St. Augustine or Key West after Disney World?

[sk!mom]

Your Disney trip is so long, I think you could shave a few days and do both if you want. That being said, I love Key West. It would be my choice now but I voted for St. Augustine because you have kids.

my favorite things in Key West aren’t really kid friendly. We enjoyed Truman’s Little White House and Hemingway’s House but doubt that kids/teens would. Our fave part though was lounging all morning around our rental’s pool, heading to brunch, and then using our bar cards to spend the bulk of the day bar hopping, day drinking, and listening to great music. Then heading to dinner and back to lounge by the pool some more. My opinion, the best parts of Key West are lost on kids much like Vegas and kids for me.

 

[sk!mom]

Yeah, I've gone back and forth on adding an extra day to Epcot. I was worried about all the construction up front and how much of that would be finished by June 2022. I've read so many conflicting opinions on visiting Epcot in its construction state (though I _highly_ suspect that Test Track will be one of our favorite rides because Radiator Springs Racers is our favorite ride at DCA and we'll want to ride it as much as we can).

Imagine that Epcot in June 2022 looks _exactly_ like it does today--still worth 2 days there with kids??

Those 3 resort days are for my husband. We have very different travel styles--I like to go-go-go and he likes to sleep-swim-sleep : )

Even though we live in California, we've only done Disneyland as a family once (again, I love Disney/theme parks but husband is not a fan). I had us do 4 park days in a row (rope-drop-commando-style), and even with mid-day breaks at the hotel for lunch and a nap, by day 5 I couldn't convince them (not even the kids!) to go back for favorite rides even though we had tickets for 5 days.

Basically, I broke my family. I'm trying to make sure I don't over plan on this one and ensure that my husband will never do a Disney/theme park vacation with me again.

I'm thinking that we will do some of the other fun stuff on property for those days. For the resort day at AK Lodge, there seems to be a ton of resort activities. For our Boardwalk resort day, I thought we could rent a boat. For our Wilderness Lodge resort day, I want to monorail hop to check out the other resorts and end up at Ohana for dinner. Just kind of explore, you know?

I haven't had a local chime in on this--do you think St. Augustine is still doable and fun as a day trip from Orlando? I don't think we want to skip it entirely...

Every family has its own dynamic so the following may not work for you…

My DH is not a theme park person. He has severe motion sickness so many rides are a no go. That being said, he enjoyed many Disney trips. He loves MK since he could ride most of the rides, EpCot is his favorite park so I always planned plenty of time there (he loves drinking and food sampling around the world.) He hates AK and tolerates DHS. All that being said, he hasn’t been to AK in years. AK days are down days for him. We go while he sleeps late, lounges by the pool, naps, etc… On a couple of trips, our adult DS was with us, also a AK hater, and they actually went and saw a movie in the afternoon. My point is on our vacations, everyone doesn’t have to do every activity. If you need a day lounging by the pool, take it.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I've noticed that alcohol has been mentioned a lot in reference to Key West & wanted to offer an alternative view. My sisters & I spent three nights in Key West a few years ago. They're all anti-alcohol, so we never stepped foot in a bar. We still had a great time & found plenty to do. All of it would have been considered family friendly. Yes, my DH & I go to the bars, when it's just us, but it's possible to have a great visit there without going to the bars at all.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Every family has its own dynamic so the following may not work for you…

My DH is not a theme park person. He has severe motion sickness so many rides are a no go. That being said, he enjoyed many Disney trips. He loves MK since he could ride most of the rides, EpCot is his favorite park so I always planned plenty of time there (he loves drinking and food sampling around the world.) He hates AK and tolerates DHS. All that being said, he hasn’t been to AK in years. AK days are down days for him. We go while he sleeps late, lounges by the pool, naps, etc… On a couple of trips, our adult DS was with us, also a AK hater, and they actually went and saw a movie in the afternoon. My point is on our vacations, everyone doesn’t have to do every activity. If you need a day lounging by the pool, take it.

Epcot has always been my DH's favorite park as well.

 

[kymom99]

Epcot has always been my DH's favorite park as well.

My husband did a Segway tour in Epcot and really enjoyed it.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Yeah, this trip is pretty long (we're making up for two years without any vacations at all). Here's our itinerary so far:

Animal Kingdom Lodge (5 nights)
Day 1: Travel day
Day 2: Epcot in the afternoon/evening (stay for fireworks)
Day 3: Resort day
Day 4: AK
Day 5: AK
Boardwalk Inn (4 nights)
Day 6: Blizzard Beach
Day 7: HS
Day 8: Resort day
Day 9: HS
Wilderness Lodge (3 nights)
Day 10: MK
Day 11: MK
Day 12: Resort day
Old Key West (4 nights)
Day 13: Typhoon Lagoon
Day 14: Swamp boat ride/Gatorland
Day 15: Kennedy Space Center
Day 16: Discovery Cove


No one in our family will go on an inversion coaster, and we can only do a little of the screen rides, so we decided to pass on Universal.

I know split stays are not for everyone, but we like to mix it up when we vacation and enjoying new resorts is a big part of vacations for me.

I would make a few changes
day 1 travel
Day 2 Epcot (I'm assuming recovery time in the morning?) afternoon/night
Day 3 AK
Day 4 Typhoon
Day 5 AK am/Epcot evening

Day 6 HS
Day 7 Blizzard Beach
Day 8 HS
Day 9 resort day

Day 10 MK
Day 11 Resort Day
Day 12 MK

Day 13 Gatorland/Swamp boats
Day 14 Discovery Cove

---leave Orlando after DC. Stay closer to KSC.
Day 15 KSC all day. Stay same hotel

Day 16 Drive Stop in Daytona to check out things, if you like racing, or just hit the beach there. Drive up to St Augustine to stay hotel.
Day 17 St Augustine
Day 18 Beach (our favorite one is Anastastia State Park. Such clean sand and water, drive to Jax after.
Day 19 fly out of Jax.


You could also change things, and fly into Jax, doing St Augustine/Beaches/Dayton/KSC first. Then go on to Orlando, and follow the rest of your itinerary, and fly out of Orlando. Flying in and out of Orlando is usually less expensive, but flying in and out of Jax is much calmer.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I was literally in St. Augustine last week. It was pretty cool, we did the trolley thing. I found it to be a BIT crowded and "touristy". It is definitely worth seeing though.