Non-WDW vacation ideas??

[Epcot Mom]

My apologies if this is the wrong board to post this on. We are disney nuts and find these boards to be full of like minded folks. With that thought, we are asking for ideas. We are trying to come up with a vacation this year that is not wdw. Anyone have any suggestions...family of 4, ds 4, dd 8? We're in Mo and hoping to drive somewhere, but we're willing to drive a couple of days if necessary. We took our 2007 wdw trip in Dec to see Christmas decorations and now need something different for 2007!

Thanks in advance!

Epcot Mom

 

[cabanafrau]

My guess is the moderators will move you to the appropriate board, so I wouldn't worry about it. I tried looking for the appropriate one but couldn't come up with something for you. Maybe community board?

Anyway, I'm responding & subbing because we're sadly not heading back to Disney until '08, so I'm curious for some fresh ideas as well.

 

[Mortlives]

That is a very open-ended question. Do you want to stay in the USA? What time of year are you going? Do you want a theme-park vacation? What's important to you? Skiing? Snorkeling? A hotel with a hot tub? Do you like to camp? Sight-see? Flake on the beach? Do you want tropical weather? Cool weather? Maybe I should just set up a survey.

 

[Juliegirl1]

I've actually been researching this myself. Branson is one place I would like to check out but you live in Missouri so you may have already been there. Driving distance for you perhaps Chicago and go to a Cubs game, see the aquarium and Navy Pier? Other destinations I want to see/return to include Southern California (and work DL in there somehow), San Francisco, Grand Canyon, Colorado.

I live in Texas and am planning on taking my son on a driving tour vacation this summer - we plan to hit San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Austin and the hill country - lots to do - beaches, rivers, water parks, amusement parks, baseball and zoos.

 

[Kick Save]

Drive from MO...I'd suggest going to the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. If you're really adventuresome, head on west to Yellowstone.

 

[ncbyrne]

Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park are great natural wonders. Or how about Lake Powell in Page, AZ - wonderful houseboats, fully equipped that you can rent for a week. Some even come with waterslides...lots of fun. There is the Navajo Nation in that same area - very friendly Indians and a great vacation.

 

[karibritt01]

Williamsburg, Virginia is really nice. Busch Gardens, water parks, historic Williamsburg, outlets, and a short day trip to the beach. My family loves to rent a house at Myrtle Beach, SC. Beautiful beach to enjoy during the day, and tons of night life, outlets, restaurants, etc. A lot of the same attractions and such you can find in the Orlando area.

The 2 vacations I am planning for another summer are an all-inclusive resort (most likely Beaches!) and to tour FL. I want to see Kennedy Space Center and Key West, visit Sea World and Busch Gardens Tampa, then take a few days on the Gulf Coast. Maybe next year...

 

[Sleeping Becca]

I'm not the adventurous type, what I love about WDW is that it is what I call manufactued fun. You will have fun no matter what, and you don't have to work very hard at it. The fun is all there you just have to order it just like ordering it off of a menu.

So if you are like me, then I would recommend cruising. We alternate cruising vacations with WDW vacations. My hubby does not share my WDW obsession so we normally stick with Carnival. We have cruised with Royal Carribean, Norwegian, and Disney cruise lines also. My daughter (age 9 but began cruising at age 5) enjoys Carnival Cruise lines' kid's programs the most of the non-Disney lines. With cruising you unpack once and get to visit a variety of places and there is so much to do onboard the ship, it is like ordering off of a menu. My daughter wakes up in the morning begging to go to the "kids place" and in the evenings does not want to leave (sometimes we are dragging her out at midnight). If cruising sounds interesting to you, check out the boards and reviews at cruisecritic.com for more info on cruising.

 

[Mortlives]

Kennedy Space Center rocks! We really enjoyed our trip there, and there's lots of stuff in that area to do.

 

[DisneyWorldWisher]

Having been to a lot of places, WDW is the best.

But may I reccomend going to Niagara Falls? We live about 45 miles away and go there often.

Very nice, just watch for the spiders at night. HUGE and everywhere!

 

[roseprincess]

The Wisconsin Dells are nice. There's a ton of indoor waterparks as well as outdoor waterparks at the large and medium hotels. In the summer, Noah's Ark outdoor waterpark is open. Been there and it's a nice place!

Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. I've never been there, but heard it's nice there. They have Camp Snoopy there for kiddie rides and Peanuts characters are there.

My family and I are thinking of going to Hershey Park in Hershey, PA. Never been there but looking forward to going!

 

[micksterlee]

If you are looking for another theme park experience you may want to try visiting Universal and Islands of Adventure.If you stay at one of the onsite resorts you get front of the line privilages.The main thing to remember is that Universal and WDW are two completely different destinations and people that go with the idea they are there to compare the Disney with Universal usually end up being disapointed one way or another.

 

[Yzerbear19]

Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. I've never been there, but heard it's nice there. They have Camp Snoopy there for kiddie rides and Peanuts characters are there.

I've never been to Cedar Pointe because I'm not a roller coaster enthusiast, but I know a lot of people that I work with love it. They also have a water park. They have some of the best coasters from what I've heard. I know they normally win awards for their coasters.

I prefer vacations to historical spots like battlefields (Gettysburg, PA; Antietam/Sharpsburg, MD, etc) or places with museums. I love Washington DC, Toronto, and Chicago. Chicago has some wonderful museums like the Field Museum and Museum of Science and Industry. I really want to go to Boston and Salem, MA. I also like national parks.

 

[stampinshauna]

How about a cruise? Your kids are at the perfect age to enjoy it!

 

[Epcot Mom]

WOW! Thanks for all the great responses.

We're looking to stay in the us, in June or July. We don't have real specific needs, just need something to do each day. We aren't a stay at home family. We have thought about the beach vacation but would need somewhere with other things too as we are all blonde fair skin types and would fry on the sand all day for a week. We're planning on a driving vacation this year, hopefully within a day or so of Missouri but as long as we don't go over the Rocky Mountains, we're up for it.

I have heard of the Badlands, but don't know anything about it. I'll have to check that one out along with Williamsburg, Myrtle Beach and the WI Dells. We would love to do the Grand Canyon or Niagra Falls, but with a 4 year old boy, I'm afraid my fear of him falling would make me crazy. We're going to hold off on both of those until he gets a little older as well as Washington DC and the great sites of Chicago. I'll head there with my daughter this summer for a girls only trip but my 4 year old in a museum? Sounds painful.

I like the comment about "manufactured fun". That's kind of our family style also. I think that's why wdw is perfect for us. We have thought about cruising for a future trip. We're thinking our 4 year old needs a few more years before we would leave him in a kids club kind of thing. Thoughts on the right age since you have cruised before? I'll save that link for sure!

We talked about Cedar Point but were afraid it was too geared toward thrill rides. My 8 year old dd loves Space/Splash/Big Thunder Mountain but I have a bad back and my son doesn't care for them so we wind up sitting on a bench and waiting. I don't want to set us up for a day of waiting for my dd and dh to finish having their fun. Any thoughts from those that have been there with littler ones?

As for Universal, we are a hard core wdw family. My daughter swears that the reason her friend broke her arm is because she was at Universal. She would never stand for a trip there. It's out for us.

Thanks for the ideas. Any more?

Epcot Mom

 

[mysparky]

Our first family vacation was to San Diego and my kids were 4 & 7 at the time. There is so much to do there - San Diego zoo, Wild Animal Park, Legoland (perfect ages!!), the beach, and...you could even take a trip to Disneyland! We rented a Hertz car with a "never lost" system and it was great - never pulled out a map and went everywhere.

 

[karibritt01]

Tennessee is really nice if you aren't the beachy sort. The Gatlinburg area offers Dollywood, water parks, outlets, themed restaurants, Ripley's Aquarium, etc, etc, etc! I think the surrounding mountain areas would offer a lot as well. You can go with a rental cabin with a hot tub, or do the big hotel with an indoor water park. Tons to offer!

 

[southernbohemian]

We're planning on doing a "Pioneer" trip once the baby gets older starting in Missouri. We want to ride in a covered wagon (not the whole trip - just a day, there's a company that does this), be cowboys for a few days at a dude ranch, camp in some national parks, pan for gold, visit Native American sites, etc. The kids are very excited and it will really bring a part of American history to life for them.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

As far as age is concerned in regards to cruising, it really depends on the child. If your 4 year old attends daycare or preschool and likes it, then they will love the kids programs aboard a cruiseship. If your child hates daycare and screams their head off when you drop them off or if your child has never been left in someone else's care then they probably won't do well on a cruise. We cruised with our 4 year old nephew and he absolutely loved it (he attends daycare and loves it so much so that he sometimes cries on Saturdays when he can't go). So it really depends on the child.

The programs are extremely well staffed (Norwegian's program left a lot to be desired) and very safe. The kids are separated by age group. The kids program will give you a pager and page you when there is a problem or if your child wants to leave. My daughter is never ready to leave.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

My ranking of cruiseship kids programs.

#1 Disney Cruise Lines (Come on it is Disney, so of course it's the best)
#2 Carnival Cruise Lines
#3 Royal Carribean (very very good program with lots to do, but our DD prefers Carnival)
#4 and a very distant 4th is Norwegian (this cruise line does better with middle age to older folks) not a bad cruiseline at all, just not as kid friendly as the others