I’m just wondering what the best option for travel is in early April for me and my two kids (6 and 9) for one week.
One option is a nice little villa on the southern coast of Spain (near Malaga). Airfare is currently $600pp. The accomodations will be cheap, if not free, since the place is a vacation home of some dear friends of mine. I’ll need a rental car to be able to explore the area.
Another option is Disneyworld in Florida. That’s a roughly $3500 trip with hotel and air for the three of us. No car necessary as we’ll be staying on the grounds but then we deal with the crowds and all that is good and bad about Disney.
I’m sure that entertainment won’t be an issue at Disneyworld. However, Spain has it’s appeal. Not sure if there is enough of it for the kids. Great travelers though they are.
This is a no-brainer for me. Disneyland will always be there but chances to travel internationally do not come along every day when you are living on a budget.
There is an international fare sale on right now. Don’t know your outbound location but flights to Madrid are as low as $467 from Dallas on American. www.aa.com.
Disney World is actually four parks, the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM Studios. Will you be going to all four? It can be pretty exhausting and you may be heartily sick of it after three or four days. Plus, with no car, you won’t be able to easily visit the other attractions in the area.
Much as I would love your tourist dollars paying my taxes, I would recommend waiting until the kidlets are older for Disney. Ivylad and I took the kids to Busch Gardens in Tampa over the Christmas break, handed them one cell phone while we kept one for ourselves. They were able to go ride the rides and stand in line for roller coasters, while Ivylad and I did our thing. We all had a blast.
I’m surprised a bit. I thought at 6 and 9, the kids are of the prime age for the Disney experience. Much older and they’ll lose the sense of magic of it. No?
Not all four. Just two I think. Disney and MGM. Big maybe on Epcot. Probably take a break of one day between each just to hang at the hotel and go swimming.
I’m pretty crowd averse so a couple of days in the parks will be more than enough.
I would definitely choose Spain. Disney World will be there and it is much easier to just fit in when the opportunity presents itself later. We have been taking my daughter to Europe and other places since she was very little and she loves telling the other kids about it and has always had a great time. Some of my fondest memories were the more exotic trips people took me on when I was little.
Disney World is so unbelievably cliche that I think doing something unique will give them more than their friends “me too” Disney experience.
I agree with those who have said “go to Spain” – though it’s not an extremely strong preference. I think you and your kids will have a great time no matter where you go/what you do, but it seems like you should take advantage of your friends’ vacation house while you can. Have you talked with those friends about what there might be for the kids to do? Sailing? Horseback riding? That sort of thing? Keep in mind that you guys don’t have to have plans for every day … seems like you should be able to find enough stuff to do for a week. But I’ll also admit that I’ve had a preference for “off the beaten path” vacations since I was a kid.
Sorry I quoted the whole thing - must have pressed the wrong button…
As an English person who has a second home near Malaga I would make the following suggestions:
You will find a trip to Disneyalnd much easier, everything is obvious and well signposted and your kids will have lots to do. However, as mentioned above you could do this anytime.
A trip to Malaga will be a marvellous experience, your children (and you) will be exposed to a different culture, a different language and you will all have something to remember.
BUT…
The Malaga trip wont be easy. Unless your friends are there to help you out you;
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will have some difficulties with the language (although there are plenty of English speakers in Malaga, you cant rely on it);
although there are lots of things to do, it will not be presented to you on a plate like in Orlando, you will need to do lots of preparation to find out what and where things are and organise it yourself.
Malaga is a busy place with an existence of its own - not specifically for tourists - thats what makes it a more interesting - but more challenging choice.
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I dont want to put you off. I think Malaga is the best choice but my advice is talk to your friends there and get their help in timetabling a holiday on a day-by-day basis complete with streetmaps, phone numbers of english speaking taxi services or car rental companies, recommended restaurants, shops etc. Read a good guide book.
OMG you could have such a fantastic time. You could make day trips to the Alhambra in Granada, visit Cordoba, Seville, Toledo and go skiing on the Sierra Nevada as well as all the usual beach activities, bull fights, flamenco - the list is endless. BUT, it will not be presented to you as a package - you will need to research and organise it yourself (or with the help of your friends), leave plenty of time to chill out between activities, enjoy the food etc. If you put in the effort in advance it will be the holiday of a lifetime.
One note: There is a pretty big English colony in Malaga. (Just wander round the bars - if you see women with few clothes on and men insensibly drunk - you’ve found it). If you get stuck, they will help you out.
Having re-read your original post I can see that you are concerned about your kids reaction.
My kids (boys, 5 and 7) have been going to Malaga for about 8 weeks a year since they were born. Although there are plenty of organised things for kids in the area, we find they get most enjoyment out of simply being somewhere different; having the chance to spend a lot more quiet time with their parents and doing simple things (like board games and building sandcastles, long walks and gathering wood for the fire).
Like most kids in the UK and US they live a pretty media intensive life with PC/Playstation/TV etc distractions when they are at home. We use the time in Spain to expose then to different activities. We live near a farm in Spain and they spend more time during the year talking about the chickens and donkeys there than about any movie they’ve seen or PC game they’ve played.
There are playgrounds all over Malaga and Spanish children tend to stay up late playing there and in the (safe) backstreets while their parents sit at a local cafe eating, drinking and watching the kids from a distance as the sun goes down. It can be a beautiful, relaxing old-fashioned experience - a perfect contrast for children brought up in an electronic age. I dont know if your location and the amount of time you have will make this a possibility but you may want to consider making this a very different holiday - one that is as far away from the Disneyland experience as it is possible to get.
