Cape coral/Ft Myers area

[disneymagicgirl]

Long story short, we thought we were going on an inexpensive trip over New Years to a beach house. The in laws were paying for a house and we just need to pay for our flights, which we have SW points. Turns out that it is a very nice vacation rental, however, it is 20 mins from the beach. Add that to the fact that we will use up all our points for one way flights and still have to spend $1k on the return flight. I don't think we can afford that this year, after already spending our vacation budget. So we could drive 14 hrs...yay. I might be excited if it were truly a beach house but it isn't. And it could be cold...who knows. So what will there be to do there with kids? Anyone familiar with that area? I don't think we can get out if it at this point. They already booked the house. Wish they had explained it more clearly when we agreed to go.

 

[Disneylove1228]

20 minutes really isn't that far from the beach... A lot of houses in that area have a really beachy feel to them and are 10-30 minutes away. There are a TON of beaches, I wouldn't stick to just the closest one to the house! There's tons of restaurants shopping trails places to fish stand up paddle board kayak movie theaters bike trails... Plus the weather will likely be in the low 70s as a high unless a cold front blows through it'll get much cooler!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

20 minutes really isn't that far from the beach... A lot of houses in that area have a really beachy feel to them and are 10-30 minutes away. There are a TON of beaches, I wouldn't stick to just the closest one to the house! There's tons of restaurants shopping trails places to fish stand up paddle board kayak movie theaters bike trails... Plus the weather will likely be in the low 70s as a high unless a cold front blows through it'll get much cooler!

The in laws rented a boat and the house has a pool, so if it is warm we will be ok. What worries me is that it will be too cold for the water. Our one dec Wdw trip was way too cold to swim. It is a gamble. 20 mins to too far to the beach on vacation, IMO. When I lived 20 mins from the beach that was fine. Well, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and have a wonderful time. Wonder if we can rent bikes somewhere?

 

[ampc3]

I used to live in Naples... and if you are staying IN cape coral in season (which most surely is over xmas/Nye) it will definitely take you more than 20 min to get to the beach with traffic at that time... Ft Myers beach is a lot of fun with lots of choices, they will have bike rentals and such there... I believe cape coral has a water park somewhere..

to be honest no matter where you end up at that time of year... traffic will be bad.. just plan accordingly .. the weather should be nice, but could be chilly at times as well. There is a lot for the kids, mini golf, museums etc... but most are in ft. myers area.

 

[ShiPooOwner]

The Dolphin Watch boat cruise out of Captiva Island is fun. Every time we've gone we've had good luck with lots of dolphins racing in the boat's wake and leaping out of the water. We even saw babies with pink tummies on our last trip. With 4.5 months to go your in-laws might be able to cancel their booking on the rental property with only a $100 cancellation fee or so. If you really don't want to risk the potential for cold weather (and their lows could be in the 30's like it was for our friends last Christmas) and/or you can't really afford the transportation costs, it might be worth checking into whether it could be cancelled. Hope it works out ok for you.

 

[rock_doctor]

Cape Coral and Ft.Myers are two totally different towns separated by a fairly large river. If you watch "Cougar Town" the name of the show is on the Fla map and the name is directly over Cape Coral... Take a day and go see Edison's estate (tour also includes Henry Fords estate which is across the road). It is very interesting. Take a day and go drive around Sanibel Island, Marco Island and Captiva Island (one day each). If you are staying in the southern part of Ft. Myers then you are not too far from Ft. Myers beach. Plus you are only about 2.5 hrs from Disney. I would also take a couple days and drive down to the Fla Keys. Stay a day or two, personally love Key Largo. It is only a couple hours away... Take a quick one day scuba diving class and go diving in the Keys... It does not really get "cold" in south Florida. In the 20 yrs we lived there we saw freezing temps maybe a couple times each winter. We did not even have heat in the house. So take light sweat shirts and you are golden. Ft. Myers Int Airport is a nice airport. Your will really need to rent a car if you fly. Nothing is close by in this area. CC is actually a huge town, something like 130 sq miles. It is a beautiful area. I would get on the computer and check the chamber of commerce for FM and CC. It has been a while since I have been back and in honesty when you live there you do not do touristy things so you don't know all of the things that are available. I know there are a couple DIS members who live in Cape Coral so hang in there.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Ok, great! You are all very helpful! Sounds more promising than I was thinking. The house is in Cape Coral and they said the nearest airport is Ft Myers. We won't be flying into there...$$$. I am watching FLL, TPA, and MCO for flights.
The house is also on some sort if river or canal or something And we will have a dock and boat. I would like to do maybe Busch Gardens or something. DH won't do Wdw b/c once a yr is his max there.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

Ok, great! You are all very helpful! Sounds more promising than I was thinking. The house is in Cape Coral and they said the nearest airport is Ft Myers. We won't be flying into there...$$$. I am watching FLL, TPA, and MCO for flights.
The house is also on some sort if river or canal or something And we will have a dock and boat. I would like to do maybe Busch Gardens or something. DH won't do Wdw b/c once a yr is his max there.

You've got quite a drive from any of those airports to Cape Coral.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

You've got quite a drive from any of those airports to Cape Coral.

Well, it is that or drive from Nashville...

 

[swilshire]

We drive from Knoxville to Fort Myers (about the same distance). It's not a bad drive but the absolute worst time to drive it is right after Christmas. One year we went on the 26th and it was bumper to bumper snowbirds all the way from south Georgia. Lots of times it was two lanes of slow moving trailers and motorhomes holding up the traffic flow.

We drove down to Tampa on Christmas Day last year just to avoid the traffic. It was sort of sad to eat Christmas dinner at McDonalds (Wendys wasn't open), but we definitely saved hours of travel time.

Sheila

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We drive from Knoxville to Fort Myers (about the same distance). It's not a bad drive but the absolute worst time to drive it is right after Christmas. One year we went on the 26th and it was bumper to bumper snowbirds all the way from south Georgia. Lots of times it was two lanes of slow moving trailers and motorhomes holding up the traffic flow.

We drove down to Tampa on Christmas Day last year just to avoid the traffic. It was sort of sad to eat Christmas dinner at McDonalds (Wendys wasn't open), but we definitely saved hours of travel time.

Sheila

Great! I am glad you posted! We are not driving 14 hrs plus traffic! Was sort of planning to drive 12/28-29 and back 1/3-4. Will it still be bad then? We could always leave Christmas evening I guess, but that wouldn't alleviate the traffic on 12/26. DH just got a new job and we are not even sure what days they will be closed to the holidays, so maybe I will get out of it after all.

Ps- how has the weather been for you that time of year?

 

[njmom47]

You've got quite a drive from any of those airports to Cape Coral.

My mom lives in North Ft Myers, and it was about 2 hours from FLL to drive to her house. Not a bad drive at all...Alligator Alley most of the way!

We went to Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda and the locks on Rt 80 West. It had a little beach and it was quite interesting to watch the ships coming in and out. There is also a Manatee park to watch the Manatee.
http://www.ci.punta-gorda.fl.us/leis/park_locations.html
Don't know what age the kids are but there's also the Imaginarium:
http://www.imaginariumfortmyers.com/
The Butterfly House:
http://thebutterflyestates.com/public/welcome.asp
I can't seem to find a link for the Locks.
HTH
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g34230-c110910/Fort-Myers:Florida:W.P.Franklin.Lock.And.Dam.html

 

[disneymagicgirl]

My mom lives in North Ft Myers, and it was about 2 hours from FLL to drive to her house. Not a bad drive at all...Alligator Alley most of the way!

We went to Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda and the locks on Rt 80 West. It had a little beach and it was quite interesting to watch the ships coming in and out. There is also a Manatee park to watch the Manatee.
http://www.ci.punta-gorda.fl.us/leis/park_locations.html
Don't know what age the kids are but there's also the Imaginarium:
http://www.imaginariumfortmyers.com/
The Butterfly House:
http://thebutterflyestates.com/public/welcome.asp
I can't seem to find a link for the Locks.
HTH
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g34230-c110910/Fort-Myers:Florida:W.P.Franklin.Lock.And.Dam.html

Thanks! They will be 4,5,14...would love some if those suggestions!

 

[Cobern]

There is a watermark in Cape Coral called sun splash
http://www.capecoral.net/?TabId=979

Also there are some museums, kind of boring though IMO.

if you feel like driving you can come to the Seminole Indian reservation and ride an airboat or swamp buggy and see lots of wildlife.

There is a bass pro in estero (southern fort Myers). They do stuff for the kids over the holidays.

In Loxahatchee is Lion Country Safari

Naples has a zoo

We much prefer Naples beach to fort Myers beach

Busch Gardens is FUN! Lots of wildlife and roller coasters

We live a little over an hour from fort Myers but it is the closest city for shopping for us. The weather can get cold here (well cold to us natives .

 

[disneymagicgirl]

There is a watermark in Cape Coral called sun splash
http://www.capecoral.net/?TabId=979

Also there are some museums, kind of boring though IMO.

if you feel like driving you can come to the Seminole Indian reservation and ride an airboat or swamp buggy and see lots of wildlife.

There is a bass pro in estero (southern fort Myers). They do stuff for the kids over the holidays.

In Loxahatchee is Lion Country Safari

Naples has a zoo

We much prefer Naples beach to fort Myers beach

Busch Gardens is FUN! Lots of wildlife and roller coasters

We live a little over an hour from fort Myers but it is the closest city for shopping for us. The weather can get cold here (well cold to us natives .

I am from Charleston, so I am sure it will be too cold for me to enjoy water activities.

Looks like the water park closes 9/29-early march.

Swamp ride sounds great, though!

 

[kymom99]

Let me second Busch Gardens. A really nice park!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Let me second Busch Gardens. A really nice park!

I think we plan to do BG or legoland, but I believe it is about a 2 hr drive, so maybe on the way down or back.

 

[PhillyGirlInNaples]

Try looking for flights into Punta Gorda. It's a small regional airport about 45 mins if that from Cape Coral. I work in Ft. Myers and many of my co-workers swear by that airport. For them, it's significantly cheaper using the small carriers that fly in/out of there vs. the Ft. Myers airport. I have co-workers that use it to get to N. Carolina and Illionis to name a few. I have personally never used it, but they have always had good luck. The only draw back is that route flights may only happen twice a week, so you may have to be flexible with dates. But it's worth a try. And btw, I went swimming in my pool on Christmas Day the last two years if that makes you feel better.

 

[dpswift]

We have gone to Ft Myers for short trips the last 2 ears. As others ave said noting is close.

We have gone to Legoland that is fun for young children. Just be sure to buy tickets ahead of time. The ticket lines get long.

We also have taken a boat tour to Sanibel Island and gone shelling.

Last year we went to the Mote Aquarium. My son had a really good time.


I would love to go to the Barnum and Bailey Museum or the Edison and Ford estate but I keep getting voted down.

 

[amcnj]

I have some relatives in the area who have said the water has been kind of funky lately due to some attempts at lowering the levels in I think Lake Okeechobee. Hopefully it will be better by then.