"Help the Yankee DISer" Part II-visit Australia/DL-the PTR(8/19 -TR Link Post#263!)

[Aussie Wendy]

I will check it out in the next couple of weeks for you when next we go up that way (MiL lives at Nambour so to and fro a lot and she used to live at Glasshouse until 18 months ago-only a few streets away from Barrs Rd.)

I expect facilities might be simple but it will be clean and quiet and run by interested enthusiastic locals (and ex farmers) as most of these places are. I must look it up. MIL may know of it from living there. Glasshouse township is small and quiet but has an IGA, a tavern (and a few other shops) and a nice bakery.

Yes many ecolodge-type places and cabins in general don't have TV-its so you can "escape" and to be honest with the rubbish thats on, why would you want it?

I must warn you we noticed recently getting from the airport onto the Sunshine Coast motorway to head north signposting seems to be a bit confusing so need to have your wits about you, once on it its easy and then you just take Steve Irwin Way when you get north of Caboolture-well sign posted.

 

[cola]

We're not going to Australia to watch TV, though.

That's just as well Even in the big cities with all of their fancy digital channels there aren't that many channels, cable tv here is miniscule compared to what is on offer in USA, unless you are staying on Disney property. I think digital tv has improved it for regional viewers, though that's not available everywhere. You'll also find that most Australian TV channels (free to air and cable) don't have that much Australian content, most of it is US, some UK, and some world content.

 

[skier_pete]

That's just as well Even in the big cities with all of their fancy digital channels there aren't that many channels, cable tv here is miniscule compared to what is on offer in USA, unless you are staying on Disney property. I think digital tv has improved it for regional viewers, though that's not available everywhere. You'll also find that most Australian TV channels (free to air and cable) don't have that much Australian content, most of it is US, some UK, and some world content.

Hmmm...definitely won't be interested in catching American TV there! Unless there is a Yvonne Strahovski channel, I probably won't be turning on the TV a lot.

 

[skier_pete]

Bought Disneyland Tickets today! (Prices go up tomorrow, so for anyone going before the end of the year hop to it!) Got discount through work as well which was the best I saw, $193+ tax for adult (3-day park hopper), $178+ tax for child. Two months and two days away!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Glad you got for DLR passes before they went up in price. Not long to go indeed!

 

[BecBennett]

Hmmm...definitely won't be interested in catching American TV there! Unless there is a Yvonne Strahovski channel, I probably won't be turning on the TV a lot.

I'm addicted to Chuck at the moment! So it's played on Fox8... I'm actually making my way through the whole series at the moment. I'm almost finished season 2...

 

[skier_pete]

I'm addicted to Chuck at the moment! So it's played on Fox8... I'm actually making my way through the whole series at the moment. I'm almost finished season 2...

Hah, glad to know someone got the reference. Great show that was never really successful in the US, though fortunate to be on NBC and kept alive for 5 seasons. The lovely Miss Strahovski features well on that show, not only is she quite beautiful but I think she's really a very good actress as well (two things that don't always go together). Hopefully she will continue to get work post-Chuck. (I see a couple of leads in movies on IMDB, so good for her!)

Definitely stick with the show to the end! It has its ups and downs but action/comedy is so hard to pull off, and I think about 80 % of the time they do it really well. I also like that they let the characters grow and change through the life of the show, which so many TV shows don't allow to happen. We actually still have the last two episodes sitting on our DVR. I seem unable to watch them because I don't want the show to end.

 

[BecBennett]

lol that's exactly my problem! I just started season 3 today and now I feel like I'm closer to the end then the beginning! I don't know what I'll do when I finish it! I'll have so much spare time back again!

 

[skier_pete]

So - having a conversation with a fellow science geek about the trip:

Him: "What is the first thing your going to do when you get to your hotel room?"
Me (after 5 seconds thought):"Run water in the sink so I can watch it go down the drain the wrong way!"
Him (knowingly): "There you go!"

A man's got to have priorities.

 

[BecBennett]

lol, I did that too the first time I went over as a kid - but I was more amazed about the amount of water in your toilets! If ours have that much water in them it means they're blocked

 

[PrincessInOz]

So - having a conversation with a fellow science geek about the trip:

Him: "What is the first thing your going to do when you get to your hotel room?"
Me (after 5 seconds thought):"Run water in the sink so I can watch it go down the drain the wrong way!"
Him (knowingly): "There you go!"

A man's got to have priorities.

Seems like the right ones too. Just make sure your DD is there....and then it's "educational".

 

[battymum]

and we all learnt that from "the Simpsons"!

Yes, Pete - have you been warned about Australian toilets - there is only about 3inches of water in the bottom - they are not broken, its just how it is down here !

All Aussies are a little disconcerted by US toilets - and hope nothing floats too close!

 

[PrincessInOz]

and we all learnt that from "the Simpsons"!

Yes, Pete - have you been warned about Australian toilets - there is only about 3inches of water in the bottom - they are not broken, its just how it is down here !

All Aussies are a little disconcerted by US toilets - and hope nothing floats too close!

Now you've gone and spoilt the 'education'!

 

[skier_pete]

Actually, many household toilets are now "low flow" and don't retain as high a level of water as most public toilets do in the US...personally, I want one of the high-powered Disney toilets in our house.

I was thinking that the toilets themselves might not drain backwards anyways, since I always thought that the angle of the "flush" coming into the toilet would have more to do with that.

Rest assured though - I won't get 'scared' when I see low water in the toilets. Better than what I here when visiting some other countries such as China. As long as I got a place to go in private, I'm good!

Never thought I'd be having a conversation about toilets on this thread!

Back to the more common discussion on here...I am surprised how much DL tickets went up. (Sort of...I figured they'd jack hopper prices with DCA new "grand re-opening".) Interesting that my corporate ticket site the prices have not yet gone up, but I saved about $150 versus the "new" 3-day hopper price. So..yeah for me!

Also, got the bill from my TA at AAA for the hotels I have to pre-pay. I ended up booking the hotel @ the Sydney airport before we leave myself as I was able to save $60 by booking through my corporate web-site with a "no cancel" policy. Still, it was originally my 3rd most expensive hotel stay, and for only a nights sleep I didn't want to pay that much.

Finally, I've decided I will update this PTR daily starting on June 21st with a "one month from now" mini-description, leading up to actual departure. Hopefully I'll have time to update every day with all the stuff going on leading up to the trip. (There's so much more to plan when leaving for a month vs a week!)

 

[skier_pete]

So, I've decided I would update daily for the rest of the time til our trip, with a "one month from today" update. This will also allow me to make sure all the plans are in place that need to be. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but will more than make up for it on the trip report.

I also have to mention that my work chose today to block the DIS as a "Malicious" site. I am not sure why this happened all of a sudden, but its through Macafee site protect, so I am hoping it will eventually get straightened out, I am hesitant to do anything about it myself, as I think I'd have a hard time arguing that this site is work-relevant.

Anyways, one month from today...

...we leave for our trip! It is also my DW birthday (I'll leave out the #). I have asked a few friends to come over to the house to see us off and have maybe a pizza and some cake. We are actually having someone stay at our house most of the time we are gone, so not too worried about security. We'll get a ride to the airport for our 3 PM flight - and arrive in Orange County at 7:45 PM local time (10:45 PM east coast time). I booked Supershuttle today so we already have a transfer from the airport. Only $8 per person after the Entertainment book discount. I figure if we are very very lucky we will be in our room at the Tropicana Inn by 9:30 PM and will likely not be in any mood to do much but go to sleep. (I have an elaborate plan for us to spend the week leading up to the trip getting used to the time shift by staying up late and sleeping in. We'll see if it works.)

Certainly there will be no "Disney" this night - but we will certainly be excited for the next day!

Until tomorrow!

 

[battymum]

Yay, not long now -

Its positively freezing in Sydney now - (by Australian standards) I had been thinking of an earlier post by you -def pack long pants and jackets !

 

[PrincessInOz]

A month to go. Wow. That countdown doesn't seem far away at all.

 

[skier_pete]

Yay, not long now -

Its positively freezing in Sydney now - (by Australian standards) I had been thinking of an earlier post by you -def pack long pants and jackets !

Hah, I've got Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns on my weather App on my phone watching the temperatures. Seems like they've been pretty consistent across the last months. In the sixties (what's that 15 C?)in Sydney seems pretty nice to me.

A month to go. Wow. That countdown doesn't seem far away at all.

Nope - it's super close. I am feeling the stress of it all.

 

[skier_pete]

...we will be getting up early to go to Disneyland! We will be taking advantage of our one EE that we are allowed with our hopper tickets and getting into the Disneyland park at 7 AM. Plan on heading right to Fantasyland and hitting that hard. Soon after we will make our way to the Nemo subs as well as Toontown and then probably more in Tomorrowland. I will try to gather FPs at a fast and furious pace. Around 1 PM, we will likely head back to the hotel for a swim and a short nap. I have a dinner ADR for Cafe Orleans @ 5:30 PM. Hope to get through a lot of the major attractions in DL today. Also hope to stay awake long enough for the fireworks.

I have been advised by DL vets to hop to DCA during the day, but I think with Cars Land coming in, it makes for a whole different strategy. I am sticking to my guns and saving DCA for Monday.

 

[khertz]

Hopefully the sleep adjustment works a lot better for you than it did for me!

I think you are right, with the opening of Cars Land, it is probably better to save DCA for a day when you can get there before the park opens and be ready to go straight to Cars Land. If you try to time it leaving from DL and get stuck on a ride or something takes longer than you anticipated, you lose your advantage. Hopefully it all works out well for you! DL I would think will be pretty empty at 7 am, so if you can get there that early, you should be golden to get a lot of attractions done before the masses start arriving! And, it's definitely good that you can still use your FP's after the window there...makes for a much more relaxing afternoon when you can just use FP to get through the long lines that have built up! It was nice getting one more trip in where we could do that since we will not be able to in WDW anymore.