Anyone familiar with Fort Myers Beach & Vicinity?

[pittsburghmom]

We will be traveling from Pittsburgh to Fort Myers beach from March 31st - April 6th. Already have flights and hotel booked. Got a fantastic deal on flights (5 round trip tickets for 37,000 Southwest points), 6 night 2 bedroom suite at the Fort Myers/Sanibel Residence Inn covered by Ultimate reward points, and a 7 passenger mini van through Costco Travel for $350 For the week. Now I am looking for deals on things to do. For example, I know we would enjoy touring the Ford-Edison Winter estate, but don't see any type of discount for tickets. Is there an Entertainment book or any other way to save on different activities, restaurants, and attractions in the area? Any tips or tricks or must do's are welcome!

 

[lulu2]

We love "Lovers Key" state recreational area. It has a fantastic beach and little concession stand for drinks, ice cream treats etc, you can also rent chairs and umbrellas. They have a nice public bathroom, much less busy than Fort Myers beach. Have fun!

 

[WVMomof3]

We were members of the Frick (near Pittsburgh) and used the reciprocal privileges to visit the Edison estate and the Mound House. I think there may be a few more places around that area you can use it. I think you can also use the Mattress Factory membership. It will still cost you, but we were able to use the membership at many places and it was well worth the money.

 

[chaselovesnemo]

A bit of a drive, but a great free thing to do is search for fossilized shark teeth on Manasota Key. They’re everywhere! We found hundreds. One of our family’s favorite vacation memories.

 

[Psychodisney]

I never see many discounts on things in SWFL. Lover’s Key is a beautiful state park . Reasonable parking fee. If the weather is cool, there’s a park called Manatee Park. No admission fee, just a couple of bucks to park. There is warm water there that the manatees seek out in the cooler weather.
If you head a little further south towards Marco Island, you will find airboat rides and lots of boat trips to see dolphins. Again, limited coupons but you got great deals on your car and lodging!

 

[mhf]

Drive out to Sanibel Captiva Islands and visit the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.

 

[easyas123]

Drive out to Sanibel Captiva Islands and visit the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.

100% this, plus another vote for the Ford/Edison.

 

[HeatherC]

We have stayed at the Residence Inn Sanibel before. Great location for both Sanibel/Captiva and Ft. Myers Beach. There is also a beach right around the corner called Bunche beach....great for sunset and literally under five minutes from the hotel with very little crowds.

We love to rent bikes on Sanibel for the day. We also like going to Captiva to the Mucky Duck for some fun beachside dining and cocktails.

Lovers Key is great for a day trip.

Check out Captiva Cruises for boat rides to Cabbage Key and Cayo Costa both great spots!

 

[easyas123]

Speaking of Cabbage Key, here is a pic of my husband this past June there, having a conversation with one of the resident tortoise (or turtle!)

 

[debster812]

Don’t know if you have any young kids in your group, but the Zoo at Caribbean Gardens in Naples was always good for a day when DS and his cousins were young (we went to visit the grandparents every February from the time the kids were 4 until they graduated high school).

Also, if you have kids in the group, there is a water park in Cape Coral (whose name is escaping me) and a smaller county run water park in Naples called Sun n Fun lagoon which are also both good takes.

Barefoot Beach in Bonita Beach is our favorite beach to go to in that area.

 

[DisneyHardin]

This might seem like the silliest piece of advice, but if you have kids, prepare them for the fact that lizards are going to be everywhere. We went on vacation to Ft. Myers when I was about 8 years old and, coming from Kentucky, I wasn't used to lizards. I spent the entire vacation terrified to go out of the condo because of all the lizards. I think if my mom had known there would be so many ahead of time, she could have prepared me better and it would have been such a traumatizing vacation.

That being said, I did LOVE the Edison Winter home tour that we did when we were there.

 

[bearzabout]

We use our garden, museum, zoo and science museum memberships to visit other places for free or at a discounted price all over the country. If you join Phipps for $99 for a household, you can go to events there for a year and save a bunch of money at Edison. Selby Gardens in Sarasota would also be free and is beautiful. It would be worth a 1 hr 20 minute drive to explore that area also.

Groupon has some discounts on some activities like a family scavenger hunt.

I’d call the visitor center and see if they could give you guidance.

Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve only costs $1/hr for parking. The Manatee preserve is free.

 

[easyas123]

Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve

We had a beautiful walk thru there on January 30th.

 

[debster812]

Oh yes, Manatee Park is great too. It’s a runoff from a FMLP plant and when it’s cool in the Gulf (under 66 degrees I think) the manatees come up the river by the hundreds. There are boardwalks to take in the whole park.

 

[Marek Zyskowski]

I believe there is a ferry service that can take you to Key West. I would be interested to know if anyone has done the trip.