ozsammyboy
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2006
- Messages
- 23
Ok, guys so I admit it, I did start a pre-trip report about 9 months or so ago... but it was just too far away and didnt seem real! So, here we are 83 days out from when we leave Australia for our first family trip to Walt Disney World.
Firstly, let me introduce our intrepid travellers for this marathon event - we'll be in the US for six whole weeks!
Firstly there's me, Erik, 34 and a total theme park nut. My friend's think I am insane that I will only go on holidays to places where there are theme parks!
My lovely wife, Jodi, 32 also a theme park junkie.
My mother, Sussi, not allowed to say her age for fear of reprisals! Has never been to the US let alone a Disney Theme Park, so we have decided to treat her to a holiday to some of our favorite places on the planet!
Darling Daughter Number 1, Jade, 5 years old, and turns 6 when we are staying at Walt Disney World. Is a big Disney fan, and hopefully will really get a lot out of all the characters at this age.
Darling Daughter Number 2, Emily, 16 months old, probably too young to get anything out of this trip although on a trip to a theme park in Australia a few weeks back, was absolutely having the time of her life meeting the characters. Gave Daffy Duck, and Foghorn Leghorn a big smooch on the beak!
Now my wife and I have been to the World before, back in 1998 we spent 16 nights at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort and had a blast. We also visited Disneyland on that trip, which is where I actually proposed to my wife - right next to Snow White's Wishing Well (but that's another story).
But for this trip 9 years later, we now have two darling daughters who get to share the magic with! We are also treating my mother to a trip the U.S. She is the one who introduced me to Disney so many years ago - in fact I still have my complete soundtrack to Snow White on 6 LP's which I used to listen to everyday when I was little - or so my mother tells me! It will be great to introduce her to the Disney Experience, which my wife and I love so much.
Our basic itinerary is as follows: -
Nov 16 - 19 : [Los Angeles] Hollywood Celebrity Hotel - this is in the heart of LA, and will allow us to walk to the local attractions with no problems.
Nov 19 - 23 : [Las Vegas] MGM Grand Hotel - awesome location in the middle of the action, will allow us to get around nice and easily.
Attractions: Star Trek: The Experience, Stratosphere Tower, Speed the Ride, and Circus Circus Adventure Dome.
Nov 23 - 26 : [Denver] Hotel TBD - a family friend who lives in Golden, Colorado, is organising our accomodation and day trips, so I am kind of in the dark about what we doing here, but it will be nice to do something that isnt 100% touristy.
Nov 26 - Dec 18 : [Orlando] Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort - 22 nights of action packed theme park madness. We've requested a preferred room, in Martinique as my wife has rheumatoid arthiritis, and my mother has MS (although she has not had any bad side effects to date - touch wood). This should minimise the amount of walking they need to do to get drinks, and food from the Food Court.
Attractions: Disneyworld Parks, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Busch Gardens Africa, and Sea World.
Dec 18 - 27 : [Anaheim] Disneyland Hotel - I have actually told my wife that we will be staying at the Fairfield Inn, so that should be a nice little surprise for her when we get to Anaheim. We are planning on spending Christmas Day at Disneyland.
Attractions: - Disneyland Resort, Legoland California, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Knotts Berry Farm.
Whilst we are in Orlando, I have made the following Advanced Dining Reservations: -
27-Nov Ohana's (Character Breakfast)
28-Nov Chef Mickeys (Character Breakfast)
29-Nov Chef Mickeys (Character Dinner)
30-Nov Hollywood & Vine (Character Breakfast)
3-Dec Hollywood & Vine (Fantasmic Dinner)
5-Dec Garden Grill (Character Lunch)
6-Dec Ohana's (Dinner)
10-Dec Cinderella's Royal Table (Character Lunch)
We are really looking forward to the lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table, as we are going there to celebrate darling daughter birthday, who is turning six on that day. I have also booked her in for a morning salon reservation at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get her hair, nails, and make up done. She is a real girly-girl so she will no doubts love that!
Other highlights will be my second darling daughters first haircut, which we plan to have done at the Magic Kingdom - she will be 19 months at the time, so that should be super special also!
I have also booked myself a Back Stage Tour - Around the World on a Segway. Which should be really cool. The girls weren't interested (or too small) for this one, so I get to have a little time to myself.
I have produced a small spreadsheet application which allowed me to track how much time (by hour) that we were spending at each park. This also made sure that we allocating an similar amount of time to each park. You just had to enter the abbreviation of the park in the cell, and the spreadsheet would add the time to master list. I also colour coded cells where we had ADR's or where there were events like the parades and firework displays. What do you guys think?? Am I a Disney freak or not??
Anyways, thats all for now. I have to work out what I am going to do in the way of arranging a character autograph album for my daughter. Have read some cool ideas on the boards, but not sure how I go about getting pictures of all the more obscure characters.
I am also not sure what is going to be the best days to visit my non-Disney parks especially in the California section of my trip (as it is getting so close to Christmas). Does anyone know how busy the parks are in California at that time of year??
Thanks for listening!
Erik
Firstly, let me introduce our intrepid travellers for this marathon event - we'll be in the US for six whole weeks!
Firstly there's me, Erik, 34 and a total theme park nut. My friend's think I am insane that I will only go on holidays to places where there are theme parks!
My lovely wife, Jodi, 32 also a theme park junkie.
My mother, Sussi, not allowed to say her age for fear of reprisals! Has never been to the US let alone a Disney Theme Park, so we have decided to treat her to a holiday to some of our favorite places on the planet!
Darling Daughter Number 1, Jade, 5 years old, and turns 6 when we are staying at Walt Disney World. Is a big Disney fan, and hopefully will really get a lot out of all the characters at this age.
Darling Daughter Number 2, Emily, 16 months old, probably too young to get anything out of this trip although on a trip to a theme park in Australia a few weeks back, was absolutely having the time of her life meeting the characters. Gave Daffy Duck, and Foghorn Leghorn a big smooch on the beak!
Now my wife and I have been to the World before, back in 1998 we spent 16 nights at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort and had a blast. We also visited Disneyland on that trip, which is where I actually proposed to my wife - right next to Snow White's Wishing Well (but that's another story).
But for this trip 9 years later, we now have two darling daughters who get to share the magic with! We are also treating my mother to a trip the U.S. She is the one who introduced me to Disney so many years ago - in fact I still have my complete soundtrack to Snow White on 6 LP's which I used to listen to everyday when I was little - or so my mother tells me! It will be great to introduce her to the Disney Experience, which my wife and I love so much.
Our basic itinerary is as follows: -
Nov 16 - 19 : [Los Angeles] Hollywood Celebrity Hotel - this is in the heart of LA, and will allow us to walk to the local attractions with no problems.
Nov 19 - 23 : [Las Vegas] MGM Grand Hotel - awesome location in the middle of the action, will allow us to get around nice and easily.
Attractions: Star Trek: The Experience, Stratosphere Tower, Speed the Ride, and Circus Circus Adventure Dome.
Nov 23 - 26 : [Denver] Hotel TBD - a family friend who lives in Golden, Colorado, is organising our accomodation and day trips, so I am kind of in the dark about what we doing here, but it will be nice to do something that isnt 100% touristy.
Nov 26 - Dec 18 : [Orlando] Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort - 22 nights of action packed theme park madness. We've requested a preferred room, in Martinique as my wife has rheumatoid arthiritis, and my mother has MS (although she has not had any bad side effects to date - touch wood). This should minimise the amount of walking they need to do to get drinks, and food from the Food Court.
Attractions: Disneyworld Parks, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Busch Gardens Africa, and Sea World.
Dec 18 - 27 : [Anaheim] Disneyland Hotel - I have actually told my wife that we will be staying at the Fairfield Inn, so that should be a nice little surprise for her when we get to Anaheim. We are planning on spending Christmas Day at Disneyland.
Attractions: - Disneyland Resort, Legoland California, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Knotts Berry Farm.
Whilst we are in Orlando, I have made the following Advanced Dining Reservations: -
27-Nov Ohana's (Character Breakfast)
28-Nov Chef Mickeys (Character Breakfast)
29-Nov Chef Mickeys (Character Dinner)
30-Nov Hollywood & Vine (Character Breakfast)
3-Dec Hollywood & Vine (Fantasmic Dinner)
5-Dec Garden Grill (Character Lunch)
6-Dec Ohana's (Dinner)
10-Dec Cinderella's Royal Table (Character Lunch)
We are really looking forward to the lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table, as we are going there to celebrate darling daughter birthday, who is turning six on that day. I have also booked her in for a morning salon reservation at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get her hair, nails, and make up done. She is a real girly-girl so she will no doubts love that!
Other highlights will be my second darling daughters first haircut, which we plan to have done at the Magic Kingdom - she will be 19 months at the time, so that should be super special also!
I have also booked myself a Back Stage Tour - Around the World on a Segway. Which should be really cool. The girls weren't interested (or too small) for this one, so I get to have a little time to myself.
I have produced a small spreadsheet application which allowed me to track how much time (by hour) that we were spending at each park. This also made sure that we allocating an similar amount of time to each park. You just had to enter the abbreviation of the park in the cell, and the spreadsheet would add the time to master list. I also colour coded cells where we had ADR's or where there were events like the parades and firework displays. What do you guys think?? Am I a Disney freak or not??
Anyways, thats all for now. I have to work out what I am going to do in the way of arranging a character autograph album for my daughter. Have read some cool ideas on the boards, but not sure how I go about getting pictures of all the more obscure characters.
I am also not sure what is going to be the best days to visit my non-Disney parks especially in the California section of my trip (as it is getting so close to Christmas). Does anyone know how busy the parks are in California at that time of year??
Thanks for listening!
Erik
I'm looking forward to hearing all about it! 
OK, I want a copy of your spreadsheet, please! So, how much luggage DO you take for a 6 week vacation??? 
I thought I was gonna go nuts packing for just 2 weeks! You are going to have such a great time. What a wonderful way to spend the holidays. 
We surprised the kids in 2005 with a trip over the winter holidays and it was pure magic. Be aware that the week leading up to Christmas is perfect in Disneyland but starting Christmas Day and after it's mayhem. Crowded to the gills and usually the park hits capacity.
for you, 
for me!!! 
(i'm jealous)
) The cost was in A$ and included all costs - so no extra to pay over there except fuel! It is a great deal, and is worth looking into.
