Best resort to start/end your trip?

[BaybeeYoda]

I’m heading home from our first real non Disney trip. 2 full weeks (just like Disney).

Except this trip is 3 states and 4 locations/hotels:
- 3 nights Manhattan beach, California
- 3 nights park city, utah
- 5 nights Salt Lake City, Utah
- 3 nights Denver, Co

Kids (ages 10/14) went skiing with full day lessons at park city for 2 days. They had never skied before. Then my older one insisted on skiing while we were in Denver (no lessons) today bc he loved it that much— which meant driving 1.5 hours to the mountain 50+ miles away. Yup. We head home tomorrow at 6pm (we live on east coast).

This current trip makes our upcoming Disney trip look incredibly simple and easy!

Looking forward to my easy Disney vacation with lots of resort hopping in min June—- 3 days BWV studio/5 days poly studio/3 days BWV 2bd/3 days BCV studio.

One bonus with this west coast/mountain region trip— I cannot believe we were in Manhattan beach only 1.5 weeks ago. It feels like we lived a weeks worth in 3 days, so that we have been traveling for a month at this point!!! Believe it or not, no one wants to go home, and we are wishing we could go back to Manhattan beach/park city, or stay in Denver longer.

No one was a fan of Salt Lake City, except we went to a Jazz Basketball game and sat 21 seats from the front .

 

[Chili327]

I’m heading home from our first real non Disney trip. 2 full weeks (just like Disney).

Except this trip is 3 states and 4 locations/hotels:
- 3 nights Manhattan beach, California
- 3 nights park city, utah
- 5 nights Salt Lake City, Utah
- 3 nights Denver, Co

Kids (ages 10/14) went skiing with full day lessons at park city for 2 days. They had never skied before. Then my older one insisted on skiing while we were in Denver (no lessons) today bc he loved it that much— which meant driving 1.5 hours to the mountain 50+ miles away. Yup. We head home tomorrow at 6pm (we live on east coast).

This current trip makes our upcoming Disney trip look incredibly simple and easy!

Looking forward to my easy Disney vacation with lots of resort hopping in min June—- 3 days BWV studio/5 days poly studio/3 days BWV 2bd/3 days BCV studio.

One bonus with this west coast/mountain region trip— I cannot believe we were in Manhattan beach only 1.5 weeks ago. It feels like we lived a weeks worth in 3 days, so that we have been traveling for a month at this point!!! Believe it or not, no one wants to go home, and we are wishing we could go back to Manhattan beach/park city, or stay in Denver longer.

No one was a fan of Salt Lake City, except we went to a Jazz Basketball game and sat 21 seats from the front .

The “South Bay” area is amazing, I lived 3 houses from the Strand for a few years and within a few blocks for 8 years.
If I won the lottery that is where I’d be looking to purchase a vacation/2nd home.

 

[hokiekkghl]

After several split stays we've decided it's only worth it for us if we stay at least 3 nights at each resort. With 3 boys between 3 and 10 it's just too hard to switch unless we're there for several days. This last trip we started at AKL and ended at VGF which was a really nice switch. The kids loved seeing the animals and we spent time at AK , HS, and Disney Springs the first half of the trip then we got to relax by the GF pools and enjoy MK and Epcot the last half. We're doing another split stay over July 4th spending the first half at BWV and ending at PVB. This works well bc we can spend the first half at Epcot and HS then spend the last half at MK and relaxing at the Poly pools. We've gone enough that we're no longer park warriors for the entire trip and enjoy the downtime towards the end of the trip relaxing around some of the better resort pools!

 

[Chili327]

After several split stays we've decided it's only worth it for us if we stay at least 3 nights at each resort. With 3 boys between 3 and 10 it's just too hard to switch unless we're there for several days. This last trip we started at AKL and ended at VGF which was a really nice switch. The kids loved seeing the animals and we spent time at AK , HS, and Disney Springs the first half of the trip then we got to relax by the GF pools and enjoy MK and Epcot the last half. We're doing another split stay over July 4th spending the first half at BWV and ending at PVB. This works well bc we can spend the first half at Epcot and HS then spend the last half at MK and relaxing at the Poly pools. We've gone enough that we're no longer park warriors for the entire trip and enjoy the downtime towards the end of the trip relaxing around some of the better resort pools!

I agree a 3 night minimum seems like a good number, but then I also like AKV and feel 3 could be too many, so it’s my constant dilemma when planning. lol
Which is kinda how this thread started, my plan was always to start at AKV, and 3 nights isn’t really as bad when you arrive at 10pm the first night anyway so it’s sorta like 2 nights.
If I didn’t account for AKV (or skipped it completely) I would say 4 nights in Epcot area and 4 nights in MK area is the perfect trip for me… but then AKV always gets left out.
How many nights are you doing at each for your upcoming trip? (BWV & Poly)

 

[BaybeeYoda]

The “South Bay” area is amazing, I lived 3 houses from the Strand for a few years and within a few blocks for 8 years.
If I won the lottery that is where I’d be looking to purchase a vacation/2nd home.

We want to move there now. My best friend lives on 29th street a few blocks from the beach and raves about the school system.

Took a look at housing prices. If I won the lottery, Manhattan beach, hands down!!!

 

[Chili327]

We want to move there now. My best friend lives on 29th street a few blocks from the beach and raves about the school system.

Took a look at housing prices. If I won the lottery, Manhattan beach, hands down!!!

It is an amazing area... (wish i had bought property there back then, when it was "affordable" lol)

I lived right here in my late 20's/early 30's. The Hermosa Pier was in my backyard.