Best Beach near Disney

[Manon]

We are driving to Disney this end of June with are 3 kids from Montreal Canada

Wanted to know where is the nearest beach from Disney and the better one .

I had my eye set up on Daytona Beach, but how is it since the hurricane last year????

Thanks for all your comments!


Disney here we come in 48 nigths!

 

[GIOny]

We go to Cocoa Beach but alot of Disers like Daytona Beach. I don't know how hard Daytona got hit by the hurricanes but they have had a year to recover so I'm sure by now it would be fine. You could try calling their tourism dept. and ask them about it - #1800-544-0415. They may sugar coat is a little but I really don't remember hearing they got it too bad, I think the west coast got the worst of it.

 

[madge62]

It may not be the closest to WDW, but we stayed at Clearwater Beach for 2 nights before we went on a cruise and to WDW and very much enjoyed it. It was a few hours out of MCO, just north of Tampa but I'm glad we made the drive. It was such a pleasant beach/resort area that we're planning on visiting there again when we go next.

 

[riu girl]

We spent 8 nights in Daytona Beach 12/04 and the beaches were great. Some (but not a lot) of the stores/motels were still closed due to hurricane damage but the beaches themselves were great.
I called prior to our holiday and was told that any beach hurricane damage had been "self corrected".

12/05 we are staying 2 weeks in Siesta Key (about 40 miles south of TPA). I don't know if you would be interested in travelling this far or not but the gulf beaches look much nicer (fine white sand) then the Atlantic coast beaches. If you decide to go to the gulf coast, St. Petes/Clearwater would be much closer then Siesta Key.

Have a great time whatever you decide.
Suzy V.

 

[jeffn5631]

Siesta Key Beach on the Gulf side in Sarasota is one of the top 2 beaches in Florida rated by the Travel Channel's television show on Florida beaches. The sand is unreal, just like talcom powder, that soft and pure white. From WDW it would be around two and half hours. The first time I visited, I could not believe this beach. I think any state would give anything for a beach like Siesta Key. It did not suffer any damage from last years hurricanes and most hotels should have info on it in their brochure collection that is handed out to tourists.

J & J

 

[mom_rules]

We were in Daytona Beach last Oct a few weeks after the hurricanes. It's a nice 1 hr +/- depending on traffic through Orlando from WDW. The beaches themselves were great! They have vendors that rent beach chairs and umbrellas for the day. A few hotels suffered major damage but even then were well on their way to being repaired. The hurricanes had eroded much of the Beach at the time so you couldn't drive on it when we were there. I'm sure that's all been fixed up by now.
We loved Daytona and wouldn't hesitate to go again.

 

[Disney Fanatic]

Since Siesta Key was mentioned here can anyone recommend a nice hotel there?

I met someone on our trip to Daytona who really loved Siesta Key.

Thanks

 

[riu girl]

Siesta Key is an 8 mile barrier island just off the coast of SW Florida. It is located about 1 hour south of Tampa. It has very white fine sand (the sand has won several awards). The island is split into three main beaches (Siesta Key public Beach, Crescent Beach and Turtle Beach).

We are going on a budget type trip this December to Siesta key. We are renting a one bedroom condo that we found on www.vrbo.com. The condo complex looks fine, built in 1974, nothing fancy but looks fine for us. It is across the road from the beach.

If you are interested in a nicer type hotel I would suggest www.sea-castle.com. It looks quite lovely. It looks very nice with a pool almost right on the beach. www.alohakai.net was also a place I was very interested in. This place has the largest pool on the island and you rent your own villa (for a similar price to a hotel room). www.seaclub2.com was also a place I was very interested in as well. It looked truly tropical.

A web site you might want to check out:
www.siestakeychamber.com

This is the greatest web site for accommodation. You can also request additional info. to be mailed to you from the web site.

If you go to www.tripadvisor.com and type in siesta key forum you will be taken to a forum where you may post a question about Siesta Key. You might want to post a ? about accommodation there. The forum is not as busy as DIS but you will find people there who know a lot more then me about Siesta Key.

Happy planning,
Suzy V.

 

[bighow10]

if you can spend some time at the beach.. take advantage of what the gulf beaches have to offer... calm waters, soft silky sand, lots of fun things to do.. or an opportunity to relax and spend time with the kids.

there are condos available to rent by owner... daily or weekly..

 

[mom_rules]

bighow10-any particular area you can recommend? How far from WDW?

 

[CharlesTD]

We have been to Cocoa and further up the coast on teh other side of Kennedy Space Centre and found Cocoa to be the best beach on that side from where we have gone. It is also only about maybe an hour away.

 

[mom_rules]

We love the Daytona Beach area-also about 1 hour away.
Lots to see and do there.

We'd like to try the gulf this time.

 

[CharlesTD]

We are hitting Smyrna this time and we are going to shell key island with teh kids it is supposed to be one of the best areas around for shelling and our kids love to go shelling.