St. Augustine, FL

[pirateofthecarolinas]

My DD12 and I are going to St. Augustine in April. I'm taking notes!

 

[Shmily1]

don't forget the carriage ride and seeing the big church!!! I forgot the name of the church but the history of it is sooo interesting!! If you get a good carriage ride guide, he will take you there and tell you all about it!

 

[ShiPooOwner]

For the first timer to S.A. I recommend the red train trolley tour. You can get a two-day pass for a one time fee and get on and off as much as you want at any of their 20 or so stops throughout S.A. The drivers narrate the whole tour and we found it very interesting and gave us a good background on the basic info about this lovely city. Most of the places pp's have mentioned are stops on the tour. If it sounds good, hop off and explore. Another red train trolley will be around every 20 or so minutes. Last time we visited in June, kids rode free with paid adults. They seemed to enjoy it as much as the adults. Whenever we go to WDW, we usually include a full day in S.A. because the drive from Orlando isn't more than a couple hours.

 

[Liz]

Another attraction to definitely SKIP is Potters Wax Museum. I remember going there as a child and it was very nice, two whole floors of wax figures. Now its like two small rooms. What a rip off.

 

[Pembo]

We also went to an island with another fort...it was a very short boat ride, 5 mins or so?, but we saw dolphins. I can't remember the name....anyone? It's south of St Aug. My kids LOVED it.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Katie Rose has another guestions.

How scary are the ghost tours? The boys are 5 and 8. Would they be scared of this tour.

I went on the ghost tour last year and I wish I could remember which one it was .It was pricey and IMHO I hated it which translates to it will be okay for kids. I can tell you that it is the ghost tour you purchase from the kiosks downtown on the famous street whose name has just gone right out of my head! Anyone help what is the street with all the shops across from the Castillo?

ETA PRIME outlets has a Bath and Body OUTLET. Those are few and far between. They have great deals and most items are a dollar or two or very deep discount. If you can plan to buy Christmas Stocking stuffers ...that is what I did.

 

[vanillamickey]

I went on the ghost tour last year and I wish I could remember which one it was .It was pricey and IMHO I hated it which translates to it will be okay for kids. I can tell you that it is the ghost tour you purchase from the kiosks downtown on the famous street whose name has just gone right out of my head! Anyone help what is the street with all the shops across from the Castillo?

ETA PRIME outlets has a Bath and Body OUTLET. Those are few and far between. They have great deals and most items are a dollar or two or very deep discount. If you can plan to buy Christmas Stocking stuffers ...that is what I did.

I think it's St. George Street.

I went there in 4th grade, but the only thing we did was the fort, the fountain of youth and some planatarium thing in which I cannot remember the name of. Don't do the fountain if you are not a fan of rotten eggs- it smells like them (and, apparently, it tastes like them too). To me the fort was so boring.... maybe it was because the only things we did on the trip were educational.

We (me, my mom, my friend, and my grandma) went again in August 2007. We did a lot more stuff, and it was a lot more fun. The lighthouse was one of my favorites. We did a ghost tour.... it was the trolley one. There were a few parts of the tour that were kinda freaky, like in th...... wait. I won't spoil it.

 

[LindaG4458]

We met friends in SA a couple of years ago. We took the trolley tour, great for geting the layout and deciding what to see in depth. I was disappointed that the Fountain of Youth was next to a gas station! We didn't take the tour.

We would like to go again.

 

[Golf4food]

We also went to an island with another fort...it was a very short boat ride, 5 mins or so?, but we saw dolphins. I can't remember the name....anyone? It's south of St Aug. My kids LOVED it.

That would be Fort Matanzas, which is a bit south of St. Augustine at Matanzas inlet. It is free - you take a national park service ferry boat from the main station out to the fort on Rattlesnake Island (yes, that is the name, yes, there are rattlesnakes but not often near the fort - which is why they don't let you wander off!). If you are really lucky you can be there on a day when they are doing a living history and have period reenactors at the fort - Spanish or English depending on the time period they are depicting that day. Our last trip they were English for the day.

Looks like this:

 

[Planogirl]

Great pics of Fort Matanzas! I love the pelican flying in the one shot. We saw this fort from far off but never took the time to see it. I regret that now.

Is the tour self-guided? That's the type I prefer.

 

[kristilew]

forgot to add: if you have kids in elementary school, SA has enough historical stuff to meet excused absence requirements. We always list what we'll see in SA and "forget" to mention that we'll also be at WDW!