Spending a day in Tampa

[bz8bls]

DH and I had no plans on going to WDW this year as we have spent the last two Xmas holidays there with our family. Plus we have three nieces getting married starting from May to June and one nephew getting married in August in Atlanta, plus two nieces are having baby showers....$$$$$

Anyhow, our youngest daughter decided to buy air tickets to Florida for us during Memorial Day weekend (Mother's and Father's day gift) .... I'm the Disney nut more than DH. To make a long story short, the trip is almost free for us since we are DVC members and have APs and the DDE card that we purchased this past December.

Finally, my question... can any of you tell me of some fun things to do in Tampa for one day...I'm sure my DH would love to leave the Disney property to do some non-Disney things

Has anyone taken a charter sailboat for a half day????

Any advice is appreciated

 

[bz8bls]

Need some suggestions

 

[6IrishDisneyKids]

Assuming you would not want to go to Busch Gardens, you might want to head a bit south to Longboat Key. They have beautiful beaches you can walk and further down the key is St. Armand's Circle which has nice restaurants and shops... A tiny bit further down from that via Sarasota is Siesta Key, with beautiful white powder sand beaches and teal green water... just beautiful!

 

[disneybride96]

The Florida Aquarium is awesome!
Just hanging out on the beach is great too- try Fort Desoto National Park.

 

[6IrishDisneyKids]

Just hanging out on the beach is great too- try Fort Desoto National Park.

I agree, that's a great idea... You can sometimes find sand dollars and see a bit of other interesting sea life while walking the shore.

 

[BEACHCLUBVILLAS]

How about a night at Vero Beach?

 

[shellynn24]

The Tampa Bay area has many fun things to do. If you want to stay in Tampa there is Ybor City, it's an historically Cuban neighborhood that is more of a night club destination, however, is interesting to see during the day. If you go to State road 60 into Pinellas County, there are many, many beaches including Clearwater Beach. Going further south in Pinellas you get to St. Petersburg, there are many museums including the Salvador Dali museum. It's also a wonderful place to eat. If you would like to see some historically Greek places go up North in Pinellas to Tarpon Springs (my home!) and see the Sponge Docks. It's quaint and old fashioned. There is really too many things to mention! All the places I have mentioned are about an hour or two away. Have fun!

 

[LIFERBABE]

I agree about Ft Desoto Beach! We spent a weekend in Tampa last summer and the first night it rained, but the next day was beautiful, so we went to Ft Desoto.

We had a great time there. It is not all commercial and built up. We spent all day there and it is very nice. The beach is shell and sand.

We stayed at the Tampa Marriott and it was very nice. More business class, but nice with a free business center we used for internet.
It is also right across from shopping and PF Changs.