non-Disney Vacation Suggestions needed TN, AK, AL, GA, ??

[mommytobug]

We live in North MS and want to take a small vacation in November, DH, DD8 and myself. We have done the beach (go every year), the mountains in Gatlinburg, and have gone to Little Rock and Hot Springs AK. Does anyone have any ideas? I would love to go back to the mountains and may do that. Just cant decide and wanted some suggestions. We are doing Dave RAMSEY so we have decided to forgo the Disney trip this year and do a bug blowout trip next year with our DVC points for a week. I am excited that we have made this decision. So, PLEASE help us come up with something. DH works for family business and we NEED to get away together for a few days just US!!

 

[Girly_Qs]

The aquarium in Atlanta is definitely worth at least a day trip. It's also right across from the new World of Coke (not a trip in itself, but right beside the aquarium). There's also Imagine It! the Children's Museum (depending on how old your LO's are).

HTH a bit!

 

[kathie859]

Memphis is a fun town. If you're not there to see Graceland, the natives look at you strangely though

 

[MRNsMommy]

I'm from central MS (right outside Jackson)! Gatlinburg is a fave of mine and DH! So, of course, that's always a pick of ours. We normally go at least once a year.
But we just recently took a vacation to Memphis and St. Louis. Took DD2 w/ us and went to St. Louis first...went to Six Flags and to the Zoo (which is free). We have family there, though, so some of the time was just spent visiting...we were going to go to a Cardinals game, too, but it was raining.
Then, we stopped in Memphis for a couple of nights on our way back. Took DD to Graceland, walked around Beale (and Memphis in general), and went to the Peabody to see the Ducks (DD's favorite part of the entire trip)!
Like I said, we mainly went to St. Louis to see family, but it really was one of the best vacations we've taken our DD on.

 

[ksumn1]

I say Atlanta or Savannah, GA. Atlanta has the World of Coke, the Aquarium, Underground Atlanta, Center for the Puppetry Arts, the Cyclorama and Zoo Atlanta. Lots of restaurants, Little 5 Points of you want to get a little funky, Buckhead, all kind of stuff. And for a Disney touch you can visit the Wren's Nest, Joel Chandler Harris' home (wrote the Uncle Remus tales) has memerobelia and a gift shop.

In Savannah you have all the historic homes, trolley tours, fort Pulaski, River front, and Tybee island nearby. There's a historic railroad exhibit, lots of good southern cooking, seafood, fine dining. We went for a weekend and stayed near the airport. I would definately reccomend staying somewhere in one of the squares in the historic district. You can walk to most everything or take the trolley. There are trolley stops everywhere. You can take a historic Savannah tour, explore the homes, take a ghost tour, pub tour, or just wander around. A funny note. We flew Airtran to Savannah from Atlanta. I was an Airtran employee at the time and wanted to take the girls for a short plane trip close enough to home to drive if they were really freaked out. The airport is so tiny. Clean, beautiful and small. The lady who checked us in on return gave us our boarding passes, took our luggage, loaded our luggage, helped the gate agent and FA's load the flight, used the orange thingeys to help the plane back up, and waved us goodbly. They literally had 5 or 6employees total, and only 3 working. It was unreal.

Have fun. Let us know what you decide!!

 

[Tam1067]

We went to Atlanta over spring break and really enjoyed it, for all the reasons others have posted.

Zoo Atlanta has a baby panda you can see. The World of Coke is a brand new facility. The Aquarium is great. The Martin Luther King historical sites and monument are moving worth seeing.

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

Savanah was great! We had a blast there and we want to go back to finish what we did not see.

Memphis also was a very fun place, but stay far away from Heartbreak Hotel...It was awful!!

 

[darlak]

Gulf Shores, AL is beautiful. I love Memphis and thought the Heartbreak Hotel was a hoot! You should look at their pictures on their website. Atlanta is great too though. I guess I'm not really much help, huh? Have fun wherever you decide.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We have been both to Atlanta and St Louis with our 8 year old son this year-you cannot go wrong visiting either.

Stone Mountain just east of Atlanta is great-the downtown museums and tours are interesting to a child that age. We went to a small theme park in Marietta called the American Adventure last week-our son had a blast for 4 hours.

St Louis has what I think is one of the best zoos in the country. The Science museums are great, plus the arch is an attraction in itself.

We have not been to Memphis so we cannot comment there.

Enjoy yourself wherever you go.

 

[Siouxstone]

If you go to Atlanta, don't forget that Stone Mountain has an awesome Laser Show! It's really cool to see it on the side of the mountain, right over the carving. It's not Illuminations or Fantasmic, but the flame cannon (giant fireballs) is totally cool. If you kids like trains, the ride around the mountain is a huge pleaser. There is also a 4-D theater in the Crossroads section. You can also visit a plantation and ride an aerial tram to the top of the mountain.