Shorten Disney time to break up trip home?

[WanderlustNZ]

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking around these threads for a while and was pleasantly surprised today to find a section for those downunder - I hope you don't mind kiwis adding to the mix.

Anyway, I thought it would be a good place to pose my question as people from this area of the world would appreciate the time and money it takes to get all the way to Florida.

My family (DH, DS 5yrs and I) have been dreaming of a Disney World holiday for years and have finally decided to go ahead and do it during Sep/Oct next year. We want to lock in our flights as soon as they're released to avoid school holiday price hikes.

I just can't decide whether we should book a stopover in Fiji (or Cook Islands) on the way home in order to unwind at the end of a busy trip.
Our options are:
A) 3 nights Universal Resort, 7 nights Disney Fantasy Cruise (already booked) then 11 nights Disney Value Resort to do all things Disney, outlet shopping and Legoland. Then we would fly all the way home and have 2.5 days to recover before going back to school and work.
B) As above, except it will be 8 nights Disney Value Resort, followed by a 3 night South Pacific stopover on the way home.

Price is comparable and not really the concern. What I am worried about is that Option A will be exhausting and we will feel like we need a holiday to recover from a holiday. Also, I worry about my DH getting theme park overload.
On the other hand, I keep thinking that Florida is so far away and, unlike Fiji, we may not get a chance to go back. Perhaps we should maximise the time we have there. Option A would allow us to see everything we want to see at a less rushed pace.
Also, I should mention that Option A would put us in Florida for my son's 6th birthday while for Option B we'd be at an Island Resort. I imagine that getting a Disney birthday badge would be quite a special experience for kids?

I know that ultimately the decision is ours, and at the end of the day it's a pretty minor (and fortunate) dilemma to have, but I feel like I'm going crazy changing my mind almost every hour. I would love to hear people's thoughts on what they would do and why. Once we book the airfares at the end of the month there is no turning back.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Melbourne5]

It's a good dilemma to have!

I guess a question to answer would be where are you most likely to go again? A short hop to the islands or a longer hop to the USA?

If its not the USA then might be worth staying the whole time and enjoy all of Orlando as you suggest and wind down there the last day or two.

I could also imagine a birthday in wdw outranks one in the islands . This year my son had his bday at Disneyland and the year before his other brother at wdw ! It's a great way to do it .

 

[Beee]

welcome to the boards from a fellow Aucklander! I agree what a good dilemma to have
Bear in mind we have not been to WDW but from what I can see it is huge and you need a bit of time to get round everything. Personally I think option A would be the winner for me - mainly because your son will have a disney birthday but I also think that you are there for 11 nights so you won't feel as rushed and will be able to have a bit of down time. I also think that its pretty easy and inexpensive for us all to flit over to an island for a short break another time whereas US holidays are so expensive so you want to make the most of the money spent getting there.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Optiion A all the way for me

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I also agree with option A for several reasons. I think your son would have the most magnificent birthday at WDW and there are lots of fun options you could explore to make it even more special.

WDW is absolutely massive. My DH is sooooo not a Disney man and he doesn't really like rides so isn't a theme park jumky either. Yet we spent 11 days at WDW and he said he felt it was just the right amount of time. Epcot provides a great relief from the normal theme park experience. We also shopped alot, went to a water park for a day and this time we are going to visit the Kennedy Space Centre, something perhaps your DH and DS would absolutely love. There really is alot to see and if you allow yourself more time you can do everything in a more relaxed pace.

I think Fiji for 3 days would be nice but you will be tired whilst there and there is no guarantee you won't still feel a little tired once you got back to NZ.

I say option A all the way .

A pretty great dilemma indeed

 

[Marlea98]

I agree with A. I haven't been to WDW but we exhausted ourselves with intense, full days at DLR last Christmas that we needed some down days to recover from the early starts and late finishes plus all of the walking - and my kids were 10 and 11. Factor in any days where your child may be feeling overwhelmed and needs a 'day off'. Yep, definitely A.

 

[JessNewbs]

I would say option A, but then again we are going to Hawaii at the end of our trip to have a holiday from the holiday! Depends on your needs, for us we feel we need a wind down after, but you need to make sure that you have enough time in Orlando/WDW. Our son will celebrate his 8th bday in Hawaii but we also have 15 days in Orlando/WDW as well, which I think that I wouldn't want to have any less of.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome to the Anzac section of the DisBoards and it sounds like you have a great trip planned.

That's a fantastic dilemma to have and I think you'll have realised that most of us on the boards here are pretty rabid Disney fanatics. So, it will be option A...lock it in.

Is this your first trip to the US?
If so, it is pretty difficult to know how you and your family will be at the end of a trip like this.

It is also easy for me to say this...but when you are at WDW, pace yourself and make sure you factor in some down time during the day to head back to your resort as well as non-park days to enjoy the other things that Orlando has to offer. As the others have pointed out WDW is HUGE...and irrespective of how much time you spend there, it is almost impossible to "do it all" in 8 or 11 days. If you and your family end up loving the experience, you'll most likely be planning a return trip like the rest of us do...after that "holiday of a lifetime".

But the one thing about the birthday button - your son should get one on check-in at the resort if you've mentioned it at the time of your booking. You don't necessarily have to be there on the day to get it. Near enough is close enough for Disney.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Thank you everyone for your quick responses. It seems that everyone is in favour of maximising our Disney time and your arguements make sense. We like trying all types of holidays, so it's unlikely we'll get back to Florida in quite a long time, if ever. Whereas, we'll defintely go back to Fiji at some stage as we love it there and it's quick and easy to get to.
We really do want to be flexible and relaxed with our time. For example, if we've only been at a theme park for about 4 hours, but we're all feeling hot and bothered, we want to be able to go back to our hotel for a rest without worrying about how little time we have to do everything. For that reason alone, I guess Option A makes sense.

Just a slightly unrelated question. What day would people celebrate their child's birthday at Disney? The day of their birthday American time, the day of their birthday NZ time (i.e the day before), or would you use it as an excuse to have a double birthday?

 

[Beee]

Just a slightly unrelated question. What day would people celebrate their child's birthday at Disney? The day of their birthday American time, the day of their birthday NZ time (i.e the day before), or would you use it as an excuse to have a double birthday?

I'd celebrate it american time - once I am in another time zone it does my head in thinking about what time it is back home. The minute I step off the plane I am in that time and don't think about NZ time unless I'm planning on ringing someone at home. If you were leaving NZ on his birthday then you could celebrate it twice

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Is this your first trip to the US?

Firstly, thanks for the welcome. Everyone on these boards are so friendly and helpful.

Secondly, it's my forth trip to the States, and I love it there. I've been to both DL and WDW, but these were pre-child. There's heaps of places in the States I still really want to visit (Yellowstone National Park being the main one), but for this holiday we want to celebrate family time and get our son to Disney while he's still young enough to believe in the magic.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I'd celebrate it american time - once I am in another time zone it does my head in thinking about what time it is back home. The minute I step off the plane I am in that time and don't think about NZ time unless I'm planning on ringing someone at home. If you were leaving NZ on his birthday then you could celebrate it twice

Thanks Bee. Only 2 months until your trip. How exciting!

 

[5ofus]

Definitely A for me! There is so many non-theme park options at WDW and you can do those if your DH is showing signs of burnout. With just one child, I'd do a double birthday ( much harder to explain to the siblings why they don't get two days).

Welcome to the ANZAC section

 

[Travel Mum]

Welcome to our ANZAC part of the boards from me too As with the others, for me it's a no-brainer to go with Option A too. You can get back to Fiji or Raro far more easily another time and Orlando so awesome so best maximise your time there as much as possible. We overnighted in LA on the way back to break our journey which worked well for us

 

[WanderlustNZ]

With just one child, I'd do a double birthday ( much harder to explain to the siblings why they don't get two days).

Welcome to the ANZAC section

Thanks! The more I think of being able to hold my son a double birthday, the more fun it sounds. Besides, it provides an excuse for booking a special restaurant for lunch on both days.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thank you everyone for your quick responses. It seems that everyone is in favour of maximising our Disney time and your arguements make sense. We like trying all types of holidays, so it's unlikely we'll get back to Florida in quite a long time, if ever. Whereas, we'll defintely go back to Fiji at some stage as we love it there and it's quick and easy to get to.
We really do want to be flexible and relaxed with our time. For example, if we've only been at a theme park for about 4 hours, but we're all feeling hot and bothered, we want to be able to go back to our hotel for a rest without worrying about how little time we have to do everything. For that reason alone, I guess Option A makes sense.

Just a slightly unrelated question. What day would people celebrate their child's birthday at Disney? The day of their birthday American time, the day of their birthday NZ time (i.e the day before), or would you use it as an excuse to have a double birthday?

I had my birthday at WDW in 2010. I celebrated 2 days....ANZAC time and American time.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Welcome to our ANZAC part of the boards from me too As with the others, for me it's a no-brainer to go with Option A too. You can get back to Fiji or Raro far more easily another time and Orlando so awesome so best maximise your time there as much as possible. We overnighted in LA on the way back to break our journey which worked well for us

Thank you as well. I'm truely blown away by how helpful everyone is on these threads. We plan on overnighting in LA on the way there due to Air NZ flight times. On the way back we thought we would book a morning flight from Orlando which would get us to LA around midday. The flights back to NZ don't leave LA until late evening so we thought we would get a dayroom at LAX to nap/swim/shower etc and just generally unwind while we wait the 8+ hours for our homebound flight. Does that sound like a plan? We won't be booking the domestic flights together with the international ones as it works out too expensive. So I want a huge layover to allow for delays.

 

[Travel Mum]

We had our domestic and international on the same tickets and on the way up we went straight through (with a very short connection time) but I chose for us to overnight on the way back so that we did not arrive back in N.Z. quite so exhausted. We flew out of Orlando at 1pm which, due to the time change, got into L.A. late afternoon. We stayed at an L.A. airport hotel and had a late check out until 6pm the next night as our QF flight back to Auckland did not depart until late that night. On our last day, we went to the Culver City mall and did our last bit of shopping - actually spent up large using up the US$ already loaded on our travelcard! For us, it worked out well doing it that way. Having just a day there would be fine too I'm sure and you only need to get back to AKL whereas we also had a domestic flight to WLG.

 

[jacs1234]

I like option A too and my son celebrated his birthday for the whole 10 days we were there lol. The actual day though, I would choose to celebrate American time.

 

[alicia1506]

welcome!!! i think i too would go with option A - we are also planning a disneypalooza trip to the usa in sept 2013, going to disneyland, walt disney world, a disney cruise on the dream, and then stopping in at universal orlando.

i think allocating the extra days to wdw is a good idea, and to be honest, anything you were likely to do on your trip to the islands (lie in the sun on a beach, drink lovely drinks, sleep in, play miniature golf, go for a sail, eat lovely food etc) you can do all in wdw as well. if you have the extra few days, i say stay in one place (less hassle in terms of packing up and moving from point a to point b) and use those days as extra relaxing days at your resort, to ride the monorail, dine at other resort locations, rent a boat, go for a swim etc.

wdw really is a vacation destination all on its own, and there is great shopping nearby

i wish you all the best with your trip planning in the next 12 months!!

also, make sure that you put it on your reservation both on your cruise and at your stay at wdw that your son is celebrating his birthday during your trip. at wdw and on disney cruises, you don't have to even be having the birthday during your time there, it could just be a belated celebration -- you will still receive lots of pixie dust.

also, if this is your first visit, make sure you get 'first visit' buttons for each member of your family. these may also generate pixie dust moments.

a work colleague of mine saved up for ages to celebrate a milestone birthday in wdw. she couldn't get time off for her actual birthday, but still notified disney that the reason for her trip was for her birthday. she got lots of pixie dust, from a free pin from a CM, lots of random happy birthday comments, a free balloon, free cupcakes during ADRs, free dole whips etc. it made it all the more special for her, as these types of things, while small, do help to make the vacation more magical, and make you feel special.

for this reason, make sure you let them know it is your DS's birthday!! they usually like to sprinkle lots of pixie dust on kids