California, New York and Orlando

[mouskevik]

Hello Dibbers 🙂

Apologies if I've got the wrong forum.

It's DH's 50th birthday next year plus DS will have finished A-levels and twin DS/DD will have finished GCSEs. After all this pandemic stuff we're 🤞🤞🤞 that we can have a big celebratory holiday in 2022!

We've never been to California or New York so would like to do those and Orlando over a three week trip.

We're thinking 5 or 6 nights in California, 2 or 3 nights in New York, leaving 12 to 14 nights in Orlando.

We'd like to do the Disneyland and Hollywood Universal parks in California plus a little sightseeing.

New York : as much sightseeing as possible but don't want to stay too long as we think the city-ness will be a bit overwhelming after a couple of days.

Orlando - Stay in a villa for a bit, do Disney, shopping, chilling then 4 nights at HRH for Universal.

• What order would you do these in?
• What sort of internal flights would you recommend?
• Would it be cheaper to go home from New York? Or would this be tiring and hassle with a ton of souvenir luggage?
• Where would you stay as a family of 5 in California and New York? (We're ok for Orlando accommodation).
• What time of year would you go? I'm guessing exams might finish early?

Please and thank you! 😃

[Bianca]

Hi Sounds fab!

I'd definitely end with the Orlando stay.

The California and NYC legs could be pretty tiring (especially added together). I'd start off with lots of fresh holiday energy for those and, then, have some R&R time in Orlando, as well as park time of course!

[cornishfrogboy]

It is an 8 hour flight from London to Newark. It is a three hour flight to Orlando from LaGuardia and then a 4 hour 45 minute flight from Orlando to Lax. It is a 10 hr 30 flight home to London.

It is an 8 hour flight from London to Newark. It is a 6 hour flight from Newark to Los Angeles and then a 4hour 45 minute flight from Los Angeles to Orlando before a 9 hour flight home to London.
All of the above are approximate, but what I am saying is that a considerable part of your vacation will be spent travelling.

Here is my suggestion.

You pick either one of the West Coast or the East Coast.

East Coast can be..
Boston (no car needed as the airport is just across the water and Boston itself is very compact). 3 days
A walk to the 4 hour train to NY, arriving in PennStation, 2 blocks from Times Sq.
NY. 3 days.
A walk to Penn Station and a 4 hour train to Washington DC, A cab to Chrystal City, just across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial and right next to R Reagan Airport. From her it is a $5 taxi to the Mall, so no car needed.
D.C. 3 days.
A flight (direct) fro Reagan and into MCO. Should cost no more than £80pp plus baggage.
12 days in Orlando to do what you normally do.

West Coast can be..
Fly into San Francisco and exit from San Diego. You will need a car!
You can take in
SFO for 3 days
Monterey
San Simeon
Pismo
Solvang
Universal
Warner Bros studio tour.
Disney 2 days
San Diego 5 days.
Flight home from San Diego or..
Carlsbad (legoland)
Long Beach (night on Queen Mary)
Santa Monica (Hollywood tour from there before flight home from LAX which is invariably in the evening).

These plans might seem rather new to you at first, but I can provide nearly all of the research, ready made.

For East Coast look at the Boston trip report in my signature, but cut out the Dayton Ohio bit. I have additionally travelled by AMTRAC to D.C, and stayed as detailed, but regretably I never did a trip report.

For West Coast view in my signature.
California N to South at Easter.
The link to my California, Arizona, Nevada trip report whilst omitting everything from Hollywood onwards .
In the California pre trip reports section, look at my two further planned trips that were cancelled, they are roughly 3rd and 4th from the top.

I am not saying that you will mimic any of it, but they may well give you some ideas from which to formulate your own plans. All are single thread reports and thus, hopefully easy to read if you skip the comments parts and stick to the report texts.

Hoping this helps and any questions... you only need ask!

[KarenG]

Hi there!

You are going to burn a lot of your holiday travelling - a whole day basically door to door each coast change so I would definitely pair New York next to Orlando.

When you say California that’s a really really short trip, do you just want to do LA and Anaheim for Disneyland?

Would you be open to being persuaded to ditch Orlando and concentrate on California?

Are you literally just after theme parks rather than anything else?

Two or three nights is short for New York - I would do three as a minimum.

If you do New York at the end it’s a nice short flight home - but it’s exhausting so that can be a good reason to do it at the start.

I think if you’re set on all three I would probably do LA first, then Orlando, then finish in New York (though I wouldn’t pair the three places in one holiday but that’s just me).

We find sleeping five in a room a lot pricier in New York. There are a lot of suite type accommodation very close to Disneyland (walking distance or a short shuttle) so you’ll be fine there. In New York you might possibly find two rooms is cheaper than one room sleeping five (we did).

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by Bianca

Hi Sounds fab!

I'd definitely end with the Orlando stay.

The California and NYC legs could be pretty tiring (especially added together). I'd start off with lots of fresh holiday energy for those and, then, have some R&R time in Orlando, as well as park time of course!

See more...

I would certainly put LA and New York together at the start if it wasn’t for the difference in time zones and having to criss cross the country (extra time and possibly cost)

[KarenG]

I dug out a recent thread which gave some good options for five in a room in NYC - hope it helps!

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...=New+York+five

[Bianca]

Originally Posted by KarenG

I would certainly put LA and New York together at the start if it wasn’t for the difference in time zones and having to criss cross the country (extra time and possibly cost)

See more...

They want to visit all three, so there's going to be criss-crossing and different time zones however it's organised. Unless I've misunderstood your post somehow? ETA: I agree it's a lot to do and I'd probably stick with east or west.

OP, You could fly into NYC and spend a few nights there -- then fly over to Cali for a bit -- then back to Orlando and fly home from there (but that would be more expensive) or hop back up to NY to fly home. ... Or, if you've had a good rest in Orlando, save the NYC part for the end before flying home. That might be the neatest package, so-to-speak and the best value flights.

Which leg are you most excited for? Maybe start with that?

P.S. The kids are a great age for this trip and can help with the ins and outs of all the travelling.

[cornishfrogboy]

Reply #3 is now complete for your perusal. Sorry that it is long winded!

[landandword17]

Here's my 2c. It's a long flight from California to New York and then the clocks go forward 3 hours. If you take a day flight from LA you lose a day travelling, if you take a night flight you may not all sleep on board and be exhausted the next day. 2 nights you'll be shattered. You need 4 nights imo if you want to really explore the city.

You'll need to decide if you want to base yourselves in Anaheim/Disney and do a trip to Universal and maybe a trip to one of the beach towns or if you want to base yourselves in LA and just pop to Disney for a day or two.

You could fly into LAX and home from Orlando. You can get your own internal flights from Los Angeles to NY and NY down to Florida. We love Jetblue but you have a load of options, check google flight search for an idea.

[duchy]

I’d do the busy bits first so start with LA then NYC and finish in Orlando where if you’ve run yourself ragged you have time for chilling in the villa before hitting the theme parks.