We can't wait until our stay at HoJo :)

[djh]

Hi kylie and fellow aussies

We are leaving next Wednesday (22nd April) on the Qantas A380 for our first trip to the US. We are staying in LA for four nights, then Hojos for three, then San Francisco for five nights.

We are taking our three kids, but they are a bit older, 14, 18 and 21. I will definitely do a trip report, both on here and Trip Advisor. I will be happy to take notes of prices etc. for you all.

Deb

[kel77]

Have a great time and travel safe

I look forward to your trip report and it will be a tremendous help if you do the whole note taking thing The whole + tax business I hope, is not as confusing as it seems

Kel

[kylie]

Thank you so much for posting your reply Deb. I am with Kel we would really really appreciate you taking notes on the cost of things, this is very nice of you! You must be so excited about leaving so soon . I would love to hear how you go on the qantas A380. We are looking forward to flying on it. Can't wait to read your trip report!!! Thanks once again

[djh]

Don't worry I will report as much info as I can. The tipping thing worries me, but we will see how we go! Where else are you all going?

Deb

[Gidget]

As they say, it's a small world, and like Gidget & Kel, we have links to Philly & Ohio. We were going to go to Philly to visit friends, but couldn't afford the extra us$1500 for 4 tix. So instead, we're meeting our friends in Cleveland. Never been there, so hopefully it's nice in the winter

Brian,

I'm currently starting to book our holiday as the sale prices are starting to come in for December. It seems that for an extra $100, it's better to fly into New York with a free stopover in LA on the way home. From New York, we're taking section flights to Orlando then to Columbus then back to New York which will cost about $2000 US for our family of 5.

Alternatively, you can hire a car in New York and drive to Cleveland.

FYI, airfares Melb-LA return in 1990 were $1500. The sale airfare prices are now $1000 return and it's 19 years later. How's THAT for inflation?

With the savings, we're thinking of booking two premiem rooms at Hojo's for our family of 5, rather than all trying to fit in one room. Perhaps one of the suites even.

[kylie]

We got a good deal as well with qantas. The kids fly free sale, and because our little boy is under two he is free as well. It is only costing us $3000 return!!! But by the time we fly to new york and accomodation there is sooooooo expensive this holiday is now costing a lot. But hey, we are so excited and think is will be worth it. We are very grateful for the airfares being so cheap though, or else we wouldn't have been able to get across there for a few years.
We are staying at the HoJo for 7 nights and getting a 6 day hopper pass with a magic morning! Looking at this website I know the kids will love HoJo, and so will we! Then 5 nights new york and then two nights in universal city to universal studios and then back home . Will be a busy two weeks with three little ones, but going to love it! It's been good to share in the excitement with you guys

[Disneyfan77]

I don't know if this will help or hinder, but here it goes. For sales tax, add about 7.5% onto your total bill and you'll pretty much what it will cost you before you get to the register.

Tipping is quite subjective. Excellent service is usually 20% of the bill, but it is more common to tip 15%. So if your bill is $100 your tip would be $15 - $20 additional. If the service is bad, don't feel obligated to tip.

Where to tip: sky caps, taxi/shuttle drivers, waiters, and that is about it.

I hope this helps. I hope you have an excellent trip. Sounds like a dream vacation to me.

[kel77]

Thankyou Disneyfan77

I'm sure my family and I will have it figured out by the time we go Your post was very helpful, especially the tipping bit. As I've said before I don't want to offend anyone by not doing it properly and also, I don't want to over tip and rip myself off I'm sure the staff of HoJo will be superb and the service exceptional

Thanks again

[Robbos]

Hello other Aussies!

First of all can I jsut say you are going to have the BEST trip..
We came over from Melbourne for the first time last year.. my brother and I were 17 and 19 but were jsut as excited as the little kids we saw running around the parks. I liked it so much I'm comming back on my own this June!
From an Aussie perspective, the tipping wasn't as bad as we expected because food was so much cheaper than my parents had budgeted for. We ate dinner at Mimi's every single night we were staying at HoJo's (6 nights). Lots of the menu options come with a free muffin that we would keep for breakfast the next morning. Also, the glasses of 'soda' are bottomless! Which is something I haven't seen in Melbourne for years.. so you don't loose and extra $8 per kid on second or third drinks.. I am pretty sure that for dinner each night (2 adults, 2 teens) it cost between $30-40 US. that included my Dad having a glass of wine. They had budgeted for about 80 a night so we were pleasantly suprised. Also, as you've probably heard, American portion sizes are MASSIVE. Often we found two people would eat off one dish.. this wasn't a money saving thing, we just simply couldn't get through all the food.

Food in the park was much cheaper than theme park food here (like at Movie world or Wet'n'Wild) and I was so impressed to see so much fruit! There are so many fruit stalls around Disneyland.

The suprise tax on items was always fun..you get the right money out but then. opps it's another $3.23 or whatever and of course, they have one cent coins so there is no rounding up/down. The thing we found was our wallets were always filled with coins.. American coins only go up to 25 cents but also, because they weren't as familliar we couldn't sort them out quck enough to give exact, after tax change. When the weigh becomes too much, make sure you get the coins changed to dollar bills but most of all.. Make sure you get rid of any coins before you come back to Aus! You cannot change coins over at the bank. Between the four of us we had about $20 in coins.. which would have jsut sat here forever if I weren't going back.

Sorry this got so long and I hope it makes sense to you! Good luck with little kids and those long flights.. I would really reccomend sleeping pills.. because really 14 hours in a plane is just awful!

[kel77]

Thanks Robbos

We're really looking forward to HoJo's and Mimi's My Sister was in the USA in MArch 2008 but she was onthe East Coast in NY and when she came back and told us how MASSIVE the meals are. We opted for a room with a microwave for this reason My Husband and I are not really big eaters so warmed up leftovers will fine with us The kids will also share a meal - I can always buy another if theyre still hungry

Good to hear that the themepark food is cheaper than ours. It's disgusting what they get away with charging, we always pack our own

"Taxes" are going to be an experience, especially as we are travelling from Anaheim to Philidelphia with a day trip to New York Should be quite a mathematical adventure!!!!! Thanks for the tip on exchanging coins, I wasn't aware that you couldn't here. Will be using leftovers in the airport vending machines I guess

Have a great trip and travel safe.