September/October 2013 check in

[alicia1506]

totally happy to be anyone's tour guide. we are only there for a few days, so will need to spend a lot of time in the parks. we should have a few drinks/dismeet in the hotel bar

 

[australiankaren]

totally happy to be anyone's tour guide. we are only there for a few days, so will need to spend a lot of time in the parks. we should have a few drinks/dismeet in the hotel bar

or hard rock or nascar or bubba gump ...oh the curly fries and cocktails i can have

 

[australiankaren]

I'm checking into WDW on the 2nd October. We will either do UA before the 2nd or after the 8th.

I may need a tour guide as well.

well if you do it before the 2nd we should all be there...so after the parks close we can meet city walk for dinner and compare notes.....a UST ANZAC Dizmeet....

 

[Travel Mum]

Oh the beauty of staying on site at Universal with unlimited front of line access is that you can just tour anyway you want! We were able to just go around Universal Studios in a clockwise, natural touring, direction and it was so lovely and relaxing. That was compared to my uber-planned ride order and me being the Fast Pass Runner at the WDW parks! Of course on your IOA day, you do have to prioritise WWoHP but just do that at the onsite hotel guests early entry time and then, once done, you can tour that park leisurely too

 

[PrincessInOz]

Are you getting a Universal AP?

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Just bought a few things of Amazon.com in the Black Friday Sales. Included was the box set of all Harry Potter movies. I figure that I can't visit the WWOHP without learning a bit about it first. Would you believe that I've never seen any of the movies or read any of the books? lol.

 

[alicia1506]

Omg the harry potter books are awesome but please keep in mind the first few were written for younger children/adults. Then it was several years between books so they are written for a young teen/tween, then mid teen then young adult then adult etc. I love them and the world building

 

[becpee]

Just bought a few things of Amazon.com in the Black Friday Sales. Included was the box set of all Harry Potter movies. I figure that I can't visit the WWOHP without learning a bit about it first. Would you believe that I've never seen any of the movies or read any of the books? lol.

I read up to page 100 of the first book, I found it very nothing

Maybe I should have read further...

 

[australiankaren]

audio books.....HP read by steven fry......flippen awesome brings the books to life...great in the car

 

[PrincessInOz]

I read up to page 100 of the first book, I found it very nothing

Maybe I should have read further...

My personal favourite is book 3.

 

[alicia1506]

My personal favourite is book 3.

I cannot stand the 4th movie. But that is probably because i saw it 3 times with 3 different people the week it came out. Then about 4 more times in the month after it came out. And then while we were in wwohp it was on every.single.night!! Lol...

 

[sims11]

Sorry about the delay in replying life has been crazy. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Now I can't remember who asked about our cruise but we are doing the Disney cruise on the 5th October which happens to be my birthday so that should be fun.

Its been interesting reading about Universal, do I need to book a hotel closer to there or can we commute from WDW?

I haven't seen or read Harry Potter either

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Omg the harry potter books are awesome but please keep in mind the first few were written for younger children/adults. Then it was several years between books so they are written for a young teen/tween, then mid teen then young adult then adult etc. I love them and the world building

Good to know. I might show my son the first couple of movies in that case, but none of the rest. I'd love for him to also have at least a basic understanding of who Harry Potter is before I take him to visit Harry's World.

I booked my MCO to LAX leg of the flights today. It's with American Airlines - certainly not my first choice of airline carrier given how dated and no-frills their planes are. However, they were offering a price I was happy with, an ideal flight time, and most importantly, the flight is direct.

Now the only flight I have left to book is the LAX - MCO leg. I'm waiting for Virgin America to release dates for mid-September as it appears that they have one direct flight each morning. From all the reviews I've read, it seems they are one of the best domestic carriers in the States.

My goal at present is to book and pay for one thing a fortnight to try and spread out costs and also to take advantage of the stronger NZ dollar (long may it last). I'm thinking my next purchase might be Universal tickets from Undercover Tourist.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Its been interesting reading about Universal, do I need to book a hotel closer to there or can we commute from WDW?

I think that's totally up to you. It probably depends a lot on how many days you plan on spending at Universal. If it was just one day, I'd probably commute from your hotel at Disney. Not worth packing up and moving all your luggage just to spend one day in a park.
It also probably depends on which days you intend on visiting. I've read that weekends tend to be a bit busier and are a good time to have an express pass (complimentary for Universal hotel guests).

 

[alicia1506]

Good to know. I might show my son the first couple of movies in that case, but none of the rest. I'd love for him to also have at least a basic understanding of who Harry Potter is before I take him to visit Harry's World.

I booked my MCO to LAX leg of the flights today. It's with American Airlines - certainly not my first choice of airline carrier given how dated and no-frills their planes are. However, they were offering a price I was happy with, an ideal flight time, and most importantly, the flight is direct.

Now the only flight I have left to book is the LAX - MCO leg. I'm waiting for Virgin America to release dates for mid-September as it appears that they have one direct flight each morning. From all the reviews I've read, it seems they are one of the best domestic carriers in the States.

My goal at present is to book and pay for one thing a fortnight to try and spread out costs and also to take advantage of the stronger NZ dollar (long may it last). I'm thinking my next purchase might be Universal tickets from Undercover Tourist.

Depending on the age of your ds, all of the movies should be fine. There is really nothing objectionable in them but concepts of death (harry is an orphan) and revenge/justice/vengeance do come up so i would ensure that your son has dealt with these concepts before. Obviously there is magic which i think is where most of the controversy comes into play but the books are essentially the tale of a young boy who discovers he is a wizard and there is a whole magical world that goes along with it and these are stories of his adventures.

Wow you are so organised. I am just starting to save. Admittedly our bne -lax flights are taken care of for me and carlo but i havent even thought of paying for anymore of it yet. I probably should though as my job is casual and i dont know how long they will choose to keep me on..

 

[5ofus]

Depending on the age of your ds, all of the movies should be fine. There is really nothing objectionable in them but concepts of death (harry is an orphan) and revenge/justice/vengeance do come up so i would ensure that your son has dealt with these concepts before. Obviously there is magic which i think is where most of the controversy comes into play but the books are essentially the tale of a young boy who discovers he is a wizard and there is a whole magical world that goes along with it and these are stories of his adventures.

Wow you are so organised. I am just starting to save. Admittedly our bne -lax flights are taken care of for me and carlo but i havent even thought of paying for anymore of it yet. I probably should though as my job is casual and i dont know how long they will choose to keep me on..

Hmm I don't know... I wouldn't let my boys watch anything from 3 onwards, and even *** and PS (books/movies 2 and 1 for the uninitiated) have some scary stuff for littlies, I mean Basilisks and Werewolves can be kinda scary. Then again, my eldest is only five.

And I totally second the audiobooks read by Stephen Fry. I listen to them pretty much constantly as I'm doing housework

 

[australiankaren]

Hmm I don't know... I wouldn't let my boys watch anything from 3 onwards, and even *** and PS (books/movies 2 and 1 for the uninitiated) have some scary stuff for littlies, I mean Basilisks and Werewolves can be kinda scary. Then again, my eldest is only five.

And I totally second the audiobooks read by Stephen Fry. I listen to them pretty much constantly as I'm doing housework

funny thing..we bought the first 3 audio books of HP read by steven fry, then the lady who did the ordering got books 4-7 read by a guy who had a.....wait for it........a lisp.......

OMG..it took me nearly all of book 4 to get used to it....and when he said herminie I would nearly pee myself.....

 

[australiankaren]

my trip.

so had a chat to DH re flights, and convinced him that delta economy comfort for $1200 pp would be better than ANZ PE for $3200 pp.....saving 4K...which would pay for 1 cruise and the 4 days at universal....so hes now on board

all i have to do is drug him for the entire flight but make sure hes ok enough to stagger thru customs and then onto the connecting delta flight to orlando...for this leg i will spring for first class..poor boy will need the pampering by then....

so my budget is as follows (aprox)
syd-lax $2500
lax-mco $2000
WDW- Annual pass from this year $0
Disney food $500
DVC accom 6 nights $0
2 nights pop $200
cruise x 2 $6000 (14 nights)
car hire 7 days $250
car hire 4 days $150
ust accom royal pacific 4 nights $800
ust tickets $400
ust food $400
lax hotel 1 night $100
travel insurance $150
2 x new passports $600

$14500 for 2 people ...30 days
this includes
airfares
8 nights WDW, 1 bedroom villa @ boardwalk, tickets & food
14 day cruise RCCL (B2B) junior suite
11 days car hire
4 nights on site @ universal studios with tickets, food
passports and travel insurance

so i think for $7250 pp thats pretty good ish

havent included
AP discounts for WDW food and pop
discounts for car hire & airfare, UST accom and tickets

 

[WanderlustNZ]

so i think for $7250 pp thats pretty good ish

Well done. That price sounds great.

My budget is a few more K than that for just 22 nights! Plus any treats (e.g nice airline seats, suites and fancy hotels etc) are going to be few and far between for us on this trip.
Admittedly though my budget does include 3 people instead of 2 and I have factored in shopping money. So I guess I can't complain too much. Lol.

Am chomping at the bit at present to book and pay for something else. The boring old American Airlines flight just isn't very exciting.

 

[5ofus]

Have you booked your flights Karen?