the Legend
Master of Attractions and TourGuide Hopeful!
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2001
- Messages
- 347
Cast
DS Rob (as in Disney Son) Thats me. 36 years old Systems Analyst going on 10. 2nd time to WDW and major financier of this trip.
DM Lydia (as in Darling Mother and wanna be Disney Mother) - A very young 60. A trip of many firsts. First time flying. First time outside New Zealand. First time to the US. First time to WDW.
DN Nadine and Adair (as in Darling Nieces and wanna be Disney Princesses) - 7yo identical Twin Girls. Part-time Tomboys and Thrillseekers on the outside but every part true Princesses on the inside.
Home
New Zealanders by birth, we hail from a City called Porirua (pronounced PAW-REE-ROO-A). We live 20 minutes from Wellington, the Capital of New Zealand which just a tad under 8800 miles from Orlando.
Dates
27 Aug - 06 Sep: All-Star Sports
06 Sep - 11 Sep: Hard Rock Hotel
Obviously with the tragedy in New York, our return home was delayed.
In order to provide a complete trip report, I will include our delayed days:
11 Sep - 13 Sep: Hard Rock Hotel
13 Sep - 19 Sep: Quality Inn International
Background
What is a Kiwi?
Depending on who you'd asked, the answer may net some interesting results. To most Americans, I would imagine that that answer would be a small brown fuzzy fruit with an edible green inside or a particular taste in food. To a New Zealander, the Kiwi is a small flightless bird with a long beak which is native to our country and it is one of our national symbols. It is also the name New Zealanders go by when they travel overseas. It seems the Kiwi name and reputation is known more than the location of our Country.
For those of you who don't know where New Zealand is, imagine Australia (Home of Crocodile Dundee and the last Survivor Series). Fly approxiamately 3 hours Southwest from Australia and you'll find us. Largely two islands with 3.5 Million inhabitants famous for Sheep, Rugby, the Americas Cup, Rachel Hunter, Kylie Bax and Steve Williams (Caddy to Tiger Woods).
Why all this hoopla about New Zealand?
If youve read the Cast intro correctly, you will see that I am dealing with some potentially large problems. First time Fliers. 60yo Mum. 7yo Twins. 8800 miles. 2 stop-overs. Over 14 pieces of Luggage. First timers to the US not to mention WDW Rookies! From New Zealand, I had to book, co-ordinate and finalise two hotels for three weeks over 5 time zones away. Easy? Well Yes and No.
Testing my Travel Agent
I approached my Travel Agent about May. United were doing packages from New Zealand to most US major centres including Orlando. Because of some blackout dates, I was unable to get flights for any of the school vacations. After consulting with the Twins Parents, a decision was made to allow to go during the school term. Yippee! The next question was when?
This was decided by our High School Basketball season. One of my after work activities is coaching under-18 Girls Basketball for our local High School. Our season runs from Feburary to August, if we make the Play-offs. I always counted us in as our Teams have always made the Playoffs as long as I can remember (we draw great local talent). Anyway to cut a long story short, Finals were penned for mid-August, we made it to the Semis and was beaten in the last two minutes by 7.
I had set a date, departing the 20th of August. I wanted 10 days at WDW and 5 days at Universal.
I decided on a rental car for the whole time there learning from my last off-site experience last year. Staying offsite means you are dictated to time and moneywise to get to all the attractions. Last year, I was very disappointed by how limiting this dependency was and vowed two things then (1) I'll never stay offsite again (2) I'll never be dictated to in terms of transport and essentially my freedom to travel. Plus the rental car costs were discounted as part of the United package and I felt for the figure it was very reasonable. After the tragedy, having a rental car turned out to be a blessing in disguise but more on that in the TR.
So my instructions to my Travel Agent was:
What happened?
Read in the next installment of The Kiwis have landed (The Pre-Trip pt.2)
DS Rob (as in Disney Son) Thats me. 36 years old Systems Analyst going on 10. 2nd time to WDW and major financier of this trip.
DM Lydia (as in Darling Mother and wanna be Disney Mother) - A very young 60. A trip of many firsts. First time flying. First time outside New Zealand. First time to the US. First time to WDW.
DN Nadine and Adair (as in Darling Nieces and wanna be Disney Princesses) - 7yo identical Twin Girls. Part-time Tomboys and Thrillseekers on the outside but every part true Princesses on the inside.
Home
New Zealanders by birth, we hail from a City called Porirua (pronounced PAW-REE-ROO-A). We live 20 minutes from Wellington, the Capital of New Zealand which just a tad under 8800 miles from Orlando.
Dates
27 Aug - 06 Sep: All-Star Sports
06 Sep - 11 Sep: Hard Rock Hotel
Obviously with the tragedy in New York, our return home was delayed.
In order to provide a complete trip report, I will include our delayed days:
11 Sep - 13 Sep: Hard Rock Hotel
13 Sep - 19 Sep: Quality Inn International
Background
What is a Kiwi?
Depending on who you'd asked, the answer may net some interesting results. To most Americans, I would imagine that that answer would be a small brown fuzzy fruit with an edible green inside or a particular taste in food. To a New Zealander, the Kiwi is a small flightless bird with a long beak which is native to our country and it is one of our national symbols. It is also the name New Zealanders go by when they travel overseas. It seems the Kiwi name and reputation is known more than the location of our Country.
For those of you who don't know where New Zealand is, imagine Australia (Home of Crocodile Dundee and the last Survivor Series). Fly approxiamately 3 hours Southwest from Australia and you'll find us. Largely two islands with 3.5 Million inhabitants famous for Sheep, Rugby, the Americas Cup, Rachel Hunter, Kylie Bax and Steve Williams (Caddy to Tiger Woods).
Why all this hoopla about New Zealand?
If youve read the Cast intro correctly, you will see that I am dealing with some potentially large problems. First time Fliers. 60yo Mum. 7yo Twins. 8800 miles. 2 stop-overs. Over 14 pieces of Luggage. First timers to the US not to mention WDW Rookies! From New Zealand, I had to book, co-ordinate and finalise two hotels for three weeks over 5 time zones away. Easy? Well Yes and No.
Testing my Travel Agent
I approached my Travel Agent about May. United were doing packages from New Zealand to most US major centres including Orlando. Because of some blackout dates, I was unable to get flights for any of the school vacations. After consulting with the Twins Parents, a decision was made to allow to go during the school term. Yippee! The next question was when?
This was decided by our High School Basketball season. One of my after work activities is coaching under-18 Girls Basketball for our local High School. Our season runs from Feburary to August, if we make the Play-offs. I always counted us in as our Teams have always made the Playoffs as long as I can remember (we draw great local talent). Anyway to cut a long story short, Finals were penned for mid-August, we made it to the Semis and was beaten in the last two minutes by 7.
I had set a date, departing the 20th of August. I wanted 10 days at WDW and 5 days at Universal.
I decided on a rental car for the whole time there learning from my last off-site experience last year. Staying offsite means you are dictated to time and moneywise to get to all the attractions. Last year, I was very disappointed by how limiting this dependency was and vowed two things then (1) I'll never stay offsite again (2) I'll never be dictated to in terms of transport and essentially my freedom to travel. Plus the rental car costs were discounted as part of the United package and I felt for the figure it was very reasonable. After the tragedy, having a rental car turned out to be a blessing in disguise but more on that in the TR.
So my instructions to my Travel Agent was:
- United Package to Orlando via LA departing New Zealand August 20 and returning September 4.
- 10 nights for four at the All-Star Sports.
- 5 nights for four at the Hard Rock Hotel.
- Alamo rental car for duration of the trip.
- Tickets for WDW and Universal.
What happened?
Read in the next installment of The Kiwis have landed (The Pre-Trip pt.2)
) I'm with you on staying off site! Cant wait to read more!
