Summer vacation with teenage boys??

[kathy87]

ok so here is my dilemma. We have been going to Disney and Universal since my boys were 2 and 3. They are now 13 and 14. We took one year off to go to Niagra and Toronto to see the Red Sox. It was a very enjoyable trip but it was only for 4 days. This summer (2010) we decided to try something different so we went to Atlantis. This trip was for 1 week, Sat. to Sat. After day 2 my boys were BORED!! They did not want to go to the teen club because they said they wouldn't know anyone. They didn't want to swim with the dolphins, which was ok with me because it was expensive. I guess they are too cool or too old, I don't know. Anyway, it didn't help that all the pools close at 7pm including the hotel pool (yes, we stayed on property). Most nights we were back in our room by 8:30pm, which is so unlike us.

So, my question is... where does everyone go that has teenagers besides Disney and Universal?? I thought about a cruise but I am afraid that they would not want to participate and they would find themselves bored and now on a ship with little rooms. At least at Atlantis they could watch tv and play cards. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[ENSOCK]

my 2 are 16 & 11. I took them for their first cruise this summer. They loved it and wanted to know why did I not book for a seven day instead of a 5 day. DS16 wants to book a cruise for his senior trip and does not care if the rest of his class is on the same boat! They loved it!

 

[scrapquitler]

How about somewhere like Smuggler's Notch. They can do all sorts of active things (waterpark, golf, canoeing, skate park, hiking, etc) along with pool, teen club, etc. One of my coworkers goes with her family every year and they said it is fabulous.
http://www.smuggs.com/pages/summer/

 

[Hannathy]

We like to go and see things. what about a trip to the grand canyon? you can go white water rafting, take a burro trip down into the canyon. Then drive up to Los Vegas and all the different hotels with their fabulous shows, amusement parks, water parks and a day trip to Hoover Dam.

You could fly into Vegas and rent a car. Flights are cheap to Vegas and with tourism down the Hotels should also be very reasonable. Lots of things to do for a week with teenage boys plus they are seeing our country.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Well, I was going to suggest a cruise. My DD13 does much better if we get involved with a meet thread online (here if it is a Disney cruise or on cruisecritic otherwise) so that she can make friends before she ever sets foot on the ship.
I am not as nice as you because if there are a variety of available activities of the sort that tend to appeal to them and the kids refuse to go and try them out then I tell them it is their fault they are bored and to keep quiet about it or stay home on the next vacation (happened once when DD wouldn't go try the tween club--she got over it pretty fast after that--I was not having my vacation ruined by her whining about boredom on a ship with pools, activities, movies, etc day and night). You could also look into the price difference to book 2 staterooms. Some sailings the cost is almost the same. We paid only $60 more (total) to have two rooms of two on our Med cruise instead of all four of us in one room. It gave the kids and adults more room to spread out.

Other than that, there are a ton of places you can go with teens. They are old enough to handle almost anything--maybe they just need something really different after years of the same. Perhaps they want to TRAVEL and not just go to essentially another style of amusement park somewhere far away.
My kids are a little bit younger than your boys (13 and 11) but they LOVE taking trains and hiking around Europe. Denmark was a huge hit last year (fabulous castles, the Tivoli, viking museum and beaches) and Salzburg combined with Bavaria (trick fountains, hiking in the alps, mine tours, etc) was big this year. Closer to home, some great cities to visit with tons to do include Washington DC, Toronto, Chicago, etc. Let them plan some of the activities and days and see what THEY want to do. Or, plan a week at a ranch, a week white water rafting, etc.

 

[XYSRUS]

lol! I'd leave them locked in a closet at home so they could appreciate all you give them! No really. I guess I would ask them what they think would be fun and go from there.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have girls but some things we have done are go to NYC & San Francisco.

Washington DC would be something on the list that I still want to do with my 14yodd. My 19yodd has already been a few times without us.

I would like to also go to New Orleans, lots of parks and Colorado. That would be fun to go white water rafting.

We have a boat and jet ski's so a lot of our vacations are spent zipping on the lake.

 

[torinsmom]

I gave my 16 year old DS free reign as to where we went this past summer, and he picked Disney/Universal--well, it was second after Disney Hong Kong, which we can't afford, LOL. I'll do the same next year and see what happens. As of right now, he still wants to go back to Orlando, which will be fine by me. I guess he's like me and likes a lot of bang for the buck.

We did DC for a few days last summer and it really didn't feel like a vacation. And we do the beach for a few nights to a week every summer, so another beach trip is never high on the list.

Marsha

 

[golfgal]

Our kids really liked DC. Another suggestion would be to do a tour of the National Parks-The Black Hills/Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, etc.

San Diego would be another good spot to try.

 

[Katy Belle]

We have 3sons, ages 15, 13, 10. We stay very busy on vacation. Once we flew into DC, rented a car, spent 3days in DC, 2 days in Philadelpia, and 3 days in New York City.

This summer we will probably go to California, and run from place to place to place.

We just moved back from living overseas, so most of our vacations have been abroad. Are you up for that? The boys really loved Egypt, Paris, South Africa. London is great, and easy, due to the language.

Good luck!

 

[HeatherC]

We are taking ours on a cruise for Thanksgiving. We all love cruises, so it should be great.

For summer, however, I think we may actually rent a house on the Cape for two weeks. That way they can have friends visit for a couple days and they can ride their bikes to mini golf, restaurants, do the bike trail, take a boat trip, etc.. We are also at the point where they get Bored! easier. Poor children!

 

[Acklander]

By the teen years all they want to do is hang with friends, so that's when we started allowing them to bring a friend with them on vacation. They seemed to enjoy it much more. I know not every family can do that, but it worked great for us.
Maybe let the boys do the research and pick out what they want to do for vacation. If they did all the research and made the plans at least if they were bored they'd have no one to blame but themselves. Give them a timeframe and a budget and see what they can come up with, you might be surprised.

 

[golfgal]

Another thought, if your kids complain that they are "so bored" on vacation, don't go on vacation. It is actually pretty rude and obnoxious of them to do that and I wouldn't put up with that. Send them to Grandma and Grandpas and go on a Grown-up vacation.

 

[HM]

Rent a beach house and allow them to each bring a friend (and their Xbox or Playstation) with them.

 

[shortbun]

We rent a house at the beach. I take a friend of my son's and the boys are never bored. We keep them so busy during the day that they fall onto the couch and asleep pretty fast after a late dinner. We spend days fishing,beaching, surfing, kayaking, sighseeing, a little shopping and exploring. We mix it up a lot. There is no boredom. Being stuck in a hotel room would be awful for us. We do bring a game platform but there is little playing because we keep so busy. Rainy days bring shopping and maybe a half day game playing while mom and dad sleep.

 

[vicb]

We like to go and see things. what about a trip to the grand canyon? you can go white water rafting, take a burro trip down into the canyon. Then drive up to Los Vegas and all the different hotels with their fabulous shows, amusement parks, water parks and a day trip to Hoover Dam.

You could fly into Vegas and rent a car. Flights are cheap to Vegas and with tourism down the Hotels should also be very reasonable. Lots of things to do for a week with teenage boys plus they are seeing our country.

We did a multi generational family trip to LV and it was great, something for everyone. DH and I were the ones who took kids to Hoover Dam and the wax museum. The swimming pools at the hotels are fab! They would love an afternoon at NY-NY in the game area with the roller coaster. Pick a couple of good shows to see (we saw "O" a cirque de solei show, omg it was soo good). I don't know who could be bored there!

One year we let our kids pick the trip they wanted to do which surprised us... it was just to the beach in FL and Space Center. Very low key, they still talk about how great that was. We only went for 4 days not our usual 7.

 

[Darcy03231]

I have teens (boys and girls) and they all love to cruise. I've found they tend to like the Western Carribean more so than the eastern because it seems there are more "active" things they enjoy doing. Some of the favorites are: zip-lining, cave tubing, bobsled (Jamaica), snorkeling, ATV through the rain forest, kayaking/snorkeling, jet skis, etc.

 

[ilovejack02]

Rent a beach house and allow them to each bring a friend (and their Xbox or Playstation) with them.

Once my DS21 hit about 13 he was happiest at the beach . We usually spend a week each year. He won't go back to WDW with us anymore , but I am hoping he may go to Washington DC next year with us. If not we will still see him at the annual beach trip. He plays hard with his little brother on the beach for hours and happily plays video games with him during downtime.

 

[padams]

My DSs 12 and 14 would vote for going to Europe or Alaska. The Alps and Scandinavia, along with Alaska, have been their favorite trips. They also like NYC.

 

[Mkrop]

We like to go and see things. what about a trip to the grand canyon? you can go white water rafting, take a burro trip down into the canyon. Then drive up to Los Vegas and all the different hotels with their fabulous shows, amusement parks, water parks and a day trip to Hoover Dam.

You could fly into Vegas and rent a car. Flights are cheap to Vegas and with tourism down the Hotels should also be very reasonable. Lots of things to do for a week with teenage boys plus they are seeing our country.

DS13 loved Vegas and we did a one day tour of the Grand Canyon. They drove us out there, we took a helicpoter into the Canyon and then road a pontoon boat. It was a lot of fun.

We then went casino hopping in Vegas and had fun, seeing the Shark Reef, he rode the roller coaster at NYNY. The fountain show at the Bellagio, the volcano etc. We did not do half of what e had planned bc DH got food posioning and we kept checking back on him.

We stayed at the Flamingo which had a water slide but we walked through Mandalay Bay and their pool, wave pool and lazy river looked amazing. It is at the far end of the Strip which is why we did not stay there.


The year before we did West Coast Disney, we stayed in Disneyland but went to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World out there.