Cocoa Beach

[DreamMOM]

My children have never been to the Atlantic Ocean and I am willing to leave 2 days early and stay at Cocoa Beach. Does anyone have any recommendations to where I should stay. We will be staying there at August 23-25. I am staying with 3 children, ages 11, 9, and 6. They will love this I am not telling them where we are going so it will be a great surprise to them. They will think that we are leaving for Disney earlier. I am surfing the net for a budget to moderate price and the cheapest rate so far is the Howard Johnson for 49 per night at Expedia.com. I may just take that and stay there. We just want to be beach bums for a short while before we become a Disney family. Thank you in advance.

 

[4crusinransiers]

Well if your looking for just a hotel room, nice pool, close to beach.
The Radision in port canaveral has great reviews.
We will be going Aug 27th to Aug 31st (then on a 7 day disney cruise) We will be staying at the ROYAL MANSIONS. I chose this hotel because its great for familys! All suites with full kitchens and right on the beach!!!! If you have an entertainment book they are in it with a rate of 85.00 a night. I did a search on the internet and did get a great rate of 83.00 a night.
http://www.royalmansions.com/

 

[DreamMOM]

Thank you very much for the information. I decided on the Quality Inn which is a brand new all suite hotel at 80.10 per night and offers a full buffet breakfast. I called the hotel and they are one block away from the beach and offer rooms with oceanview if you request them the day of arrival. I can't wait to hear the Ocean hit the shore and have my children see seashells for the first time.

 

[Leney343]

DO NOT stay at the Holiday Inn Oceanfront!!! YUCK!!!! You'll be grossed out!

 

[mar3990]

If you are going to Cocoa Beach we always eat at the Cocoa Beach pier at Marlin's and have always had wonderful food. The coconut shrimp and shrimp with linguini are great. My kids love the kids meals(chicken fingers ect.) and they have a kids drink there called the Sonic Boom that they always order.

 

[Katie]

I have to second the post..stay away from Holiday Inn Oceanfront! It was the most disgusting, dirty, dishonest hotel I have ever stayed in.

Only about 12 rooms are actually oceanfront. The kidssuites are a joke( of course we just left HIFS). They were dirty, the refrig didn't work, the drain in the tub didn't work..we had to walk thru 2 parking lots to get to the beach.

YUCKKKKKKKK

 

[JC Butterfly]

The DIS is dangerous!

Just when I think I have everything "figured out" I start wanting to do things like consider going to the beach for the day!

I absolutely loved cruising just so I could listen to the ocean. The posts about Holiday Inn scared me! Can anyone recommend a nice beach front location?

How long does it take to get to Cocoa beach from Disney?

Brenda

 

[laurieny]

Don't choose the Howard Johnsons either. Huge rooms but very old. The breakfast stinks too! We own at the resort at Coca Beach. these are beautiful condos right on the beach. 2 bedrooms,full kitchen, great pool etc. I'm not sure if you could rent them but you may want to try. You may need to sit through a timeshare sales pitch though.

 

[DreamMOM]

Thank you very much for the information.

 

[loveswdw]

Quality Suites looked nice from the outside. As far as brand new, it had already opened when we were there last Sept. 2002. They had a big sign on the hotel announcing $69 or so nightly rates but that was probably a grand opening special.

We stayed at the Doubletree (which is on the same complex as the HoJo). DT was very nice & we had a balcony which you could step out & watch the waves. They had a nice pool area & a wooden walkway that led right to the beach. We paid I think $89 one night & $94 the next.

I definitely wouldn't recommend the HoJo because it sits behind the Doubletree & it is a very old motel. I assume its been renovated but we were very glad we had picked the Doubletree instead.

We too were also warned about the Holiday Inn there so that was out. A friend of mine stayed at the Hilton but said it was nothing to write home about & they didn't have any balconies, etc.

Have you thought about staying on the Gulf coast? I've heard its so much nicer than the Atlantic coast. We haven't stayed on the Gulf coast yet but we are looking into it for the next trip down. Cocoa Beach was fine but it didn't impress me a great deal. A lot like Daytona to me.

And we too ate at Marlin's on the pier which was very good. Its fun to sit & watch the surfers & beachcombers.

loveswdw

 

[twinz]

Just be careful while at the beach. We were there in December of 2001, and we kept seeing all these things on the sand...the best way to discribe them were like blue suranwrap...anyways Laura kept tempting me to touch them, and I didn't...fortuanately...we asked a gentleman walking by, and he told us they were jelly fish! Like I said be careful. BTW we found some GREAT shells there!

 

[travelcoupons]

I just got back from a stay at the Courtyard by Marriott. This is a beautiful hotel. It is a 1 yr. old property located next to the Hampton Inn. It is a tad closer to the beach than the Quality Inn Suites which is just up the street. The thing I didn't like about the Quality is you will have to cross the street to get to the beach. The Courtyard has a private path to the beach...no street to cross. I had a 7th floor room with ocean view. I paid $79/nite and have a code that can get you the same rate.

 

[A kid at heart]

The pierhouse down there is great to eat at! Also down from the port where the ships leave from is a place called Frankies Wings and Things! they have the best wings I have ever had in my life! I have to go there everytime I go to Orlando! For heading to the beach we usually go to Jetty park in that general area too! its nice and quiet and they also have a camp ground there too. But the beach is nice and you can also watch the ships go in and out of port as well! a small board is there and a place where you can get some stuff to drink and munchies. Less crowded too!
You should also stop in the huge purple taj-mahal like building, its Ron Jons, they have some neat stuff in there and clothes and they have a waterfall, etc. I always have to go in there too!

 

[dogamer]

Ron Jon's at Cocoa Beach is a great store, also a great location for watching surfers.

My family will also be down for that same time, but we'll be staying at Disney's Vero Beach, about an hour south of Cocoa.

I suggest visiting NASA, your kids will love it, and its in the area. Best of all its free (unless you take one of their bus tours) - I checked the NASA web site, and unfortunately they're not launching anything until October.

Have a great trip.

 

[Katiebug]

We are spending our first day at Cocoa Beach b/c the dd's have never seen the ocean before.

We usually stay in Melbourne which is ten minutes away from Cocoa. There is a nice Baymont Inn and Suites there $60 per nt w/ free cont breakfast.

So if you don't mind not staying right on the beach that is an option.

Katiebug the Ladybug

 

[jctwizzer]

Based on our experience last week, you may want to do a search on DIS and/or on the internet to find out how to handle sea lice. Four of us went swimming at Cocoa Beach and my wife was the only one having a sea lice problem and was miserable for a couple of days.....not to mention a $184 bill at the med stop. Evidently they cause an allergic reaction similar to poison ivey. Good luck