Florida Vacation

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Random Musings
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Florida Vacation

Post by Random Musings »

Finally going to take Florida off my states to travel list - (I did go there to Miami on business and did a little snorkeling at Biscayne, but I don't count business trips) - so I have a few questions about my travel iternary. Traveling with kids. Vacation in late September

Days 1-2 Siesta Key

Just there to lounge at the beach with family on the weekend. How are crowds typically at that time? Any recommendations (family) for restaurants? Doesn't necessarily have to be at Siesta Key, we will have a rental car.

Days 3-4 Disney

Payin' the Disney tax (Magic Kingdom and Epcot) - don't need input here - plenty of threads and sites to view until your eyeballs (and brain) explode. Let alone neighbors who wonder why we don't just spend all of our vacation time there.

Day 5 Kennedy Space Center (St Augustine Evening) - How much time should I expect to spend at Kennedy? Any places in area decent for a late lunch (including the drive up to St. Augustine)? Anything interesting to see on drive up to St. Augustine (ex-Daytona)?

Day 6 St. Augustine - Ideas besides the typical tour book thoughts? Is it worthwhile to visit Castillo de San Marcos? Any good beach areas around there for an evening stroll?

Days 7-9 Charleston S.C - Been there six times so I'm pretty familiar with the area. Unless there are any new restaurants (again kid friendly) Have visited Savannah, Hilton Head and Beaufort before, no desire to visit these places this trip.

Appreciate your comments. AK is next on the list, ND probably will never happen.

Regards,

RM
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MrNewEngland
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by MrNewEngland »

I can't help much with the rest of your trip but I absolutely love the Tampa area. I know you said that your plan is to lounge on the beach while in Siesta Key but I will make a couple suggestions anyway:

You said that you dive and that it's a family trip. I would recommend taking an excursion to a place called Egmont Key. It's a great day trip to an old abandoned army fort. The snorkeling is great and very easy for the kids. Plus the island itself has some pretty cool ruins to explore. You can only get there by boat / ferry but it's worth the trip (IMHO). It's probably about a half hour from Longboat Key to the ferrys.

The second place that's worth checking out that I recommend is Ybor City. It's a little neighborhood in Tampa, and it's very cool. It's family friendly during the day. When the cigar factories in Key West burned down they were moved to Ybor City. Since then the factories have been converted and it's all bars, restaurants, shops, and stuff like that.




Charleston is awesome, but it sounds like you've been there plenty of times. Everyone always recommends Hyman's Seafood (www.hymanseafood.com) but I think it's kind of over rated.

Enjoy your trip!
PoppyA
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by PoppyA »

Sept-Dec. are THE best times for Florida if you want to avoid crowds. Depending when you come in Sept. It may still be miserably hot.

Avoid the Fountain of Youth in St. Agustine unless you have a hankering for retro Florida attraction rip offs.

Sorry, family restaurants are not on. My radar, but in Siesta Key and the immediate area there are many choices including beachside places.

South of Kennedy Space Center is the Disney Resort at Vero Beach. We enjoy the quite, beach location for dinning and it is family friendly. You might hit it on you way from Siesta Key to the Kennedy Space Center.

Kennedy Space Center is a full day of fun IMHO. Daytona is a pretty well traveled and trampled location. If you must stop, drive over to Daytona Beach.

Sorry MrNewEngland but I disagree with you re: Ybor. Not sure when you were last there but it is struggling, and is not very family friendly. Tampa is a traffic nightmare about 65% of the time.
Last edited by PoppyA on Mon May 04, 2015 3:06 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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lthenderson
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by lthenderson »

Random Musings wrote:Day 5 Kennedy Space Center (St Augustine Evening) - How much time should I expect to spend at Kennedy?
The only one I have experienced. I spent half a day and felt rushed. If your kids are young, half a day should be more than adequate. I was with one other adult so we soaked in the exhibits and history. The kids around us rushed from one big attraction to the other without reading much of the signage so it didn't take them too long.
MrNewEngland
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by MrNewEngland »

PoppyA wrote: Sorry MrNewEngland but I disagree with you re: Ybor. Not sure when you were last there but it is struggling, and is not very family friendly. Tampa is a traffic nightmare about 65% of the time.
Eh... I was on the fence about recommending that area anyway. It's kind of a haul from Sarasota. Most the time I've spent there is bar hopping at night, but I have been during the day and it was a very different experience. I just think it's such a cool area... I hate to hear that it's struggling. If I ever moved to Tampa I always said I'd try to live there (Ybor).

A couple times that I've been in Tampa I've watched a baseball game there. I usually hate indoor baseball but I've gotten sunburned and it's been perfect place to go.
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tadamsmar
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by tadamsmar »

Swimming with the manatees is fun for kids. Not sure you can do that on Siesta Key. I have done that in Crystal River. The Crystal River Preserve Eco Tour (boat tour) is nice. Homosassa Springs Park is a nice diversion. (I sort of think if the Nature Coast as the real Florida)

I recommend the Columbia Restaurant in St. Augustine.

I like this self-guided walking tour of Charleston:

http://walkingtourbooks.com/charleston.html

(You have to walk or bike the South of Broad area, the carriage tours are not allowed to go there.)
Nicolas
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Nicolas »

Sanibel island -- for the shells.
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tadamsmar
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by tadamsmar »

tadamsmar wrote:The Crystal River Preserve Eco Tour (boat tour) is nice.
This tour (and some other Nature Coast tours) would give you an idea of if what the real coast of Florida looks like.

But you said you want to lounge on a "beach". There are no beaches on the Nature Coast that I know of, except for the faked one at Fort Island. I bet there were none on Siesta Key before the developers transformed it all. You can find developer-created beaches in many coastal states, they have nothing much to do with visiting Florida.
renue74
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by renue74 »

Random Musings wrote: Day 6 St. Augustine - Ideas besides the typical tour book thoughts? Is it worthwhile to visit Castillo de San Marcos? Any good beach areas around there for an evening stroll?
RM
I'm 40 and have visited St. Augustine since my folks retired there 25 years ago.

The Castillo is a nice fort to visit. It's in the downtown/tourist area and has really nice views of the bay. I would also suggest visiting the lighthouse and taking the steps to the top. Also a really nice view. The Lightner Museum is also nice and not a tourist trap. The other poster is right...the fountain of youth is a trap.

Restaurants: Columbia is nice. Also Raintree. If you are looking for really good seafood, try Saltwater Cowboy's...which is on the Anastasia Island and has great dining by the marsh of the intracoastal waterway. Also good dinner food...The Gypsy Cab Company on the island. Good, cheap lunch food....the Spanish Bakery has good food. It's a hole in the wall on St. George street (the tourist street only open to pedestrians.)

For beach strolls....Anastasia Sate Park is great and has beautiful beach for walking. Not very busy.

Other things to do: There is a winery near downtown. I've never done this wine tour, but I hear it's pretty good...and always busy.
Gill
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Gill »

tadamsmar wrote:There are no beaches on the Nature Coast that I know of, except for the faked one at Fort Island. I bet there were none on Siesta Key before the developers transformed it all. You can find developer-created beaches in many coastal states, they have nothing much to do with visiting Florida.
Sorry, but the beach on Siesta Key is a completely natural beach as are most of the beaches on the West coast of Florida. Do you think the quartz on Siesta Beach was put there by a developer?
Gill
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tadamsmar
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by tadamsmar »

Gill wrote:
tadamsmar wrote:There are no beaches on the Nature Coast that I know of, except for the faked one at Fort Island. I bet there were none on Siesta Key before the developers transformed it all. You can find developer-created beaches in many coastal states, they have nothing much to do with visiting Florida.
Sorry, but the beach on Siesta Key is a completely natural beach as are most of the beaches on the West coast of Florida. Do you think the quartz on Siesta Beach was put there by a developer?
Gill
Yep, I lost that bet. The sand is world famous for a high percentage of fine quartz, and as natural as the estuaries north of there. Now, I want to go there!
rkhusky
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by rkhusky »

If you are getting your rental car in Orlando, avoid refueling at the first gas station north of the airport (SunCoast), which is notorious for overcharging for gas ($5/gal). They snare foreign tourists and those not paying attention (like me). Less than a mile north, gas is normal at $2.50/gal.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by tennisplyr »

Good for you. Spent this past winter in Sarasota so I'm familiar with Siesta Key. The beach is lovely with great sunsets. They just finished a new, huge parking lot....the beach/pArking is free. I used to get there by 10am and had no problems. Lido Beach might be worth exploring as well. Siesta village has some cute, beachy restaurants and a good ice cream place.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by texasdiver »

If I was spending a week in FL with kids I would cut the itinerary down to 2 destinations.

1. Some sort of family beach resort, maybe a condo rental on VRBO on one of the nice beaches that also has great pool features for kids. There are tons of these all over FL. With a condo you aren't tied to restaurants if don't want to be. Pick some location that has interesting side trips but have a home base. Something like this for example, which I found on the family vacation web site. http://www.familyvacationcritic.com/san ... rings/htl/

2. Disney and surroundings depending on what parks interest the family. There are others like the Harry Potter one that are also popular. I would aim for hitting Orlando mid week and not the weekend if your schedule is flexible.

I would not try to hit more destinations, especially in SC in the same trip. Way too much driving around with kids in the car. I'd rather be spending my limited vacation time on the beach or pool not in a car.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Random Musings »

Nicolas wrote:Sanibel island -- for the shells.
Yes, my old carpool buddy, who basically lived in FL for two years vacationing at his parents winter home mentioned this. I'll have to check the logistics.

RM
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Random Musings »

tadamsmar wrote:
Gill wrote:
tadamsmar wrote:There are no beaches on the Nature Coast that I know of, except for the faked one at Fort Island. I bet there were none on Siesta Key before the developers transformed it all. You can find developer-created beaches in many coastal states, they have nothing much to do with visiting Florida.
Sorry, but the beach on Siesta Key is a completely natural beach as are most of the beaches on the West coast of Florida. Do you think the quartz on Siesta Beach was put there by a developer?
Gill
Yep, I lost that bet. The sand is world famous for a high percentage of fine quartz, and as natural as the estuaries north of there. Now, I want to go there!
To paraphrase a Seinfield quote: They're real and they're spectacular.

RM
I figure the odds be fifty-fifty I just might have something to say. FZ
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Random Musings »

renue74 wrote:
Random Musings wrote: Day 6 St. Augustine - Ideas besides the typical tour book thoughts? Is it worthwhile to visit Castillo de San Marcos? Any good beach areas around there for an evening stroll?
RM
I'm 40 and have visited St. Augustine since my folks retired there 25 years ago.

The Castillo is a nice fort to visit. It's in the downtown/tourist area and has really nice views of the bay. I would also suggest visiting the lighthouse and taking the steps to the top. Also a really nice view. The Lightner Museum is also nice and not a tourist trap. The other poster is right...the fountain of youth is a trap.

Restaurants: Columbia is nice. Also Raintree. If you are looking for really good seafood, try Saltwater Cowboy's...which is on the Anastasia Island and has great dining by the marsh of the intracoastal waterway. Also good dinner food...The Gypsy Cab Company on the island. Good, cheap lunch food....the Spanish Bakery has good food. It's a hole in the wall on St. George street (the tourist street only open to pedestrians.)

For beach strolls....Anastasia Sate Park is great and has beautiful beach for walking. Not very busy.

Other things to do: There is a winery near downtown. I've never done this wine tour, but I hear it's pretty good...and always busy.
Thanks for the info, will check out the restaurants. The fountain of youth is listed as a tourist trap even in guidebooks.

RM
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tadamsmar
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by tadamsmar »

Random Musings wrote: To paraphrase a Seinfield quote: They're real and they're spectacular.

RM
Well, they have had some augmentation:

http://sarasotanewsleader.com/south-siesta-project/
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Random Musings »

texasdiver wrote:If I was spending a week in FL with kids I would cut the itinerary down to 2 destinations.

1. Some sort of family beach resort, maybe a condo rental on VRBO on one of the nice beaches that also has great pool features for kids. There are tons of these all over FL. With a condo you aren't tied to restaurants if don't want to be. Pick some location that has interesting side trips but have a home base. Something like this for example, which I found on the family vacation web site. http://www.familyvacationcritic.com/san ... rings/htl/

2. Disney and surroundings depending on what parks interest the family. There are others like the Harry Potter one that are also popular. I would aim for hitting Orlando mid week and not the weekend if your schedule is flexible.

I would not try to hit more destinations, especially in SC in the same trip. Way too much driving around with kids in the car. I'd rather be spending my limited vacation time on the beach or pool not in a car.
The driving times are rather minimal for our family since we are flying to FL and back from SC. Longest drive is four hours to Charleston, all others are two hours or less. Most time we have ever spent at one locale is four days, and those are typically national parks, where the majority of travelers just drive through. A good number of our friends do the weekly condo to the same beaches over and over (or a ton of days around Disney), we march to a different set of drums. By the time I get back from vacation, I need to rest up at work. :wink:

RM
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PoppyA
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by PoppyA »

Don't forget Lego Land is between Siesta Key and Disney. I hear it has more than just Lego stuff.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by texasdiver »

Random Musings wrote:
texasdiver wrote:If I was spending a week in FL with kids I would cut the itinerary down to 2 destinations.

1. Some sort of family beach resort, maybe a condo rental on VRBO on one of the nice beaches that also has great pool features for kids. There are tons of these all over FL. With a condo you aren't tied to restaurants if don't want to be. Pick some location that has interesting side trips but have a home base. Something like this for example, which I found on the family vacation web site. http://www.familyvacationcritic.com/san ... rings/htl/

2. Disney and surroundings depending on what parks interest the family. There are others like the Harry Potter one that are also popular. I would aim for hitting Orlando mid week and not the weekend if your schedule is flexible.

I would not try to hit more destinations, especially in SC in the same trip. Way too much driving around with kids in the car. I'd rather be spending my limited vacation time on the beach or pool not in a car.
The driving times are rather minimal for our family since we are flying to FL and back from SC. Longest drive is four hours to Charleston, all others are two hours or less. Most time we have ever spent at one locale is four days, and those are typically national parks, where the majority of travelers just drive through. A good number of our friends do the weekly condo to the same beaches over and over (or a ton of days around Disney), we march to a different set of drums. By the time I get back from vacation, I need to rest up at work. :wink:

RM
Well, OK, I was looking at the 500 miles from Sarasota to Charleston as car time with kids.

If it works for you by all means do it. But for us, I have 3 girls and even a couple of hours of driving seems to end up eating up half the day with the packing, driving, unpacking, checking in, etc. We seem to have a better time with the kids when we find an interesting place to get to know locally.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Jim85 »

Agree with texasdiver, too many destinations, no wonder you need to rest up at work. I'd limit it to Siesta Key and Disney. Spent a long weekend in Siesta Key last November. Great beaches and was fairly quiet then. Lots of condos there, I'd try for something on or close to the beach with kids. Went to a couple local bar/restaurants to eat, not bad, nothing special. There's a barbq place in Sarasota that we liked, definitely would be kid friendly. More upscale shops and restaurants at St Armands Key off Sarasota. We wandered around there one day but, not being the upscale types, did not spend any money.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by carolinaman »

It sounds like a nice trip. I hope that you enjoy it. I am pretty familiar with Charleston area. My favorite restaurant is the Boathouse which is located on Isle of Palms adjacent to the bridge connecting IOP to Sullivans Island. It over looks the intracoastal waterway and has great seafood and other fare. My favorite downtown restaurant is Magnolia on East Bay Street but there are many great restaurants downtown as you probably know.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by tadamsmar »

The Magic Kingdom has a narrow gauge railroad that circles the park with 4 stations. One trick is to get to the park early and take the railroad one of the far side stations. Most of the crowd will spread out slowly from the park entrance. You can get to see some attractions on the far side early before the crowd get over to that side and the lines get long. In general, the railroad can be the best way to get to various areas of the park.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Random Musings »

johnep wrote:It sounds like a nice trip. I hope that you enjoy it. I am pretty familiar with Charleston area. My favorite restaurant is the Boathouse which is located on Isle of Palms adjacent to the bridge connecting IOP to Sullivans Island. It over looks the intracoastal waterway and has great seafood and other fare. My favorite downtown restaurant is Magnolia on East Bay Street but there are many great restaurants downtown as you probably know.
Have been to Magnolia's a few times. Also like S.N.O.B for lunch as well as Poogan's Porch (that was kid friendly). Have been to some of the higher end restaurants (Chop House and such) back in the day before kids. With respect to Hyman's, the kids like it there. We go before the rush and have had good experiences there, including having the owner (who has since passed away and his sons are now in charge) sit down with us and chat for quite a long time (on two separate trips, since he remembered us). He was a talkative individual, and had some good stories to tell. Plus, we always ended up getting free deserts and the like :D .

Will have to look into the Boathouse, Sullivans Island is nice. The kids liked Patriot's Point and going through the ships, plus Fort Moultrie was a nice place to visit as well.

RM
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Random Musings »

PoppyA wrote:Don't forget Lego Land is between Siesta Key and Disney. I hear it has more than just Lego stuff.
Thanks, that might be a good contigency if the weather is not cooperating at Siesta Key.

RM
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Random Musings »

Jim85 wrote:Agree with texasdiver, too many destinations, no wonder you need to rest up at work. I'd limit it to Siesta Key and Disney. Spent a long weekend in Siesta Key last November. Great beaches and was fairly quiet then. Lots of condos there, I'd try for something on or close to the beach with kids. Went to a couple local bar/restaurants to eat, not bad, nothing special. There's a barbq place in Sarasota that we liked, definitely would be kid friendly. More upscale shops and restaurants at St Armands Key off Sarasota. We wandered around there one day but, not being the upscale types, did not spend any money.
We will be close to the beach, but two days is our limit. We annually spend two-three days at a feeder lake into Lake Norman, and we do a lot of water sports there.

Typically, we are more national parks/cultural vacationers, so laying at a beach is atypical for us. Not to say that we haven't been to a lot of coastal areas.

RM
I figure the odds be fifty-fifty I just might have something to say. FZ
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by ustf »

We were in Florida a few years ago in Dec and had a great time. If I were to do it again, I would pay more attention to purple flags on the beach that warn of dangerous marine life, which during our trip happened to be Jellyfish. Our 9 year old son had a bad case of being stung by several jellyfish on his chest while in water late in the evening. Florida has swarms of these come in suddenly. The local news keeps track of these and they usually have purple flags out if there have been a rash of stings.
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Re: Florida Vacation

Post by Naismith »

RM[/quote]
Restaurants: Columbia is nice. Also Raintree. If you are looking for really good seafood, try Saltwater Cowboy's...which is on the Anastasia Island and has great dining by the marsh of the intracoastal waterway..[/quote]

I'm so glad that someone mentioned Saltwater Cowboys. It is a great spot, as is their other property on the other side of the waterway, Creekside Dinery.
http://creeksidedinery.com.setupwebsitelink.com/

These are places that cater more to locals, and don't have big signs. Creekside is in a small marina across the road from the Home Depot. Dinner only.

For lunch or a snack on St. George Street, the pedestrian only street south of the fort with lots of shopping and tourist attractions, I highly recommend the Spanish Bakery
http://augustine.com/restaurant/spanish-bakery
which isn't really visible from the street--it is behind a brick fence. There is a sign on the street, and it was next to a small Whetstone Chocolates (lime balls anyone?).
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