I usually love planing vacations but this one is turning into a nightmare.
I won't bore you with all the details, but we had to change our dates and booking so many times due to things not lining up (flights with hotels, etc).
At this point we have our flights to America (NY), that are non refundable, and flights from NY to Orlando and back that are non refundable, and dates in WDW which we cannot change due to scheduling with parties.
BUT - We just realized New York is gonna be too cold during March to hang out with our babies (2.5yo and 6mnth). So now we have about 8 nights before and 7 nights after WDW to spend in the U.S. area.
NYC is our exit/entry point to the US - only place in the US we can fly nonstop to from home, a 12 hour flight. It's a pain in the a**, b/c sleeping in NYC even one night means travel from JFK to Manhattan (horrible w/ 2 kids & luggage after a long flight with 2 kids... and expensive!).
Our options are sleeping at the Hilton in JFK for one night to recover from the long flight, then fly directly somewhere else, or alternatively travel into Manhattan, but then we wanna stay there for a few nights before we hustle back.
The idea is minimum travel and hassle, and preferably somewhere we can stay w/o a car. We actually considered spending the rest of the vacation at WDW as well, but I fear it will be a Mickey overload ;-)
We thought about a caribbean cruise so it's interesting enough for a week or so, but nothing lines up with our dates without creating excessive travel time & accommodation (i.e. one night before the cruise, 2 nights after etc).
So we thought about heading to Atlantis in the Bahamas, as it's a big enough resort to spend so much time, and close to MCO (orlando), but I'm worried the water are too cold to swim in during mid-March, and that we'll spend a week without being able to get into the water...
We thought about heading somewhere else in the caribbean that's warmer, but not liking the options I saw so far.
- Jamaica doesn't seem to offer anything that looks exciting next to Disney / Atlantis. At Disney we usually stay at the Deluxe resort (This time it's gonna be the Polynesian & AK Lodge). So that's kind of the level of accommodation we're looking for (It's really setting the bar high for Jamaica apparently from what I saw so far... somewhat disappointing from the most famous caribbean island haha).
- Turks & Caicos seems too boring for so many days to be stuck in an AI resort without no where to go to. "Beaches" looks nice with Sesame Street characters, but again, not sure if it's enough for a whole week.
- St. Lucia / Aruba / Barbados are harder to get to in terms of nonstop flights (we wanna minimize travel time with the babies).
We thought about maybe staying in Miami but it doesn't sound too exciting and not sure if I can spend a week there w/o being bored.
I'm pulling my hair out at this point, would love to hear any ideas.
To sum up...
• 2 parents, 2 kids (2.5yo, 6mnths)
• Need suggestions for 8 nights mid-March somewhere warm in the states, w/o/ to much hassle, traveling, changing hotels, etc.
• Ideas for extra 7 nights in the US Starting April 1st (at the moment booked in NYC despite cold but hoping to change.
Would love to hear any thoughts!
Thanks!!!
I won't bore you with all the details, but we had to change our dates and booking so many times due to things not lining up (flights with hotels, etc).
At this point we have our flights to America (NY), that are non refundable, and flights from NY to Orlando and back that are non refundable, and dates in WDW which we cannot change due to scheduling with parties.
BUT - We just realized New York is gonna be too cold during March to hang out with our babies (2.5yo and 6mnth). So now we have about 8 nights before and 7 nights after WDW to spend in the U.S. area.
NYC is our exit/entry point to the US - only place in the US we can fly nonstop to from home, a 12 hour flight. It's a pain in the a**, b/c sleeping in NYC even one night means travel from JFK to Manhattan (horrible w/ 2 kids & luggage after a long flight with 2 kids... and expensive!).
Our options are sleeping at the Hilton in JFK for one night to recover from the long flight, then fly directly somewhere else, or alternatively travel into Manhattan, but then we wanna stay there for a few nights before we hustle back.
The idea is minimum travel and hassle, and preferably somewhere we can stay w/o a car. We actually considered spending the rest of the vacation at WDW as well, but I fear it will be a Mickey overload ;-)
We thought about a caribbean cruise so it's interesting enough for a week or so, but nothing lines up with our dates without creating excessive travel time & accommodation (i.e. one night before the cruise, 2 nights after etc).
So we thought about heading to Atlantis in the Bahamas, as it's a big enough resort to spend so much time, and close to MCO (orlando), but I'm worried the water are too cold to swim in during mid-March, and that we'll spend a week without being able to get into the water...
We thought about heading somewhere else in the caribbean that's warmer, but not liking the options I saw so far.
- Jamaica doesn't seem to offer anything that looks exciting next to Disney / Atlantis. At Disney we usually stay at the Deluxe resort (This time it's gonna be the Polynesian & AK Lodge). So that's kind of the level of accommodation we're looking for (It's really setting the bar high for Jamaica apparently from what I saw so far... somewhat disappointing from the most famous caribbean island haha).
- Turks & Caicos seems too boring for so many days to be stuck in an AI resort without no where to go to. "Beaches" looks nice with Sesame Street characters, but again, not sure if it's enough for a whole week.
- St. Lucia / Aruba / Barbados are harder to get to in terms of nonstop flights (we wanna minimize travel time with the babies).
We thought about maybe staying in Miami but it doesn't sound too exciting and not sure if I can spend a week there w/o being bored.
I'm pulling my hair out at this point, would love to hear any ideas.
To sum up...
• 2 parents, 2 kids (2.5yo, 6mnths)
• Need suggestions for 8 nights mid-March somewhere warm in the states, w/o/ to much hassle, traveling, changing hotels, etc.
• Ideas for extra 7 nights in the US Starting April 1st (at the moment booked in NYC despite cold but hoping to change.
Would love to hear any thoughts!
Thanks!!!