Vacationing With The 5-8 Year Old Crowd

From Baby to Young Child, Welcome 5-8 Year Old Adventures!

What is happening, my baby is not a baby anymore! While sad, it is also a really exciting time in which your travel opportunities and experiences really start expanding. Your kids may still enjoy some of the activities we highlighted for the previous age bracket here, but things start to get a little more exciting.

For starters, you may be able to now travel without a stroller and, should you need a car seat, you can get creative and get a couple of these travel seats that you can also use as back up car seats at home (we LOVE how small they are and how easy they are to transport).

With gear on hand, where should one go? Here are some ideas of things we have done:

Florida (or California if that is closer to you!):

• Legoland Hotel and Park – I know it does not often get the best reviews and this hotel is pricey (last time was about $700 a night with 2 day park entry for 4 people, breakfast included) for what it is but, this is so far the favorite spot ever for my younger kids (he is REALLY Lego obsessed). One night is enough at the hotel and get two full days of the park, which enables you to do it all including the  water park (purchased separately). Also don’t miss the gardens inside the park, they have an incredible Banyan tree that is most definitely worth the visit. Just be sure you check the calendar as there are days the park(s) are closed. Also check height requirements if your child is into intro roller-coasters! I don’t think it would be much fun for kids 8+ though.

• Disney Parks – We thoroughly enjoyed the couple of visits to the parks we did during this age range, especially Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach (seriously my kids loved those water parks). We were not as impressed with Animal Kingdom (though still worth the visit at least once when younger) and Epcot was a hit with my older child (in this range) and the nerdy adults. In addition I recommend doing a quick lunch visit to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and trying one of their delicious restaurants while looking at the beautiful animals.Once we stayed at a swanky 3 bed rental condo off property (Celebration) to fit in grandparents and us and most recent we stayed at the Port Of New Orleans Resort,  which we really enjoyed. We drove down so we had a car, making things much easier. As for tickets, we went for the Magic Kingdom + Add Water Park Fun and More Options, which was plenty to do both parks, MK and one day at the pool in a total of 4 days. Finally, I get really cranky with crowds and long waits, and, being a super planner I absolutely loved, LOVED (for about $12 bucks per year) planning my days to minimize wait times with the touringplans app and maximizing the use of our time with fast-passes. This includes getting to the parks a little before opening time and checking crowd calendars for expected levels. Disney or Undercover Tourist may also have a similar app (perhaps free) but I did not try them.
• Disney Cruise – Until last year I had never been on a cruise so I was a little nervous to go on one and feel trapped. To start, we decided on a 3 day Disney Cruise to Bahamas and the Castaway Island on the Disney Dream. It was really pricey (around $4.6k for 4 of us) but we did splurge to have a room with extra large verandah and on the optional adults only restaurant that costs more, which was awesome. My kids, husband and I had a really lovely time (adults you must try  Remy! A total highlight) though I don’t think we will do this one again.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico:

Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta. I adore Mexico, especially the Pacific Coast. Few places beat the friendly people, great food and amazing sunsets with warm beaches. I cannot wait to try this hotel in 2017, which is a new unique all inclusive hotel.  My to do list will be: Plop yourself at a beach chair and do NADA except for eating.

Costs: Now, the total price tag for 6 days 7 nights came to about $8k. Gasp! Flights were about $950 per person 2016 (from Southern USA), x 4 = $3,800, whereas the hotel was ‘on sale’ from about $1k per night to $500-$600 per day (depending on the days), all inclusive for 4.  Add cost of transportation to and from airport and a few extras for water sports, etc. and you have a crazy mess for your budget.

I was able to push this down to a more reasonable budget of about $3.4k by using miles for our tickets (combination of American Airlines and Thank you Points from Citi), to a total under $180 (for taxes only) and by booking the hotel with my Citi Prestige card we were able to get the 4th night free (refunded).

If you wanted to go even cheaper, you could use Hyatt points for this hotel, just keep in mind that points are only valid for 2 adults (yes including the all inclusive), you would still have to pay for 2 kids (in my case). I am saving my Hyatt points for another trip the year after, so for now, I am ok with this budget range (heck cheaper than the 3 day Disney Cruise, even with us driving there).

Montreal & Quebec, Canada:

Montreal:  You dream about going to Europe with the family but are overwhelmed at the though of taking your kids on such long plane (and cost) not knowing how they will react? Why not start with our neighbors to the north during summer break?  After doing more research on this I was amazed I never considered Montreal a good place to take kids before – it has so much to offer! We are staying at Le Saint Sulpice Montreal, hope to try both famous bagel places – Fairmount and St Viateur, plus Schwartz’s Deli. I will also try to sneak in a visit to Divine Chocolatier. This is our list of potential activities:

• Day 1. Espace Pour La Vie:   This is likely an all day ordeal. This is the description of the place: “Together, the Biodôme, Insectarium, Botanical Garden and Planetarium form a place where nature and science are honoured, a Space for Life. It’s a participatory movement and it’s also a commitment to better understand and protect our planet’s biodiversity.” While there, we will also visit the Olympic Park and its funicular.

• Day 2. Options include to rent a bike or walk around Old Port Montreal, Notre Dame Basilica, Science Center + IMAX, Museum of Anthropology And History, and Chinatown.

• Day 3. Park Jean Drapeau, La Ronde, Biosphere Environmental Museum. If time permits Atwater market.

• Day 4. Mount Royal Park, St Joseph Oratory, Redpath Museum,  Jean Talon market, Little Italy.

Quebec: We are hoping to rent a car and drive to Quebec, staying four days at these awesome St Joseph Lofts. As far as activities we have, Old Quebec, Place Royal, Rue du Petit, Benjo Toy store, Aquarium, Citadelle and Changing of the Guard,  Museum of Civilization, Levy Ferry and if available and kids are up for it I would love to do a ghost tour!

We may also do a trip to Chute Montmorency and Canyon Sainte-Anne and, if time permits a day at Village Vacances Valcartier Center.

Costs (both cities): So far my budget for this trip is coming to about $6.5k (that already includes the use of 4th night free for both hotels, once) but I want to get that down to under $4.5k if possible by using miles for flights (those get pricey with taxes!). One could also fly to Burlington and drive or take a short bus to Montreal, to save some $. That new budget would leave about $2k extra for travel next year for a weekend trip somewhere near (we would drive and use our Marriott certificates for 2 nights of hotel, but I digress).

Phew. That is a lot of travel!