Down Under Disneyana Australian Disney Forum

Our trip is less than three months' away now. We have our flights and accommodation booked as follows:

Flights: Flying Jetstar to Narita through the Gold Coast. After changing our flights. We were originally going through Cairns, but they changed our departure time to 6am Didn't think we could manage that with the boys. Arriving at Narita at 7:05pm
Return flight on Jetstar, through Cairns. We fly out at 9pm and I have my fingers crossed that the boys will sleep for most of the flight(s) home.

AccommodatIon: May 18 - May 25 Hilton Tokyo Bay. Got the 18 800 Yen deal through the UK site thanks to Keith
May 25th: Hotel Mira Costa in a partial view Port Paridiso room Can't wait for that

We are only doing Disney for the trip. 7 days, maybe 8. We figure it will be hard enough getting to and from Disney with the boys without lugging them to other destinations. It's a shame because we really liked what we saw in Japan last time and would have liked to have seen more. Maybe when the boys are older....

So far we have no ground transportation booked, but we're thinking of going with Sandie's recommendation of the Tokyo Airporter on the way to our hotel. Even though it will cost us a small fortune, we figure it will be worth it with no hassle getting the kids to the hotel with dragging them through train stations etc. Besides, this way they will have car seats for them and everything.

That's it so far. I have the boys passport photos ready, but we had to reorder Ben's birth certificate because I can't find it anywhere! His passport photo looks like a toddler mug shot

Baby passports are cool! Its even cooler when you travel four years later with a small child and they look nothing like the photo! John got his pasport at 10 months and we travelled again just after he turned five. He looked nothing like the photo so they questioned him:

Customs Guy: hello whats your name?
John: The Pig
Customs Guy: No what is your real name?
John: Oh ok - Mark Riddell
Customs Guy: Is your name John?
John: No I am Mark Riddell but my Dad calls me the pig.

Needless to say it took us a while to clear customs!

On the 7 days in the parks that is what we had Mel and we were big people (well Eli was 13) and I could have done another day or two so you probably have your timing right.

Sandie

Sandie, we were thinking that it's weird that kids passports are valid for five years. I strongly doubt that a 6 year old Jared will look like he does in his passport pic taken at 12 months!

We have no idea how the boys are going to cope with the full day of travel and then the whole Disney immersion thing so we're going to play it by ear and take a rest day if we need it. I hate that you can't buy a 7 or 8 day Disney pass though. It means we have to have four days with no park hopping

We've been pondering the food offerings. I know a few of you have been to TDR so I would appreciate any help you can give us. We'd really like to eat the Blue Bayou again since that's where Craig proposed (in Anaheim) and we ate there on our last trip - although I mostly pushed food around on my plate since I had terrible morning sickness. We're concerned that we will be too rushed to enjoy it though - dining with a one year old and a three year old is not really a relaxing event!

We want to do a few character meals, but it looks like the only ones are the one under Mt Prometheus at TDS and Crystal Palace at DL as well as Chef Mickey's at the Disneyland Hotel - or is it the Ambassador? We did the DisneySea on last time and quite enjoyed it, but have no info on the other two - has anybody done either of them?

Apart from that, we will most likely have breakfast in the lobby of the Hilton and just wing it in the parks. We don't think we will do one of the lunch or dinner shows at DL - we just don't know if they will hold the boys' interest being in Japanese - again, we'll play it by ear. We did the Western show last time and quite enjoyed ourselves.

I have the palate of a three year old so I should be able to help!

Blue bayou was nice - better food than in DL in my opinion!
In DS I liked the chinese place near Journey to the Centre of the Earth and popcorn.
In DL I loved Queen of Hearts and popcorn - oh and the mickey shaped danishes in world bazaar

We ate at lots of nice expensive places and i liked all of them for the setting but not the food - I must have been an embarrassment to Gerard but if my food aint cooked I aint eating it!!!!!!!

Sandie

Huzzah Mel it's May!

I know!!!! Ben and I made a countdown chain with coloured paper last week and he's cutting a link off every morning. He loves it and it's a great way for him to understand that the trip is getting closer. It's freaking us out a bit though, we're totally NOT organised We have the important things organised I guess so I should just relax and go with the flow...

- Passports
- Flight details confirmed
- Hotels booked and the Hilton paid for (Mira Costa to be paid for when we get there)
- Transfer to our hotel booked through Tokyo Airporter (can't remember who recommended them - but thanks!)
- Travel insurance organised
- ID bracelets bought for the boys, including a medic alert one for Ben

We booked in for Chef Mickey's on our last night, but after reading what Rick thought about it, we might cancel. We'll wait and see if we can find some characters around the parks first. The thought of waiting 1.5hrs+ just to meet Mickey is not something that I relish

Now I just have to sort out what to pack, make sure I have enough medicine for the kids, especially Ben's antihistamine, figure out whether I can fit all the nappies I need for the week in the bag and I'll be feeling a lot better.

Oh and I suppose it would be a good idea to organise our lift to Sydney airport and for somebody to look after the dog while we're gone

thats so exciting Mel, its so close now... it'll all come together, it always does. Love the countdown chain idea... thats something I would do even now for my kids... and they're 18 and 15 ( they'd roll their eyes at me but they'd love it just the same)

Lisa.

The countdown chain is an awesome idea - although I'd need 158 loops at the moment, so I'll hold off making one!

Yep - as Lisa said, these big events always come together in the end. For someone who says they're not organised, you sure seem to have organised a lot

Can't wait for your trip report

although I'd need 158 loops at the moment, so I'll hold off making one!

awww... go on Keith... won't take you long

Can't wait for your trip report

me too...

Lisa.

Can't wait for your trip report

It might be a long wait Life seems to be getting more and more hectic since I finished work! I've given up trying to figure out how that's even possible...

Mel, whilst the food was average, you wont see many characters in the parks so from that aspect I think its worth doing. I have nearly 1000 photos of our trip online now (I can share them but it will spoil peoples trips seeing that much before you see it yourself so i dont make them public), I was going through them tonight, seeing the kids (and adults) with the characters was worth every cent, just don't expect nice food, or warm food for that matter (it was cold!).

Remember when you go to DL head straight to the pooh ride, if its already a huge wait get a fast pass, this ride is their fav for sure!

Rick.

Thanks Rick, we do have a PS for our last night so we'll see how we go. The baby loves cold food anyway and Ben probably wouldn't eat anything if the characters are around anyway

I find it odd that you didn't see many characters in the parks. When we were there four years ago, they were EVERYWHERE. Odd ones that you don't see in the US too, Scrooge, Marie, the Dwarves... and they swarmed toward us because we were the only blonde-haired white people in the parks I was hoping we'd run into them all the time again on this trip, but it sounds like things have changed

When we were there in '08 the characters were everywhere too. And Mel - you are right about the odd ones, we saw Roger Rabbit, the three little pigs, scrooge, meeko, and the seven dwarfs (all together!). We also found the princesses were in Fantasyland a lot of the time we were there. I hope that it hasn't become a rare thing to run into characters there

Maybe at the speed we were running between each ride we missed them in bur?

Mind you at the character dining its so much better to see the characters, I'd much prefer to enjoy the rides etc than stand in line to take a photo......although we did both... Mickey's house took FOREVER!