PTR/TR - An Aussie tribe’s American Adventure Dec 9 2010 – Jan 23 2011

[shushh]

TR
Realistically, I will not have time to do both a live TR as well keeping up with my blog so please feel free to have sticky beak at my blog if you're interested to what we're up to!

PTR
Welcome to our pre-trip report! We’re a bunch of Australians (Sydneysiders to be precise!) about to head over to North and Central America at the end of the year. Just back from our Disney Mediterranean cruise in April, we’re itching to embark on our next Disney adventure. Prior to our April cruise, our Disney travel record had been sadly dormant and confined to our pre-kids-still living with our parents-era.
Herein you will find the account of our attempts to resurrect our Disney resume to a respectable level.

Home...Sydney, Australia

This trip will be mammoth in more ways than one. The most obvious gargantuan factor is the length of the adventure. We’ll be away from home for a total of 6 weeks and 3 days. The next factor contributing to the epic nature of this journey is the number of people going. There are 21 travelers going on various portions of the trip. Brave or stupid? Time will tell…

This trip has been in planning for quite some time. Although both DH and I absolutely love Disney, we only just discovered the existence of DCL a few months prior to our Mediterranean cruise! We came upon it by chance whilst doing research to take the children on their very first trip to WDW in Dec 2010. The original plan was to tack on a Caribbean cruise at the end of our WDW stay. And then…the kids sail free offer for the Mediterranean cruises came up. DH decided to “try before we buy”. Yep, my arm was twisted. We embarked on our 11 night Mediterranean cruise on the Magic for our Disney “preview” to whet our appetite. Besides we needed an opportunity to book our “real” cruise whilst onboard for the extra savings. By then, the Caribbean cruise had morphed into a Panama Canal cruise and the plans had
evolved to include New York and Washington DC. The number of participants had also slowly grown from just the 5 of us to the magical number of 21. It appears that we sell the idea of Disney very well! They all couldn’t resist wanting to come along with us for the magic…

I hope you are able to hang around and see how we go! Any tips or advice to help with our planning will be most appreciated!

Post-script
This pre-trip is proudly brought to you by…PrincessInOz. Thank you for inspiring me and “challenging” me to write this pre-trip report!

Quicklinks
The Adventure
Introducing the Adventurers Part 1
Introducing the Adventurers Part 2
Flights
Glorious Walt Disney World
The Importance of Being Fed - Free Dining and ADRs
100 Days To Go...
Panama Canal and Beyond on The Wonder
New York, New York
An Aside...Gaming
50 Days To Go...
Tagging The Tots
30 Days To Go...
Do NOT use Cocoa Beach Shuttles!
A big aside...House Plans
Ready, Steady, SHOP!
Stateroom Surprise!
Conference Calls
Thanksgiving
5 Days To Go!
Happy In The Hunter
Not So Happy After The Hunter

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY!!! Another Aussie PTR!

Good on you Shushh. It'll be nice to have your PTR to hang out in as well.

 

[shushh]

Thanks for dropping in! I now know that at least one person is reading this...

 

[shushh]

Dec 9 We leave for Orlando!
Dec 21 Fly to New York
Dec 28 Catch the train to Washington D.C.
Jan 2 Return to Orlando
Jan 4 Transfer to Port Canaveral
Jan 6 Hop on to our Panama Canal cruise
Jan 21 Fly home
Jan 23 Arrive home

Feeling the need to squeeze every single bit of value into the expensive airfares and long traveling times, and not to mention the chaos that we’ll be putting our body clocks into, we have decided to go for as long as our budget and leave will possibly permit us to go for.

We’re beginning our journey on December 9 on a 13 hour and 45 minute Delta flight bound for LA. We chose to forgo continuing on the “international” flight to Atlanta (where we’d have to connect to a flight for Orlando) and opted instead for a direct 4 hr 45 min flight from LAX to Orlando. This means no more on-demand inflight entertainment…Hope we don’t regret the decision!

Our first stint at Orlando is solely dedicated to Walt Disney World. Sorry, I lie. We’ll be spending our last day at Universal Studios to satisfy the Harry Potter fans.

We then head to the bright lights of New York for a week where we’ll spend Christmas. It is then a train ride to Washington D.C where we’ll stay for 5 days before heading back down to Orlando.

Following that is a transfer to Port Canaveral in preparation for the Panama Canal cruise, a necessity for our journey west to LA. Sadly our adventure will end there as we board our flight back home to Sydney.

Next...Introducing the Adventurers Part 1

 

[shushh]

It is probably time for introductions. Here is a quick rundown of the magnificent cast of 21!

Our very first Disney planning meeting, held during our annual gaming convention! Not the whole group but most of the WDW troupe were present complete with T-shirts we had made for the trip.

Family A
That's us! The family to whom the crazy plan originally belongs to. We’re in for the long haul from the beginning to the end!

Me – a 34 year old clinically retired medic who sold her soul to work part time for the pharmaceutical industry so that she can be a better mother and wife.

DH – The workhorse making my Disney dreams come true! A true gentleman and a little boy at heart!

DS 7- Our little boy genius who is already taking in as much information as he can find out about the various places that we will be visiting.

DD 5- Our dearest princess who really believes that every single day will be special on our trip because of Disney “magic”. If only we could all be 5 again!

DS 1- The baby of the family and the worst behaved! He who grunts and points, and demands to be carried…

Next...Introducing the Adventurers Part 2

 

[PrincessInOz]

Shushh - That is one great picture of the most of the 21 of you! That is sure one mob of kids you'll be travelling with.

And your kids are soooo adorable. Love the one of the PRINCESS!!

 

[shushh]

PrincessInOz, thank you for your kind words! You know, when I bought that Snow White dress, I really wished I could have had one as a child. I was at the shops having to choose between Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. I think I was there for nearly half an hour plagued with indecisiveness!!!!

 

[shushh]

Family K
Our “gaming”, “church” as well as “dinner at 530pm” buddies with 3 children whose ages are similar to our children. They are also in for the whole hog! We’ve been on many holidays together but never for 45 days straight! Let’s hope our friendship won’t be tested too hard over this long trip...

Dad – A colleague of DH’s who enjoys the finer things in life. Let’s hope he survives the non-espresso coffees in the States. He has been assigned to be our Dining Colonel, the one in charge of organizing our ADRs for WDW and for finding restaurants elsewhere.

Mum – A clinically retired medic like me! An amazingly capable woman who always manages to keep all juggling balls in the air.

DS 7 – A high school musical fan and a keen soccer player!

DD 4 – A little girl who is as sharp as a tack. Can’t trick this little one!

DD 2 – The princess lucky enough to have a birthday while we’re at WDW. We will be celebrating in style at Cinderella’s Royal Table.

Family Y
Our other “gaming”, “church” and “dinner at 530pm” buddies. Close friends who have recently moved to Canada for training/work for a year. Unfortunately, because of work commitments, the whole family can only join in for the WDW

Dad – Yet another medic…but of the bone carpentering sort. Our theme-park strategist, he has dutifully created wonderfully complex spreadsheets full of minute details and will be on hand to shepherd us around at WDW.

Mum – The last of the clinically retired medic! One of the main reasons for the whole group going is fulfill our promise to take her to a “Disney Park”. Yes, she has incredibly NEVER been to ANY Disney park EVER! This trip also serves well as reunion of sorts. We would not have seen each other for about 6 months when we meet up in Orlando.

DS 1 – A most precious little boy conceived after years of trying. A real cutie and babbling away non-stop is his current past time.

Family M
The “older” family and the only non “Drs.” on the trip. They have generously offered to help with the younger children to give the parents a break, thus have a most pivotal role on the journey…The family will be on the New York leg as well from Port Canaveral onwards.

Dad - A fine wine lover and fishing enthusiast

Mum - The mother hen, and the other Disney nut. She will be in for nearly the whole hog except for the Washington DC leg where the whole M clan will head to New Jersey to visit family friends.

DS 21 – A talented “media” person, handy with video, graphics and all things techy.

DS 18 – A hit with the “little” ones, we have high hopes that this will bode well for babysitting opportunities…

Family P
The last family making up our group for the cruise. Also “Drs” but of the dental kind. They will be bringing temporary fillings in case anyone chips their teeth as well as Ultra Carbon in case anyone poisons themselves. They will be doing their own thing but will be joining the rest of the crew for the cruise.

Dad - another coffee connoisseur and also a lover of fine wine.

Mum – A lady who has lost in incredible amount of weight and is now our fashion trendsetter! The woman by the pool looking great in the Monroe-esque 50’s style bathers will be her!

DS 7 – A space enthusiast and lover of the garbage truck. His career of choice until recently had been garbologist much to the horror of his grandmother.

DD 3 – Another dear little girl whose favourite princess is…Daddy!

Next...Flights

 

[PrincessInOz]

I love the fact that your church buddies are also your gaming buddies! Next time you're down in Melbourne, we should have a game ourselves .

You're really lucky to have Family M to help with the kids. But then, given the brood of kids that you're chasing, this was probably really really good planning

And with so many doctors and dentists, you've really got the medical side of things well and truly covered.

Waiting for more...

 

[Jade+3]

Wow - I didn't realise there were so many of you guys going! I think everybody with young children should have a 'Family M' as travel companions.

 

[shushh]

I love the fact that your church buddies are also your gaming buddies! Next time you're down in Melbourne, we should have a game ourselves .

You're really lucky to have Family M to help with the kids. But then, given the brood of kids that you're chasing, this was probably really really good planning

Yes it does work out quite well. We often have lunch together and then retire to someone's house and play a few games until dinner time...

I am always keen to welcome people into the world of European boardgames. It is quite addictive and you'll never see boardgames in the same way again! Many go to Melbourne to shop for fashion but what did we do???!?! We bought about 3-4 games from an excellent shop on Swanston St!

Ok its a date, next time we go to Melbourne, I will bring a game along....

Wow - I didn't realise there were so many of you guys going! I think everybody with young children should have a 'Family M' as travel companions.

Ah yes...Family M. It is because of them that we are able to organize things such as broadway shows without the kids, going to Mal's friend stand up comedy act, romantic dinner on the cruise. The list continues. We are truly blessed!

In fact, even though the numbers make it a logistical nightmare, it also means that we can take turns to do child free activities. We've organized a girls dinner and boys dinner amongst other things. It is also nice to not have to organize everything myself. Although it did take some letting go on my part!

 

[shushh]

The one thing that I am truly dreading is the flight to America and the jetlag that follows. 11 of us will be leaving Sydney at 1130 in the morning on a 13 hour and 45 minute flight to LA where we’ll have 3 hours and 45 minutes to go through immigration, pick up our luggage, go through customs, drop them off again for our next flight, go through security and then find our way to our next boarding gate for our connecting flight to Orlando…with 6 children in tow. Hopefully all flights will go ahead as planned and we will be in Orlando 5 hours later unscathed. We arrive at 543pm and who knows what our stomach will think that we’re up to by then. Hopefully the Magical Express won’t take too long to take us to Port Orleans Riverside. We’re hoping to catch a quick bite to eat and then crash. I keep telling myself that if I could survive flying to Europe, then I can survive this…I know I can. I know I can. I know I can.

The flight home should be marginally better as we’ll be flying out from LA and will only have the one plane to catch to reach Sydney. The flight leaves at 1045pm and so here’s to hoping that the children will sleep most of 14 hour flight away!

We’ve tried to include as many domestic legs as we can on our international ticket so that we can utilize the more generous international luggage allowance. How could we possibly pass up the opportunity to take 10 pieces of luggage per family? Think of all the shopping that we could do! All joking aside, I am actually starting to wonder how light I can pack for a family of five given that I’ll have to cater for the extreme cold of New York and Washington DC as well as for the tropical weather of Central America, not to mention the fact that we will be away for over 6 weeks. I am so tempted to just buy everything over there. Not sure how well that will go down with DH…

Next...Glorious Walt Disney World

 

[Mum from oz]

Hi Shushh!
Another Aussie subbing

You are crazy going with that many people, but Im sure it will be crazy fun!

I am also dreading that flight, but at least we have a stop over! And we have a night flight back too which will hopefully be the easiest

Looking forward to hearing more

PS. Your kiddos are gorgeous

 

[rubyivy]

Great report so far Are your kiddos eurasian? My two kids are.

We are heading to WDW next week, we are on the Delta flight from Sydney via LA and Atlanta - not sure I'm looking forward to that bit - then 8 days in WDW then on to NY for 4 days before we come home.

 

[shushh]

Hi Shushh!
Another Aussie subbing

You are crazy going with that many people, but Im sure it will be crazy fun!

I am also dreading that flight, but at least we have a stop over! And we have a night flight back too which will hopefully be the easiest

Looking forward to hearing more

PS. Your kiddos are gorgeous

Thanks for dropping in Mum from oz! We also thought about stopping over but decided to just bite bullet and go straight through to get the pain over and done with! I still can't believe how much of your trip you've plannrf already. You're one might focused woman!

Great report so far Are your kiddos eurasian? My two kids are.

We are heading to WDW next week, we are on the Delta flight from Sydney via LA and Atlanta - not sure I'm looking forward to that bit - then 8 days in WDW then on to NY for 4 days before we come home.

rubyivy, yes my kids are eurasian. DH is caucasian. Lucky you getting to leave next week! Am green with envy. Be sure to report back on your trip. Would love to hear how you go with the Delta flight especially the LAX connection bit as well as your thoughts on NY. Have a safe trip and a fabulous time!

 

[shushh]

The original reason for the whole trip! I have to be eternally grateful to our Theme-park strategist and Dining Colonel who have coordinated this segment of our trip with distinction. I should have known better than to doubt their anally-retentive obsessive compulsive traits that all medics own and that is needed to be a true Disney planner!

They dutifully bought and studied the Unofficial Guide to WDW. Trawling through the DISboards for information is a given. Next up we subscribed to Fred Hazelton’s site for access to the crowd calendar and touring plans. To not employ the services of a statistician for planning what seemed to be a strategy for battle would be sacrilege. Thanks to Fred, we re-arranged the days that we would be at WDW. The original trip schedule was much shorter. It consisted simply of 2 weeks at WDW prior to the Panama cruise. However this would put us smack bang at WDW around Christmas and New Year where crowd ratings were the worst for the whole year. Although we dearly wanted to experience the atmosphere WDW at Christmas, we didn’t want to spend hours just waiting in line. Time is precious! Besides, airfares just before Christmas are ridiculously priced.

So a solution was put together. We will leave in early December so as to avoid peak season airfares. We’ll spend around 12 days in WDW before having a 2 week hiatus before the cruise. This will mean that we get to experience the WDW Christmas cheer just before the peak crowds appear. As it turned out, our 2 week hiatus became a trip to New York and Washington DC. Christmas in New York has always been a dream. And as everything remains open on New Years day in Washington DC, it appears that end Dec/early Jan is a good time to visit! Things appear to be falling into place until the announcement came that family Y was unable to get enough leave. This was a big disappointment. The Canadian leave system was not as generous as the Australian. Dad will only get to join the gang for WDW. Nonetheless, mum and baby will come back for the cruise.

I digress…back to WDW! We’re booked into Port Orleans Riverside (the only moderate that will fit 5 into a room), our park tickets purchased and we’re all paid up in light of the recent strength of the Australian dollar. Our park days are mapped out complete with rest breaks, dining, tours, shows and parades pencilled in. A rough touring plan is in plan for each day, and contingencies also drawn up incase the parties are required to split up (whether by children’s age or gender preferences). We’re squeezing in the Candlelight Processional, Spectromagic, Illuminations, Fantasmic, and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party with Mother Hen “M” also doing a solo backstage tour. There will, of course, be no time wasting. We have the evening of our arrival day to recover (we arrive at 5:43pm on Dec 9). We will then hit the ground running with a scheduled breakfast at the Crystal Palace at 8:15am the next day, right before exploring the Magic Kingdom. In an attempt to pace ourselves, we will take a short afternoon rest before heading toward Downtown Disney for our evening meal. Then we are likely to crash from exhaustion. We are hopeful that this will be a cure for any jetlag that we might encounter.

At this stage, I have to thank our wonderful TA Karen at Small World Vacations who has made planning and booking this holiday (including the cruise) that much easier. She made our ADRs on our behalf and got most of what we wanted. We have made countless changes along the way but nothing seems to faze her.

We will end our time in Orlando with a visit to Harry Potter World and Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament. We farewell Family Y and fly off to New York on Dec 21.

Next...The Importance of Being Fed - Free Dining and ADRs

 

[Travel Mum]

There will, of course, be no time wasting. We have the evening of our arrival day to recover (we arrive at 5:43pm on Dec 9). We will then hit the ground running with a scheduled breakfast at the Crystal Palace at 8:15am the next day, right before exploring the Magic Kingdom. In an attempt to pace ourselves, we will take a short afternoon rest before heading toward Downtown Disney for our evening meal. Then we are likely to crash from exhaustion. We are hopeful that this will be a cure for any jetlag that we might encounter.

I can't wait to see how this goes for you as next year we will be arriving at POR at about 8pm after flying Wellington/Auckland/L.A./Orlando in one go. I've only planned on a non-park, adjusting-to-time-zone day which is a bit of a shame since that will be a Friday, so I'm really keen to see how you get on getting up early that morning after you fly in!! I do hope you do a Trip Report when you get back

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Loving the PTR Shushh. This is my dream trip for next December. Would love to fly out on 9th Dec (last day of cheap flights LOL), hit WDW until 21 or 22 Dec and then on to New York for Christmas and then Washington for New Years. I'm completely jealous of course. I'm really looking forward to hearing how it all pans out for you as I'm still hopeful that my husband will love WDW and New York so much on our trip next month that he will think that works really well for next Christmas.

I really love the way you write so I'm looking forward to more updates.

 

[shushh]

I can't wait to see how this goes for you as next year we will be arriving at POR at about 8pm after flying Wellington/Auckland/L.A./Orlando in one go. I've only planned on a non-park, adjusting-to-time-zone day which is a bit of a shame since that will be a Friday, so I'm really keen to see how you get on getting up early that morning after you fly in!! I do hope you do a Trip Report when you get back

I sure will let everyone know about it! You know, I think jetlag is a rather personal thing. Some people get really affected, some recover well, and others don't. DH, despite years of shift work still has great difficulties adjusting to time changes. Whereas I can sleep anywhere, anytime. I tend to find that if I keep myself busy, I don't tend to feel the effects as much. Then I try to sleep early. Hence the go, go, go schedule! Although we have a park day, we're not going to go crazy. It wasn't much to add on the extra park day ticket so we did it. We didn't want to be tempted to stay in the hotel room and fall asleep at the wrong time!

Loving the PTR Shushh. This is my dream trip for next December. Would love to fly out on 9th Dec (last day of cheap flights LOL), hit WDW until 21 or 22 Dec and then on to New York for Christmas and then Washington for New Years. I'm completely jealous of course. I'm really looking forward to hearing how it all pans out for you as I'm still hopeful that my husband will love WDW and New York so much on our trip next month that he will think that works really well for next Christmas.

I really love the way you write so I'm looking forward to more updates.

Haha! Great minds think alike. We chose the 9th simply because it was the last day of cheap flights!!! Saving a few hundred PER person for a family of five can pay for a pretty darn nice hotel room or 2. But Disney came to rescue and gave us a PIN for the 9th and then free dining from the 10th onwards so we're sweet! I'm writing with lots of exclamation marks probably because I'm thinking about how much I'm saving which gets me very excited!

You can just copy our itinerary for next year! I am hoping that it will work well. And you don't have to be jealous, you're the one leaving for WDW very shortly!

Oh, and thank you for the compliment with regard to my writing skills. It doesn't take much to blow my ego all out of proportion...

 

[shushh]

When we made our WDW reservations, we were hopeful that free dining would be made available in December this year as they did for the first time last year. Our dreams came true! It does mean that we have to check in on Dec 9 for our room only reservation and then check in AGAIN on Dec 10 for our “free dining” package but no matter! Any inconvenience is made up aplenty by the amount of money that we’re saving.

I am highly excited as I am keen to try the various Disney dining options. If free dining had not been offered, I fear that the frugal side of me would have taken over and we would not have stepped into any Disney dining establishment. I was also overcome with sheer relief when I saw the infinite number of restaurants to choose from. Relieved that I don't have to make the choice!

Our Dining Colonel did us proud and when the 180 day mark rolled up, he provided our TA with a list of our preferred ADR choices, along with alternative dates, venues, times (all ranked of course and tied in with our theme park strategy). I felt sorry for our poor TA. She wasn't just given instructions, she was given a complete algorithm. If you can't get A, then try for B. If B is also not available, then C and D won't work, in which case you'll have to get E and F instead. If you can't get H, then we'll have to swap days for J and A (or B depending on which one we get),...

Well, she managed to get most of our first choices! Here's what we've got booked.

Dec 10: Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom) @ 8:15am
Dec 10: Wolfgang Puck Café (Downtown Disney) @ 6:00pm
Dec 11: Coral Reef (Epcot * Living Seas) @ 11:55am
Dec 11: Bibbity Bobbity Boutique (Magic Kingdom) @ 3:30pm in preparation for baby K's 3rd Birthday party at CRT
Dec 11: Cinderella Royal Table Dinner (Magic Kingdom) @ 5:35pm
Dec 12: Akershus Princess Storybook Breakfast (Epcot *Norway) @ 8:05am
Dec 13: Hollywood Brown Derby Fantasmic Lunch Package (Hollywood Studios) @ 2:00pm
Dec 14: Donald’s Safari Breakfast (Animal Kingdom *Tusker House) @ 8:05am
Dec 14: Artist Point (Wilderness Lodge Resort) @ 7:00pm for a Mums' night out
Dec 15: California Grill (Contemporary Resort) @ 7:20pm Dad’s nights
Dec 16: MVMCP - Not really dining but counting it here for the cookies...
Dec 18: Chef Mickey’s Breakfast @ 8:15am
Dec 18: Le Cellier's (Epcot) @ 6:45pm

The only reservation we're not completely sold on is the Fantasmic Lunch package at Hollywood Brown Derby. We're torn between a more sensible lunch hour and not having to wait in line for Fantasmic. Also we're not sure if it is worth 2 TS credits just to keep the lining up to a minimum. The risk is that it will be extremely busy as it is close to Christmas and there is only one show scheduled for that day.

And hopefully fairly soon, we'll hear from our TA if she has managed to snag us a dinner package at Le Celliers for the Candlelight Processional on Dec 12. If not then hopefully she managed to get us into Teppan Edo.

Will update shortly!