read your blog first and others and more or less thought not. It would have been for 2 of us with the aim to therefore guarantee a spare seat between us, room to curl legs up to the side (all I want to do as we don't really sleep) or prop 90 degrees as you said with legs up and bent or just to have a footrest for our short legs at 60 degrees. The trouble with the 2 seat pairs is generally by the time I get to booking (see faffed around for 3 days now) they are gone and I am not real keen on no stuff on the floor as I like to have my bag with meds, water, plain crackers, book, music etc with me and I use my shoes and bag and blankets as a pseudo foot rest where they don't come with the plane (ie most planes now).

Apart from them my preferred choice is a window seat as I lean against it and nap but DH wants an aisle with me next to him so only I have to go past him and he can get up whenever he wants (fussy him). I have read aobut the narrowness of the 300 aisles. I see if we go via San Fran one flight at the moment anyway is on the 200 which is the 3-3-3 config and wider aisle. It is interesting to hear though next time DD accompanies us we might be able to book a skycouch for 3 at a reasonable cost and at least me and her curl our legs up together with the footrest-we'd be happy!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Any event tomorrow night I will have time to book as hopefully get home from work a bit earlier and DH has times off work more or less OK'd-so the dilemma in and out of San Fran or LA? (I loved San Fran, would like a 2nd look but could depend on where I want to spend my spare week sightseeing - which item on the bucket list? before or after WDW/US-I will go dream on it!

and yeah-what is it with friends and travel? This sounds morbid and I don't mean it to be but my main 3 friend who loved talking travel like me died late last year - she fitted lots in at the last minute though-knew how to go out with fireworks. I just think of her now as if she's away on a trip somewhere-at WDW or photographing bears in Alaska - hard to believe she won't be back to share the adventure.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Any event tomorrow night I will have time to book as hopefully get home from work a bit earlier and DH has times off work more or less OK'd-so the dilemma in and out of San Fran or LA? (I loved San Fran, would like a 2nd look but could depend on where I want to spend my spare week sightseeing - which item on the bucket list? before or after WDW/US-I will go dream on it! and yeah-what is it with friends and travel? This sounds morbid and I don't mean it to be but my main 3 friend who loved talking travel like me died late last year - she fitted lots in at the last minute though-knew how to go out with fireworks. I just think of her now as if she's away on a trip somewhere-at WDW or photographing bears in Alaska - hard to believe she won't be back to share the adventure.

Good luck getting the exact flight you want.

Sorry to hear about your friend, but it's great that she lived well in the time she had. I have a friend with a lot of surplus savings who never does anything. She says that she would like to travel one day, but she is very financially 'responsible' and would rather do what her parents did (work and save hard her whole life and then relax and travel in retirement). Sometimes I want to shake her and say 'What if you never make retirement age'?
I'm not saying everyone should travel as much as we do, but I think it's so important to make special memories while you can. Not just for your own sake, but your kids. Who knows what is around the corner.

 

[hellosue]

Good luck getting the exact flight you want.

Sorry to hear about your friend, but it's great that she lived well in the time she had. I have a friend with a lot of surplus savings who never does anything. She says that she would like to travel one day, but she is very financially 'responsible' and would rather do what her parents did (work and save hard her whole life and then relax and travel in retirement). Sometimes I want to shake her and say 'What if you never make retirement age'?
I'm not saying everyone should travel as much as we do, but I think it's so important to make special memories while you can. Not just for your own sake, but your kids. Who knows what is around the corner.

WanderlustNZ thanks for your advice, I didn't go for skycouch because 1/ I couldn't find costing or option and my travel agent didn't know either 2/ My daughters are not short 5 9' and 5 8' and not skinny.... so I went into my booking and chose preferred seating .... I did choose row 35 2 seats and then 36 aisle to give them a bit of extra room.... We get to board in the first category as well... because of their "disability" which is an advantage of having a "disability".

 

[hellosue]

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