Cocoa or Daytona Beach

[vellamint]

I like Cocoa myself---closer and quieter.

Another option would be New Smyrna. Cars are allowed in some places and it is between Cocoa and Daytona. It is 12 miles from Daytona if you could drive across the lagoon/jetty thing. There is even a dog beach at New Smyrna.

I think I prefer New Smyrna to both as we don't have to "haul" our gear (umbrella, chairs, beach bag, etc.). We just open the vehicle, take it out with no hauling! We even leave the cooler in the vehicle as we are parked right there.

OK. Now I'm having beach withdrawals.....

Lisa

Okay....I am Florida-Direction-Deficient!!! How much time does it take to drive from Kissimmee to New Smyrna as opposed to Daytona or Cocoa Beach? Is it a longer or shorter ride. I actually like the drive-your-car-on-the-beach part of Daytona but I hate long drives which is why I was considering Cocoa Beach.....I think (?) Cocoa Beach is closer? New Smyrna lets you drive onto the beach?

 

[DisneyFan06]

I live in Daytona Beach. Although the beach is nice, it is nothing something to go out of your way to see. Furthermore, we no longer have a decent boardwalk. It was once a great family place; however, it is in the process of being reconstructed - for a much needed improvement! If you have further questions about the area please ask or send me a private messages I am willing to help.

ETA: Because of Sea Turtles, cars are not permitted to drive on the beach - only in selected permitted zones.

ETAA: [Edited to Also Add] Daytona does have a family owned water park called, "Daytona Lagoon." It is really nothing special but I am sure kids would enjoy it. Here are some pictures. It also has Lazer Tag, Go Carts, Miniture Golf, a Interactive Game Room and other activities. This is also located near the beach on A1A.

 

[sweetheart2576]

I live in Daytona Beach. Although the beach is nice, it is nothing something to go out of your way to see. Furthermore, we no longer have a decent boardwalk. It was once a great family place; however, it is in the process of being reconstructed - for a much needed improvement! If you have further questions about the area please ask or send me a private messages I am willing to help.

Disneyfan
what is left of the boardwalk at this point. Is the game room open that was once there? We will be there in August. I never thought there was too much to do on the boardwalk to begin with. Are you still able to walk on it to get to the main st pier or is there too much construction and is the sky ride working? We were there last March. Any major changes since then?Any thing added or taken away. There was a sub shop that we got subs at last year that was pretty good, are they still there? I think it was king something, i could be wrong.

 

[connie1042]

Go to cocoa beach every year. Stayed at Motel 6. Not fancy, but clean and a very short walk to the beach. Can rent about anything from Ron Jons. Love it there. Lots of fast food you can pick up and take to the beach.

 

[drp4video]

I booked the Hilton at Cocoa Beach....Ron Jon's Surf Shop is a must for DD, age 18. Her roomate in college went to cocoa beach spring break and loved it. I am assuming it will be much quieter August 15-19th lol

 

[BurkeTribe]

On thread, and on soapbox--
I encourage everyone to stay at decent local mom&pop hotels when in Daytona. There are some really good ones with great attitude and pride in their establishments.


Now temporarily hijacking the thread, on another soapbox

Because of Sea Turtles, cars are not permitted to drive on the beach - only in selected permitted zones.

Well... that's partly true for Ormond/north and Wilbur-by-the Sea/south areas, but of course, that's not the reason why you can't drive near the pier in Daytona (where most vactioners would expect to drive). There has been driving-on/vacationers-digging-in the sand of most of the Daytona Beach area for so many years that there are few if ANY turtles that nest in the Daytona/DBS area anymore, especially the areas where most of the heaviest driving in the past was (where most of the large motels are). There are more likely many many more turtle nests south towards Ponce Inlet, and north of Ormond, where there has never been much driving or massive amounts of vacationers. If folks really wanted to help the turtles, they would move any eggs found in Daytona, DBS, and Ormond(a general rarity anyway, from what I've heard) farther south to Ponce or north to the state park areas, and let them hatch there, in an environment that is safer now and will still be safer years from now (don't see many wild parties in the state park areas).

There are definitely no turtle nests between Seabreeze and International, nor should ther be allowed to be any in the future.

There are other, more profit$-motivated reasons behind disallowing driving in that strip (you'll notice they started charging for cars on the drivable beach strips at around the same time they blocked off the others). Reasons such as the obvious-- larger motels with lots of pull in City/County govs prefer to have the beaches between themselves and the Ocean car free... and the not-so-obvious-- the city allegedly reaps extra monies (beach driving fees for where you can drive, more tickets for illegal parking on crowded streets near where you can't).


I'm all for saving turtles, but also all for solid non-stop driving/cruising between Ormond and Wilbur.

 

[Snoopymom]

On thread, and on soapbox--
I encourage everyone to stay at decent local mom&pop hotels when in Daytona. There are some really good ones with great attitude and pride in their establishments.


Can you post some?

We used to stay at the Beachcomber Inn (a medium size one, part of a group of hotels I think) before the hurricanes, and we saw another one that was covered in tarps and boarded up with
1 Charley
2 Francis
3 Jeane
4 Sale

spray painted on it...I think some of them never recovered.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Jason71]

BurkeTribe, I totally agree with you re: the profit motive behind the closing of the beach between US 92 and Seabreeze Blvd. It was purely a power play by a few local hoteliers (but having been very active in Daytona politics at one time, that is par for the course).

While I appreciate the sentiment behind supporting the mom & pops, I would warn people who don't know the area to be very careful, and consider sticking with a chain. Drugs and prostitution are rampant in Daytona, and a lot of these smaller no-name hotels have forced to cater to such clientele to survive. One of my best friends used to deliver newspapers to beachside, you would not believe the things he would see at 4:00 a.m.

Re: the Boardwalk. It has literally been condemned. Last I heard, the owner of the arcades settled his lawsuit with the city, clearing the way for them to tear it down and build a new giant hotel.

 

[Jason71]

Okay....I am Florida-Direction-Deficient!!! How much time does it take to drive from Kissimmee to New Smyrna as opposed to Daytona or Cocoa Beach? Is it a longer or shorter ride. I actually like the drive-your-car-on-the-beach part of Daytona but I hate long drives which is why I was considering Cocoa Beach.....I think (?) Cocoa Beach is closer? New Smyrna lets you drive onto the beach?

About the same as Daytona, maybe 10 to 15 minutes longer, but largely a more pleasant drive. Not as close as Cocoa, tho--that's still the closest beach.

Take I-4 East but get off at the State Road 44 exit, in DeLand (I want to say #118, but I never pay attention). Head East on 44 for about 20 minutes, past farm land and thru New Smyrna, then follow the signs to the beach.

They had suspended beach driving in New Smyrna following the hurricanes, but I believe they have reinstated it at least along some stretches. There are also car-free zones. Over all, more of a "locals" beach than Daytona. Should you go, be sure to get a burger at the Breakers, one of the best burgers in central Florida.

 

[BurkeTribe]

Can you post some?

...I think some of them never recovered.

That's the problem with my info, it is pre-recent-hurricanes... The Cardinal still seems nice, at least by their site (http://www.cardinalmotel.com/).... not fancy mind you, just that cool Mom&Pop* Daytona style that's being slowly eroded away by property taxes and the Powers That Be who would love to knock the little guys all down and build mega-motels and condos (to reap more taxes, which is slightly understandable but short-sighted I think).... but hey, I'm spoiled, I used to live in a house right on the beach in the area (sighhhh).



This site has what are probably top end Mom&Pops, B&Bs, and small resorts (and a few chains sneaking in): http://daytonalodging.com/

This place seems cool in that old skool (cottages)/new skool(free wifi) way:
http://perryswhitecaps.com/

I think that by driving by the motels, one can tell which are run by people who take pride in their establishments, and which are either seedy crack dens run by folks who would rather be somewhere else or are rundown facilities run by a certain nationality of immigrants who almost invariably pinch pennies too much in their motel businesses trying to be the low-price lords ("You want soap? 50 cents. No, we have no ice machine, this isn't the Ritz Carlton!")



Of course, nothing in Daytona will be as good as the WL or Poly, but that's to be expected


* Even most of the Mom&Pops are probably no longer owned by real Mom and Pops, but if the owners' Mom&Pop sensibilities can be seen in the motel, it counts