30th birthday with kids

daisydaisy21 · 2023-04-26T10:40:39+00:00

Dh and I will both be turning 30 in 2025! I know it's ages away but we'd like to start thinking (and saving) for a special family holiday! 2 DC will be 8 & 4. 2 weeks ish, around Easter holidays as oldest is in primary. We're considering Walt Disney world with other things thrown in while we would be in Florida. We've looked briefly at New Zealand. Maybe Canada, we do have family there. Does anyone have any suggestions? We love the outdoors and would like an adventure but some more relaxing days thrown in. Thanks 😊

Silkierabbit · 26/04/2023 13:03

Costa Rica is good for outdoors and adventure, rainforest, wildlife, ziplines, hot springs, kayaking though not sure if 4 is too little for ziplines.

Australia East Coast, Great Barrier Reef and Atherton Tablelands was great for wildlife but ideally needs more than 2 weeks and need to check activities by season. I would say 3 weeks plus which may rule it and NZ out.

I think California would be good.

Lapland is great at that age but obviously Christmas.

Original poster

daisydaisy21 · 26/04/2023 13:14

Silkierabbit · 26/04/2023 13:03

Costa Rica is good for outdoors and adventure, rainforest, wildlife, ziplines, hot springs, kayaking though not sure if 4 is too little for ziplines.

Australia East Coast, Great Barrier Reef and Atherton Tablelands was great for wildlife but ideally needs more than 2 weeks and need to check activities by season. I would say 3 weeks plus which may rule it and NZ out.

I think California would be good.

Lapland is great at that age but obviously Christmas.

That all sounds amazing! Thank you very much. Oldest would absolutely love anything with wildlife / snorkelling etc. as would we!
Will definitely look into them both

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Silkierabbit · 26/04/2023 13:25

This place is amazing to stay at for wildlife, the lady is trained as a vet and rescues injured tree kangaroos and other wildlife. We saw pademelon, possum, tree kangaroos (one jumped on my back), bettong there, kids could feed pademelon and possum and bottle feed the bettong and she made the most amazing food. She also told us where to find platypus and a cassowary which we did. https://www.lumholtzlodge.com.au/

Great Barrier Reef, we did Seastar from Cairns which was a small ship and very good with kids though there is a GBR season and think Easter maybe borderline. Magnetic Island has wild koalas. We saw hundred and fifty or so whales and dolphins on a boat trip from Port Stephens though again that's seasonal and we were summer but there's other locations. Kangaroos saw in Blue Mountains but they are quite easy to find elsewhere. And crocodiles in Daintree river.

Original poster

daisydaisy21 · 26/04/2023 13:29

Silkierabbit · 26/04/2023 13:25

This place is amazing to stay at for wildlife, the lady is trained as a vet and rescues injured tree kangaroos and other wildlife. We saw pademelon, possum, tree kangaroos (one jumped on my back), bettong there, kids could feed pademelon and possum and bottle feed the bettong and she made the most amazing food. She also told us where to find platypus and a cassowary which we did. https://www.lumholtzlodge.com.au/

Great Barrier Reef, we did Seastar from Cairns which was a small ship and very good with kids though there is a GBR season and think Easter maybe borderline. Magnetic Island has wild koalas. We saw hundred and fifty or so whales and dolphins on a boat trip from Port Stephens though again that's seasonal and we were summer but there's other locations. Kangaroos saw in Blue Mountains but they are quite easy to find elsewhere. And crocodiles in Daintree river.

Wow!
That really sounds exactly what we would be looking for.
To be honest, dates are flexible we would just want to minimise time out of school. But we are flexible.
The dolphin and whale spotting sounds incredible.

What time of year would you recommend?

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Silkierabbit · 26/04/2023 13:50

We went in the summer holidays to give us 3 weeks rather than 2. That time was perfect for Great Barrier Reef and whale watching but is their winter, was warm in Great Barrier Reef / Lumholtz Lodge maybe 25-27C or so but in Sydney was quite cold around 10C, we got lucky in Port Stephens were we did whales when it was low 20s and sunny. We only did Sydney briefly because of that then flew up to Cairns. https://www.tripsavvy.com/best-time-to-visit-great-barrier-reef-4843456 It depends what you want to do best time of year but our summer worked fine for us as we wanted wildlife and Great Barrier Reef. Someone before me did Easter and they still had a nice trip but had some flooded roads and GBR wasn't as good but that's better weather in Sydney etc. Melbourne has penguins and koalas but our summer is not a good time for that. I went on TripAdvisor Australia forum on lots of people on there helped me plan the trip and it was so much better than what I had originally done. We flew with BA on the multi-flight option which was cheaper than separate flights. Some people do a few days in Singapore on way down, we didn't as felt so much in Australia.

Original poster

daisydaisy21 · 26/04/2023 14:24

Silkierabbit · 26/04/2023 13:50

We went in the summer holidays to give us 3 weeks rather than 2. That time was perfect for Great Barrier Reef and whale watching but is their winter, was warm in Great Barrier Reef / Lumholtz Lodge maybe 25-27C or so but in Sydney was quite cold around 10C, we got lucky in Port Stephens were we did whales when it was low 20s and sunny. We only did Sydney briefly because of that then flew up to Cairns. https://www.tripsavvy.com/best-time-to-visit-great-barrier-reef-4843456 It depends what you want to do best time of year but our summer worked fine for us as we wanted wildlife and Great Barrier Reef. Someone before me did Easter and they still had a nice trip but had some flooded roads and GBR wasn't as good but that's better weather in Sydney etc. Melbourne has penguins and koalas but our summer is not a good time for that. I went on TripAdvisor Australia forum on lots of people on there helped me plan the trip and it was so much better than what I had originally done. We flew with BA on the multi-flight option which was cheaper than separate flights. Some people do a few days in Singapore on way down, we didn't as felt so much in Australia.

Sounds like an amazing holiday. I hope you had a wonderful time. The weather sounds okay actually. We aren't fussed for it being boiling hot!
Thank you so much for all of the info and help.
Great Barrier Reef really would be a dream come true for my 6 year old. She wants to be a marine biologist so that would certainly be a wonderful experience.
I'm going to read some tripadvisor boards also.
Thanks 😁

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Silkierabbit · 26/04/2023 17:31

Hope you have a wonderful time if you go. Mine loved it. We also stayed at Canopy Treehouses which you could feed pademelon, possum and wallabies at and there was a cassowary who came under our treehouse. The only issue there for kids was no WiFi.

By Cairns we stayed in a lovely Airbnb in tropical gardens. I remember my DS saying another boy had told him not to climb trees as there were snakes in them and he said to me that boy is making that up isn't he. I looked it up and he wasn't.

salto · 26/04/2023 19:08

Disney would be fantastic. You could also do universal studios and seaworld whilst over there. If you stayed in a villa (cheaper than hotel) you could choose one with a pool and have a couple of chilled days.

Original poster

daisydaisy21 · 26/04/2023 19:59

salto · 26/04/2023 19:08

Disney would be fantastic. You could also do universal studios and seaworld whilst over there. If you stayed in a villa (cheaper than hotel) you could choose one with a pool and have a couple of chilled days.

We did paris in December and was so brilliant!
I have looked at villas but Florida is so vast I have no clue where would be best to stay 😂 also the cost of car hire/ parking is insane and seems to take away from it being the cheaper option 😆
Discovery cove also looks brilliant with the aviary's/ reef snorkelling etc!

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TeenagersAngst · 27/04/2023 18:35

We did Florida last autumn, rented a villa in Kissimee. Disney was exhausting. The booking system is now ridiculous, even if you pay for fast track tickets they don't really exist. Disney has a system called Genie+ operated via an app which only allows you fast access to one ride at a time with two hours gaps in between being allowed to rebook. Park hotel guests get some priority.

I practically needed a degree to understand how it worked and spent way too much time on my phone during the day trying to book rides. This does only apply to Disney parks (not their water parks) and not Universal (although their fast pass system is also a joke). You can tell I wasn't impressed:)

Unless you are a Disney fanatic don't go. Easter is super busy and is when most UK families go. There are so many more interesting places to go for a special holiday.

Original poster

daisydaisy21 · 27/04/2023 20:15

TeenagersAngst · 27/04/2023 18:35

We did Florida last autumn, rented a villa in Kissimee. Disney was exhausting. The booking system is now ridiculous, even if you pay for fast track tickets they don't really exist. Disney has a system called Genie+ operated via an app which only allows you fast access to one ride at a time with two hours gaps in between being allowed to rebook. Park hotel guests get some priority.

I practically needed a degree to understand how it worked and spent way too much time on my phone during the day trying to book rides. This does only apply to Disney parks (not their water parks) and not Universal (although their fast pass system is also a joke). You can tell I wasn't impressed:)

Unless you are a Disney fanatic don't go. Easter is super busy and is when most UK families go. There are so many more interesting places to go for a special holiday.

I joined some Facebook groups for tips if we were to book and I just admit, it was very intense and seemed like there is an awful lot to know 😄

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