Where should we go on vacation???

[bcbmommy]

Thank you all!! So many great idea here!! We're in Kansas, btw, so not close to any ports. Bummer.

 

[bcbmommy]

I really, really appreciate all your ideas and advice! Ive looked into several of the options you all gave me, and I think for this particular trip we've decided to go to Florida. That's about how far I've gotten! Lol. I've been looking at the Discovery Cove website, and that looks like fun, but I definitely need to do some more research.

 

[DCbride]

Has your family done Universal? You could definitely make a great trip combining Universal an d Discovery Cove.

 

[bcbmommy]

Has your family done Universal? You could definitely make a great trip combining Universal an d Discovery Cove.

No, we haven't. That's something I was considering, as well, but know nothing about Universal. Would you recommend staying onsite?

 

[disneypolybride2008]

we are going on the new cruise ship the Getaway on NCL. It has a rock wall, ziplines on the sky ropes course, 5 giant waterslides, a magic dinner show, french restaurant, brazilian steakhouse, regular steakhouse, italian restaurant, and mini golf. it goes to their private island, jamaica, grand cayman, and some other one i cant remember, lol. I like the idea of Beaches Turks and Caicos. I'm a bit scared of the travel warnings for there and all outside of the us for that matter. It says Hep A and Typhoid from foods/drinks regardless of where you are staying and mosquitos that bite during the day and give diseases like Dengue fever and some other one. I think we'll go once the kids are not so little. Mine are 3 and a 4 month old. Atleast with a cruise you dont have to eat at the ports, and you get to see gorgeous beaches for a few hours.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Our favorite beach destination is Panama City Beach, FL & we stay here: http://www.hipcbeach.com/

You'll want to wait until after Spring Break to avoid crowds & cool weather though. Rooms are nothing special, but they do have a family room with a single queen plus pair of bunk beds. That's what we had last time & it worked well. We only have 2 kids, but they don't really like to share a bed

We generally park the car and just hang out onsite for 4-5 nights. But, there are a lot of outside activities - jet ski rentals, fishing charters, gocarts/mini golf, dolphin cruises, boat rides to Shell Island, etc, etc. Plenty to do if the beach & pool don't get it for you. If you go, I recommend bringing binoculars. We saw dolphins most mornings swimming ~100 yards offshore.


My personal favorite destination is the mountains though - Colorado, SD, WY, UT. And you're several hours closer to any of them than me. Love, love, LOVE road trips

Of course there is also Branson, Wisconsin Dells, and Gatlinburg - all of which offer a lot of the same types of activities. Boating/shows/waterparks, etc.

 

[Meghoya]

Disney cruise was awesome! I wasn't sure I liked cruises (been on a Carnival one once and I was terrible), but I LOVED the Disney cruise. We can't wait to go back! We also love Beaches Turks and Caicos. Amazing and not much longer flight. Universal was fun too (but it's no Disney!). The Minion Suite at the Portofino is one of my favorite parts, and the pool there is great also. If your kids are Harry Potter fans I'd go, but know it is scary so if your younger kids are timid it might not be the best experience. There's a Dragon that comes to life and literally breathes fire over the entire courtyard. Scared the sense out of my little ones, and they wanted nothing to do with the entire area after that.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No, we haven't. That's something I was considering, as well, but know nothing about Universal. Would you recommend staying onsite?

Absolutely! We won't go unless we're staying onsite. Your room key works like an unlimited fast pass. US & IOA don't have all the magic that Disney does but it's fun and you are instantly spoiled by barely waiting in any lines. The hotels are an easy walk to the parks. Their newest hotel is a value type (Cabana Bay IIRC) and that doesn't offer Express Line privileges but the other 3 do and they're all equivalent to Disney deluxe. (Hard Rock Hotel, Portofino Bay, and Royal Pacific)

That said, there's nothing like a Disney cruise. Yes it's more expensive than other lines but we feel it's worth it. We tried Carnival the 1st 3x then tried Disney and never looked back. We also tried Royal Caribbean twice (with friends) amongst our 16 Disney cruises and we felt their pools were nice but mostly we missed all the Disney touches & Castaway Cay. The shows are original & awesome. There really is something for everyone from infants to seniors. My retired parents have been with us for around 8 of them.

Generally the best pricing is when dates are first released and they tend to keep climbing as the ship fills. Only if it doesn't fill as quickly as they like, they'll offer some last minute deals which in my experience work out to be about what $ we booked in advance. In the cruise world, last minute means 3-4 months out. We think nothing of booking cruises 2 years in advance to get the best pricing and our favorite cabins.
Also, once you sail, you can rebook onboard for 10% off the pretax cruise fare plus an onboard credit from DCL: $200 for cruises 7+ days or $100 for <7 days. Our TA matches the OBC that Disney offers. Now that our kids are teens it's nice to have 2 cabins so for our last 7 nt cruise (Med) cruise we got $800 in OBC + the 10% off. Whatever you book onboard you can easily change later so we just book a cheap 3-nt cruise (aka a "dummy" date) and change it later once we start making definite plans. We never leave the ship without rebooking onboard.

What sets Disney apart from the others is that other cruise lines have entertainment. Disney is an entertainment company that owns ships.
It shows in everything from the elevator floor indicator to the main dining rooms to the live shows in the Walt Disney Theater.
Comparing Carnival to DCL is like comparing Six Flags to WDW. Sure, they're both theme parks but wouldn't you gladly pay more to be in WDW? I know I would.

There are lots of helpful folks on the cruise boards and also on the Universal boards.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just wanted to add there's a LOT more character interaction on the ships than in the parks. There's just so much fewer guests to share them with, especially on their first 2 ships, the Magic & Wonder which only hold 2400 passengers. This is miniscule compared to say 50-100,000 in the parks.
I also forgot to mention that if you're used to WDW and the service level there, you will be blown away. Every night our dinner table & servers are ready & waiting for us. They hold out my chair, put my napkin in my lap, call my by name and ask how was my day. They cut my son's meat & crack his lobster. After the 2nd night they know dh & I like ice tea so by the third night there's a glass of ice tea waiting for us. Same with the kids' chocolate milk, Coke or whatever they like. When the kids ask for ketchup, it's put on a side plate in the shape of a Mickey head. If your kids try something new and don't like it, they'll bring them something else. My extremely picky eater, now 18, has tried elk, bison, wild boar, sea bass, cod, and so many things we would never risk ordering in a regular restaurant. Always knowing he can still get plain old chicken or steak if he doesn't like it.

Instead of the usual ships horn, Disney ships play the tune of When You Wish Upon a Star. The newer ships' horns play other tunes too.
Two of my coworkers took their kids (not together) and in both families their kids literally cried to have to leave.
I could just go on and on. I can't wait until our next cruise in April.

 

[bcbmommy]

I just wanted to add there's a LOT more character interaction on the ships than in the parks. There's just so much fewer guests to share them with, especially on their first 2 ships, the Magic & Wonder which only hold 2400 passengers. This is miniscule compared to say 50-100,000 in the parks.
I also forgot to mention that if you're used to WDW and the service level there, you will be blown away. Every night our dinner table & servers are ready & waiting for us. They hold out my chair, put my napkin in my lap, call my by name and ask how was my day. They cut my son's meat & crack his lobster. After the 2nd night they know dh & I like ice tea so by the third night there's a glass of ice tea waiting for us. Same with the kids' chocolate milk, Coke or whatever they like. When the kids ask for ketchup, it's put on a side plate in the shape of a Mickey head. If your kids try something new and don't like it, they'll bring them something else. My extremely picky eater, now 18, has tried elk, bison, wild boar, sea bass, cod, and so many things we would never risk ordering in a regular restaurant. Always knowing he can still get plain old chicken or steak if he doesn't like it.

Instead of the usual ships horn, Disney ships play the tune of When You Wish Upon a Star. The newer ships' horns play other tunes too.
Two of my coworkers took their kids (not together) and in both families their kids literally cried to have to leave.
I could just go on and on. I can't wait until our next cruise in April.

Wow!! Thank you so much for your very in-depth response. I so appreciate it, and honestly, feel like booking a Disney Cruise now! I realize it's probably too late to do a cruise for this coming vacation, but I'm going to look at our calendar for next year. Is there a particular month that is best to go? Also, about how long should we plan for Universal?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It's always cheaper to go when kids are in school unfortunately. I try to plan around days off such as the first week of Nov when our public schools close statewide for 2 days for a teachers' convention. It coincides with Election day which is also a day off. So we can do a 7-nt cruise with just 2 missed days. Look for times like that on your school calendar.
Jan & Feb are less expensive but unless you're doing a longer Caribbean cruise such as St. Thomas, Grand Cayman, etc it may be chilly. Nassau and Castaway Cay are approx. the same latitude as Ft. Lauderdale so it's possible to have slightly cooler temps in winter. Today's high in CC was just 70.
Also keep in mind hurricane season runs from June 1- Nov 30. That doesn't stop us from sailing but it does remind me that things can come up that are beyond our control. No ports are guaranteed so we just go with the flow. Funny thing, in all of our past cruises the only hurricane that ever impacted us was Sandy and it was up here and not in the islands. Go figure.
I do buy trip insurance from insure my trip .com. I don't for WDW & other trips but I do for cruising. Not just for weather delays but God forbid dh has a heart attack onboard and we have to be helicoptered off that's enough to bankrupt us. Or if we have a death in the family and need to cancel last minute, it would be covered. I used to think NOTHING on earth would ever make me cancel but eventually learned there are plenty of instances that I would.

Also the final payment is due 75 days prior to sailing currently. Soon it will be 90 days out. So if you see a cruise that you have the slightly inkling you would want, it's easy to book it and just cancel later if you change your mind as long as you do so before penalties start. I looked at an Easter cruise once and found a great price, hesitated, and a week later the price was almost doubled. ugh... So now I don't hesitate to book, then sleep on it, wait a week or a month. Then cancel later if it won't work out. You can also put a 3 day hold on a reservation with no deposit or cc info that will just cancel itself out at the end of the 3 days if you don't return to pay the deposit.

As for Universal 1 day for each park is plenty, especially if you have a room key. Some people try to cram both parks in 1 day but I don't think that would be very enjoyable, just too rushed to enjoy. We haven't been since early 2013 but back then the hotel discount for AP holders was around $100 off per night. So for a 3 night stay it was worth it to buy 1 AP and it paid for itself through hotel discounts. If you don't want that much hotel stay you can book 1 night and if you check in early am even if your room isn't ready they will hold your luggage & give you your room key to use in the parks. You can also continue to use it on the day you check out. So for 1 night hotel cost you get 2 full days of unlimited Express Line usage. You can buy Express Line passes without staying onsite but they only are valid for 1 ride per attraction. My kids can ride some things over and over and over so for us the room key is a great value.
Honestly we didn't like it at all our first visit; we constantly compared it to Disney parks. Once we just accepted the fact there's no Disney magic but it's still fun regardless, we liked it a lot more. To see hotel prices with AP discount, use promo code APH. Sometimes they don't release those prices until 2-3 months prior so you may not see them right now for the whole year.

Sorry to go on & on. I've had a lot of tea.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Oh and how could I forget room service is included in the cruise fare too. Even if your kids are just craving a Mickey bar.

 

[bcbmommy]

Oh and how could I forget room service is included in the cruise fare too. Even if your kids are just craving a Mickey bar.

You are a wealth of information! Bless you!! Getting ready to read your posts all over again!

 

[FrankHodges]

Thank You all for giving information.It will be helpful for me when planning a trip there.

 

[FrankHodges]

Thank You all for giving information.It will be helpful for me when planning a trip there.

You could come out to Disneyland. While that is similar than just going to Disney World, there is still many differences. Also there is a lot to do in Southern California. You can spend two or three days at Disneyland, then drive down to San Diego area. There is SeaWorld, and the world famous San Diego Zoo. There are also beaches and lots of other great things to do with kids. If you need more info on Disneyland or SoCal please personal message me. i can help you with your trip.

 

[FrankHodges]

Thank You all for giving information.It will be helpful for me when planning a trip there.

Ya will surely contact you before planning my trip.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

You've got a whole world at your fingertips. Where have you always wanted to go? Yellowstone? Mt. Rushmore? NYC? Philly? Washington DC? New Orleans? The Bahamas? London? Paris? Cairo?

How about a cross country roadtrip? Or a cruise to Alaska?

 

[FrankHodges]

You could come out to Disneyland. While that is similar than just going to Disney World, there is still many differences. Also there is a lot to do in Southern California. You can spend two or three days at Disneyland, then drive down to San Diego area. There is SeaWorld, and the world famous San Diego Zoo. There are also beaches and lots of other great things to do with kids. If you need more info on Disneyland or SoCal please personal message me. i can help you with your trip.

Ya will surely contact you before planning my trip