Portland Maine park and fly?

[Honeystar120608]

We are in NB, and are driving 7 hours to get to Portland. We don't mind, we love the drive and I love the shopping in Portland. We are staying at the HoJo's in Portland which are one of the few that offer the Park and Fly. We are going to be worried about our car. Anybody ever stay here? THe convenience of having the shuttle is really a perk since we fly out at 630am and fly in at 10pm.
It will be in Dec so there better not be any plows out by then.

 

[cvs2kids]

We recently came back from few days in Portland.

The HoJo's was close to the high way, but appeared to be in a "good" neighbourhood.

The area was well lit, so I'm thinking you should be fine.

 

[alotachips]

We are actually staying at Hojo's on November 9th and doing the park n fly. This will be our first time in Portland. We are driving from PEI so should be a LONG, fun drive with the kids

 

[Applemomma]

Hi! We stayed there last September (drove from NS) and had no problems. They let us park right out front and didn't have a required spot for the Park 'N Fly so we knew there would be lots of eyes around instead of it being stuck out back. Be sure your insurance covers you though. We checked and our insurance actually didn't cover us in the States for more then the basic collision and liability so we bought a short term policy (pretty cheap). We had no problems. Have fun!!

 

[Honeystar120608]

Awesome! Thanks guys! I actually had just mentioned to dh to check insurance this weekend. Make sure it will be covered.
Do you know what restaurants are nearby? Wondering what we should eat for supper. I don't want anything too much since we are going to be on the dlx dining.

 

[tribus121]

Awesome! Thanks guys! I actually had just mentioned to dh to check insurance this weekend. Make sure it will be covered.
Do you know what restaurants are nearby? Wondering what we should eat for supper. I don't want anything too much since we are going to be on the dlx dining.

There is a Great Buffet at Old Country Buffet in the Maine mall ( Maine's biggest Mall ) don't think it is too far from HoJo's ( 2 Exit's DOWN I, 95 )

 

[Honeystar120608]

There is a Great Buffet at Old Country Buffet in the Maine mall ( Maine's biggest Mall ) don't think it is too far from HoJo's ( 2 Exit's DOWN I, 95 )

Yes, i know. lol All too well! I have that in the back of my mind. we were there in July and it was fabulous. I just wanted to stay away from buffets and tons of food since we will be pigging out in DW. However, Im pretty certain it will be between there or Denny's for a late breakfast. Our flight is at 630 and our tradition has always been Denny's when in the states (oh so yummy Denny's). I was just wondering if there was some hot place we were missing out on. Plus, I want to go to the Christmas Tree Shop (store...whatever it is called) as well. Oh, and FreePort

 

[alotachips]

Yes, i know. lol All too well! I have that in the back of my mind. we were there in July and it was fabulous. I just wanted to stay away from buffets and tons of food since we will be pigging out in DW. However, Im pretty certain it will be between there or Denny's for a late breakfast. Our flight is at 630 and our tradition has always been Denny's when in the states (oh so yummy Denny's). I was just wondering if there was some hot place we were missing out on. Plus, I want to go to the Christmas Tree Shop (store...whatever it is called) as well. Oh, and FreePort

You guys will have to give me all the best places to go while in Portland. We hope to do some shopping after we arrive back from our trip

 

[DCinNs]

Just a note on Portland airport...when we where there the 5th of Aug. for our Jetblue flight....the check in was very slow and so was security. We needed almost all the 2 hours we had before our 06:00 departure time. Better early than late!!

 

[Honeystar120608]

Just a note on Portland airport...when we where there the 5th of Aug. for our Jetblue flight....the check in was very slow and so was security. We needed almost all the 2 hours we had before our 06:00 departure time. Better early than late!!

Oh My Gosh, really?? Ugh, that is an early morning. we will have to be sure to get to bed EARLY. If that is possible since we will be so excited. So perhaps... try to get the shuttle for about 4am? That is 5am to us. Still super early. BAH. Ah well, kids can sleep on the plane right??? Hopefully.

 

[Honeystar120608]

You guys will have to give me all the best places to go while in Portland. We hope to do some shopping after we arrive back from our trip

I haven't been to POrtland a huge amount. Just one night this July. The Christmas Tree Shop is pretty neat. Different than what we have. So it's worth checking out. Also, that Family buffet mentioned above. MUST TRY. And if you have never eaten breakfast at Dennys. MMMMMMMMMMMMmmm SOOOOO delicious. Their pancakes are the holy grail of pancakes!!!

Also, Freeport is (i think) 45 mins before Portland. It's a little area off of the highway. It is a great little summer area. There are Outlet stores (The CHildren's Place and TOmmy Hilfiger were my favs this summer...like .99 stuff at TCP!! Insane!!) It's not a mall. You walk down the street and go into the stores of choice. It is gorgeous, they kept all the old buildings and did them up. Very pretty! I will definitely be stopping. Besides that, Brewer has a Super WalMart that is a must stop for us. ALong with the Dollar Tree. It's comparible to our Dollarama, but many better deals! Better quality, and more variety. My kids are firmiliar with the dollarama items, so this will be great for me with stocking stuffers.

Portland USED to have a Disney Store. The week I was there this summer, they had JUST closed it down. I wish I was closer to Halifax. I miss the Disney Store so much

ALso, never been, but Kittery is about 30mins south of Portland. It's Massively huge full of outlet stores. You can google it and find their website and see the map. HUGE! It is a village on it's own.

 

[tribus121]

We have the luxury of a 4pm direct flight out of Portland ( on Airtran )in January but will be driving down the day of the flight . but will be staying in portland on the way home as we dont get back to portland till 4pm our time .

 

[alotachips]

I haven't been to POrtland a huge amount. Just one night this July. The Christmas Tree Shop is pretty neat. Different than what we have. So it's worth checking out. Also, that Family buffet mentioned above. MUST TRY. And if you have never eaten breakfast at Dennys. MMMMMMMMMMMMmmm SOOOOO delicious. Their pancakes are the holy grail of pancakes!!!

Also, Freeport is (i think) 45 mins before Portland. It's a little area off of the highway. It is a great little summer area. There are Outlet stores (The CHildren's Place and TOmmy Hilfiger were my favs this summer...like .99 stuff at TCP!! Insane!!) It's not a mall. You walk down the street and go into the stores of choice. It is gorgeous, they kept all the old buildings and did them up. Very pretty! I will definitely be stopping. Besides that, Brewer has a Super WalMart that is a must stop for us. ALong with the Dollar Tree. It's comparible to our Dollarama, but many better deals! Better quality, and more variety. My kids are firmiliar with the dollarama items, so this will be great for me with stocking stuffers.

Portland USED to have a Disney Store. The week I was there this summer, they had JUST closed it down. I wish I was closer to Halifax. I miss the Disney Store so much

ALso, never been, but Kittery is about 30mins south of Portland. It's Massively huge full of outlet stores. You can google it and find their website and see the map. HUGE! It is a village on it's own.

Thank you for the little tidbits

 

[Honeystar120608]

We have the luxury of a 4pm direct flight out of Portland ( on Airtran )in January but will be driving down the day of the flight . but will be staying in portland on the way home as we dont get back to portland till 4pm our time .

Yeah, we had 330 flights at the beginning. Then Air Tran decided to change our flights around and we had a 2 hour layover. So I thought we might as well get the 630 flight to get to DW. I didn't think about the 2 hrs it will take in waiting.

Thank you for the little tidbits

No worries, if I come across anything else I will definitely let you know!

 

[Charleyann]

We too are doing the Park n Fly out of Portland, Maine (First time) and was wondering about it....

Thank God for the disboards!!!!!


Charleyann

 

[tribus121]

Yeah, we had 330 flights at the beginning. Then Air Tran decided to change our flights around and we had a 2 hour layover. So I thought we might as well get the 630 flight to get to DW. I didn't think about the 2 hrs it will take in waiting

I have been warned that Airtran likes to change things around but the price was good $ 930 cdn taxes in for four . We are planning on using the Discount Parking Lot at the airport $ 7.00 per day .

 

[Honeystar120608]

I have been warned that Airtran likes to change things around but the price was good $ 930 cdn taxes in for four . We are planning on using the Discount Parking Lot at the airport $ 7.00 per day .

Yes, they do. But they were really good with me changing what they had changed, then I pushed back the dates by a week with no extra charge. Yes, AirTran was by far the cheapest. We were able to get our 4 seats for $750, I watched their website like a hawk waiting to see if they would drop their prices, and they did.

We decided to head up the day before anyway just to shop and to make sure the roads were decent. Hopefully they will be anyway, but just in case.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Can anyone share their ticket costs from Maine to Orlando? I'm curious how low you've got your tickets for .... please add all costs and thievery. Thanks Ted

 

[Honeystar120608]

Can anyone share their ticket costs from Maine to Orlando? I'm curious how low you've got your tickets for .... please add all costs and thievery. Thanks Ted

Hi Ted! I found POrtland's Jetport offered more airlines, therefore it was cheaper than Bangor. I got my tickets for $750...4 seats everything in. Air Tran is great for switching around the flights, you will always have one...but the times and stopovers may change. In this case, call them and tell them which flight you prefer that is being offered and they will help you out.
Also, with Air Tran, my $750 guaranteed me on the flight, but not specific seats. For that it was...$9 each way? Something like that. It was an extra $80 I think for all of us. Where we have 2 toddlers and went from direct flights to both ways with stopovers, we decided that we had better book our seats. Can't be seperated from our kids!

I did A LOT of research on flights from moncton, hali, bangor and portland. This was by far the best deal, even out of driving which we through on the drawing board. But with only a week off of work for dh, flying was a better deal time wise, and after the calculations, better money wise too!

 

[DCinNs]

Can anyone share their ticket costs from Maine to Orlando? I'm curious how low you've got your tickets for .... please add all costs and thievery. Thanks Ted

We paid $684 USD for three from Portland to Orlando with JetBlue. That includes seat selection. Our flights were Aug 5th to 14th. Transferred in JFK going down & direct flight back. The best I could get from Halifax was $2284.00 CDN .Definately worth the 8 hour drive & a couple of nights in a hotel (which included our parking) Now if I factor in the extra shopping in Portland & Bangor on the way home..........