Family oriented vacations

[disneysteve]

I don't do rides (I get motion sickness) and do not like being dizzy- usuaully cuts my vacation short. But I love being around my kids and wife, so I could tolerate disney world for a day or two if there was a pool with cold beer by it.

Disney World would be a good choice. There are lots of rides, shows and attractions that are not thrill rides and can be ridden by everyone from infants to grandparents. You could just skip the few for which motion sickness would be an issue. Or you could sit around the pool. If you rent vacation homes, which I'd highly recommend, you would have your very own private pool which is especially nice as the refrigerator is just a few feet away from your lounge chair.

[jIM_Ohio]

Disney World would be a good choice. There are lots of rides, shows and attractions that are not thrill rides and can be ridden by everyone from infants to grandparents. You could just skip the few for which motion sickness would be an issue. Or you could sit around the pool. If you rent vacation homes, which I'd highly recommend, you would have your very own private pool which is especially nice as the refrigerator is just a few feet away from your lounge chair.

The last time I got sick was at Disney world- wife talked me into going on the ride which dropped us from being tall, then stopped, then went up, then dropped again etc...

I was dizzy and thought I was OK
I lost my lunch on the next ride.

Since then even airplane turbulence makes me queezy.

[disneysteve]

That would be Tower of Terror. I'd certainly put that on the list to avoid for someone with motion sickness.

[cschin4]

This is totally a personal preference thing. We are NOT beach people. Renting a beach house and having nothing to do all day but go to the beach would drive all of us insane.

Of course. My sis and her family went with us on a beach vacation and she didn't care for it because there was "nothing" to do! Um, I am like, we have sand and water, what else does anyone need!!

[KellyB]

Outer Banks or Williamsburg VA

My extended family (77 people) has had 2 reunions in the Outer Banks, NC. Each family rents a 5 - 10 bedroom house depending on their needs, but you could share homes easily. THey are HUGE and some have pools, etc. Beach, museums, lighthouses, Kitty Hawk, etc. Not much to do at night (where we were, but depends how far up in the area you go), but we solved that ourselves by having nightly theme parties at each house - dressing up as TV characters, having a Mardi Gras party, doing our own "American Idol", etc. It was a blast.

The other place I would TOTALLY recommend for families is Williamsburg VA. The history of the place itself, seeing the colonial times come alive, was amazing, even the teenagers liked it! And there is a water park and amusement park nearby to break up the history stuff if it gets too much. We stayed onsite at Williamsburg, went on the daily tours of the town, visited Jamestown, saw period-era plays at night, and also did ghost tours. The kids still talk about it 10 years later.

Cost in both places comes down to lodging. Williamsburg was pretty cheap as I recall as most of the WIlliamsburg town events etc. were free.

[mommyof4]

Don't have time to give a lot of specifics, but Omaha's Henry Doorley Zoo is fantastic. Omaha is big enough to find things for the family to do, but not impossible to get around in.

[DebbieL]

I absolutely LOVE going to Disneyland for family vacations (3-4 people), and highly recommend it because you can do the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knotts Berry Farm, etc. as well as Disneyland. However, I don't know if I would want to try to do it in a group as large as you are talking about. Lots of people do go there as large families and love it, but I don't think it would be my thing.

PS - I don't recommend Disneyland at any time that school is out or holiday weekends, etc. I like going in October (great weather, lighter crowds), or early December (decked out for the holidays but before the extremely busy Christmas rush).

[triton]

What about out of country?
We just got back from Tulum Mexico and it was amazing!! Tulum is about 2hrs south of Cancun. It is not very touristy the beach there is rated 2nd in the caribbean. I know you said no beach but...there is so much to see and do besides the beach. We went to two ruins the Tulum ruins which are on a cliff over looking the ocean and Coba which is inland in the jungle(this one was amazing). Chechen itza(I'm sure I spelled that wrong) is about 1.5 hrs away. There are also Cenotes which are sinkholes in the limestone and the water is crystal clear. I have to say the cenote was the highlight of the trip they are amazing!! Look them up if you have never seen one.
We also snorkeled with sea turtles there were about 8 of them the day we were there, along with sting rays which were bigger than my arm span.
The reef is not too far off the beach and on a calm day swimming out to it is easy. We took a boat to it because of the kids.
The best part about Tulum is that it is not touristy like Cancun, Playa, and Cozumel on any given day we could look both ways up the beach and maybe see 5 people.
We rented a house that slept 12 but there is another really cute resort(no big high rise hotels here just cabanas on the beach) that with your group size you could rent out the whole thing..
I also forgot to say that there were 12 of us including 4 kids ages (13-3).
We have been to disney (more times than we can count), been to Denmark (traveled all over), and to Seoul Korea and I have to say that Tulum beat them all hands down and it was safe never felt unsafe like we did in Korea and one time in Denmark.
We rented a large van to get around and it was very easy, not scary like everyone told us.
Well I could go on and on.... If you want more info PM me or post here.
Good luck with you decision
PS...I am not a travel agent just someone who is addicted to traveling(as DH says it's my drug)...

[tripods68]

We don't multi-family vacations for the simply fact it just CHAOS. We rather do our own family thing, follow our itinerary and be a certain place at specified time.

Consider also LegoLand in Carlsbad California. Excellent vacation trip for family with kids ages 4-9.

[fruitbowlk]

I haven't been yet but I'm going this summer.


Home | Great Wolf Resorts

[mommyof4]

Another great place are the Black Hills in South Dakota- absolutely beautiful, you can hit Mt. Rushmore, caves, shopping, hiking, swimming, etc, and it's all reasonably priced, too.