Driving to Disney World - Where is the best beach on the way home?

[chipper10]

Since we are going to be driving we would like to take a day at the end of our trip and drive to a beach and stay the night. Then we will drive back to St. Louis, MO the next day.
What would be a good town with a beach to stay at? I don't want to spend a ton of extra money. It will be DH, DS (3.5) and I, so we don't need anything fancy -- just a few good places to eat in the area.

Any tips or ideas?

 

[mrodgers]

Anywhere that there is no oil in the water?

I thought about doing the same for the ride home to PA, but with the oil spill, I changed those plans. We'll just go straight home, maybe hitting some points of interest the new GPS gives me.

 

[chipper10]

I was afraid about the oil, but I didn't know what it would be like when we go in mid-August. Or we could always hit the Atlantic side somewhere.

 

[The Mayor]

I've been told Destin is a haven for St. Louis travelers and they have nice beaches.