Thoughts on itinerary please :)

[LisaAJ]

Hi everyone

We are going to be able to book our flights in the next few days so I am desperately trying to work out our final itinerary so I know when to book our flight home. We are a bit limited but can extend a day or so if you we need to.
Travelling will be myself, hubby and DS9 and DD7.


So here is what I have so far;

* Depart Perth 23/12/14 (flying Delta at this stage), 13hr layover in Sydney - stay overnight in Syd hotel (any recommendations on one not too far from airport but with food options nearby?). Sydney to LAX, then on to NYC. Arrive early evening on 24/12/14

* NYC at Salisbury Hotel from 24/12 - 31/12/14. Plan to do a hop-on-hop-off tour, visit the usual sights (Statue, Empire, 9-11 tribute/site, Central Park) and go to a show on Broadway. Probably do the museums too. Any other suggestions??

*Fly NYC - Orlando on 31/12. Pick up hire car and check into International Drive hotel (thinking Hawthorn Suites Universal now called Sky Suites I think)
Stay here until 4/1, visiting LEGOLAND and shopping/general exploring.

*Check out 4/1 and drive to Cape Canaveral, spend day at Kennedy Space Centre. Check in to Cape Canaveral hotel (any recommendations for a hotel with the port parking discount?)

*DCL Cruise on the Dream from 5/1 - 9/1

*9/1 check into Universal Hotel (thinking Hard Rock) and stay until 11/1. Question here is do we need 3 days at Universal or is 2 enough? Thinking we might spend 11th at Universal and then check into Disney hotel that night?

*Check into Disney hotel (thinking Pop Century) 11/1 and stay until we fly home on 20/1. Question here is, are we doing the Universal/Disney split correctly? Is 3 days Universal/9 days Disney a good split? Or should we rearrange? We plan to fly home about 6pm on the 20/1 so would still have the morning. Also, do you think we will need the Park Hopper option? I'm thinking we will get it for the Water Park fun and more option but don't know if we need to add Park Hopper? At this stage we will have an extra day from when we check in the evening of 11/1 but won't have used the park that day (as we will be at Universal) We plan on getting a package with Dining Plan as I prefer having everything prepaid. Not sure if they will have free dining but we want the plan anyway.

*Fly home via LAX and Melb/Brisbane

So what do you guys think? It is possible for us to fly home on 21/1 but I really want a week or so to recover before going back to work. I'm a teacher and if I have a contract I will need to spend some time planning before heading back. Plus I find that I need a holiday after a holiday like this, lol.

Hope all of the above makes sense!!
TIA

 

[dollarmite]

I would definitely recommend the Hopper option. We found it really beneficial being able to have the freedom to move about whenever/wherever.

We stayed at POP Century for 2 weeks and loved it. We looked at quite a few of the other resorts and this one seemed to have the most "Disneyish" theming. It also has one of the biggest giftshops and a great eating area. If you're using Disney transport it also has a dedicated bus that doesn't stop at other hotels. That can be a real timesaver. Most of the other hotels share buses amongst them, which we found was a real nuisance when we were going to other resorts (from DTD).

 

[LivingforDisney]

Hi, can you tell me how much the flights to USA are costing at this time of the year, planning on going again at this time.
There is a new hotel at Sydney International airport, you could check out on line.
We had 2 weeks at Pop Century last Sept and loved it, we managed to score the free dining plan, which was even better. I am thinking they don't offer this in Jan anymore, but have room discounts.
We spent one day at Universal and one day at IOA,we did this whilst staying at Disney hotel and Mears transport picked us up.
You will need one day for each park.
We also went to Kennedy Space Centre, the Atlantis shuttle exhibition was amazing. When we did this ,we were picked up at 4.30 from Kennedy and did a airboat ride, see if you can fit one in. We all said it was a highlight of our trip.
The DIsney buses for POP always drop u at the furthest stop for the parks and then u have to walk the furthest when u come out.
Don't plan to much for NY, we only stayed 4days and did everything we wanted,but it seemed to take a long time to do or get anywhere. I liked the place, but wouldn't go back. So crowded and expensive.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I think 3-4 days at Universal is about right. I had 2 full days there and felt like I could have done with at least one more. The mini-golf place in Universal Citiwalk is also worth an evening visit. We did it the night we arrived and had a blast.

I bought the Hopper for a 10 day WDW pass and used it once. It ended up being a bit of a waste of money to be honest. Once I had planned my days around such things as ADRs, Fastpass Plus, resort pool time, and visits to DTD, there really wasn't the time or want to visit more than one park a day. It I had had less than a week at WDW I may have felt differently as I would have been under more pressure to rush around and see a lot in a shorter amount of time.

The Waterparks and More on the other hand, was well worth the money. We went to both Waterparks for half a day each, and DisneyQuest twice (for about 2-3 hours each time). In saying this, it was Sep/Oct so it was really hot.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Just read your post again. We had 13 days at wdw, 6 day park passes.Didnt use a hopper, as it really takes time to get around there , and didn't want the hassle of leaving one park to get to another 10 mins or more away.
In the time we had we did one day each at AK, HS, Epcot and 3 at MK. A day at the outlets, Kennedy, US and IOA.
Downtown Disney is fantastic there, so much bigger than Anaheim, there is also The Boardwalk.
We were truly shattered at the end of it, so glad we stayed in La for the night before flying home to Sydney.

 

[aussietravellers]

Your itinerary looks great!

On our NYC trip we went to the Bronx Zoo one day and it was amazing! Stunning infact, but not sure how it will be at the time of year you are going.

Trip to top of the rock is good. There is a light show in the roof of the lift as yo go up and down and it has a great view from the top. We went on opening to avoid the crowds which worked well, no lines to wait in at all.

Another fun thing to do, on your way to Kennedy Space Center is an airboat ride in the everglades. I know there is on on the way from WDW to KSC. I can't remember what it is called but it was awesome!

 

[Caroline NZ]

Your plans sound fantastic. We are also going in Jan15, but will only be going for 15 nights , as that is all we can get off work. Plan to do around 10 days DW (including waterparks), 3 days Universal, 1 day Kennedy Space Center and 1 day shopping. Wish we could go for 3+ weeks, but it's just not possible.

 

[bswift]

Definitely do Top of the Rocks instead of the Empire State. It's cheaper and then you actually get to see the Empire State building.

Are you flying MCO to LAX and then on to Australia all on the one day? I think that's a bit risky (especially flying during winter) and you should probably have a night in LA instead.

 

[dabecs]

NYC at Salisbury Hotel from 24/12 - 31/12/14. Plan to do a hop-on-hop-off tour, visit the usual sights (Statue, Empire, 9-11 tribute/site, Central Park) and go to a show on Broadway. Probably do the museums too. Any other suggestions??

The Central Park zoo (and Tisch children's zoo) are great. The seal show at the zoo is fun to watch, and you get to see the Delacorte clock! And a ride around Central Park in a horse drawn carriage is lovely

We went up the Empire State, I know the Rocks are recommended for their view but my daughter wanted to say she had been up the Empire Stare We went at sunset and it was so beautiful..

Your holiday is sounding brilliant, we loved NYC and WDW (my trip report is in my blog, link in my signature!)

 

[FireflyFi]

Sounds great!

If you want to spoil your kids while in NY, don't forget FAO Schwarz and the ferris wheel at Toys r Us in Times Square there is also a Lego store at the bottom of Rockefeller Centre.

If you're doing the HOHO bus, the Brooklyn one is very good. It was probably my favourite! Just remember to rug up if it's a cold day because you're sitting on top of an open air bus.

As for the order of WDW and Universal, many people say to do Universal last when staying on site. The FOTL passes spoil you a bit, so if you do Disney last, you'll go back to lining up for rides (may not be much of a problem at the time of year you're looking at, though).

 

[LivingforDisney]

If your daughter loves dolls, you must go to The American Girl store on 5th Ave, have a look at the American girl website, totally amazing!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

* NYC at Salisbury Hotel from 24/12 - 31/12/14. Plan to do a hop-on-hop-off tour, visit the usual sights (Statue, Empire, 9-11 tribute/site, Central Park) and go to a show on Broadway. Probably do the museums too. Any other suggestions??

If you haven't already done so, you could take a look at the NYC City Pass. It might cover everything you want to do.

*9/1 check into Universal Hotel (thinking Hard Rock) and stay until 11/1. Question here is do we need 3 days at Universal or is 2 enough? Thinking we might spend 11th at Universal and then check into Disney hotel that night?

Like Wanderlust, we did 2 days the last trip. It was a bit rushed; especially because we were a bit tired and it rained (hard) on one of the days we were there. If you can afford the extra day, it may be worth planning on 3 days at UO.

*Check into Disney hotel (thinking Pop Century) 11/1 and stay until we fly home on 20/1. Question here is, are we doing the Universal/Disney split correctly? Is 3 days Universal/9 days Disney a good split? Or should we rearrange? We plan to fly home about 6pm on the 20/1 so would still have the morning. Also, do you think we will need the Park Hopper option? I'm thinking we will get it for the Water Park fun and more option but don't know if we need to add Park Hopper? At this stage we will have an extra day from when we check in the evening of 11/1 but won't have used the park that day (as we will be at Universal) We plan on getting a package with Dining Plan as I prefer having everything prepaid. Not sure if they will have free dining but we want the plan anyway.

How long is a piece of string? I could always spend longer at WDW; but it needs to fit in with the rest of the holiday plans.

Take a look at the ticket pricing for hopper and compare them without hopper. Depending on what sort of flexibility you want, it may pay to buy the hopper option. If you're planning on the Water Park and Fun option, you could consider reducing the number of days that you have park tickets for.

e.g., If you're planning on going to one of the Water Parks and not going to a park on that day, you may only need to get a 8 day ticket; rather than 9.

Lots of fuzzy maths and park day strategy to consider.



Have fun with the planning!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

A couple of other thoughts.

I just noticed that the 17th - 19th is a holiday weekend, so, despite what I said earlier, maybe a park hopper would come in handy if one of the parks you enter is busier than expected??

As for the Dining Plan, have you priced it out? I spent hours on the maths, and I just couldn't see how it could possibly be economical. I ended up pre-paying my meals by buying Disney gift cards.
The other option is to load US dollars onto a pre-pay travel Visa. You can put the money you save by not buying the dining plan into shopping.

 

[PrincessInOz]

A couple of other thoughts.

I just noticed that the 17th - 19th is a holiday weekend, so, despite what I said earlier, maybe a park hopper would come in handy if one of the parks you enter is busier than expected??

As for the Dining Plan, have you priced it out? I spent hours on the maths, and I just couldn't see how it could possibly be economical. I ended up pre-paying my meals by buying Disney gift cards.
The other option is to load US dollars onto a pre-pay travel Visa. You can put the money you save by not buying the dining plan into shopping.

I've done the comparison on DP vs OOP; both on paper and also by actually keeping track of what I've spent OOP.

The DP value depends on how you eat and what you can eat. (I'm not including the QS in this). For me, there is a LOT of food that you get on the DP and if I ordered what I would normally order, then there is little or no value in it for me. If I order the most expensive item on the menu, then there is some value in it. But really, I couldn't eat all the food that comes with the DP. On this last trip, I would have been paying for 3 adults on the DP. That's $180 per day. I know I did food on less for that by going OOP.

I rather take a room-only discount over the free dining offer and doing what Wanderlust does - putting the money into my travel card and spending it accordingly. But that's me and the maths works out for my family this way.

 

[LisaAJ]

Wow, fantastic tips thanks everyone!! I'm making lots of notes

We could definitely switch Disney and Universal around. I think I'll price it up and see how it works out. I didn't realise there was a holiday in there :-/

We plan on hiring a car so we don't have to rely on the buses. This is probably the only reason I would consider the Park Hopper option. I remember it taking forever to get from park to park when I went 15 years ago! It works out to be another $344 for the 4 of us which would be a fair bit of shopping!! Hmmmm

As for the dining plan, I haven't spent the time to price this out (is there an easy way to do this?) I just like the convenience of having everything prepaid. I hadn't thought of the Disney gift cards, can you get them in Australia? I may just get a separate travel card for food. My kids are really fussy and don't eat much so I may be better off just paying.

LivingforDisney - we are looking at Delta PER-SYD-LAX-NYC then NYC-MCO and lastly MCO-NYC-MELB-PER. All up that comes to just under $11k but I am looking at upgrading to Economy Comfort. Just need to wait and see how much it is!

 

[LisaAJ]

Wow, fantastic tips thanks everyone!! I'm making lots of notes

We could definitely switch Disney and Universal around. I think I'll price it up and see how it works out. I didn't realise there was a holiday in there :-/

We plan on hiring a car so we don't have to rely on the buses. This is probably the only reason I would consider the Park Hopper option. I remember it taking forever to get from park to park when I went 15 years ago! It works out to be another $240 for the 4 of us which would be a fair bit of shopping!! Hmmmm

As for the dining plan, I haven't spent the time to price this out (is there an easy way to do this?) I just like the convenience of having everything prepaid. I hadn't thought of the Disney gift cards, can you get them in Australia? I may just get a separate travel card for food. My kids are really fussy and don't eat much so I may be better off just paying.

LivingforDisney - we are looking at Delta PER-SYD-LAX-NYC then NYC-MCO and lastly MCO-NYC-MELB-PER. All up that comes to just under $11k but I am looking at upgrading to Economy Comfort. Just need to wait and see how much it is!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I think you may be best doing Universal first WDW second. Jan 7th - 11th is Marathon weekend at WDW which will draw large crowds and could mean road closures around the WDW complex (meaning travel delays). I think you are best to be at Universal during this time. Then do as much of the WDW parks as possible in the first 5-6 days, and make MLK weekend a chance to slow down a bit and go with the flow.

I did a lot of research into WDW at January as that was when I was initially going to travel there (before getting leave accepted for Sep). From what I understand, marathon weekend and MLK weekend are both busy, but nothing like the days over Xmas, New Years and the peak of Summer. You'll be fine.

 

[aussietravellers]

As for the dining plan, I haven't spent the time to price this out (is there an easy way to do this?) I just like the convenience of having everything prepaid. I hadn't thought of the Disney gift cards, can you get them in Australia? I may just get a separate travel card for food. My kids are really fussy and don't eat much so I may be better off just paying.

I have done both dining plan and OOP and last trip found OOP to be the best option of us (as my son was a "disney adult" but was still wanting to eat kids meals, so paying out of pocket was a much cheaper option for us after I did the sums.

Like you, I liked the idea of everything being pre-paid, so I did purchase a few Disney gift cards before we went and had them shipped here to Australia, so by the time we went I had enough in gift cards for all of our meals and also snacks and souvenirs. It was a great option.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

As for the dining plan, I haven't spent the time to price this out (is there an easy way to do this?)

The best way is to just got to the WDW menus on a site such as AllEars and price up the type of meal your family is likely to eat. Then compare this to the food plan. I first worked out what ADRs I wanted to do and then went to those menus and worked out what sort of meals we would be likely to order if price wasn't a concern. My ADRs were a mixture of cheapish (e.g. Sci-Fi Diner) and not so cheap (e.g Ohana) restaurants, and even ordering the more expensive items on the menus, we weren't going to break even by getting the dining plan. Had I been on the dining plan, I think I would have felt compelled to always order the most expensive things from the menus to get my money's worth. Or always ordered desserts, even when I felt too full to do so. The downside to this is that you end up paying much more in tips.

I'm pretty sure the dining plan would have caused us to eat even more than we do already (and we're not a family that starves ourselves.) We rarely order dessert at a restaurant because we're usually too full straight after eating such a big main. But we did enjoy being able to stop mid afternoon for an ice cream at Ghirardellis or a cupcake from the Boardwalk Bakery. Going OOP gives you more flexibility.

As for the gift cards, you used to be able to buy them in up to $500 amounts off the WDW website and get them shipped internationally. Around the middle of last year, when they switched to the new WDW website, it looked like that may have discontinued this. At the time, however, you could still get $100 ones from the Disneyland website that could also be used at WDW and on the Disney cruise line. The shipping costs were quite expensive, so it paid to buy quite a few at once. I'm not sure what the current situation is, but I do recommend checking both the WDW and the Disneyland websites.

 

[LisaAJ]

Thanks Wanderlust. I had a quick look last night and did a single day projection which didn't break even. I think I need to work out which ADRs we will do so I can see if it will be worth it.

We like to dine at table service restaurants at least once a day so I guess I assumed it would be better value for us. I'm thinking that might not be the case :-/

I don't think I would worry about the gift cards. I think I might just do a prepaid visa so that we could use the excess elsewhere if we didn't spend it all.

Thanks for your help