It's not too early for a Pre-Trip report

[Terkina]

So I have decided to start a Pre-trip report. Since we are planning a month long vacation in the USA with 5 days at WDW. It's not too early to start planning on where to go.

All we know for sure at the moment is that we are going to rent a car in Orlando and drive to Los Angeles or San Francisco. We don't have a clue about what we want to take a look at on the way and where we want to stop. Wait.... We do know that we want to see New Orleans. But that's it at the moment.

It's my friend and me who are going. I will be taking my wheelchair with me because I can't walk long distances without getting backpain.
I love Disney but my friend is not that into Disney. So this past few months I have given him the book "The Unofficial Guide: The Color Companion to Walt Disney World" to read.

We visited Disneyland Resort Paris in March but neither one of us liked the parks that much. It just felt odd having all the shows and rides in french with little or none english in them


So when are we going? We are going in February 2013
We will be staying at one of the moderate resorts or at the new AoA resort.
It is so difficult to decide which resort to stay at.
I didn't like the theming of Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter at first. But after seeing the refurbished rooms it looks very nice.

We don't want to spend a lot of money on the resort. But if money was no issue we would prefer to stay at any Delux resort because of the walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

My plans for the parks so far is to hit EMH and get as much done as possible early in the day. I plan to visit one park everyday and the last day we will visit the park we like the best. On the day we visit Animal Kingdom we will probably visit another park as well since Animal Kingdom closes early.

 

[acl155]

My family and I love Coronado Springs!

 

[Terkina]

I'm trying to find out how much airfairs are in the USA. It's a jungle out there From what I have found out it looks like it's expensive to fly domestic flights in the USA. In the months towards summer I have to find out what airline I should choose to fly from Los Angeles to Orlando.

 

[Terkina]

It's 1st of December tomorrow and it's +7ºC (44.6ºF) outside That is NOT normal for this time of year. The little snow we got has went away. Luckily it's no ice outside either so it is safe to walk outside without falling.

Normally the temperature this time of year should be around -2ºC (28.4ºF) and we have around 20 cm of snow (7.9 inch) So far this winter has been anything but normal. And since the dark time of year has started. (We won't see the sun until 21st of January) it is extra dark outside since we don't have any white snow to lighten up the surroundings. Even if it's the dark time of year we still have some hours of light although we don't see the actual sun.

I really like this time of year. It's so cosy to be inside with candle lights and hear the weather outside.

Added a photo with the view from my grandmothershouse in December 2009

 

[Terkina]

Now we have got 30 cm snow, BUT we don't have cold weather so the snow is melting away

A few days ago I found a thread on here somwhere with a link to http://www.roadtripusa.com I found out that the roadtrip Southern Pasific that they suggested seems like a rout we could try. We have to make some changes to it because we want to go to New Orleans and we have som geocaches we don't want to miss

So now we have something to work on. And we probably should try to by a GPS with USA map on it before we go so we can get our route easy into the GPS. We will of course have maps with us as well.

 

[Terkina]

WOW! It's finally 2012 And almost only 1 year until our trip to the USA and WDW

In a month our so I will be able to find plane tickets.

Yesterday we decided that we will not drive from Orlando to Los Angeles. Instead we will rent a car at the airport in Orlando and take a round trip so we will end the trip at the airport in Orlando. By doing it this way we will save money on plane tickets from Los Angeles to Orlando and we will save money on the car rental since we don't have to pay extra for not driving it back to Orlando.

We still have to plan our road trip route in detail. But we decided today that we will drive along the coast from Orlando and up by Grand Canion on our way back to Orlando.





Here is a video of the fireworks in Tromsø

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AflGN4tWE3E&feature=share

 

[DerangedChipmunk]

I can't wait to read your trip report! Only one year to go

 

[Terkina]

We are going to Spain (again) in March for 2 weeks. We have to rent a car for that trip, but we still haven't done that We really have to do that soon. I hate it when things are not ready for the trip.

We love to drive around. The last time we were in Spain (september 2010) we drove over 1242 miles (over 2000 km).

 

[Terkina]

the planetickets aren't for sale yet BUT tickets for January 2013 are for sale and I'm guessing that the price for February will be the same as for January. In that case tickets for 2 persons from my hometown (almost 70º north) to Orlando and back again will cost $24 000 I find that to be cheap. We will fly to New York and then change there for Orlando.

The reason I want this flight rather than finding another airline that go straight to Orlando is because with this flight I can book it all from my home town. That means that if any of the planes are delayed they will book us over to another flight without any problems.

If I want a direct flight to Orlando I have to book with 2 different airlines and then it will be a problem if any flights get delayed.

I'm SO ready to book flights


I will be booking my WDW package through the UK websight. I'm hoping they will continue to offer free dining for next year as well. If that is so I will be able to book a Moderate resort with free Quick Service Dining (that is what we prefer. We hate to waste a lot of time for eating).

It will be best to have a room with a roll-in shower since I don't do well climbing into a bathtub.

The moderate resort I'm most lightly to book is Port Orleans French Quarter Resort. I like this hotel after the refurb.

 

[Terkina]

Only 8 days left until I can book our flights
Now I'm hoping for some good offers for the stay at WDW.

 

[MK2010]

I just found you report! Woohoo! I must say I'm a bit jealous, my husband and I don't place a huge emphasis on travel so there is sooo much that we don't get to see. You've gotten to go to France and Spain! and in a year you are coming here! Do you know if you'll take I-40 across the U.S to L.A.? If you do you have to stop in Amarillo,Tx. and let me treat you to a great big juicy hamburger!I'll be following along to see how your trip develops and changes!

 

[Terkina]

to my Pre Tripreport

The trip is still in its early planing stage. So far we want to stop in New Orleans and we want to get over to Mexico for a very short stop. It's so difficult to decide what to see and where to stop on our rout. We probably will take a detour to see Grand Canyon and maybe Rocky Mountain. I have been there as a child, but that is a LONG time ago

 

[T1nkerBell]

Hi Terkina,
Wanted to read you Pre-trip report (wow-there's a plan if I ever saw one - lots of driving, but seem comfortable with that), so I came over here to answer you question from the Feb'13 thread. I think what comes up best for us is United (SAS). Leaving on a Saturday and returning home on a Saturday (leaving MCO on Friday) to/from TRD for NOK 6177 eek: - cheap, I know. I SOOO want to get those tickets! But have to wait a bit more..)

BTW, why are you reserving throught the UK site? Is that better for you? We went through the US site last time and it worked out very well. Only thing is that they held the package until we checked in, so we didn't get luggage tags. But that REALLY didn't bother us!

I actually thought the uk site is only for UK/IRL residents - but I might well be wrong!

 

[Terkina]

Driving is NOT a problem. My friend and I was 12 days in Spain a month ago. We drove on day trips every day and ended up driving 2800 km (about 1740 mi.) it would have been more if we had driven our self to Tanger. The day trip to Tanger we went on a guided tour.

I have taken a look at both the US site and the UK site and last time a looked at it I found out that the UK site gave a better deal. But I will have to take a look at it again to be sure I find out what makes the best deal for us. Since my friend is from Sweden we can book from the UK site. The UK site is for all countries within EU.

Flights to the USA is really cheap. 6177 NOK is a great price.
I find it odd that there are so few cheap tickets left for February 2013. Some days there are none tickets and some days the ticket price starts at 10 421 NOK and the cheap tickets are 3738 NOK
I guess I have to buy the tickets before there aren't any left.

 

[UndercoverMama]

tickets for 2 persons from my hometown (almost 70º north) to Orlando and back again will cost $24 000

24 000 ???

Flights to the USA is really cheap. 6177 NOK is a great price.
I find it odd that there are so few cheap tickets left for February 2013. Some days there are none tickets and some days the ticket price starts at 10 421 NOK and the cheap tickets are 3738 NOK
I guess I have to buy the tickets before there aren't any left.

What is NOK?

What an awesome adventure. I am a big chicken and cannot imagine flying and taking a tour of a country like you are doing. Truly awesome I hope your friend goes for the two days in Disneyland idea, 2 days really isn't much to sacrifice on his part. Does he want to try anything you aren't enthusiastic about? Maybe there is a compromise in your future lol

 

[Terkina]

24 000?

What is NOK?

What an awesome adventure. I am a big chicken and cannot imagine flying and taking a tour of a country like you are doing. Truly awesome I hope your friend goes for the two days in Disneyland idea, 2 days really isn't much to sacrifice on his part. Does he want to try anything you aren't enthusiastic about? Maybe there is a compromise in your future lol

NOK is Norwegian Kroner (our local currency)

I don't know about anything he really want to try that I'm not that enthusiastic about YET. But it can come. We still have to plan our road trip in detail.

I can't have been thinking strate when I wrote $24 000 it should have been about $700 per person each way.

 

[Terkina]

We were ready to book our Disney package but half way through the webpage comes up with this site error message that we have to try again later I hope it will be fixed so I can order it on the internet and don't have to call to do it.

 

[Terkina]

I finally got to book our package
The problem the whole time was that I had use a norwegian letter and the server didn't handle that at all. When I finally figured that out the room I wanted was gone. I had experienced that last night as well and the room came back as available later the same evening. So then I had to wait for almost an hour until the room I wanted was available again.

The next problem was booking Magical Express. They wanted a flight number. That was fine for our arrival day. But for our depature day we are not flying. We are only taking ME to the airport so we can pick up our rental car. After some thinking and researching I found a flight number on a flight that had the depature time I wanted. Then I could finally book ME and everything is now set

Now we have 5 nights 6 days (but 5 park day since we won't go to a park on arrival day) and Free QSDP at POFQ

 

[Terkina]

Looks like we will be leaving WDW at 5pm on our last day there. Then take the ME to the airport to pick up our rental car. We will then drive to Lake City FL or as long as we can handle on that evening. The next day we will go to Apalachicola National Forest and then drive to New Orleans.

That's how far we have come in our road trip planning at the moment. I'm going to buy the book Road Trip USA very soon. When I get that book we hopefully will get many ideas on what places we should visit on our round trip Orlando-San Francisco, CA

 

[Terkina]

There hasn't been any more planning for the trip. I want to buy this guidebook http://www.amazon.com/United-States-Road-Insight-Guides/dp/9812820752/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2SYJN4F5JB7UN&coliid=I1EDISZ2038DYS

It's not much that reminds of spring here at home at the moment. This picture is taken this evening at 20.00 (8pm)