Can't Help Myself - First Reservation Made for Sep/Oct 2013 Trip

Caroline NZ · Aug 21, 2012

I can't help myself, and feel the need to share.
So is anyone else as planning obsessed as I am?
Our trip is 13 months away. Most places you can't book until within 12 months. However for the Anaheim part of our trip we have decided to use a private vacation rental. And they do accept bookings more than 12 months out. So our first booking/deposit has been made! I am excited to finally have made the first booking, the trip seems just that little bit closer.
I can't wait until Oct this year, as that is when I will try and make the majority of the other bookings. I pretty much already know where we want to stay. Just need to work out exactly what we want to do at each place. But then I have 13 months to figure that out :lmao:

which the kids are not keen on.

So having written the above down it will be interesting to see how much the plan deviates over the next year !!
When I say hopefully, our trips always have the added stress of travelling standby ( we are Airline staff). So we never know if we are going to get on the flight, however the financial benefits are well worth the risk.

We have used private vacations with great success in NZ, but have yet to use one overseas. I am excited to see how it turns out

becpee · Aug 21, 2012

Never too early to plan :thumbsup2

Will love to see how your trip pans out.

Are you doing this yet? :yay:

australiankaren · Aug 21, 2012

good trip = obsessive planning

go with the force & our blessings pirate:

Ms. Shuttergirl · Aug 21, 2012

Sounds like an exciting plan. I look forward to following along.

5ofus · Aug 21, 2012

Sounds good to me!

I'm hanging out for my friend to set her wedding date! Not being able to plan/book anything is torture!!!

BecBennett · Aug 21, 2012

Holy dooley you're going to have an action packed month!! :eek:

It's never too early to plan :thumbsup2

Andona · Aug 21, 2012

What a wonderful trip !! And congratulations on your first booking . I don't think 13 months out is too far at all :thumbsup2

I would LOVE to stay at El Tovar, it has so much character!

We did stay at Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia NP - Great choice! had a wonderful meal in their restaurant there.

We drove past Tenaya Lodge on our last trip, it's quite a long way from Yosemite valley but it looked lovely. We stayed at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls, but one day I'd really like to stay at the Awhahnee Hotel in Yosemite, but I'll have to wait till we can go without DS for that one. Dreaming...

Looking forward to seeing how your plans evolve...

Andona

Caroline NZ · Aug 21, 2012

Andona said:
We drove past Tenaya Lodge on our last trip, it's quite a long way from Yosemite valley but it looked lovely. We stayed at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls, but one day I'd really like to stay at the Awhahnee Hotel in Yosemite, but I'll have to wait till we can go without DS for that one. Dreaming...

Looking forward to seeing how your plans evolve...

Andona

Hi Andona,
What did you think of Yosemite Lodge at the Falls?
By picking Tenaya I was trying to balance the facilities of the accomodation, the quality,and it's location.
I too would like to stay at Ahwahnee, but it doesn't sound like it is kid friendly.

JessNewbs · Aug 21, 2012

We started planning further out than that and our plans changed a MILLION times. I got so sick of waiting that I moved it up from September to May! It is good to be educated about your trip and believe you me, you will be! It is the most exciting time planning though, I enjoy it so much! I look forward to hearing all of your future plans! That really is one action packed holiday you have planned there!

Andona · Aug 21, 2012

Caroline NZ said:
Hi Andona,
What did you think of Yosemite Lodge at the Falls?
By picking Tenaya I was trying to balance the facilities of the accomodation, the quality,and it's location.
I too would like to stay at Ahwahnee, but it doesn't sound like it is kid friendly.

Yosemite Lodge was clean, comfortable but more motel style (e.g. exterior doors) and didn't have the facilities of Tenaya ( e.g no pool) We only had one night in Yosemite so we wanted to stay right in the valley.

Tenaya Lodge is a little over an hours drive to Yosemite Valley ( and that's really where all the major sightseeing spots are) You have two nights so that's not too bad, it just depends how much time you're happy to spend in the car at the beginning and end of the day?

You'll be driving to Yosemite from Sequoia ( we did the reverse) and so you will have an hours less driving on Sequoia-Yosemite day than we did, which is a plus for Tenaya. It's also a little closer to Monterey.

We love the US National Parks. You always pay a premium to stay right within the park but we think its worth every cent. :lovestruc

Andona

alicia1506 · Aug 21, 2012

congrats on the planning.

obsessive planning = all day long around my house. we are looking at september 2013 for our trip, and i'm constantly trying to jiggle the figures/dates/arrangements as we are doing a massive trip from bne - lax - mco, then a stay at wdw, a dcl cruise, a stay at universal orlando then a stay at dlr. that will be an action packed trip within 3 short weeks...

my family have asked me not to start planning until at least january, but that would barely give 8 month's lead time... that's just crazy talk

live long and prosper, fellow OCD planners

Melbourne5 · Aug 21, 2012

Well done on your booking :cheer2:

Good choice for your San Diego accom at home wood suites. Top hotel and great area to stay . Close to all the area has to offer. You must plan to take the family to the corvette diner ( its about a 5m car ride from the hotel ) and one of the best family themed restaurants in SD.

We are staying at Hilton universal this Week for 3 nights so can report back in a few weeks in my TR.

Sounds like a sensational trip.

Saskiwi · Aug 21, 2012

Yay Caroline you are planning again :cool1:

- planning is at LEAST half the fun!

Holiday rentals seem like a good way to go; we have decided to do a rental at WDW for our trip in May next year - I was all keen to stay onsite, (Wilderness Lodge - so cute, but so expensive :sad2:

) but when it came to the crunch, 11 nights with the four of us in one room would have driven us nuts and a tworoom suite was out of the question, , so we are now getting three bedrooms three bathrooms and our own pool at a Windsor Hills condo
(http://tour.circlepix.com/tour/Nitro/loadingPage.htm?tourId=542406) for only $99 a night!

Keep us posted on your road trip planning! :drive:

Caroline NZ · Aug 21, 2012

Melbourne5 said:
Well done on your booking

Good choice for your San Diego accom at home wood suites. Top hotel and great area to stay . Close to all the area has to offer. You must plan to take the family to the corvette diner ( its about a 5m car ride from the hotel ) and one of the best family themed restaurants in SD.

We are staying at Hilton universal this Week for 3 nights so can report back in a few weeks in my TR.

Sounds like a sensational trip.

Thanks for the tip on the Corvette Diner, I will add it to my list of things to do.
I'll look forward to reading your trip report :thumbsup2

Caroline NZ · Aug 21, 2012

Andona said:
Yosemite Lodge was clean, comfortable but more motel style (e.g. exterior doors) and didn't have the facilities of Tenaya ( e.g no pool) We only had one night in Yosemite so we wanted to stay right in the valley.

Tenaya Lodge is a little over an hours drive to Yosemite Valley ( and that's really where all the major sightseeing spots are) You have two nights so that's not too bad, it just depends how much time you're happy to spend in the car at the beginning and end of the day?

You'll be driving to Yosemite from Sequoia ( we did the reverse) and so you will have an hours less driving on Sequoia-Yosemite day than we did, which is a plus for Tenaya. It's also a little closer to Monterey.

We love the US National Parks. You always pay a premium to stay right within the park but we think its worth every cent.

Andona

Thanks for all the info Andona, I will need to do some research as to exactly what we want to do and see. I think I will have a look at vacation rentals as well, just in case some of them are closer than Tenaya.

Caroline NZ · Aug 21, 2012

Saskiwi said:
Yay Caroline you are planning again - planning is at LEAST half the fun!

Holiday rentals seem like a good way to go; we have decided to do a rental at WDW for our trip in May next year - I was all keen to stay onsite, (Wilderness Lodge - so cute, but so expensive) but when it came to the crunch, 11 nights with the four of us in one room would have driven us nuts and a tworoom suite was out of the question, , so we are now getting three bedrooms three bathrooms and our own pool at a Windsor Hills condo
(http://tour.circlepix.com/tour/Nitro/loadingPage.htm?tourId=542406) for only $99 a night!

Keep us posted on your road trip planning!

Hi Saskiwi, I will look forward to hearing how you enjoy Windsor Hills. We are tentatively looking to go to WDW in Jan 2015, and I have already picked out Windsor Hills as the place to stay. You get so much for such a low price :thumbsup2

. We always hire a car for the entire stay, so the distance from the parks is not an issue for us.

Travel Mum · Aug 22, 2012

Oh Caroline, I am so happy for you because I know you have had to sit here and bide your time while others have been flitting away to DL and WDW. So it must be fantastic to have firm plans in place and a booking made :thumbsup2

No way is booking this early OCD, gosh, most of us on here start planning/booking even further in advance

Travel Mum · Aug 22, 2012

Caroline NZ said:
Hi Saskiwi, I will look forward to hearing how you enjoy Windsor Hills. We are tentatively looking to go to WDW in Jan 2015, and I have already picked out Windsor Hills as the place to stay. You get so much for such a low price . We always hire a car for the entire stay, so the distance from the parks is not an issue for us.

Saskiwi, I too will wait to hear with great interest about your experience of staying offsite at WDW. I agree it is much better value for money and it actually would be much more realistic for us to get back there again if I could accept staying offsite. I still might but the problem is that, on our trip, the Disney dining was a part of the fun and I could only eat meals at the parks if on a Disney dining plan (preferrably free dining

) because, paying OOP at Disney prices would give me heart failure :rotfl:

Caroline NZ · Aug 22, 2012

Hehe, Travel Mum , the secret is I have been planning for much longer, I just didn't think it was decent to admit to it in public! When one trip ends, the next one begins..... that is what keeps me going to work every day.

On the subject of WDW and going in Dec/Jan, I think we will be in a similar situation to you ( by 2015 anyway), with trying to plan the overseas holidays to coincide with NZ school holidays. And ofcourse Dec/Jan is the only state school holiday longer than 2 weeks.
Maybe we'll see you there in Jan 2015 ??!!!

For next years trip the kids are still at primary school,so I am okay with them missing 2 weeks of school. It will be one week either side of the holidays, and nothing much happens in those weeks for us.

Ms. Shuttergirl · Aug 22, 2012

It's very hard to be on the Disboards and watch others plan and go on their trips. In fact it's almost painful. I know many of us can sympathise with this feeling.

It will be over 2 years since we have been to WDW once we go in December and at times it has seemed like an eternity.

I usually think how quickly time flies is such a scary thing but when trip planning, it is a blessing.

Caroline - your trip will be here in the blink of an eye my luv. :thumbsup2

Can't Help Myself - First Reservation Made for Sep/Oct 2013 Trip

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