[getbak]

I've done the Toronto red-eye connecting to Barbados, and I wouldn't recommend it if you have the choice.

The last time I went to Orlando, WestJet hadn't started their direct flights yet. My sister and her family have a Disney Vacation Club timeshare at Disney World, so they go almost every year and they always take the direct flight. They wouldn't go any other way.

I have connected through Denver, Chicago, and Houston going to Orlando. Chicago was the worst because it was O'Hare in January. I've flown out of O'Hare four or five times and never left on time. I would choose to connect through Denver or Houston ahead of Toronto. Another advantage is that if you connect through the US, you'll go through US Customs in Calgary, but if you connect in YYZ, you'll have to go through that hassle there.



As for Orlando itself, I'd ditch SeaWorld and Busch Gardens from the plan if you only have a week.

The SeaWorld in San Diego is better than Orlando, and it gives you a reason to go to San Diego if you haven't been. Busch Gardens is a weird mix of zoo and roller coaster park. If anyone in your group are coaster junkies, it might be worth the trip, but otherwise, not so much. Now that they're no longer owned by Anheuser-Busch, I don't think they even have the free beer anymore.

Kennedy is interesting if you're at all interested in the space program. They have both an old Saturn V rocket (MASSIVE!) and one of the retired Space Shuttles on display. It's not really a full day's worth of stuff. I'd think about combining it with your beach/outlet mall trip.

I would spend the bulk of the time at Disney and Universal. They are very different from what they have in California.

Unfortunately, many of the Southern States will already be on their school vacations at the beginning of June, so it will be summer crowd levels, which means spending a lot of time in line. Look into how the Fastpass system at WDW and Express Pass system at Universal work. That will help cut down on time spent in line. Since you have an infant who won't be able to go on a lot of rides, also look into parent-swap where the adults wait in line together, one parent waits with the child while the other rides, then once the first parent is done, they swap the kid and the other parent rides.


For your hotel, stay at one of the Disney resorts if you can. They come in all price levels, and factor in the cost of parking when comparing the hotel price with off-property hotels. If you stay on-property, there is free transportation all around the Disney World property (which is the size of a large city) and free parking at the parks if you want. If you stay on-property, they also offer "Extra Magic Hours" where each day one of the parks either opens early or closes later just for people staying on-property. I liked the late opening nights because as a Calgarian, my clock was 2 hours behind Orlando, so a 9:00pm closing time felt like 7:00.


If you do one day each at the 4 Disney parks and 2 Universal Parks, and one day for Kennedy/Beaches/Shopping, you've filled up your week.