NBR: Florida Travel... advice?

[sugarkissed]

DH has some unexpected down time at work, so we are thinking of going on a quick little family getaway. We have enough airline miles to get us anywhere in Canada or the USA, aside from Hawaii (boo!) so we are thinking of Florida or Texas... basically as far as we can get for our points and somewhere we've never been.


We have friends in Texas but I don't know how much there is for little ones.  I know little to nothing about Florida, so I don't know where to go that would be good for our family. It will be DH, DD, and myself... 25 weeks pregnant.  We like shopping, beaches, and probably some toddler friendly activities. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks ladies!  

[annarose]

I am in the Tampa Bay area of Flordia. The weather has been cold this week (its 61 right now) so at least for my family it isn't really beach weather right now. But it is Florida so it could be 80 next week lol But Clearwater beach is beautiful and I know they are building it up down there so you could still go down there and enjoy some resturants and walking around - there is a playground for kids at Pier 60.

A girlfriend of mine just came to Tampa from New York with her 18 months old son recently and seemed to enjoy it. THey went to the childrens museum, the aquarium, the zoo and Clearwater Beach while they were here. They also took a day and drove over to Disney for a day, it's about and hour and a half car drive. We haven't done the Childrens Museum ourselves yet - hoping to this weekend.

Orlando is always a good option if you were looking to do Disney things. I do think it feels more touristy there. We go and have family that live in the area but I don't know enough to say if it would be more fun then the Tampa area.

Hope this helps alittle bit

[legitsince86]

We took LO to Dallas when she was 7-8 months. We had fun. We went to the Fort Worth zoo, kylde warren park, Dallas aquarium, perot museum and the Mavericks basketball game.

[carli]

If it were me I'd go to Florida. But I live in Texas and we regularly minivacation around the state so getting away would mean really getting away. Texas definitely has lots to do though.

[RedDDD]

We just got back from a Vaca in Fort Myers with both kiddos. Other then the beaches Im not sure its that family friendly. We found the service to be awful every where we went which apparently DH said he had heard about Fort Myers. One lady actually yelled at me and my MIL as she walked by us on the beach...."You shouldn't teach him that"...referring to my 2.5 yr old who had started to chase a sea gull. Jeezuz lady calm down. Seemed like a lot of snow birds and old people who were not friendly to tourists. HAVING said that....we did love the beaches and there is lots of casual dining good for kids. We went to a small zoo which had wildlife all from the FL area which the kids LOVED. So we will be going back but we will be renting a house with a pool so that when its nap time we can have kids sleeping and DH and I can enjoy a cocktail by the pool.

[sugarkissed]

Thank you all, this is helpful! I'm going to tell all of this to DH, and he'll think that I've really been doing my research.

annarose, 61 sounds glorious right now!! Haha, it's absolutely freezing here and I'd take anything above zero.

[redfraggle]

No advice on either place for a family trip. But have fun!