shuttle launch and beach advice needed!!

[tink fan]

I could use some advice about how to pick a beach and what to expect at the shuttle launch.

We are going to WDW this weekend, will see the shuttle launch Monday morning (if it happens) and then have no plans until our flight leaves at 4:20 on Tuesday afternoon. I thought about a beach day because my poor midwest rooted children have only been to the beach once in their lives.

Our hotel in Cocoa beach in not on the beach. This may sound stupid, but I don't know how the beach system works and where we can go. Can you just go to any beach-or are some restricted. What about parking? Do some beaches cost?

If you have any recommendations on a nice beach we can access during this time in the KSC/Cocoa Beach area I would appreciate it? Also any planning tips (what to bring, where to eat, where we could change, etc) would be great!!!

For the launch help, we will be viewing the launch from the causeway at KSC.
For anyone who has done this before, I would love to know what to expect so I can better prepare for it.

For instance, what to bring, what not to bring, where is the best place to see it, etc. We will be at the space center overnight waiting for the launch. It will be me and three children.

 

[sjanus]

I believe you can go on the beach anywhere at Cocoa Beach but there are places with public restrooms. There's a parking lot and restroom up by the pier, which is in Cocoa Beach up toward Canaveral Beach. We love to eat at the Atlantic Grill on the pier and they have some nice nightly specials. You can sit there and look out over the ocean! None of the beaches have a cost.

I'd make sure to pack a lunch, drinks, etc., for the shuttle launch because even if there are restaurants nearby, they are packed and have to wait in long lines. We watched the launch from A1A in Titusville by the Clarion (just drove there about 2 hours before launch arrived) and stayed in Cocoa Beach 2nd time we were going to watch it, and we were going to walk up beach as close as we could get, but it was cancelled so just enjoyed a day at the beach.

We're hoping to see the one on May 14th if it goes off. We'll be in Windsor Hills so probably will just drive up to A1A by the Clarion again...it was an awesome place to view it. Right across the canal, you can see it lifting off, what a sight! However, never know if you're going to get it right when you are there, as sometimes could even cancel last five minutes!

But we saw one in our lives, November 2008, a night one, and glad to have seen it. It makes you so proud, what a feeling!

Hope it all goes off and don't forget your lunch! We walked to McDonald's on A1A, as all other restaurants were completely full and waited in very long line for food and bathroom.

Also, make sure you are near a restroom wherever you are! There was one at the Clarion we could utilize, there's even a little restaurant there, etc. We did get some drinks there.

Have fun!!!

Sandy