Inexpensive Family Vacation?

[DaystarPrincess]

My family is looking to do a four day vacation in April, some where not to pricey. Any suggestions? We have looked at Myrtle Beach and Washington. On another thread I had tons of help for our Washington DC trip. We are a family of five my boys are older 25 and 18. My daughter is still little she's 8. I'm trying to find something they all can enjoy and inexpensive. This year is a big expensive for us with my son graduating and my oldest getting married so Disney is just not in the picture this year, hopefully next year. Looking for suggestions of a inexpensive family vacation. Thank you

 

[crazylady]

What is your general location? And how far do you want to drive?

Some thoughts?

Chicago
Hershey
Gatlinburg

Chicago would be my first choice. Good restaurants, museums, American Girl Store, shopping,

 

[DaystarPrincess]

Mostly want to stay on the east coast, we are close to Buffalo NY. Don't want to drive any further then Myrtle Beach which is a 12 hour drive for us.

 

[DaystarPrincess]

If I can find some where closer that would be awesome. Our vacations mostly are just Disney where else is there to go. My daughter in the American Girl store o my that would be trouble, she would go crazy.

 

[princessesintraining]

What about Erie, Pa? Cleveland, oh? Pittsburgh? Do you have passports? Niagara Falls, Toronto. US Dollar is strong.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Maybe a road trip to Maine? Acadia National Park is great. And there are lots of things to do in various cities like Portland, Bar Harbor, etc.

 

[kymom99]

Cedar pointe/Sandusky?

 

[QueenIsabella]

Consider renting a house at whatever location you select. We've done this for Orlando, of course, but also on a farm in Lancaster, PA. You could find many choices near Williamsburg, Virginia Beach, Outer Banks, and so forth. That would provide more room for your family, as well as the opportunity for some home-cooked meals to save $$.

At the PA farm, we did day trips, and the kids loved gathering eggs and petting the dairy cows. When we were on the NC cost in April, the temperature was ~70. All the native were in long sleeves, and we, the pasty-white tourists from NH, were the only people in the water. (This was a house-hunting trip, we moved south that summer). My kids were totally enchanted by the ocean, we even saw dolphins. And let's face it--it's a real change from upstate NY!

 

[HeatherC]

Williamsburg? Hotels are very reasonable and lots to do in the area...including Busch Gardens which I believe is open April school vacation week...at least on the weekend.

D.C. Is awesome but sounds like you have done it before.

Boston? Great city, awesome Science Museum, Freedom Trail, etc.

Philadelphia?

Waterparks in Ohio?

 

[dreiwhit]

Have you thought about a staycation, and just going somewhere new or somewhere that you rarely go each day?

My family and I did a staycation in September 2015. We didn't have a lot of money to go on an away vacation, so what we did was to take day trips each day. We went to places that we had never been to, or places that we hadn't been to in a very long time.

We actually had a lot of fun. I think we maybe spent $300 for the whole week. We didn't have to pay for our dogs to be boarded, and we got to sleep in our own beds each night!

 

[okeydokey]

Chatanooga has some home/cabin rentals that are reasonable. There is a river boat ride and the aquarium etc.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Here's a 650-mile radius (about a day's drive) around Buffalo:

https://www.mapdevelopers.com/draw-circle-tool.php?circles=[[1046071,42.8864468,-78.8783689,"#AAAAAA","#000000",0.4]]

Takes you as far south as South Carolina, as far west as Illinois, as far east as New Brunswick/Nova Scotia, as far north as Hudson Bay (though I don't think I'd want to go there in April). Lots of great inexpensive choices in there. Most of those will be off-season.

 

[Hikergirl]

Williamsburg VA
We did the Historic Triangle (Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown) and really enjoyed it.

Do your 4 days include your driving time?

 

[clori]

One thing we like to check when going on vacation is if our local museum membership has any free reciprocal museums in the area we are going to. Most are science museums which my family enjoys. One vacation we did was based in Harrisburg PA. The membership gave us free entrance to the National Clock and Watch Museum, Whitaker Center for the Science and Arts, Zooamerica, Lancaster Science Factory (mostly good for kids), North Museum of Natural History and Science. We used these places to fill in some days so not everything cost a lot to do. Of course we filled it in with a day at Hershey Park, day trip to Lancaster and a day trip to Gettysburg. We also went to an Indian Cave. We stayed at a hotel that had a kitchen and only ate out for lunches.

 

[monorailsilver]

Have you thought about a staycation, and just going somewhere new or somewhere that you rarely go each day?

My family and I did a staycation in September 2015. We didn't have a lot of money to go on an away vacation, so what we did was to take day trips each day. We went to places that we had never been to, or places that we hadn't been to in a very long time.

We actually had a lot of fun. I think we maybe spent $300 for the whole week. We didn't have to pay for our dogs to be boarded, and we got to sleep in our own beds each night!

We did this too. Yankee candle one day, the sub base (Groton ct) another day..it was free and we got to walk in a sub, a few parks here and there that had things for the kids. We did go to a Yankee game in the midst of it as well.

April is iffy on the weather.

The poconos, Hershey, RI coast, cape cod before it gets busy.

 

[QueenIsabella]

If you opt for a staycation, try asking your library about free passes. When we lived in NH, they had stuff for free/discounted tickets to Boston venues (Science Museum, Aquarium). It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask!

 

[CoP Luv]

Another vote is Chicago. Friends of ours live in Buffalo and they can get to the Chicago suburbs in 9 -10 hours.

 

[smiths02]

I was going to say that we decided to rent a house in Savannah this April when my MIL said she would take us on a not too expensive vacation (5 adults and 3 kids). So I second renting a house, townhouse, condo. We live near Atlanta, though, so our choices were Savannah, Chattanooga, rent a house on some beach in FL....Sorry I don't have any ideas for your neck of the woods.

 

[Hikergirl]

OP, I'm not sure what part of April you are planning a trip for but when you narrow down some choices be sure to check what is open as far as attractions go. Beach towns in the Northeast may not have alot for you to do that time of year. Theme parks may not be open unless they have special hours for Spring Break, but definitely check.

A few of our favorite vacation spots are Gatlinburg and Great Smoky Mountain National Park and Ocean City Maryland.
Gatlinburg cabin rentals are very reasonable and with the Park there you can get away without spending much. We went in April and the weather was perfect, but not everything was in bloom so that was a little disappointing.
Since the fires though, certain trails and parts of the park may be closed. Its also a long drive so if those 4 days include your driving time I don't think its worth it.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Mostly want to stay on the east coast, we are close to Buffalo NY. Don't want to drive any further then Myrtle Beach which is a 12 hour drive for us.

I prefer the outer banks over spring break time but it'll still be quiet in april and the water might be colder. We stayed at the Sanderling last year and it was a nice long weekend. I wouldn't recommend to get an ocean view room because it was an "ocean" view and not a "beach" view like we thought.

How far are you to the Cedar Point? That could also be a lot of fun with an older family.