NCV for Christmas 2019

[travelhacker]

Long-story short, I thought I had put in an ongoing search for NCV for our Spring Break, but I must have added it to Christmas as well. When the exchange hit, my wife loved the idea of being in warmer weather over the holidays so there was no convincing her to cancel and hold out hope for a ski week.

We stayed in January of 2018, so we are familiar with the resort. We really liked the kids club activities and we do like the pools (although for such a large resort, it seems like there should probably be one or two more pools). We were spoiled by the weather as it was in the mid 70s -- so we're hoping for that for this Christmas.

We'll be there December 20th to 27th. We'll be travelling with our six year old daughter and our two year old twin boys.

What recommendations do you have as far as things to do? Any tips?

While we love Disneyland, the thought of going during peak Christmas season sounds painful.

We are planning on doing the Christmas Boat Parade. Any other ideas?

 

[chalee94]

When I went to NCV several years back, I did enjoy the Christmas decorations at DL. (I was not there for the peak weeks, though. I think it was mid-to-late November.)

I also went south to San Diego - Hotel Del Coronado and the Zoo. Even went inland to El Cajon - I play a little acoustic guitar so went to do a tour of the Taylor Guitar Factory. That was a lot of fun.

Had dinner at Dana Point Harbor one night. There's more to do in that area but it didn't work out for us.

 

[Big Matt]

Take the kids to Balboa Island and get a frozen banana. Go by the fire station and talk to the firemen. They may give a quick impromptu tour.
Lego Land in Carlsbad is about an hour drive. Great for kids. The twins may even be free.
If you are going to San Diego, I'd suggest thinking about how much time to allocate. Kids your children's ages will burn out and need down time so figure that in. Zoo sounds great and so does Seaworld. Again, the two year old's may be free.

 

[Werner Weiss]

Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade:

https://www.visitnewportbeach.com/christmas-boat-parade/

 

[gregloucks]

Irvine Regional Park is a sizable park that has a nice small zoo, a petting/feeding zoo area, ponies to ride (slow ones for the younger kids and trotters for your six year old), a train that runs around the park, several playgrounds, lakes, etc. It will be all decked out for the holidays, and I think they have a Santa to visit. They run the train at night with all the Christmas lights on, but you'll want to buy tickets for that in advance.

You might also check out Discovery Cube in Santa Ana, a museum designed just for kids, with lots of interactive exhibits that change throughout the year.

 

[travelhacker]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions!

 

[dpete]

We were there last Christmas week and I would verify that Disneyland was painful! Just getting parked took forever! We left NCV before it was light and barely made it in the gate before they locked it down for crowds. We went knowing we only had a few fast passes that we could use so had realistic expectations but it was still painful. Crown control made us stand for the parades unless you had a curb. Makes me tired thinking about it.

The weather was 60’s but the kids loved the pool anyway. Tennis, the beach is wonderful as long as the sun is out.

We had planned on the island trip to the National Park, but decided against with the federal shutdown in effect, all day trips out of Newport.

We also did the Rose Bowl as we were over New Years. But that won’t apply to you. I would have loved the Christmas Boat parade.

I do hope you get that warmer weather, but if not, it will be fun and relaxing anyway!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Bill4728]

I'm unsure if you'd want to do the electric boat in balboa harbor with two year old twins BUT doing it sometime in the future is a good idea. There are four or five companies which rent large electric boats which you use to putt around the harbor for 90 minutes or so We bought a group-on for $90

 

[travelhacker]

I'm unsure if you'd want to do the electric boat in balboa harbor with two year old twins BUT doing it sometime in the future is a good idea. There are four or five companies which rent large electric boats which you use to putt around the harbor for 90 minutes or so We bought a group-on for $90

I have heard that those electric boats are a lot of fun (I had actually forgotten about that, so I'm glad you mentioned it). I'll have to play that one by ear and figure out if I think the boys would be up for it. Thanks again all for the great advice! Should be a great time!

 

[BJRSanDiego]

We go to Newport Coast every year.

Some of our favorites:
Beachcomber restaurant (take Marriott Shuttle) - 180 degree view of ocean
Duke's, Huntington Beach
The Cliff Restaurant (180 degree view)
Woody's, Balboa Island

Hiking down to Crystal Cove

 

[chalee94]

Forgot that they had a little artsy stuff going on in Laguna Beach. The holiday palettes were fun on the lightposts: