We are in the early stages of planning a Grand Circle trip for mid-late June 2019. We are trying to fill in the gaps and hear from others what they have done. We are a family of 3: the grownups are early 40s and 11 year old son.

Day 1: fly to LV & drive to Springdale, hopefully stay in Desert Inn for 3 nights.
Day 2-3: Zion
Day 4: Bryce. Could we even stay at Springdale and day trip it to Bryce to reduce time in and out of suitcases?
Day 5: Drive to Moab and hopefully hike to Lower Calf falls in Grand Escalante on way
Day 6-7: Arches for 1 day for sure. Maybe Canyonlands (Mesa Arch) OR rafting in Moab
Day 8-9: Drive through Monument Valley on way to Page to see the Bend, lower Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell
Day 10: Drive to LV to fly home

Is this way too packed? We would like some relaxation/pool time along the way as we aren't spring chickens anymore and need to recover from some of the activity.

We debated going to Grand Canyon, but decided to combine that on a trip to Vegas another time. We think our "big 3 must see" are Zion, Bryce and Arches. I know Arches is way on the other side, but it is so iconic and the hikes are more doable with a child. Thank you for any help and suggestions!

If you really want to keep things more compact, do Bryce, Zion, and Capitol Reef or Escalante. Save Arches for a trip that would include Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep.

For your trip as posted, I would not go to Bryce from Zion. You will be moving/packing/unpacking--just the way this trip goes. I would do this:
Day 1-4, keep the same
Day 5: Drive to Escalante--hike Calf Creek Falls or Peekaboo slot canyon, stay in Torrey
Day 6: Capitol Reef NP or Little Wild horse slot canyon and Goblin Valley
Days 7-9 Moab--one day Arches, one day Canyonlands, one day rafting
Day 10: Drive through Monument Valley, back to LV

There are so many different ways to do these trips!!

Take Page out of the equation-it is one of my least favorite destinations. If you click on my user name, you will see my trip reports to all of these areas--with kids in tow. Your son will have a blast!

If you do the trip as planned, agree with StantonHyde, skip Page.

As to the unpacking thing, don't really unpack. Take out the clothes you will wear the next day as well as night clothes and toiletries. Fold any clothes you can wear again and put them into the suitcase. Put any dirty clothes into a plastic bag and then place in the suitcase. In the morning put the nighties and toiletries back in the suitcase and take off.

In the middle of the trip, if my husband and I each have a bag, I sometimes I designate one bag as the dirty clothes and shoes bag.

Thanks guys! Appreciate the feedback. Curious as to why Page was your least favorite destination.

Is it possible to swap Capitol Reef with something else? That is one I am not that into compared to the other big 4. Might do one night at Monument Valley instead of extra night in Torrey to explore more of Escalante (if it is still there in 2019).

Question- if I were yo keep things kite compact and not do Arches, would it make sense to throw a grand canyon in there? I am concerned I won't get back to arches in many years if I don't see it next year. I am concerned about our physical abilities to do these parks as we get older. We both have some joint issues. We are hoping for a Europe trip in 2020 and Yosemite/Sequoia or Acadia in 2021. Would it be even plausible to do Zion, Bryce, And Yosemite/sequoia into 1 trip?

I wouldn't do Z/B and Yosemite. As for joint issues/age--Arches is a really easy park!!! We have taken our kids there when they were really young and they did the trails. I would spend time in Escalante over Monument Valley any day. Check out my trip report to see things to do.

Antelope Canyon--there are so many other slot canyons that are easy enough to walk through that are not JAM PACKED with people. Little Wild Horse is one. Peekaboo and Spooky.
The Bend is ok--but you go out and look at it. You could look at a cool over look at Dead Horse Point outside of Moab.
Lake Powell--its a lake surrounded by slick rock. Hike in the slick rock of Escalante or Capital Reef or Arches instead.

If you want to hike slick rock, try Arches NP. I hope the picture comes out since it is my first attempt at posting a picture.
This is the route to Delicate Arch in Arches NP. If you look a bit to the right of center you can see the path at the bottom of the slick rock that you come in on.

Don't do a day trip to Bryce from Zion. You'll spend more time on the road than you will packing/unpacking.

Arches is easy for hiking, except for the hike to Delicate Arch. No idea what your joint issues are but age is certainly not an issue - we've all seen 70+ year old people doing the Delicate Arch hike.

Zion/Bryce/Yosemite - no it does not make sense to combine those. Arches is way closer than Yosemite. Also, if you skip Arches and add Grand Canyon, then you may as well add Page back into the mix since you're right there. Personally, I like to prioritize things by difficulty of access: if something is 8 hours from the airport, I'd spend more time there vs something that's 3 hours from the airport because it's easier to get back to the location that's closer to the airport on future trips.

In this case, that means Moab is a higher priority than Zion. Zion is relatively close to Vegas, there are tons of easy flights to Vegas, so it's pretty safe to say you can make another trip to Zion easier than another trip to Moab.

Just staying the obvious here: it's your trip, if you want to skip Capitol Reef then do it. Of course it is possible to swap it for something else, just decide what you'd rather do instead.

We decided to take 9 days and do Zion and Bryce to limit me having to take so much leave at one time and save on drive time. We decided to make Arches, Canyonlands, etc. a separate trip another year.

Right now, our itinerary is:

FRI Day 1 Fly to LV stay overnight
SAT Day 2 Drive to Bryce
SUN Day 3 Bryce Canyon
MON Day 4 Drive Highway 12/Hike Calf Creek or Willis Creek or other destination in the Grand Escalante area
TUES Day 5 Bryce AM, Drive to Zion, stay in Springdale (already have lodge reservations)
WED, THURS, FRI Day 6 - 8 Zion
SAT Day 9 Zion AM/Drive to LV
SUN Fly home from LV

We have done easy 7 day trips that included Zion, Bryce and both rims. Zion is only a few hours from Las Vegas. I would actually recommend your first two nights be in Springdale., which gives you two half days and a full day between. If you want, you can skip the second half day and leave early, to see sunset at Bryce. Stay one or two nights at the Bryce Lodge. Get up early in the morning for sunrise. I don't know if the hike into the canyon at Bryce is too much for you, but if you take it easy it should be okay. No need to spend the second night if you aren't going to hike although you can also do it along the rim. I don't think I would do Hwy 12 if you are skipping Moab. It makes more sense to do it as part of Capitol Reef and Arches.

From Bryce you can go to the cute little town of Kanab (look up Best Friends) for a night. Kanab is 90 minutes from Bryce and another 90 from the North Rim. From Kanab you can either stay a night at the North Rim or continue around to the south Rim. From the South Rim is a full days' drive to Las Vegas. I wouldn't backtrack to Springdale.

BTW there are TONS of good lodgings in Springdale. I personally would rather stay in the town rather than in the park (save the overpriced lodgings and bad food for either Bryce or the North Rim where there aren't good alternatives).

At the South Rim Maswick or Yavapai are motel-type units that work well for families.

Day 5: Drive to Moab and hopefully hike to Lower Calf falls in Grand Escalante on way

I would climate this segment.
It is a thin high waterfall into a pool
These are located everywhere - not unique
If you like water falls, go to Milford Sound in New Zealand.

IF you decide to go, bring binoculars to see distant ancient Indian alcove ruins
Note: At the bridge, both sides, there are some ancient Indian Ruins.
Also many hieroglyphs south of the bridge on the right side

1000% agree with Stanton on Page and those canyons
The only attraction in Page (other than a boat ride to Rainbow Arch) is their BBQ restaurant.

Vaga

Why not visit Kodachrome State park and Grovesnor's Arch?
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...6&&FORM=VRDGAR

Easy and scenic hike + the arch

Vaga

PS
Typo earlier - climate should read eliminate
I would climate this segment.