Orlando and South After Christmas

[jpzeroday]

We may be picking up a new coach in Ft Myers, FL this month. My thought was to fly my family out for the 10 days after Christmas. We have 4 kids 8yrs-16mos.

Was thinking a couple of days in Orlando/Tampa and hit Islands of Adventure and then Busch Gardens (we just did three days at Disneyland recently--no need to go to Disney World).

From there we need some help with recommendations:

Where's a great family beach area? Love to spend a few days relaxing beachside?
What are the must see and do destinations?
Show we go as far as the Keys?
Is Naples nice?
Should we factor in Miami and area?

Help 🙂 !!

Thanks,
JP

[xctraveler]

Think about St Augustine, it is a fun town and very family friendly. The Alligator Zoo is wonderful for the kids (and we enjoy it too). Plenty of beaches. Check the weather as it is a bit north.

Another place that can be fun is Fort Desoto park (Pinellas County Park south of St Petersburg) no attractions, but plenty of beaches and playgrounds in the camping area. Sites can be an interesting challenge getting into with a large coach, ours is 36' and takes some patience to get in without doing damage, but it can be done.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

Universal Studios in Orlando is great for kids.
We like Wekiwa Springs state park in Apopka.

[steveownby]

jpzeroday wrote:
We may be picking up a new coach in Ft Myers, FL this month. My thought was to fly my family out for the 10 days after Christmas. We have 4 kids 8yrs-16mos.

Was thinking a couple of days in Orlando/Tampa and hit Islands of Adventure and then Busch Gardens (we just did three days at Disneyland recently--no need to go to Disney World).

From there we need some help with recommendations:

Where's a great family beach area? Love to spend a few days relaxing beachside?
What are the must see and do destinations?
Show we go as far as the Keys?
Is Naples nice?
Should we factor in Miami and area?

Help 🙂 !!

Thanks,
JP

The Fort Myers area has great family beaches. Fort Myers Beach area. Close to the pier is good. Lover Key state park which is down Estero Island from Ft Myers Beach.
Sanibel and Captiva is good also.

[Mr_Mark1]

We were just in Florida picking up our new coach too! We decided to take a quick trip to Naples (360 miles round trip from the showroom) for a 'shakedown' cruise and we had a couple of minor adjustments that needed to be done.

Anyway, Naples is a beautiful place. We have friends that live there so that was one reason for us choosing Naples. We took a bay cruise that also including lunch. The bay is very nice with gorgeous homes all lined up and huge yachts at the shoreline. Naples seems to be more of an adult destination (to me).

We also made a two day stop at Disney's Wilderness RV Resort which is adjacent to Disney World. But, we went to Universal Studios to see the Harry Potter Adventure Land. There are two area's that are connected by either walking or taking the Hogwarts Express. The ride choices are quite impressive. I can't do rides myself but they were quite busy with tourists. The wand shop must have had several thousand wands to pick from. They also have interactive wands that you can use around the park.

One such place was a metal umbrella sticking off the side of a building, if you point your 'magic' wand at the umbrella, it rains from it. Funny to watch the kids AND adults!

If you go to Disney's Wilderness park, their entrance kiosk is a little low as it was built in 1971. They are in the process of designing a new roof structure to take taller RV's like ours (13'4"). We had to lower all the way down to squeeze under the roof, we made it! The park covers 750 acres and has 799 spots with restaurants and shopping on the property. They have shuttles to Disney World. Universal Studio is about 9 miles away (if I remember correctly).... not too far.

As far as Key West, you have to put the RV a few keys up and take your car although they say parking is hard to find.

Safe travels and have fun!
MM.

[Dick_B]

You might want to reconsider not going to DisneyWorld which is 10 times (guess) the size of DL.