FYI - you can drive from a "base" in San Diego to Disneyland in Anaheim in little over an hour - assuming you avoid the early rush hour and the afternoon one coming back.

LA is a two hour drive - same parameters.

And Big Russ: Think you hit it pretty well on the head - and the 'Aints (this year anyway?) at the Cowboys for Thanksgiving should be a raucous game. You might have to break open the cookie jar for tix however.

BTW - if someone wants to dine on soft crab in Baltimore - or to see the US Naval Academy (which we called "Canoe U" while I was at the AF Academy :) ) you can easily do a day trip from DC to get there.

Did the Original Poster once mention DisneyLand?

Anne_DeManser on Sep 17, 12 at 5:56am
The trip to Anaheim is not for the 9yr old, rather for my 43 yr old husband who cannot be convinced that Disneyworld will satisfy his life long need to go to the 'real' Disney! Maybe once we've been to Florida he will rethink and I'll be able to scrounge a trip to San Diego.

thanks

Crikey (good Australian slang word for 'Oh my goodness!'), great feedback.

Spiro- We've never done Thanksgiving, except for the pumpkin pie an American friend whipped up for us once. My daughter is living in a house with 5 other international students in Austin & none of them have experienced Thanksgiving either. We haven't decided whether we should try to cook for them or dine out yet.

Tomsd- We will definitely go to Cape Canaveral, it's iconic. My husband will love the flight simulator and I might be able to trade it for some non Disney time ;-)

easytraveler- Yes, the visit to Disneyland is a shrine thing, as is the Memphis/Graceland visit. Plus I want to drive the Natchez Trace Parkway & check out antebellum homes on the way to NOLA.

Ha ha, Big Russ, we don't understand American Football at all (all that padding & running on and off the field!). My husband is a Kiwi and therefore an AB fan & I am a Geelong Cats supporter. We're after the atmosphere at a manageable price & my daughter assures me the Longhorn fervor will satisfy us. I even have my orange shirt with 'Longhorn Mom' emblazoned on it ready to go.

I appreciate all the advice about the amount of car travel. We are used to long trips to get anywhere but maybe we'll rethink the Key West trip.

This thread has been worth it just to know I need to avoid the pit of doom that is obviously Hot Springs. Imagine if I'd inadvertently ended up spending a night there! What about Little Rock, home of Nellie from South Pacific and some politician fellow? Is that worth a stop over?

The fastest route from Austin to Memphis will have you going close to Hot Springs and through Little Rock. It would be ok for a short stop at either place, but I wouldn't go out of my way for either. Perhaps a visit to Clinton Library in Little Rock or a short stop at Hot Springs for the history of it.

It would be a long all day 11-12 hour drive, but you could just bite the bullet and drive it straight through.

You might want to experience the insanity of shopping somewhere on Thanksgiving night or early the next morning. People line up and nearly trample each other in hopes of finding a good sale item. Places like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc. These places set a special time of reopening after being closed all day on Thanksgiving.

If you are in Memphis or New Orleans on a Sunday, both places have great places for Sunday Brunch.
In Memphis, be sure and see the Peabody Ducks and Beale Street after you've had your fill of Elvis.
We like to eat at Blues City Cafe, Rendevouz, and Gus's Fried Chicken in Memphis.

If you can - do beg, borrow or steal a few days to come down here to San Diego - where again - you are just over an hour up to Disneyland in Anaheim, and it's much easier to get around/do things here - including even some uncrowded beach time. :) The weather should be nice even if the water is a little cooler than the summer - but hey - coming from Oregon originally - I am half Polar Bear. :)

You and your daughter will probably love the Zoo, perhaps even more so - Safari Park (formerly called Wild Animal Park - where you see the animals in more of their natural setting - and definitely do catch the Cheetah Run - those cats are FAST!!! ) and also Sea World - which has the new Mantra?/roller coaster ride. http://travel.usnews.com/San_Diego_CA/Things_To_Do/

LOL - your husband is a big All Blacks/AB fan? At my ole law school - UC Hastings - in San Francisco - every year at the Rugby banquet (through the 70's into the 80's) we would show a great film - which was a length of the field try/score - actually - a VERY long try by the All Blacks team - playing at the right proper citadel of all things in the "civilized" world of sports - Wembley stadium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wembley_Stadium_(1923)

Some fast half (blond chap as I recall) wound up taking a pass (after some beautiful ball handling by the AB's to get it to him) and just motored down the field to score against the Brits. Classic.

BTW - American football hits a lot harder than Rugby - and that is part of the problem with our lads trying to learn the sport of Ruffians - played by Gentlemen. They just hit too hard initially - playing as if they still had their football pads on - but eventually - we sort it out - and then it's all about the camaraderie and who can sing the best songs after the match - around the beer keg. :)

BTW - if you want to go to Graceland in Memphis - let me know. I might be able to put in a good word with the guy who really built it up for Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley - as he used to live across the hall from moi in the dorm at Regis College in Denver, where I finished undergrad.

Jack's a fine fellow - and we are having a class reunion there at the end of October - but alas - I may be deep sea fishing off Cabo at the time. Life is tough - eh? :)

I'm sure there are reasons to visit Arkansas for some people but I'll be danged if I can think of one for someone who's not from America. And it's not like Little Rock is close to anything interesting either, other than more of Arkansas. Entirely too much Sling Blade environs for a visit. I'm not thinking you tell people to go visit ocker hell.

<<You might want to experience the insanity of shopping somewhere on Thanksgiving night or early the next morning. People line up and nearly trample each other in hopes of finding a good sale item. Places like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc. These places set a special time of reopening after being closed all day on Thanksgiving. >>

Another good waste of your valuable time. I know people who do this and they're completely daft. Three words: Amazon Free Shipping.

Still say you should go to NoLa first, enjoy it and then bomb up to Memphis - it's only a 6+ hour drive (400 miles) straight up I-55. Drop the car in Memphis, fly to Orlando and get another car there to tool around Central and South Florida before flying to DC.

PS - We all know what Crikey means - the Croc Hunter and his wife (who's a Yank) were staples of US TV until his tragic demise.

For Thanksgiving the sane thing to do is to reserve at a good restaurant and let them do all the cooking (how are you going to cook a turkey in a hotel room?). As BigRuss has said, don't go and join the frenzy crowds of shoppers. It's really nuts: for a 7am opening, people will line up at midnight. Good luck finding what you want - if you wanted anything - by the time you arrive at 6am.

On the whole, I'm with BigRuss's comments.

No way, no how would I ever recomment driving from NOLA to Orlando - even if you have 7 weeks. Your time could be much better spent.

I'm enjoying the repartee on this thread as much as the advice.

Unfortunately I'm locked in to the Austin- Memphis- NOLA track because oldest daugher & sil have tickets booked on the Amtrak from NOLA on the 29th (Maybe I'll check if they're transferable) and they really want to go to Memphis.
Tomsd- I'm more than happy to pull in anybody's favours to get me special treatment at Graceland! As for the footy, I think the common factor in all codes is how much better all the plays get once they are discussed around the keg!

Given that shopping is one of my preferred pastimes I may well pop into Walmart to get a feel of the Thanksgiving crowd. Sounds a bit like the nightmare we experience the day before Good Friday at Easter. I'll take my husband with me to remind him what the queues will be like at Disneyland over New Year!

We would be able to cook our lunch in my daughter's rental but having someone else cook sounds like a pretty good idea, especially now I've heard about the shopping drama.

I'll be back with a re jigged itinerary for your perusal in the near future.

Thanks to your great advice, he has agreed to for shorten our Anaheim stay so that we can get to San Diego before we come home.

Do be careful on the Friday am - shopping after Thanksgiving.


Really - at a few stores - people have been trampled more than once in the crush of shoppers who lined up outside waiting for the doors to open for some mega sale and then they went nutso running to get to the first 25 deals or whatever the promotion was.

More later - as all thumbs on my wife's laptop but send me an email and I will see what I can do re: VIP type tour at Graceland. [email protected]

Sounds like a fabulous trip.
I am a fan of Hot Springs, personally, and love staying at the Arlington Hotel, which is very historic and has a great 1930s-era mineral bath spa downstairs. They also have an interesting Gangster Museum.

www.arlingtonhotel.com
www.tgmoa.com

If you drive from the Keys (I would skip Key West)consider a stopover in Charleston, South Carolina. There are many reasons it has displaced San Francisco as the Conde Nast number 1 city for tourists. Marathon to Charleston is a reasonable day trip and Charleston to DC likewise.

Ain't no way Charleston has replaced SF as a #1 city for tourists, despite what Conde Naste is trying to sell.

Wow, that is a big trip. I guess if I had to remove anything, it would also be Arkansas and Miami. I would add San Francisco.

I'm guessing Anne would like to go to Key West so that she has some relaxing time in a semi-tropical place to offset the go-go of some of her other destinations.

I would only do a day at Disneyland. I would buy the park-hopper tickets because I do like California Adventure. There are a lot of new rides and themes opening in CA lately. I am not sure how much overlaps with DW.

Your son is a good age for Legoland in San Diego, but given that you're doing both Disneys, the rides will seem kinda tame and too young after that. If he likes Legos enough, or basic Lego Robotics, then consider it. They even have workshops. Check the website.

I notice you don't have Universal Studios in Orlando. You do know there's a Harry Potter Park/Area at the Orlando location, right?

My kids loved New York and would have rather stayed there longer than DC. You are going in far different weather than we did. I want to read your trip report...would love to hear about the shop windows decorated for the holidays, the famous tree and skating at Rockefeller Center.