September/October 2013 check in

[Kristin5]

Oh, I hope so 5ofus! I am so impatiently waiting for the airfares to come down! I have been checking daily. Last week I could get an LA to Melbourne flight for $780, and when I checked today it is back over $1200. Air NZ is cheaper (but they only allow 1 bag per person, and I think their legroom is a little smaller than on Virgin?).

We are considering going a couple of days earlier and flying into San Fran now (I have been there a few times, but have never been to Alcatraz!), and I also booked a car (minivan) yesterday to drive from Vegas to LA instead of flying. Saves us on 6 airfares, plus baggage, plus transfers from LAX to Anaheim, and the minivan rental through Avis is only $130!

[5ofus]

Originally Posted by Kristin5

Oh, I hope so 5ofus! I am so impatiently waiting for the airfares to come down! I have been checking daily. Last week I could get an LA to Melbourne flight for $780, and when I checked today it is back over $1200. Air NZ is cheaper (but they only allow 1 bag per person, and I think their legroom is a little smaller than on Virgin?).

We are considering going a couple of days earlier and flying into San Fran now (I have been there a few times, but have never been to Alcatraz!), and I also booked a car (minivan) yesterday to drive from Vegas to LA instead of flying. Saves us on 6 airfares, plus baggage, plus transfers from LAX to Anaheim, and the minivan rental through Avis is only $130!

Kristin, I have everything crossed for those airfares to come down too. It's so annoying that if we leave a week earlier, we can get all five flights for less than $5K! It doesn't fit in with our dates for the wedding and school though.

What dates are you doing Vegas? W are hoping to drive straight t Vegas after landing in LA (I've done I before, it's not that bad) on the 6th and then leave Vegas on the 11th for seven or eight days in Disneyland. The kids are only little, but I'm convinced they'll show amazing stamina in Disneyand. We took the two eldest to ztokyo when the eldest had just turned three and they amazed us then. And the baby can (and does) walk all day

Do you have to get carseats? Who did you book the minivan through?

[Kristin5]

Originally Posted by 5ofus

Kristin, I have everything crossed for those airfares to come down too. It's so annoying that if we leave a week earlier, we can get all five flights for less than $5K! It doesn't fit in with our dates for the wedding and school though.

What dates are you doing Vegas? W are hoping to drive straight t Vegas after landing in LA (I've done I before, it's not that bad) on the 6th and then leave Vegas on the 11th for seven or eight days in Disneyland. The kids are only little, but I'm convinced they'll show amazing stamina in Disneyand. We took the two eldest to ztokyo when the eldest had just turned three and they amazed us then. And the baby can (and does) walk all day

Do you have to get carseats? Who did you book the minivan through?

Yeah, we are sort of locked in with dates too. Need to be in Disneyland on 3rd of October for DS birthday, which is in school holidays fortunately, but on the front end, we don't want him missing a ton of school. Looks like he will only miss a week or week and a half at the moment. And we have been trying to tie it in with NFL dates so we can see a Denver Broncos game, but their 2013 schedule isn't released until end of April, and we will have to have booked flights by then, so we are just guessing and hoping.

We will be in Vegas from 16-20 September, so will just miss you. We were there around the same time in 2011, and be prepared because it is HOT! We also did 14 days in DL on that same trip, and DS was 4, but was fine. We stayed across the road at Fairfield Inn, so we used to go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a swim and refresh before going back to DL in the evening again. Probably a little easier for us with only 1 in tow though!

I need to get a booster seat for DS (6 turning 7 when we travel) and the cost is $13 per day. It was cheaper through Alamo, but their pick up / drop off points weren't as handy as Avis.

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Just thought i'd share my PTR here. If y'all want to check it out

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3039598

[alicia1506]

cool kiwimousegirl i will definitely check it out.

virgin australia has a sale on at the moment, for less than $1100 flying most capitals on east coast to lax etc.. too bad they only cover dates up to aug 31st at this stage.. still not of much help to us sept/oct travellers.

just realised that school holidays will be starting after we leave, and will finish the day after we get back, so i am now stressing about whether the prices will come down for our flights... if they don't, it's going to see me massively over budget and i will have to cut some other stuff out here and there... don't know what though

lots of playing with dates/prices/locations in the last few weeks trying to make things fit the way i want them to good luck everyone with your trip planning. less than 9 months til i get on a plane. that makes it officially the start of stress-out time for me

[australiankaren]

Originally Posted by WanderlustNZ

I ended up buying a Universal Package that included 3 nights accommodation (Garden view Room at HRH), 2 day tickets (non-hopper) and transfers. I priced everything up and the package was only a few dollars (about $8 from memory) cheaper than buying everything separately.

In the end it just seemed quicker and less hassle to book and pay for everything at once. The package included the 'Stay More, Pay Less' discount they always seem to offer, but if there are any drastically better specials closer to the time, I'll think about canceling and rebooking.

I uhmmed and ahed for ages over which Universal hotel to book. In the end HRH won out for small reasons e.g I like the room decor better and I think my husband and son will enjoy the music being played everywhere. Basically, if I see my family having a great time on this trip, I will feel like all my planning has been a success. :-)

I also spent ages trying to decide if we'd get use out of a Park Hopper. I came to the conclusion, with just 2 days and a child in tow, unlikely. It was a reasonable saving to go without.

so for your 3 night package...how much was it (if you dont mind sharing)..DH has decided he wants to go to harry potter world now....oh my poor head.....

[australiankaren]

so...with airfares being crazy $$$ from sept 1st, we may bring our trip forward a week to aug 31 when the prices are more bearable...

1 night LAX hotel
7 nights WDW
14 nights freedom of the seas
3 nights universal Orlando..royal pacific..DH loved the poly theming on the web site
1 night LAX hotel

still plotting.......

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by australiankaren

so for your 3 night package...how much was it (if you dont mind sharing)..DH has decided he wants to go to harry potter world now....oh my poor head.....

Eeeek, not cheap unfortunately.

The total was US$1260 after tax for the 3 of us.
That includes:
- 2-day non-hopper passes to Universal (x 3)
- return airport transfers for 3 people. We went with a meet and greet service as it wasn't too much more expense than a Mears shuttle which would have more passengers and more stops.
- Garden View Room at HRH.

For just 2 people staying in a Standard view room at Royal Pacific, and without transfers, you'd probably be looking at at least $300 less than what we paid.

Try putting your dates into the Universal website as it works it all out for you. It also allows you to add little extras, such as dinner packages and meal plans, should you so desire. Just watch that the website does factor in the Stay More, Pay Less 10% discount when calculating a package. I noticed that it was only doing it for the HRH when we made our booking. Fine for us, as that's what we wanted, but I did notice that a RPR package was coming out more expensive than HRH as it didn't include the discount. In this case, booking a package for RPR would have worked out noticably more expensive than booking everything seperately.

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Well, I pitched the idea's to Alicia last night and she went for the paying things as we go option immediately. She even said "we can't pay for things right at the end because I WON'T have the money" It's such a relief knowing that this trip is going to be a whole lot more possible with some careful financial decisions. And she even asked me to hound her all the time about how much money she has saved to make sure she IS saving money. I have all of the costs' broken down and know how much money a week we need to be saving, so we agreed that every fortnight on my payday I will txt her saying " # of weeks to go! You should have $#### saved for Disneyland. This weeks purchase will be SeaWorld tickets $### " So yeah, i'm pretty excited! Bring on the trip !!!!!

[alicia1506]

Originally Posted by australiankaren

so...with airfares being crazy $$$ from sept 1st, we may bring our trip forward a week to aug 31 when the prices are more bearable...

1 night LAX hotel
7 nights WDW
14 nights freedom of the seas
3 nights universal Orlando..royal pacific..DH loved the poly theming on the web site
1 night LAX hotel

still plotting.......

I am desperately hoping for promo fares to be released for sept before the may cut off deadline. If i dont get promo fares around 1200 i will have to reschedule which may result in some of our travellers dropping out ...so much scheming going on

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by KiwiMouseGirl

Well, I pitched the idea's to Alicia last night and she went for the paying things as we go option immediately. She even said "we can't pay for things right at the end because I WON'T have the money" It's such a relief knowing that this trip is going to be a whole lot more possible with some careful financial decisions. And she even asked me to hound her all the time about how much money she has saved to make sure she IS saving money. I have all of the costs' broken down and know how much money a week we need to be saving, so we agreed that every fortnight on my payday I will txt her saying " # of weeks to go! You should have $#### saved for Disneyland. This weeks purchase will be SeaWorld tickets $### " So yeah, i'm pretty excited! Bring on the trip !!!!!

Yay, I'm pleased it's all worked out with no unnecessary awkwardness.

[WanderlustNZ]

Originally Posted by alicia1506

I am desperately hoping for promo fares to be released for sept before the may cut off deadline. If i dont get promo fares around 1200 i will have to reschedule which may result in some of our travellers dropping out ...so much scheming going on

Fingers crossed it all works out for you.

[Jade+3]

Originally Posted by australiankaren

so...with airfares being crazy $$$ from sept 1st, we may bring our trip forward a week to aug 31 when the prices are more bearable...

1 night LAX hotel
7 nights WDW
14 nights freedom of the seas
3 nights universal Orlando..royal pacific..DH loved the poly theming on the web site
1 night LAX hotel

still plotting.......

Nooooo, you can not change your cruise.

[Royal Consort]

Checking in for October 2013 - tentatively.

I am really wanting to do the Halloween Party... and I don't even like Halloween!!!

[Kristin5]

Air NZ has just released sale fares for September, so I have grabbed them. Yes, they might come down more later, but then it isn't a sure thing that we can keep our dates, and also the short stopovers in Auckland (last time we were there for 8 hours, when all we wanted to do was get home and be able to sleep!). So for 2 adults and 1 child, Melbourne-San Fran, LAX-Melbourne, it has cost $4300. I am happy with this (almost got impatient and paid $5500 yesterday!).

At a later date, we will add on internal flights (San Fran to Vegas, with probably a day trip to Denver added in).

So our dates are:
12 Sept Fly to San Fran
15 Sept Fly to Vegas (via Denver if the Broncos are playing!)
20 Sept Drive to Anaheim
4 Oct Fly home


Yay, now it is REAL!