Where else to vacation?

[Happyjen27]

What about a dude ranch. We did one when the kids were 5 and 7 and they still talk about it three yrs later.

We just returned from a twelve day vacation in Scottsdale/Grand Canyon/Sedona. While awesome I think your kids may be too young for that.

Delray Beach Fl. was a great place for the kids. Not much driving. The Beach is great and there were short trips to a turtle sanctuary, Marine life aquarium/museum. We flew Southwest from Buffalo to Ft Lauderdale and drove approx 20 mins to Delray.

What do like to do? Chill and relax or explore? So many things to do and so little time and money

Was the dude ranch you visited also in the Northeast? I would love to take my pair to a dude ranch.

Also, how old are your kids now? I'm waiting a few years to do the Grand Canyon/Sedona/Scottsdale trip, I'd love to know the ages of your kids, and what they thought of this trip.

 

[mom2rose&john]

Was the dude ranch you visited also in the Northeast? I would love to take my pair to a dude ranch.

Also, how old are your kids now? I'm waiting a few years to do the Grand Canyon/Sedona/Scottsdale trip, I'd love to know the ages of your kids, and what they thought of this trip.

It is The Rocking Horse Dude Ranch in Highland NY. Probably not as western at ones in Texas or Wyoming but very fun. All Inclusive and great for younger children who may not want to ride horses all day.

My kids are 10 and 8 and I would not want them to be any younger. I think it is a nice age for them to explore and me not fear they would run or fall off the cliff We were in Scottsdale for 7 days, Grand Canyon for 2 days, and Sedona for 1 day. They loved the Grand Canyon and only towards the end did they get bored. We did two trails but did not hike too far down. It was beautiful but the hike back up takes 2x's longer than hiking down. We stopped at every point and in retrospect it was over kill but we don't know if we will ever return. Grand Canyon has many things to do on the South Rim (North Rim is closed during the winter months) and has a great Visitor Center with Ranges that will help you in every aspect of the Grand Canyon. There are several museums that only take an hour to quickly go through and the kids were interested as well. The Grand Canyon is somewhere everyone should try to see sometime in their lives.

 

[blanq]

What about a dude ranch. We did one when the kids were 5 and 7 and they still talk about it three yrs later.

I second this idea. We went here: http://www.paradiseranch.com/ for one of our family vacations and my DS will tell you it was his favorite trip of his childhood. He has traveled many places!

 

[texaslady22]

We just got 140,000 Marriott points!! That'll be good for 5 days Gaylord Palms Orlando or maybe somewhere in San Antonio. Hotel is taken care of...now to just figure out where to go.

We're talking about doing San Antonio; we've done it before, but we could drive there and stay at JW Marriott San Antonio with a really nice resort pool.

OR we're talking about going back to Orlando and doing Universal/SeaWorld (no Disney). We won't have Southwest Companion pass next year and I sure don't want to drive so we have to think about that one.

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[mrsp1030]

The JW in San Antonio is amazing!!! One of our favorite Marriott properties!

 

[Lizzybean]

I did a dude ranch vacation when I was a kid, Lane Guest Ranch, in Estes Park, Colo. It is still one of my favorite trips (and I'm 30). I'm determined to take my family one of these days.

I just remember horse back riding with my dad everyday, swimming, white water rafting, big dinners at the lodge each night... We even went on an overnight horseback camping trip one day/night and slept under the stars. Really, really fond memories!

 

[mistysue]

I would make a point of doing things the youngest, or even two youngest can get into free before everybody is expensive. Save the national parks and cheaper sight seeing for when you have to pay for 5 rather than 3 or 4.

I top my list with things like Disney World, Disneyland, Universal, Seaworld, misc. amusement parks (because they seem to be everywhere!)
One time DH and I got a room at the Great Wolf lodge that is just outside of Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. There is also a Kalahari there. You can get a 3-4 night stay at the water park and take a day or two to go to the amusement park. Their admission is based on height, but if you look around there are a lot of deals to be had. They also have an early admission pass if you switch to one of their "on site" hotels for a night.

 

[bless7ings]

Was Cedar Point worth going to? Is there any resemblance to Disney?

We are looking for other places that have the perks of Disney.
1) Something for everyone (for grown ups, litlle kids and all kids in between)
2) Transportation instead in and out of a car all the time
3) Can be all inclusive
4) Options of alot to do, but also so relaxing

I would make a point of doing things the youngest, or even two youngest can get into free before everybody is expensive. Save the national parks and cheaper sight seeing for when you have to pay for 5 rather than 3 or 4.

I top my list with things like Disney World, Disneyland, Universal, Seaworld, misc. amusement parks (because they seem to be everywhere!)
One time DH and I got a room at the Great Wolf lodge that is just outside of Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. There is also a Kalahari there. You can get a 3-4 night stay at the water park and take a day or two to go to the amusement park. Their admission is based on height, but if you look around there are a lot of deals to be had. They also have an early admission pass if you switch to one of their "on site" hotels for a night.

 

[mistysue]

Was Cedar Point worth going to? Is there any resemblance to Disney?

We are looking for other places that have the perks of Disney.
1) Something for everyone (for grown ups, litlle kids and all kids in between)
2) Transportation instead in and out of a car all the time
3) Can be all inclusive
4) Options of alot to do, but also so relaxing

Cedar Point is great. When I was little we used to go there for 4-5 days at a time. I would go to their website and look at the height restrictions while trying to figure out how your family would fit in there. We had one trip when our two oldest could get on all the same kid rides- he was barely tall enough and she was barely under the limit- then the little one just wanted to watch. Our oldest prefers kiddie rides so it was perfect for us.
They have three separate kiddie areas. One is very picky about height (min and max heights), one has rides everybody can get on(fairly low min.), and one is in the middle. If your oldest wants adventure rides and is tall you may end up splitting up for a while. They also have a train, old fashioned cars, an arcade and a hall that usually has some sort of exhibit. Of course there are a lot of thrill rides and rides you would find at a carnival, which all come with height minimums. There are some slightly themed areas to walk around and look at random stuff or take pictures. They also have an ice skating show and a couple of random acts and fireworks. There is an area for kid shows/sing-a-long type things and then a walkway where they have shows geared toward everybody. Check the schedule when picking a day because the shows have days they don't run. They use the Peanuts characters for everything there. If you are not rushing, you could easily take two days to see everything with little kids if you like shows.

The hotels and marina you can walk to have restaurants that are a little better if you don't like amusement park food. They have a few different hotels- we weren't very impressed with them overall but they are convenient. One of the hotels is a water park hotel, the hotel Breakers gives you beach access and a short walk to the park. We liked the breakfast buffet at sandcastle suites, but they say it is a short walk... it was a "short walk" like how the Boardwalk is a "short walk" to Hollywood studios. It just felt like it was taking forever to get there.

It is not Disney, but there is a lot to do if you read the schedules and do a little bit of looking into what is there.

 

[bittybabygrower]

You can go and have all the kids measured at customer relations and they will band them.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

We go to Destin, FL when we're not going to Disney. We rent a beach house on a private beach and just chill for a week. It's nice to watch dolphins and sunrises and sunsets from your balcony. And that white sugar sand is something else. Most of the houses already have all the beach gear you need, including tons of toys for the kids. They're fully furnished, so all you really need are your clothes and bathing suit and a stop at the grocery store. We usually find our rental through VRBO.

We go in early May, because once you get towards Memorial Day, the rates double! We don't have school schedules to work around yet though...

 

[Kirby]

What about Wisconsin Dells? I've never been but read good reviews about it.

 

[bjscheel]

What about Wisconsin Dells? I've never been but read good reviews about it.

We stayed at Wilderness in WI Dells in 2010 with SIL's family. It has 4 outdoor water parks and 4 indoor, along with zipline, laser tag, and more. It's a place you really wouldn't have to leave. It has a restaurant but we never ate there. We stayed at the Glacier Canyon Lodge section, so we had 3 bedroom and a kitchen. We ate breakfast and lunch in the room, and ventured out into town for suppers. It was a great vacation. Just hard to keep track of your kids in the waterparks.

 

[jeffbear]

I highly recommend the Appalachian Mountains in and around Boone and Asheville, NC.

Bang for the buck cost wise, you simply cannot beat the NC mountains in the summer.

 

[ellie05]

I didn't really like the list in the link. There are a few good places but some of the museums for children that age are boring. I remember my mom taking us to places like that as kids and we didn't really enjoy it. We were too young to appreciate things like the rock n roll museum. As kids our most memorable vacations were disney and the beach. Save the museums for later.

 

[Bete]

You can do a search on the web for travel companies and there are a lot of itineraries to pick from. You can get printed copies for vacation ideas, too.

If you have AAA they have a massive amount of travel catalogues. You don't have to book with AAA, but the travel catalogues help you see what makes sense for a trip.

I have done this myself and it somewhat pre-planned our trips.

Also, a road trip is different from a one destination trip. I like road trips, now, more so. National parks are a natural as a road trip. With kids you will have to get creative with occupying their time while you are driving.

 

[cjnix29]

Western Michigan. The Lake Michigan Eastern Coastline is just beautiful. Lots of dunes, beaches, adorable little towns, state parks. Mackinac Island is fun....no cars, just bikes and horses. Traverse City, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.... we love it. You can rent houses, cottages, hotels... Just beautiful.

 

[havaneselover]

Western Michigan. The Lake Michigan Eastern Coastline is just beautiful. Lots of dunes, beaches, adorable little towns, state parks. Mackinac Island is fun....no cars, just bikes and horses. Traverse City, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.... we love it. You can rent houses, cottages, hotels... Just beautiful.

This is a great suggestion. My parents summer in Petoskey (they're both from Northern Michigan) so this has been our summer vacation spot for the last 15 years or so. It's pristine. Weather is usually gorgeous in July/august. Mackinack Island is very special. We celebrated my parents' 50th anniversary there (at the Grand Hotel).

We stay busy with bike riding, indoor water parks, zip lining, biking, shopping. It's a relaxing place to visit.

 

[bless7ings]

I would be interested in a more detailed account of what to do there!

My son and his family lived in Asheville, but just moved about 30 minutes over to Hendersonville, NC. We have been once and did some free site seeing stuff. I was wondering what you recommend. They are hoping to move back to Maine within a year. If we go down again before they leave what should we do for must do's? I did see quite a bit to do, so we picked the free stuff and filled our week!


I don't think we did anything in Boone.

I highly recommend the Appalachian Mountains in and around Boone and Asheville, NC.

Bang for the buck cost wise, you simply cannot beat the NC mountains in the summer.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

San Diego would be a great choice for a family with kids the ages you mentioned. Tons of family friendly activities and great weather (I'm an SD native, so I do gave a bias!) Quite frankly, I don't see the appeal of San Antonio (I have lived there).