Last minute trip.

[Ammer]

Hi,
I am a mum to 4 boys and we, plus hubby, are going to the US at the end of the month. We are leaving 28 Jan till 18 feb. I only booked it yesterday and we only decided about it the day before that! I know, totally mad!

So the plan is;
Arrive in LA on 28 Jan stay there till 2 Feb. My boys are huge Lego fans so Legoland is a priority here. Open to any suggestions about accommodation, car hire!

Arrive Orlando 2 Feb. We would like to stay onsite at WDW for 3 nights then rent a house for the rest of our stay. If we had a money tree this would be easily solved but unfortunately we don't. So I am trying to find accommodation for the 6 of us that won't break the bank. I am also finding all the talk about codes, discounts and 'free kids' scary and don't want to miss out on Amy bargains.

We then plan to rent a house for the remainder of the stay as I could not be trapped in a hotel with my boys for 3weeks!

Trouble is ..I don't know where to start. I have read 100's of posts and now my head is spinning! any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hey Ammer - Welcome to the Boards.
Yes, crazy trip but it is great to be spontaneous.

You haven't mentioned how old the boys are because it would make a difference as to how you want to squeeze in together.

I'll assume that you'll need at least 3 double beds minimum.

For LA, this depends on what you want to see. If Legoland is high on the agenda, then there are places to stay around Carlsbad. It also depends on how you are planning on getting around. If you and your husband are prepared to drive, then basing yourself in Anaheim may be a better option. It will take about 1 - 1.5 hours to get to Legoland from Anaheim. There are a lot more accommodation options in Anaheim and you might want to check out the hotels with suites - Residence Inn, Staybridge, DoubleTree etc. Most of these would offer at least 1-bedroom options with a sofa bed in the living room.

Staying at WDW for 6 poses a little bit more of a challenge. You could see if there was a family room available at Pop Century or look for 2 rooms in any of the values or moderate resorts. Depending on the ages of your kids, you might find that Disney may provide you with 2 adjoining rooms. I know that their policy of not guaranteeing this is a sticking point for a lot of people.

You probably want to go on line to the WDW website and run some scenarios in terms of the different discounts. For your family, it may be better to stay on site and take advantage of some of the discounts (% room rate, free dining or kids play for free).

Otherwise, there are a heap of off-site places to choose from. You'll probably need to rent a car.

Car rental companies that us Aussies seem to like include Alamo, National and Hertz. Everyone here will have pros/cons for any one or all three companies. It will come down to your budget and what deals are being offered.


I know that I've kept things very general...but it is hard to provide specific advise without knowing the relative ages of your boys.

 

[Jade+3]

Further to PrincessInOz's great info, I would suggest contacting Dreams Unlimited to get some prices for WDW. I always have issues with the Disney website.

Also have a look in the Orlando Hotels and Attractions forum (and be sure to check the sub-forum accommodation and reviews). We stayed in a private condo that we rented directly from the owner. I found it by reading the reviews in these two forums.

 

[Ammer]

Hi PrincessInOz,

Thanks for all the advice.
In LA my husband, being the braver of us both, will drive. I am way too chicken. When we moved to Australia from Ireland, 4 years ago, it took me months to get confident enough to drive here and another year before I would tackle going over the West Gate Bridge! We really don't know what do do in LA besides Legoland. I was thinking about Magic Mountain. I think hotels with suites might be the way to go but from past experience we always find accommodation difficult. We end up in 2 rooms or paying ridiculous amounts for suites.

I just checked on WDW site. I can get 2 rooms at All-Star Movies for 3 nights for $1933.92. I hate being in 2 different room. This includes 2 day Magic your way base ticket. BTW, my boys are 6,7 9 and 11. How do I find the discounts you mentioned? Or would that rate already include it?
Thanks Again!

 

[Ammer]

Hi Jade+3,
I will contact Dreams Unlimited to get some prices for WDW. They are an agent, Right? Would they be more expensive?

I am planning on hiring a private condo for the remainder of our stay, approx 2 weeks. I just wanted the boys to experience some of the 'magic' of staying on site and also the extra opening times. I may, however, just hire a house for the entire time. I can't decide!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ammer - if you contact DU, they will advise on the discounts and the best deal for you. American TAs work off a commission from Disney and the pricing is identical to what you will find on the Disney Website. So, this would be the best way to go.

If you want to go back to the Disney Website, there should be a section talking about discounts. If you go in through the "vanilla" screens, you won't see any discounting...you have to go look for it and navigate your way to the discount section before the discounts kick in. But let DU do the work for you.

If you are going to stay off-site, then I would just work on getting the room only rate. Disney MYW tickets works best when you buy tickets for longer durations. So, the 10 day MYW ticket will probably only be about $30 more expensive than a 2 or 3 day ticket. Depending on how big eaters your kids are, free dining may be worth considering but that would mean staying on site for the duration. Have you looked at the AllEars website and checked out the dining menus?

Check out the Residence Inn at Anaheim Maingate. I'm staying there in mid-January and I only have DH, DS (10) and myself. So, we're doing a studio for $129. But I remember looking at the one-bedroom pricing. It was about $159 per night and includes hot buffet breakfast. I believe some of the other Aussies prefer Howard Johnson and use the Anaheim Entertainment Book for either a 40% or 50% discount. A room at HoJo was about $100.
Staybridge rooms are usually cheaper.

In LA, I like going to Farmer's Market/The Grove, Venice Beach and Canals and in fact...the Naples Canals are much more beautiful than Venice Canals. You can catch a gondola ride on the Naples Canals. If you decide to go to Farmer's Market, then have a look at La Brea Tar Pits as well to see if this is something your family may enjoy. Santa Monica Pier is also nice and you could hire bikes and cycle from Venice to Santa Monica.
We had a ball at Long Beach in May last year....and took a day trip out to Catalina Island. There is the Queen Mary and an Aquarium at Long Beach. I didn't go to the aquarium; but it is there.
You could also consider going to Universal Studios.
If this is your first trip to LA, then you probably want to drive down Sunset Boulevard, go to Rodeo Drive and check out Grauman's Theatre.

If you can drive in Melbourne, you'll be able to drive in the US. The hardest bit is navigating your way out of the car rental parking lot!

 

[darren123]

Hello

happytoursusa.com is were I got our car hire from they use Alamo and you will get it 50% cheaper then booking through Alamo itself includes all insurances , etc.

Magic Mountain, you can save money here by driving yourself then using the a tour company, tickets you can buy of sixsflags.com and cost about $40 US each. If you do end up going they are only open on a Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is less crowded and a better day to go the park opens up at 10.30 if you leave Anaheim no later then 9 am you will get there by 10 am as it is Sunday the roads are not that busy, do not waste your money on a flash pass we have never needed one and have done all the rides we wanted in one day. Magic Mountain does have metal check and a bag check it is a safe park and we have never had any trouble when the gates open follow the crowd to X2 the wait can be up to 2 hours if you do this ride first it should take about 30 minutes at the most then go straight down to Tatsu and then you have done the 2 most popular rides and they charge $1 for locker hire at the rides the rollercoasters are very extreme have a look on youtube.

 

[Jade+3]

We love HoJo at Anaheim. The Entertainment Rate that PrincessInOz refers to is available for your dates.
http://www.hojoanaheim.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14
They do accept Australian Entertainment cards. You do need to ring during their business hours and ask for in-house reservations. Outside those hours your call will go to the call centre and they won't know what you are talking about.

 

[Ammer]

WoW PrincessInOz, so much info!!

I just sent a mail to DU and we will see what they say. I can not work out WDW site.

My boys are huge eaters but I don't like them to eat a lot of 'fast food'. That's why I thought the dining plan would be good for a few day treat (onsite in WDW) then back to porridge for breakie in our rented house I will look at AllEars now.

So many wonderful suggestions on LA. It sounds perfect for me. I want to limit the parks, besides Legoland, and do stuff that I will enjoy. We will hit the parks hard in Orlando! I love Farmer's Markets. I'm putting that on the top of my list.

 

[Ammer]

Hi darren123,

Thanks for the happytoursusa.com link. I will look into it.

Maybe Magic Mountain isn't for us if it has extreme rides. My boys are wusses!! Anything else, a little tamer, you can recommend?

 

[PrincessInOz]

I plan my trip to WDW around food and I stay well away from junk food. Epcot is fantastic for food. I don't like the food at DHS; I think it has the most junk food there...but even there, you can find things that are not chips and hot dogs.

If your boys are huge eaters, then you really need to consider the dining plan. The only issue will be that you have 3 boys legally classified as 'kids'. The kids menu is rather limited.

And as for porridge...it is considered a "snack" on the Disney Dining plan at the resorts I stayed at.

 

[Ammer]

Oh PrincessInOz that porridge looks good but my boys would eat a bowl 4 times that size for breakfast but as a snack it would be perfect! They truly are savages!! My youngest,6 years old, eats as much as me!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Mmmm. You need to check out the price of food at WDW....and a couple of food porn threads to determine the portion size. If you decide to stay on-site and free dining works out for you, then buffet breakfast options are gonna be your best bet.

If your kids are huge eaters (and my DS is exactly the same), then I would recommend that you run some numbers to work out how much food is going to cost you and compare that against the FD.

The AllEars menus include relative $$ per item.

 

[Ammer]

PrincessInOz

The AllEars site is fantastic. Only problem is I am getting the munchies now!!

Jade+3,
My Entertainment card has expired. Is it worth it for me to get another one for Hojo?

 

[Jade+3]

PrincessInOz
Jade+3,
My Entertainment card has expired. Is it worth it for me to get another one for Hojo?

We always stay at HoJo, in building 2. It is about 10 minutes walk to the entrance. Free parking, fridge, yummy coffee, and great pool area. I find the discount we get using the ent rate makes it worthwhile to purchase the card. I have heard of people buying cards from US ebay. Have a read of the reviews on Trip Advisor and also in the Disneyland(California) forum.

 

[aussiemickeys]

Another hotel straight across from Disneyland that you might want to check out is Desert Inn & Suites. They have an option for 2 interconnecting rooms that have between them 4 double beds plus a pull out sofa bed (that would give the boys a bed each - but one would be in the same room as the parents), 2 bathrooms, 2 small fridges, 2 microwaves & 3 tvs! Prices are very good as well. They have a very basic breakfast included (we didn't use that option last time though - so cannot comment on that).

Maybe in WDW it might be worth looking at renting a villa from a DVC member. They have boards on this website especially for that as well.

Good luck with it all!

 

[lovintheland]

Hi, another vote for HoJo. It's where we stay and for our trip last September we purchased the entertainment card of US Ebay for just a couple of dollars and it arrived from Florida about a week later. You could get yours sent direct to HoJo as this would save postage time. We got our ice hockey tickets sent there direct and they just hold them until you arrive.

I also suggest Knott's Berry Farm rather than Magic Mountain. We love it and it's only about ten minutes from Anaheim. I think it would be more fun for your boys ages than Magic Mountain.

Happy planning! your brain is probably ready to explode with information overload

 

[Ammer]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Here is what I have so far.
Hojo was booked for the required days so I booked the Residence Inn By Marriott. Total for stay (for 6 in a 1 bed suite) - 744.50.

I have decided to just get a house for the entire stay in Orlando. On site is too $$ for me!

We plan on getting passes in advance and hopping between Universal and WDW.

I have been looking at rental cars but its all too confusing. Happytoursusa.com is much more expensive than Alamo directly. I'm wondering is a difference in Insurance that is included? Car insurance in the US is a night mare. Waiver this excluding that...HELP!!

 

[Ammer]

Hi lovintheland,
You are correct..my head was ready to explode. I had been reading and surfing so much over the last few days that I had to have a screen free day yesterday. Bliss!! Now I feel able to get back to my research!
Knott's Berry Farm looks right up our street. Thanks!

 

[Mum from oz]

Try Traveljigsaw for car rental. I am about to book ours through them as it includes the insurances and is pretty cheap:
$1647 with Alamo
$1097 with Traveljigsaw
$550 saving!!!

We are also staying offsite. A 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom townhouse with private plunge pool for 16 nights $1871

We brought tickets to WDW and US/IOA from Undercover tourist and they were posted to us in about 3 days!

Thats all I got so far.