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Cost is obvioulsy a big issue when attempting to plan a holiday with lots of kids and family members, but practicalities are also a huge consideration.
What type of holidays are best for families with 4 or more kids? Is it ever a restful holday for parents, or a recipe for disaster?!
I have a funny story for you Lucy....
We - parents & 4 kids - always went to QLD around easter time when I was younger. One year (I was 12, sisters 14 & 7, brother 6) the 3 youngest were playing hide & seek around the resort & we got seperated. Long story short, we thought our brother had been dragged into a room by some guy that yelled at us for running around. We had our parents, resort security & all these people racing around only to find out he had gone down the other stairs to where we were!!!
Having said that though, it was really the only disaster story we have from our holidays!
haven't been on many, but its funny when you try book accomodation on line, and the computer tells you that the no of adults and children you've put in limits your choices, and to change the numbers so you have more options!!!!
We were booking to go to sydney, and I said to DH, hey lets just dissapear a couple of kids so we have more options!!!!!
Have found self contained units and caravans easier to fit in than an actual hotel room, very few do more than 2 kids, unless you get 2 rooms, then if the kids are only little, like mine parents have to sleep in seperate rooms with a few kids each, PAINFUL!!!
We hired a cabin at xmas, at a caravan park, 2 sets of bunks and a seperate room for parents. It was great, we had the portacot in the room with use and the other 3 in the other room. We are going agian in Jan and this time willhave the portacot, no sure where we will fit that.
I did the same thing in looking online for accomodation, and I just got annoyed. I do remember as a kid staying in a motel with an adjoining room for us 3 kids cos we couldn't all fit in the room, but it was ok as the door was internal.
Hi
We usually stay in a cabin with 2 rooms! it's usually pretty good
im one of six children (there's 10 years between me and my youngest sister) and we went away to one of the resorts down in southern WA in an off season. They generally have deals (like "Buy 2 nights, get one free" etc) and they generally have self contained apartments. Like where we used to stay, it was a 3 brm unit, but the upstairs was a loft that had 6 beds in it! the complex we stayed in had about 12 units, and we had our own pool and tennis courts that none of the other resort guests could use. It was still about $250 per night, but it was our special treat. just depends on how much you're lookin to spend.
Yes i can see camping would be a good thing for us down the track LOL, unless we buy a caravan and annex onsite somewhere cos then we could get one big enough. This yr we are going to a caravan pk, staying in a 2br unit, the 2nd broom has 2 sets of bunks although I am not sure where Jess will sleep cos she will only be 15mths, so too small for a bed. We will prob have to put the portacot up but where? LOL prob in the ,ounge so we will have to sit outside if we want to stay up .
Cheers michelle
We have five kids, and not too long ago drove from SA to QLD.
We were actually turned away from 1 hotel (at midnight!!) because, and I quote: "We don't have a room.. for all of YOU"
Hmm. Needless to say, we kept driving (exhausted) until we found a caravan park. Woke the manager, and stayed in a cabin, which was much more comfortable than that sinky motel would have ever been. \:D/
Cabins are the way to go.. definately.
I have three siblings and when we used to do family holidays, we went the cabin option too, in a caravan park. Was really quite nice, except for the usual communal bathrooms that caravan parks have :|
The last family holiday we went on (two years ago) Dad paid for my younger brother and sister and my older brother and I paid for our airfares because we were both working full time. Dad covered most other things though, which was nice. We stayed in a self-contained apartment in Port Douglas which worked well too.
The only PROPER hotel experience I remember was going to World Expo in '88, but that was because Dad was at a conference at the hotel so they decided to combine that with Expo. Was a pretty s****y hotel too, if I remember correctly (only being 5 at the time!).
\:D/ I love holidays \:D/
Here's my 2 cents.
We have four children and we mostly stay with family since we have a lot of family that lives on the coast Townsville, Prosepine, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundeberg, Sunshine Coast and Brisbane as well as down south in NSW. We can pick and choose, which is great. However we haven't had a "proper " holiday in years is in Jan last year I booked a 5 day stay at the Mercure Inn Surfers Paradise, We got an excellent deal, pool view, Kids stay play eat free, booked a family resort style room for a week and a half before Christmas (if we had waited til after xmas we would have paid double) Then in Feb found out I was pregnant due 24th Nov. I only had to pay the first nights stay and the balance was due a month before but you could also cancel with out panelty up to 48hours before check in. So we ummed and arrrred and decided to keep the booking. I rang up reservations to see if I could book a family connecting but they were all booked up, so we cheated and with the size of the room I would probably do it again, We had a fabulous holiday even though bub was 3.5 wks old. Our next one will be to Paradise Island Surfers Paradise, it is also excellent and caters to the bigger families.
Other top choises are
Big 4 Cvan Parks, like Treasure Island G Coast, Airlie Beach, Townsville
excellent facilities and not to bad on the purse strings.