A day or 2 @ Cocoa beach?'s

[nettii]

I was wondering if any one who drives to WDW takes a day or 2 @ Cocoa Beach. We were thinking of Clear water but Cocoa beach is closer and because we are driving down our time is limited. we will only have 6 days to spend in FL. and you all know how fast that will go by. So we are looking for the best bang for our time. We have 2 boys 8, 15 and the idea of the surf school is very exciting to them. but the idea of clear water is exciting to me. So please give your opionions on either. Thnks Nettii

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

We have had family on both coasts - Treasure Island and Cocoa. Both are great, but Cocoa is much closer (75 minutes, tops, if you take 528).

I don't know about hotels because we always stay with family, but our kids love having a few beach days each trip.

FWIW, the water is much warmer during the cooler months on the Gulf side, but the surf is much better year round on the Atlantic side...

 

[Lisha1979]

We are looking at going to Cocoa Beach after our WDW trip in mid May. Have u found a hotel yet?
I've been looking and looking for Beach Front Hotels but I'm not sure which ones are on the beach and which ones are across the street from the beach. There are a few that I see on Google Maps but when reading reviews I saw someone say they stayed at a certain hotel b/c it was the only one that looked like it was on the beach, but they found out that there were many other beach front hotels, but they never mentioned which ones.
It looks like Cocoa Beach has lots of fun things to do, Manatee Watching for free. There are many other things as well but since we'll only be down there for the weekend I didn't research a lot.
Here's a thread I found about Cocoa Beach with LOTS of info.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520273

 

[SkinsFan76]

We've stayed in both Coco Beach and South of Clearwater (Treasure Island actually). Both places are great. We enjoyed the beach more on the Gulf side because the water was wamer, but our son is a toddler so the big waves are a minus to him.

We stayed at the Resort on Cocoa Beach which was pretty nice. Had activities for the kids (game room, play area, and movie theater), a mexican restaurant on site, and was right on the beach. We also saw a satelite launch from Kennedy from our balcony, which was awesome. The surrounding area was had a really laid back feel.

We loved Treasure Island because it wasn't crowded, and the water was a lot warmer. We drove up to Clearwater and enjoyed it as well. There is definately a lot to do on the beach and surrounding area. We also like Tampa and the things to do in the city.

I honestly don't think you can go wrong with either area. But Cocoa Beach comes across as a nice add on and Clearwater area is a full vaction area for us.

 

[MrsGoofyMitchell]

We have gone to both Clearwater and Cocoa Beach for a day on our DW trips. I think Cocoa Beach is your best bet! Your boys will love the huge waves!! We have also stayed at the Doubletree at Cocoa Beach before and it was really nice.

 

[tartemis]

I love Cocoa Beach!! When I was on the rowing team in college we used to go there during our winter break to train. We have always stayed at the Cocoa Beach Day's Inn and think the location is great! It is "on" the water -- there is a private pathway to walk down to the beach.

 

[kmccartney]

It's Cocoa Beach for us! We have been to both Cocoa and Clearwater. On all of our past four trips we have spent at least one day (our last trip we spent three days) at Cocoa beach. The trip is just under an hour from Lake Buena Vista. The kids love it there. Have a great time!