Vacation other than Disney

[SteveH]

We took a 10 year hiatus from Disney World, our kids enjoyed it and Disneyland but we opted to get into RVing and ATVs for while, then a boat instead of the ATVs. Meant we could afford a lot of trips all year, take their friends and break away for even a short weekend to relax. I love Disney, but it's not, nor should it be the only vacations out there IMHO.

 

[NinaBella]

So tell me about Myrtle beach. I am trying to plan a getaway somewhere warm and that is about a 6 hour drive. I need a nice pool and a kitchen with room for 5 (everyone in their own bed).

It's gone downhill slowly over the years since the Pavilion Amusement Park was removed. I was just talking to my mom about his two weeks ago because my DD was invited to go there leaving this Sunday and stay for four days. Her high school friend and her mom are renting a condo. I have no idea why they decided to rent a condo in Myrtle Beach when we live in Tampa and in my opinion it is still too cold to the beach. I am a bit of a hypocrite because we are going to Clearwater Beach tomorrow, but it's my daughter birthday weekend and she choose to stay at the beach with some friends. They will be like their other friends and post pics of themselves in shorts and long sleeves shirts! LOL. I told my daughter no for her to go to Myrtle Beach which she is disappointed about. I told her "you will be bored and calling Grandma to come get you and drive you back to Florida." Haha. I am sure being with her friend will be fun, but she has done and seen pretty much all MB has to offer. It will be too cold/windy to sit on the beach and swim.

Oh, and Myrtle Beach is one of two places I refer to as my "hometown." My mom lived there her entire life until she married my dad (who was Stationed at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base when they met. He also moonlighting as a bell hop for one of the fancier hotels there at the time), so almost all of my mom's family still lives there. My cousin is a big real estate agent in the area, her son is a cop for MB, her husband is a game warden, etc.

I suppose it is all about what you want to do. We do not do tourist things like Ripleys. Broadway at the Beach is okay, but is just tourist type stores. I took my kids to Wonder Works when our niece was visiting with us at Myrtle Beach and it was just okay. I was disappointed that on the main part of the beach (old pavilion area) there was ONE footwash for the entire beach. I voiced my disappointment to the city on that one. How can you have a huge line for ONE footwash and at the time we needed it people were basically bathing in it while the line just had to wait and wait. Not like Florida beaches with a foot wash every few feet.

 

[NinaBella]

So, my boys do not like Disney. Quite honestly, my husband would rather not go. So we now make a point to go to various cities each year. Since deciding to visit at least one new city a year we have been to:

Niagara Falls, Ontario (meet some of DH family here)
Las Vegas (took the teens)
Baltimore Harbor (Just me and DD stopped there when traveling to/from her cheer camp in PA)
Austin, TX / San Antonio, TX (DS and DH went for a convention DH wanted to go to)
Washington, DC (on the way home from Niagara Falls

We have been to many more cities but those are just in the last couple years. I think Niagara Falls was a nice quiet family vacation that is good for multiple generations traveling together.

Las Vegas was pretty awesome and we may go back there next year with some close friends. We definitely didn't come close to doing and seeing everything. Neither DH or I gambled at all. DH says he wished he would have just played one hand. LOL. Maybe next time.

One of our other favorite family vacations was near Boone, NC where we renting a cabin and went to a couple ski resorts there over MLK weekend. We have never been to any other ski resorts so this was our first and only time at a ski resort. This was also good for multiple generations. The grandparents watched the kids snow tubing, etc. then went to the cabin to prepare dinner. The family played board games in the cabin near a big huge window watching the snow fall.

I think visiting different parts of the country is a great vacation. My kids can say they have been to all these different places. I find it is educational as well.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

I will never do a resort only trip. You can better resort for more reasonable prices anywhere else. We won’t be going back to WDW in a long long time can’t say I am missing it. There are sooooo many vacations that are just more worth your while for the prices Disney charges.

We own vacation club so a resort only trip is very affordable for us. The plan is if we go somewhere else we would rent out those points to offset the cost of an alternative vacation or just bank them for the 2020 trip. If I was paying cash, I would probably agree with you on this point.

One of our other favorite family vacations was near Boone, NC where we renting a cabin and went to a couple ski resorts there over MLK weekend. We have never been to any other ski resorts so this was our first and only time at a ski resort. This was also good for multiple generations. The grandparents watched the kids snow tubing, etc. then went to the cabin to prepare dinner. The family played board games in the cabin near a big huge window watching the snow fall.

I think visiting different parts of the country is a great vacation. My kids can say they have been to all these different places. I find it is educational as well.

A ski resort sounds exciting. I might have to dig into that a little deeper. Thanks for the idea!

 

[NinaBella]

A ski resort sounds exciting. I might have to dig into that a little deeper. Thanks for the idea!

A lot of people told us to go to Colorado or Utah, but grandma lives in SC and doesn't fly. So Boone, NC area was driveable for her to meet us. Since we have never been to any ski resort, we had nothing to compare to.

DD boyfriend went to one of the ski resorts over winter break. They went to Sugar Mountain. There is also Hawksnest,Appalachian Ski Mountain, and Beech Mountain. We went to three of the four on our trip as we rented a cabin and drove to the resort. The cabin we rented also gave us access to an indoor pool at a the community clubhouse. The company we rented from was called Forscoe Rentals and the cabin was technically in Echota. Some of the cabins are easily accessible than others be car or SUV. If you rent a cabin, ask how the roads are during that time of year. There was a couple cabins I was looking at that was not in a neighborhood and was more difficult looking to get to. The neighborhood we rented in, they snow plowed and maintain the neighborhood roads.