Travelling with a large family: Activities | Family travel

A word from the expert

All parents want to please their children. Except that entertaining these little creatures is expensive, and there’s no shortage of opportunities to break the bank when travelling! This form of expense it one of the hardest to use points for. However, a few tips can help people save money.

Jean-Maximilien Voisine - Président-Fondateur de milesopedia

Strategies for large families

Saving on activities

Here are some tips to save on activities.

• Look for ALL the discounts to which you may be entitled. Even outside our country, it’s possible to take out membership cards for grocery stores and activities. Take the word of a knowledgeable parent for it. The local newspaper is exciting in this regard.
• Are there libraries that offer arts and crafts activities for the little ones? Do the aquarium or the botanical garden open their doors for free or at a lower cost on Wednesdays? The Children’s Museum in Boston, for example, is $1 instead of $17 per person on Friday nights (conditions may have changed with the COVID-19 situation).

We were able to enjoy this type of discount in Australia and New Zealand with the reading of stories and songs. The children could interact with the locals at the same time, and remember it fondly. Audrey

• As well as looking at family rates, ask about annual subscriptions. You might be surprised.
• Use AIR MILES miles for events, Universal Studio tickets, zoo, etc.
• Buy cards like « Go City Card » and look for promotions like half price after 3PM (sometimes in aquaparks and amusement parks). An example is the « Table Mountain » cable car in South Africa.
• Ask the locals (or Airbnb rental owners) for their well-kept secrets, and look at the blogs and TripAdvisor sites of the world. This tip enabled one of our families travelling in Costa Rica to swim twice in a natural hot river rather than going to the expensive »Resort Hot Springs, » even though they were in the same river (Rio Cholin).

• In Latin America, some countries have a Solidarity Network (e.g. ToutCostarica, ToutPérou, etc.) These networks offer discounts on hotels or accommodation sites, as well as for certain activities.
• Call in advance to book and discuss with the manager. A family of six children and two adults was often considered as a group and received an additional discount for booking early.
• Finally, a tip for activities aimed at parents of children with special needs: the Access2 card allows you to save one adult ticket when purchasing one ticket for the child: valid for many attractions, activities and museums across Canada. What’s more, for a child in a wheelchair, you can request discounts or additional services (luggage, larger room, no queuing, etc.).

Entertaining children at low cost

Ah! Our resourceful mothers.

One of them, when the family travels outside the Western part of the world, always tries to befriend the people at the reception desk to find out where local families go on outings. She also asks about the costs they incur.

For example, she asks the receptionist how much it costs to run from the hotel to the city center. She’s then able to negotiate for a fair price.

In countries where this type of toy is less common, she brings inflatable balloons, bubbles or chalk to encourage contact with local children. Success is guaranteed.

Another family has downloaded the free« geocaching » application, which allows everyone to make beautiful discoveries in a « treasure hunt » mode. Perfect for entertaining the crowd at no cost.

During a longer stopover time, parents discovered that it was possible to plan a visit of the airport. It can be booked online, and to give you an idea, in Amsterdam the tour lasts an hour and costs €16 per adult and €8 for children aged 4-12. 4-hour city tours are also available.

Here’s an original idea to keep children « in the loop », if they are old enough to do so: ask them to participate to the preparation stage of the trip.

They must choose an activity that they will pay for out of their own pocket. Parents offer them a few choices and mention the associated costs. The clan must then find a consensus.

In order to earn money for the activity, they will do certain tasks such as shoveling snow at their grandparents’ house, babysitting, asking for money for Christmas or their birthday, etc.

In addition, each year the children participate in theBig Day for Small Entrepreneurs, where they create a micro-company and sell their products.

They could pay for their excursion to Xel-Ha in Mexico, sleep in the desert in Morocco, ride the Pipe Mountain Coaster in Revelstoke, and go horseback riding in Monument Valley.

Disney's must-see

We can’t talk about travel activities without at least touching on the subject of Disney. Several articles have been written on milesopedia about possible savings for this destination, and there are sites dedicated solely to this experience. Far be it from us to measure ourselves against their expertise, but let’s add a few tips from our smart parents.

For Disney and Legoland, did you know that you can watch fireworks or shows in hotel lobbies for free? At Legoland, my children watched a show in the hotel lobby while playing with Lego. We had paid for our entrance to Legoland, and the show is a sight—no need to pay for another ticket. For the Disney fireworks show, it works out great. We did it one night, on the advice of a friend. All you have to do is find a spot in the parking lot.

Annie

Another mother reports that, with five people going to Disney, she booked a hotel in the « Moderate » category.Moderate. « The young children didn’t eat enough to make it worthwhile.

So the family spent three or four days in the park, and used the installations, just like the Disney Spring ones. After a lenghty research, she has twice succeeded in making six-night stays for $5,500 each, all expenses included. The mother puts her daily expenses on her BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard, collecting between $1,000 and $2,000 a year in miles.

Another interesting story:

Stay in value hotels such as the Art of Animation in off-peak periods like September, where meals are provided free of charge.

Parents order some snacks from the grocery store « Garden Grocer« , which delivers them. No purchases are made in the park.

For five people, they paid $7,000 for a five-day getaway to the park, which included the parks, the Halloween party, and the « Makeover Pirates League » for the two oldest.

Another member has experimented with renting « Time Share » points (their experience was with Disney Vacation Club, which uses Disney points). They were able to rent luxurious suites to accommodate everyone at a lower cost than the posted price.

Finally, as one of them reminds us, if you are travelling with friends, there are group rates for ten or more people.

In this case, Disney tickets were purchased through Expedia to apply an HSBC credit.

And in this case, the AIR MILES paid for some Disney tickets and expenses.

On another organizational note, one family recalls bringing along an umbrella stroller to make it easier to get around with the kids, even though the youngest was six years old.

This allowed them to walk all day without having a child crying his life away because he was tired. Naptime was mandatory every day. The days started early: they were present at attraction openings.

In the afternoon when the children began to feel tired, everyone went for a nap at the nearby hotel. Then the family would leave for the evening until 10 or 11PM.

The Disney Kingdom is a world of tricks and strategies!

The expert's strategies

Regarding credit cards, you’ll want to avoid paying any conversion fees for foreign currency transactions. Apart from that, some programs or some cards stand out.

Jean-Maximilien Voisine - Président-Fondateur de milesopedia

AIR MILES

Regarding activities, AIR MILES is generally used to buy tickets for U.S. theme parks (Disney, Universal, etc.) and other attractions: aquariums, water parks, zoos, spas, golf courses, etc.

The AIR MILES advantage? There are more than a dozen credit cards, each offering nice welcome bonuses. Here’s a selection:

Earning points

Some credit cards have a category that lets you earn points faster when it comes to activities. Here are a few of them:

• 5 points per dollar with the Scotiabank Gold American Express^® Card
• 3 points per dollar with the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard^®*.
• 2 points per dollar with the Scotiabank Visa Infinite Passport Card

However, as soon as the expense is in a foreign currency, it’s best to use another credit card, such as one with no conversion fees.

Conversion fees

If you’re travelling abroad, ensure you have a credit card that doesn’t charge conversion fees for foreign currency expenses.

In my opinion, one of the best cards is the Scotiabank Visa Infinite Passport Card, because it has no conversion fees, 6 airport lounges and excellent insurance.

Bottom Line

This is the end of our file on tips to help families travelling with three or more children.

Four aspects were discussed:

• accommodation
• transportation
• food
• activities

The latter, as we have seen, sometimes require more ingenuity than budget.

Participating mothers shared their best practices and the expert was able to identify some existing or promising avenues. I thank them for that.

We hope the dossier will improve with time and input from other members. As such, we invite you to leave your comments which we will be pleased to add to the article. This way, everyone will be able to benefit from them.

Let travels continue, be them small or big, or near or far!

Thank you to our milesopedia community members:

Maude, Marie, Marie-France, Sandie, Annie, Annick, Aurélie, Isabelle, Jessica, Kawine, Mamarrylyne, Marie-Pier, MP and Virginie.