What's the best family vacation you've taken...

[Edina]

...other than Disney? This isn't really a debate, well maybe this next sentence will turn it into one, we do Disney once every 3 or 4 years, any more is too much for us, it gets old. So, since I'm starting to plan for this years vacations in Feb or April, I'm looking for ideas. I was thinking Cabo San lucas in Feb, or Spain (low winter rates to take advantage of), or Arizona (Phoenix, Sedona, and Grand Canyon) in April.

Our favorite family vacation (other than WDW) so far would be tied for the Disney cruise, and an all-inclusive trip to Punta Cana. My kids absolutely loved these trips, especially the latter. They loved all the activites (ping pong, archery, sailing, banana boats, mini-golf, basketball, etc, etc), the freedom (you want a pina colada? sure, have 10, they're all paid for), and being able to order (almost) anything they wanted at the restaurants.

How about you?

 

[Chris2597]

Edina
Our favorite non-Disney vacation so far has been our trip last June to San Fransisco and Northern Calif and NV. We flew into the SF area, spent a week seeing alot of the area. In the rented car we toured the Winchester Mystery House, Alcatraz (I didnt think I would like it, but it was so interesting), China Town (the kids fav), Peir 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, trolley cars, Muir Woods, Pacific Ocean. We then drove to Sacramento and did Sutters Fort (visited sister), and headed to Lake Tahoe and Reno. We flew home from Reno. Lake Tahoe is beautiful and I would have loved to spend more time there. Reno was fun and we stayed at a fun casino hotel....gambled and had a blast. The next visit to Calif will include Yosemite Natl park. We spent 12 days and saw so much. If you would like any other info let me know.

 

[Planogirl]

We had a wonderful time in Southern California this summer. We did visit Disneyland but that was just one little part of our trip. We particularly enjoyed San Diego and all of its attractions. It's a beautiful area and I particularly loved Coronado.

 

[DawnCt]

Chris2597, We did a similar trip and it was wonderful. We flew into San Francisco, did Alcatraz and the usual sights, visited Muir Woods, had breakfast in Sausalito, went on to Napa Valley, visited Mondavi Winery, spent three nights at Lake Tahoe, visited Bodey, the Ghost Town, three nights at Yosemite, the Maraposa Grove of Tall Trees, down through Fresno, a night in Cambria across from Moonstone Beach, San Simeon and the Heart Castle, The Big Sur,Santa Cruz and the roller coaster and then home from San Fransisco. That was a 1600 mile circle. Everyone loved it. Also, our family trips to Hawaii have been wonderful. In two visits we have stayed on Oa'hu, seen the Arizona, Polynesian Cultural Center, the highlights of Maui, all of Kaua'i, the Big Island of Hawaii with several nights in Volcano National Park, the Tsunami Museum, and have driven the southern route and the northern route to the Kohala Coast. We didn't make it to the Mauna Kea observatory. Maybe next trip.

 

[Disney Debbie]

Ours was this last June to Yellowstone, Grand Teton's, Jackson Hole via Salt Lake City. We had a blast! So much to see and do, lots of great food and enjoyed being together as a family.

 

[Nikole]

Not a debate.........being moved to the CB.

 

[JAP]

1996- Outer Banks with the following:

Dad
DH
Grandma (dad's mom)
Uncle
Aunt
Cousin & DH
Cousin

It was during the summer Olympics. My cousin and I had not gotten pregnant yet. We were able to partake in some alcoholic beverages while sunning on the beach and reading books.

It was wonderful and EVERYONE had fun. That was the year we started our family "shows". We had our own "special" olympics. Everyone had to perform some sort of sport/act. My Aunt chose to do one of those paddles with a ball on it for example. My Dad decided to do a gymnastics routine. It was hysterical!

Overall it was a great summer!

 

[perdidobay]

I have two best family vacations ( we take so many, it's hard to pick just one )
Yellowstone, our second trip there....my girls love animals and we spent every afternoon that week driving up to Mt Washburn to see grizzly bears, and boy did we! We also stayed at Old Faithful Inn that trip and all of us have wonderful memories of spending the evening on the second floor balcony, people watching, playing cards, listening to the wonderful piano player ( who took requests) and chatting with some of the park employees who live up in the "attic" of the inn. We heard so many funny tales of pranks they pull on each other!

another great trip was our Lake Tahoe/ Yosemite/ Bodie/ San Francisco trip the whole family took in 2000. We flew into Reno, picked up a rental car and drove to Lake Tahoe, where we visited with one of DH's clients (big wig at a casino). We were put up in a suite and treated vey nice ( still lost $$ gambling though!) and toured around Lake Tahoe for a day. Then on to visit Bodie, we all loved it and spent 5 hours there, we could have stayed all day, but we wanted to get to Yosemite before dark. Spent the next day touring Yosemite and the on to San Francisco via a beautifully scenic hiway. We spent 2 days in SF, not enough time to do it all! the highlight was doing a seaplane tour over the city, taking off and landing in betwen all the boats in the bay,and flying over the Golden Gate bridge, it was so beautiful...........
Drove back to Tahoe and spent one more night at the casino before heading back to Reno for our flight home.
* a bad day on vacation is better than a good day at home*

 

[Jeafl]

We really enjoyed our cruise this past May/June, and it wasn't even a Disney ship! There are so many great cruise lines out there that have a lot to offer kids. We visited St. Maarten, St. John, St. Thomas and a private island. It was a lot of fun.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

Well, of course our Disney trips are my favorites, but other than Disney, my favorite would have to be our trip to Canada in 1995. We went to Niagara Falls and Toronto, and had a wonderful time. The Falls were beautiful, the weather perfect, and everything was very cheap!!!

We go to Williamsburg, VA for a long weekend every year and really enjoy it.

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

We split our summer vacation into two separate trips this year.
This first week we spent in the Florida Keys. Frankly, not so great. The second week we cruised to the Southern Caribbean. That was probably our best vacation to date.

Next summer will probably be the best one yet...We're going to Alaska for two weeks. We're getting our dose of the tropics in the spring instead.

 

[Steve H.]

August 2001 -- a week in Hilton Head with DW, DS and DW's parents. Looking back, we're so glad we took that trip, since DW never got another chance to vacation with her father again.