Planning Plan A, B and possibly C!

[T16GEM]

I am currently trying to figure out when the best time to go is next year. So far I have looked at most months of the year but I think I have settled now on the following, can you have a look at my options and see what you think, or let me know any changes that you would make.

One of my main concerns is that Shelby doesn't have to take too much time off school as she will be in reception by then. I think I have settled on April mainly from reading Wayne's trip report (so I will balme him if the crowds are bad!) and also from reading the reports on the US boards. I also don't think Ican wait until Oct 2011 for another fix! (well at least I am being honest!)

Next year Easter is the 24th April, so I was thinking that we could fly out on the 18th which is a monday, so she would miss 4 days that week, and fly back on the 9th, which is when they would go back so she would miss 2 days that week. 6 in total.


Plan A

Because Easter is meant to be a 9 in the busy scale, I was thinking we could fly into Miami, and have maybe 5-6 days as a beach holiday to unwind, spend Easter at the beach. The kids will really enjoy this, and I loved Miami so it would be good to see a bit more of it.
Any recommendations of where to stay would be very welcome!
Then drive up to Orlando to do parks and stuff, fly back from Orlando
Will we incurr extra charges for picking car up and dropping off at another location?

[COLOR="Lime[B]"]Plan B[/B][/COLOR]
Fly into Orlando and drive to St Petes or Clearwater for 5-6 days then back to Orlando for parks.

My main reason for staying at the beach is to hopefully miss some of the crowds at the parks and also unwind and relax a little bit.

What do you think? Depending on your comments I may well formulate a plan C!

 

[Pegasus928]

The only one I can really comment on is Clearwater as that is the only one we have been to - and we thought it was lovely. The beaches were spotlessly clean and they had boats going out doing dolphin cruises. Then every night at sunset by the pier it takes on a party atmosphere as everyone gathers to watch the sun go down.
I would guess that driving the 2 or so hours to a place like Clearwater is a lot easier going than driving from Miami (I dont know how far it is but I would think its a long trip), and you would avoid any 'weighting' in charges due to the drop off and pick up points being different.
The other advantage of Clearwater is that you would drive by Busch Gardens - so if that is on your list you could cover it the day you come back 'home'

 

[chocolateMinnie]

We love October but you're right it's not ideal time of year to take a reception class child out of school and 2011 is too long for you to wait until October.

We went to St Petes in 2007, had a week at CSR at WDW then a week at St Pete;s and finally a week at the GF.

Have to tell you we hated St Petes. Loved seeing the dolphins and birds the beach was beautiful but could have been anywhere. The food was fine, cheaper than Disney but not so much choice. The main thing was we found that most not all but most of the service was a huge let down. We didn't feel wanted and spent all week wondering why we had wasted valuable time we could have spent at Disney.

If I ever get the opportunity to go for three weeks again (work in a school now so not likely) I would just have the time at WDW and allow three or four days that are just pool days.