November/December 2012?

[GrazingGoat1966]

hey all,

after much discussion, carlo and i have scrapped the europe trip and have decided on a combined halloween/christmas DLR and WDW trip, with a side journey over to IOA for WWOHP in oct/nov 2012.

we're WDW newbs, so will be focussing on that part of the trip planning - so far we're thinking of staying at coronado springs at WDW and DI&S for our DLR part of the trip.

we want to do MNSSHP at DLR at the end of oct, stay there for about 5 days, then WDW for 5 days, then WWOHP for 3 days, then back to DLR for 3 days before heading home... or something along those lines.

we're then planning a StarWars Weekend in june of 2013 for WDW, so we're using this trip to try our hand at WDW and familiarise ourselves with it.

i can see we're gonna be one of those couples that just keeps coming back to DLR and WDW over and over again.

maybe we can do a cruise in 2014, who knows? we're strapped for cash right now but maybe we can pull off this big trip in 2012. fingers crossed

Alicia, 5 days is nowhere near enough for Walt Disney World. At the very least you need 7 nights but ideally 10. If you need 8 days in total for Anaheim, then you will seriously need a month at WDW. 3 days at the most at DLR giving you 10 at WDW....for what it's worth!!
Best of luck!!!!

 

[kyl]

I have to agree 5 days at disney world is no where near enough! It would be like unwrapping a present then having to give it back. I would allow at least 10days!

 

[ame]

I thought I was the only crazy planning that far out!

We have a Dec/Jan trip planned. Leave the day after school finishes, have a couple of days at DL before a MR Xmas cruise. Then six flags/outlet shopping, drive to SF, skiing in Tahoe then coast drive back to LA.

That's the plan. But not sure what is happening with our MR cruise. A little bit worried about that one.

 

[Lulu83]

Very jealous of everybody who has started to book their WDW stays! We won't be able to confirm our wedding date until 8 months in advance so we can't lock in our accommodation until then (as we have a fortnight window during which our wedding might be)

We're hoping to do a split stay at the Poly and POR, I really hope they haven't sold out 8 months before!

 

[dabecs]

Very jealous of everybody who has started to book their WDW stays! We won't be able to confirm our wedding date until 8 months in advance

Is that a Disney thing? I would have though weddings would have been booked much further out!

I joined TouringPlans last night - they already have crowd calendars up for Nov 2012 (not sure how accurate this far out) but I was surprised to see some of the weekend days are 9/10! So I am now thinking we might save Saturdays as rest/shopping days and avoid the parks those days.

I can't wait till everyone starts nutting out their daily itineraries and we can talk ADRS

In less than 2 weeks we can all say "This year we are going to Disney!"

 

[becpee]

Hi everybody, i'm in limbo here, travelling in October, thought i'd join in here though.
Just waiting for cheaper flights to come out so we can book, our cruise is booked and has increased in price by $458, certainly pays to book it early
Really need to knuckle down after Christmas, this silly season costs us a fortune!

 

[ame]

So I found out today that our MR Christmas cruise has been cancelled. I haven't received an email from Disney yet though, just read it here. We are extremely disappointed as that's the only time of year we can travel as a family. $ preclude us from going east coast, so we're just going to have to continue with our plans sans cruise.

 

[alicia1506]

our plans have changed too. carlo keeps going back and forth on how much time he can afford to take off work. he originally wanted to to a combined halloween/xmas vacation, incorporating dlr and wdw and wwohp but that's not going to happen now.

so the new plan is... bne-lax - mco - disney fantasy 7 night carribean cruise - mco-lax - dlr for a few nights to celebrate xmas then lax - bne.

total vacation time: 17 days not including flights/idl/time off when we get home.

we're looking at doing this trip from nov 9 - nov 28 and partaking in the joy of xmas at disneyland, and maybe doing thanksgiving at dlr too.

i think we're locked in, but until i get the official sign off from carlo, i can't start booking anything, which is frustrating, as the cruise will be booking up pretty quickly

bec - i'm so sorry your cruise got cancelled. that sucks, big time. i saw the announcement yesterday and was thinking of all the DISers who had been planning on travelling on that cruise

 

[shushh]

Ame so sorry to hear about the cruise. It is poor that you had to hear it from an alternative rather than from Disney direct. Hopefully they will come up with a workable and affordable alternative for you!

 

[australiankaren]

So I found out today that our MR Christmas cruise has been cancelled. I haven't received an email from Disney yet though, just read it here. We are extremely disappointed as that's the only time of year we can travel as a family. $ preclude us from going east coast, so we're just going to have to continue with our plans sans cruise.

major suckage.....did you book thru an agent or directly with disney????

you can ring disney direct..their 1800 number [ i think its 1800- 951-3532 ]
the free way for us is
1800 881 011
then dial the american toll free number.......and presto, you get a free call.Just make sure you dial the toll free number in america.

it pays to talk to the mouse directly in regards to things like this.

hope its just a rumour.....good luck.

 

[alicia1506]

so just a weird little thought i had in relation to all of us being in dlr and wdw around the same time...

is anyone interested in meeting and having a little IRL catch-up?

 

[Lulu83]

Is that a Disney thing? I would have though weddings would have been booked much further out!

I joined TouringPlans last night - they already have crowd calendars up for Nov 2012 (not sure how accurate this far out) but I was surprised to see some of the weekend days are 9/10! So I am now thinking we might save Saturdays as rest/shopping days and avoid the parks those days.

I can't wait till everyone starts nutting out their daily itineraries and we can talk ADRS

In less than 2 weeks we can all say "This year we are going to Disney!"

Yup it is a Disney thing unfortunately. You can book bigger weddings further out, but for elopements/smaller weddings it's an 8 month confirmation. At least we're finally getting closer to that 8 month mark I guess!

So I found out today that our MR Christmas cruise has been cancelled. I haven't received an email from Disney yet though, just read it here. We are extremely disappointed as that's the only time of year we can travel as a family. $ preclude us from going east coast, so we're just going to have to continue with our plans sans cruise.

Sorry to hear the news about your cruise! (I didn't make that rhyme intentionally) That is really disappointing, hopefully there is a tiny chance it may not be official if you haven't heard from Disney yet? I'm sure you'll manage to have a fabulous trip anyway!

so just a weird little thought i had in relation to all of us being in dlr and wdw around the same time...

is anyone interested in meeting and having a little IRL catch-up?

I would definitely be interested in an Aus-DIS meet if our dates coincide!



Our holiday is finally feeling real as we booked our flights on the weekend! We had enough Qantas FF points to fly business for the international segments which is very exciting (neither of us have flown anything except economy before)

We're flying on the 14th of October from Sydney - Auckland - LAX (unfortunately the Auckland stopover was unavoidable if we wanted to fly business using points) I haven't worked out how we're going to get from Perth to Sydney yet, but I'll deal with that later..

Then we leave LA on the 3rd of December. It's a direct flight to Sydney, then we'll somehow make our way back to Perth again. I'm particularly excited about this flight because it will on an A380.

So we will have a total of FIFTY nights in the USA! This will be by far the longest holiday I've ever had so I'm super excited. Hopefully it will be a very memorable honeymoon!

 

[alicia1506]

woah -- 50 nights!!!! that's awesome. it sounds like you will be having an amazing time. i can't wait to follow along with all your pretrip prep weddings are so magical.

i was originally pushing for 25 days but carlo wanted to tone it down a little (i do tend to get carried away with my 'just one more day' adds to the plans... so we're doing nov 9-26, which is only 17 days ... but it's 17 days with the mouse, so that's fab, and we'll be there during the christmas celebrations, so that's a first, and a magical memory we can create together

we'll be in dlr from nov 17-26, so 10 full days at dlr.

 

[dabecs]

Has anyone thought about who they will fly with? And when the best time to book flights for Oct/Nov/Dec is?

I have heard that the Flight Centre travel expo sometimes has cheaper flights, but that is in Feb so it would mean booking very far out (and tying up that money early).

The cost of our flights could mean the difference between a stop over in Hawaii or not (please let me have the stop over)

 

[alicia1506]

last year we went with VAustralia, who manged to get us from BNE-LAX return (direct flights both ways) for $1300 each. that was comparable to the $1280 that flight centre expo was offering in feb/march, but i waited and waited and checked the prices daily, and around september vaustralia put out promo fares for $1300 so i jumped on them...

this year, we're going later in the season, nov 23 - dec 11, so 3 full weeks, but still... not sure who's going to have good flights out at that time.

we were pretty happy with vaustralia, especially as we flew economy and i'm 5'10 and carlo is 6'3 and we still had leg room... not a huge lot, but some wiggle room anyways, which is always, always good

 

[Willow25]

After much negotiation with my husband we have finally agreed that we will have a small trip to the states in Nov/Dec 2012. We normally head to the states for about 5 weeks, spending two weeks at WDW and the remaining time in Oregon (that is where I am from ). But with building a new house and trying to get our yard put in and some new furniture we have compromised with a shorter trip this year and by forgoing the flights to Orlando with spending the time at DLR.

We are going to head to Oregon first to spend thanksgiving with my family, a few nights in Seattle to catch up with friends and of course hit all the shops for the Black Friday sales (CANT WAIT!!) (Perk of travelling with four people, 8 bags allowed). After about two weeks we will head down to LA and spend roughly a week at DLR. My husband has not been to DLR since California Adventure Park opened and it will be the kids first trip.

I am really looking forward to taking the kids to DLR as that is the park I grew up going to. Plus my kids will be 5 and 3 which makes the ease of the two parks and the walking distance of the hotels a real plus.

We are contemplating where to stay, which I find really tricky at DLR in comparison to WDW. At WDW we usually stay either DVC or Wyndham Bonnet Creek. We like the room and the laundry facilities. But since this is more of a budget trip than we are used to we are opting to stay on Harbor. I know everyone loves HOJO but I do not love the walk with two little ones who will want to be carried at the end of the night.

I can be a bit of a hotel snob but I am talking to myself with a soothing voice that we will only be sleeping there! We are thinking the Carousel or Tropicana simply for the distance factor. What are your thoughts??

I was really disappointed a few years ago with Universal Hollywood but we are comtemplating it simply for the character interaction. I mean Dora and Shrek are pretty big deals in our house.

Whilst I did not like the A380 we will probably travel with Qantas the direct flights from Melbourne to LAX and our frequent flyers points keep us coming back for more.

Anyway I am looking forward to hearing everyones plans.

 

[alicia1506]

when we were at DLR in nov 2011 we stayed at the desert inn & suites, which is just up from the tropicana, and right across from the pedestrian crosswalk into disneyland - it took us about 2 mins from room to front gate of DLR. while not 'modern' - and i too am a hotel snob - it was clean, large, well kept and very, very well priced - a room with 2 x queen beds, table & chairs, bathroom, tv, fridge, microwave & safe & all other facilities was $73.00 + tax so we found it amazing for the location... it's not much to look at from the outside, but we found their service amazing and the location perfect & the facilities provided were great. breakfast was rubbish, but they had an on-site gift shop that sold cereal and fruit and drinks and snacks so we made do with that on our mornings that we didn't eat in park

just a suggestion

 

[kyl]

Have you thought of renting DVC points willow? You could stay at the GCH in a studio with just the four of you. You should look into it...I am renting points for our stay at WDW this year. I went through davids vacation rentals it was easy. Just a thought!

 

[MLlige]

Hi! It's great to finally find a site like this! I've been looking for quite a while.

I'm glad to see that a few people are interested in going to Disneyland later this year. We've been trying to find other Disney fans interested in joining our group. We are planning on going for 2 weeks leaving 1st December. This is a shoulder season so travelling & accommodation is a bit cheaper. You can also get on the rides pretty quickly compared to the peak seasons around Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.

Full details are on a blog that we've created. Just email me for the website address (eyrie@westnet.com.au).

Even if you can't join our group, you are welcome to look at our blog. You might find some useful information over the next few months.

TTFN

 

[platypus67]

I can be a bit of a hotel snob but I am talking to myself with a soothing voice that we will only be sleeping there! We are thinking the Carousel or Tropicana simply for the distance factor. What are your thoughts??

On my last trip I stayed at Best Western Anaheim Inn. This was the second time I stayed there and have no complaints. The rooms have been clean and comfortable and the staff friendly and helpful. On this last trip I was solo and it was great to be so close to the entrance. Both times I have stayed on the second floor and it was pretty quiet. I will definitely consider staying there again.