We are considering taking a good vacation this fall. We really enjoyed Branson last September and might just do that again. There were no lines and we rode many rides over and over and over without getting off. We didn't spend over $1000 all together.
I'd like ideas of destinations that would engage the kids, she is 9 and loves Hello Kitty but is pretty much past the Disney Princess stuff. She does tap, ballet, hip hop, gymnastics, tumbling, BMX, and enjoys acting, singing, and performing.
He is still into super hero's, sports, riding his bike, running amok, etc....
Both love water so water parks would be ideal but I don't know where any are that are worth the drive and cost. Plus what times of the year they are open. We are not into the "great outdoors" and are pretty much city people...lol. Not a bit of camping will happen with us.
We don't want to spend over $5000 and would like to be able to drive to the destination. If a cruise we'll still drive then park.
So, how about some ideas of places you've been and how the kiddo's loved it.
Schlitterbahn!!!! SOOOOO worth the drive and cost!
**The original New Braunfels one!
No school? SanDiego would be where I would head. Beautiful weather, plenty to do.
Ive heard the dells in wisconsin are a lot of fun
Well-I am in Wisconsin so when you say water-there is the Wisconsin Dells. There is more than enough to do there for a week and you don't need to stay at one of the big hotels to have a blast. Noah's ark is great for a day and then there is Mount Olympus right down the road-both very good and reasonable IMO.
We are going to Cedar Point in Ohio as we love the roller coasters there-they have some of the best! They do have a water park too.
I love cruises but wouldn't want to do one during summer unless it was to Alaska :) You can get some really good deal on cruises though with all the bad events they have been having.
And if you want to do Florida-you could skip Disney and go to Sea World and Universal instead. They have indoor skydiving, deep sea fishing, gator tours and swimming with the manatee-lots to do besides Disney.
Go take a cruise out of Galveston TX. Royal Caribbean is awesome. There are great camps on board and the kids love them. If you can manage a drive to Fort Lauderdale, Royal Caribbean has more options.
And don't think I am saying the camp is the only thing for the kids to do. Go on one of the big ships and there are ice skating rinks, rock climbing, flow riders. Too much to mention!! And that's just for the kids. There are shows, bingo, excursions, shopping, eating! You name it.
Go back to Branson. Silver Dollar City.
I agree with the other poster Schlitterbahn is great.
You could also look into staying in Grapevine, TX. It's near DFW. Great Wolf Lodge is fun. It's an indoor water park, so weather isn't an issue. Legoland and an Aquarium are at Grapevine Mills Mall. Your nine year old is on the cusp of being too old for Legoland, but he will still enjoy it. Grapevine Mills also has ice skating for something a little different.
About 30 minutes away you'll find Six Flags Over Texas and Wet N Wild water park. Rangers stadium is also in that area if you want to catch a baseball game.
Downtown Ft Worth is also near by. You can watch the cattle drive and do the cowboy thing. The science museum is also fun and not terribly expensive.
If you want to drive to Dallas from there the World Aquarium is overpriced (in my opinion), but still amazing. And the Perot Museum is pretty incredible.
We live in this area, so we've done all of this...just not in one shot.
Our biggest trip with our kids was a cruise. We spent more than $5 total, but we got two balcony rooms, so your cost will go down drastically if you only do one room, which is possible with 4 people. We have 5, so we needed two regardless (unless we went with a suite).
The cruise took us to Nassau, St,. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turks. Our week (with both rooms) was a little over $3k. Not bad at all!! We flew from MD to FL, so that added in the cost. If you take that out, then you also may not need the hotel for the night before or the shuttle taking you to and from places. Totally doable for under $5k.
You do not need to do excursions either. We only did one, and are glad we did it, but didn't HAVE to do it.
Disney is fun no matter what age and what you are into also :).
Take a Disney cruise. They are amazing!! Both of your kids are great ages for the cruise and they will have a really good time. There are tons of activities for them to do (that don't involve princesses) and they will meet lots of other kids on the ship.
Most of them leave out of Port Canaveral and Miami in Florida, but some also leave out of Galveston. Seems like that might be a shorter drive for you.
If you love water, they will have a BLAST riding the aquaduck water slide (on the Fantasy and Dream ships) and playing in the pools and going on the smaller slides (all ships).
We found a lot to do for kids in St. Louis. The City Museum is hard to describe and like nothing we've ever experienced anywhere else. There is a nice Children's Museum and the Zoo was fun. It's small and older, but there are new exhibits and it's a good size for getting around with younger children. There is a Six Flags with a waterpark (I don't know it's seasonal hours/openings) a little outside the city. My kids didn't have a great time at the Anheiser Busch farm/petting zoo, but a lot of people enjoy that too. We went to the top of the Arch. And we enjoyed a baseball game (also seasonal). I regret I didn't get to the botanical gardens, which is also supposed to be nice.
Sometimes there are Disney Cruises leaving out of Galveston - those have been our favorite vacations so far, along with Disney World. Sometimes they will also have "kids sail free" deals, usually at off times when they would normally be in school. WDW doesn't have to be all princesses either - there's still things the 9 year old will enjoy and definitely the 6 year old, plus they have 2 water parks and in Sept/Oct it might be just warm enough still for them to enjoy them.
