Sydney - New York - Washington - DisneyWorld - Niagara Falls - what order?

[willymaykett]

Hi all,

Looking at trying to plan a trip ex Sydney to New York - Washington - DisneyWorld - Niagara Falls, and was wondering what the best order would be, keeping in mind the most cost effective way. From what I have seen so far, it may prove difficult to route them. I will be paying fares, (not enough FF points left in the cookie jar anymore since last trip).

Anyone tried a similar route? Any advice welcome

Thanks Wil

 

[The Rok]

How about Sydney - Singapore- London- Washington-Orlando-Los Angela's- Sydney as a RTW fare?

Or the other way.

 

[thommo9]

I assume when you say Washington, you mean Washington DC and not Washington state?

If DC, obviously try group NYC, DC and Niagra together. You could Amtrak train from NYC to DC then DC to Niagra then either Niagra back to DC or NYC then to Disney World after?

 

[Blackadder]

If you want the most direct route SYD-DFW-JFK/LGA/EWR the as others mentioned, look at AMTRAK for Washington DC/Niagara Falls or look at hiring a car for the roundtrip, then fly to Orlando and Disney World.

 

[NM]

I second the suggesiton to consider using Amtrak for the travel between DC, NY and Niagrar. You can cross to Niagrar (in canada) on the train, completing boarder processing on the train. Then you can fly out from Toronto if you like. I did this with my family (7 of us travelling) and would take the same option again. We drove from Orlando up the east coast and eventually into DC. Then dropped the hire car at BWI airport as the rental car deal was airport-to-airport and BWI is co-located with an Amtrak station making an easy car drop-off and onto the train. Took the train to NY and stayed a few days, then the train to Niagara. Then picked up another rentail car and drove to Toronto for departure.

 

[psi999]

We did a similar trip couple of years ago - but ill concentrate on Niagra.

Early morning flight from LGA (NYC) to BUF (Buffalo), hired a car and drove to the falls (sub 1hr).

Checked out the falls from the US side then crossed into Canada for lunch (Canada is the more spectacular side) then back over the bridge to the US for 'maid of the mist' trip.

Jumped back in the car and headed back to BUF and caught a late flight to BOS (Boston) or on your case somewhere else on your list (D.C?)

We saw everything there was to see and didn't feel rushed - can be comprehensively covered in 1day (we were on a tight time frame).

 

[Timtammi]

I did a similar trip about 12 years ago now with my then 5 and 10 year old children and DH. We flew into NY, took Amtrak up to Niagra (very scenic from memory) then Amtrak back again down to Washington (I think we went back through NY), stayed in Washington and then Amtraked all the way down the east coast. Stopping in Charleston, Savannah, Orlando (for DW) and all the way to Miami. after that we picked up a car and drove out to the keys. It was fab! Amtrak was relatively cheap, great with the kids and we got to see a lot of things!

Cheers

Timmi

 

[willymaykett]

thank you all for the responses thus far.

Did a SYD-LAX-San Fran - London - Amsterdam - Paris - Syd trip last year, kids want to go to Disney World after being at Disney Land. (It was a great trip BTW )

Might explore the Amtrak option mentioned by Timtammi, sounds good. Wonder what it is like on Amtrak these days (given you mentioned it was 12 years ago).

What is flying domestically like in US? Cheap or expensive? Want to try and keep any travel times low, so can "get best value for money" as the boss would say

Any recommended car hires? as I have heard some stories about car rental practices in the US.

Thanks

 

[thommo9]

I travelled Amtrak twice in my last trip to the US. Once from New York Penn to Union Station DC in Standard seating and for that trip (approx 3 hours), was perfect. Plenty of leg room (This was on the NE Regional and not the Acela). Then Union Station DC to Back Bay Boston overnight. Booked Business Class seating (again, on NE Regional) to get some rest and got some good sleep.

Niagara obviously isn't an overnight but Amtrak would be perfect. Penn Station in Manhattan, easy to get to by many subway lines. Obvious choice from NYC to Niagara then Niagara to DC.

 

[AV8]

....
Any recommended car hires? as I have heard some stories about car rental practices in the US.

Thanks

Hired thru Argus.com Christmas 2011 at Orlando Airport (National was the supplier of the minivan) - great vehicle, excellent rates with all insurances included - will be hiring again from Argus later this year in USA again.

 

[Gremlin]

We did almost the same itin in Sept last year. Travelled with Little Miss Four and Master Six, so wanted to minimise travel times as best we could.

We bought an open jaw return BNE-xLAX-MCO // YYZ-xLAX-BNE and then separately bought MCO-DCA and LGA-YYZ and took Amtrak from Washington DC to New York Penn. Hired a car at YYZ to see Niagara Falls (and other parts of Southern Ontario). We considered Amtrak from New York to Niagara Falls, but it was going to make for too long a train journey with the kids. Had it been just Mrs Gremlin and I, we probably would've done it that way...

 

[jgm]

Did a SYD-LAX-San Fran - London - Amsterdam - Paris - Syd trip last year, kids want to go to Disney World after being at Disney Land. (It was a great trip BTW )

We've been to Disneyland 4 or 5 times, & went to Disney World in March last year. I wasn't all that impressed. For us, the main issues were:
1. The crowds - Disney World is far more crowded than Disneyland, & for all the extra space, the only real differences are the dining options & world pavilions at Epcot (sort of like a mini expo), and the Animal Kingdom which is just a zoo with a few extra rides. Of the remaining attractions, most are the same, with just a few missing from Disney World & a couple of extras.
2. It's nowhere near as easy to get around as Disneyland. There are monorail & boats to take you between Magic Kingdom & Epcot, but you have to travel on buses on public roads to get to downtown Disney & Animal Kingdom. Unless you are staying at one of the upper class disney resorts, you are also on buses, and the travel times on all them is usually at least a 20 minute trip.
3. The Disney bus service is a shambles. Expect a 20 minute wait for the right bus most of the time, & double or triple that at peak times.
4. The place is full of boombahs all riding on hired mobility scooters. They ride them to the next attraction, park them & then waddle into the attraction. It's not that they can't walk, they're just too lazy.
5. We went straight from skiing in Colorado, & couldn't believe it would be so hot in what was late winter. The temperature hovered around 28 deg C nearly every day, & we were thankful when we could get a breeze or a bit of shade.

Would I go there again? No. I would pick Disneyland every time.

 

[Timtammi]

For info on trains on the east coast of the US check out this site A guide to train travel in the USA | Coast to coast by Amtrak from $193

Cheers

Timmi

 

[AV8]

We've been to Disneyland 4 or 5 times, & went to Disney World in March last year. I wasn't all that impressed. For us, the main issues were:
1. The crowds - Disney World is far more crowded than Disneyland, & for all the extra space, the only real differences are the dining options & world pavilions at Epcot (sort of like a mini expo), and the Animal Kingdom which is just a zoo with a few extra rides. Of the remaining attractions, most are the same, with just a few missing from Disney World & a couple of extras.
2. It's nowhere near as easy to get around as Disneyland. There are monorail & boats to take you between Magic Kingdom & Epcot, but you have to travel on buses on public roads to get to downtown Disney & Animal Kingdom. Unless you are staying at one of the upper class disney resorts, you are also on buses, and the travel times on all them is usually at least a 20 minute trip.
3. The Disney bus service is a shambles. Expect a 20 minute wait for the right bus most of the time, & double or triple that at peak times.
4. The place is full of boombahs all riding on hired mobility scooters. They ride them to the next attraction, park them & then waddle into the attraction. It's not that they can't walk, they're just too lazy.
5. We went straight from skiing in Colorado, & couldn't believe it would be so hot in what was late winter. The temperature hovered around 28 deg C nearly every day, & we were thankful when we could get a breeze or a bit of shade.

Would I go there again? No. I would pick Disneyland every time.

I would second these comments - did Disneyworld Xmas/Jan 2011 - not worth the additional travel time across USA just for this - Anaheim is much more compact and feels more like the Happiest Place on Earth.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I have done BOS NYC DCA on the Acela, business class. Plan early get a good rate. Not bad but certainly not Shinkansen style.

 

[willymaykett]

Thanks all for the tips.

Got me thinking as to whether or not the extra expense to disney World is all that worth it now. (Was planning for about 7 days, 4 days for DisneyWorld, then some other days for a day trip to Miami, perhaps Kennedy as well for a day. Since I plan on going over to the East Coast for NY and Washington DC, if I choose not to go down to Florida, any other ideas instead?

Thanks

 

[Skyring]

I enjoyed Disneyworld last April. There were five of us and we started from Gainesville - home of Sister Hazel - spent the morning and lunch at Kennedy and Disneyworld in the afternoon and evening. A long day, but some fabulous times and photographs.

We saw the last space shuttle on the pad, well, just the tip of the ET, and if we'd arrived earlier or had longer we would have gone for the extended bus tour that went a bit closer. Eating lunch under a Saturn V was a highlight of the trip for me. We also saw eagles and alligators. We listed to Mary Roach's book "Packing for Mars" on the way and it was a great backgrounder to the trip.

Disneyworld wasn't a long drive. Vast car parks and a hike to the shuttle bus, then ferryboat. Crowded, not so much, but certainly busy. Had a ball, and believe it or not, the part I loved best was the Mad Hatter's Tea Party ride. So corny! Lots of themed food and drink options, souvenir shops out the wazoo, we even got on a few rides. Saw the evening parade from a distance, loved the fireworks and by the time we got our party all back together and located our van, I have zero memory of the nearby chain hotel where we spent the night. Only a short drive up to Charleston the next day, thank goodness, where it happened to be the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War and I made a happy goose of myself.

I'd spend more time for both, if I had the time (we didn't). And I'd maybe book into a Disney hotel. But will likely visit Disneyland with my wife next time - it sounds nicer than DisneyWorld.

Doing a paid RTW trip, I'd be looking at taking more flights, not fewer. Six flights within North America, and I used to take QF108 JFK-LAX-SYD, which doesn't count against that total and is just a single leg. The USA on a DONE4 is great for status credits and air miles, as the D books into domestic F on AA. Bounce around the US and rack up the miles.

 

[The Rok]

Cape Canaveral really requires a full day to do the complete tour, but it's well worth it. I have family in Miami and spend a lot of time there so I have seen too much of it to be novelty anymore. If doing Disney then just pick maybe three separate parks and spend a day in each, you will never get it all in. Universal Studios as wall as MGM Studios is well worth the visit. MGM is in Disney but Universal is a different centre altogether.

 

[willymaykett]

Thanks all,

So far got the following mapped out, subject to change of course!

NY - 4 nights, Toronto - 1 night, Washington DC - 3 nights, Orlando - 7 nights, Hawaii - 4 nights.

Spoke with one of the guys who recently went to NY, his view was spend 1 night tops at DC, and spend another 2 at NY. He wasn't much fussed with DC, did a day trip and was happy with that. Toronto is for the falls, may look at staying at the falls, iteself, not sure yet.

Any comments?

 

[Skyring]

Spoke with one of the guys who recently went to NY, his view was spend 1 night tops at DC, and spend another 2 at NY. He wasn't much fussed with DC, did a day trip and was happy with that. Toronto is for the falls, may look at staying at the falls, iteself, not sure yet.

If you've been to Surfers Paradise, you've been to Niagara Falls. The place is tacky. The falls themselves are a grand sight, and the Maid of the Mist ride is fun with a blue plastic jacket. Toronto is Sydney without the Harbour. Niagara on the Lake is one of the sweetest little villages you could hope to find. Icewine is worth a taste.

New York, I could spend a year poking around and not run out of things to do. It's that sort of place, with a story on every street corner.

DC: my first visit there was six days and I could have doubled that easily. There are some fantastic museums and galleries and sights around. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial is to stand in majesty. The two huge Air and Space Museums are a must for anyone with the slightest interest in planes.

Orlando, I dunno. For myself, a day at Kennedy, a day or two at Disneyworld, maybe a swamp tour.

Hawai'i. Again, Waikiki is Surfers Paradise without the golden beach. Tacky. Pearl Harbor is worth a look, but the feeling there is that nuking civilian Japan was legitimate payback for a military attack, and I felt quite uncomfortable with that, having been to Hiroshima a week or so earlier. Getting away to one of the other islands for a night or two could be good value.

I'm never going to put together the perfect holiday anyway. My philosophy is that if I miss something, I'll catch it next time around.

But you'd have to go out of your way to be miserable with the destinations you've selected. You'll do just fine.

Actually, one bit of advice, and you've got to be a really geeky kind of guy to follow it, is to buy the National Parks Passport and hunt down the stamps for national parks, monuments, buildings and so on. I bought the big Explorer book at Antietam last year and had a lot of fun at the various visitors centres. If you have any interest in history, you'll find all sorts of amazing places, often with a cafe and clean toilets attached.