for the love of mickey - a PTR

[PrincessInOz]

hope you are enjoying your camera.

I would add another day. There is lots of ways to spend more money in SoCal without having to buy a wet suit!

 

[alicia1506]

oh yeah...silly me, for a moment i was thinking november was a warm month... it's gonna be cold, so no pool time can you tell i've picked up the flu? gah.

ok. but still.. an extra day?? sounds tempting. so i ran it past carlo last night around 1am when he finally got back from his time with the men-folk, so he's promised me a yay/nay answer by tonight.

it means 1 less day of recovery at home before heading back to work, but on the upside, potentially 1 more day at disney

i'm torn.. leaning more towards adding the day though

 

[Sugarglider]

Alicia - don't worry about staying awake for 4 hours in LAX. remember in that 4 hrs you have to:

• get off international flight
• clear immigration and customs
• transfer to the domestic terminal
• drop off your luggage
• (maybe even check in? can you check in in advance on SouthWest?
• find your gate
• and 30 minutes to board domestic flight

all that will chew up your 4 hours easily - esp. if the international flight arrives late or immi/customs queues are long.
You'll be fine - and hopefully fall asleep on the domestic flight

 

[aussietravellers]

oh yeah...silly me, for a moment i was thinking november was a warm month... it's gonna be cold, so no pool time can you tell i've picked up the flu? gah.

Don't worry, my DS packed his swimmers on a trip to Europe one Christmas. Yes there was a pool and a river and a frozen lake, but as it was -15 outside, I told him he should have packed his wetsuit if he was wanting to swim, brrr I did see someone in the Grand Californian pool once during a December trip, so some would swim on a mild winters day, probably when they are from a cold climate. But I think when you are leaving home, in the 30's you won't feel a warm fuzzy swimming feeling whilst there

ok. but still.. an extra day?? sounds tempting. so i ran it past carlo last night around 1am when he finally got back from his time with the men-folk, so he's promised me a yay/nay answer by tonight.

it means 1 less day of recovery at home before heading back to work, but on the upside, potentially 1 more day at disney

i'm torn.. leaning more towards adding the day though

If it's not going to cost you any extra flight wise (just the accommodation). Are you at DL hotel at the end? Maybe you could add a night to the other hotel, then move your DL dates along a day, so you are not paying the expensive for the extra night.

Really it's not that bad connecting through Sydney. You clear customs, go and recheck just near where you exit and hop on the bus to the other terminal and find your gate. Yes, it is much easier just flying right back into Brisbane but if you decide not to add that day. It really isn't too bad doing the Syd stopover. It was not so many years ago that we always had to fly to Sydney before flying off anywhere exciting. Well we still do if we want to go to Hawaii. Can't wait for the day when an airline finally realises how many Queenslanders actually like to fly to Hawaii and how many more would when they can go direct instead of through Sydney

 

[alicia1506]

we're at the Disneyland hotel for our last several nights, and i don't have an issue with adding an extra night there

i just sent off yet another email to my long suffering TA to ask if now that we have paid off the reservation, if it would be possible to add the extra day to our disneyland vacation... i'm sure he'll make sure it can happen, after all, it's an extra day at disney, right? my DU travel agent hasn't been over-the-top wonderful, and in fact, i wish he had been just a little more anticipatory of our potential needs and a little less willing to tell us to do stuff for ourselves, but he's been a gem at answering questions and letting me know exactly what our best options are, so that has been a gem. i almost booked our flights straight through disney thinking it would save us time & money, but he quickly put me straight on that one

to be honest, i think i'm most likely to stay the extra day.. it means we have another day up our sleeve to browse LA or san diego, do a bit of a sight-seeing tour or spend more time shopping or just relax around the hotel/downtown disney one day...

just bought myself an exercise bike to help get into better shape for the trip. that should be here in a few days then it'll be full steam ahead for whipping those extra kgs off my butt -- so that i can put some of it back on while on the cruise


sugarglider -- thanks for the info re LAX. i've never done a transfer from there, all our flights were direct flights into LAX then down to disney, and then direct from disney to LAX to fly to the next town. i didn't even realise they had a domestic terminal. my biggest concern was that we'd make it through immi/customs, get our luggage, get to the check in, get to the gate, fall alseep, miss our flight but from what you've said.. sounds like we'll probably not have too much time to stand around whilst trying to make the connection.

our last flight bne - lax was early ... so early the unions weren't letting us into lax until it had ticked over to 6am sharp. and by the time we unloaded, 2 other international flights had arrived, so it was a nightmare to get through baggage claim then immi/customs/border security etc.

fingers crossed this time round my flight will go much more smoothly..

in the meantime, i'm now doing more research on LAX and other tours we can take while we're in anaheim...

oh, and cursing the dollar. 96.4cents is what my currency exchange is telling me i can get for 1 aud. not happy jan. not happy at all.

 

[Aust]

My niece swam at the pool at the Grand Californian in January - the pool was heated but it was freezing out - all us adults were sitting on deck chairs in coats wrapped in towels for extra warmth while the kids were going crazy on the waterslides. And the life guards were wearing what looked like ski suits!

I'm all for an extra day at DL, this trip we're there for 14 days (with 4 days out of that for LA/shopping/Las Vegas).

 

[alicia1506]

My niece swam at the pool at the Grand Californian in January - the pool was heated but it was freezing out - all us adults were sitting on deck chairs in coats wrapped in towels for extra warmth while the kids were going crazy on the waterslides. And the life guards were wearing what looked like ski suits!

I'm all for an extra day at DL, this trip we're there for 14 days (with 4 days out of that for LA/shopping/Las Vegas).

that's roughly the same amount of time we'll be there. when are you visiting?

swimming in january? wow. not even in california would i do that unless it was an indoor pool.

 

[alicia1506]

so i just got confirmation from carlo...

we're doing the extra disney day!!!!

 

[alicia1506]

today i got confirmation from my DU agent -- our extra disney day is locked in and paid for. yay. yet another thing on our list we can check off.

at home sick today (still) and just for giggles, checked out VAustralia's pricing.

bne - lax return economy (direct flights) - $1204.

that's the cheapest i've ever seen it for our dates (nov 23 - dec 12) .. even last year for a promo sale i only managed to find rates around $1300... should i book now, or hold out and see if i can get a cheaper fare?

thoughts?

 

[WAMUMOF4]

today i got confirmation from my DU agent -- our extra disney day is locked in and paid for. yay. yet another thing on our list we can check off.

at home sick today (still) and just for giggles, checked out VAustralia's pricing.

bne - lax return economy (direct flights) - $1204.

that's the cheapest i've ever seen it for our dates (nov 23 - dec 12) .. even last year for a promo sale i only managed to find rates around $1300... should i book now, or hold out and see if i can get a cheaper fare?

thoughts?

If that's the cheaper than last year I would be jumping and not looking back that saving pays for your extra day

 

[battymum]

Thats a fair price - I dont know if you will see it any cheaper!

Book it Danno!!!

 

[alicia1506]

lol. you guys are the greatest.

yeah, i had been seeing prices around the $1500 and $1600 mark for a while now... i was hoping to get flights around the $1330 mark... $1200 each seems like a pretty decent saving, although i did see vaustralia advertising other cities/routes for around $1000, i don't think that i'll see much lower than $1200 to be honest...

will wait til carlo comes home tonight and run it past him...

 

[australiankaren]

I think as the dollar falls, travel will decrease to the usa and then the airlines will start cutting fares again, but this may be a while..so lock it in now

 

[BecBennett]

Yeah book it

 

[Beee]

I'd be booking now too but I'm such a terrible gambler - I booked our dec flights a month ago as soon as we confirmed dates, figured so close to xmas the likelyhood of a good deal would be slim and I wanted to go direct meaning no airline competition. $1200 does sound pretty good (says the woman who has paid $2500+ return each...)
I am still holding out for a good deal for accommodation though...for now anyway, I am just too impatient I think and want everything locked in and ready to go.

 

[Kangarucci]

I also agree with others. Book it today. I am one to procrastinate and then lose out.

 

[alicia1506]

so... our flights are booked

and we got to choose our seating this time around for an extra $20 per seat, which was awesome as last time the ticket agent at the desk upon check in was the one who selected our seats... but.. having really enjoyed our seat location last time, i've selected the same row for our seats, just in the middle section so we're not squished in next to a window, and hopefully the 3rd in our row won't be filled in and we can spread out a little

so now the bank balance is looking decidedly poorer. yup... we're poor again. i've used up all our trip savings so far, so it'll be tax returns and dedicated savings from here on out to make sure we have enough for the trip...

 

[WAMUMOF4]

so... our flights are booked

and we got to choose our seating this time around for an extra $20 per seat, which was awesome as last time the ticket agent at the desk upon check in was the one who selected our seats... but.. having really enjoyed our seat location last time, i've selected the same row for our seats, just in the middle section so we're not squished in next to a window, and hopefully the 3rd in our row won't be filled in and we can spread out a little

so now the bank balance is looking decidedly poorer. yup... we're poor again. i've used up all our trip savings so far, so it'll be tax returns and dedicated savings from here on out to make sure we have enough for the trip...

Congrats on booking your flights thats a great price and we are that way every pay week at the moment a sacrifice i am willing to live with to spend some time with Mickey
Happy saving

 

[Beee]

that's awesome you've got the flights booked and paid for Alicia! We're in the same position, empty bank account and saving for the rest...ho hum...

 

[alicia1506]

i always feel so good about our position in life when the bank balance is great, and really stressed when the bank balance is low... i know that we've just paid out approx $8k for our cruise and accommodation and flights etc but i still feel like i need to stress about the finance...