Your Best Vacation?

We live in so cal and we drove down to San Diego Mid week for a few days. Far enough to be on vacay. We did the beach, shopping, and sea world. It was simple and easy going. This year we did disneyworld and that was amazing. Next Year I think we'll try a disney cruise.

with small kids?

Never mind.

:)

Lake & mountains - we'd run the kids on the mountains paths in the shade and then relax & play on the lakeshore in the afternoon. We have been to Disney, Ocean beaches, Hershey park, Sesame place - but the times we seemed to enjoy the most were at a hole-in-the-wall cabin on Lake George upstate NY. (Although we definitely enjoyed the other places - we love amusement parks - the mountains and lakes are so relaxing and we get to really connect with eachother and slow down the pace.)

Anywhere where they can just run and be kids! We have a small motorhome and travel at least once per year. Almost 2yrs ago we went to the Florida Keys for Christmas. We drove from Michigan to Savannah GA and then followed the coast all the way day. It was a total beach trip and lots of fun! We were literally swimming on the beach on Christmas day with the kids in there suits all dirty and sandy - they were 4.5 and 6.5 yrs old. This past August, we went to Yellowstone. Also a super fun trip for a now 6 yr and 8yr old. We went thru the Badlands and pet prarie dogs, saw MT Rushmore, camped at Devil's tower, went thru Shoshone Nat Forest. We camped in yellowstone for 3 nights and then down in Grand Tetons for one night. We hiked and saw waterfalls, buffalo, bears. The kids really like the bubbling mud!
I like natural places where kids can be kids and grown ups can relax to!

Disneyworld with a travel agent booking everything and taking care of the details, hotel, food, tickets.
or
My mom's summer home in Northern Michigan with my family and just letting the kids be kids, fishing, swimming, throwing rocks, finding frogs.

Sea World San Antonio

I'm with Kay- Sea World- San Antonio- hands down, my favourite place on the planet :)

BEACHES!!! It can be kinda pricy, but they offer tons of things for the kids, including babysitting so you can have at least one nice dinner w the hubby. It is an all inclusive which is also great w kids!

1. Disney
2. Hilton Head, South Carolina. There are bikes paths everywhere. Which we really enjoyed. Very relaxing.

How old are your kids? Are they too young for Disney World?

Legoland in San Diego
Wisconsin Dells
A cruise that has a daycare
An all inclusive family resort in the caribbean (that have daycares)

We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island. It was by far the most all-encompassing, kid-friendly and picturesque hotel I have ever stayed at. It had a tram ("the choo choo"), boat rides, multiple pools with water slides, a protected lagoon, sea turtles, dolphins, daily kid activities, an on-site luau, thematic restaurants with kid-friendly food, and spectacular views. We also toured the Big Island and went to volcanoes, a free zoo, a luau, the beach, etc. Everyone in the family was happy, including my two-year-old.

How old are the kids? We've had a lot of great vacations (including the same hotel/resort on the Big Island mentioned by another poster), but we really like Legoland in Carlsbad, CA a lot. My now 11-year-old is over my shoulder and he says Mexico (Puerto Vallarta) and Hawaii, although our two boys were 7 and 10, 9 and 12 and 10 and 13, respectively, for those trips (2x Mexico) so they weren't really little. We took them on a cruise once and I enjoyed that, although my husband wasn't crazy about it. It wasn't particularly kid-friendly, although it did have a good daycare, but I think a kid-friendly cruise would be intriguing. Sea World is fun, but very expensive and I personally think it's a little better with slightly older kids. You could do Sea World and Legoland in the same trip--we did. The San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park are in the area too. Balboa Park has a great model train museum.

We took the kids (2yrs & 4yrs at the time) to Disneyworld and that was amazingly fun and the kids still ask when we can go back (which will be next year)...but, it was a bit chaotic as you might expect.

This past summer we took the kids (3yrs & 5yrs) to a relative's lake cabin and had absolutely no plans the entire week...kind of the exact opposite of our Disney vacation. We played in the pool, took the boat out fishing, played at the playground and in the sandbox, made smores, etc and we all really enjoyed that too...we'll definately do this vacation again too.

Guess it just depends on what you're looking for...enjoy your vaca...wherever you go! :)