I had DS mark on the calendar that 14th January was the day to book our Anaheim accomodation, but an overnight stay with him at the hospital meant that we missed that deadline... He's fine now, just suspected appendicitis but with non-specific pain in his tummy in two other places meant they had to do checks for other things. So, we didn't get released until late Monday afternoon and as it was 33 hours since I last woke up all we both wanted to do was go and have a few hours sleep
BTW, I've now got an overdue DVD from the DVD kiosk booth...
Anyway, I woke up this morning after having slept the sleep of the sleep deprived, ready to get booking.
First port of call was to the WorldMark website to book a week at Dolphin's Cove Resort in Anaheim. It's only 10,000 points and is quite reasonable compared to the WorldMark Anaheim. WM Anaheim is newer and wholly WM owned and managed, but we just couldn't justify the extra points required to be a bit closer AND have an in-room washer and dryer for only 3 days at
Disneyland and to cool our heels in Anaheim waiting for the SuperCross to start. So, DCR it is. It looks to be similar to Radisson Buena Park where we stayed last time, so that's okay.
Confirmation of booking printed for DCR, then it was to pop over to RCI's website to try and find accommodation for NYC. I couldn't find what I was wanting to do so I got the shuffle around with operators at the Australian RCI office - all I wanted was a direct US number to call!
They wanted my RCI or WM number, which then wouldn't come up on their system. Again I explain we bought our WM timeshare in America and we have to deal with America and that's why I wanted their direct number (I had written it down before but couldn't find it). In the end I got what I needed and called, only to have the call drop out (luckily after I was pointed in the right direction on the booking page) because the phone line was dropping in and out.
So, I put in the locations I was looking for only to find that the dates went up to November this year. So, another date to add to my calendar... I'm looking for The Manhattan Club, West 57th Street by Hilton Grand Vacations Club or The Hilton Club of New York. They'll be the poshest places we'll be staying at in NY; if we can't book in to them then it'll be back to the cheap places. I'm amazed at how expensive NYC accommodation is, especially if you want to stay central. I think that is where motels in mining towns like Mackay got their price ideas from...
I checked my emails and found my quote from
Dreams Unlimited for 3 nights at the Royal Pacific Resort. For the four of us in a Standard Room - 2 Queen, it's $571 including tax. An extra $605 for 2 day park to park passes on top if we want to book those. That's an expensive couple of days there! I didn't want to stay onsite but after reading Alicia's
trip report I thought it might be a good idea. DH might be all theme-parked out by then and staying onsite can give me and the kids the chance to ditch him and knock ourselves out
So before I book, I'd love to know what others' experiences have been staying onsite at Universal. I'd love to stay onsite at WDW but our budget didn't extend to a whole week. I really want the early admission for WWOHP more than anything
Also, if you've booked with DU would you recommend them again or could you have found a better deal?
On Sunday (before the 10pm dash to the hospital - why do children never get sick in the morning when doctor surgeries are open????), I printed out the
UnderCover Tourist when-to-visit planner for Dec for the parks. That should give me some idea of which WDW park to visit and when. Sadly, IOA is showing red for the 16th which would be our first full day (after the first night) there and it's amber for the day we check out and green on the morning we check in, but we're planning to be leaving Cape Canaveral that morning. So it looks like we'll take advantage of early admission on the red IOA day for WWOHP and maybe after getting that out of the way make our way over to USF for the rest of the day.
So, that's about as far as I've gotten so far.
I have a million notes made on scraps of paper that I need to compile and type up then print and put in my planning folder. My folder is a 2 ring binder I used at uni, it's got Winnie the Pooh on it. Then I've got folder dividers inside with different categories instead of subjects. I think I'm an eternal student because it seems set out eerily like it was as uni complete with clear sheet protectors and lined folder paper
I'm such a school nerd
I also have a holiday planning checklist that I found on Organised Housewife that I need to print off. Not everything will suit me but I like visual reminders, which is why I love lists and checklists
And her printables are so lovely.
And for me, that's about it for today. I have a little notebook that I write down usernames and passwords in for various websites and things, and I need to cull things and re-do it in a new one. It's a mess and the book is almost full. I hate it when you have to sign up for stupid things like to print off a printable or whatever.
Coffee, drunk, peanut butter toast eaten, holiday planning and research conducted. It's almost 11am and the kids are still in bed asleep and I'm still in my pjs
Gotta love school holidays!
) beginning to plan our 3rd trip of a lifetime, so very interested in your plans.
and I'm sure there'll be more.
