USA Itinerary for Family of 5, Thoughts?

[legseleven]

Care to comment on our itinerary for our family of 5 (kids aged 7, 9 and 11) trip September/October next year? Not sure about Chicago and if we should instead do 3 extra nights exploring California.

Hawaii - 6 nights
Los Angeles - 3 nights
Anaheim: Disneyland - 4 nights
Chicago - 3 nights
New York City - 6 nights

Thanks.

 

[legseleven]

Ozbeachbabe, paid flights internally, no flights available on the Qantas website from HNL on 28 September.

 

[MikeG]

I enjoyed Chicago when I was there, and there's plenty of activities like kayaking tours and cycling around the city parks to see the city in style. But no more than a night or two, as there's not alot more to see than that. Oh and it should be in summer, not winter, as -20C is a tad chilly.

I found the Jersey Shore great (New Jersey coastline), if you like the beach...

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Legs there's at least 5 award seats Fri 27 Sep HNL/LAX on Fri 27 Sep on AA144 2230/0704+1 so you would actually arrive on your chosen date of Sat 28 Sep. Total cost in Qantas points would be 112,500 plus USD28.00 total in taxes.

Yes, it's a red eye flight - most award availability on this sector seems to be on overnight flights so would probably be a good idea to book the Anaheim accommodation for the night of 27 Sep so you can checkin immediately. I don't even want to begin to imagine what it would be like sitting in a hotel lobby with a partner & 3 kids from early morning until 1500 waiting for your room to become available.

The real question is (assuming you still have QF point at your disposal) is would you rather be down 112,500 points or keep them but shell out about AUD1,865.00 for paid tickets eg on Alaska Airlines which is a mid-arvo departure ex HNL arriving LAX at midnight.