Our (My) was May now September 2014 trip plans

[becpee]

Exciting!

I'm about to personalise our magicbands!

 

[becpee]

MCO to LAX flights booked, so we won't be stuck on one side of the country

(It's not as funny as it sounds as some of you may remember from my last trip)

Trying to let the Aussie dollar recover a bit before I pay for anything else

 

[zanzibar138]

Sounds like everything is starting to come together for you

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Nice to tick things off. We have some $ left on a travelcard from 2011 which is handy now the rates are falling.

 

[becpee]

Nice to tick things off. We have some $ left on a travelcard from 2011 which is handy now the rates are falling.

The dollar hurts me every time I look at it

Hope it's not going to drop too much further

A few cents here and there when paying accom and theme park tickets will add up

 

[becpee]

So.

Our flights between MCO and LAX are done, Delta (used $100 goodwill credit from our 2012 trip, thank you Mr CEO ) + and extra $99USD each, not bad at all.

We have a week between arriving in L.A and before we head to Disneyland and i'm torn on what to do.
Drive up to San Francisco (I love a road trip and DH and DS haven't been to San Francisco) or a relaxing 2 hour drive to Palm Springs and a week sitting by the pool with a little shopping and DH golfing

I think i'll leave it closer (even maybe while we're there to decide after checking out weather and how we feel).
Thoughts and suggestions welcome

 

[zanzibar138]

So.

Our flights between MCO and LAX are done, Delta (used $100 goodwill credit from our 2012 trip, thank you Mr CEO ) + and extra $99USD each, not bad at all.

We have a week between arriving in L.A and before we head to Disneyland and i'm torn on what to do.
Drive up to San Francisco (I love a road trip and DH and DS haven't been to San Francisco) or a relaxing 2 hour drive to Palm Springs and a week sitting by the pool with a little shopping and DH golfing

I think i'll leave it closer (even maybe while we're there to decide after checking out weather and how we feel).
Thoughts and suggestions welcome

Yay for flights!

As far as your plans for 'LA' go, I'm afraid I won't be much help. They're such different things to do! Hmmm coastal road trip, or lounging by the pool in the desert There is no way I'd be able to wait until I got there to see what we feel like/weather etc, but if you can that sounds like the best plan

 

[becpee]

Yay for flights!

As far as your plans for 'LA' go, I'm afraid I won't be much help. They're such different things to do! Hmmm coastal road trip, or lounging by the pool in the desert There is no way I'd be able to wait until I got there to see what we feel like/weather etc, but if you can that sounds like the best plan

We had an issue last trip and became stranded and ended up in P.S for 6 days, it was quite lovely

We were sitting in this shocking hotel and I was scoping the ipad, we'd secured our flight home and had a few days so I checked the weather.
We didn't want to drive too far so checked the weather for San Diego and Palm Springs (which neither of us had been to before), SD was going to be 20's and rain expected and PS was going to be mid 30's.
I booked a mystery hotel on Hotwire for about $100 per night and we got the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells, and what a find!
Was an amazing addition to our trip

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I'm all for a go with the flow week just have your car hire booked so you have options look at the gorgeous place you ended up last time

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Yay for flights, and yay for having a week up your sleeve where you get to decide what to do.

There's no way I could wait till I arrive and decide, I'm just far too much of a planner. I think if I was in your shoes right now, I would be eagerly researching every possible option from a California coastal cruise, to a week in SD, to a week in a National Park somewhere. Hang on, I was in your shoes about a month back. I ended up deciding on Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and are beyond excited. But the deciding and research has been half the fun, and, for that reason, I don't think I could ever wait till I arrive and then roll the dice of chance. Also, after investing so much in the airfares, I would worry I'd end up in some poorly reviewed dump, or I would pass straight by special landmarks because I didn't know they were there.
In saying all that, I do so admire the people who are relaxed enough to travel where the wind takes them. It's just not me.

 

[LizfromOz]

Have you thought about a short cruise? Carnival do a 4 day Sun-Thur cruise to Mexico departing Long Beach.

We did a longer cruise in Sept 2012 and we all had a ball. After our cruise we drove up the coast to visit Hearst Castle and spent a couple of nights in Cambria which is a gorgeous little town on the coast. Luckily for us their Scarecrow Festival was just beginning and the whole town seems to get involved. Their scarecrows have to be seen to be believed.

Whatever you decide to do will be wonderful. Have fun deciding!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Have you thought about a short cruise? Carnival do a 4 day Sun-Thur cruise to Mexico departing Long Beach. We did a longer cruise in Sept 2012 and we all had a ball. After our cruise we drove up the coast to visit Hearst Castle and spent a couple of nights in Cambria which is a gorgeous little town on the coast. Luckily for us their Scarecrow Festival was just beginning and the whole town seems to get involved. Their scarecrows have to be seen to be believed. Whatever you decide to do will be wonderful. Have fun deciding!

That scarecrow festival sounds delightful. I love it when you happen to find yourself in the right place at the right time for lesser-known events such as this. They're real memory makers.

 

[LizfromOz]

That scarecrow festival sounds delightful. I love it when you happen to find yourself in the right place at the right time for lesser-known events such as this. They're real memory makers.

We really loved this little town, lots of cafes and "arty" shops. On our way to dinner the mist had rolled in from the sea and that combined with the scarecrows lining the streets was a bit surreal, especially when a deer strolled across the road in front of our car! We all looked at one another in stunned silence, then my daughter, who was 7 at the time yelled " was that real or a ghost?" Of course husband thought he was hilarious and said he wasn't sure.....all funny until DD wouldn't get out of the car at the restaurant.

We can all laugh now, but it took a while to calm her down. Good memories, lol.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yay for flights, and yay for having a week up your sleeve where you get to decide what to do.

There's no way I could wait till I arrive and decide, I'm just far too much of a planner. I think if I was in your shoes right now, I would be eagerly researching every possible option from a California coastal cruise, to a week in SD, to a week in a National Park somewhere. Hang on, I was in your shoes about a month back. I ended up deciding on Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and are beyond excited. But the deciding and research has been half the fun, and, for that reason, I don't think I could ever wait till I arrive and then roll the dice of chance. Also, after investing so much in the airfares, I would worry I'd end up in some poorly reviewed dump, or I would pass straight by special landmarks because I didn't know they were there.
In saying all that, I do so admire the people who are relaxed enough to travel where the wind takes them. It's just not me.

That used to be us until DS came along. And then we started planning holidays to WDW.

I'm hoping to get back to that very relaxed way of travel in the future. There's a certain excitement to be had about going where the wind takes you. I will say that it is easier to have these kinds of holidays outside of school holidays and during the off-season. Not necessarily possible with kids and peak holidays.

 

[PrincessInOz]

BecP - have you decided? And are you buying some USD just in case? The dollar seems to have gotten a little higher.

 

[becpee]

BecP - have you decided? And are you buying some USD just in case? The dollar seems to have gotten a little higher.

Still very much undecided...

BUT

I did buy a wad of dosh yesterday LOL

I saw the jump in our dollar and jumped on it as soon as I checked all the online rates

So we have a nice little nest egg going, my budget is coming along swimmingly

 

[becpee]

I made a reservation yesterday at Cabana Bay resort for 5 nights (or so I thought), no confirmation email received, deposit not taken.

Great, waiting on an email back from them.

I didn't take down the confirmation number because it said it would be emailed to me shortly



What was I thinking?


Oh that's right, I wasn't really...

 

[PrincessInOz]

I made a reservation yesterday at Cabana Bay resort for 5 nights (or so I thought), no confirmation email received, deposit not taken.

Great, waiting on an email back from them.

I didn't take down the confirmation number because it said it would be emailed to me shortly



What was I thinking?


Oh that's right, I wasn't really...

Will you call them to find out?

 

[becpee]

Will you call them to find out?

Waiting to see if they email me back, i'd rather communicate by email, for the paper trail IYKWIM.
I'll give them a couple of days, no great rush, nearly 7 months to go

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Yay for staying onsite! Out of interest, does Cabana Bay include express passes? There were rumours a year or so back that it wouldn't, but I was wondering if that was still the case.