First journey to the land of the mouse PTR

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Hello all, and welsome to my PTR! After months and months of planning and saving, we're almost there. Were counting down at 2 days to go, and I'm pretty much so excited I can't contain myself! I'm looking foward to sharing my first ever Disney experiance with you all when I get back

So were all booked Flying Air NewZealand, departing Auckland 22nd of April 2012 then departing LAX 3rd May 2012.
Were staying at the best Western Pavillions, which is a little further away than where we hoped to stay but was included in a package deal at a very cheap rate The more money we save elsewhere the more we'll have to spend at disney We're also booked on for a L.A/Hollywood tour

"Experience the highlights of Los Angeles during this one-of-a kind tour. View Los Angeles' most
fascinating and historical landmarks while taking in the sites of some of your favorite television shows and movies. Walk in the footsteps of some of Hollywood's most renowned celebrities at Mann's' Chinese Theatre. Explore trendy Venice Beach and Santa Monica's 3rd street Promenade with its many cafes and unique shops. Tour includes: Los Angeles, Olvera Street, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Sunset Strip, Farmers Market and The GROVE, Rodeo Drive and Melrose Avenue"

Now all thats left to book are our theme park tickets, which we will do when we figure out some form of an itinerary.

Stay tuned for more updates

*I thought i'd post kind of a 'final' update before we go, and tell you about my frustrating booking experience *

Sunday 22nd: Depart Auckland International Airport at 7.40pm New Zealand time, Arrive LAX 12.55pm Local time.

Monday 23rd: Disneyland, with W.O.C dinner reservations at Ariel's Grotto at 6.20pm for the 8.30pm show.

Tuesday 24th: Universal Studios.

Wednesday 25th: Shopping at The Block at Orange.

Thursday 26th: Have left this day free, but we want to find some markets to look around at.

Friday 27th: L.A/Hollywood tour with Southern California Greyline.

Saturday 28th: Sea World San Diego with Beluga whale encounter( Will go into more detail about this later)

Sunday 29th: Disneyland and DCA. Fireworls at 9.30pm and Fantasmic at 10.30pm

Monday 30th: Madam Tussards and some Los Angeles exploring!

Tuesday 1st: Disneyland and DCA

Wednesday 2nd: Shopping and maybe half day at Disneyland

Thuesday 3rd: Depart LAX 9.30pm, Arrive Auckland 5.30pm Don't have anything planned for this day as we want to be free to do some last minuite shopping and such.

**Beluga whale experiance**

Who knew it would be such an ordeal to book this! Went online to the Sea World San Diego website, and found the link easy enough. But when it came to chooseing wetsuit and shoe sizes I was baffled! I know you're probably thinking that choosing a shoe size sounds rediculous, but we have different sizing in New Zealand than the U.S does, so after much humming and haaring I decided on a 9.5. I hope this fits :/ Wetsuit sizing was really hard to figure out, as again, we have different sizing in new Zealand. I again, looked online and tried to match a height to weight ratio but came out of that more confused than I was in the beginning, and chose a size W10 with my fingers crossed that it's going to fit. After entering my credit card details, I then waited 45 mins for the page to load, and then crash, leaving me wondering weather I was actually booked or not. A short phone call to the bank later let me know that I had indeed been charged, but I don't have a booking confirmation number, or any proof apart from my credit card bill that i've actually payed. So, I got the number for sea world, went to call off my iphone (51. cents a minute) and got the after hours message (forgetting about the time difference) So I now have to wait until 11.30 NZ time to call and make sure i'm booked in to swim with the whales

Well, that's pretty much the only interesting stuff that I have until I start to pack, which will be an ordeal fit to document!!!

-Cass

 

[reyasmommy]

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Had my phone interview today, they told me they would be in touch at the end of the week to let me know if I got a face to face interview, I got a call 30 mins later asking if I can go in on Friday morning. Im excited!!!!

 

[JH87]

Congrats! And good luck on your interview!
I really hope it all works out for you.

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

I think my interview on Friday went well I find out in the next few days if I get the job or not. Fingers extra double crossed!!!

 

[shaz105]

Good luck

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

I got the job. YAY!
However, all along my intentions have been to go on my trip at the end of November this year, but my Mum did bring to my attention that I probably wont have any leave accumulated, so I might have to go on my trip in 2012 after all :/ Ill have a chat to the boss closer to the time, but for now, im still going to go ahead with planning my trip for November 2011

We were thinking of departing New Zealand on the 28th of November, which will probably put us arrving in Los Angeles on the same day (Darn time zones), we'll be super jet lagged! We're planning on spending 10?? days in california doing different things, 4 days of that being spent at Disneyland. Im not too sure what the crowds will be like at this time, hopefully not tooo big! I want to stay somewhere close to the parks, as my Nana will probably want to go back to the hotel for a rest during the day. The hotels that I have shortlisted are the Tropicanna, Carousel and HoJos. Any insight on previous experiances with the hotels would be helpful We're planning on doing a day of shopping, but im not too sure where the best shopping malls would be. There are afew stores that I want to go to in particular (Bath and Body works, M.A.C, Forever 21 and LUSH) but im not sure if there are any malls in O.C that have all of these in one place??

Well, thats me for today. I have to get ready for work (and hand in my 2 weeks notice..eep!) xox

 

[skiingfast]

Congradulations on the new job!

 

[blabbermouth]

Congrats on the new job!

HOJO is a great hotel and frequently recommended on the dis.

I think one of the closest big malls is the block at orange. It has a Forever 21 and Bath and Body Works. http://www.simon.com/mall/malldirectory.aspx?id=1236

The closest mall is Gardenwalk, but it wasn't very great when I was there. http://www.anaheimgardenwalk.com/shopping/?gid=11 It does have a Lush store though!

Also, downtown disney has a sephora which has tons of great makeup, but not MAC I don't think.

Hope you're able to get time off, if not November, maybe after you've been there for 6 months? So January?

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Thanks blabbermouth
How far do you reckon the walk from HoJos to the parks is?
Looks like I have afew options then! I'll have to hunt down a MAC store somewhere! Its so much cheaper in America than it is in New Zealand! there must be one somewhere, at LAX maybe? I love duty free stuff!

Yeah, he seems like a pretty reasonable guy (hopefully :s) I might just have to take leave without pay. EEPP! otherwise ill go on two trips in 2012, one in March and one in November

Hmm. I want one of these signature thingies!!!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Well, I found out today that i have to be employed by that company for 12 months before I get annual leave, but once I hit the 12 month mark I get 4 weeks holiday. This has both positives and negatives.

The Negatives:
- Ill have to wait a whole extra YEAR until I can go on my first ever trip to Disneyland
- I dont wanna wait that long (makes sad pouty face)

The positives:
-Because I get 4 weeks worth of holiday, instead of going for 10 days we might go for longer, make it a real big trip!
- I have a whole year to save! (More time to build up my spending money fund )

So now I feel kinda silly making this PTR so early, and you probably wont see much on here for a while (not that it got all that interesting to begin with ) However, when it gets closer to the time, prepare yourselves for an awesome PTR and TR!

xx (Seriously, who can make me one of those signatures!)

 

[skiingfast]

Thanks blabbermouth
How far do you reckon the walk from HoJos to the parks is?
Looks like I have afew options then! I'll have to hunt down a MAC store somewhere! Its so much cheaper in America than it is in New Zealand! there must be one somewhere, at LAX maybe? I love duty free stuff!

Hojo is about a 7 minute walk. Not bad if you are walking well at the end of the night. Only 3 or 4 minutes longer than the other places you mentioned.

The positives:
-Because I get 4 weeks worth of holiday, instead of going for 10 days we might go for longer, make it a real big trip!
- I have a whole year to save! (More time to build up my spending money fund )

xx (Seriously, who can make me one of those signatures!)

Those Pros look pretty good.

You can edit your signature. For a countdown ticker go to the site, hold cursor over most tickers to see the link, and get the code to paste yours into your signature. If you want a picture ask on the Creative Disigns board. http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=105

 

[Corbisblue]

Well, I found out today that i have to be employed by that company for 12 months before I get annual leave, but once I hit the 12 month mark I get 4 weeks holiday. This has both positives and negatives.

The Negatives:
- Ill have to wait a whole extra YEAR until I can go on my first ever trip to Disneyland
- I dont wanna wait that long (makes sad pouty face)

The positives:
-Because I get 4 weeks worth of holiday, instead of going for 10 days we might go for longer, make it a real big trip!
- I have a whole year to save! (More time to build up my spending money fund )

So now I feel kinda silly making this PTR so early, and you probably wont see much on here for a while (not that it got all that interesting to begin with ) However, when it gets closer to the time, prepare yourselves for an awesome PTR and TR!

xx (Seriously, who can make me one of those signatures!)

Waiting that long does suck BUT like you said there's more time to save money and you can take a longer trip!

Don't feel silly for making it so early. Planning a year ahead is not that far ahead. That's pretty normal for a lot of us. I'm very excited for you!

 

[ArdyG]

Good for you fellow Kiwi.

No worries about your trip being next year. I was supposed to go at the end of last year but am now going at the end of this year instead and wow, did the time fly.

Yes it was disappointing initially but it meant more time to plan and for you, as you've indicated, more time to save and more time to vacation. How exciting !!!

http://www.***********************/tickers/4c90u5cbf6dgf1ti.png

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Thanks ArdyG, i'm really excited. Probably because I know that it's definately going to happen this time!

So im about to make a trip countdown calander (yes, this early! Im a very visual person so I have to be able to see my progress) Im going to do it in weeks, because approximately 482 days is a little hard to fit on a piece of paper . But now im wondering, would it be better to be there for the last 3 weeks of November? Or the last week of November and the first 2 weeks of christmas. I want the crowds to be as small as possible and have read that the last week of november/first week of december is the ideal time. Any thoughts?

 

[skiingfast]

Well it's a tricky time with a few things going on.

The last Thursday in Novemeber is Thankgiving day. Making it a 4 day weekend in the US. Of course we spend Thanksgiving at home, Friday shopping(known as black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, in preperation for Christmas), and the weekend doing what ever.

The Holiday at DLR start about the middle week of November so there is a special parade and fireworks starting. Except for the first day and the weekend above this is a low crowd time to visit.

The first couple weeks in December are not bad crowd wise.

But during this time two main things happen. They film the Holiday parade to make promotional material for the parks. They have a Disney Corporation Christmas Party in DL on two nights, causing very early closure of DL.

But between now and then a lot of things can change so you can't quite plan for these and the below.

In WDW in MK they have a Holiday Night party that requires special tickets and non ticketed guest leave the park early. This may happen at DL. But again it's not known if this will happen and lots of things are changing at DLR before you trip.

With 3 weeks lots of flexibility to work around those off days in DLR. But I would want to finish the trip in the parks. Also November has slightly drier and warmer weather. Both month are cool.

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Thanks Skiingfast! Yeah, I want to finish the trip in the parks. Save the best for last We dont really celebrate Thanksgiving in New Zealand (well, my family doesnt anyway) Christmas is our big holiday over here. I'd heard that Thanksgiving weekend is busy at Disneyland crowds wise. Has anyone experienced the crowds in the last week of november or the 2/3 weeks of December?

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

So now we're thinking about going at the end of February, to celebrate my birthday in march. We would actually go in March, if it werent for the crowds being so big. What do you reckon the best weeks/dates are to go in February for minimum crowds?

 

[areweindisneyyet]

For everything that happens at Christmas time check out the Superthread for Christmas on the Disneyland board. There are lots of links on he first page plus lots of photos and information. It will keep you busy and is well worth the read.

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Pushed back to April now. But I dont think the dates going to change again, which is a relief . What sort of times are the spring break crowds the worst at Disneyland? I was having a read of my unofficial guide and have settled on sometime after easter weekend till memorial weekend. What time in this bracket would you suggest? Help would be greatly appreciated