Besides Disneyworld where does your family vacation?

[SamSam]

The following were all big hits with our kids (long grown now):
-Washington DC
-Yellowstone w/many stops at interesting points along the way; like Mount Rushmore.
-The Grand Canyon
-And, yes, Branson is a lot of fun.
-Cancun...actually we stayed about 80 miles south (twice....loved it)

 

[Jedana]

Let's see...we've gone to

Grand Canyon

Arizona (for Ren Faire )

Camping (Utah, northern Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Georgia)

San Diego

Santa Monica, CA (I was training for a job, DH and the kids came up for a weekend)

St Augustine

Charleston, SC

Las Vegas

Tampa Bay (did Busch Gardens)


We want to go to DC sometime in the next two years. We also have a weekend planned to go to Tampa in October or November.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We are from STL and our family vacation spot other than Disney is Branson. I know it will sound hokey, but Silver Dollar City truly is a wonderful themed park. Now, I don't know if it will be open when you are on break, but it doesn't hurt to check it out. We also loved the Noah show in Branson, but that isn't there anymore.

Other places we have been are Chicago. It won't be warm, but it is a really fun city.

We haven't been to Kansas City yet, but maybe next year. I have heard many great things about KC.

I think you'd like it. We stopped in KC, Kansas on our way home (we're about an hour West of STL) from South Dakota this year & spent 3 nights. We stayed in the Best Western right by the racetrack (by the Great Wolf Lodge & Cabela's). What a neat area!! Spent 2 days at Schlitterbahn and there were LOADS of great places to eat right there. If we had had more time, we probably would have gone to Ocean's of Fun & a couple other things. I think there's plenty there to kill a week.

We also enjoy Branson/Springfield, Panama City Beach, and Wisconsin Dells, and loved our most recent road trip to South Dakota . We've enjoyed Nashville & Chattanooga, but only for a day or two at a time each. Not sure about a week at either (maybe split a week between both?).

That's pretty much it as far as places we've taken our kids. I've done a ton of travel out West both as a kid, and as a childless adult. Loved all those places

 

[TwinkleKS]

I grew up in SW Missouri and my family is still there, so we are usually in Branson once a year or more for a day. Kansas City, OKC, Colorado Springs, and Denver are all in driving distance so we spend long weekends at one of those. The only other big vacation was San Diego, which was perfect for toddlers.

 

[luvmyredheadboys]

Come to oklahoma where we live! Tons to do just kidding! It is 400 degrees right now here we like to go on cruises as a family. If we don't go to disney we go on a cruise! Whole family loves them!! We are looking into NYC next year as well but if that doesn't work out we will cruise

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Thank you all so much!

My concern about the Carolinas at spring time is the temperature. Is there lots to do if its not warm enough to swim?

Washington- waiting till they are a bit older. Daughter will be 5 and son will be 8.

Austin- absolutely considering!

Thoughts on New Orleans?

Yes, the Outer Banks, NC can be too cold for a Spring Break trip. We've done it a few times and most of the time it's just too chilly. So we started going farther south to Edisto Island, SC for Spring Break. We just love it there. It is south enough to be warm. It is quiet and quaint...very low country with a Piggly Wiggly and everything. We've introduced many of our friends to it and now they go there too.

 

[Angel Ariel]

The Outer Banks in NC, specifically Nags Head around milepost 17 is where we take a week or two every summer. The beaches are not crowded, the sand is great, the waves are perfect for boggie boarding....it's heaven if you're a beach lover. There's plenty of stores, shops, restaurants, water sports rentals, history too. There is a fun pirate adventure for parents and kids that my boys love. You can also see dolphins swimming off shore. We love it!

We go to the Outer Banks too (along w/my 7 and 3 y/o nephews) - but we head up to Corolla, usually right before the 4x4 area. A lot of the same descriptions apply, though

 

[Timandalicia]

Wait. There are other places? Oh. You mean like Disneyland.
Lol.

 

[alicat8]

The Outer Banks in NC, specifically Nags Head around milepost 17 is where we take a week or two every summer. The beaches are not crowded, the sand is great, the waves are perfect for boggie boarding....it's heaven if you're a beach lover. There's plenty of stores, shops, restaurants, water sports rentals, history too. There is a fun pirate adventure for parents and kids that my boys love. You can also see dolphins swimming off shore. We love it!

love love love the outer banks and was going to suggest it. we also do lake george cabins with family every year, and it's beautiful up there.

 

[jillianjigs7]

Cape Cod.
Williamsburg, VA.
Savannah, GA.
San Francisco
Naples, FL.
Key West
Washington, DC.
Vail,CO.

 

[kkmcan]

Its important to us to take our kids to other places besides Disney. So far we've taken them to:

Washington DC
Oklahoma City
San Francisco, CA
Branson, MO
Las Vegas
San Diego and Oceanside, CA
San Carlos, Mexico
Cabo San Lucas, Mex
Denver, CO
Tons of places in Az- Sedona, Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Pine Top, Phoenix
Plus 3 Disney cruises- Bahamas (2x) and Mex Riviera

Our top choices to go next are NYC, Hawaii or Alaska.

 

[expeditioneverestgrl]

Great wolf lodge (11 or so locations) it's a very kid-friendly waterpark and there are waterslide a for all ages!! Here's the web:
www.greatwolf.com

Cocoa Keys-also a cool waterpark!!

Kings island in Ohio!!

 

[aaarcher86]

We are either at Disney or the beach. We can't pull away from the beach lol. We are looking to move to SC so maybe at that point we will have a broader range of vacations.

 

[SEA333]

After our upcoming disney trip this October we are trying to plan for a spring break vacation. Disney has been the only place our kids have gone (besides little day trips) and we wanted to expand a bit. So where else do you recommend going with young kids, coming from the Midwest? We'd like to stay stateside and spend around $4000 or less, seven days max. We are considering hilton head- but wanted other options as well!

DH and I looked at Las Vegas - when we really researched, there was TONS of stuff for families to do...and off of the strip, too. There is Hoover Dam/Lake Mead, the desert, ranches, farms, old ghost towns, etc, plus all of the usual fun stuff to do "on the strip". There was so much stuff to consider that we had a hard time narrowing it down! And if you base your hotel in the strip area at one of the big hotels/resorts, prices are very reasonable. We were looking at a 5 day stay with airfare for about $2000, some advance activity ticket purchases included.

My kids are 13, 9, and 7.

 

[writersblock42]

The southwest parks would be great that time of year. Yellowstone and the Outer Banks are still a little chilly for spring break time. Bryce, Arches, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde those are all pretty kid friendly with lots of neat Jr. Ranger programs.

 

[jennifersullivan]

Last time we took our kids on a family vacation to Florida with the help of the travel search engine My Vacation Pages and it was a lot of fun!! They wanted to go to Disney, but we wanted to give them another vacation experience. And it worked!!!

 

[Cars2006]

We live in MA so we done all of New England day trips and stay overs. Every other year we do Disney or Toronto Canada (to visit their great aunt). We have also done Washington DC, Hershey PA, NY City, upstate NY and Smithfield NC and all of the east coast. Planning a trip to St. Thomas in 2015 to visit great aunt. Maybe in a couple of years would love to head out west.

 

[starsweeper]

We've only taken the kids to Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks (June 2013) other than WDW. That trip was our first family vacation in 4 years. My mom wanted to take the kids to the beach before she passed but it was not to be. She also wanted to take her family to WDW, so we're taking them next summer in her memory.

Once all our kids are at least 5 we want to visit:
Williamsburg, VA and Monticello
Washington, DC
2 week trip to Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Prince Edward Island (spend 1 week here)
Dinosaur Monument Valley, UT (stop in Fort Collins, CO to visit friends)
Several areas of New England for history and fall color
Yosemite, Glacier and Yellowstone parks
Grand Canyon/Great Divide (AZ-CO)
and many more...

I love WDW but there are lots of places we want to visit as a family. After next year, we want to use money my mom left us to vacation 2x a year and have experiences we talked about for when the kids were older.

 

[luvmy3]

Our usual vacation spots are Lake George, NY and Long Beach Island, NJ.

We were planning a Spring Break trip to Pigeon Forge but we had to cancel it. I was disappointed but if we did go we wouldn't be going to WDW this month
We have also taken our kids for week long vacations to:
Cape Cod
Virginia Beach
Chesapeake Bay area (camping)
Colonial Williamsburg
Washington DC
We do alot of weekend trips within a couple hours drive (Northeast & New England).

My dh travels to a few conferences every year and has been to some nice places (Hawaii, Cancun, France, etc) so my kids really want to go to the next one in Cancun later this fall. I am going, but they are not.

 

[sapdaddy2]

From Ohio it is not that long a ride to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin home of the largest water park in the US (Noah's Ark). I would recommend you stay at the Wilderness resort which has 2 indoor and 2 outdoor water parks that are free when you stay there.