Every summer, we usually spend a few weeks at my inlaws' house at the beach, but the last few years, we have also gone on a quick vacation in mid-June, right after the kids get out of school. My oldest is heading into high school next year so we figure we'll try to do a trip every year til she doesn't want to hang around with us anymore. The first year we went to Universal Studios in Florida and last year we went to Niagara Falls.
I have absolutely no clue where to go this year, and I am looking for advice. If you feel like helping me plan, I am basically putting a braindump below!
1. We live on the east coast and would like to avoid a really long flight - so Hawaii/Australia/Japan is out. So is Antarctica (sorry mtn!)
2. The kids will be 14 and 11 in June and we are mainly looking for stuff that will interest them. Amusement parks, aquariums, water parks, etc. are good. Looking at scenery, historic sites, art museums, sitting around on the beach doing nothing, anything involving lots of drinking -- not so much.
3. We are not huge city people -- my husband may get sent to London for business this year so we'd have the opportunity to tag along and camp out in his hotel for free. But he did not think we would like it -- he said it is crowded and dirty and city-ish, and for the money (we'd be looking at almost $6K in just airfare), he would rather go on a family vacation to somewhere not-so-urban.
4. I am not good at vacation planning. There's a reason we go to the same beach every year -- I hate doing all the research and figuring out all the where to go and what to do and how to get there and is there going to be enough to keep us busy. I'd much rather just book something and show up and have it all figured out by someone else.
5. DH and I do not drink and we are fairly health conscious. So I am a bit worried that we won't get our money's worth out of an all inclusive thing like a cruise where everyone is charged for unlimited food and alcohol. I am the sort of person who would be tempted to eat way too much just to feel like I'm getting my money's worth. And I really don't want to come back with an extra 10 lbs.
So now to some specifics:
None of us have ever seen the Caribbean, so I was considering a cruise or one of those all inclusive resorts. People seem to either really love or really hate cruises, and I have no idea which side I would be on as I have never taken one. Anyone with experience either with a cruise or one of the island resorts? Especially if you have taken kids, I'd love to hear about it! I have seen some resorts/cruises that offer things like scuba or snorkling, parasailing, or dolphin swims -- we'd definitely be in to stuff like that. But I have no idea -- like I said, I have heard some horrible things about cruises.
If we did cruise, I was thinking of taking one out of Baltimore or NYC -- I can't see paying $1500 in airfare on top of the cruise. So that would eliminate Disney cruises as they only leave from Florida. I could be persuaded otherwise, I suppose, but I'd like to keep cost and hassle to a minimum and cruising out of a port we could drive to would definitely be easier than flying to a cruise. If we did a resort, then obviously we would fly.
We were also considering Las Vegas, as I have never been there either. I don't think of it as a typical "kids" vacation destination, but when I looked into it, it does seem like there are some cool amusement parks, aquariums, and other tacky tourist stuff (wax museums, etc) that would be right up our alley. And maybe it would be possible to skip over and see the Grand Canyon? I am not sure how kid-friendly the town is overall though -- I think it may be a little too "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" for a family vacation.
I would also consider California or the west coast, but again, I am not sure exactly where to go or what to do. I have been to San Francisco and to Seattle but I just don't remember there being that much there for kids to draw us all the way across the country and amuse us for a week.
I do love New England and have been there several times (not with the kids) but again, I don't know that there's enough there to keep the kids busy.
And we never did go to Disney when we were in Florida -- we did all the other parks but passed on Disney. The kids aren't dying to go there, but maybe we should just to see it -- it seems to be the thing to do.
So suggestions are welcome -- and feedback is especially welcome on cruises/resorts in the Caribbean as I think that is the direction we are leaning (though again, at this point it is really wide open).
Thanks!!!
{{gwi:1491575}}
This post was edited by lkplatow on Tue, Jan 27, 15 at 20:20
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