We’re Coming all the way from the Land Down Under! Jan 2012 PTR

[OziJo]

26
25
24

Another Dance concert down. Last night DD's2 &3 had their State Dance Ensembles Showcase. Afterwards, we went out for Thai. We had a lovely night. Here is a couple of photos of DD3 in one of her dances. She is the featured dancer in this piece and I always get a tear in my eye when I watch her perform. She is so poised and mature for a 13 year old.

So one last dance concert next Saturday then Christmas and then we go away.

(You may have noticed throughout this PTR that our lives are measured out in dance concerts )

 

[PrincessInOz]

You have your dance concerts (your DD looks lovely and graceful!!).....we have our piano and guitar concerts.

 

[OziJo]

23

You have your dance concerts (your DD looks lovely and graceful!!).....we have our piano and guitar concerts.

There's always something

I want to brag about DD3. Not only did she feature in her State Dance troupe she achieved all A's for her end of year report, topped the year in Japanese and came second in the year in Maths and 2nd in her class in Visual Arts. She was also in the top 5 in her class for Science, PDHPE, and Design & Technology (fancy name for a term each of cooking, sewing, tech drawing, woodwork/metalwork). She also achieved Top Score in her year in the University of NSW Maths competition scoring a Distinction. This is an external competition entered by students from State, Private and Catholic schools throughout NSW. She was in the top 4% of the state.

She was just beaten out of first place in Maths because she missed a test as she was at a school Spec rehearsal and they did an estimate based on the class average. There were 4 of them, including her, who would get 98-100% in all their test. When she missed a test instead of letting her make it up they gave her an estimate which brought her grades down by a couple of marks.

At the same time her Japanese teacher let her make up a test she missed. As a result she achieved an overall mark of 100% and topped her year. She's not worried about missing out on the Maths and she really pleased to have topped Japanese as she was second last year.

DD1 received 2 Distinctions (Journalism and Creative Writing), a credit (literary analysis) and a pass (some subject she had to do but hated ) for her first year at Uni.

DD2 didn't have such a great year at school. She missed a lot of school due to her dance commitments and unlike DD1 she has trouble catching up on what she missed out on. But even so she has improved greatly in English achieving A's and B's in Advanced English and doing extremely well in creative writing. She only missed out on an overall A because she struggles with public speaking. She can dance in front of 10,000 people but freezes when she has to speak in class. She also received B's in Advanced Maths but she really is an A student. She also missed an A in Multimedia (a subject she excels in) because she failed to hand in an assignment, which she had completed but, as she was away "forgot" to submit. I received a letter regarding this and had to check that she had done it. She had oops... She is her own worst enemy in this respect.

Overall despite DD2's slacking off at times ( she really is more a Creative type whose head is often in the clouds) they have all had a great year and so deserve a trip to:

Walt Disney World, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Honolulu​

We can't wait

 

[OziJo]

I'm a bit bored today so I thought I would amuse myself by figuring out how much we save with free dining.

I approached this analysis by considering that we would probably not do Artists Point and Crystal Palace while we would still do HDDR and at least 1 TS meal. Otherwise we would do QS meals in park and would have probably come back to our cabin for some meals as well. We will also pay OOP for a few extras such as alcohol and some appetizers that may take our fancy. Looking at menus I would at times use fewer credits and pay OOP for such things as side dishes and salads. This way we make our credits go further and will not waste as many desserts as we would otherwise. We will still spend money on snacks whether it is in park snacks are snacks bought from the grocery store. Also our total grocery bill would be higher if not on DP.

I take all these things into consideration and this is what I came up with: Without Free Dining we would be OOP $1236 if we ate all our meals in the parks. With FD we are OOP $262 (tips, alcohol and extras). That's a savings of....

$874.00

 

[PrincessInOz]

25



There's always something

I want to brag about DD3. Not only did she feature in her State Dance troupe she achieved all A's for her end of year report, topped the year in Japanese and came second in the year in Maths and 2nd in her class in Visual Arts. She was also in the top 5 in her class for Science, PDHPE, and Design & Technology (fancy name for a term each of cooking, sewing, tech drawing, woodwork/metalwork). She also achieved Top Score in her year in the University of NSW Maths competition scoring a Distinction. This is an external competition entered by students from State, Private and Catholic schools throughout NSW. She was in the top 4% of the state.

She was just beaten out of first place in Maths because she missed a test as she was at a school Spec rehearsal and they did an estimate based on the class average. There were 4 of them, including her, who would get 98-100% in all their test. When she missed a test instead of letting her make it up they gave her an estimate which brought her grades down by a couple of marks.

At the same time her Japanese teacher let her make up a test she missed. As a result she achieved an overall mark of 100% and topped her year. She's not worried about missing out on the Maths and she really pleased to have topped Japanese as she was second last year.

DD1 received 2 Distinctions (Journalism and Creative Writing), a credit (literary analysis) and a pass (some subject she had to do but hated ) for her first year at Uni.


DD2 didn't have such a great year at school. She missed a lot of school due to her dance commitments and unlike DD1 she has trouble catching up on what she missed out on. But even so she has improved greatly in English achieving A's and B's in Advanced English and doing extremely well in creative writing. She only missed out on an overall A because she struggles with public speaking. She can dance in front of 10,000 people but freezes when she has to speak in class. She also received B's in Advanced Maths but she really is an A student. She also missed an A in Multimedia (a subject she excels in) because she failed to hand in an assignment, which she had completed but, as she was away "forgot" to submit. I received a letter regarding this and had to check that she had done it. She had oops... She is her own worst enemy in this respect.

Overall despite DD2's slacking off at times ( she really is more a Creative type whose head is often in the clouds) they have all had a great year and so deserve a trip to:

Walt Disney World, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Honolulu​

We can't wait

I'm a bit bored today so I thought I would amuse myself by figuring out how much we save with free dining.

I approached this analysis by considering that we would probably not do Artists Point and Crystal Palace while we would still do HDDR and at least 1 TS meal. Otherwise we would do QS meals in park and would have probably come back to our cabin for some meals as well. We will also pay OOP for a few extras such as alcohol and some appetizers that may take our fancy. Looking at menus I would at times use fewer credits and pay OOP for such things as side dishes and salads. This way we make our credits go further and will not waste as many desserts as we would otherwise. We will still spend money on snacks whether it is in park snacks are snacks bought from the grocery store. Also our total grocery bill would be higher if not on DP.

I take all these things into consideration and this is what I came up with: Without Free Dining we would be OOP $1236 if we ate all our meals in the parks. With FD we are OOP $262 (tips, alcohol and extras). That's a savings of....

$874.00

Like mother.....like daughters!

It's obvious that you must be very proud of your daughters.

 

[Mum from oz]

I would be bragging about my children too. What wonderful results for DD3. It is obvious she worked really hard. BTW she looks beautiful on stage. DD2 has done well too, what a load with dancing etc. At least she isn't "just slacking off".

That is a pretty impressive saving with free dining. Out dining budget is huge as we are doing one TS every day we are there and paying OOP. It is worth it though!

My DD has her end of year concert tonight. I think I am more excited than her! She really comes alive on stage (for a 3 year old that is!). I really should be organising her dance bag now with costumes, shoes, make up hair stuff.... but the DIS is so distracting!!

 

[OziJo]

22

Like mother.....like daughters! I never was much into maths at school but I have found as I get older I enjoy maths problems more and working out stuff like this.

It's obvious that you must be very proud of your daughters. Is it really that obvious?

My DD has her end of year concert tonight. I think I am more excited than her! She really comes alive on stage (for a 3 year old that is!). I really should be organising her dance bag now with costumes, shoes, make up hair stuff.... but the DIS is so distracting!!

So exciting! And I know what you mean about the DIS. Sometimes I think I am on here talking too much about stuff I should actually be doing.

 

[OziJo]

So with 12 days 'til Christmas I thought I would take each day to write down my plan for the 12 days of our WDW trip. It will be interesting to see how well my plans match up to reality. I will say though that I am a realist and if all does not go perfectly to plan then I won't collapse in a heap. In fact I'm more than willingly to toss plans out the window at 60000 feet and wing it if comes to that

Day 1 Wed Jan 4th:
Our fight from Sydney departs at 3.40pm so we will need to be at the airport at 12.40pm. We will use the morning to finishing off packing and organising the house and leave home around midday for the 40 min taxi ride to the airport. I think we will check in when we get there. We have selected seats already so that won't be an issue and I would rather take the extra time and make sure all goes smoothly.

Once checked in and through all the airport rigmarole (smoothly of course) we will take the time to get something to eat and do some duty free shopping.

If all goes to plan we will be in the sky by 4pm and settled into our seats for the 15hr flight to Fort Worth.

We will arrive in Fort Worth at 1.50pm Jan 4th 2 hrs before we left making all those jokes about time traveling and pretending to look for the Doctor and his Tardis.

We will clear customs and immigration, deposit our bags at the drop off and make our way to the gate for our next flight. Our stopover is about 4hrs but by the time we get through it will be significantly less :fingerscrossed:

In the air again by 5.40pm for the 3hr flight to Orlando arriving at 9pm after 21hrs 10mins of travel time.

We will collect our bags and make our way to the DME pick up where we will be magically transported to Walt Disney World's Fort Wilderness Cabins. Another Check-in and a lovely CM will transport us via golf cart to our Cabin. if all goes to plan this should be sometime before midnight.

I will be first in the shower. First into my PJ's and first to sleep. Everybody else will follow in my wake.

And that is Day 1.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Love your idea for the 12 days of Xmas wind up to your vacation! Great idea! I can't imagine having to do all that traveling.. ..I complain that I won't drive more than 8 hours anywhere and here you are traveling for almost 24 hours! Hope that it all goes smoothly and according to plan!

 

[OziJo]

21

And 11 days til Christmas

I can't imagine having to do all that traveling.. ..I complain that I won't drive more than 8 hours anywhere and here you are traveling for almost 24 hours!

Coming all the way from the way from the Land Down Under you get used to it

Day 2 Thurs 5th Jan:

With a "Do Not Disturb" sign on our Cabin door we shall sleep until we wake. Who knows what time that will be . So this day is very unplanned. The one thing we must do is pick up our rental car and we shall schedule that for after lunch.

So our vague plan goes like this: We will take a little time to check out our surroundings. We will be starving so will make our way to Trails End for breakfast or lunch, depending on when we wake. After we pick up the car we will head out to buy Groceries. I have decided not to get Garden Grocer as a little shopping trip will help us get acclimatized.

Hopefully we will have some time to check out Downtown Disney and depending on how we feel we will either eat out or head back to our Cabin for a home prepared meal. Then to bed early as the next days is Harry Potter!!!!

 

[alicia1506]

i am sure you will love harry potter. i have read the books, seen the movies and consider myself an average level fan, nothing too dramatic, and when i went to wwohp, i never wanted to leave.

just bear in mind that the shops are quite small and become very overcrowded. this can sometimes lead to frustrations.

i strongly, strongly recommend fortifying yourselves with a frozen butterbeer. they are delicious and all that is good in the world, and will make even small frustrations disappear.

gee, how i wish i had one right now. i frozen butterbeer more than almost anything else in the world.

your trip sounds amazing!! hope you have a fabulous time

 

[OziJo]

20

And 10 days 'til Christmas

Day 3 Fri 6th Jan:

Up early for a light breakfast then head off on the 20min drive to Universal. We are keen to be there for opening though we know that those who stay onsite will be there before us. DD3 wants to do the Dragon Ride first. I want to do Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Which one should we do first??

Following these two rides and as strongly recommended by Alicia we will have our first Butterbeer before checking out the shops. We might not buy at this point because we won't want to be lugging stuff around the rides. After that we might attempt Flight of the Hipppogrif and then line up again for which ever ride we want to do again. At some point we will grab some lunch (nothing fancy. No Free Dining here) and maybe another Butterbeer. Then back to the shops to make some purchases. No panic if we don't get everything we want because we plan on coming back again.

Depending on what time it is and how we feel, we will either check out some of the other attractions or head out of Universal to the Premium Outlets for some real shopping. Dinner here. Then back to the cabin for a well earned rest.

 

[OziJo]

19

And 9 Days 'til Christmas


Today the girls have their final dance concert. They need to be there at midday for rehearsals on the stage and the show starts at 6.30pm. I will drop them off, go and do some Christmas shopping, bring them back something to eat around 4pm then hang around in the foyer of the NIDA Parade Theatre a glass of champagne in hand. DH is bringing my mum, the mother in law and one of our nieces to see the show.

Now back to my plans-
Day 4 Sat 7th Jan:
Another early morning, breakfast in the cabin then we hit the road to Kennedy Space Centre. We will buy tickets when we get there and plan to at least take the basic tour. I also like the sound of an IMAX movie or maybe one of the specialty tours. This is a go with the flow day.

We may drive around and check out Coco Beach and will grab some dinner on the way back. What ever takes our fancy.

 

[OziJo]

18

And 8 Days 'til Christmas

Wonderful dance concert last night. Very slick, very professional. All the kids were amazing! They train them so well at our Dance school that you would think they were professional. Some kids will actually go on to make a living out of it but only 1 or 2 each year.

Any hoo:
Day 5 Sun 8th Jan

Today's the day the package part of our trip starts which means we have to check out and check back in. Our TP says we shouldn't have to change cabins as it is noted that we have a split stay. But there are no 100% guarantees so if we do have to move then that's the price we pay for Free Dining.

So the plan is to check out and check back in first thing (if we have to move we will ask them to store our luggage) then head off to Universal again. Today we will go straight to Universal Studios. How much we do here will depend on much we want to do again next door, but The Simpson's ride is a must. Every body else will want to do the Rockit Ride. I might sit that one out. ET'S Adventure looks like fun and Mummy's Revenge is a go. We probably won't do too many shows but DD2 will defiantly want to do the Horror make-Up show. She's been watching Face-Off and is really interested in Horror make-up for some reason. May also catch the Beetlejuice Review. The girls love this movie they are all fans of Tim Burton's stuf, but we will see how we are going.

As we have Multi-Park passes we will probably skip the back-lot tour and head over to WWoHP after lunch for a Butterbeer, make some final purchases and ride our favs for the last time.

We have to be back at our Cabin in time to get ready for the 6.15pm showing of Hoop Dee Doo Revue. Our day will finish with this iconic WDW show a bucket of fried chicken and all the soft, drink, beer and sangria we can handle

 

[OziJo]

17

And 7 days 'til Christmas

Day 6 Mon Jan 9

This is our first day in a WDW park and we chose Magic Kingdom. We will be up early for quick breakfast in the cabin then head off to the Marina to catch the boat. We will be there at rope drop and will head straight for Space Mountain. I have done a tour plan on touringplans.com and the family are all happy to follow it. I won't go into details but it involves beginning with Space Mountain and ending with Splash Mountain. If we have enough time we might head back to Fort Wilderness Beach for the fireworks or else stay in the park to watch.

Our meals for this day will be quick service. I have a vague plan to share three QS credits between us for lunch and 4 for dinner paying OOP for extras not on the plan such as onion rings and maybe a salad. That way we will cover all our meals on park days with FD making up for the fact that we used 2TS credits on Artists Point and Hoop Dee Doo. With the vast selections of snacks also available and a few odds and ends back at the cabin we will have more than enough food. I just have to remind my DD's that their eyes are bigger than their stomachs.

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! Look at this countdown and those PLANS!


I recommend FJ first, sometimes that is the longer queue. ....although if you have any thoughts of doing Ollivanders, you might want to go in there first. It is a small shop; and the 5 minute "show" is a mimic of the wand choosing ... if you and the girls like to see it, then go there early.

 

[aussietravellers]

Just found your PTR

Your trip sounds amazing! Almost time to go

I can't wait to hear about FW. My mum made us go over there once, as she has a motorhome and wanted to drive around and check out all of the massive motorhomes that were there. I loved the look of the resort, it looks really fun and gorgeous being in the woody type setting. Look forward to hearing all about it and seeing some pics

82 Days to Go!
81 Days to Go!

After reading some TR from Australians with recommendations that we shouldn't have anything planned for the next day, I've been thinking of using a Grocery Delivery service. That way we will have everything when we arrive and we can relax at FW for the day instead of heading out to buy groceries, I job I hate at the best of times. It will also mean we won't have to pick up our car until later and we can spend the day catching up on sleep and exploring at our own pace. Sound like a plan?

Garden Grocer comes highly recommended and I understand they deliver straight to the room but I have a couple of questions:

1. What is the latest they deliver. We arrive at 9pm and I don't want the groceries too early in case anything spoils?
2. In relation to q1. how do the groceries come. Is the cold stuff in insulated bags?

I will do some more research but in the meantime if anyone here has had any experience with deliveries I loved to hear about.

I have used GG a few times now and have always got the groceries delivered before we arrive. Well to be honest, the first time it was completely by accident I had scheduled them to arrive after we did, but thanks to flight delays out of LAX, we were delayed a day, so our groceries actually arrived a whole day before us and they were so well stored by bell services. They kept everything in the fridge and it was all in perfect condition. From then on, I order it in the time slot before we arrive (a couple of hours before) so that we have snacks etc there for when we arrive and bell services can bring all of it up with the luggage

I know so exciting

So I'm adding Waikele Premium outlets and the K-Mart to our must dos. 20mins from Waikiki. We might skip Ala Moana (though we do love the food court there) and head out of town for bargains.

I found the Wal-mart behind Ala Moana to be much better than K-Mart. The outlets weren't that fantastic either Both times I've been, I found better deals at Ala Moana with coupons and sales at Macy's and it can take much longer than 20 mins too in the traffic, it was more like 40 minutes for us. When you go though, make sure you register online before you go and print up their coupon book, when you get to the outlets, there is an info desk that you can redeem and get a discount book (coupon book). You can do this for the outlets in Orlando too (I'm such a shopping addict )

 

[OziJo]

16

And 6 Days 'til Christmas

I recommend FJ first, sometimes that is the longer queue. ....although if you have any thoughts of doing Ollivanders, you might want to go in there first. It is a small shop; and the 5 minute "show" is a mimic of the wand choosing ... if you and the girls like to see it, then go there early.

Actually, DD3 had told me that someone who had been there had said to do Ollivanders first. So Ollivanders first up it is followed by my pick FJ! Thanks PIO

Just found your PTR

Your trip sounds amazing! Almost time to go Hi Thanks for checking out my PTR

I can't wait to hear about FW. My mum made us go over there once, as she has a motorhome and wanted to drive around and check out all of the massive motorhomes that were there. I loved the look of the resort, it looks really fun and gorgeous being in the woody type setting. Look forward to hearing all about it and seeing some pics I love the idea of staying in our own little piece of Disney Wilderness . Can't wait.

Thanks for the shopping advice Maybe we will do most of our shopping in Orlando and just chill in Honolulu. I remember being disappointed last time in the shops in Honolulu though we did find a pair of overalls for DD2 and good bargains in a little mall while waiting for our Cheesecake Factory buzzer to go off .

Day 7 Tues 10th Jan

Epcot Day today! Looking forward very much to Epcot. Apart from Soarin' (my fav ride at CAP) everything else is new. Again I have a plan from touringplans.com. It involves starting with Soarin' and ending with dinner at La Hacienda De San Angel and Illuminations. Ideally we will have a window table but if we can't see well enough we will just move outside. I also plan on having a Margarita or two so Illuminations should be extra special

 

[OziJo]

15

And 5 Days 'til Christmas

Day 8 Wed 11th Jan

Disney's Hollywood Studios. Here we come Star Tours

DH and I have always been Star Wars fan and my kids enjoy the movies as well. When I first went to Disneyland with DH back in 1992 Star Tours was our favourite ride. In 2006 Star Tours was still great fun but it did seem a little dated so I was so excited when I read that they had re-imagined Star Tours. So this trip is doubly special, we can share WWoHP with the girls and they can share the new Star Tours with us.

And there are a few other attractions we might get to at DHS such as the Rockin' Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror. Toy Story Mania sounds like fun and The Magic of Disney Animation exhibition will interest the girls. Also Lights Camera Action Stunt show sounds good, maybe Muppet 3D and definitely the Beauty and the Beast show.

There's a lot at DHS that interests us so I have planned on one whole day and 2 half days. We want to ride Star Tours as much as possible to experience all the variations. No ADR's planned here. Will probably have lunch at Studio Catering and dinner maybe a walk up TS as we still have 1 each up our sleeves after our ADR's. It will depend how we feel. Maybe this day we will go back to our Cabin for dinner as there is no Fantasmic to stay for

 

[OziJo]

14

And 4 Days 'til Christmas

Day 9 Thurs 12th Jan

Today is our Character Brunch at Crystal Palace. This is something we would not have done if we didn't have free dining. Our kids are older and we couldn't justify the expense of a full buffet breakfast just so they could meet some characters. But FD changed our perspective on that. When looking at ways to spend our TS credits a character breakfast sounded like a great experience. I chose Crystal Palace because the girls all loved Winnie the Pooh when they were little and DD2 still has a thing for Eeyore.

So after a very light bite in our cabin to get us going we will take advantage of a Magic Kingdom EMH and get a few rides on Space and Splash before our 10:20 Crystal Palace Brunch. We decided on brunch because that would cover us for lunch as well. After Brunch we will justify paying the extra for park hopper passes and head over to DHS to ride Star Tours and Tower of Terror and what ever else takes our fancy. Dinner will be QS- Studio Catering or Starring Rolls.