Oops ... arriving in the US on Thanksgiving weekend

[Katie]

We had vague plans to go to the US in late Nov/early Dec for about 2.5 weeks for our first OS family holiday since 2019. We've been thinking Pacific North West (YVR, SEA, PDX, LAX for theme parks at the end), and had priced Y+ tickets ages ago. At around $6k each, I didn't pull the trigger on the seat bookings, and looked again last week, and they seemed to have gone up to around $8-9k (QF Y+, for the legroom/space for three tall people, and the hopes of points upgrades).

Last week, I stumbled on three J reward seats the day after the Teen finishes school for the year, on QF55, so a late night departure. Then I could get us all back on QF16 two weeks later, in J. All for around 650k points plus taxes. I was pretty chuffed with that finding.

Then, the next day, I realised we're arriving on the Sat night of Thanksgiving. I've only booked us to LAX, we land at 6pm, and I'm not sure I want to try to connect to a separately booked flight that night ... OOPS. And then it would be bonkers/bloody expensive to try to travel on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, AKA the busiest travel day of the US year.

Sooo ... we might save flying up to SEA until Monday or Tuesday ... we had planned to end the trip with Disneyland, but maybe we should start there? I'm not sure what Disneyland would be like on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend ...

Any other ideas for staying around the LA area for a day or two before heading north? It will be me, Mr Katie, and our then-16yo Teen.

 

[empressjo]

Not an expert or used LAX this year but I would avoid LAX for the week either side of Thanksgiving this year. Think of all the news reports of delays, not enough staff, lost luggage & long lines. Then times that by 10. If your flying in, I might suggest accommodation close by. Also Disneyland is VERY busy = long wait lines

 

[voulez]

Ahh I had wondered why flights/accom were particularly expensive that week. If it's any consolation, I get into Houston on the 24th (henceforth known to me as Thanksgiving Thursday), leave to Austin on the weekend, and fly home via LAX a few days after. D'oh!

 

[Matt_01]

... we had planned to end the trip with Disneyland, but maybe we should start there? I'm not sure what Disneyland would be like on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend ...

We have been to a few Disneyland's and the associated parks, IME they are busy all the time. Fastpath used to be the way to go however Disney introduced some new system/app that may require you to pay to book spaces. I recall seeing this in late 21/ early 22 but as we are no longer travelling to a place with a Disneyland I stopped looking.

 

[Katie]

We have been to a few Disneyland's and the associated parks, IME they are busy all the time. Fastpath used to be the way to go however Disney introduced some new system/app that may require you to pay to book spaces. I recall seeing this in late 21/ early 22 but as we are no longer travelling to a place with a Disneyland I stopped looking.

Thanks, @Matt_01. I'd rather do Disney at the end of the trip anyway. I'll look into whatever it is that's new for lines. It'll get me ready for the 2024 trip to Florida, hopefully (years ago I bribed promised to take the Teen to Florida theme parks instead of going to Schoolies).

We're now tossing up between spending a couple of nights in LA and exploring other parts of LA, and potentially getting the train up to Seattle on Sunday, which would arrive Monday night (STarlight Coast).

 

[jpp42]

We're now tossing up between spending a couple of nights in LA and exploring other parts of LA, and potentially getting the train up to Seattle on Sunday, which would arrive Monday night (STarlight Coast).

Curious what you decided on? The Coast Starlight and any Amtrak train would be just as full as airlines, so hopefully you've booked that already. The best way to to travel is in a sleeper car, but they book out very early. And this is one of Amtrak's most-delayed routes, with frequent cancellations which are inevitably replaced by buses for all or part of the journey, so keep that in mind.

 

[Katie]

Curious what you decided on? The Coast Starlight and any Amtrak train would be just as full as airlines, so hopefully you've booked that already. The best way to to travel is in a sleeper car, but they book out very early. And this is one of Amtrak's most-delayed routes, with frequent cancellations which are inevitably replaced by buses for all or part of the journey, so keep that in mind.

We've decided to spend two nights in the LA area, and then fly up to SEA on the Monday early afternoon. Flight prices were reasonable, and I suspect most people will want to be back at work on Monday.

The only sleeper car options were coming out at about $3000 for the three of us, as we had to get 2x2 berth rooms. The Teen is too old for a family room. For safety and anxiety reasons, we didn't want the Teen in a separate sleeper room - or one of the adults, though we adults could cope more with being alone.

 

[Kangarucci]

Thanks, @Matt_01. I'd rather do Disney at the end of the trip anyway. I'll look into whatever it is that's new for lines. It'll get me ready for the 2024 trip to Florida, hopefully (years ago I bribed promised to take the Teen to Florida theme parks instead of going to Schoolies).

We're now tossing up between spending a couple of nights in LA and exploring other parts of LA, and potentially getting the train up to Seattle on Sunday, which would arrive Monday night (STarlight Coast).

Just visited Disneyland 14-18 September and it was crazy!!

Wait times 60-120+ minutes on popular rides. The Fastpass has been replaced by paid Lightning Lanes passes $10USD for 2 rides, ( I think) or Genie+ pass, $20USD a day. With the Genie+ pass, which operates like the old Fastpass system, you cannot use it to do one particular ride twice on the day and it includes only select attractions.

Disney have also decreased the number of attractions that are single rider attractions so that you either wait in the Standby lane or purchase the new passes.

Also, after you purchase your Disney tickets, you are required to reserve which park that you would like to enter for the day. Cannot just roll up.

 

[JohnK]

Didn't want to start new thread but little one has been asking about going to Disneyland. I'm not keen at all. Sounds like a lot of pain waiting around in queues in all day.

Is there a general idea on what Disneyland would cost for 2 adults and a child?

 

[Katie]

Didn't want to start new thread but little one has been asking about going to Disneyland. I'm not keen at all. Sounds like a lot of pain waiting around in queues in all day.

Is there a general idea on what Disneyland would cost for 2 adults and a child?

@JohnK Honestly, it will cost more than you would ever want to spend on a holiday, even for your daughter, but you could have some fun finding cheaper ways to do some things.

I just went on the Disneyland website and got the ticket cost for two days, one theme park per day (Disneyland in California has the original Disneyland and also Disney California Adventure theme park). It was USD 555 for two adults and one child (3-9yo, 10+ is adult pricing). Ticket prices can be more expensive at certain times of year and sometimes there are special parties at night that means you need to leave the park by 6-7pm.

There are cheaper hotels in Anaheim, Disney hotels are hugely expensive and have some benefits, but I doubt you’d fine them worthwhile.
Food can be expensive in the park, you’re able to bring food with you, but there are some limitations (i.e. you can’t bring an esky).
There is often a LOT of standing in queues. I think January can be a better time for Aussies to visit as it’s still school hols here and crowds are somewhat quieter after the Christmas and holiday rush.

Hong Kong Disney is a great option for younger kids, with most of the classic Disney rides suitable for smaller kids.

Minimum AUD5k for park tickets, hotels, meals, and Princess dressss.

 

[Princess Fiona]

@JohnK Honestly, it will cost more than you would ever want to spend on a holiday, even for your daughter, but you could have some fun finding cheaper ways to do some things.

I just went on the Disneyland website and got the ticket cost for two days, one theme park per day (Disneyland in California has the original Disneyland and also Disney California Adventure theme park). It was USD 555 for two adults and one child (3-9yo, 10+ is adult pricing). Ticket prices can be more expensive at certain times of year and sometimes there are special parties at night that means you need to leave the park by 6-7pm.

There are cheaper hotels in Anaheim, Disney hotels are hugely expensive and have some benefits, but I doubt you’d fine them worthwhile.
Food can be expensive in the park, you’re able to bring food with you, but there are some limitations (i.e. you can’t bring an esky).
There is often a LOT of standing in queues. I think January can be a better time for Aussies to visit as it’s still school hols here and crowds are somewhat quieter after the Christmas and holiday rush.

Hong Kong Disney is a great option for younger kids, with most of the classic Disney rides suitable for smaller kids.

Minimum AUD5k for park tickets, hotels, meals, and Princess dressss.

I would concur with this.
My family are huge Disney fans, we have done LA and Orlando multiple times, plus Paris and Hong Kong.

It’s basically like skiing in terms of cost per day per person and there’s no good way of doing it on the cheap.
5 is too young to really get value from this in terms of rides and experience. Wait until she is older and go to MCO is my advice.

 

[jpp42]

I think January can be a better time for Aussies to visit as it’s still school hols here and crowds are somewhat quieter after the Christmas and holiday rush.

We had a day's layover in LAX on a Thursday in Jan '22 due to non-connecting tickets and Covid test requirements, so we thought, hey let's go to Disneyland. While I think there might be buses, due to Covid concerns we rented a car to drive ourselves, which wasn't too expensive although fuel in California was extortionate, and of course there was a significant parking charge at the park (though the parking decks are very well managed). We had the same hope as you that it might be an off-peak time. But I couldn't get over how crowded it was - every single corner of the park was packed. It appeared to mostly be adult groups - with kids in school, but adult friend groups coming from all over the US and abroad to a warmer climate for a getaway, I guess. Lines for the popular rides were hours long and we only went on a couple of smaller, unpopular attractions in order to avoid wasting half our day in queues. I really didn't feel the "Disney Magic" and my wife, who was a bit Disney-mad, has now tempered her expectations a bit and is no longer pushing us to visit Orlando on our next US visit.

 

[Matt_01]

Didn't want to start new thread but little one has been asking about going to Disneyland. I'm not keen at all. Sounds like a lot of pain waiting around in queues in all day.

Is there a general idea on what Disneyland would cost for 2 adults and a child?

You can look at the individual parks for pricing. We have been to 6 of the Disney Parks and they are always busy, not a cheap day out and usually you will not see the entire park in a single day. If I had to pick one park to take a 5 year old to it would be Hong Kong as it is a smaller park compared to others. It still feels like Disney, is not that hard to get to via train and a day is enough. When your daughter gets a little older then go to the likes of Anaheim, Japan, France etc and for the locations that have more than one park you may need to consider the multi day park tickets.

 

[JohnK]

Thanks @Katie, @Princess Fiona, @jpp42 and @Matt_01.

Time flies. Daughter is almost 7 years old.

The cost of USD555 mentioned by @Katie is a lot cheaper than I expected. I don't know why but I was thinking AUD4,000-5,000 which would be a deal breaker. I guess daughter will be 10+ when we're ready to go but still not a huge cost. Wife may go shopping instead on those days so it would be just daughter and I at the theme parks.

Hotels always an issue in the USA and we'd have to look at the not so expensive hotels even if they are a little bit further away. Don't need to stay next to the theme parks.

We may start with Hong Kong first if that's still going.

Thanks for the ideas.