Flights are officially booked - Disneyland in October!

[BecBennett]

After a lot of going back and forth, fluffing around with Qantas trying to book flights using points. I finally worked out that for what I wanted to do, it would only cost me $600 extra to book pretty much everything with Hawaiian Airlines, and keep my points for something else.

So here's my itinerary for now;

October 4th - Sydney to Maui (with a 2 hour, 40 minute stop over in Honolulu) Hawaiian Airlines
4th - 11th - Hopefully staying in a friend's holiday unit at Eldorado Maui.
October 11th - Maui to LAX Hawaiian Airlines
11th - 17th - Will be booking a hotel near Disneyland - we usually stay at the Park Vue Inn and I was looking at the Best Western Park Place Inn, because location obviously. This time though the Howard Johnson has a pretty good price at the moment, and I'm very tempted to book it. However it's non refundable and I just know that every time I walk past PVI or BWPPI I will regret not booking there instead. So I'm holding off until I panic book something.
We have 4 days with Genie+ in the parks, but skipped adding the hopper option. Tickets are so expensive these days! One and a half days are non park days for shopping and hanging by the pool. My birthday is on the 13th!!
17th - 18th Holiday Inn LAX. We have a 7am flight to JFK, so I decided staying near by the night before is definitely a good idea.
October 18th - LAX - JFK American Airlines (booked with points through Qantas)
I think we'll be staying with my in laws on the 18th, and then moving into an airbnb
19th - 26th - Staying at this AirBNB with the extended in laws - My sister in law is getting married in Connecticut on October 26th. So a bunch of us have booked this house for our time in Connecticut. Other than the wedding we don't really have much planned for this time, but are considering a night in NYC to hit up some restaurants that we're always talking about. Nothing concrete yet.
October 26th - JFK to Honolulu Hawaiian Airlines
26th - 29th - Fingers crossed for Aulani! I'm going to rent points for this. At the moment the standard hotel room has availability, but I think I'd prefer the studio room (has a fridge and microwave, but the hotel room doesn't) the studio room doesn't have full availability at the moment, but the Island Gardens view studio room is available for more points, so who I rent the points from will probably decide this.
October 29th - Honolulu - Sydney Hawaiian Airlines


We're going to rent a car in Connecticut and probably Maui too. We want to see Pearl Harbour while in Honolulu, and some of the Road to Hana while in Maui. So that's what I'm researching now.

I'll keep this thread updated with my planning and hopefully turn it into a Trip Report when the time comes, but FYI, it takes me a long time to complete trip reports. So a lot of it might just be photos

 

[cindernat]

Lol yeah I wouldn't book anything that's non-refundable ... don't forget the sad fact is you could get Covid a few days out from leaving and have to cancel the entire trip. Or, at least have it covered by a decent travel insurance policy. This might help:

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/international-travel-insurance-covid-19/
And don't forget to confirm things with the insurer like - if I get Covid but rest of family doesn't, yet we can't go because I have Covid, are their refunds (flights mainly) covered too considering they don't have Covid but are close contacts? Lots of little 'gotchas' in those T&Cs!

 

[BecBennett]

Yeah definitely. I've got a pre existing condition, so I need to be all over travel insurance t&c's

 

[BecBennett]

Eeep! Just rented DVC points for Aulani! It's my birthday present to me!

I don't usually spend that much on hotel rooms, but like I said Happy Birthday to me!

 

[BecBennett]

I've booked the Howard Johnson, but stupidly left it too late to get the really good price that I saw. Not only that, but the Best Western Park Place Inn has sold out for our dates too

I've come to terms with it though. However I'm going to keep checking back, either for BWPPI or for the HoJo to drop down in price again. Fingers crossed either of these happen.

I still need to buy/book the following things;

• Travel insurance.
• Rental cars for Connecticut and Maui.
• Airport transfers for Honolulu and LAX.
• Park reservations and advanced dining reservations (which I can't do for a couple of months anyway).
• Children's meals on the Hawaiian Airlines flights.
• Decide if Oogie Boogie Bash is worth the cost of the tickets.
• Decide if we're going to spend a night in NYC, or just catch the train in for a day, and book that.

There's other stuff too, but that's just what's coming to mind right now.

I really need to go research the best travel insurer right now, but it's just not as fun as all the other planning that I'd rather be doing...

 

[cindernat]

I really need to go research the best travel insurer right now, but it's just not as fun as all the other planning that I'd rather be doing..

I don't know why my link above didn't work but it lists the insurers who cover Covid if you get it over there, plus having to cancel/defer due to catching it beforehand and not being able to go. None cover border closures due to Covid. They are:
- Cover-More
- Go Insurance
- Southern Cross
- Allianz
- Medibank
- RACV

And there may be others.

 

[BecBennett]

Thanks. I think it was go insurance that I was looking at, that only covered $5000 in cancellations due to covid, and if we have to cancel this trip because of covid, we're going to be out a lot more than $5000, so I need to keep looking.

 

[cindernat]

Thanks. I think it was go insurance that I was looking at, that only covered $5000 in cancellations due to covid, and if we have to cancel this trip because of covid, we're going to be out a lot more than $5000, so I need to keep looking.

Same here. I'm looking at the moment, actually GoInsurance is the best so far, if you look at Go Plus tier (pricier) it has Covid Cancellation cover up to $20k.

 

[cindernat]

Just finished looking. GoInsurance and AHM were the best and offered the most cancellation cover for Covid (highest level cover). I did a $200/$250 excess option. With AHM you can choose the amount of cancellation cover you want, I chose $10k. Need to ring them individually to confirm close contacts are covered (ie: only one of you getting Covid but all having to isolate and cancel).

 

[BecBennett]

Just finished looking. GoInsurance and AHM were the best and offered the most cancellation cover for Covid (highest level cover). I did a $200/$250 excess option. With AHM you can choose the amount of cancellation cover you want, I chose $10k. Need to ring them individually to confirm close contacts are covered (ie: only one of you getting Covid but all having to isolate and cancel).

Feel free to report back after doing the leg work

 

[BecBennett]

Oh, it was Insure and Go, not Go Insurance.

I would need to call ahm to get a price to cover my pre-existing condition.

I hate calling people

 

[cindernat]

Oh, it was Insure and Go, not Go Insurance.

I would need to call ahm to get a price to cover my pre-existing condition.

I hate calling people

lol. They're off my list (I&G) because when our 2020 trip fell through because of Covid, they wouldn't refund the premium. People might say well they're not obligated to, but plenty of other insurers did.

 

[BecBennett]

I now also have a booking at the Tropicana... I'm going to continue keeping an eye on the prices and availability, but at the moment I'm leaning towards cancelling HoJo and keeping Tropicana.

I've never booked two hotels with the plan of cancelling one before.

Still haven't purchased travel insurance

However I do have two cars through Turo that I'm thinking of booking for Maui and Connecticut.

 

[sjmac42]

Careful using Turo in the US Bec as you’ll need to at least be insured for the total replacement cost of the vehicle, if the host is even willing to rent to you without a US based car insurance policy.

 

[BecBennett]

Careful using Turo in the US Bec as you’ll need to at least be insured for the total replacement cost of the vehicle, if the host is even willing to rent to you without a US based car insurance policy.

I think I have to purchase the Turo insurance. As Australian insurance doesn't cover peer to peer rentals.

 

[sjmac42]

I think I have to purchase the Turo insurance. As Australian insurance doesn't cover peer to peer rentals.

Yes you do but the max liability cover is 750K which includes the car, 3rd party property damage and personal injury. Plus the likelihood of your travel insurance been useless.
You’re braver than I am

 

[kirstyfly]

Exciting we just booked and paid ours for October on the weekend as well

 

[BecBennett]

Couple of updates -

We're now staying at Luana Kai in Kihei Maui, as our friend's unit fell through. Which was a pain in the ****, but it's sorted now.

I booked our travel insurance through insureandgo in the end.

I feel like I've booked more stuff since my last update, but I can't think of anything.

 

[BecBennett]

Ughh I'm so annoyed with myself.

I got online this morning to buy oogie Boogie bash tickets and had a 20 minute wait. The wait got down to 10 minutes but then life happened and I completely forgot about for half an hour and when I came back the 13th had sold out

I've bought them for the 16th, which is more expensive and not the most convenient, but it's done now and they're non refundable.

I'm now debating adding a day at Universal studios at the end of our Disneyland portion.

 

[BecBennett]

I've currently got my LA/Anaheim days planned out like this;

12th Disneyland
13th DCA (with dinner at DTD for my birthday after the park closes)
14th Disneyland
15th "rest" day
16th DCA + OBB
17th Universal

I'm tossing up changing my rest day to the morning of the OBB, but can't decide.

At the moment I'm researching restaurants in DTD and the hotels for my birthday dinner on the 13th.

Looks like we're also going to rent a car for the 17th just to get us from Hojo to Universal studios for the day, and then check in at our LAX hotel.