Washington Dc... worthwhile or not with small children?

[Nicsjtp]

We are still in the throes of planning our USA trip for May 2011... dh was lucky enough to score a conference over in Orlando for when we were arriving so we now have a little more money to spend (one less airfare ) Anyway so far we are arriving 30 april 2011 in Orlando and spending 13 nights there.... we go from there on a 3 night Disney cruise..... and from there we were planning on flying to New York. However after talking with a friend - he said Washington is a must do considering we are so close... so now we are wondering if we should fly from Orlando to Washington for a 3 night stay then catch the train to New York. His reasons on flying to DC over NYC was that it was far easier to get from Washington airport to our hotel than NYC.... and then we figured the train would be a good option too ... from the east coast we will be flying over to San Fran and then home to Sydney.

So what would you do? We have 3 kids who will be 8 and 6 (the boys) and a little girl who will be almost 3.... we have DH myself and my mum so in theory one kid each!

Im also having to organise WDW and our time there - can anyone point me in the direction of finding out which park to visit on which day throughout our stay? Also when do EMH etc get released for May 2011? I will need to make ADRs beg of Nov - the time is getting closer!

Oh and last question (for now) those that have done a Disney cruise before - what do I need to organise for that 180 days out?

Thanks in advance! Im sure there will be many more questions before we go!

 

[shushh]

Your plans sounds great and very similar to ours except we'll be going in December and our cruise is a Panama Canal cruise!

We have 3 children who will be aged 7, 5 and 2 at time of travel. My eldest will turn 8 on the trip. We are very excited about visiting Washington DC, everyone we know who've been had only good things to say and wished they went for longer.

We're starting with 12 days in Orlando. Then we'll be flying to NY for 1 week, taking the train down to DC for 5 days, and then back to Orlando for a Disney cruise back to Orlando.

For park planning, we used the DISboards, the unofficial guide as well as subscribing to Frank Hazelton's site. He gives you park crowd ratings and lots of other info. It also includes endless numbers of touring plans for all different types of travellers.

Not sure if you're aware that DCL western caribbean cruise have a kids sail free offer in 2011. Might be worth checking out. If you're a new cruise, you can't book anything until 75 days out so you have a few more days to plan!

I've got to feed the children!!! So will be back a bit later when I've got my thoughts more organized, but I'm sure the others will chip in with the relevant info.

 

[ehsmum]

We loved Washington DC. I would totally recommend it. We did it in the opposite direction - NYC first then the train to Washington and flew out of Washington to Orlando.

I thought Washington was really beautiful and very clean after NYC! We only had 1.5 days so didn't see as much as we would have liked to.

We stayed at the Doubletree Guest Suites which were in the university district. I really liked the hotel (one bedroom apartment with 2 double beds and a huge kitchen) and the location was great. We walked from the hotel to the White House and Lincoln Memorial but the trains were easy enough to navigate as well. I never did work out the bus system but we weren't really there long enough to bother with it.

We arrived lunchtime, took a cab from Union Station to our hotel and then walked from there to the White House and White House Visitor Centre. Tours of the White House are available but you have to apply about a year in advance. I know that Americans have to apply through their local senator, I'm not sure how Aussies go about it.

The next day we walked over to the Watergate building (across the road from our hotel) for breakfast and then caught a cab to the Washington Monument for our 10am tour. I pre-booked this online after a friend said they just showed up and it was booked out. After our tour we walked down to the Museums and visited the American History Museum and the Air and Space Museum. We didn't have time to do any others but you could spend days just wandering through them all! After that we took a taxi to the Lincoln Memorial then walked back to our hotel from there. After a rest and swim we caught the train to Pentagon City shopping centre where we had dinner and then caught the train to the Pentagon but unfortunately it was closed.

That was it. It was a really quick visit and it meant cutting our time at WDW down by 2 days but I'm really glad we squeezed it in because it's a really lovely city with so much to do.

 

[shushh]

Clare, I should be waiting for your blog but I'm too impatient! How did you find the train? Was it hard to find the right entrance into Penn Station? Did you end up taking the subway or a cab? Also, how did luggage work? Did you have to carry it on yourself into the train? Thanks in advance!

 

[ehsmum]

No worries, shushh, ask away. I'm not the speediest blogger so feel free to jump ahead!

Penn Station was easy to navigate. We took a cab there from Times Square. You could walk or take the subway but with luggage it was easier to jump in a cab. I don't remember what it cost but it wasn't much, only around $6. We did have to get 2 cabs as there are 5 of us and luggage, but it still wasn't expensive and less hassle then the subway.

We were on an early train, around 8am on Monday morning so it was busy. When we got there, the platforms weren't open yet so everyone was standing around the lobby area so it was really crowded. We tried to check our luggage in but were told that you need to keep it with you on the Washington trains. When they opened the platforms we headed down to the train but all the seats were taken already. We had to go to the "quiet car" which I thought would be a problem with the kids but they were fine. You're not supposed to talk on your mobile in the quiet car but people did anyway. Luggage has to go in the overhead compartments but that wasn't an issue because they were huge.

It was about 3 hours and quite enjoyable. DH and the kids walked to the cafe car a few times to get coffee and snacks but I was happy to stay put and just doze and look out the window. I think we went through 5 states (New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC) and I loved all the scenery. Union Station is beautiful! We took a cab from there to our hotel which was pretty expensive. In DC there are all sorts of cab charges - you pay for the number of passengers and for the number of bags as well as what's on the meter but our hotel was in the uni district so a little further out then most of the touristy areas.

Hope that helps, ask me anything!

 

[shushh]

Thank you! That helps plenty. It does make a difference to know what to expect when travelling with 6 little ones. I'm actually really looking forward to our train ride. It will be a nice change from planes and airports.

 

[ehsmum]

If your train is later in the day, Penn Station won't be too stressful an experience. If you are travelling at peak hour like we did, then make sure you are there in plenty of time, so you can head to the train as soon as they open the platform, otherwise you may have trouble finding seats together or enough room for your luggage. Plenty of people boarded the train at other stops in NJ, PA etc and they couldn't find a seat.