If you didn't go to Disney...

I think I would try Maui.

Hawaii can be great. Highly recommended. Much less stressful than a lot of other vacation destinations.

I have family in Italy, and I love Hawai'i, and I've been to both multiple times. I'd recommend Europe or Hawai'i as excellent travel destinations. Only problem with Europe these days is that the American dollar is so week compared to the Euro it won't buy what it used to be able to.

Though Disney resorts are our favorite vacation destination, and now that we are DVC members we will be travelling there even more frequently, in no way would we ever limit our travel to Disney and Disney alone.

Hi,

I checked that I probably wouldn't go on vacation, but that may be because I'm sitting here trying to recover from a bad cold/bronchitis, which I've had since 2/17/2009, and wondering how long I can go between coughing jags. The reason may also be that the economy is in the toilet.

Between December, 2003 and December, 2007, I went to WDW six times. But I also made three visits to Canada (September 20-30, 2004 in Vancouver; August 3-8, 2006 to Quebec, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island; and May 10-13, 2007 to Winnipeg. Manitoba); one each to Pennsylvania (May 11-14, 2008); Las Vegas (February 25-28, 2004); and California (May 8-15, 2004).

I'm planning to go to Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, in August (over my birthday) for a family reunion.

Jim

@SpaceAce: I would love to try Hawai'i as well!

@Imagineer: Where is your family in Italy? I've been around Italy a bit and really enjoyed it.

@LeCellier: There's such beautiful areas of Canada--it sounds like you've hit most of them! Are you planning to possibly catch some of the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010?

I chose India, because I've always wanted to explore that country. It's obviously a bit unstable now, but that might be the case for a while. I think it really depends where you go in countries like that.

Gotta go with Hawaii. We've been a few times, staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu and the Kapalua Bay Resort on Maui. Many years ago I stayed at a Westin on Kauai.

The Kapalua was the most beautiful place I've ever stayed, very simple and elegant, and I was sad to see they tore it down to build something "new and improved" in its place. It had the most magnificent view from the pool, sitting on a cliff overlooking Molokai and another island.

Been thinking about looking at a DVC point swap next year at a nice subdued spot on Maui again.

You'd pick Maui over Kauai? I didn't want to leave Kauai. I love that island. I was completely unimpressed with Oahu/Honolulu but I was ready to move to Kauai.

Maybe not, I was on Kauai back in the mid-80's, but have been to Maui twice in the past five years or so. I remember Kauai as being incredible, so I'm not ruling out that another trip there might circumvent my previous idea about going to Maui instead.
Sooooooo.... guess I'll have to do BOTH and compare!
I'm in agreement with the Honolulu/Oahu stuff, although anybody going to Hawaii should at least make a day trip to check out Pearl Harbor, the Punch Bowl and a few other things.

I've watched Travel Channel stuff about Oahu and it looks like there are some less touristy places to go if you know what you're doing. But even at it's best it doesn't compare to Kauai in my estimation. Last time I went I had plans to do some island hopping, but I got "stuck" in Kauai. It was helped by the fact that we lucked into a great condo for rent that was walking distance from the beach.

My wife and I laugh about the fact that we have some rather obscure vacation practices.

The first time we went to Oahu, the first place we ended up was a Salvation Army Thrift Store. We figured that they'd have some neater stuff in Hawaii than they would in Kentucky.

The second year we went, we spent the week on Oahu, but I had a day trip to Maui for business. We flew over that morning, found the place I would meet my contact later, then went to K Mart.

I guess we're easily pleased!

It's funny you should mention that. One of my most distinct memories of Kauai is going to the Walmart there. Primarily because while we were waiting around outside for something (Can't remember what), I was marveling at all the chickens running around. There are chickens EVERYWHERE in Kauai. They apparently have no predators there. Amusingly several of the girls I was traveling with were afraid of birds and particularly chickens.

To Annie: my family in Italy is in the Province of Caserta, region of Campania. It's about an hour north of Naples and 2 hours south of Rome. There is so much to see in that part of Italy. And because I have guides (my relatives) each time I go I get to see not only the beautiful tourist spots, but the gritty urbanscape that is inner city Naples.

Regarding Hawai'i, I've been to O'ahu and Maui, and I find it hard to compare the two. Yes O'ahu is home to the urban center of the islands, but there is much more to see if you go to the north shore or east to the windward side. Keep in mind, that as a contrast to what you see in the travel brochures, some of these spots on O'ahu, in fact on all the islands are home to locals who are sometimes less than friendly to tourists.

My wife and I fell in love with Maui last year. We stayed in Kihei which I'd say is centrally located enough on the island to use as a base to tour the whole island. I am looking forward to going back, but not till I've seen Kaua'i. My wife has been and loved it.

Hi,

I don't presently have any plans to see any of the Winter Olympics, but it would be so cool to see them in person!

Jim

I was torn between Hawaii and a road trip. But it has been so long since I did a road trip.

I've always wanted to go to Australia.

I'd love to visit Europe. It'd include England and Ireland and Rome and France and Amsterdam. Ahhhhhh... what a dream vacation

Agreed! I'd love to see them and am secretly hoping to go next year. Fingers crossed!

DW has been pushing for this pretty hard. Canada seems nice and it's close, so maybe it's not such a bad idea.

Other....Disney Cruise!!!

Also what dose DW mean?

Haha. Marzyar is Disney's dream come true. He will even defy the spirit of the poll to make sure he gets to do something Disney! I totally understand though, I think you summed it up perfectly that you have too little vacation time to risk having a bad one.

Yea I'm pretty Disneified. I was a theme park junkie growing up but very light on cash so I stuck to local parks. In 2000 I did the Land/Sea trip with my X and loved it, she wasn't so impressed so we vacationed elsewhere. (then the Big D came along)

I got Re-Married in 2006 and we have averaged 1.33 trips a year ever since. I check all the sites (OK, not all), Buy any book I find about the subject and try to learn everything I can. (Read Realityland. Lots of great information if you can get past a few negative opinions.) I'm not trying to be a know it all but I'm on my way. (P.S. more trivia on the site please)

Yea, the mouse gets a few of my bones every year, but I think it's money well spent.

Realityland (affiliate) looks great. I'm excited to read it.

Also, we hear the pleas for more trivia We've got some photo stuff coming around the pike...

Hi,

I've read David Koenig's *Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World* which, as Marzyar said, is a good book about the challenges of building our favorite vacation spot. I bought my signed copy from the author himself at the MouseFest 2007 Mega Meet.

Jim

Hello cdub!

How close to Canada are you? Have you ever been there?

What parts of it do you want to see? It is the world's second- or third-largest nation in land area, stretching for six time zones from east of Maine to the west coast.

Canada can be a bit of a bargain since the Canadian dollar, according to an outfit called Forex, is fluctuating at around 80 cents to the U.S. dollar. I can tell you from experience--my father was Canadian and therefore I have lots of family there--that Canadians are generally friendly to Americans. They just think we're (Americans) uninformed and a bit weird. They're right about my being a bit weird. LOL.

Jim

Not altogether untrue.

What did you think about the part that featured "I read the bill and I found just one problem with it. You left out previsions for the crown."

I live about as far from Canada as you can get in the Continental US, Texas! I have been to Niagra falls and I have to say the Canadian side was much better than the American side.

DW is pushing to go to the Olympics and Vancouver is probably my first pick of where to go in Canada, so that might work out. Or maybe I should just go to Le Cellier again and watch Off Kilter.

Do you go to Canada often?

Hawai'i, hands down. Every island is so different and it is truly paradise on earth. We are soooo excited about DVC opening a Hawai'i resort!!!!

I loved the chickens! That is part of what makes Kaua'i so unique! I went with my family in high school and we were just in awe by the chickens on the beach, chickens crossing the road, etc.

We found that Maui actually had a lot of wild chickens too, but nothing like Kaua'i.