48 days to go, excited and need some advise please.

We are so excited we are going back to our vacation in paradise next month, we will be there from 12/21 to 12/30. We are staying at White Sands as we have on 3 previous trips. This will be our 8th trip and 3rd staying on 7mile beach the rest being at Devine Destiny and Sommerset on the west end. Our son is going this time, he is 7 now and went on our last trip when he was 4. We are planning on taking him to Mayfield, the cliffs to snorkle and to the water park, the rest of the time we will hopefully be experiencing some serious sand gravity. We have never been to Mayfield, we traveled to YS yrs ago without him and want to know what you think about Mayfield and weather it is worth the trip to YS or will Mayfield be fun enough for him We are thinking the less travel time the better especially since he got car sick on our ride from Montego to Negril sev yrs ago. Any ideas on how to prevent him from vomiting on our ride will be appreciated!!
Do any of you have experience with Cool Runnings water park and can it take a better part of our day up? He is in competitive swim classes and is a pretty good swimmer and we are hoping he can handle snorkeling at the cliffs, he has a set of snorkle that has a ?water trap to keep him from drinking a gallon of water! We just want to make sure we have activities planned that he is going to enjoy and can handle.
Also, I think we have paid way to much for taxi service on our prev trips. I am wondering what we should expect to pay to go the the grocery and bank from White Sands and I have no idea how to go about a taxi to Mayfield and this is the only trip we will be needing transportation for this vacation.
White Sands can provide our taxi service from the airport and I think we are paying $160 for round trip transfer.
Thanks for any input and I love this board and will try to post and not lurk so much! BTW thanks Clarity, I took you advise to someones post about a camera and just got my Sony Cyber-shot H70 in the mail today, I hope it takes as beautiful pictures as your camera!
48 days to go and I will have the sand in between my toes and a dirty bannana in my hands!

If only 1 person is going to town, just catch a red-plate taxi on the beach road and ask to be dropped off 'plaza side' in town. They will pull into value master parking lot. Do your shopping / business, and then catch a beach taxi either from the Cambio parking lot next to value master, or walk over the bridge toward the beach, and catch a taxi to WS as you are on the downslope of the bridge. The taxis will be $100J each way, per person.

If all 3 of you are going in to town, then your best bet is probably a chartered ride, but i am not sure what to advise on price, which will include some waiting time. I would think $25-20 US?

http://www.koolrunnings.com/ The waterpark is very good fun with children there is also an adventure zone too.There is a place to eat inside and ice cream stands , you can spend a whole day there, a DJ comes on stage too sometimes it is a nice family day there.

You could also take him to rhodes hall resort for the day there are peacocks roaming around a small private beach cove and I have heard the snorkelling is quite good very close to the shore there.For an extra fee he could see or ride a horse on site or see the crocs!

Margaritiville is also fun there is a little playground there and water trampolines make sure he has a float on though as sometimes it is a little deep just bfore you get to the trampoline.

You will love Kool Runnings waterpark, I have been twice and it does have a lot of slides, a nice lazy river, and a smaller slide area for the not so bold, as well as a kids play area..for extra there is a go kart area too for an extra charge, not sure how much.

And I loved YS falls, am going for the second time when I get down there.

You say you stayed at Summerset in the past..what did you think of it and when did you stay last? I will be staying there this coming trip if all goes well. :)

Thanks Lola, I am sure we paid more that 100J a piece.

Negrilaholic, our first trip in 1993 was our honeymoon and we arrived in the dark and when we woke up of course we were in awe of Sommerset. The grounds were beautiful and the room was a "tree house " room. At that time it was a nice place to stay, they took care of the grounds, can't remember how the food was but I can recall the Hungry Lion on the corner was wonderful! We have not visited since so I am not sure how they have kept up. I hope that it is as nice for you as it was for us. I love the West End but we figured it would be so much easier stying on the beach when we have to drag floaties, pool toys and everything else a 7yo might need,lol! Thanks for your response, we have looked up the website and it looks like he is tall enough for all the slides so he is excited.
I wish we could go back to YS but am afraid the trip would be to long for him, especially with car sickness.

Thanks Tic toc, The park looks like it will be a good choice for him. Is the rhodes hall resort on 7 mile beach, I have never heard about this place but it sounds like fun. Our last trip he was too small for Margaritiville, but this yr we will def visit. I am not big on eating there, I prefer patties/jerk chicken to the food they offer so I hope they will let us hang out if we just have a few dirty bannanas.

Take either chewing gum or peppermint for the car sickness. They both work well, both my son and I get car sick so I keep a supply of mints in the car.

Alisa> You definately can just have a drink at margaritiville they used to do re-fillable big cups for alcoholic drinks on a special too!
I think they have some activities some days you will have to check once there.
Here is Rhodes hall websitehttp://www.rhodesresort.com/
I see they are now charging 15 dollars for a day pass pp that includes transport that is a tad high in my estimation but think they are also offering day pass plus special of the day lunch and one drink for 15 dollars that does not include transport .I think it is about 7 miles away from the beach 5 minute taxi ride.It is a lovely relaxing place private cove and the animals depends what price you want to pay.

Thanks again Tictoc, I cheked out Rhodes hall and it sounds great! I think it will be a great place for him to snorkle, maybe alot calmer than the cliffs. It sounds like you may be traveling the same time we are, are you vacationing with children also?

@Alisa,
yes I just realised we will be there the same dates and my son is the same age as yours!

I will be on the beach for your dates too

We are definately planning a waterpark day 23rd/28th/29th dec so message me if you want to meet up!

I am also thinking of a day out and I will look up mayfield falls and the way to get there.
If we could use public transport that would be good / share cost.

I am bringing three children, we could either half fill a minibus or take two cars depending on who runs that route I will ask on here today

I was looking at the ys falls website and it seems they have a lot more going on there, there is a mini playground for the children an onsite farm/stables swimming pool/natural calm spring water all of the falls which look magnificent a picnic area food place gift shop tropical birds like hummingbirds you can get photos with canopy swings tubing for the adults.There seems to be so much more.I pass Ys falls each trip on my way to other places and have never stopped yet.
It is $15 entry per adult and $7.50 per child I think it is worth a look
http://ysfalls.com/index.php?option=...d=24&Itemid=39

YS falls is a great place but maybe not for a full day, when ever i've gone there always stop off at Black River and see the crocs first then head to YS after some lunch, the kids will love the tractor ride from the bottom up to the falls, passing through fields of cattle

Attachment 5508Attachment 5507 I stayed at Rhodes Hall in august with my 15 yr. old son and is a good place for a day trip, the food at the Bayview restaurant is very good too. There is a beach area and is a protected reef area, great for snorkling.

@Tictoc, sounds great if we could share a ride but I think we are leaning towards Mayfield mostly because it is a quicker trip and we are hoping to spend some time at Rhodes now and I know our son will love seing the alligators there. Would love to meet up and we will also be planning on a trip to the waterpark, not sure on the dates but my little one would love to have another boy to ride with! We will be at White Sands from 12-21 to 12/30, are you staying anywhere close during that time?

@ Airportworker we have visited YS Falls before and it is a beautiful place, we also have seen the crocs at Black river but back in 93, way before son was born.. I am thinking Mayfields since we have never been and its a shorter ride, then going to Rhoades to see the alligators there and do some snorkling.

@Poolguy Looks like an awesome place to visit, will def fit in in!

hey Alisa we are up by the cliffs for the first half of your week but we get free beach shuttle every day and the latter half we are staying on the beach.

I am staying for a few weeks and as soon as I get there I will post my ja cell number on here or just message me and we can meet and the kids can play.

The waterpark is a definate for my children the only reason I stated particular dates was because some of the dates inbetween are BIG event days/nights such as christmas eve christmas day and boxing day and the next day for recovery!
The 30th is also the date of the party at travellers beach resort I am planning

So I will not be doing much log fluming and spinning those days they are reserved!

Sounds like a good day mayfield and rhodes I am going to ask the cost now in a new thread