Looking for Mini trip to tag on to Disney World Trip

[Hartmans2Disney]

We are going to Disney World in May '10 and after our trip for a couple of days we would like to head to the coast for a couple of days. Can anyone recommend a great family place to visit? We'd like to take our boys to the beach for sure. We are open to either the Atlantic or Gulf at this point...any hotel suggestions? Any fun activities that you know of in these areas? THANKS!

 

[PA Princess]

We are going to Disney World in May '10 and after our trip for a couple of days we would like to head to the coast for a couple of days. Can anyone recommend a great family place to visit? We'd like to take our boys to the beach for sure. We are open to either the Atlantic or Gulf at this point...any hotel suggestions? Any fun activities that you know of in these areas? THANKS!

My personal suggestion would be to look into a short cruise out of the nearby port. We have done this a few times and it was a wonderful way to end a Disney trip! If the budget is a concern, look into a company other than Disney (we did Royal Caribbean and Disney and both were great). And a real bonus with a cruise is that planning is pretty minimal - a nice treat after all the planning for a Disney trip.

 

[Aliceacc]

Visit Cape Canaveral!!! It's AMAZING!!!

 

[Colinsmom]

We split our last trip between WDW and Sanibel Island. Sanibel is beautiful - the water is so calm, the beaches were clean and quiet, and the shelling is awesome!

 

[Hartmans2Disney]

Thank you for your suggestions. We're looking into all of them now!

 

[jen2207]

We've stayed at the Tradewinds Island Grand in St. Pete's Beach and it's a great beach resort. Or the Don Cesar Resort is just just down the street - they're on the gulf side about 90 minutes away.

 

[Anonomom]

If you don't mind going a few hours further south, there are nice beaches in Jupiter, FL. ANd there's a very cool sea turtle rescue/museum thing. We took DD there before our trip last September, and she got to "meet" some very adorable baby turtles. Totally worth the trip.

 

[father0f3]

Great thread to start! We are following the same plan, fly to Orlando on Aug 7 rented a car and drive to the Clearwater area for 2 days before we check in at WDW Port Orleans resort for 6 days of Disney fun. We were told by a local to go to the Gulf coast the water and beaches are nicer more calm and less debree washing up ashore. Our original plan was to stay at Coco Beach 50min away from Orlando for two days visit Ron Jon's and hit Cape Canveral but on the advice of this person, because of our childrens ages(3, 4, & 5) we decided to travel the extra 30-40minutes to Clearwater.

 

[3boymthr]

I second Cape Canaveral, especially if your kid's are school age.

If they are on the younger side I recommend only one day there. Very cool place though. You can see all the old rockets and there's a museum and when we went you could take a bus tour that shows many of the various sites like the launch pad, etc. they show in all the movies/tv.

Nearby is coco beach - home of ron jon's surf shop. Very nice beach.

Melbourne is a decent sized city on the coast near cape canaveral if you are looking for someplace nearby to stay. There is an airport in Melbourne that you can fly into on jets not just puddle jumpers so definitely a decent size city.

 

[Tam1067]

We're trying Saint Augustine, which is on the Atlantic, but we like history, and there's lots of it in this area.

 

[eksb327]

The Space Coast/Cocoa Beach were very enjoyable for my family in May. Sea is a bit choppy and cooler than the Gulf, but very family friendly and lots to do in the surrounding area. About an hour's travel time from Orlando, so the trip is easy to do as a day trip only, if you'd like.