Travel: USA - Florida/Orlando

[Honey]

Actually the whole long haul flight to US is usually broken up unless you fly direct. It's usually from SIN to either Japan/Hong Kong/Seoul/Taipei (if you fly via EVA Air which is a very good choice), transit for a few hours, could be as short as 2 hours then another 10 or 11 hours to US, usually embark at airports in California. If Transit in Japan/Seoul, it is about 7 hours from here to Narita Airport & then you get off the plane for around 2 hours then board the next lap of 10 - 11 hours to either SF, LA, Vegas (depends) on where you are embarking in US.


If transit in HK, it's about 4 hours then the next lap to US, if transit in Taipei it's 6 hours then another lap to US. So it isn't that long. Choose airlines with inflight entertainment with individual screens. The airlines would usually give our fun packs to keep the kids occupied for a while. Bring along your craft work, colouring books, story books, PSB or whatever. They eat, sleep, wake up in the plane, a new novety .They may like it. My ds was 6 when we went to Orlando with my dd being 9 at that time. That journey was 22 - 23 hours (with 2 transits) but he & his sister had a blast of a time on the plane .

The U S has alot to offer for a family vacation. Accommodation & food are inexpensive with lots of shopping thrown in. There are many parks for walks as well. My suggestion is to go to Anaheim (Disneyland & Knott's Berry Farm), San Diego (Sea World & Zoo) & to San Francisco (you can either drive up to SF, take domestic flight or explore taking the Amtrak Train ride up (it offers alot of scenic views along the way & the kids get to go on different modes of transport). San Francisco has alot to offer, can easily spend up to 5 days as a family there.

Explore & have fun.

[jtoh]

tankee:

ya, the queue was so long that we decided to skip Ollivanders Wand Shop.


what's in there?

It's a recreation of Ollivanders Wand Shop, the little shop that Harry and his friends buy their wands from. The interior is pretty faithful to the movie version with boxes of wands stacked everywhere, stairs etc. Ollivander will pick someone from the audience for the wand experience, ie this person gets to see which wand chooses him.

[micollh]

MandyMummy:

micollh:

ok i think i better not stress myself/kids with the long journey. thansk doplhinsiah and mandymummy.. i plan nearer route first..will go HK in Nov this year.. im planning for next year trip.. heee..

Have a good trip. Your kids will enjoy Disneyland and Ocean Park. When you bring them to USA, they can compare the size of the Disneyland and will enjoy LA Disneyland even more.
Have fun. :rahrah:

thanks mandymummy ! yes i heard a lot abt the DL in LA..

[micollh]

Honey:

Actually the whole long haul flight to US is usually broken up unless you fly direct. It's usually from SIN to either Japan/Hong Kong/Seoul/Taipei (if you fly via EVA Air which is a very good choice), transit for a few hours, could be as short as 2 hours then another 10 or 11 hours to US, usually embark at airports in California. If Transit in Japan/Seoul, it is about 7 hours from here to Narita Airport & then you get off the plane for around 2 hours then board the next lap of 10 - 11 hours to either SF, LA, Vegas (depends) on where you are embarking in US.


If transit in HK, it's about 4 hours then the next lap to US, if transit in Taipei it's 6 hours then another lap to US. So it isn't that long. Choose airlines with inflight entertainment with individual screens. The airlines would usually give our fun packs to keep the kids occupied for a while. Bring along your craft work, colouring books, story books, PSB or whatever. They eat, sleep, wake up in the plane, a new novety .They may like it. My ds was 6 when we went to Orlando with my dd being 9 at that time. That journey was 22 - 23 hours (with 2 transits) but he & his sister had a blast of a time on the plane .

The U S has alot to offer for a family vacation. Accommodation & food are inexpensive with lots of shopping thrown in. There are many parks for walks as well. My suggestion is to go to Anaheim (Disneyland & Knott's Berry Farm), San Diego (Sea World & Zoo) & to San Francisco (you can either drive up to SF, take domestic flight or explore taking the Amtrak Train ride up (it offers alot of scenic views along the way & the kids get to go on different modes of transport). San Francisco has alot to offer, can easily spend up to 5 days as a family there.

Explore & have fun.

thanks dear for sharing.... so tempting lor..

[parent_in_west]

Agree with Honey that California has a lot to offer for a family vacation. Kids and adults will love some of the museums in San Francisco itself. You can spend the whole day at the Exploratium, an interactive Science museum and the California Academy of Sciences, a must-go! It has a wide range of live animals on exhibit. Definitely worth every single penny!

http://www.calacademy.org/

My family loved going to the Fisherman's Wharf for a walk too.

[kyy]

Has anyone tried using their iphones in Orlando by inserting in a local Sim card and buying a pay-as-you-go calls and data plan? Any recommendation as to which mobile provider and plan is best for tourist who needs it for only a week?


Has anyone tried any of these plans before? Feedback appreciated. Thanks

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-by-the-day-cell-phone-plans

[parent_in_west]

Not really sure of the mobile phone plans. Heard from a friend who just returned from Orlando that Legoland is open. Island of Adventures by Universal Studio is also very popular with adults. Many people went there because of the Harry Potter attraction. My friend said that the buildings were just like the movies!

Will plan to go there soon.

[Laura02]

We're just back from Orlando. It was really fun! But the cold front moved in while we were there, and tempretures dropped to 5oC at night! But we were prepared and just piled on the layers (up to 5 layers at night!!)

I discovered that in US, they're preety relaxed about domestic flights. If you're late for your flight, just check in for the next available one. They're rather relaxed about our luggage too - Continental didn't tag one of ours on the flight fr Huston to Orland - so it didn't arrive till 24hr after we did. Good thing we had sets of clothes in both luggages. Then it misplaced our friends' golf bag on the return journey ... but it was found just as we were starting to really panic.
Shopping was good too - just try not to think about how much was already spent on plane tickets

[Dnls_mum]

Laura02:

We're just back from Orlando. It was really fun! But the cold front moved in while we were there, and tempretures dropped to 5oC at night! But we were prepared and just piled on the layers (up to 5 layers at night!!)

I discovered that in US, they're preety relaxed about domestic flights. If you're late for your flight, just check in for the next available one. They're rather relaxed about our luggage too - Continental didn't tag one of ours on the flight fr Huston to Orland - so it didn't arrive till 24hr after we did. Good thing we had sets of clothes in both luggages. Then it misplaced our friends' golf bag on the return journey ... but it was found just as we were starting to really panic.
Shopping was good too - just try not to think about how much was already spent on plane tickets

Laura02,
The flght from SG to Houston arrives in Houston around 2.15pm, and I notice that the next continetal flight to Orlando departs at 3.40pm. Were these the flights that you took? did you have enough stopover time?

[Laura02]

Actually, we were really kiasu and booked the one that left at 6 plus. We regretted that decision because our flight landed half an hour earlier and we’d been in time to catch the earlier flight. And most frequent fliers to the states said to give at least 2 hr between connecting flights to get everything done. But if you want to try - tell the flight stewardess that you have a connecting flight and ask them if they can help you. They can sometimes help you get priority check- in (not need to queue for check-in), but you must go through the queue for customs by yourself first.