It's all about Rides and Rocks (the trip that nearly wasn't) TR starts page 6

[Aussie Wendy]

Despite my worries about the parents and the fact we weren't meant to be going away as noted below, we had an amazing trip again. The links to each day's TR will be embedded in the itinerary below.

Tues 21 Oct. Our first encounter with a dragon

Wed 22. Back in my happy place and our 2nd encounter with a dragon.
Part 2: Good Night MK

Thurs 23. Epcot Part 1: Reminiscing.
EPCOT Part 2 Around the World in 4 Hours
EPCOT Part 3: Around the World continued
EPCOT Part 4: Illuminations

Fri 24. Magic Kingdom Part 1: In my happy place
Part 2: A rose by any other name'
Part 3: Exploring new Fantasyland
Part 4: Our 3rd encounter with a dragon
Part 5: There she is
Part 6 Halloween Party
Part 7 Boo to you
Part 8 Goodnight Magic Kingdom

Interlude: POFQ

Sat 25. Animal Kingdom - where the dragon was trying to hide.
Part 1 On Safari
Part 2 Afternoon Delights
Part 3 Nemo
Part 4 Shopping

Sun 26. Farewell to WDW for now. Part 1: DHS
Part 2 Lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe
Part 3 RPH

Mon 27. Harry Potter and the best dragon of all. Part 1
Part 2 The London Waterfront
Part 3 Shops and more shops
Part 4 Buying bank notes and serenaded by Celestina
Part 5 Lunch at the Leaky Cauldron and Knockturn Alley
Part 6 Tales of Beedle the Bard The Fountain of Fair Fortune
Part 7 Hogwart's Express
Part 8 Hogsmeade and that amazing castle
Part 9 Hogsmeade exploration
Part 10 Riding the Flight of the Hippogriff with Buckbeak
Part 11 Goodnight Monday

Tues 28. Discovering there is a lot more to Universal than HP
Part 1 Minions
Part 2 Encounter with a Decepticon in the streets of New York
Part 3 Super excited BTTF and the Simpsons!
Part 4 Getting Wet
Part 5 Lunch at Mythos
Part 6 Evening at IOA

Wed 29. Last hours at Universal
Part 1 Hooray for Hollywood
Part 2 What is scarier: Seuss or clowns?
Part 3 "Dr Seuss Sr Seuss"
Part 4 Farewell Universal Studios

Thur 30. KSC
Part 1 Our first encounter with rocks: Moon rock
Part 2 Into space

Fri 31. Enough of the rides, now for rocks
Part 1 Unlike Bugs, we take the left turn to Albuquerque
Part 2 Do you know the way to Santa Fe?
Part 3 History lessons

Sat 1 Nov. Atom bombs in the desert. Los Alamos to Durango
Part 1 Early morn in Santa Fe
Part 2 Shops
Part 3 Secret squirrel business
Part 4 North to Colorado

Sun 2 Nov. Mesa Verde to Monument Valley
Part 1 A history lesson at Mesa Verde
Part 2 Driving around Cliff Palace and Mesa Top
Part 3 Driving into the sunset

Mon 3 Nov. Monument Valley
Part 1 Desert Songs
Part 2 Desert Songs Continued
Part 3 Lost in the Desert
Part 4 Sunset

Tues 4 Nov. Off to Page
Part 1 Sunrise over Monument Valley
Part 2 Visual Overload
Part 3 More of a Visual Feast
Part 4 Ending the Day at Horseshoe Bend

Wed 5 Nov. Bryce Canyon National Park

Thurs 6 Nov. Zion National Park

Fri 7. Las Vegas

Sat 8 Nov. Home again


I should be catching up on others posts having been awol while my internet disappeared for days but instead I need to post my pre-trippy and get some feedback on an upcoming October trip. The title refers to the fact that after a big European holiday last year, DH said no big trips in 2014, we need to save some $ for the retirement fund, he needs to spend some rec leave on jobs around home - fair enough I thought. We planned a mini-trip to see his school friend in Tassie and agreed on a week away around May (which has since been brought forward to the start of April when PIO seduced me with a visit to the Melbourne flower and garden show and we put the trips together with some good airfares across the Tasman).

Only I got a new contract which ended up being far more hours and more stress than I wanted but more $ than anticipated; then first my Dad and then my Mum got taken very ill and now require a lot more tlc than before; we lost a good friend to cancer and two others were taken ill and are now having chemo; and various other incidents meant while car pooling to work every day rather than dwell on all the bad things going on, conversation centred around what a good time we had on holidays, and how much we enjoyed DLP and before I knew it DH says, with your new job we could probably afford a short trip overseas back to DL or WDW but just a week to ten days and NO side-trips. "Yes dear". But ......

Top of my wishlist is to see Halloween at one of the parks and visit HP at Universal, the latter even more so after having visited The Making of Harry Potter at Leavesden Studios in London last year. We both loved our first and only visit to WDW in 2008 with our DD. So having secured Air NZ fares at a price I couldn't resist (even though Virgin has almost now matched it which would have saved us that extra detour via Auckland and given me one more day-we won't go there) the plans are as as printed above.

The road trip location (its not a holiday without one-notice I sneaked one in!!) has been planned because of the weather and needing to avoid snowy roads as no car chains with rental. Now I have read up about New Mexico I half wish I had planned just to spend a week here and spend longer in all the museums in Santa Fe and ABQ plus headed out to White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns etc. Oh well - next visit!

Getting excited planning it and actually booking stuff finally! Have been very conscious of cancellation policies this time though in case it all goes bottoms up with Mum and Dad's state of health since insurance won't cover a cancellation on that basis. So far I can cancel most things or postpone with minimal rebooking fees until a week or so prior which is good. Roll on October

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Awesome trip for a non trip year
Can I suggest you try add in a day at DL to see it decorated for Halloween the 2 places are so very differently decorated and it would be a shame to be so close and not see it, it really is well done and the haunted Mansion is well worth the visit

 

[WanderlustNZ]

... though nothing is booked yet so as WanderlustNZ says it can all change!!

You know what they say "Change is as good as a holiday". Therefore change within a holiday must be really good for you! At least that's my justification

Your plans sound great! There's nothing like crisis to make you realise how precious life is and how important it is to enjoy it while you are in the fortunate position to do so.

I recommend Virgin America even if they aren't quite the cheapest. It's a reasonably long flight and at least Virgin America have seat back entertainment (many airlines don't).

Also, have you considered renting DVC points? You are almost at the 7 month mark so your chances of getting a booking in about a weeks time at some of the Deluxe resorts should be reasonably good. I've rented 3 times now through a broker and wouldn't consider going any other way. Let me know if you want me to PM you some information about the process.

 

[dabecs]

Sounding great! Very busy though, not sure I could handle that pace If you treat this trip as the bonus it is I'm sure no matter what you do it will be fantastic

Staying at the value first for the convenience of the tour bus sounds like a good idea to me, is it easy to book a very early taxi? I am nervous of ore booked taxis not turning up, I'm sure that's just the worrier in me though!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Your trip sounds awesome...the only thing I would point out is that 1 and a bit days is probably not enough time to see all of Universal Orlando Resort properly - and don't forget that by October, the WWOHP - Diagon Alley will have opened (probably still with crazy lines though you will have express passes from staying on property) and so you could probably spend just half a day in both WWOHP parts of each park let alone the rest of the parks (which I love as much, if not more than Disney)....The rest of your trip sounds amazing. It's always great to have these experiences when we can and enjoy some time with loved ones in such magical places

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY!


So glad that you're heading to the 4-corners area. And I'm glad that my TR has helped you with this decision.
You're flying into Albuquerque! I assume you're looking at SWA for this. I'll be watching out for your TR on how this part of the trip went. I've always been keen to take the left turn at Albuquerque.

And you know I'm going to be completely envious about Mesa Verde, right?

Happy planning.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Melbourne Flower and Garden.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks guys. WAMUMOF4 - your suggestion on the consider list! though DH may not agree to doing both.

Wanderlust interesting info so thanks - I will investigate Virgin America shortly. I have thought about DVC points but every time I try to go to eg Davids website I get a 404 error and can't get in. I would like to investigate options here so please PM me with any useful info. My only other consideration here is the fact that the hotels I can cancel up to 6 days prior and with Mum and Dad the way they are I am not confident I won't have to do a last minute cancellation/deferment of the whole trip due to one of their demise - to put it bluntly. I can't get insurance to cover me as they are mid 80's with pre-existing conditions. The airlines are pretty good at deferment or refunds on this basis regardless of insurance but not sure about rental of DVC points.

dabecs you are talking sense..my heart keeps not listening to my head telling me that.

RachelleBeaney - no I will have two full days for both parks plus whatever of the third day I chose to use vis a vis shopping so could run to almost 3 if I shop late pm. Also many of the faster rides at the parks we can't/won't go on so its a much shorter subset.

PIO the more I read I could also spend a whole week just exploring that southern area between Alb., Santa Fe, Los Alamos etc (for the Bradbury Science Museum, Bandelier National Monument, Valles Caldera National Reserve etc - it's still on the debate list!)
I will email you soon so we can tee up Show connect details.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

My only other consideration here is the fact that the hotels I can cancel up to 6 days prior and with Mum and Dad the way they are I am not confident I won't have to do a last minute cancellation/deferment of the whole trip due to one of their demise - to put it bluntly. I can't get insurance to cover me as they are mid 80's with pre-existing conditions. The airlines are pretty good at deferment or refunds on this basis regardless of insurance but not sure about rental of DVC points.

What a difficult position to be in. I can fully see why you might want a refundable booking, and for this reason DVC rental probably isn't your best option. However here's a bit of info incase you are still interested.

I've used Davids and one other broker whose website gets blocked on here and think they are both excellent in different ways. I'll PM you my comparison since I think the second broker isn't really supposed to be spoken about here on the Dis since Davids is a sponsor.

The Pros of Renting DVC points is obviously the price. You can pretty much get a Deluxe for the price of a moderate. I got the AKV and BWV for roughly 60-65% less than rack rate. This, IMO, was way better than the free dining promotion.

The Cons are:
- You have to pay upfront (or mostly upfront depending on the broker)
- You can't cancel (which may be the the breaking factor for you).
- You don't get daily cleaning of your room
- You aren't eligible for free dining should it be offered
- You need the owner to book ME transfers and the Dining Plan for you (the first is not a issue, the second is a waste of money IMO and not worth paying for anyway)
- There is a small risk that you could end up with a dishonest owner who cancels the booking (at the end of the day it's the owner who controls the booking, not the broker)

The cons of going with a broker over a private rentals:
- Slightly more expensive
- Going privately, the owner may take pity on you if you need to cancel and move your booking (depending of course on the expiry date of the points).

The pros of going with a broker over renting privately
- You can pay easily with credit card of pay pal which provides added security to your booking
- They write up a legal contract
- They hold onto some of your money and won't pay the points holder until you reach the resort. This means the chances of bowling up to the resort and finding you have no booking are very very slim.
- The broker has a reputation to maintain. I choose to believe that if something went wrong with your booking (I.e. It was cancelled) they would do everything in their power to help you.
- I'm yet to read any bad feedback about either broker.


I'm a natural worrier, and I have felt very comfortable going through a broker. I have no qualms about repeating the same process and/or recommending it to friends and family. In fact I am repeating the process for my upcoming trip and have Aulani points booked. I could see my reservation on the Disney website before I even handed over the money.
On the other hand, booking privately with someone I didn't know would make me a bundle of nerves. But I do know that it has worked for many with good feedback far outweighing the bad.

I'll PM you later tonight

 

[gogo65]

Sounds fantastic wendy
My only thought would be around leaving Disney on the evening of the 26th and heading to universal that night, generally universal hotels are more expensive than Disney moderates, would it not be better to stay at Disney that night, get up early head to universal, get your fast passes, drop your bags and head to the parks?.potentially savings some $$$$
I know on our upcoming trip universal one night is $490 compared to $102 for the same night in a value at Disney. Just a thought if you aren't going to be taking advantage of the express pass on check in day.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Replies posted on android tablet app totally failed. Anyone have any advice on the best way to access disboards on them?

Plans evolving. Having got very excited by the latest releases on Diagon Alley etc, I really think I am going to have to divide 4 days WDW, 4 days Universal and hope we can keep up with the pace. Though am dreading the crowds at Universal as DA will have only been open a couple of months. I could make it easy on myself and just stay longer but I know we also will really enjoy a week touring as well not just parks. Ah decisions. I have to book soon before price rises, in case there are no discounts though I am sure we will score something-even if only 5 or 10%. On that matter I want to stay POFQ but there are only ever discounts at POR it seems. I guess I book POFQ then cancel and change resorts if a deal comes up? I am going RO to ensure I can cancel as need be.

Tempted by new Calypso Bay "value" at Universal as we won't need Express passes all the time as they won't be valid for WWHP plus being new to the parks, we can spend a day just absorbing the "sets" and soft rides. Staying in a partner hotel so we still get WWHP early entry but don't pay Universal hotels prices would be even better but a bit concerned Universal might pull a swifty and offer on-site guests only, an extra special early hour in WWHP as a sweetner or something and to manage the immense anticipated crowds.

At least DH has agreed to hire a car for the day for KSC so that doesn't have to be factored in specifically. He likes the idea of when we have finished if we have time, driving down to Cocoa Beach (he's an old "I Dream of Jeannie" fan).

One day I will have a schedule...hey WanderlustNZ??

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I should add for the days I am looking at, Unlimited Express Passes will only cost us $50/day each so for eg 2 days to cover the main rides (remembering we are not big ride fans so for Transformers, Spiderman etc) thats only a total of US$200 added to whatever our hotel costs are. RPH at the moment is going to cost us when I priced for 3 nights with tax close to $1000 including in the room price the unlimited pass. We can get a partner hotel for under $130/night=$600 with passes or Cabana Bay (not calypso idiot) around $500=$700 if we buy 2 days of passes. Savings would just about pay for Universal entry tix. I promise I will make a decision soon. But RPH does look nice....

 

[PrincessInOz]

Wendy - I would stay at RPH. The FotL passes, and the extra early hour to get to WWoHP, were worth the price of staying on-site....even if you aren't big Transformer or Spidey fans.
You are planning 4 nights; and if UO offers any hotel discounts to the general public, they usually offer it for 3 or more nights. For now, ring them up to book. They have AAA discounts that provide 10% off and your RACQ will give you that. You may have to ring them to get the AAA discount applied; it wasn't available on-line when I was booking last year. And if you haven't done so already, sign up to the Universal site for specials. They do send an email every couple of months. Make sure you read the emails all the way down. I actually found a discount code in two of them.....all the way down nearly to the end of the email offering 40% off. Sadly, the dates didn't work for me.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I agree with PIO. Stick with the RPH.

Just like you, I spent ages trying to decide, and I weighed up all the different costs. In the end I just closed my eyes and booked HRH, and I'm so pleased I did.

The express passes and early entry are worth their weight in gold, but so is the proximity to the parks. The boat system at Universal was way better than any of Disney's transportation options, and if a boat wasn't within about 5 minutes of arriving (which it usually was) we walked. I loved being able to pop back to the hotel for a couple of hours midday for a swim, or pop down to Universal Citiwalk for dinner.

Ahh memories. How I wish I was there now.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Also just a side-note, have you tried the Transformers and Spider-Man rides?

Transformers was my favourite ride of the whole trip. DS and I used our express pass to do it 4 times in one day. DH did it twice and also loved it, but he could feel a bit of motion sickness setting in so passed on the next few rides.

You'll also need the express pass for the Minion ride which gets very long queues.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Hi guys
Yes I have signed up for Universal but reading all the way down to the bottom for the small print is a very helpful tip!

I wrote it wrongly the other night - yes Spiderman, Transformers etc is on our must ride list (posibly Mummy for me, possibly not Simpsons since anyone motion-affected seems to have major issues though we will probably take Kwell prior), which is why I figure I need express passes for those rides - its some of the other E-ticket style rides - all the bigger roller coasters and drops -Hulk, Dr Doom's etc that we won't ride.

As always thanks for all the input.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hi guys
Yes I have signed up for Universal but reading all the way down to the bottom for the small print is a very helpful tip!

I wrote it wrongly the other night - yes Spiderman, Transformers etc is on our must ride list (posibly Mummy for me, possibly not Simpsons since anyone motion-affected seems to have major issues though we will probably take Kwell prior), which is why I figure I need express passes for those rides - its some of the other E-ticket style rides - all the bigger roller coasters and drops -Hulk, Dr Doom's etc that we won't ride.

As always thanks for all the input.

Staying on-property gives you the unlimited Express pass. I believe that the standard Express only allows you entry once. It's the unlimited portion that was worth it's weight in gold for us. There were some rides we went on twice or three times. I think you can buy the unlimited version for a little more money; but there might be block-out dates for those.

As always.....I'm happy to help you spend your money.

 

[becpee]

Loving the look of your trip, especially for a non trip year

 

[WanderlustNZ]

PIO makes a good point about the unlimited express pass. That is definitely the one you want.

I didn't do any of the big roller coasters either. I was even too chicken to do The Mummy. But the express pass was worth it's weight in gold for the rides I did do and love such as Transformers, Spider-Man, Men in Black, ET, Despicable Me etc.

Myth DH suffers from motion sickness and the only rides he really struggled with were Simpsons and the HP Forbidden Journey ride.

The new Simpsons area is great fun. I've loved grabbing some lunch from the next door quick service place and taking it into Moes Tavern to eat.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I am probably going 5 days RPH *** damn them they gave me a good price for 5 nights (when I had just about decided on 3 days there and 2 days off-site when we won't be going to Universal (KSC, shopping) and was planning on staying in a place with a kitchen etc-I miss my simple food like beans on toast or a cup of soup when I am travelling. This alternate option is now dearer so looks like I am back to being microwave and kettleless the whole time.

Those of you who have stayed at Universal-what have you done about breakfast? (always the trickiest meal of the day).

Just to share the spoils of my research in case its helpful to anyone lurking even if now I won't use it - you can buy limited and unlimited express passes-the latter work the same as the one you get as an on-site guest. The limited are cheaper. The passes have no black out dates but they do limit the number different days/times of year and do sell out so if you plan to do this buy in advance. The price varies depending on the day of the week, and the month and vary constantly (same date may be up one week, down the next). Thus I could buy an unlimited express pass for the 2 days I am focusing on in October for $50 per day now (well a few days ago). Once DA opens you can bet the price might be triple that - usual case of buy really early and get best prices I suspect, unless they have a lull and want to encourage visitors. There is a brilliant private website for all things Universal that I have got most of my info from in combo with a couple of other sites and Disboards. I do wonder how Universal's new QBot which is a third queueing system option will go.

Also I see the new FP system at WDW being slammed on blogs everywhere,mostly for making regular lines much longer - will be interested to see everyone's experiences over the next few months to add to those who have already experienced it when it was in trial mode.

 

[lffam]

The next time we do USO I think we would do 4-5 days. Time enough for two trips to each park even if second was just for half a day to re-do the rides and shows that we loved. It would also give us some leisure time around the pool and resort at RPH which we didn't have in our 2 nighter in Oct 2013.

Re breakfast well we ate at the park because we got there for early opening and dust want to get up any earlier that we did! One day we just bought some croissants from a outdoor vendor in WWOHP and next day at three broomsticks after our second ride on the Forbidden Journey.

That said we had the full buffet on our day of departure at the hotel and this was awesome!