My 2014 WDW, NY, Europe and who knows where else PTR

[gogo65]

Well I am now only 2months out
Time is going quickly but I am getting on top of things
The decision was made to spend our day in LA at Disneyland We arrive at 0630, have a free limo ride within 40miles of lax thanks to qantas as we are flying business class we will be off the plane first and hopefully into customs and immigration ahead of the pack, head straight to paradise pier(thanks to a great orbitz code and wanderlust!!) drop our bags, spend the day in Disneyland, We won't be doing California adventure as it isn't worth it to get a hopper pass for one day. Back to the hotel to sleep then back to the airport in the morning to fly to Miami.
I have booked my flight to Miami with virgin America in main cabin select, we arrive around 6pm, head out for some dinner near bayside, then bed, then we wake up and head to the ship for our cruise on celebrity reflection. There was a price drop recently on the cruise and although we couldn't get the discount we were able to upgrade to the aqua class cabins which are meant to be very nice with a couple of extra nice touches
Have a week on our cruise before heading to Orlando and meeting up with DH, DS and DD, we are staying at the springhill suites lake beuna vista with all my daughters team and family and friends for 4 nights, before heading to universal studios and staying at royal pacific resort, so we get the express passWe have stayed at the hard rock previously and loved the express pass benefit! We then Head to all star sports for 6 nights To watch DD compete and a bit of park time then we are off to NYC.
We have booked tickets to a Yankees game which should be lots of fun.
I have now booked all our accomodation, flights and train tickets in Europe.
Was able to get tickets for the Eiffel tower at 8pm, so we can watch the sunset, I was so lucky as within 5minutes of them being released all tickets were sold out
We have booked a private tour of the Somme region in France so we can pay our respects to all our fallen men and women, which will be extremely interesting.
So all I have to do is book our bus tickets from Miami to Orlando, Kennedy space centre for DH, Vatican museum tickets, colosseum umdergound tickets and louvre tickets, then we are done!!
Next up start planning for 2015

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY for 2 months. Sounds like a lot of stuff done and a few more to do. Enjoy the planning.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Your trip sounds amazing. I dream of the day I can get nearly 2 months off work and spend them traveling.

2 months will pass by in no time.

 

[gogo65]

Less than one month to go
As usual weeks feel like they are dragging by, but before I know it another week, another month has passed.
We are pretty organised now, still a few things to do but minor stuff, transfer from PPH to LAX, Orlando shuttle for DH and DS, colosseum, Vatican and louvre tickets.

I have just booked the transfers in Orlando for DD's team, after much deliberation and many quotes, I have accepted a quote with Orlando luxury transfers, I contacted numerous companies to get quotes but found communication terribly lacking, this company returned my emails, answered my questions, only require a credit card guarantee and we got a good price, will be interesting to see how they perform. I read a great review of them on cruise critic, so figured I will give them a go.
Can't believe we are nearly there

 

[PrincessInOz]

A month to go???





WOW! It seems like only last month we were thinking you were at 2 months to go.



Enjoy the countdown.

 

[gogo65]

A month to go???





WOW! It seems like only last month we were thinking you were at 2 months to go.



Enjoy the countdown.

SA

 

[gogo65]

Just posting so I can see my ticker
Having a nice few days in Canberra at the moment, just bought some books to take away with me, about to have some lunch down near the lake, then off to war memorial, I figured I needed some practice on being a tourist!
Only 10 more work days, so much to do before I go but if it is not done bad luck I'm going anyway

 

[PrincessInOz]

Not long to go.

 

[gogo65]

Not long to go.

I know!!!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Can't wait to hear all about your adventures. You have the most amazing trip planned.

 

[gogo65]

I'm here

Currently sitting at LAX, getting ready to board my plane to Fort Lauderdale.
After an early start on Thursday morning, we had a quick flight from Syd-Brisbane prior to boarding our flight to LAX(unfortunately had a stopover in Brisbane as that's all we could get when we booked on points 12 months ago.
Flight went well, I know I can't complain but the beds on qantas were so hard, so I slept on and off but not well.
Arrived on time, and after the mess of LAX, managed to be out of the airport in an hour and on our way in our complimentary transfer to paradise pier, dropped off our bags and walked over to Disneyland Park wasn't to crowded, weather was nice about 24 degrees and sunny, we managed to do space mountainx2, buzz, Matterhorn, star tours in two hours, we wandered for a while, hit haunted mansion, Indiana jones was closed for renovations, pirates of the Caribbean was closed temporarily as was big thunder we ended up having some thing to eat, wandered the shops, downtown Disney and went back to the room for a Nanna nap, two hours later we were back, did big thunder, IASW, storybook land canal, Disney railroad, dinner at rancho del zocalo.
While we were waiting in line IASW went down but we had front row seats watching the parade, when we got on the ride, they informed us that it was IASW actual 50th birthday that day I was very excited, as it is my must do ride every time, to me it is Disneyland, to be able to ride on its birthday made it so worthwhile. By now we were tired, so headed back to PPH and watched the fireworks from the pool deck, then time for bed, we were exhausted,mad been up for close to 36 hours, so off to bed we went.
Sorry no photos yet, only took my iPhone, so have a couple but not downloaded anywhere yet,
Time to board my Virgin America flight now, looking forward to hitting the east coast and nice weather

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Yay, thanks for the update.

Have a great time on the cruise.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Sounds like a wonderful, busy and tiring 1st day

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sounds like a great time. Have fun!

 

[gogo65]

Just a quick check in before heading out to dinner somewhere in city walk Orlando.
Cruise was fantastic, wanderlust we upgraded to the premium package and it was the best $10/day we spent!! A few very late nights, some seriously bad karaoke and a few too many drinks but we had a ball. Highly recommend upgrading loved celebrity.
A few days in Orlando spent shopping at the outlets and Florida mall the kids went to sea world but we decided to take it easy.
Just had a great day at Islands of adventure with a 45 minute wait for HP, but other than that no more than 5 minutes with the express pass.
Royal pacific resort is lovely, rooms are a bit tired and outdated but no complaints as we have express pass
Hitting US tomorrow before heading over to WDW tomorrow afternoon.
Had a fantastic dinner at raglan road on Sunday night and have our group dinner tomorrow night at chef mickeys.

 

[gogo65]

We'll I can't believe I have been away for nearly three weeks, time is flying by!
I am currently in NYC and it is miserable, 8 degrees, wet and raining. Haven't really managed any real sightseeing, although the credit card has been busy. We saw Chicago last night. Unfortunately the Yankees game was cancelled tonight due to weather which was really disappointing. Hoping tomorrow will be better.

So after spending the day at universal studios, we headed to ASsp for check in, we had a preferred room in building 1, nice and close to buses etc, unfortunately my DD was at music in the furthest building away, so we had a few walks.
We hit chef mickeys the first night, my DD and her team really enjoyed it and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, we have eaten here before, but I found the food to be quite fresh and tasty, good service and excellent character interaction.
We hadn't really planned parks etc, as we had to go with the flow dependant on DD schedule, however we were able to use FP+ really well. we booked our fast passes the day before and had no trouble getting close to what we wanted. The parks were really busy so we used our FP to see everything. We managed animal kingdom and Hollywood studios in a few hours. This was my fourth visit, so we knew what we wanted to see, we did however still manage a few firsts. Ellen's energy adventure in Epcot and the great movie ride in Hollywood studios we had previously missed, so was good to do a few new things.
In regards to dining we had to cancel a few of our reservations, teppen edo, yak and yeti and scifi, however we still managed raglan road, chef mickeys, le Cellier, BOG, and paradiso at downtown Disney.
I have to say I was disappointed with Le collier, this is our second time there, our friends loved it, however I don't normally eat red meat, so found the choices extremely limited, venison or duck was the only other choice. I ended up ordering a steak, medium we'll, that was still med rare at best. I tired the cheese soup and didn't enjoy it all
Loved BOG, the food was awesome, the restaurant is gorgeous and we'll worth a visit, my DD loved it.
Paradiso was a last minute choice after I cancelled scifi, as the kids decided they didn't wan to go, again the food was actually really good, I had a chicken salad that was really fresh, service was a bit poor though.

So obviously the whole reason for this trip was my Dd was competing at worlds, they did so well, and ended up with 12th place, a big improvement on 17th in 2012, so we were extremely happy.

I will add a few photos when I get a chance, but I have to say we didn't take many, as this was visit number 4.
Hopefully will be able to update a little more frequently.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Just enjoy the trip, Gogo. It sounds like it's been good so far. Hope it warms up in NYC for you.

 

[gogo65]

Oh and a few little things I learned, if you have booked a fast pass, you can actually copy it to your friends, so we were able to add our kids or their friends to our fast passes easily. Most of them didn't really get the whole system, so if they where in the same park as us, we would copy our fast passes to them even when there was no availability At the kiosks.
If you want to cancel a dining reservation on the day of the reservation, instead of paying the $10pp cancellation fee, they will rebook you on another day, then you can cancel that reservation. I did this with our sci fi reservation I called up in the morning, she suggested I change the day then cancel the reservation without penalty. It worked!

 

[dabecs]

We'll I can't believe I have been away for nearly three weeks, time is flying by! I am currently in NYC and it is miserable, 8 degrees, wet and raining. Haven't really managed any real sightseeing, although the credit card has been busy. We saw Chicago last night. Unfortunately the Yankees game was cancelled tonight due to weather which was really disappointing. Hoping tomorrow will be better. So after spending the day at universal studios, we headed to ASsp for check in, we had a preferred room in building 1, nice and close to buses etc, unfortunately my DD was at music in the furthest building away, so we had a few walks. We hit chef mickeys the first night, my DD and her team really enjoyed it and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, we have eaten here before, but I found the food to be quite fresh and tasty, good service and excellent character interaction. We hadn't really planned parks etc, as we had to go with the flow dependant on DD schedule, however we were able to use FP+ really well. we booked our fast passes the day before and had no trouble getting close to what we wanted. The parks were really busy so we used our FP to see everything. We managed animal kingdom and Hollywood studios in a few hours. This was my fourth visit, so we knew what we wanted to see, we did however still manage a few firsts. Ellen's energy adventure in Epcot and the great movie ride in Hollywood studios we had previously missed, so was good to do a few new things. In regards to dining we had to cancel a few of our reservations, teppen edo, yak and yeti and scifi, however we still managed raglan road, chef mickeys, le Cellier, BOG, and paradiso at downtown Disney. I have to say I was disappointed with Le collier, this is our second time there, our friends loved it, however I don't normally eat red meat, so found the choices extremely limited, venison or duck was the only other choice. I ended up ordering a steak, medium we'll, that was still med rare at best. I tired the cheese soup and didn't enjoy it all Loved BOG, the food was awesome, the restaurant is gorgeous and we'll worth a visit, my DD loved it. Paradiso was a last minute choice after I cancelled scifi, as the kids decided they didn't wan to go, again the food was actually really good, I had a chicken salad that was really fresh, service was a bit poor though. So obviously the whole reason for this trip was my Dd was competing at worlds, they did so well, and ended up with 12th place, a big improvement on 17th in 2012, so we were extremely happy. I will add a few photos when I get a chance, but I have to say we didn't take many, as this was visit number 4. Hopefully will be able to update a little more frequently.

Well done to your daughter! We know a girl in the Dreamgirls team, they came 10th and were really happy with their result

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Firstly, I can't believe it's been 3 weeks either! Where does time go?

Secondly, thanks heaps for the heads-up about the cruise. I was on the fence about the drinks upgrade, but you have helped make up my mind. I will upgrade prior to the cruise.

Lastly, well done to your daughter. The competition made news here in NZ as apparently the kiwi team did really well. It would have been fun to watch.