Updated itinerary - should we go to Miami too?

[Kalice]

I'm so excited just booked Syd-Dfw for 10 December. Price was just over $5k for the five of us. Managed to secure row 20 which is a bulk head on the 777. Even this the leg room is possibly limited (I've read reports that it's not limited), at least we won't have the dreaded recliners in front. I've never flown virgin international (except bali). Haven't told the kids yet, not sure how long I can contain myself.

Now, to work out a five and a half week itinerary. Will probably spend the bulk of our time in Florida and most of that time in Orlando. Also, considering off site, the kids seem to bicker more on holidays (brats). It may be due to spending so much time together so a bit of space might help. Any suggestions for offsite?

I'm going to have to revisit my beloved wdw spreadsheet and try to not spend soo much time researching.

 

[Kalice]

I've done some limited research today. I'm now considering driving between Dallas and New Orleans. Stopping in Ban rouge perhaps. Now to work out where to spend a couple of weeks over Christmas and New year then Orlando for a couple of weeks. I'm going to look at Disney cruises and maybe southern Florida. I really like the look of Wyndham Bonnet Creek. If we don't head to southern Florida the alternative is some time in New York, although it costs so much more over Christmas new year.

 

[Kristin5]

Well done! It's a great feeling booking the flights isn't it?! (Not so great when you look at the bank account but c'est le vie!) We booked our late Dec/Jan flights today too, though not for a great deal like yours (that's the problem with travelling in high season).

I have a friend who drove an RV from Texas to New Orleans a couple of years ago. She had a great time!

 

[Kalice]

Hope you didn't pay too much Kristin! I don't think I could do the Rv thing with our lot. We'll prob do it in 2-3 days, being from Perth we're used to travelling long distances.

Still not sure if we should do nyc again or Miami and the keys.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome back Kalice.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

If you are looking for accommodation offsite, the Holiday Inn Resort* Lake Buena Vista was pretty good with the Mouse Savers Deal. Free shuttle (WDW & US), but not good times for rope drop. Epcot you'd be ok, but the other parks you'd be cutting it very fine. Mind you, if you use FP+ in the morning, that might not be an issue for you.

Pool was good, rooms good size, movie room for kids (and big kids). Applebees on site was dreadful, but you are in walking distance of a lot of restaurants and a Wallgreens is only 5 mins away on foot.

*there are two Holiday Inns in Buena Vista (you can see one from the other), the one I'm talking about is the Resort

 

[Kalice]

Thanks PiO, it's good to be back, although I'm apprehensive about my lack of any plan! My husband mentioned going back to the Grand Canyon South rim again. It's in the wrong direction!

Cheers for the tip crazy cat lady, although I'm after space so an apartment or similar. I think if were considering a hotel room we'll probably try Port Orleans riverside. We found the beach club a bit intense during early mornings, my teenage daughter can be an ogre in before around 9

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks PiO, it's good to be back, although I'm apprehensive about my lack of any plan! My husband mentioned going back to the Grand Canyon South rim again. It's in the wrong direction!

Cheers for the tip crazy cat lady, although I'm after space so an apartment or similar. I think if were considering a hotel room we'll probably try Port Orleans riverside. We found the beach club a bit intense during early mornings, my teenage daughter can be an ogre in before around 9

Kalice - Houses/condos for rent in that Windsor Hills area in Orlando seem to be good value.

If you were after a resort style apartment, would you prefer being closer to Disney or towards Universal? In any respect, you could take a look at Lake Buena Vista Resort. My brother stayed there in 2010 (we were on-site) and I did go visit him. Nice apartments, nice pool and right nice door to the Lake Buena Vista Factory Outlets. It was reasonably priced in 2010; but I have no idea what the accommodation prices are like now.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

right nice door to the Lake Buena Vista Factory Outlets.

That might not be beneficial to Kalice's budget PIO!

 

[jacs1234]

I like you. I like anyone who calls there own kids brats lol Good luck in the planning. I'll feel so much better when I have flights booked. I have booked accommodation for me and my brats already. We're staying at the art of animation resort. At least we can lock ourselves in our room with ensuite and let the kids fight to the death where we can't see them. I did look at some off site houses. Huge houses with pools and 4 rooms and seperate living areas. Much cheaper than onsite too and I think it would be so much more peacefull being able to get out of eathothers faces. It's our first time at WDW so we feel we better stay on site this time.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That might not be beneficial to Kalice's budget PIO!

 

[LivingforDisney]

Whats the animation academy??

 

[WearegoingtoAmerica]

We have stayed offsite and are staying in the same house later this year. Its in the Emerald Island Resort, which is a gated community with a 24/7 guard. We booked through vrbo.com. I haven't stayed onsite at WDW, but we love staying in a house. There's 9 of us so having all that room is great. It has a private pool, so after the kids are in bed, we can relax in the pool. Having a kitchen also saves us on food, as we take food into the parks most days. And we were very close to the parks. Have a look on vrbo as there are lots of great houses.

 

[Kalice]

There's always money for shopping, although I've never been to an outlet store I've been impressed with. Always seems to be the stuff no one wants.

I've been looking a vrbo and starting crunching numbers (January is not even up yet) picking low season dates for this year it looks like $600 more for POR and $800 for ASMu family suite. Given we can then forgo a car and parking costs for ten days it's starting to look promising for on site. Also the last two years stay,play and dine is 50% off dining and a small room
Discount too. Suites are not usually included in this deal. We had free dining last time. We definately came out ahead, although we did eat desserts we didn't really need and then paid gratuity on top of those!

My kids aren't usually brats jacs it's just bring together 24/7 seems to make them bicker. They do have their moments tho. Ages will be 17, 15 and 8 when we travel!

 

[Kalice]

Hi all. I need suggestions on where to spend the Christmas/ new year period. I want to avoid Orlando as I think it will be crazy busy. I also condidered New York, we enjoyed it so much last time, but the prices for hotels are ridiculous for this period even if we leave before the New Years rush. I know it's a tricky question, but it needs to somewhere we can have fun with the kids too. We will be mostly on the east Coast.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What about around Miami and the Florida Keys, Kalice? or anywhere up that Atlantic Coast of Florida?

Your alternative could be Washington.....or take a look at Cancun, Mexico if you're after somewhere a bit different. Cuba is the other one that comes to mind.

 

[PrincessInOz]

There's always money for shopping, although I've never been to an outlet store I've been impressed with. Always seems to be the stuff no one wants.

I've been looking a vrbo and starting crunching numbers (January is not even up yet) picking low season dates for this year it looks like $600 more for POR and $800 for ASMu family suite. Given we can then forgo a car and parking costs for ten days it's starting to look promising for on site. Also the last two years stay,play and dine is 50% off dining and a small room
Discount too. Suites are not usually included in this deal. We had free dining last time. We definately came out ahead, although we did eat desserts we didn't really need and then paid gratuity on top of those!

My kids aren't usually brats jacs it's just bring together 24/7 seems to make them bicker. They do have their moments tho. Ages will be 17, 15 and 8 when we travel!

You and I have the same calculator. I've crunched the numbers a couple of times and compared offsite vs onsite. When you take into account not needing a car and parking costs, onsite becomes a viable option.

 

[DVCAustralia]

I strongly recommend going north on a driving trip to Atlanta, Charleston and Savannah. It was a great way to spend this period.
Atlanta is a business city for accommodation so should still be cheap this time of year.

 

[Zosha]

We did the Florida Keys briefly on our last trip. We spent 3 nights in Homestead which is a central point for both the Keys and the Everglades. It was beautiful. I wished we had a bit longer to spend down there and it would be definitely worth the drive for you.

 

[backinoz]

We did Christmas in Virginia (near Roanoke I think) in the mountains a few years back - did a vacation rental with another family of four. The house was even decorated for Christmas. Not a white Christmas but it day snow the day after and there was enough snow that the tobogganing slope in the middle of town was open to burn off Christmas Lunch. The local ski fields were bout half an hour's drive way if you like snow sports, but scenery was spectacular. Just keep in mind that unless you're in a tourist oriented town, then it is quite likely that next to nothing will be open from about 6pm Christmas Eve until the day after Boxing Day. We did the drive from there to orlando in two days - they were pretty full of driving days, but the payoff was an extra day at WDW.