Best Warm Place to Vacation with Small Children

We just got back from Aruba with out 16 month old, and it is so family friendly. There is so much to do, including beaches, donkey farm, butterfly farm, ostrich farm and tons more!

We've been to Myrtle Beach a couple of times and loved it. My cousins have vacationed with their kids on the Outer Banks (Hilton Head, etc.) and everyone really enjoyed themselves. You didn't say what time of year you were going, but right now it should still be warm enough there to enjoy the beach.

Hi, we just took our 1 yr old to Flordia (Disney) and it was great. We are planning on going to an all inclusive resort with him in Jan next year as well. Don't worry about all the stuff you will need. The airlines let car seats and strollers fly for free, so although you have alot to carry it won't cost you anything. You can check the stroller and car seat at check in, or you can curbside check in at the gate so you have what you need with you in the airport. We debated on bringing the stroller (well the really large one vs a small flimsy one) but it was well worth bring the comfy one since we did allot of walking.

We went to Myrtle Beach this summer and it was fabulous. I recommend the Wyndam Seawatch Resort. We rented a condo there and it was wonderful. If you want more details, just pm me.

We also like Destin, Florida and Gulf Shores. Have fun planning and have a great vacation!

Find a nice family beach resort. That is the easiest vacation to take with young kids. Your 4 year old will be happy with the beach and pool. Everyone can relax. I would save places like Disney until your littlest one is older.

When are you taking your vacation? Soon or planning for a winter trip? If winter, make sure you check the average temps for the area. You have to get pretty far south in Florida to have warmer temps in the winter. We've had good luck with Ft. Myers Beach, Miami area, Longboat key.

You didn't say what you wanted to do.
Warm water swimming. Almost any hotel or motel.
Warm water swimming with lots of other things to do. Orlando, Southern California. (Disney, Sea World, 6 Flags [only if you are fond of roller coasters], etc. and more different kinds of water parks that I could name.)
Fun for you and fun for the kids. Any caribbean cruise. My wife and I love cruising. We've been on 14 and will go on another in September. With the economy the way it is cruises are super cheap. Disney, Princess, Carnival, Royal Carribean are the most kid friendly. We took our kids to Alaska on Princess. The youngest two were 11 and 14. They could hardly wait to finish breakfest and get to the kids program and didn't want to leave to go to dinner with us in the evening. The same thing happened when my grandkids went to Royal Carribean's kids program on a trip to the western caribbean. For 2012, We booked 6 cabins with our kids that can go to the mexican riviera on Royal Caribbean. I'm sure our grandkids will have lots of fun in their kids program again. If you are worried about sea sickness, don't. Ships are so stable that they have miniature golf courses and bowling alleys on them. If you can read a book while your husband is driving, you'll be ok. If not, see your doctor. Dramamine(sp?) is wonderful and works very well according to those I spoken to about it while on cruises.
Car seats. Take them with you. Almost all taxis have room for four people, many seat 6 or 8. Car seats are not a problem. If you are going outside the USA, they do what it takes to accomidate tourists.

I hope you have a wonderful time. Good luck to you and yours.

We discovered (thanks to a tip from a friend) a great family vacation spot called Deerfield Beach in FL. It is right outside of Ft. Lauderdale. Stay at the Embassy Suites there. It is a great resort, very cost effective, free breakfast buffet for all, daily happy hour with free cocktails and appetizer, huge pool, and it sits right on the beach. Best of all, every room has a balcony and they are all suites! Plenty of space for the family. Google it!

As for car seats, a taxi won't have them so if our plan is to use one wherever you go, just buckle the 4 year old in and put the 9 month old on your lap in the backseat. We traveled to Hawaii with our 4 year old and 9 month old (coincidentally!) last February and used a taxi to/from the airport and this is what we did. It was a 45 min ride both ways and we had no problems. We have also done this many times in the past when we just had our 1st born and it worked out fine. If that makes you too nervous, consider renting a car instead. They can provide car seats for a nominal fee, but beware you need to hook them up yourself, which is always an adventure! If you do decide to check out Deerfield Beach, you'll want to rent a car there anyway. It's about a 20 min drive from the airport, which could work with a taxi, but there are tons of restaurants in town that you may want to drive to. There's also a local Kroger that is great for stocking up on baby supplies (diapers, food, etc.) so you don't have to pack and lug that stuff with you. So I would recommend a car.

Finally, if you want to avoid the whole taxi/limo to the airport situation here at home when you leave, check out Park/Fly/Ride USA. We use them everytime. Way cheaper than a taxi or parking at the airport and they drop you right off at the terminal, which beats trecking through the airport parking lot with 2 kids and all your luggage any day!

Hope this info helps! Wherever it is you choose to go, have a great time!!!

Updated

PS - I've been traveling with my children since my oldest was 7 months old and we've been all over (Miami, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Disney, Virginia, etc.), and I've NEVER brought a car seat with me. UGH! Couldn't even imagine it. Spare yourself the trouble, it just isn't worth the pain of dragging them all the way through the airport to check them, then picking them up at baggage claim and lugging them through that airport, then dragging them up to your hotel room. Just picture yourself at the airport - it is mass chaos as it is with everything you're already bringing (the children included! lol!). Trust me, you've got enough other things to carry around when traveling with 2 small kids. And there is always the possibility that one of them won't show up on the other end. It happens. Now you're stuck in your destination with no car seat AND you have to replace it when you get home. Even if the airline reimburses you, this takes weeks if not months. What a hassle.

If you really desire car seats, skip the taxi and rent a car as I said. The car seat rental will cost about $10 per seat. I've pretty much gotten traveling with kids down to as hassle-free of a system as possible and I attest that the extra cost is well worth the trouble it saves you. I swear! : )

Well I'm a bit prejudice because I live in sunny Florida so I would recommend a quieter beach resort on the Gulf Coast versus the East Coast where the tourism is a bit heavier. Clearwater Beach is beautiful and you are close enough to Tampa to do alot of things as well. Farther down the gulf coast in the Sarasota area there are some beautiful places as well. You have a TON of places you could stay - you just need to check out which area you want to stay in. At age 4 you don't have to worry about them being bored as easily because with water, sand and a shovel, they love it. Tampa is a little over an hour from Orlando which of course has Disney and there are great affordable resorts to stay there IN Disney with a bit of digging OR on International Blvd which is close to the area as well.

We also LOVED Myrtle Beach, SC and rented a condo there for a week for a reasonable price and saved money by cooking our own breakfasts and lunch and only went out to dinner twice while there.

You are allowed to use taxi's without carseats. Obviously it is a personal choice as to whether you want to lug carseats or not, especially if you are only getting to and from the airport. Just buckle your 4yr old in the seat, and hold on to baby. Remember if you go on an aircraft, US domestic airlines don't provide seatbelts for lapriders, if you are going further afield, some airlines provide an infant seatbelt. If you decide to take seats, you can gate check. We travel internationally all the time and don't use carseats - but we have been lucky.

We love Jamaica and Mexico all inclusive resorts! Kids love the food, the entertainment, the beaches, pools. Flights are only 3-5 hrs.

We have traveled with our kids (almost 3-1/2 and 2) quite a bit since they were each infants (Orlando & Disney cruise, Hawaii, Cancun). For Orlando and Hawaii, we rented cars. For these longer flights, we always buy a seat for our younger son because he's too squirmy and active to hold and entertain for a long flight. We'll bring his carseat and rent the other carseat. I'm not comfortable at all with the way taxi drivers drive (at least here in Chicago) to ever put my kids in a taxi without a carseat. If we're taking a shuttle bus, we hold them in our laps.

We're all for all-inclusive resorts! Food is constantly available, so if your kids don't eat well at a meal, there's plenty of snacks and other choices. We were in Cancun in May at a resort on the beach, so we had the flexibility of using the pool or beach. You might want to also look into places with a kids club for your 4yr old. We try for non-stop flights as much as possible, except for Hawaii when we wanted a stopover to break up such a long flight.

My husband and I love to sightsee, but we also accept with our kids at this age and stage, our trips are much more leisurely and we try not to cram in too much stuff.

Hawaii and California are great.
Here is an article on Kauai. The site has a lot of content on various places.
http://www.bigbluetrunk.com/ourcorner/629