Where to fly?

[mwatson011]

We scored free RT airline tickets last year coming home from WDW...we gave up our seats for a later flight that day and were upgraded to business class and given free RT tickets to use within a year.

While at the time we were ready to conquer the world, a lot has changed. We have a low budget for a vacation for the 4 of us (would like to stay $500-$1000) and can go anywhere Airtran flies. We don't have passports, so the Caribbean is out due to the added expense. We are flying out of PHL, so that limits our destinations somewhat (only on Airtran!).

I am looking for quality of days over quantity. The girls are 5 and 6. We are totally flexible on our travel dates, thinking possibly March/April or June.

Any suggestions?

 

[ah1126]

How old are the kids?

What about Atlanta? You could get a city pass which would save you a lot on the attractions. You could use the public transportation. And there are ton of hotels in the area, so I bet you could get a good deal.

 

[akcire]

When do you want to travel?

 

[mwatson011]

Sorry, the girls are 5 and 6. We are totally flexible on our travel dates, thinking possibly March/April or June.

 

[HM]

How about Atlanta? You could visit the Georgia Aquarium, Coke, Atlanta Zoo, etc... There is a lot to see and do in that city that would be fun for the whole family.

 

[lizabu]

Where do you live now? I know I would want to go somewhere exotic and different from where I live. Without a passport you should still be able to go somewhere like Alaska or Hawaii but if you are from one of those places it probably won't seem too thrilling. I went to Virginia Beach before and it was nice. Niagara Falls is something everyone should see. Probably the Grand Canyon too. What do you guys like to do? Camping? Beaches? Sightseeing? Too many options.

 

[mwatson011]

Well, I would be flying out of Philly, and Airtran doesn't fly north from PHL, which rules out Niagara Falls, which was our original idea. Exotic would be great, but Airtran does not fly to AK or HI. We had thought about CA, but everything out there seems so expensive, and funds are limited for this vacation. Atlanta sounds like a good idea, my dh has concerns about safety with walking/public transportation there, he has heard bad things???

Thanks for the ideas, keep em coming!

 

[luckyfin]

I would go to Seattle, San Antonio, or San Fransisco. Away from the East Coast and a chance to check out something different.

 

[5forDis]

I would say one of the National Parks. We just visited the Grand Canyon with our 3 kids and the trip was more fun than we ever expected.

We flew into Phoenix, stayed in Sedona & then to the Grand Canyon. We then went on to other parts of the Southwest, but you could do lots of fun things in Arizona.

Also, Phoenix has a lot of hotels with water parks in them. Lots of fun and sun! You could probably just stay in Phoenix & do some horseback riding or cowboy dinner near Phoenix without driving to the Grand Canyon (I think it is about a 3 hour drive but someone from Arizona would know better).

 

[queenbetsey]

bummer you can't score a great deal at a value resort but have you checked out Waschingto DC? Might be cool to see the Smithsonian and what not,

 

[ADisneyQueen]

This same situation happened to us several years ago. We got free tickets for giving up our seats on the day after T-day coming back from WDW.

We decided to go back to Orlando 11 mos. later and go to Sea World, MNSSHP and a water park. Back then they had a special ticket where you got 3 days at WDW and a waterpark day.

We thought about going to CA or somewhere else, but chose Orlando b/c the girls were almost 8 and 4 and we knew we couldn't deal w/ a long flight and time change. And we found such a good deal on a 2 br offsite (now it's the Nick hotel) and car rental. Other places sounded OK to go to, but not as exciting to us.

If I were you, I would go to FL in the spring and do things other than Disney. Parks, beach. Sea world is letting kids 5 and under in for free through all of 2012 and I think you still get a second day free. Orlando has such good deals on rooms that I'm sure you could find something.

 

[prncess674]

bummer you can't score a great deal at a value resort but have you checked out Waschingto DC? Might be cool to see the Smithsonian and what not,

DC is only a 2.5 hour drive from Philly, so I would assume the OP has been there.

I would look at San Antonio. We did a family vacation in San Antonio and loved it!

 

[mwatson011]

Thanks for the great ideas!

We talked about Orlando, for Sea World and maybe Busch Gardens Tampa and a water park. My DH refuses to go to WDW again so soon - I really don't know what is wrong with him (lucky for him there are not any specials good enough right now for me to override his ridiculous decision).

The Grand Canyon is somewhere we have always wanted to go, so I will look into that too.