Opinions On Cocoa Beach For 5 Days?

[HeatherC]

Hi - We are going on a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral over Feb. school break and would like to come down a few days early.

Since we have been to the parks so many times, we were thinking of the beach for a few days. Has anyone been here and is there enough to do for 5 days? Also...would you recommend a certain place to stay? Or even another town.

Another thought we had was St. Augustine.

Any advice would be great!!!

Thanks so much.

Heather C

 

[TotoToo]

Cocoa Beach is a great place to go IF you aren't looking for a lot to do. It is not a tourist hot bed of activity, it does not have a lot of restaurants or attractions but it is a great place to slow down, enjoy the beach and some down time. If you're looking for plenty to do then St Augustine may be a better choice.

 

[Anc96]

Unless you REALLY like the beach, I can't see staying at Cocoa Beach for 5 days.
We go to Cocoa beach at least once when we're down vacationing (we go to Orlando for at least 2 weeks during the summer). My daughter loves the ocean, and we have a very pleasant day. It's even more like a half day since we get there fairly early and leave with still the evening to do stuff!

There is Kennedy Space center pretty nearby if you've never done that before. I can honestly say we weren't thrilled with it, but if you get discounted tickets from AAA or somewhere like that, it's worth it.
That will take up a full day if you also do the Astronauts Museum, included in the price. We liked the museum better than the space center.

If you are willing to travel to the Orlando Convention center area, there are loads of things to do there.. dinner shows, shopping, fun museum places.
It's about a 30-40 minute drive from Cocoa Beach area.

Also you're saying you've done the 'parks' so many times, do you mean just Disney, or other parks too. Universal is usually very reasonably priced, though we're not crazy about there.. we do love Sea World though.

I haven't needed to rent a hotel in the Cocoa Beach area since we usually just drive from the disney, or disney area hotel we're staying at. We have rented in the Convention area though. We stayed at the Peabody this year for a week... it's beautiful! I would think too far for you..

Never been to St. Augustine... if you go... post a trip report! Then I'll know if it's time for me to visit there too!

Tampa is on my list for next year. We'll rent a hotel down there for a night or so and drive down from Orlando so we can do Bush Gardens!

 

[HeatherC]

Thank you both for your comments. That's exactly the feedback I was looking for.

I kind of thought 5 days would be too much. We do LOVE the beach and while dh and I would be happy to just sit on the beach the kids would go crazy and, therefore, drive us crazy!!! LOL!

The other concern I had is that last Feb. when we were in Orlando we froze!!! I cannot remember ever being so cold at Disney before. So that is obviously a concern with the beach in February.

We have done all the "parks". We also love SeaWorld and agree with you about Universal. It was fun, but my first love is Disney.

My mom and I were in Orlando in June with the kids and went to St. Augustine for a daytrip. Lovely little town and one that I would love to go back to. But....I think that would also be a trip that would be better for just dh and myself.

We may wind up just staying in Orlando prior to the cruise for 5 nights and do things like finally go see Cirque du Soleil, some shopping, hang out by the pool, that sort of thing with maybe one theme park day...or water park if it's warm enough.

It's funny, but I've been pricing places in Cocoa Beach and St. Augustine and I'm finding it will probably cost us less to stay in Orlando. We are a family of 5 (kids are 10, 9, 6) and always rent a villa or condo. One hotel room for 5 nights is not fun for us.

Thank you again for your input.

HeatherC

 

[Weegl]

We have a condo in Cocoa and spend quite a bit of "down" time there just relaxing on the beach and swimming. If that's not your thing, 5 days without spicing it up may be too much. Fishing on the pier, surfing, putt-putt, going to the movies, etc. fill the times we are not on the beach, so as you can see, its a pretty laid back spot.
May I suggest that you try a couple of days in Cocoa and a couple of days in Orlando? Then you can do a park or two, and get in your beach time without risking the kids getting bored.