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Hello!
My mom is grilling me mercilessly about what would be a good Florida vacation that didn't cost an arm and a leg, for two adults of a grandparently age, two adults in their 30s, and two kids ages 3.5 and 5. She's weeping at the cost of Disney, and frankly at the idea of spending so much time in the park with kids who aren't old enough to get the most out of it. She also loves the beach. She wants to rent a house rather than do hotel rooms.
Do any of you have any thoughts by any chance? My sum total of Florida knowledge is that it sucked royally to be taken there in a rainy February instead of going to the Sadie Hawkins dance with my boyfriend when I was fourteen. Also, thanks to Burn Notice, Miami has lots of spy activity. Though I suspect this second thing might be not strictly true.
Thank you in advance ♥♥
My mom is grilling me mercilessly about what would be a good Florida vacation that didn't cost an arm and a leg, for two adults of a grandparently age, two adults in their 30s, and two kids ages 3.5 and 5. She's weeping at the cost of Disney, and frankly at the idea of spending so much time in the park with kids who aren't old enough to get the most out of it. She also loves the beach. She wants to rent a house rather than do hotel rooms.
Do any of you have any thoughts by any chance? My sum total of Florida knowledge is that it sucked royally to be taken there in a rainy February instead of going to the Sadie Hawkins dance with my boyfriend when I was fourteen. Also, thanks to Burn Notice, Miami has lots of spy activity. Though I suspect this second thing might be not strictly true.
Thank you in advance ♥♥
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Just go to the Keys!
There are, well, almost every place is for rent or a hotel/motel kinda deal. You should be able to find something perfect for any price range. And then, you can rent a boat and go snorkeling/fishing/hang out. You can also rent jet skis! You can do the glass-bottom boat tour thing that the kids would probably love. And just hanging on the beach (the whole place is a beach!) and going out to eat - everything is within walking distance and YOU DON'T EVEN NEED SHOES. :D Or actual clothes! (this is a thing for me only because here on Long Island it's all stuffy in the beach town and you can't wonder around into shops without actual clothes. which is snotty. :p Not that I wonder around in my bathing suit but at least I could if I wanted to!)
And I have no idea if this is relevant in any way but I used to live in Delray Beach which is a really nice little city in Palm Beach County, in between Boca Raton and Boynton Beach. It's actually a gorgeous city and now I miss it...weird. It's not as inexpensive as the Keys and renting a house on the beach would be impossible unless you were loaded, but there are some gorgeous high rise motels on AIA overlooking the ocean. But when I lived in that gorgeous little city, we'd still go to the Keys for mini-weekend vacations. ALTHOUGH DISNEY IS THE MOST AMAZING PLACE ON EARTH.
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I second the recs of Anna Maria Island and Siesta Key (they're adjacent to each other near Sarasota). Beautiful beaches, family friendly restaurants (unlike, say, Naples, which is higher end and people tend to raise their eyebrows at small children in nice restaurants), easy to navigate.
We use VRBO.com (vacation rentals by owner) all the time to rent condos. You can probably find a 3- or 4-bedroom condo or house that fits your budget. When are you planning on going? November is a *spectacular* month in Florida -- not crowded, not hot, not holiday or high season. If I had a choice, that's when I'd go!
You're making the right call re. Disney World. I have seen many, many miserable families with small children. It's just too big -- too many steps, too hot much of the year, and can be very scary for little ones. We took our young'un there for the first time when she was 7, and even then I did a ton of planning to maximize her experience and minimize the amount of walking she had to do. There's plenty of time for DW -- they're not missing anything by not going now. We took our 6-year-old niece (now 20) and the only thing she remembers from that very expensive day is standing in line for Dumbo.
Okay, sorry so wordy. Good luck and let us know what you decide!
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http://www.oldsaltworks.com/
Wherever you go, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!
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www.augustine.com/
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BUT, we did have three or four very memorable vacations.
1. Key Largo. The Keys in general are awesome!sauce, but we loved Key Largo. Of course, I was thirteen, so YMMV.
2. Sanibel Island. OMGs! Sanibel...if I had to move to Florida and could afford to live there, it's where I'd go. It's paradisical. Seriously. Pristine beaches, jungle-like interiors, the world's third-best beaches for shelling. Lots of funky restaurants and galleries and shops. No neon, no buildings higher than three stories (there's a very strict building code). Lots of gawking at gorgeous mansions.
3. St. Augustine. Okay, I'll admit, it's because I'm a total history geek, but St. Augustine is lovely.
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Orlando is definitely not worth going to if you're not going to do Disney and/or Universal. It's in the middle of the state, far from the beaches, and is generally a shitty town otherwise. However, it's only 1.5-2 hours from Tampa if they decided they wanted the Disney experience after all for some reason.
If they wanted to explore some lesser known destinations. Pensacola or Panama City on the pan handle could be nice. I remember Panama City being INCREDIBLY FUN when I was, like, 8. I suspect it's not actually that cool. They have a boardwalk and a water park, though.