Escape from Halifax (February 2011)

[Ted in Halifax]

Okay .. started this thread to compile information for anyone who plans to travel from Halifax to Disney during the Halifax School Board 2 week break during the Canada Games.

I suggest you subscribe to this thread if Feb 2011 is in your plans from the Maritimes.

So far, I see flights out of PWM for around $200 per person. Jetblue and Airtran are not out yet.

From YHZ they are only Aircanada .... and so far they are running at $800 per person, but as more airlines put their fares out, then this will drop.

So, anything you find out that would be useful for this (i.e. Codes, discount rates, bouncebacks, activities, theories etc), please post em here.

Ted

 

[Ted in Halifax]

The Minister of Education has release the dates for this break

• Spring Break (February 14 to February 18 inclusive)
• Canada Games Break (February 21 to February 25 inclusive)

So Basically, this covers Saturday Feb 12th until Sunday Feb 27th as no school.

 

[Dimples1973ca]

My husband is a teacher and we are so excited to be heading south anytime instead of summer. May do Disneyland. All depends after our first trip to WDW this August.

 

[kid@heart2]

Unfortunately we are not teachers and whether "march" break is in "February or March" makes no difference to us since we both have to work anyways. When we go to Disney we take the kids out of school. Not sure what the crowds are like in February but we rather go in April/May when the water parks are normally in operation (we love the water parks).

Its great that this will give some kids a chance to experience the Canada Winter Games but unfortunately this won't be much of a change if any at all in our household since we never do anything with the kids for March break.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

trying so hard to pitch this to dh as dd starts school this fall. dont really wnat to pull her from school her first year, esp since she is spec. needs, and were not sure what that will be for school....however just as i was about to post this it hit me, hes normally away in virginia training on south bound trooper with the army....dang, there goes those hopes....atleast one of us will be in warmer weather! lol

 

[mom4463]

Subscribing

 

[braddillman]

Thanks Ted. Five of us (me, DW, DDx2, DS) are going to the Fountains on I-drive for the break. Likely we'll get an Orlando FlexPass and do everything but Disney. I'm excited to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Thx for the info on flights. We've got 100k aeroplan points, but they're usually difficult to use. OTOH, its the same point cost to fly from YHZ as Maine, which is way more convenient, esp. with kids.

BTW, you're not the Ted from Better Off Ted are you? Just joking. Some days I feel like I'm Phil or Lem working for Veridian Dynamics.

 

[U2FanHfx]

My husband is a teacher and we are so excited to be heading south anytime instead of summer. May do Disneyland. All depends after our first trip to WDW this August.

We just returned from Disneyland in October (Adventures by Disney - Hollywood Magic Tour) and loved it. It's hard to compare the two resorts but Disneyland has some pros and cons vs Disney World. On a pro side, everything is SOOOOO close. We walked to everything. It is also really special to be in the original park. A highlight for us was being in Walt's apartment. You also get some really unique rides. On the con side, it is always crowded! There is just no room for anything there anymore and the crowds are everywhere. We found a week would have been to long in our opinion. We do plan on going back, possibly next year.

Overall, we will not trade our trips to WDW for DL anytime soon. As DVC members, it now doesn't matter where we go with the recent opening on the West Coast. However, the vast size of WDW and options makes it more appealing for us. We miss the extra things you can do and the room to breath it provides.

Just my opinion.

 

[braddillman]

I can't find much of anything through aeroplan. To me, it seems they've gotten worse over the last year. DW and I are thinking about changing our credit card to collect something other than aeroplan (maybe just cash back).

Anyway, I'm trying to sell DW on flying out of Maine. I guess AirTran and JetBlue have direct flights at good prices. Google maps tells me it's about a 9 hour drive from Halifax to Portland. So now I'm going through the other threads on this site to compile the best way to fly out of Maine.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

I went Jetblue from Portland in November and was impressed .... I also have a one way for 4 with airtran. This was a direct flight, however they changed that to a quick stopover.

I see continental both ways for 165 CDN plus taxes (not direct) ... works out to the low 800 for 4 .... I haven't seen any deals out of YHZ. Too early for that.

When I get back from our March trip, the fares for Feb 2011 should be posted. If our dollar is good, I just may go ahead and book Feb airfare.

 

[TJoanneT]

I am a teacher with the HRSB and recently took 6 days leave without pay in order to vacation in Disneyworld with my family during January, so we'd avoid the March Break crowds and prices.

I am hopeful to return to WDW next February, especially since it will mean we could travel when the crowds are still light, I won't have to lose pay, and we can stay a bit longer if we like.

One thing I wanted to make sure people were aware of, is that Friday, February 18 marks the beginning of President's Day weekend in the US, and this is usually when the crowds and prices increase at WDW. If you're planning to go for less than the 2 weeks, my advice would be to go on the early side, to try to avoid paying for too many days at the higher rate.

HTH!

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Ok .. starting to stalk airfares ...

So far fares are high, but this is expected! So far, prices from Sat Feb 12th to Feb 26th or 27th are running the following prices from different airports (see below)

YHZ to MCO
Sat Feb 12th to Sat Feb 26th around $700 cdn and above. Continental has fares slightly lower but not for Weekend flights ...

I expect sub $400 cdn fares to appear at some point ... the question is when? I expect early December, or mid December are likely (this happened in 2009) ... but who knows.

I really prefer YHZ over PWM, since we are talking February here ... the drive to PWM could be a risk in Feb.

PWM to MCO
Sat feb 12th to Sat Feb 26th around $300 US and above ... various carries but Airtran and Jetblue have not released their schedules. (they are important players in discount airfares!) Continental has a fare the gets close to $200 US but its a Tuesday to Tuesday flight ....

I expect sub $200 US fares to appear

I've been using the following sites:

www.bookingbuddy.com
www.continental.com
www.usairways.com
www.jetblue.com
www.airtran.com
http://www.flightnetwork.com/
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ (Just log in as guest)

 

[braddillman]

I'm already booked for Feb 11-26 2011 out of YHZ. After all I cursed aeroplan, they came through (total of 4 seats, 25k pts each , paid cash for 5th seat, all on same flights, almost ). I totally agree with you about winter driving concerns, but I'm way to budget conscious [cheap] to let it bother me. I set up Kayak for my dates out of PWM, and every few days it e-mails me with a little graph of the prices. Pretty sweet. If I were still looking, I'd be using it, maybe I will next trip .

My new problem is accommodations. I have 12k Bluegreen (timeshares on I-drive) points that expire 30 Sept 2010, and 12k that don't. I haven't decided what to do with the points that'll expire yet . But I'll get another 24k pts on 1 Oct 2010 for a total of 36k pts I could use for Feb 2011. I think that'll give me 14 days.

But I need a 15th day in there somewhere . Since we're doing Universal, I'm thinking of staying onsite for a night, but it's pretty expensive, and I'm not sure it's worth it. For example, onsite guests get front-of-the-line (FOTL) access to rides, but if the wait times are only 5-10 minutes that time of year anyway, why bother? I might pay cash for the 15th night at the timeshare, but I can't reserve that until 45 days ahead (it's kind of like a last minute deal).

I'm thinking the chance of meeting someone you know may be small, but for those with kids in school in HRM its better than it ever was. Already I know 2 other families doing them same as us.

I hope everyone heading to Islands of Adventure is keeping up with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWoHP) threads. Apparently FOTL isn't set up for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (HPatFJ). The description of food served at the 3 Broomsticks sounds compelling, I think we'll try the feast platter if we can get seated. Hopefully things will have died down by Feb 2011.

Happy Easter everyone.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

My wife doesn't like me to call myself "cheap", but I am .... thank for the kayak link, I forgot about that. I creep kayak from my cell phone. I just set up alerts for Pwm to Mco and YHZ to MCO ... great idea.

 

[Waiting]

Subscribing

 

[Ted in Halifax]

I see thru US airways website

YHZ to MCO

Feb 23 to March 3rd $340US taxes and fees in.

Ted

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Now seeing their fares open up ... basically leaving halifax between now and feb 9th is reduced.


Use usairways.com select low fare finder.

 

[gilsan]

We are going the first week of Feb, and I see that Air Canada has dropped the price of the direct flight we are taking back on Feb 10. We paid $219, (I thought a great price), now it is $119.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

With bag fees free that Aircanada rate is awesome.

 

[HaveBLT_WillTravel]

Count us in Ted...

We will be at Saratoga Springs from Feb 12th to the 26th for our first official DVC trip home. I'm disappointed we won't be at our home resort (BLT) but SSR sounds like a great resort.

I've discovered at least one co-worker who will be in Orlando with family during the games also. Anyone else have friends, family, or colleagues they know going?