Besides Disney...where do you vacation?

[v.t.]

We're going on the Norwegian Pearl... this'll be dh and my 3rd cruise, but dd's 1st one.. they're ecstatic,

Our schedule includes:
1st day we take off from Seattle.
2nd day is cruising Alaska's inside passageway.
3rd day is Juneau - doing a mendenhall glacier and wildlife (whale/sea lion/seal) excursion here)... my parents took this 10 yrs ago and said it was awesome!
4th day is Skagway -taking a White Pass railway and gold mining excursion here.
5th day is another "at-sea" day where we cruise through Glacier Bay.
6th day is Ketchikan - doing a George Inlet, Libby Cannery, and wildlife(seal/dolphin/eagle) viewing excursion here.
7th day is Victoria, B.C. (planning on just exploring the city, did not sign up for an excursion here).
8th day we arrive back at Seattle.

MRUDMAN,
I am so jealous! That is the cruise we wanted to take but with all the family members schedules we had to go with RCCL. We would love to do the wildlife tour but we have 11 in the group so I think we are going to do a private tour with Marv & Harv and hope for the best. I am thinking about renting a van while in Skagway and do all the activities you are. We are going to just walk around Victoria as well.
Hope you have a great cruise,
Vicky

 

[momofsamandeden]

We generally cruise with a few days in florida thrown in. This year we looked into it and decided to do Disney parks now and then when the Dream is finished do that in the Spring should budgets allow. We like cruising for the all in one package of different locations everyday yet same room and it always helps that meals are covered and child programs are enjoyable. For some reason though the Disney ships never appealed to us until the Dream.

 

[amyy]

Other parts of Florida with Key West being my favorite.

The coast of Maine (granted I live in Maine but I still love it). My DBF thinks it is horrible that I spend money to spend the night on the coast when we could drive home) Last summer I started a new "goal" of spending a night on every island off the Maine coast. I still remember the looks on his face whenever I talk about it Last year we stayed on Monhegan Island. I would be in heaven to spend a week there but he would never go for that.

In the past few years we have also gone to PA and Vermont. I think that is it. Over the years Vegas, DC, Texas, Europe, Quebec etc.

 

[mrudman]

MRUDMAN,
I am so jealous! That is the cruise we wanted to take but with all the family members schedules we had to go with RCCL. We would love to do the wildlife tour but we have 11 in the group so I think we are going to do a private tour with Marv & Harv and hope for the best. I am thinking about renting a van while in Skagway and do all the activities you are. We are going to just walk around Victoria as well.
Hope you have a great cruise,
Vicky

Hope you have a GREAT trip!! Check back in here afterwards and let me know what you were able to see.. would love to hear about it!

We're going with a big group also (14 of us - it's my mom&dad's 40th anniversary), but we all decided that since we'll all be on the ship together a lot, that we'd just pick the excursions we wanted to do as individual families.. so those are the ones we picked. My brothers and dad are doing the ziplining at one of the ports, , and my mom and sis-in-laws haven't booked theirs yet... the one excursion we are all doing together as a big family is the Mendenhall Glacier one.. looking forward to that!

 

[englishteacha]

My dad built a small camp on a lake in the 1960s. It's been paid for since, well, the 1960s. We spent summers there and that was always our relaxing destination. Someday I'd like a camp on a lake of my very own. I love my family but when you have 8 siblings, finding a quiet time to visit mom at the lake is few and far between!

Amyy: My husband says the same thing! Why spend the night somewhere when we can drive home and sleep in our own bed? I love Acadia and would visit every year if it weren't for his "But we've already been to Acadia..." spiel. There are so many lovely places near home!

 

[SunnyP4Disney]

We love to go to the Florida Keys (it's like a different world down there), Washington D.C. (so much history and pretty much every monument or museum is FREE), and historical places such as Valley Forge, Gettysburg, etc.

Our new vacation this year will be to the North Carolina mountains. My mom owns property in Deep Gap and DH and DS have never been there so we're going in Sept/Oct when the leaves start to change.

 

[momofsamandeden]

When I was a kid my moms entire family rented a house for the summer on Saco Beach in Maine. I wish we could do that again. My mom is actually from Camden Maine. I need to get back there some day. I remember blueberry picking in the backyard and crab sauce over pasta. I still make that though it is not the same without fresh Maine crab

 

[Bete]

We haven't done it yet, but we are going to do Pigeon Forge, TN where Dollywood and the Smoky Mountains are located. You can get cabins or resort lodging there. Many places are pet friendly. It is on the cooler side in the spring.

My other adventure involves all the national parks, forests, and monuments. We can't do it all at once, but we will have a step by step program to see some every year. We are starting out with a loop from Vegas to Vegas; so, we can even visit the strip when we are doing the parks. This trip will be 14 to 20 days for us.

Although, I love Disney it's getting to be very artificial for me. We are taking a break from it for the next couple of years.

 

[softballmom3]

We've done many, many gulf coast vacations....love the beaches down there; especially Destin.

 

[mannasn]

For other/cheaper vacations we always go somewhere within driving distance - usually the Florida panhandle beaches or Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area in TN (Smoky Mtns). We love both. I was really hoping for a Disney trip this year (haven't been since 2006) but doubt it's going to happen - it's so much cheaper to vacation closer to home!

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

My family loves going to Lancaster County, PA. We love Dutch Wonderland, the Strasbourg RR, the food!! and much else. We stay at hotel that has a number of indoor pools and play areas, a petting zoo and restraunts(www.willowvalley.com). We live at the "Jersey Shore", so we have a lot to do locally, especially in the summer! I don't know how far it is from Ohio, but with beaches, family fun, etc you could easily make it a weeks vacation.

 

[Goofygirl17]

We usually take a week and go to the beach in the summer. We live near Long Island Sound so we can go to the beach every day but unfortunately there aren't any waves! So, we've been to beaches in NC, Va, and NJ. DH does the Disney trips with us and the girls and I go to the beach with my mom.

I'd like to start exploring the National Parks and taking other trips but I love Disney too!

 

[crjack]

We're doing the exact same thing!! (yet in July, )
Spending 3 days in Seattle first, then going on the Alaskan cruise (last stop is in Victoria).
If you hear of any "must-see's" in either place, let me know please.. I have never been farther west than ohio, lol!

I am a planner and have been reading all I can on cruisecritic.com. As far as Seattle, my DH's brother lives there and is in charge of planning that weekend.
What ship are you going on? We are on the RCCL Rhapsody, the kids are really excited, it is their first cruise.

Do your Alaskan Cruises include Glacier Bay?
Also take a whale watching excursion if you can, and if you don't have a digital SLR camera, take a traditional film camera- by the time a whale's tail comes up in the air and goes back down, a regular digital camera is far too slow.

We do not get to go into Glacier Bay, just the Tracy Arm Fjord, Skagway and Juneau. I am looking to either visit a glacier or whale watch while in Juneau. Any suggestions?

I haven't read the whole thread so my apologies for any duplication but we went on our first Alaskan Cruise last August and loved it!! We went on the NCL Pearl out of Seattle and learned so much from the cruise critic website.

Our favorite excursion was our whale watch in Juneau. We used a great local company called Harv & Marv's that everyone raved about on cruise critic and trip advisor. They have a website if you want to check them out. They were wonderful.

We also loved Seattle! Such a great city to visit. Our favorites were the Music Project Museum and the Underground City Tour. My children were 13 & 14 at the time.

The Butchart Gardens in Victoria were amazing and in the summer there are beautiful fireworks in the evening.

You will love Alaska...truly breathtaking. Enjoy!

 

[kent285]

How about Lakeside up on Lake Erie? It's often referred to as the "Chautauqua of Lake Erie". You can rent cabins there on a weekly basis. You would be near Cedar Point, Put-n-Bay, Kelly's Island, Catawba, etc. It's very safe there and very friendly. Only about 2 - 2 1/2 hours from Columbus.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

We try to do a big trip every other year (usually Disney =) ) and drive trips in between. We have done:

1. Washington DC - awesome even with 5 & 7 y/o
2. Sesame Place
3. NYC
4. THis spring- NYC/Philly
5. This summer - Niagara Falls & Toronto to watch the Red Sox!

We still have WIlliamsburg, VA, dude ranch in Catskills, NY, Baltimore & Jersey Shore on the wish list!

I try to remember there is more than Disney to vacationing - but its hard =)

 

[southtexasmom]

We only go to Disney and to visit family but last summer we went to a family reunion in Branson, Missouri. It was fun to do something different but my then 3 yr old kept asking "where is Mickey?"

 

[mrudman]

How about Lakeside up on Lake Erie? It's often referred to as the "Chautauqua of Lake Erie". You can rent cabins there on a weekly basis. You would be near Cedar Point, Put-n-Bay, Kelly's Island, Catawba, etc. It's very safe there and very friendly. Only about 2 - 2 1/2 hours from Columbus.

I grew up spending a week there every summer.. my aunt owns a house up there, so my parents would drop me off, and I'd spend the week with them. Soo much fun! And so relaxing!

 

[ohlas]

We go every Spring Break to Arkansas. We stay in a state park in a cabin. It is beautiful and we love it!

Look into state parks near you.

State parks are the best, and you can get a cabin for like under 600 wk but you have to book a way in advance for summer months.

 

[PatriciaH]

Lets see... Since DH and I have been together:

95: Baltimore, MD, Bear Mountain, NY, NYC, Maine
96: Miami, FL, WDW
97: Cancun, MX
98: Newport, RI
99: Miami, FL, WDW
00: Playa del Carmen, Mexico, San Diego, CA and DL
01: Las Vegas, NV, Turks and Caicos, WDW
02: Just WDW 2 times
03: Playa del Carmen, MX, 2 WDW trips
04: Mariner of the Seas (RCCL) Western cruise, Punta Cana, DR, Disney Cruise, WDW
05: San Diego/DL
06: Playa del Carmen, MX
07: Disney Cruise, New Orleans
08: NYC (Little Mermaid/ Marry Poppins), Italy, Paris, London
09: San Diego/Laguna Beach/DL, CA, Las Vegas, NV (Love)

 

[lilosurf11]

While we don't go to WDW every year - but we do frequent Disney's Hilton Head Island. It's applicable since it's not WDW or DL. I really enoy it - I love Hilton Head; it's such a fun place!