TR with 5 nights left in the US

[CJ2001]

Hi guys,

We are currently in Orlando,we have been to San Francisco & New York.

Loved San Francisco, we stayed at Fisherman's Wharf & was the perfect location. Saw most of what we wanted to see except for the painted ladies. Traveled on tram successfully & also went for a ride on open top bus which picked us up when tram was too full. Had a few problems,I felt sick most of the day & then by the time it got to the night before we had to leave I was up all night being sick. With an early morning flight to NY it was not great.

NY was good, got to see Empire State, top of rock, movie tour, rode bikes in Central Park, went to Times Square, rode subway, natural History museum, intrepid museum/ship & a night time cruise in the 4 nights we were there. Hotel was fantastic, perfect location - the king bed was the comfiest we have had. We rode subway a couple of times but I am a bit of a panicked & was afraid we would get separated with all the people, which happened once but luckily it was DH & DD so he quickly pushed door open & got out. We ended up walking most of time or caught cabs (we did a lot of walking - in one day we did 32,000 steps!)

NY isn't a favourite I was nervous round all the crowds & didn't find the people very pleasant. A couple times though people stopped & helped is with directions when they could see we looked lost! Didn't get any shopping apart from soverners. I was still feeling nauseous & all the smells & going in back & forth from warm shops to cold wasn't helping. My son was very anxious the whole time we were there he barely got any sleep as he was constantly worried about everything. As soon as we got to Disney World he started sleeping so much better.

We also left our camera & video camera in the car that picked us up, there was a frantic phone call to company & they located it. He dropped it back to our hotel the next day but we didn't have it for our night time cruise which we were disappointed about.

We were very happy to get to Orlando, with all the busyness of NY it was nice to see wide open spaces & friendly people. We stayed at AOA for 2 nights & so wish we could of stayed there longer we had so much space & each bed was comfy. We did the Halloween party which was great. Then moved onto Coronado Springs. Beautiful place but beds are so uncomfortable. Had hot humid weather up to Friday, went to Blizzard Beach that day. Saturday was freezing! So lucky we went yo Blizzard Beach Friday cause it was shut all weekend.

We have had perfect weather the whole trip even I'm NY it was sunny & I was wearing a T-shirt at one stage.

We bought a 6 day park hopper with water park but not going to be able to use the 6th day as we are checking out tomorrow & got a 3 day pass for universal. Also didn't use park hopper! We are totally exhausted, kids have been fighting & complaining a lot & we have been threatening to send them home, which is ironic cause my parents took me & my brother to US at same age & he threatened the same thing.

ADR's have gone well, was trying to cancel Trails End. As we have been pushing it to far with parks but left it too late to cancel - turned out alright.

We'll better go,I'm shattered. Will add se pics when I get back

 

[LivingforDisney]

Wow it looks like you have been busy.
I felt the same about NY, glad we went, but I really don't have any interest in going back.
We had 4 nights as well, saw everything we wanted to. I found a lot of the people not very friendly, a couple of times got a bum steer re the subways.
Did you visit the 9/11 site?
We caught the train out to Coney Island one afternoon, it was a nice trip on the train, as it wasn't underground all the way. The rides were not open, but there were some shops to look in, we had hotdogs from Nathan's. Must admit they were not very nice. Hot dogs in America IMHO are awful.
Anyhow it was a nice few hours on the Boardwalk looking over the Atlantic Ocean and was a nice break from the crowds!
I think with WDW , people under estimate the sheer size of it.
Did you have any free days?
That is one thing I always add to trips with my kids.
We had 14 nights last year and could have stayed longer to see everything.
Also the flying takes it out of you, doesn't it?
I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip, look forward to hearing all about it.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Great to hear your trip has been mostly wonderful

I've never been to NY, but as I too become daunted by crowds, I could easily have had similar impressions to you.

Enjoy Universal. I keep reading of people who are either there, or have just been, and I'm envious. Such cool parks.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Safe travels home.

 

[zanzibar138]

Great to hear that you've had a mainly wonderful trip.

I have never been interested in NYC because of those exact reasons. However, we will be going next year, so it will be interesting to see how I go. Glad you got your camera back, even if it wasn't in time for the cruise.

Sounds like a busy but enjoyable time at WDW.

Safe travels back home.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

Great report, thanks for sharing.

Crazy Cat Boy and I commented on how frazzled all the parents looked at the parks! We were exhausted at the end of most days and it was just the two of us.

Sorry you didn't enjoy NYC, I love it there. I'm not normally a "crowd" person, but for some reason the vibe of that city just grabs me.

Looking forward to seeing your pics.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Like Crazy Cat lady we are not fans of most big cities or crowds either (sorry I have to laugh at that though given the enormity of the crowds at various Disney parks at times!) but we really loved the vibe of New York - away from Times Square which we did not like because of the chaos factor - many other districts were green and leafy and full of character.

 

[CJ2001]

Hi all,

We've been home now for a week, went back to work today in office (started Thursday but from home so was just alot of email reading, then off Friday) - that sucked!!

Feels like we never left, was so happy to be home.

Really enjoyed so many different experiences but thus holiday was just way to packed & we were left exhausted & looking forward to going home.

Best part of trip was San Francisco (even though I was sick) & getting to Orlando after NY. MNSSHP was great & AOA but I really enjoyed Hard Rock a Hotel where we could get up a bit later, walk to Universal & then kids go back for a swim then back out to Universal. And loved having express passes.

The next holiday we have will be lying around a pool on one of the Australian Islands drinking cocktails without the kids!!

Will put some photos up on weekend.

 

[CJ2001]

Wow it looks like you have been busy.
I felt the same about NY, glad we went, but I really don't have any interest in going back.
We had 4 nights as well, saw everything we wanted to. I found a lot of the people not very friendly, a couple of times got a bum steer re the subways.
Did you visit the 9/11 site?
We caught the train out to Coney Island one afternoon, it was a nice trip on the train, as it wasn't underground all the way. The rides were not open, but there were some shops to look in, we had hotdogs from Nathan's. Must admit they were not very nice. Hot dogs in America IMHO are awful.
Anyhow it was a nice few hours on the Boardwalk looking over the Atlantic Ocean and was a nice break from the crowds!
I think with WDW , people under estimate the sheer size of it.
Did you have any free days?
That is one thing I always add to trips with my kids.
We had 14 nights last year and could have stayed longer to see everything.
Also the flying takes it out of you, doesn't it?
I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip, look forward to hearing all about it.

We weren't able to get to the 9/11 memorial, we couldn't figure out how to get there & only really had the last day to do it & with my son being so anxious about flying ( and everything) I thought it bust he didn't see it.

Best part of our trip in NY was our bike ride through Central Park. My daughter was begging us to do it but we kept saying we didn't have enough time. Then I saw it was included in our passes so on the day we were flying out we did a 20 minute bike ride. I had to give my drivers license as ID, it wasn't until 2 days before we got home that I realised I hadn't seen it for a while then when I got home & checked emails there was one for bike hire place saying I'd left it there & to come pick it up!! Bit late! So new License has been ordered & they reckon they are sending it back to me in post - we'll see!

I thought I would add a rest day as a shopping day but that wad no rest day! We shopped till we dropped at outlets then dropped that shopping out & went back out to Downtown disney!!

 

[CJ2001]

Great to hear your trip has been mostly wonderful

I've never been to NY, but as I too become daunted by crowds, I could easily have had similar impressions to you.

Enjoy Universal. I keep reading of people who are either there, or have just been, and I'm envious. Such cool parks.

I think NY would be good as a couple or with friends but not with kids, especially a teenager!! I have had friends that lived there as nannies & loved it, I think when you have someone that knows their way around & their way of living, it would be better.

Universal was the best part of our trip, it was the most relaxing & hard rock hotel was well worth the money.

My son went on the Rocking roller coaster (think that's what it's called) & he is not into scary rides & he was so proud of himself, as was I, that he did it, even though he did not look well afterwards! We purchased the video of him on it & it's the funniest thing I've seen in my life! Definitely coming out at his 21st!

 

[CJ2001]

Great report, thanks for sharing.

Crazy Cat Boy and I commented on how frazzled all the parents looked at the parks! We were exhausted at the end of most days and it was just the two of us.

Sorry you didn't enjoy NYC, I love it there. I'm not normally a "crowd" person, but for some reason the vibe of that city just grabs me.

Looking forward to seeing your pics.

We were one of those frazzled parents & probably screaming at kids to stop fighting!

Still sorting pics out will get some up on weekend

 

[CJ2001]

Safe travels home.

Thanks PIO the trip home is always the best one!

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

My son went on the Rocking roller coaster (think that's what it's called) & he is not into scary rides & he was so proud of himself, as was I, that he did it, even though he did not look well afterwards! We purchased the video of him on it & it's the funniest thing I've seen in my life! Definitely coming out at his 21st!

I was shaking like a leaf when I got off that ride, never again!!