PTR - Disneyland, Vegas & Hawaii

[mellyB]

Hi,

First time poster here. Have been reading for a few weeks now. Thought I'd post to get some thoughts/ideas on our planned trip in Dec 2015/Jan 2016 with our 3 kids - 11 year old son & 6 year old twins daughters.

Our Rough intinerary is:
LA - 2 nights
Carnival cruise - 4 nights
Anaheim - 10 nights
Vegas - 4 nights
Hawaii - 10 nights

Looking at disney resort for 2-3 nights and then hojo's. And Aulani resort in hawaii for 3-4 nights. Best places to book these. Seen mention of using a broker but not sure of what that entitles. And want to get a 10 day hopper pass too, where is the best place to get this.

Also any suggestions on what we should try and cover would be very welcome. Just starting to get really plan so we can book airfares in December/Jan and need to book our cruise as well.

Thanks

 

[zanzibar138]

Welcome!

What a great trip! Sounds like a perfect mixture of relaxation and excitement, especially over Christmas time With 10 days for DLR, even with the holiday crowds, you should still be able to have a relatively relaxing and enjoyable experience Where will you be for Christmas Day and NYE?

I haven't used DVC points, so not really sure how that works. People swear by it for saving money though. At that time of year you will probably need to get in very early. The GCV (Grand Californian Villas) books out nearly a year in advance at the best of times, and I imagine Aulani would too. The GCV is the only onsite hotel you can book with points at DLR.

Personally I would leave the Disney hotels until the last nights of your stays. They are pretty amazing, and it would be a let down to have to leave and go to HoJos (not that HoJos isn't great too, but nothing really compares to the Disney hotels there). Same with Aulani.

You can get the 10 day tickets through a travel agent. I got mine through mypersonaltravelplanner.com. I have a personal grudge against Flight Centre and refused to give them any of my money

 

[ladurant2982]

Dvc owners can book at 7 months for non-home resorts. I have used points at Aulani, Disney hotel and Paradise Pier at Disney resort. I find the rooms larger at Paradise Pier and the Villas at Grand Cali use a lot of points but the hotel is beautiful!! My family loves Aulani. Plan to do rainbow reef it's amazing! If you can get a Villa there, that's a great room for a family. Would love to do your itinerary! Sounds wonderful!

 

[Meemoo]

Hi,

First time poster here. Have been reading for a few weeks now. Thought I'd post to get some thoughts/ideas on our planned trip in Dec 2015/Jan 2016 with our 3 kids - 11 year old son & 6 year old twins daughters.

Our Rough intinerary is:
LA - 2 nights
Carnival cruise - 4 nights
Anaheim - 10 nights
Vegas - 4 nights
Hawaii - 10 nights

Looking at disney resort for 2-3 nights and then hojo's. And Aulani resort in hawaii for 3-4 nights. Best places to book these. Seen mention of using a broker but not sure of what that entitles. And want to get a 10 day hopper pass too, where is the best place to get this.

Also any suggestions on what we should try and cover would be very welcome. Just starting to get really plan so we can book airfares in December/Jan and need to book our cruise as well.

Thanks

Hi there - Sounds like you have a wonderful trip planned! I definitely recommend that you look at renting DVC points. I am a DVC owner with Aulani, and I am doing a big trip next year to Aulani & Grand Cal. I wont have enough points for my parents and some inlaws that are coming so we are going through David's DVC Rentals which you can google. They are highly recommended here on Disboards. For Grand Cal I recommend you book with David's asap at the 11 month window as I have heard it is very hard to get into with points - high demand! I also agree with what others here mentioned about leaving the Disney hotels til last!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome to the Dis!


Sounds like great plans.

 

[losfp]

Definitely looks like a great itinerary!!!

Do you know what you're doing in Vegas yet? I loved it when we stayed in 2012. We did 6 nights, and there was a surprising amount of things to see and do even with a 4-year-old in tow. I would personally swap it around and do Vegas before Anaheim, just to finish on a Disney note If you go the broker path, I would be keen to see how you go. I am planning to do something similar in Oct 2015 and will be aiming to use a DVC broker as well.

 

[DVCAustralia]

Welcome. It is always good to plan early.

I own DVC at Aulani and Grand Californian, as well as WDW, and can confirm that Grand Californian is definately the toughest to get and almost impossible at the 7 months window. Aulani is easier but I always feel more relaxed when it is all booked at 11 months. Keep in mind that as well as brokers you can rent direct from the owner, I have rented out a few times and it is a win/win.
Grand Californian and Aulani in January (from a few days after New Years) is actually the lowest season for DVC so you get great value. However with Grand Californian you must book during the weeknights (Sunday to Thursday nights) to get the best value.

I highly recommend booking Hawaiian Airlines for the flights as soon as the airfares come out (or even before in the case of the return flights) especially as you get 2x32kg bags each. In particular whilst I am no fan of Flight Centre, at the US expo in February this year they had some amazing prices and I saw one family booking five seats over the holidays right after they opened the doors.

 

[Tashinwdw]

Welcome to the boards, sounds like an amazing trip for the family.

Definitely looks like a great itinerary!!!

Do you know what you're doing in Vegas yet? I loved it when we stayed in 2012. We did 6 nights, and there was a surprising amount of things to see and do even with a 4-year-old in tow. I would personally swap it around and do Vegas before Anaheim, just to finish on a Disney note If you go the broker path, I would be keen to see how you go. I am planning to do something similar in Oct 2015 and will be aiming to use a DVC broker as well.

I agree, we did WDW and then vegas and LA (not disneyland) on our 2012 trip and it was a real let down after the magic of disney. We are reversing it for our upcoming trip next month so we leave on a Disney high

 

[mellyB]

Welcome!

What a great trip! Sounds like a perfect mixture of relaxation and excitement, especially over Christmas time With 10 days for DLR, even with the holiday crowds, you should still be able to have a relatively relaxing and enjoyable experience Where will you be for Christmas Day and NYE?

I haven't used DVC points, so not really sure how that works. People swear by it for saving money though. At that time of year you will probably need to get in very early. The GCV (Grand Californian Villas) books out nearly a year in advance at the best of times, and I imagine Aulani would too. The GCV is the only onsite hotel you can book with points at DLR.

Personally I would leave the Disney hotels until the last nights of your stays. They are pretty amazing, and it would be a let down to have to leave and go to HoJos (not that HoJos isn't great too, but nothing really compares to the Disney hotels there). Same with Aulani.

You can get the 10 day tickets through a travel agent. I got mine through mypersonaltravelplanner.com. I have a personal grudge against Flight Centre and refused to give them any of my money

Thanks for the tips. I'll check out your recommendation for where to get our 10 day tickets. I've planned it so we'll spend xmas and new years at DLR. I can't wait have been reading some of the holiday posts and the decrorations, etc at that time of year look awesome.

 

[mellyB]

Dvc owners can book at 7 months for non-home resorts. I have used points at Aulani, Disney hotel and Paradise Pier at Disney resort. I find the rooms larger at Paradise Pier and the Villas at Grand Cali use a lot of points but the hotel is beautiful!! My family loves Aulani. Plan to do rainbow reef it's amazing! If you can get a Villa there, that's a great room for a family. Would love to do your itinerary! Sounds wonderful!

Oh rainbow reef looks AMAZING! Added to my list, thanks for the tip.

 

[mellyB]

Hi there - Sounds like you have a wonderful trip planned! I definitely recommend that you look at renting DVC points. I am a DVC owner with Aulani, and I am doing a big trip next year to Aulani & Grand Cal. I wont have enough points for my parents and some inlaws that are coming so we are going through David's DVC Rentals which you can google. They are highly recommended here on Disboards. For Grand Cal I recommend you book with David's asap at the 11 month window as I have heard it is very hard to get into with points - high demand! I also agree with what others here mentioned about leaving the Disney hotels til last!!

Thanks, I'll check out David's DVC rentals asap. And am now planning on doing hojo's then Grand Cal and will do Aulani at the end of our hawaiian stint too.

 

[mellyB]

Definitely looks like a great itinerary!!!

Do you know what you're doing in Vegas yet? I loved it when we stayed in 2012. We did 6 nights, and there was a surprising amount of things to see and do even with a 4-year-old in tow. I would personally swap it around and do Vegas before Anaheim, just to finish on a Disney note If you go the broker path, I would be keen to see how you go. I am planning to do something similar in Oct 2015 and will be aiming to use a DVC broker as well.

Besides a trip to Grand Canyon, I have no idea what we will do in Vegas, any ideas/tips are more than welcome. And I've now moved our itineray around so vegas is before DLR. I'm going to check out David's DVC rentals are recommended by Meemoo. I'll let you know what I find out, as you'll need accommodation before we do. What are your plans for Oct 2015. Dec 2015 can't come quick enough.

 

[mellyB]

Welcome. It is always good to plan early.

I own DVC at Aulani and Grand Californian, as well as WDW, and can confirm that Grand Californian is definately the toughest to get and almost impossible at the 7 months window. Aulani is easier but I always feel more relaxed when it is all booked at 11 months. Keep in mind that as well as brokers you can rent direct from the owner, I have rented out a few times and it is a win/win.
Grand Californian and Aulani in January (from a few days after New Years) is actually the lowest season for DVC so you get great value. However with Grand Californian you must book during the weeknights (Sunday to Thursday nights) to get the best value.

I highly recommend booking Hawaiian Airlines for the flights as soon as the airfares come out (or even before in the case of the return flights) especially as you get 2x32kg bags each. In particular whilst I am no fan of Flight Centre, at the US expo in February this year they had some amazing prices and I saw one family booking five seats over the holidays right after they opened the doors.

How do I find out what owners rent privately? Would you be interested in renting at the time we are going?

Thanks for the tip on the US expo, I've been told Jan/Feb next year will be the best time to book our flights. Will have to keep an eye out for when the Flight Centre US expo is on again. I've heard hawaiian airlines is great, so I'll keep that in mind.

 

[mellyB]

Welcome to the boards, sounds like an amazing trip for the family.



I agree, we did WDW and then vegas and LA (not disneyland) on our 2012 trip and it was a real let down after the magic of disney. We are reversing it for our upcoming trip next month so we leave on a Disney high

Thanks, it certainly makes sense, and will now do DLR last which means we'll spend xmas and new years there and then have our time in hawaii finishing in Aulani before flying home.

 

[losfp]

Thanks for the tip on the US expo, I've been told Jan/Feb next year will be the best time to book our flights. Will have to keep an eye out for when the Flight Centre US expo is on again.

Where are you based? Looks like the next lot will be late July/August

http://www.travelexpo.net.au/discover-americas

I am tempted to go along to the Sydney one to see what's what. I doubt I would be able to book anything for our Oct 2015 trip, but it would be enlightening to see what sorts of prices and deals they are offering, if any, and then decide whether I wait until next year's expos to book flights.

 

[mellyB]

Where are you based? Looks like the next lot will be late July/August

I am tempted to go along to the Sydney one to see what's what. I doubt I would be able to book anything for our Oct 2015 trip, but it would be enlightening to see what sorts of prices and deals they are offering, if any, and then decide whether I wait until next year's expos to book flights.

Losfp, we are based in Sydney and I also saw that the expo is on this Sunday 27th so I talked to hubby and we are going to take the kids and check it out. We won't be able to book anything but will at least give us some ideas of prices, etc.

 

[Meemoo]

Losfp, we are based in Sydney and I also saw that the expo is on this Sunday 27th so I talked to hubby and we are going to take the kids and check it out. We won't be able to book anything but will at least give us some ideas of prices, etc.

Thanks for the heads up on the travel expo, we're going to check it out also, just for research this time, hoping they will have another one in 6 months, does anyone know how often they have the USA Expo?

 

[mellyB]

Thanks for the heads up on the travel expo, we're going to check it out also, just for research this time, hoping they will have another one in 6 months, does anyone know how often they have the USA Expo?

Looks to be once a year, but in February is the big expo, if this one seems good and offers good deals on flights, I plan to head to the feb one and hopefully secure a good deal on our flights for December next year.

I looked at the presentations they are having and at 11.15am there's a disney presentation which we are planning on attending.

 

[Meemoo]

Oh, a Disney presentation I shall be there That sounds like a good plan - take this one as research to see if they do worth while prices then book Feb We head off November next year.

 

[mellyB]

Oh, a Disney presentation I shall be there That sounds like a good plan - take this one as research to see if they do worth while prices then book Feb We head off November next year.

Oh exciting, how long will you be away for? What's your itinerary?