Sept / Oct 2011

[DVCAustralia]

Originally posted by AussieMumma
Now onto a non Disney related question...Have any of you ever stayed at Loews or Hard Rock Hotel at Universal? We are think about staying at one of them for the first 7 nights we are in Orlando (either that or the Nickelodeon Resort) I just liked the fact you got the Express Passes if you stayed onsite at Universal.

You will definately not need 7 nights for Universal, particularly with the Express Passes. I would suggest about 3 nights as you pay relatively high prices for the accommodation.

 

[AussieMumma]

I don't want 7 days at Universal parks I just want 7 nights at one of the hotels, we are only doing the parks for 3 days.
We are in Orlando for 15 nights total and don't want to waste days switching between hotels so we are choosing to just stay at two so we only have to pack up and change over once.

 

[DVCAustralia]

In that case I would add nights at Disney.

 

[AussieMumma]

Can you explain why you would choose that option?
Having never been to either place before we have no idea which is the better choice.

 

[DVCAustralia]

I would NEVER stay at a Universal hotel, except maybe for the early entry, Express passes etc. due to Harry Potter, as the parks, particularly IofA, were disappointing compared to WDW.
Also, once you get to a 4 or 5 day WDW pass it is not much more for a 10 day pass. Further the additional cost to add on the water parks etc. is fixed at about $50 but with a 10 day pass you get 10 visits (7 visits on 7 day pass etc.) so you have plenty. As such you can go to all the parks etc. pretty much constantly for up to 14 days, even for short periods if you so desire.
As such if you only want to change hotels once I would use the cost of extra nights at Universal to pay for extra nights at WDW instead.

 

[Travel Mum]

Yep, we are just staying onsite at Universal for the time we are visiting the two parks just so that we can get Express passes and early entry to WWHP. In fact, although I currently have 3 nights at the Royal Pacific booked, I'm considering dropping it down to one and doing the sneaky early check-in and off to tour Universal, stay the night, and then IOA with WWHP the next day. At Royal Pacific, the five of us will be in one room, whereas I've got a Two-bedroom suite at the Staybridge booked for less than the cost of the Royal Pacific room. By then, we will already have had 9 nights all in one room at POR in WDW the week before so I think my family will appreciate the space for a while before we board our cruise ship and go back down to sharing a small space.

 

[AussieMumma]

We did only want to stay at a universal property for the early entry and the unlimited express passes so I think we'll cut it back to just 3 nights, then add the other 4 to our Disney hotel.
We were just looking at getting the 7 day park hopper passes for Disney World.
We only have 15 nights in Orlando which really only gives us 14 full days and we want to have 2 days for shopping (I would prefer more), 1 day for the Space Centre and another day for Busch Gardens so that doesn't leave any extra time for any more Disney days unfortunately, and our flight times don't give us much time on the travel days.

So I think the plan will now be 3 nights at one of the Universal hotels then 12 nights at a Disney hotel.
Just waiting to hear back from a couple of travel agents and also I have asked for a price from a DVC rental person.

 

[Travel Mum]

Aussie Mama, I saw your ticket in days and I wondered how many days it is for us (as my ticket is in months). Well it is 154 days so we are not far behind you!

 

[hellosue]

For everyone that is travelling to Disneyland and/or DisneyWorld in Sept/Oct did you hear that Economists are predicting the A$ to be worth USD1.15 - USD1.20 by October
certaining makes up for last trip getting USD .54c for my A$1
Go Aussie Go!!!

 

[5ofus]

Wow, that's great! If it gets much higher we'll be getting some travelers' cheques for our 2015 trip.

If you think 54 cents was bad though, when I went in 2001, the rate was 49 cents and we got 46-47. Ouch did that trip hurt!

 

[kylieh]

For everyone that is travelling to Disneyland and/or DisneyWorld in Sept/Oct did you hear that Economists are predicting the A$ to be worth USD1.15 - USD1.20 by October
certaining makes up for last trip getting USD .54c for my A$1
Go Aussie Go!!!

Our chance to get it all back!!!

Just think, at US$1.15, a $2.69 Disney Coke becomes AU$2.33, the $295 Dooney and Bourke handbag becomes completely cheap and justifiable at AU$255. OK, that doesn't take into account exchange commission or tax, but at $1.15 does it matter.

 

[HappyFingers]

everytime i exchange currency and think i got a fantastic rate

it goes up again


whats a guy to do

we heard that it will now settle when the fed gov announces some bla bla bla stockmarket gibberish

so we will wait and see
im still going to continue exchaning currency because that means we cant spend it before we go

i have decided that even though i detest guns in every way
that i will visit the shooting range that is in vegas and hammer off a few hundred rounds
they let you fire all sorts of machine guns and automatic pistols (completely mad imo)

i mean hey
when in rome

they even have packages for kids
havnt decided if ill let my son have a crack yet

and if you are female they have pink guns you can use

 

[hellosue]

Is anyone changing there package for the Free Dining???

Is it true that you may pay more because you have to give up room discount?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Has everyone booked their flights yet for Sept/Oct? Or are you still searching for a deal? What did everyone pay?????

 

[tapdancer]

I just paid $8900 Sydney Orlando return through Delta. V Australia prices kept going up and a 12 hour layover in LAX didn't appeal.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

For how many people?

 

[kylieh]

Is anyone changing there package for the Free Dining???

Is it true that you may pay more because you have to give up room discount?

Yes and no. Maybe. I calculated both ways and keeping free dining worked out better for us. If there are more kids than adults a room discount may be better but it depends too on if you stay Value, Mods, or the Fancy ones. I'd grab the first deal that comes out and if another comes out do your maths and change it.

Has everyone booked their flights yet for Sept/Oct? Or are you still searching for a deal? What did everyone pay?????

We pad about $5k for 3A and 2C Qantas to Orlando via Dallas. We were lucky and got the specials in January when the Dallas route was launched.

 

[hellosue]

Has everyone booked their flights yet for Sept/Oct? Or are you still searching for a deal? What did everyone pay?????

I booked in Feb MEL - LAX Rtn $1340 each as we are travelling to Kentucky first then off to Orlando

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

AMAZING DEAL Kylie!!!! Good on you.

Hellosue - that sounds pretty good too.

 

[hellosue]

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

Dates just released September 13, 16, 20, 23, 27, 30 and October 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31 and November 1 from 7:00 pm to midnight.

Just booked in for Sept 20 ..... Yippee