In which order do you plan your trip?

[meandmygirl]

Hi everyone

Lots of great info here. I joined these forums a few years ago but decided to buy a house instead and there was no money left overseas travel.

I am planning a trip to Disneyland in Sept 2012 (have to work around DD's access visits to her father). I know it is ages away but I need to have something to look forward to and research.

Are there any other single parents out there that have done this trip and have any tips for me?

How do you plan your trip?

Do you book airfares first or accommodation?

How do you keep track of everything ie. spreadsheet, folder.

Hopefully I can convince my sister and her family to join us or maybe even Mum and Dad.

Looking forward to your replies.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome back to the Boards!
And it's never too early to plan a trip.

It may help to know how old DD is as this may help us work out what sightseeing things and rides might be great for you and her? Is the September 12 trip lining up with school holidays?

I normally travel as a family; so I can't provide any tips as a single parent.

With this much time in advance, you may want to work out airfare first and try to jump on a good fare deal when it comes out. Depending on whether you are coinciding the trip with school holidays, you may want to consider travelling a couple of weeks earlier to get a better flight deal.

I also spend a lot of time looking at Hotels and things to do on TripAdvisor and other social websites that provides individual reviews.

I normally work off a spreadsheet to keep track of things and I know that there are other Aussies that like folders.

I'm also sure that you're going to get a whole heap of different strategies for trip planning....

 

[aussiegirls]

Another single parent here

We are onto our second trip this year. I don't know if any tips I have relate to being a single parent specifically, except that just try to not rush things too much, and get as many days in Disney as possible so you can take it slowly. I suppose the main difference would be that you don't have another parent to watch the kids while you run and get fastpasses, or run out to grab some breakfast and bring it back to the room, or hold a place in line while you take the kids to the toilet. So try and get a few extra days in so you won't be rushing around and those things won't be so much of an issue.

I booked accommodation first as I knew we wanted to stay at Hojo and you don't need to pay until check out, so you can cancel without penalty up to 24 hrs before you arrive. So I booked that and waited on airfares until I found a really great price and then jumped on it.

Have you got passports yet? If not I would suggest that you get passports before you buy tickets. Only reason being that you don't want your ex to decide to throw a spanner in the works and not sign for the passport. If he refuses to sign and you have already bought your tickets then you will be totally stuffed

I have a folder (actually several ) in which I keep track of everything. I know some others have spreadsheets but I am hopeless at them so I keep everything in a folder and I also make a calendar type thing of the days we will be there with a brief schedule on it, as in meal bookings etc, not as detailed as rides as I like to play it by ear once we are there.

I thought of asking my brother and my nephew or a friend and her DD to come with us but to be honest I just really like going with my kids. I wouldn't mind hanging with someone for a day or so but I truly am used to being the king of my own castle, so I really would not go well having to have someone else along that may want to do different things to me - I don't do compromise very well

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you like.

xxx

 

[meandmygirl]

Thanks for the tips so far.

Yeah we will be going in the school holidays. I plan on doing it this way because I don't think DD's father will agree to her being taken out of school and the less I have tell him about the trip the better. DD will be 'hopefully' having her 7th birthday at Disneyland.

We both have passports so no probs there.

I like the look of Hojos and will probably stay there hopefully getting the entertainment rate.

How far in advance do airlines let you book? I have searched online and can only get 11/12 months ahead.

 

[aussiegirls]

Yeah, 11-12 months out is about as early as you can book a flight.

My DD had her 7th birthday at DL last year - best birthday ever!!!

If you book Hojo and the Ent rate comes up later you can call them and they will just change the price on your booking.

xxx

 

[areweindisneyyet]

Thanks for the tips so far.

Yeah we will be going in the school holidays. I plan on doing it this way because I don't think DD's father will agree to her being taken out of school and the less I have tell him about the trip the better. DD will be 'hopefully' having her 7th birthday at Disneyland.

We both have passports so no probs there.

I like the look of Hojos and will probably stay there hopefully getting the entertainment rate.

How far in advance do airlines let you book? I have searched online and can only get 11/12 months ahead.

The airlines release seats for sale 330 days in advance. Spend time watching fares for Sept this year and Sept 11 each month to see when cheaper flights are available for the exact dates that you wish to travel.

Accommodation will range from 12 months in advance to even 18 months depending on with whom you are booking. I booked accommodation for Dec 11 at the beginning of August 10. You can either begin paying it off, or take advantage of alternate sites that allow for payment at checkin or checkout. Use which ever method suits you budget wise. At the moment I am quite happy to be paying off the accommodation with the dollar being so great knowing that I can watch for specials and apply those between now and when we get there. I will do the same for our Sept 12 WDW trip in Aug 11.

Happy planning and you are certainly in the right place.

 

[darren123]

Sorry have not been on the boards lately computer has been back at Apple for some warranty work and I am on Workers Comp for the next few weeks, I badly burnt my left foot at work has not been a good month.

Hello meandmygirl

I would like to tell you how I am planning our 2012 Disneyland Trip with our Grand Daughter. Looking at going around the 24 - 28 Sept 2012 QLD School Holidays, She will be 6 years old then.

As this will be our 5th trip to Disneyland, I am no expert but this is how I do our trips and you will find that other people here will have their views, I mean it is good because you can get so much information here from different people and make up your own mind on how to book your trip. I wish I had known more on our first trip as it cost us a fortune and we missed so much I suppose we have made up for that on recent trips.

Our DD was a single mum until last year when she got married my GD is going to get her last name change in a few months. And DD will get her a passport in early 2012 she has looked into it and should be able to get her one without much trouble. As our GD will then have a different last name we have been advised to get Stat Dec from both parents with permission to take her with travel dates and all details of the trip.

Ok first thing I do make sure Passport are valid and ESTA permission valid and up to date.

Once these are done choose your airline we prefer VAustralia then work out the dates you are going, be flexible with them because you can save a few hundred dollar on each airfare just by changing one day and if you do not mind a stopover and normally book them about 6 months out. We do not use a TA at all everything is booked over the internet.

Then I go to Tripadvisor.com and pick hotel we are going to stay at, this trip I am looking at one opposite the park entrance because I do not want GD to walk to much as she is very petite, might even be looking at buying a stroller for her may even stay at a Disney Hotel if there are deals at that time we try to get a hotel with a microwave and fridge.
I have these last few trips purchased our hotel booking through Expedia.com.au with no trouble, you pay at the end and the hotel does take a holding fee it varies from hotel to hotel most has been around the US$200 mark.

I have always use the Disneyland Express Bus booked through there website, as well as our Disneyland Tickets I get from the Disney website.

So I do in this order Airfares Hotel then everything else we want to do, When we take our GD over we will not being going to other parks mostly for our peace of mind as she can be a hand full some times.

We have used Ridemax in the pass but if you do rides behind the castle first e.g. peter pan flight etc first thing when the park opens you will not have to deal with the long line ups later on.

We do things on a budget and also do our food shopping at Food 4 Less and take the bus very easy to get around Anaheim without a car.

I mostly write thing out in word form and now on pages on the imac
Hope this helps
Darren

 

[PrincessInOz]

Darren - I hope that your foot gets better and that there are no complications.

 

[darren123]

Thank you
We have 51 days out before we go
2nd degree burns about 7 x 9 cm in size

 

[shushh]

Thank you
We 51 days out before we go
2nd degree burns about 7 x 9 cm in size

Ouch! Hope it gets better soon and that it'll be an uneventful recovery just in time for your trip!

 

[heidispidi]

Take it easy Darren, that sounds pretty bad. Thinking of you.

All good advice that's been given. We're staying at Hojo in January, and I have friends staying there right now who are absolutely LOVING their time there! I'll be there with my sister and my DD, who is 8.

I'll be a 'single parent' the week after our stay at DLR, when my DD and I go to Hawaii - I'm hoping we have a good time then, but my daughter can be a right little b!tch when she wants to be, so who knows??!!

Let us know how you get on with your planning

 

[heidispidi]

(Where has my signature gone - any ideas people?!).

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Where has my signature gone - any ideas people?!).

Heidispidi - I think you had a countdown ticker in your signature. I suspect that the WebMasters have added a filter to the site where you picked you countdown ticker. Not sure if it's me, but I've been thinking that the Boards were running a little bit slow over the last week or so. The last time it ran this slow, the WebMasters blocked access to one of the ticker sites and put a general notice up about it. Anyone with tickers on that site found that it was no longer working. It was a bit of a problem some time ago, which is why the Boards have their own ticker site in the menu option.

I haven't seen a similar notice this time; but I would go back to the ticker site, re-create your ticker and post in your User CP. If it works, then (not the first time) I'm completely wrong!

If it doesn't work, then I recommend that you have a look around to see who's got a ticker still and click on their ticker. It should take you to the site they are using for it and you can set up a new one for yourself.

Your other option is to head to the Technical section of the boards and ask the administrator the question.

Hope this helps!


An update - I just checked DisneyFirefly's PTR. Her tickers disappeared as well. She's gone to magicalkingdom.com for her 'new' ones.

 

[meandmygirl]

Thanks for that Darren. Hope your foot is better soon.

 

[heidispidi]

Thanks Princess. I'll look into that when I get home from work later today