Down Under Disneyana Australian Disney Forum

OMG I can hardly contain my excitment (but need to as we are only just in the initial talk stage!) but I think we might be going to disneyland. I just had to tell my favourite people straight away!!!!!!!

My dad has always said he wants to take the grandkids to disney, and thanks to the tv show on friday nights on TLC on foxtel at the moment ...he is getting excited about it!!!!!

So maybe a Jan 2013 trip is on the cards!!!!!!

Has anyone gone with little kids here, mine will be 2 1/2 and 4 1/2...am insane? I cant even comprehend being on a plane for that long with them! but surely it has to be worth it!!!!!!!!

i will need heeps of planning advice !!!!

so excited!

PS...as long as i dont forget ....again ... I think i will finally be able to make a meeting this year! Feb 25th is in the diary already!!!!! -/ -/

Yay! Everyone appears to be planning a 2013 trip to Disneyland!

You and Mel should have plenty to talk about and compare notes.

Yay Jess!! -/ That is fantastic! Looks like surprise trips are all the go for 2013

We went to Tokyo Disneyland with Ben and Jared when they were 3 (just turned 3) and 16 months. It was hard work but a LOT of fun. The boys will be 2, 4 and 6 when we go next year and I'm only really worried about Josh - the 2yo - for the flight. Ben and Jared will be able to entertain themselves for a lot of it (thank you iPad!) and hopefully sleep for a bit of it as well. Josh will not. So for you, I'm sure Matilda will be able to keep herself mostly amused, but not so much with the baby (sorry, I can't remember her name!).

As for the parks, I'm not at all worried. All Disney parks are very well equipped for little kids. When we were in Tokyo we used the Parents Room a couple of times, but there were change tables in all of the toilets that I went to, and even mini toilets and urinals for Ben We went to the parks in the morning for up to five hours and then went back to our room for a rest before hitting the parks again. It worked wonderfully.

I think as long as you go prepared and well planned, but with flexibility, you will be fine. It was a COMPLETE change for Craig and I and our commando-style park touring is now a thing of the past. If your kids are a little timid, you might want to watch some YouTube videos of some of the rides to help prepare them, but it depends on the kids themselves. Ben was really anxious about going on rides, Jared loved every second and lapped up the Disney magic.

I'm so excited for you Jess, we don't know when we are going yet; March and May are the most likely times and I'm already planning away -/ Nothing beats seeing that Disney magic totally enrapture your little one

Yay! Everyone appears to be planning a 2013 trip to Disneyland!
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Not me, Angus looks like he will be going with the school band and Jake expect me to pay for him to study in Spain for 6 months all in 2013 so no trip for me.

But I can be happy for everyone else ... Excellent news Jess -/ -/ -/

Its worth the extra work to take them when they are little Jess - John was 11 months and Eloise 2 and a half on their first trips - I love watching those videos!

well...looks like we are going to not be going to USA atm as there are no frequent flyer pints available

so... Now we are looking at HK or TOKYO..

Has anyone been to either of these in July, seo/oct, January...??? what is best, weather etc
I know TOKYO WILL BE SNOWING in Jan...has anyone been there for this????

I was there over New Year. It may not have been snowing but it was $^&% cold!

Wow, was it that long ago?

Greg

Has anyone been to either of these in July, seo/oct, January...??? what is best, weather etc
I know TOKYO WILL BE SNOWING in Jan...has anyone been there for this????

I've been to Hong Kong in September and it can be VERY hot - so humid that you can't walk very far. September is the month that the humid weather usually breaks though, so later in the month it can be okay - but it is typhoon season. My understanding is that July in Hong Kong is the same - very hot and humid.

I've been to Tokyo in October and it was very pleasant - we had a nice temperature and clear skies. The parks were busy though because it was Halloween and that is a big season event for Tokyo Disneyland. Again, July and early September in Tokyo is hot and humid.

Of course, if you are like Greg - you might not mind the humidity, so it could be okay for you.

We've been to Tokyo in mid-late September (without kids) and mid May (with kids) and both times were fine - although it rained nearly every day when we were there in May.

September was fantastic. We had sunny skies every day and it sounds like it's quite different to early September because it wasn't hot or humid at all. If you are looking mid-late September it will be quite pleasant. As an added bonus, Tokyo Disneyland does an awesome Halloween! They do a fantastic parade and the decorations are great too.

Have you been to Tokyo or Hong Kong at all Jess? I haven't been to Hong Kong, but Craig and I both LOVE Tokyo

You may have more luck with FF seat availability if you have Silver or Gold status (with Qantas). The LA route is the most popular and we enquired in 2010 to use points for all 5 of my family - we had the points available but no flights. This year my husband has silver status and more flights were opened up. Of course we then found out about transfer rules (max. 100 000pt family transfer per year) and realised that plan wouldn't work either....Hope you have better luck.

With the weather question - we visited TDL in Sept/Oct 2010 and had rain, rain, rain in both tokyo and Osaka for three weeks. It was also fairly cool so we had long pants and at least one jumper/jacket. Same trip in Oct we went to HKD and weather was great - no jumpers but jeans and tees (no rain). Sorry can't help you for January...

We went to Tokyo DL in October with kids and the weather was a mixed bag.

One day at the park we got the tail end of a monsoon which was quite seriously the most furious rain I've ever seen, it turned all out umbrellas inside out within minutes. Other days were sunny and lovely so shorts and t-shirts were all we needed.

Lots of TDL are undercover for that reason. The park decos were really fun through the Halloween period though.

I will say that the days that that kids were all wet and cold was not one of the most magical days there. Something to consider.