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sberkan

sberkan

Says "yes" to new adventures...
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Dec 23, 2014
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Hi all! I'm going to use you all as travel agents for our upcoming trip this summer :). I am looking for advice on a few things. One...money saving tips for food/lodging/tickets. Two...advice on which tourist places we must hit up (what's overrated, what's underrated) and local places that are awesome and the tourists usually miss.

Here's our destinations...we will be gone for seven weeks and are planning on spending a few days in each place (some more than others). There are 6 of us - two adults and four boys ages 3-10.

Toronto, ON
Niagara Falls, ON
New York City
Watkins Glen, NY
Charlotte, NC
Washington, DC
Orlando, FL (we'll likely spend 2 days at WDW, 1 Universal, 1 LEGO land, 1 Kennedy Space Centre)
Key West, FL
Boston, MA
Montreal, QC
Quebec City, QC

Thanks for any help and tips!
 
ok, I have ONE piece of advice...... as I havent been to most...... TAKE ME with YOU!!!!!!!!! LOL
this is an amazing trip!!!!!!!!!!
goes this mean no scrapping for the duration?
I can imagine how bust you will be when back!!!!
Look forward to the pages after!!!!!!!
 
MrsPeel said:
goes this mean no scrapping for the duration?
I can imagine how bust you will be when back!!!!
Look forward to the pages after!!!!!!!
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I haven't decided yet...gotta figure out which computers we'll be taking along ;)
 
I added a huge list on FB! :) Hoping some of it works for you! Sounds like a wonderful vacation! I want to stowaway in the luggage!
 
I'm a huge fan of using AirBnb vs a hotel. Usually you can find a room in someone's house that's closer to the attractions you want to visit for a lot less than a hotel. I went to a convention and to Disneyland in Anaheim last spring and stayed with a lovely couple who lived a mile from the DL entrance. For $65 a night I was within walking distance and had an awesome place to stay in a safe neighborhood, and my hosts were awesome. Both the guest and the host review each other, and all of those reviews are available on the site, so it's really easy to tell the crummy places from the really good ones, too.
 
Oh, and for Disney World tickets, it's almost impossible to get them with a discount. Undercover Tourist is one of the only places to get them, and it's still a small discount. Better than nothing, though!
 
I'll be back later on for a full description of things to do in Toronto, but for now I leave you with these tidbits ...

sberkan said:
Niagara Falls, ON
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The Falls are better on the Canadian side. Just sayin'. :) It's been a very long time since I was out there, so I'm not sure what there is to do in the town of Niagara Falls, but there is the famous Maid of the Mist boat trip that takes you right up to the Falls.

Also, about 25 minutes away there is a lovely town called Niagara-on-the-Lake, with lots of cute stores & nice restaurants. It's wine country around there, too!

In between the two places there's a park called Queenston Heights & it has a nice view over the Niagara River, and across the river is the US. That might be kind of fun for the kids to see their country so close!


sberkan said:
New York City
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The original Winnie-the-Pooh & his friends that inspired AA Milne to write about Winnie-the-Pooh are on display in the children's library in the basement of the New York City Library branch in Bryant Park. Bryant Park is nice. There's a cute merry-go-round, & the library building is huge!
 
Oh, and you should really start planning for your Disney trip now! Things get extremely busy in the summer!
http://wdwprepschool.com

Dining reservations start 180 days in advance, so if you want to eat at one of the really popular spots, you'll need a reservation! FastPass reservations for rides start 60 days in advance.

Sign up for the MouseSavers newsletter, too. They'll alert you to any good deals for Disney World & other attractions.

If you want to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, you'll need tickets for both Universal Parks (yeah, I didn't know there were two parks either!) Diagon Alley is in one park, and Hogsmeade & Hogwarts are in the other park. The Hogwarts Express train takes you between both parks.
 
@MelanieB Have you done Universal in one day? We're definitely interested in the Harry Potter experience but we probably only have one day there - is it worth the park hopper ticket?

Thanks for the reminder about Winnie the Pooh, too! I love him and I'd totally forgotten that tidbit!
 
Some might disagree, but we found the New York Passes really nice to use on our trip to NYC last summer. They might be worth considering if you plan on trying to hit a bunch of places within a short period of time. We got three day passes and got to see a ton... plus several of the places had special, shorter lines for pass holders. I would just price out what you would like to do and see how those entry fees compare to the pass price. If they're close, it might be worth it to get the pass with the short line benefit, plus you might find yourself popping into a couple extra attractions that you might have otherwise skipped since they're included. That applied to us... it killed me to pay admission to the Discovery exhibit and the wax museum, but since they were included, we went to both and the kids LOVED the wax museum.
 
That sounds like a fun trip!!
My only advice - make sure you get in the photos too!
 
You're coming to DC? Yay!!! There's so much to do here. It would help knowing how many days you'll be here because there is so much to do. I used to be a DC tour guide, so I can help you plan something around your interests.

If you're just going to be here a few days, the big things are 1) the Monuments & Arlington Cemetery, 2) Capitol Hill, and 3) the Smithsonian (you could easily spend one day per museum). If you want to do a White House and/or US Capitol tour and don't want do the daily lottery for tickets, contact your congressman/senator for tickets. They are timed, and there's no waiting in line. Otherwise, I'd just go to the Visitor Centers and skip the tour.

You'll want to stay somewhere near a Metro so you won't have to drive. Driving in DC is crazy insane with all the one way streets and traffic circles, you can get lost just by making one wrong turn. Get a pass on an on-and-off tour bus that'll bring you to the "big" sites, such as the Old Town Trolley Tours or the Big Bus. The DC Circulator is another good choice - you pay per ride, but it's very inexpensive. Just remember that DC is a good walking town, and cabs are everywhere.

If you have more time there's Mount Vernon in Virginia, the Washington National Cathedral, and Ft. McHenry in Baltimore.

As for hotels... Arlington, VA has a lot of places near metro stops (Courthouse, Ballston, Crystal City, Pentagon City, Old Town).

This is just a start, so feel free to ask more questions!
 
What an amazing trip!

There's a place in Key West where my sister got the most amazing donuts that she has raved and raved about . . . I'll have to ask her what the name of it is, as well as any other places she suggests.
 
MelanieB said:
Maid of the Mist boat trip that takes you right up to the Falls.
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Lol. You really haven't been in awhile! It's not called the Maid of the Mist anymore, but it's the same boat ride.
Depending on your dates, check to see if the fireworks are going on over the Falls. The light displays are cool, but the fireworks are awesome!

I love Boston. It's another walking town. Something to be aware of, quite a few streets are still cobblestones, so wear good sneakers! I adored the children's museum. You have to read the book Make Way for Ducklings, and go see the duck statues at Boston Common. The swan boats are very touristy, but still fun, and pretty cheap. Are you looking to see the history? It's very easy to walk the freedom trail without paying for a tour. If you have time, Salem, Mass is one of my favorite places and only about 45 minutes from Boston. You could easily spend a day there.

My biggest recommendation would be to see if you can get a museum pass with reciprocal agreements. I know some of the agreements cross the border. They can save you money at museums!

And I'm totally jealous of your trip. I hope you have a blast!
 
@QuiltyMom We'll be in DC for about a week. We're Canadian so we don't get to tour the White House but we can apparently tour the Pentagon so we're going to try for that! I know that DH and my oldest are very excited for the Air & Space Museum so we'll try to hit both campuses. Mount Vernon looks neat and so does that cathedral!

@gonewiththewind Mmmm...donuts. That'd be awesome!

@bestcee My DH is all about history, though not necessarily this era...but still. They don't have fireworks dates out for the falls yet, but I'm really hoping they'll have some while we're there!
 
Sounds like a fabulous summer!
You can do Universal in one day, but you have to plan, plan, plan! My daughter went on the blogs and did a lot of research so we could fit in what we wanted to see. We did not go during the summer though, and it was still crowded! Other parts of the park were fairly empty, but the HP part had tons of people. I think it was touringplans.com that had the sample plans. You could pay and get specific plans for your group, so we did do that since we were only going to Orlando and had a 7 person group of a wide age range.
Definitely sign up for the mousesavers newsletter. it does get you a couple of dollars off of the Disney tickets using their link to undercover tourist.
Have fun!
 
sberkan said:
@QuiltyMom We'll be in DC for about a week. We're Canadian so we don't get to tour the White House but we can apparently tour the Pentagon so we're going to try for that! I know that DH and my oldest are very excited for the Air & Space Museum so we'll try to hit both campuses. Mount Vernon looks neat and so does that cathedral!
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A week is good! I can help you come up with some day plans that you can choose from, then we can go from there to get you a schedule that you'll be happy with.

The Udvar-Hazy Museum (Air and Space Annex) is very nice, but it's about 1/2+ hour drive from the Air & Space Museum in DC. There's nothing else out in that area to see, but it is well worth the trip.

Just remember that summers in DC are hot, muggy and humid. Sticky hot. And we get a lot of rain, so rain ponchos are a good idea, as well as good walking shoes that can get wet. Also, just as a FYI, you'll have to go through security of some sort when you go into most venues, especially any federal buildings.
 
We spent a couple of days in Charlotte when my hubby was on a business trip. The kids and I enjoyed the Children's museum. http://www.discoveryplace.org/ My kids were ages 4-9 when we went. It was about 4 years ago.

I will add that we stayed right down town, and I felt completely comfortable walking around downtown by myself with my girls...there were lots of little things to see and explore.
 
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