Sept / Oct 2011

[hellosue]

SeaWorld today (Thursday) no lines or maybe 5 min wait....
low crowds - with quick queue allows multiple rides within short period....
Atlantis - My daughter and I were the only ones on the ride at 10 am this morning - (lucky cause I screamed my head off)

Despite what weather forecasts you read at home - it has actually been between 87 and 93 f sunny all day with a slight breeze just to keep you sane. It does get cooler at night.... We already have a tan and swim in the pool every day.

Tomorrow, back to SeaWorld and Makahiki Luau at night.

If you are going to IOA for Hogwarts - go first thing then work your way back - and don't miss E.T. - I love this ride

 

[Jade+3]

It is freezing here in New York. Last night we were walking around in TShirt and shorts. Today we were all rugged up.

We had a late start to the day as we are still on California time. Went to Macy's for a quick shop. I had a bottle of laundry liquid leak through a suitcase (the new suitcase too), which wrecked some of our clothes as the dye ran from the case lining into the clothes. I made sure the lid was tightly on when I packed it, so I wonder if TSA may have opened it.

We brought tickets to the hop on, hop off bus. I am not sure that it was worth it but the kids were sick of walking, and DH isn't one for public transport, particularly in unfamiliar places. We were on the bus for over 2 hours, in the rain this afternoon. It was so cold, but was good to see areas we may not have seen.

The drive from the airport was the scariest car ride ever. They are crazy on the roads. I booked Dial 7 as they were highly recommended on trip advisor.

Glad to hear the weather is better in Florida.

 

[Travel Mum]

HelloSue and Jade, thanks so much to both of you for updating us through out your trips!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Franrose - I hope you'll update us on how you told the girls!

 

[AussieMumma]

hellosue and Jade so great to hear from the both of you, it makes it so much more real to get "live" updates!!
Bugger about the clothes liquid Jade, I think that's a good tip for us all though, powder only me thinks!

franrose, I also cant wait to hear how you went telling the girls!

 

[shushh]

Hellosue and jade, great to hear from you!

Jade so what did you get at Macys?!?! How is DH liking NY?

As for laundry detergent, I highly recommendthe purex 3 in 1 sheets. No mess!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Forgetful as ever!

Sorry - I also meant to say thanks for the updates from Jade and HelloSue as well!!

 

[Jade+3]

Hellosue and jade, great to hear from you!

Jade so what did you get at Macys?!?! How is DH liking NY?

As for laundry detergent, I highly recommendthe purex 3 in 1 sheets. No mess!

Shopping at Macy's was not that exciting, though it could have been if we had more time. I had to get DS2 some TShirts and found 2 Nike Tshirts for a total of $12. It is really difficult finding summer clothes. We used the 10% discount card.

My bra's were ruined with the laundry liquid episode. Lingerie shopping with 3 young children is not fun. I found the service in Macy's appalling. I had to line up in 3 different places to finally find someone who was able to tell me what the US size equivalent was. There were staff everywhere yet only one person on the register, who was so slow. What should have been a relatively quick process took over an hour. By then the kids were feral so we left.

Honestly, I do not think DH will be in any hurry to come back here. He is finding it too busy and crowded, and the people rude. The plan for today is an early lunch at Ellen's, then Central Park. If it is not foggy we will also do TOTR today, and Magnolia Bakery. We need to find diapers for DS2. Toys R Us had every other size, except for his.

I am in need of some advice. What do I wear to the theatre?? I have purchased tickets to take DD to Mary Poppins tomorrow (Saturday) night. We both only have jeans, and sandshoes or thongs. I am going to have to do a quick shop in the morning. I used the Mousesavers code for the tickets instead of lining up at the TKTS booth.

 

[dodoting]

I can hardly wait.：cheer2：：cheer2：

 

[Busy Busy]

Hi Jade, we're here too - and I hope that your experience gets better. With older kids it's so much easier to do things, they listen when you threaten them!!

We plan on getting to Macy's today - Saturday shopping - yikes!! We know what to expect down there, it can be a big mess can't it?! Our friends are in the room next door - their flight from LA to NYC was delayed 4 hours - then the shuttle that they had booked and paid for didn't turn up AND they didn't answer the phone when they called - ugh. The exact opposite to our arrival - I just hope that we haven't used up all of our pixie dust!!

Enjoy Mary Poppins - we are heading to Famous Dave's for dinner then a big walk to all of the shops in Times Square tonight - our friends are off to see Jersey Boys so we have their kids - 2 adults, 1 14 year old boy, 1 13 year old boy, 1 11 year old girl, 1 7 year old girl, 1 6 year old girl - are we crazy or what?! Who cares - IT'S NEW YORK!!

Say hi if you see the tall family!!

 

[tapdancer]

Hi everyone

We arrived home last night very exhausted. I have a mini trip report I will post a bit later this afternoon. We had a wonderful holiday and spent heaps

 

[tapdancer]

Mini Trip Report - September 5-15

Beach Club Resort was absolutely fantastic and we would definately stay here again. The pool was amazing, beds comfy, transport to the parks stress free with only 5 minute walk to Epcot. Rooms fit 5 comfortably with my daughter not wanting to swap from the day bed provided for her. Housekeeping left daily characters made from the hand towels. There was renovations going on out side our room but we didn't use our balcony much so it wasn't a worry.

Magic Kingdom was all decorated for Halloween, we loved the Wishes Dessert Party, Electrical Parade, all the characters and went on Splash Mountain 4 times. Had dinner at The Plaza and breakfast at Crystal Palace, both were great.

Animal Kingdom - it was sooooooooooooooo hot this day I don't think saw enough of the park it was just toooo hot. We loved the safari, Kali River Rapids, Expedition Everest and the Finding Nemo stage show.

We had lunch at Tusker House. Didn't love the Dino part of this park - bit tacky for me

Downtown Disney - Loved the huge Disney Shop, Christmas shop, Earl of Sandwich. Had a wonderful meal at Raglan Road it was a highlight.

Epcot - I loved Epcot, World Showcase was so interesting we loved Mexico and France the best. Had meals at Via Napoli and Les Chefs which were both amazing. Kids loved Test Track.

I just have to mention that I lost my wallet in Epcot and within 20 minutes of me losing it, it was at Guest Relations for me to collect with all my money and cards still intact. I was extremely impressed as I was very distressed at losing it.

Hollywood Studios - I loved the theming here I love all things 50's so this park suited me perfectly. Toy Story Mania was awesome and thanks to the disboards I ran to get fast passes when we arrived with a return time of 11.50 and it was only 9 am. Aerosmith rollercoaster was awesome and kids loved Tower of Terror.

I found the One Man One Dream very interesting. We had lunch at Sci Fi Diner and while I loved the theming the meal was way too huge for lunch and we waited half an hour after our ressie to get in.l

Blizzard Beach - Hubby and kids loved it. Water parks really aren't my thing and if I had park hoppers I wouldn't have gone. I left them at the park after lunch and had a relax at the resort.

Universal Studios - The best thing about going here was WWOHP and if it wasn't for this part of the park I would of hated it. We spent $600 for a family of 5 to enter the 2 parks and I felt it was a lot to spend for what we got. A lot of the attractions were closed for upgrade. I really disliked the Simpsons ride and I didn't really like the theming of most parts. It might of been because we left this park until the day before we came home and maybe I was over parks and it was extremely hot. I wouldnt go back again.

Overall

Orlando was extremely hot and we needed a break at the resort to rest each day so I was glad we didn't over schedule.

I wished we had got park hoppers. We went to Magic Kingdom for dinner one night not realising it was closing at 7 for MNSSHP so we had to quickly eat dinner and leave. If we had hoppers we could of gone to another park for a wander. Also as I said above on the day my family went to Blizzard beach I would of loved to wander around another park on my own to take it all in.

We had free dining and overall it saved us over $2000. To go to a restaurant and have unlimited soft drink, meal and dessert and just pay the tip was amazing. My kids couldn't believe they could have more than one drink

Best meal of the trip would have to be Raglan Road hands down. It was everyone's favourite. We also ate at Ohana's which was yum.

On entering the parks early we managed to walk onto just about any ride with no wait. One of the CM's said September is a great time to come with little or no waits

We flew with Delta from Sydney to LA then onto Orlando. I would definately fly with them again, the meals were delicious and flights were smooth. We had 10 hours in Sydney on the way home before our flight to Hobart. I would NEVER do this again, we were so exhausted being up for around 32 hours with only minimal sleep if this happened again I would overnight in Sydney.

We had a wonderful holiday, enjoyed Flordia Mall and Premium Outlets very much. We are looking to go again in 3 years for our 20 year anniversary including New York and maybe Hawaii on the way home.

Nerissa

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Hi everyone

We arrived home last night very exhausted. I have a mini trip report I will post a bit later this afternoon. We had a wonderful holiday and spent heaps

home glad you had a great trip

 

[WAMUMOF4]

See you guys! (Some of you maybe literally!!)

Franrose i hope you had a great flight and have a wonderful trip Can't wait to hear how the kids reacted to your surprise

 

[Franrose]

Hi all!

Having an awesome trip so far!

When I told the kids - they were pretty excited! DD4 jumping around the room. I don't think they "got" it though till we got here!

Flights were good, though boy they were long... we were up at four am, six hours later took off, 14 hours later landed (my 4 and 5 year old had had about an hour's sleep, I had had none, DH maybe a few hours) at 6.40am, then jumped on a bus that took us for a tour through LA/Hollywood (ate breakfast at McDonalds on Hollywood blvd), went to walmart for supplies... etc etc hung around till 3pm. This was about 32 hours after we'd first got up by now, the kids were SHATTERED. Got room, had room service dinner and headed to bed!

This morning we headed out to Disneyland, I love being able to just wander on over (we are at the Disneyland hotel - our room is awesome btw! Fireworks view! If we can stay up late enough, lol). Because it's Saturday and supposed to be a bit busier (than say Monday or Tuesday, our last two days here) I have had the mousewait app up lots through the day and as we go we pick low-wait rides in whatever area we are in. Fastpasses have had us returning maybe an hour after they are issued, although we've probably done most of the rides that we can do there as they are all a bit fast paced or scary for our girls. Got such a hilarious pic of them on Splash Mountain, they weren't so keen on that big drop, lol!

Food at Disney has been better than I thought and I've been trying to remember to take pics (missed the room service I think!). For future reference, so I can match pics to venues, we ate at Bear Country (county? Something else beginning with c lol?) for lunch, and then Tangaloma (hmm think I need to look that one up) here at the resort for dinner. Trying to have an earlyish night now because we have a 7.30am booking at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (I was never going to do that... and yet checking it out was the second thing we did in the parks today, lol!)

World of Colour - for some reason, I couldn't book picnics for this with my cash passport or my credit card (maybe the credit card doesn't like the fact that I'm booking something online and I appear to be in the US? Not sure, have used it on the Disney site before no problems) so I walked downstairs to the Disney store, paid $64 on to a Disney gift card, walked upstairs and paid my $63.96 picnic order, lol!

What other tips... not sure. Just that I love my t-mobile card and mousewait I think!

See you all! And for all your countdowns!

Last night DH and I came home from shopping the kids were so excited to tell us they had been watching a movie and it had Times square in it and they could see the Double tree and they were so that they had been there.
That is what i love about these holidays that when you come home you and your family get to remember for a lifetime
Just had to share with peeps who would understand

On the flight over, it seemed like so many movies were set in New York! I paused them several times hee hee!! Pointed out the big M sign and told my girls they could eat there

 

[Busy Busy]

Hi Franrose - NY is fabulous and waiting for you!! Glad that everything is going so well.

 

[dabecs]

I'm loving all of these updates! Now all I need is a million photos

We just went to an Italian festival at a local primary school and my 4 year old saw her first fireworks ever (and my 5 year old saw her second - the first ones were a few years ago and she can't remember them). They were blown away..

I just kept thinking "if they are impressed with 5 minutes of standard fireworks imagine what they will think of Wishes and Illuminations!"

It's funny how often something makes me think of Disney - and we haven't even been yet

 

[jacs1234]

I'm so glad I peeked at this thread. Thanks for your updates girls. Keep it up.

 

[Jade+3]

Jade Did you stay at Grand Pacific Palisades in Carlsbad? I can't remember! Enjoy NYC, looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

We ended at staying at Carlsbad by the Sea, which is opposite the outlets (the one with the windmill).

We are now in Miami, preparing for our cruise tomorrow, so this will be my last update for a while. Our hotel has a beautiful view of the port.

New York was fantastic. We have had the busiest time. In the last 2 days we have done Central Park, FAO, M&M & Hershey stores, Magnolia Bakery, Top of the Rock, Battery Park, WTC site, Century 21, High Line Park at Chelsea, Chelsea Market, lunch at Ellen's Diner, plus heaps of shopping. We even managed to figure out the Subway, which was so much easier than the hop on, hop off bus. The highlight was seeing Mary Poppins last night. We even spotted a couple of stars. A movie was being filmed next to the hotel, and we saw Josh Duhamel and Hillary Swank. My only disappointment was discovering BH Photo are closed on Saturday's.

dabecs, I have close to a million photo's. I have never done a trip report / blog before, but I may have to.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Loving all the updates....and to everyone else who's trips are counting down....have a fab trip!