Aussie Disneyland Planners come on in and lets plan together :)

[Flea]

I'll join in anyway I was born in Australia so hopefully that counts

We are going Oct 18-01 Nov. I'll be travelling with my DH, our 2 girls (almost 3 and almost 5 at the time), my sister, my friend and her mum (who are like aunts and grandma for my girls ).

It will be our first trip for my family to disneyland (actually it's our first family trip ). My friend and her mum are disneyland vets.

Oh we just booked our accommodation on friday - we are staying at Hojo's in one of their new kids suites I almost cried when I was on hold to hojo's reservation staff and then when I got the confirmation number I done a wee dance...It is real now

 

[dollarmite]

Hi, My name's Rebecca, and I'm a disaholic...
Dollarmite: You mentioned cheap deals direct to New York from Brisbane, do you mind if I ask you what dates? I can never seem to find cheap flights to NY, from anywhere!!!

We're leaving in late October and returning very early December. It's about $1200 AUD per adult, including a stop in LA on the way back. I just checked the Qantas website and they still have tickets available at that price for that time, so I imagine they'd have them for other dates as well. If we'd been willing to go via Melbourne it would have been a few dollars cheaper - it would have to be about $100 cheaper per person for us to be willing to do that.

When I first priced it out I checked it with several other airlines and this was by far the cheapest deal. Air NZ, which is my preferred airline, and usually the cheapest, was charging more than triple for the same itinerary!

 

[dollarmite]

The Howard Johnson Anaheim is a name I see pop up regularly - usually for good reasons. I've been through the carpark there quite a few times to and from LAX, so I have a rough idea where it is.

Is a place that people would happily recommend?

Has anyone had any experience with the POP hotel at Disney World?

 

[dollarmite]

I love to plan and book trips as well - I think it's just as much fun as the trip.

Before the internet age I used a local independent TA and never had any problems. Then I moved away and used some 'chain' agents. Never again! Each trip had some sort of TA error - nothing too dramatic but annoying just the same. Have never had a problem since doing it myself online. On our last trip to Fiji we were given a free room upgrade on check in simply because I'd booked online directly with them myself.

Was curious as to which Disney TA you used for the WDW portion? I'm considering Dreams Unlimited and Small World Vacations at the moment.

 

[dollarmite]

Our first trip to Disneyland was in 2004 and then we did WDW 2005, 2007 and a WDW/Disneyland combined trip last year in 2008!

Did you use one on the online US based Disney afflilated travel companies? If so, was it a good or bad experience?

 

[mareeld86]

Hi All Im Lauren,
I Just came back from Disneyland Went there for 4 weeks from the 19th Jan until the 16th Feb also went to Vegas and the Grand Canyon where my partner proposed.

I am planning another trip to America same time next year but planning on going to WDW dont know where to start its great to have other aussies to talk too...

And Yes you can just book tickets through the Travel agents We did it with one of the other theme parks....

 

[Czardas]

Who do you all use for travel insurance? I use www.travelinsurancedirect.com.au as I have always found them to be the best price.
Luckily I have never had to make a claim, fingers crossed. I would never book with a travel agent, as I always get far better deals online booking direct with the hotels etc.

I am staying at Park Vue nice and close to the enterance of Disneyland. I stayed at Camelot Inn & Suites last time, which was ok but had pretty lousy mattresses.

 

[youngaussienurse]

Hi Flea, and all the other Kiwi's! Of course you can join us.....everyone thinks New Zealand and Australia are the same anyway!!! We love flying with Air New Zealand too! We are trying V Australia this year as Premium Economy class is REALLLLLY cheap...the same as economy!!!! I have had back surgery (yes, nurses back at 29!) and need the extra recline and leg room to be pain free for my disney trip.....V Australias fares are cheap cheap cheap!!!! It will be interesting to see how they rate compared to Air New Zealand
Good to see all the Aussies and New Zealander's on the Dis boards.....the disney magic is alive in these areas too!!!

 

[aussiedaisy]

I'll join in anyway I was born in Australia so hopefully that counts

We are going Oct 18-01 Nov. I'll be travelling with my DH, our 2 girls (almost 3 and almost 5 at the time), my sister, my friend and her mum (who are like aunts and grandma for my girls ).

It will be our first trip for my family to disneyland (actually it's our first family trip ). My friend and her mum are disneyland vets.

Oh we just booked our accommodation on friday - we are staying at Hojo's in one of their new kids suites I almost cried when I was on hold to hojo's reservation staff and then when I got the confirmation number I done a wee dance...It is real now

The more the merrier Flea, glad you joined in!! Hojos is a great hotel. We stayed there the first time we visited in 2004 and I have to say it was MUCH cleaner and had better service than the deluxe resort we stayed in at WDW last year in the concierge level which cost around $500 a night (such a disgrace, was ssoooooo dissapointed). So for the price and location I think Hojos is a good deal and we can't wait to stay there again and try out their new pool area

 

[aussiedaisy]

Who do you all use for travel insurance? I use www.travelinsurancedirect.com.au as I have always found them to be the best price.
Luckily I have never had to make a claim, fingers crossed. I would never book with a travel agent, as I always get far better deals online booking direct with the hotels etc.

I am staying at Park Vue nice and close to the enterance of Disneyland. I stayed at Camelot Inn & Suites last time, which was ok but had pretty lousy mattresses.

Hi Czardas!! We have in the past always used the insurance company travelsure which the travel agency used. But this year seeing as we are booking the trip ourselves I did HEAPS of research and decided to go with RACV travel insurance. We are members and got a discount and it ended up being around $200 for the two of us. Park Vue seems nice, apparently the breakfast is the best of all the hotels in the area. We were tossing up between there and the HoJo but decided as we have stayed at the Hojo before and liked it we would go there again.

 

[dollarmite]

Who do you all use for travel insurance? I use www.travelinsurancedirect.com.au as I have always found them to be the best price.

Out of curiosity I just did an online quote with the above company. It is literally half the price of other policies I have received prices on. It seems too good to be true. Just wondering if there's some catch or something I missed?

 

[aussiedaisy]

I love to plan and book trips as well - I think it's just as much fun as the trip.

Before the internet age I used a local independent TA and never had any problems. Then I moved away and used some 'chain' agents. Never again! Each trip had some sort of TA error - nothing too dramatic but annoying just the same. Have never had a problem since doing it myself online. On our last trip to Fiji we were given a free room upgrade on check in simply because I'd booked online directly with them myself.

Was curious as to which Disney TA you used for the WDW portion? I'm considering Dreams Unlimited and Small World Vacations at the moment.

I totally agree with you dollarmite, planning the trip and the anticipation is really one of the best parts!! We love listening to all the podcasts and going on the boards and discussing our plans. I had a mega happy dance in Jay Jays shop the other day when I found Mickey, Minnie and Tink tshirts and hoodies...me and my sister were going mad over them!

 

[aussiedaisy]

Dollarmite I also thought about going with that company but did a search on product reviews of travel insurance and it seemed to not have very good reviews....I have never used it myself and the company I have used for the last 4 years also had pretty bad reviews so who knows!!! Its hard to know who to go with but I think as long as you read all the small print and understand it and are happy with what they will and won't cover you will be okay hopefully.

 

[Flea]

We haven't booked airfares yet...we are waiting. Basically just so we know things are safe with DH's job etc (would hate to pay the airfares then find out he's out of work).

It seems there are great fares out of Oz - lucky you guys - I'm slightly jealous. I have a friend who works for V Australia so that is an option for us to fly via Brisbane (though with 2 kidlets I'd prefer to go direct with AirNZ or Qantas).

It seems in NZ they are only releasing special fares for travel in the next 3 months which is not normal - it used to be that the further out you booked the better deal you got. The recession really has wrecked havoc on the airlines.

 

[dvschem]

Great idea AussieDaisy

We just got back from our Disney Pilgrimage - first week at Disneyland / DCA and second week on the Disney Magic. Had a ball !!!! My wife and I are both 34, I'm an Army Officer and my wife's a Childcare Director. We have two girls 6 and 3.

We'd be more than happy to answer any fellow Aussie traveller's questions, email photos etc.

The biggest frustration I had planning our trip was that Australain TAs just didn't have any experience with Dinsy Cruises or too much inside info on DLR / DCA. I'd love to be part of a group that can share Aussie-specific info because I'm already planning our return trip for early next year and would like to do something different.

 

[Sharkmeister]

Dollarmite, we used Dreams Unlimited in January and are using them again for our Sep/Oct trip. It is so much easier using these guys, than going through somewhere local. I love the fact they can do all the ADR's, get tickets to specieal evetns and I'm not up half the night on the phone to Disney.

The other reason we chose to go with them is they can access discounts and other promotions, whereas the travel agents I spoke to here could not. None of them had heard of "free-dining", special discount codes or AP discounts.

 

[kylieh]

I found very limited info in Australia about trips, especially things like character dining, early entries/magic mornings, and the like. Most info given was what I could of read in a travel brochure.

For DL, I ended up doing it all myself with info that I found on here.

 

[marvel]

Really enjoying this thread.

Dollarmite - we used Small World for our WDW bookings and were very happy. we changed our ADR's heaps and heaps of times and they were always very helpful, even called us when we arrived to check if everything was ok. I think our agent was Sue Chambers.

I can't remember who we used for travel insurance last time but I read a really bad review of 1cover which is run by mundial I think.

Maybe we should start some facebook group or something similar? Not that I am on it yet, but maybe an easier way for us to communicate more regularly.

 

[pumba1]

Hey,

Fellow melbournian here, been to WDW and DL in both 2000 and 2005 and stayed on and off resort. Day 1 of the 50th was amazing!

I am addicted to Hong Kong DL though, just booked my 7th trip in 4 years for xmas. While not as big it is much more relaxing and the character interaction and cms is so much more better than usa.

Done Tokyo as well and have that and Paris marked for 2010.

Ps a facebook would be great!

 

[BecBennett]

A question for anyone who's booked their flights through V Australia.

We booked our flights a little while back, and naturally they're now cheaper... Does anyone know whether V Australia will honour the cheaper price if I question it?