The Aussietravellers Adventures continue... Updated - Day 26 - Part 1

[aussietravellers]

Trip Report Summary

We arrived in the USA!
Day 1 - New York
Day 2 - New York
Day 2 - Continued and Day 3
The NY hotel room review
Day 3 - continued
Day 4 - Bronx Zoo Part 1
Day 4 - Bronx Zoo Part 2
Day 5 - TOTR and Harbour Cruise
Day 6 - Morning - Central Park
Magical Express Papers/Tags
Day 7 - NY to WDW
Our room at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Day 7 continued - Our first night at WDW
Day 8 - Ohana Breakfast
Day 8 - Magic Kingdom
Day 8 - Wanyama Safari at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Day 9 - Animal Kingdom
Day 9 - continued... Yak and Yeti Lunch
Day 9 - continued.... Dinner 50's Prime Time Cafe
Day 10 - Boma Breakfast
Day 10 - continued... Hollywood Studios - Lunch Sci Fi
Day 10 - continued... Dinner at Rainforest Cafe
Day 11 - Chef Mickeys breakfast
Day 12 - Epcot..... including lunch at Le Cellier
Day 13 - including... 1900 Park Fare breakfast and Typhoonn Lagoon
Day 14 - including... Boma breakfast... again
Day 15 - Move from AKL to Beach Club - room photos included and Chefs des France Lunch.
Day 15 - continued..... including Via Napoli dinner.
Day 16 - including Beaches and Cream lunch
Day 16 - continued.... includes Garden Grill dinner.
Day 17 - including... Kouzzina breakfast, Blizzard Beach Cabana, Yachtman's Steakhouse dinner
Day 17 - Afternoon - Food and Wine Festival starts...
Food and Wine Festival cookbook cover and contents
Day 18 - including... Cape May's breakfast, Coral Reef lunch, Fantasia Mini Golf, 1900 Park Fare dinner.
Day 18 - Wishes Cruise
Day 18 and 19 - Birthday cakes from GF bakery for Wishes Cruise and from YC bakery delivered to room.
Day 19 - including Shopping, Ridemakerz, YC Pirate Birthday cake....
Day 20 - Hollywood Studios, including 50's Prime Time lunch.
Day 21 - Epcot
Day 22 - Animal Kingdom
Day 23 - Pirates League, CRT and MNSSHP
Day 24
Day 25 - Shopping and Spirit of Aloha
Days 26 to 29 still to come....

Well as we all lie here wide awake in the early hours of the morning, I have just set up the wireless internet and also the disposable cell phone. We woke this morning at about 3am! Wide awake and there is really not a lot to do in a hotel room in the early hours of the morning when your body clock is all wrong So why not hop onto Dis and give a mini trip report of our first evening in New York.

So we arrived in New York after our long flight. Qantas to LA was great, no problems but no sleep . Of course DS fell asleep about an hour out! and it was almost impossible to wake him and once he was awake he was very irratable We got through immigration and customs in OK time. We were off the plane, through customs and over to terminal 4 to catch our flight to NY in 40 minutes. We just hung around the terminal, bought some magazines, had some waffles and before we knew it our flight was boarding. That flight was also uneventful, DS fell asleep almost before we took off and I did get a couple of hours sleep.

Arriving in NY 1 hour early I mean that was good, but we had booked a car to collect us and he was not there But by the time our luggage arrived on the carousel we spotted the driver with our name. So the drive from the airport to times square...... LONG. Took us about an hour and 20 minutes to get to the hotel in the end and the driver ended up being in the wrong area, right in times square and we could see the hotel but he would have had to go the whole way around the block which would have taken about half an hour! So we just got out there and went walking through times square with our suitcases (trying not to look like tourists, um not successful on this occasion).

Arrived at the Doubletree Guest Suites and WOW, what a spot. So pleased we chose here, it is right in the middle of the action. Our room was ready so up we went, dropped our luggage, quick shower and change and off we went and hit the streets. It was about 8.00pm by this stage, so we quickly went to Best Buys and bought each of us a disposable cell and I also bought the Virgin mobile broadband2go wifi and was going to get the $60 credit for the trip which lasts 30 days but was excited to learn that this week they bought out $40 unlimited for 30 days Perfect, better than paying $12.95 a day at the hotel and running a business we need to check in daily so need to be online.

After that we wandered around, saw Ellens Stardust Diner but decided to keep that for breakfast and ended up at Planet Hollywood. It was good, loud and we were so tired we just wanted our food to arrive so we could get going. I used my first travellers cheque We asked a couple of staff at Planet Hollywood where the toys r us store was as we thought it was on Broadway. None of the staff had any idea where the store was so we thought we would just wander around to have a quick look then head back to the hotel for some sleep. Well Toys r us was on the next block We cracked up wondering how they could be just a few stores up from them and they didn't know it was there Oh well.

So quick look around Toys r us and DS was impressed with the Bakugan and Gormitti range. It was then off to the hotel and to bed by about 11pm.

I would have thought that with hardly any sleep we would have slept for hours. WRONG! Just four hours later we are awake and ready to go out for breakfast although figured that 3am is a bit early for breakfast. Thought that was a good time to set up the broadband and the phones, quick post on Dis and it's now almost 5am so I guess we will head out for breakfast in an hour or so and enjoy our first day in NY

Today we plan to start off with a tour to get an idea of the city (hop on hop off), we may go on a harbour cruise.

If I am up at some ridiculous time again in the morning I will check back in with our first day's update

 

[OzCath]

Great to hear you arrived safely Aussietravellers. Hope the jet lag settles down. I expect you will be pretty tired after today and may get a normal night's sleep tonight. Cant' wait to hear about all your activities! Have an amazing time!

 

[heidispidi]

Happy to hear all went well on your flights, and amazed that you still have such a humorous tone to your post, despite the lack of sleep! Enjoy your touring today!

 

[aussiegirls]

Hey aussietravellers, thanks for popping in to visit us while you are on your trip

It sounds like a great start, although I have absolutely no idea what Bakugan and Gormitti are I am just guessing that it might have something to do with the fact that I have girls and not boys

Take care and have fun

xxx

 

[kyl]

Wow Aussietravellers, so good to hear from you. Glad to hear your flight over went well and that you are now in NY!!! Seems strange we are all getting ready for bed here and you are just getting ready to start your day. How big is the toys r us there!!!! I couldn't believe it when we went. Glad your accomodation is nice, well have a ball. Thanks again for thinking of us here waiting waiting and giving your time up while away to fill us in. Its like I said we are all on holidays with you.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Aussietravellers - I'm loving the on the spot reporting! And selfishly hope that this will be a regular thing; although I understand that you MIGHT want to be spending more time sightseeing and spending money shopping than on the Boards with us. Afterall, you can do that when you get home anytime.....

And if I could have any wish I wanted , I would wish for photos of your sightseeing and food porn !

 

[SnowWhite09]

Glad to hear that your having a great time!

 

[lovintheland]

I too am glad you arrived safetly and am loving the updates. It seems so weird to me that you're there already. This time tomorrow night we will have just taken off from Syndey to LA. Woohoo!!!!

I really fear your sleep problem. Last night I managed 4 hours and felt sick from lack of sleep today. Who knows what tonight will bring??? probably even less

Last year when we arrived I remember for the first few mornings I would wake at some ridiculously early hour and couldn't go back to sleep and it's soooo boring in a hotel room when everyone else is alseep. I will need a back up plan like you Aussietravellers and may just pop onto the Dis at some unGodly hour.

Happy sightseeing and keep us updated.
xx

 

[Travel Mum]

Gosh thanks so much for posting and its fantastic to read about your trip so far

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I am so loving this "live" reporting. Please keep it up. Sounds like things are going well so far.

Can you tell me where Best Buys was? We are flying in at a similar time to you into NY and we want to get mobile phones straight away. And I hadn't even considered buying a mobile broadband situation but I'm definitely going to do this too. Any info would be great.

 

[kyl]

We were going to take our mobiles and then just get a sim card over there? Is it better to get one over there? We to have a business and need access to the net for banking etc. Any advice would be great but I understand aussietravellers you are on holidays it is a bit selfish of me to take your time.....but hey if you can't sleep. Hope you are having a ball xx.

 

[aussietravellers]

What a day! And it isn't over yet.

After our ridiculously early morning waking this morning we have had a full on day and have just arrived back at the hotel for a quick rest before we head out for dinner, then an early night as we are just exhausted.

We had breakfast at the hotel this morning and went down about 6.30. It was delicious, we had the buffet and feasted on made to order omelettes, waffles, fruit, YUM. At 8.00am we ventured out to go on the Hop on Hop off bus. We were not planning on hopping off at that stage, we were just going to do a loop to get a feel of where everything way. Just outside the door, DS said he was cold and wanted to go and get his jacket, so back we went to the room. It ended up being a smart move because it was FREEZING on that bus!
The Hotel

So we did the loop from Times Square downtown past Empire State Building

But we got to Central Park and decided we had had enough of the freezing bus so we hopped off. We then went to FAO Schwarz and jumped on the big famous piano along with making a couple of purchases. One of the main things DS wanted to do was the make your own matchbox car, but they stopped doing that about a month ago so he was a little disappointed. We may go back as I would love to make my own muppet puppet

After that it was the Apple Store, which is just beside/outside FAO Schwarz. It was just the most amazing store/entrance to a store that I have ever seen. For those who have never seen it, it is a glass building and you walk inside, even the lift (you can take instead of the stairs) is all glass. It's amazing.

We then took a stroll across the street and wandered into Central Park and went to the Zoo. Pretty cute Zoo but very small. We ended up grabbing some lunch at their restaurant, no photos though, the food was really nothing to rave about.

We then took another walk through Central Park, coming out at Columbus Circle. Stopped off there at Whole Foods to do some supermarket shopping, organised delivery back to the hotel too which was great, no lugging heavy groceries around. From there we just wandered the streets, popping into the odd shops along the way. One thing I am loving about New York is walking, it is just fantastic getting out and walking everywhere and from one place to another.

We dropped all of our shopping at the hotel and decided to head out for afternoon tea. Whilst walking around this is where we ended up....

Where we ended up with a box of these

We didn't eat all of them, just one each was enough, but here are a couple of close ups. They were sooo delicious, some of the best cupcakes I've ever eaten. The icing was just heaven

Is it sad that I also bought a TShirt?
Here it is, I love it
The Front

The Back

We also popped into M&M World, OMG, what a shop. Who would ever have thought that they could fill an enormous store with merchandise from little coloured sweets And yes we shopped there. Really cute pyjamas, bags of M&M's There were just walls covered in massive tubes filled with M&M's.

(don't know those people in the photo, just couldn't get a photo of one of the walls free of people, hope they don't mind being on Disboards )

That was one of the multicoloured walls, there were walls with tubes of individual colours too. Then it was back to the hotel where I hopped on Disboards and emailed some photos home to the family.

So that is the update so far... Time to go out for dinner. We still haven't decided where we will go, I think it's a toss up between Hard Rock Cafe or ESPN Zone (although I am going for Hard Rock). We are just so tired after all of our walking, from about 10.30am this morning, we have been walking (it's 7pm) LONG DAY.

So I will check in again some time. Maybe next time I am up at 3am.

 

[kyl]

Wow really enjoying your photos aussietravellers. Sounds like you having a great time YAY!

 

[aussietravellers]

I am so loving this "live" reporting. Please keep it up. Sounds like things are going well so far.

Can you tell me where Best Buys was? We are flying in at a similar time to you into NY and we want to get mobile phones straight away. And I hadn't even considered buying a mobile broadband situation but I'm definitely going to do this too. Any info would be great.

Ms Shuttergirl, Best Buys in on 7th Ave, about two or three blocks from the Doubletree. It is near (just past) M&M world, (on that side of the road). They were closing just after we arrived so we made it in the nick of time.

 

[aussietravellers]

We were going to take our mobiles and then just get a sim card over there? Is it better to get one over there? We to have a business and need access to the net for banking etc. Any advice would be great but I understand aussietravellers you are on holidays it is a bit selfish of me to take your time.....but hey if you can't sleep. Hope you are having a ball xx.

It was pretty easy to walk into best buys and get the phones, I am not sure if they have sims, but I couldn't see why not. But really I would just buy the phone here with the credit on it. Ours came with a $15 credit and the phone and I think the phone was $29.95, so pretty good deal

I am liking the mobile broadband but you have to buy the stick or the wifi device (which you can get from best buys shops) OR at LAX they had best buys vending machines and they had the broadband sticks to buy in there. They are $99 for the stick then $40 for the months unlimited access. It depends on what you need. I have a business and need to check in online each day and reply to emails (and update disboards ) so for me to log in every day at $12.95 was going to be $388, so to buy the mobile broadband and the $40 credit was half the price

 

[aussietravellers]

Great to hear you arrived safely Aussietravellers. Hope the jet lag settles down. I expect you will be pretty tired after today and may get a normal night's sleep tonight. Cant' wait to hear about all your activities! Have an amazing time!

Happy to hear all went well on your flights, and amazed that you still have such a humorous tone to your post, despite the lack of sleep! Enjoy your touring today!

Hey aussietravellers, thanks for popping in to visit us while you are on your trip

It sounds like a great start, although I have absolutely no idea what Bakugan and Gormitti are I am just guessing that it might have something to do with the fact that I have girls and not boys

Take care and have fun

xxx

Aussietravellers - I'm loving the on the spot reporting! And selfishly hope that this will be a regular thing; although I understand that you MIGHT want to be spending more time sightseeing and spending money shopping than on the Boards with us. Afterall, you can do that when you get home anytime.....

And if I could have any wish I wanted , I would wish for photos of your sightseeing and food porn !

Glad to hear that your having a great time!

I too am glad you arrived safetly and am loving the updates. It seems so weird to me that you're there already. This time tomorrow night we will have just taken off from Syndey to LA. Woohoo!!!!

I really fear your sleep problem. Last night I managed 4 hours and felt sick from lack of sleep today. Who knows what tonight will bring??? probably even less

Last year when we arrived I remember for the first few mornings I would wake at some ridiculously early hour and couldn't go back to sleep and it's soooo boring in a hotel room when everyone else is alseep. I will need a back up plan like you Aussietravellers and may just pop onto the Dis at some unGodly hour.

Happy sightseeing and keep us updated.
xx

Gosh thanks so much for posting and its fantastic to read about your trip so far

Thanks for reading my fast becomming a trip report as it happens
I do enjoy sitting down during our rest time and typing away and I have to get online for business anyway so it's easy enough to post a report to my fellow Disboarders, I know how much I love reading reports.

I'll try to keep posting when i can

 

[kyl]

Thanks so much aussietravellers,
We have a four hour stop over in LAX so will look out for the vending machines. Sounds like better value just to buy a couple of phones with credit already on them.

 

[kyl]

OH OH OH.....nearly forgot did you get some peanut butter M&Ms if not trust me it is worth going back for I loved them! They taste so much better than the nut ones you can't get the peanut butter ones here in oz!

 

[Kalice]

So good to read your reports. Very envious. Love the look of the cupcakes, how were they?

We also bought our phones from best buys, probably should of offered them to a fellow diser before they expired. Oh well there's always next time.
We grabbed a flip mio video camera from best buys. Later we grabbed an older model from a vending machine in LA.

That whole foods market is great, we actually had a great lunch at the food hall/deli place too. It was great.

Hope it warms up a little for you.

 

[heidispidi]

Maybe we should all be chipping in for your broadband stick