My husband and I are taking our 7 year old niece to Vancouver / BC for 2.5 weeks at the end of April.
Does anyone have any suggestions of things to do for kids in this area ?
I'm also interested in suggestions as to how best to occupy her on the 10 hour flight and especially on how to get the airline to allocate us bulk-head seats to give us a little extra space !
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Being young myself and living in B.c. I know of lots of good
places to go. Science World is always fun no matter how
old, Stanley Park is a beautiful place to go on a nice day.
The Vancouver Aquarium is also entertaining for children.
Have a nice trip!
The end of April can be a really nice time in Vancouver,
but it could also be raining a lot-- so consider indoor
activities as well as the usual beach, park and Grouse
Mountain ideas. My kids have always liked Chucky Cheeze's-
an indoor family-oriented games place-- large arcade and
midway type games-- not too expensive. Likewise, Crash
Crawley's is the same type of place. For flying, I tend to
occupy my kids with hand-held computer games along with the
book/snacks/sleep (Gravol prior to flight time is
wonderful!)... The airlines tend to give the cockpit tours
to the kids, too. Good luck, and have fun!
Lighthouse Park on the North Shore, Cypress Mountain- if
only for the view of the lower mainland if its clear on the
way down, Pacific Spirit Park in the UBC endowmwnt lands,
bike up from Jericho Beach to 'the anchor'. You dont mention
whether or not you will have wheels. If you can, go to
HorshoeBay and take a ferry over to Bowen Island for the
day. Its a short ride and there is a nice hike over there,
as well as cool places to look around in down by the dock.
Science World is good, Granville Island is good for everyone
too- nice to take one of the false creek ferries from Gran
Isle to the Planetarium or across to English Bay. Lynn
Canyon, Capilano Park- many many places and things to do.
Take her on a hike through one of the second growth forests-
its like Hobbitland or Lord of the rings. Look on the web
for a tourism BC sitew. Have fun!
You can ask your travel agent to request bulkhead
allocation, arrive early for your flight and request it
again but be sure that's what you really want - the leg room
is virtually non-existant. Also, it will be in centre of
the plane (on aircraft that have a centre section) only as
the airlines will not put children on exit rows at the side
of the planes, anyone seated there has to be seen to be
physically capable of opening the exits & helping the crew
in case of emergency.
Last year I flew with my (just) seven year old son from
Australia to England & back, via the US and it went very
well. If you are feeling extravagant, or your niece already
has one I recommend a gameboy to give her something fun and
non-mobile to do - try games like Pokemon - she probably
already knows all about it from school. My son had the
little ear phones, so no matter what time-zone his body was
on, no-one else had to put up with the electronic noise. I
know it's not exactly "politically correct" to suggest this,
but honestly, it was a lifesaver on long-haul.
Cheers & good trip