Where does your family vacation other than WDW?

[bellelab]

I, personally, would rather vacation at WDW than any other place. When we go on vacation it is usually with extended family. We rarely take a trip just the 4 of us: myself, DH, DD (6) and DS (3). Here is our history of Disney vacations:

May 2007 1 week off-site
Dec. 2007 (with extended family) 1 week CSR
Oct. 2009 2 days off-site
Nov. 2010 Disneyland 2 days off-site (with extended family)

We have had the priviledge of going to Hawaii, skiing in Utah, California, etc. with extended family but we want to go on a vacation this year just the 4 of us. DH thinks we have done Disney too much already but he is not opposed to it. My thinking is that we haven't ever (except once) been fully immersed in it. We are looking at this Sept. for a week at POP.

We are trying to think of another place we can go that is within a day's drive (we live in Indiana) but nothing appeals to our family. DH doesn't want to do the east coast beaches (unless it's the Florida Keys but that's too far of a drive). Where do you vacation when it's not Disney?

I really think we'll end up going to Disney this year which I know he will be fine with, but I am curious with our kids being so young, what other place really would appeal to them? We've done zoos and museums so not really looking for that either. We just want a vacation that will be special for just the 4 of us for once.

 

[kohlby]

We only do trips that are within driving distance since flights would eat up too much of our money. (And I don't want to travel with three carseats!)

We live on the SC/GA border. Our trips in 2010:
*January- Disney/Universal/and visit relatives
*May - Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge
*Sept - Myrtle Beach

Another trip we often do is Atlanta. The aquarium there is wonderful. We also enjoy Stone Mountain. (Their zoo is so-so. We did it once and now skip it because we have a nicer and cheaper zoo closer). We may attempt Six Flaggs as well next time. There's also a Children's museum there, though we have yet to go.

Myrtle Beach is a bit tacky and not really my style at all. I prefer Hilton Head or Charleston. I would love to go to the Outer Banks one of these days as well. However, Myrtle Beach is very reasonable priced when we go in Sept. (And the water is still plenty warm enough). There's tons for young kids to do. It's easy to find lodging that includes a kitchen, which is helpful with young kids. We stay at a hotel that has an indoor waterpark. Despite not being a fan of Myrtle Beach before kids, we now go every single Sept since we can't beat it price wise and entertainment-wise while our kids are young.

*Edited to add: My kids current ages are almost 2, 4, and 7.

 

[bellelab]

Myrtle Beach is actually the one place I would like to go if we don't do Disney. What is there to do entertainment-wise for the kids besides waterpark/beach. Do you mind telling me what hotel you stay at? You live in such a great location close to a lot of things. You are lucky, it is quite a drive from Indy to get anywhere!

 

[haPevraftr]

We only do trips that are within driving distance since flights would eat up too much of our money. (And I don't want to travel with three carseats!)

We live on the SC/GA border. Our trips in 2010:
*January- Disney/Universal/and visit relatives
*May - Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge
*Sept - Myrtle Beach

Another trip we often do is Atlanta. The aquarium there is wonderful. We also enjoy Stone Mountain. (Their zoo is so-so. We did it once and now skip it because we have a nicer and cheaper zoo closer). We may attempt Six Flaggs as well next time. There's also a Children's museum there, though we have yet to go.

Myrtle Beach is a bit tacky and not really my style at all. I prefer Hilton Head or Charleston. I would love to go to the Outer Banks one of these days as well. However, Myrtle Beach is very reasonable priced when we go in Sept. (And the water is still plenty warm enough). There's tons for young kids to do. It's easy to find lodging that includes a kitchen, which is helpful with young kids. We stay at a hotel that has an indoor waterpark. Despite not being a fan of Myrtle Beach before kids, we now go every single Sept since we can't beat it price wise and entertainment-wise while our kids are young.

*Edited to add: My kids current ages are almost 2, 4, and 7.

DH and I went to OBX last Sept for a week for a wedding. We had a blast, but not sure that my kids (DD is 7 and DS is 4) would have. When we do the beach with the kids, we go to Fort Myers. It is beautiful...white sand, relaxing and you can rent a condo/hotel right on the beach. OBX has rental homes, but many are "walking distance" to the beach. Not bad, just less convenient than walking out the door and hitting the sand.

We are lucky and visit the beach over spring break every year, but it doesn't compare to the 8 day trip that we took 2 years ago at POFQ. There is just nothing like being able to do WDW without rushing to get everything done in a couple days. You get to enjoy all the "extras" that Disney has to offer that aren't just parks. POFQ is great b/c you can get the boat shuttle and go to DTD. That year my daughter went to the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party. We went to Blizzard Beach. We rode the Sea Raycers on Seven Seas Lagoon. We got to enjoy the pool and visit the pool at POR. We never get to do these things to that extent on our 2-3 day trips.

We love the beach and doing museums, etc... But, when all is said and done, with the age of our kids, the best vacations we have taken are the longer trips to WDW.

 

[kohlby]

We stay at Dunes Villiage Resort. http://www.dunesvillage.com/ The hotel is on the beach so that means no sand in the car as well! (A huge plus with young kids).

My kids love Family Kingdom, which is an amusement park with lots and lots of rides for the under 48" crowd. ODS was 49" on one trip and they still let him on most of the 48" and under rides. We skipped it this last year however since he was way too tall and there aren't a lot of rides for the over 48" crowd unless they're adventurous.

We've also done dinner shows - Medieval Times and Dixie Stampede. There's a Pirate show that we haven't done yet. Though ODS loved Medieval times, it did drag a bit on and on so only do that if you think your kids can handle it. ODS did fine but DD got wiggly during that one. I got wiggly before the end as well. Dixie Stampede wasn't as appealling to our very boyish boy, but he still enjoyed it. Plus, DD enjoyed it too. My attention span lasted fine for that one.

We want to go to the Le Grand Cirque show but our dates have never lined up to go to that one yet. That one isn't a dinner show.

There's tons of neat mini-golf places. There's also lots of outlet shopping. We hit the outlets very quickly on the way out since that's not child-friendly!

The Ripley's Aquarium was fun. It's nothing like the Georgia Aquarium, of course, but it was still fun. We've skipped the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum all three trips however. We got two free IMAX tickets with our hotel package so we saw Toy Story III in 3-D on our last trip.

 

[bellelab]

We love the beach and doing museums, etc... But, when all is said and done, with the age of our kids, the best vacations we have taken are the longer trips to WDW.

Who am I trying to kid? I know we will end up doing Disney. My rationalization is that our kids are little, the magic is "real" for them, and there isn't another place on earth where we can all have that much fun together. Then again, I know I'm going to want to go back at all their various ages and stages! They'll be teenagers and I hope they say they want to go instead of, "Mom wants to go to Disneyworld again? Puh-lease." My biggest hesitation, and I shouldn't even care, is that all our family doesn't get why we don't ever want to go anywhere else. Ok by "we" I mean "I". DH just can't think of anyplace else where the kids will have as good of a time.

 

[olwyngdh]

We go to Ocean City MD every 4th of July and Thanksgiving. My in-laws are there, so we get family as well as beach time. Other than that, we belong to a reenactment organization, so vacation time is spent camping in funny clothes Disney is a wonderful break from that!

 

[kacaju]

Over the years we have done (we are from NJ) beach vacations at the Jersey Shore.
Williamsburg VA, Myrtle Beach SC, day trips into NYC (easy for us) Day or overnight trips to PA Hersey Park, tubing, rafting trips Flew out the Vegas and went to the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion National parks (that was the best trip!!)
Disney..and this year we are going to Universal.

 

[bellelab]

We stay at Dunes Villiage Resort. http://www.dunesvillage.com/ The hotel is on the beach so that means no sand in the car as well! (A huge plus with young kids).

My kids love Family Kingdom, which is an amusement park with lots and lots of rides for the under 48" crowd. ODS was 49" on one trip and they still let him on most of the 48" and under rides. We skipped it this last year however since he was way too tall and there aren't a lot of rides for the over 48" crowd unless they're adventurous.

We've also done dinner shows - Medieval Times and Dixie Stampede. There's a Pirate show that we haven't done yet. Though ODS loved Medieval times, it did drag a bit on and on so only do that if you think your kids can handle it. ODS did fine but DD got wiggly during that one. I got wiggly before the end as well. Dixie Stampede wasn't as appealling to our very boyish boy, but he still enjoyed it. Plus, DD enjoyed it too. My attention span lasted fine for that one.

We want to go to the Le Grand Cirque show but our dates have never lined up to go to that one yet. That one isn't a dinner show.

There's tons of neat mini-golf places. There's also lots of outlet shopping. We hit the outlets very quickly on the way out since that's not child-friendly!

The Ripley's Aquarium was fun. It's nothing like the Georgia Aquarium, of course, but it was still fun. We've skipped the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum all three trips however. We got two free IMAX tickets with our hotel package so we saw Toy Story III in 3-D on our last trip.

Thank you!

 

[kohlby]

Who am I trying to kid? I know we will end up doing Disney

I was trying to kid myself about a month ago as well. Then Disney sent us that dang 40% off code. We were not going to do Disney this year, because I've only done disney with kids under one and kids three or older - and we have a nearly 2 year old. But after pricing other ideas, we figured out that Disney was the best bang for our buck. So we're headed back in Nov, with a 2.5 year old after saying we would never do it. We'll still do Atlanta and Mrytle Beach, however, those are more like long weekend trips and take less than half the time to drive than it takes for us for Disney. However, we are not doing Disney in 2012. So I'm trying to come up with ideas as well.

Here's an idea and how we are rationalizing going back to Disney sooner: How about alternating, doing Disney one year and US/IOA/SW the next? We had been doing all seven parks on every trip. (Yep, we're nuts!) We figure that if we alternate, each trip will be cheaper. And we won't have another crazy long trip like last Jan. Our plan right now is Disney in Nov 2011 and US/IOA/SW in Jan or Feb of 2013.

*I forgot to mention that there is an Alligator adventure place we did in Mrytle Beach last time too. I can't remember what it's called exactly, it might even be Alligator Adventure. The kids loved it.

 

[haPevraftr]

Yep. When all is said and done, I can think of a million places that I would love to go. All of them fit into the "we can definitely do that when the kids are older and will appreciate it more" category. I just had this same conversation with my brother the other night. We were in agreement that the vacation will go much more smoothly if the kids are as excited as I am about the destination. Plenty of time to plan "big kid" trips later...But, here's to hoping that they still want to go to WDW even then.

And in the meantime betweeen Disney trips, day trips to Indy and/or Chicago, and weekends in the summer at the lake will work just fine.

 

[mrsr2ro]

We are in Texas so we go to the Gulf Coast every September. We can get a 2BR condo in a resort right on the beach. It has beautiful pools too. Sure it's not the nicest beach... but it works since we can drive there. The kids love to play in the sand, run in the shallow waves, feed the gulls, swim at the pool etc. It is extremely relaxing ... sleep in, nap, play card games, kids bring craft stuff/games. Love my beach trips.

We also fly to Chicago once or twice a year since that is where all of my family is. There are SO many fun things to do there and we still think of it as a "vacation".

We had our first WDW trip in Dec '09 with both my parents along too, then my mom and I went again in Dec '10 with just my boys. Plan is to go with both my parents and just my girls in Oct '11 (praying for 40% code).

To me, if we're flying somewhere, WDW is the ideal place to go with little ones (<5). It's just catered to it and we all have a great time. Once my youngest is 5 then I plan to push WDW to every 2 or 3 years are maybe farther apart. There are lots of places we'd like to go but will just not even consider with a kid <5 -- National Parks, DC, Carribbean/Bahamas, South America, Europe, Hawaii....could make a huge list.

My DH did not catch the WDW bug on the trip in '09 and said he's fine with me going with my parents and some of the kids at a time. It's less $$ and easier. My parents aren't getting any younger, and this is the time for me to spoil them. We have our family trip for just us every year to the Beach and for now it's sufficient and we both love it. Once the kids are bigger he and I both agree to branch out and try many new places

I find it funny when people tell me they are NOT going to WDW until their kid is 5 or 6.... when I have the complete opposite view

 

[Colleen27]

We usually take one big/flying vacation per year, and that is Disney more often than not. We went to Mexico once and would like to go back but not until the kids are older, and a lot of our other "big trip" ideas are similarly on hold until our youngest can enjoy them too.

Aside from that, we stick mostly to driving vacations in the midwest/east coast. We've been to Virginia Beach, Boston, Toronto, Niagara, Chicago, etc. It is a lot of museums/zoos/aquariums travel right now because that suits all three of the kids, while the more outdoorsy stuff tends to be too much for the toddler. Every year we go "up north" to northern Michigan at least for a long weekend, and we usually manage an annual trip down to Kalahari in Sandusky over the winter.

This year, the travel plans are Disney for a long weekend in March, maybe a spring break road trip to Cooperstown, a fall trip to Washington DC, and if my 9yo ever hits 54", maybe a winter trip to Universal/Islands of Adventure to finally check out Harry Potter. Plus we'll have some spur of the moment weekend trips too, I'm sure - if the roads aren't too bad and the weather looks decent, we might even head up north on Thursday for Snowfest in Franknmuth since the kids have a long weekend for the end of the semester.

 

[Derby]

We go to the beach for a week (Bald Head Island) and usually do some smaller weekend trips, too. We are also of the mindset that we will do Disney frequently (for us, which is about once a year) while our kids are littler and then branch out and do other trips as they get older.

PP, I agree with you about Myrtle Beach. I really don't like it at all. Bald Head has no cars and very limited/few (and controlled) shops/restaurants. There are no chains, no putt-putt, movies, etc. We love it!

 

[Ericandjenng]

Is there somewhere besides Disney?....

Our last trip elsewhere was an Alaskan Cruise. But now we're back to having an infant/toddler. And Disney just seems to make the most sense.

Of course, the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge thing is great for someone who doesn't live on top of it--we're only 45 minutes away and can hop down just to shop at the outlets. The kiddos & I went to the aquarium (Ripley's) for the afternoon before school started with my BFF.

We were supposed to be going to Missouri (St Louis) this summer for my DB's wedding but those plans are up in the air.

 

[bjscheel]

We are probably doing Branson this year. I have been dreaming of renting a log cabin in the woods/mountains since last winter. I was looking at Gatlinburg, but everybody was whining about a 14 hour drive. DD9 wants to go to the Laura Ingalls home in Mansfield MO, so I was looking and Branson has pretty much everything I wanted in Gatlinburg, with half the drive.

DH is still complaining about the drive to Branson...he drives for a living so he always wants Disney where he can just ride the bus. But I put off my log cabin dreams last summer to go to WI Dells with his sister. So I am still pushing for Branson. We kind of agreed to Disney every other year. We didn't do Disney in 2010, so he's kind of bummed about not doing Disney till June 2012 (2.5 years since last trip). I feel kind of bad, but the girls are into Laura Ingalls and old-timey Silver Dollar City stuff right now. Of course, our 2011 Planning DVD came this week and DD12 who was all gung-ho on TN or Branson was wishing we could do Disney and Branson. This is getting long but as you can tell I am conflicted!

Other vacations we have done- rode Amtrak to Denver and drive down to Colorado Springs area; family church camp at Lake Okoboji every year; and Wisconsin Dells. In 2013 we will probably be doing Estes Park as I suspect that's when and where my nephew will be getting married.

 

[juliebean]

I love to travel - so we try to go 2 or 3 times a year. We usually go to Seattle in August and I LOVE the Washington or Oregon coast. We plan to retire there one day.

We also really like Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

We'd love to see a lot more, but never seem to have enough time. In a year, we hope to go one a cruise to Alaska for our 20th anniversary! We took our kids to the Kennedy Space Center and on a caribbean cruise two years ago, but they didn't really enjoy the cruise as much as we'd hoped. We all loved the private island and could've spent a week there!

So much more fun to think of places to go than study!

 

[1hero2princesses]

Actually I have wondered about this question myself. Live in the chicago suburbs, so I can see lots of very good musuems and zoos easily here. So where do you go with kids. My kids will be 7,6, 4 this summer. We are not camping people. My kids like to busy and would not be happy sitting on a beach all day. After an hour or two they would say so what are going to do, where or we are we going or at least who can we play with! So beyond Disney I cannot come up with any ideas.

 

[cheshireqt]

On non-disney years for summer vacation we rent a house at the Beach (Outer Banks or Topsail, NC), or visit family in Texas; in October for the last 3 years we visit family and friends who are both stationed at West Point as professors - fun to visit Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow area in October!; Christmas break we go skiing in NY or VA; this past year we did something different, we went to Mexico for Spring break and for summer we went on our first cruise (Royal Caribbean), for Christmas break skiing at Wintergreen, VA.
This year we will go to TX in April, Key West in July and Universal late August

 

[Kallista]

I just planned a trip for Spring Break. It's an Arkansas/Branson trip. We're going to Hardy, Arkansas for a couple of days to float/raft at Mammoth Spring. It's a Level I/Level II river that has a little whitewater, but is very suitable for smaller kids. (Ages 6 and 8). Then we're driving over to Mountain View, to go to the Ozark Folk Life Center, and to do the rope courses and zip line at Loco Ropes. Then we're driving over to Branson for a couple of days at Silver Dollar City.

In August, we're going to Gen Con in Indianapolis. All the grown-ups at my house are gamers and my kids love the convention. If you don't game, it's probably not for you.

In January, we're going to WDW.

Last year, we did a Lincoln-palooza trip. We took the kids to Springfield to see all of the Lincoln sites there, and then we went to the Illinois State Fair, and then we drove up to Galesburg for the Civil War re-enactment at Heritage Days. We also drove over the Quad Cities to take a ride on the Mississippi River (via Channel Cat Water Taxi.)

St. Louis has great stuff to do for families. City Museum isn't really a museum, it's more like a huge art playground. (A friend from California described it as Burning Man East.) Our Zoo is excellent and free. The Magic House is a really exceptional children's museum, and has been named #1 in the country. Laumeier Sculpture Park is lots of fun. The brewery tour is sort of cool even if you don't drink beer. The drive up the River Road from St.Louis to Pere Marquette State Park is the prettiest part of the Mississippi. (And I've driven nearly all of it.) The museum at the Lock and Dam in Alton is pretty cool, and you can watch a boat go through the lock. If you buy season passes to Six Flags Great America, then you get free admission to Six Flags St. Louis, and it includes the waterpark. There's also a nice waterpark in Grafton, north of Alton, and it has a great view of the river.