Beach Vacation After Disney

[SiestaK]

Hi Everybody - I'm a newbie posting here but I have spent hours reading posts to help me put my August trip to Disney together. Now, I'm looking for some suggestions for beach destinations after the parks. We plan to leave NJ on 8/13 drive till SC, spend the night then leave for Orlando. We'll spend 1 night off property then get an early start & check in at the POR. We check out on 8/22 & start our drive back to NJ but first we want to spend 5 days recovering from the magic at the beach. Has anyone done this kind of trip & can you recommend some destinations?

 

[NALA 24]

We stayed at Hilton Head on the way to WDW one year. It was great! This year we are considering staying one night at a FL beach before we check in to WDW.

 

[tikimimi]

You don't mention what you like in a beach vacation, and that can certainly make a lot of difference. I am familiar with many beach areas in FL, GA, and SC. Give some information on what you want in a beach vacation - peace and quiet vs plenty to do, small and quaint or large and crowded, etc... and I'll try to make some suggestions for you.

 

[annagirl]

I vacationed at Myrtle Beach once - very nice area. If it's on your way back, look into it.

 

[TheWog]

Are you interested in Gulf Coast or Atlantic? Do you want it to be while on the way back or are you up for heading South?

 

[Missytara]

My parents go to FL once a year and they make stops going down and coming back. They love, love, love the Outerbanks in NC and Jekyll's Island in GA.

Definately call ahead; you are in luck, since you are planning to stay 5 days because in July/August, most beach resorts require a 3 night minimum. I live in DE, about an hour from Rehoboth, as well as Ocean City, MD. We are finding that a great deal of the resorts are busy, because people are choosing to stay close to home. We are also noticing that people seem to be taking several long weekends, in lieu of a two-week long vacation at the end of the summer. So they are going away every weekend, from Friday to Sunday. I noticed, because a good deal of our restaurants are empty on Friday nights now, as well as the weekends.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

We always go to Cocoa or Daytona.

 

[vicb]

In the past two years we have visited both Clearwater Beach and the FL Space Coast. Both were nice, different. We really liked our more laid back visit to Space Coast. We stayed one night at Cocoa Beach Hilton and three nights at Melbourne Beach Hilton. We visited the Kennedy Space Center one day, I would highly recommend that if it at all interests your family.

 

[LMN]

Coming home last summer from Disney, we spent one night at Crescent Beach, just outside of St. Augustine (Atlantic coast, very north Florida). We really wished we had longer to stay than just the one night. We stayed at a really roomy condo that was right on the beach. The beach was gorgeous. I would highly recommend the place- just PM me and I can let you know where we stayed. (Not sure if its ok to post?)

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I would highly recommending going to Clearwater Beach.

 

[CanadianPaco]

Last trip it was Clearwater but this time it'll be Cocoa Beach!

 

[ParrotBill]

Assuming you want it to be on the way, I second St. Augustine. Lovely area and nice beaches.

 

[SiestaK]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the replies. Let me give a little more info. We typically rent oceanfront condos -several years in Ocean City, MD, Fort Walton Beach or Siesta Key, FL. Since we want to recover from a fantastic but exhausting week in Disney we are looking for a quiet beach about half way between Disney & NJ. I have looked into NC but what I'm finding in the Outer Banks are HUGE homes and very expensive. I've been told that Myrtle Beach is similar to Ocean City. As much as we love the boardwalk & excitement for other vacations this time, quiet is better. Appreciate any recommendations!

 

[Microcell]

Have your looked at vbro.com?

It is a vacation rental by owner site, and perhaps you can rent a home?

We looked there for Denver and found some reasonable deals!

 

[Robert P]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the replies. Let me give a little more info. We typically rent oceanfront condos -several years in Ocean City, MD, Fort Walton Beach or Siesta Key, FL. Since we want to recover from a fantastic but exhausting week in Disney we are looking for a quiet beach about half way between Disney & NJ. I have looked into NC but what I'm finding in the Outer Banks are HUGE homes and very expensive. I've been told that Myrtle Beach is similar to Ocean City. As much as we love the boardwalk & excitement for other vacations this time, quiet is better. Appreciate any recommendations!

Yes. Most of the NC options would be houses. There aren't a ton of condos offered in that market. However, the week you leave begins the discount season for most Outer Banks rentals, and the prices would be discounted at least 25% from Summer rates. A smaller house, discount season, and you might find some good options there if you have time to dig on the net.
If Myrtle Beach is not quiet enough (and overall, it isn't very quiet in August), then I would recommend either Hilton Head, SC or possibly even Wrightsville Beach (Wilmington), NC. FL has many more options, but I think you would have to be that far North (SC at least) to approach your halfway point home.

 

[aquaticmom]

If your looking for quiet, Topsail Island, NC is our favorite beach spot. No boardwalks, no commercialization(sp) on the main Island, very, very little traffic, good old fashion laid back island life. There are quite a few fairly inexpensive condo's on the northern part of the island (North Topsail Beach) We rented one about three weeks out last year for less than $100 a night in late June and it was only a two night rental. Most homeowners are more than willing to negotiate at this point if they have empty spots. There seems to be alot of availability starting August 22nd so you should not have any problem at all finding a place. If this is something that you think might interest you, send me a PM or email.

PS- Welcome to Disboards!!