Vacations other than Disney

[smilie]

What are some of your favorite vacations besides Disney?? I'm trying to plan next year's vacation and want some good options. There will be 4 of us - 2 adults, a 20 yr old and a 10 yr old....

 

[Eve & Wall-e]

- Hawaii
- Tennessee with car rental: Nashville (Grand Ole Opry) & Memphis (Graceland)
- New York City (Broadway show, Central Park, 9/11 Memorial, Observation decks (Empire State Bldg, The Rock, One World Observatory)
- Washington D.C. (lots of places to visit here)
- Europe (lots of places to choose here. I really liked Switzerland)

 

[jerseygal]

Aruba, if you like great food and FABULOUS beaches, perfect weather with a breeze! Was there in May with our 22 year old son celebrating college graduation!Been to Aruba twice..highly recommend Aruba Hilton and Marriott Aruba, both PalmBeach, did split stay,loved both! Enjoy wherever you decide!

 

[jerseygal]

Aulani also incredible, but long flight from east coast

 

[SC Minnie]

Aulani also incredible, but long flight from east coast

We just got back from Aulani. I agree it was incredible and I also agree it was a looooong flight from the east coast!

If you like beaches/warm weather we've done all inclusives. We really like not having to think or be concerned with the bill at the end of the week.

 

[rlk]

We had an incredible experience on safari in Africa with our 17 yr old and 16 yr old.

 

[daannzzz]

Road trip to Glacier national Park, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons, Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore
Road trip through the southwest and did Meteor Crater, Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, Santa Fe, Bandelier Nation Monument, Monument Valley (awesome),
Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and a couple nights in Vegas.
Both were wonderful trips.

 

[JPPT1974]

Been to Myrtle Beach S.C. and the mountains.

 

[Darcy03231]

Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. We just got back and also did IMAX (Bohemian Rhapsody), Medieval Times, Blue Man Group, and The Void. Everyone had a blast!

All inclusives, a cruise, dude ranch, and Europe are other family favorites.

 

[Skippy918]

We need ideas too for next summer. Our last 3 vacations were Caribbean cruises. It will be me, dh, ds10 and dd8.
Dh is not a beach person. He didn’t mind the beach excursion on our cruise, he just can’t do a full week or just beach. My family lives in NYC so we’ve been there done that.

 

[xlsm]

Our vacation last July was to San Francisco and Northern CA, we all loved it! We flew in to SF and stayed two nights (Hotel Nikko), then rented a car and drove north and stayed in Eureka for three nights (stopping at all the little roadside stops between SF and Eureka, and taking the Avenue of the Giants). We used eureka as our home base and went to the Redwood National Forest and explored the area, even taking a drive over to Willow Creek for the Bigfoot Museum.

We drove back to SF, returned the rental car, and stayed three more nights at The Fairmont.

We did quite a bit and still felt like we barely scratched the surface. One of the best trips we've taken, we had so much fun.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Im just back from my first visit to Lisbon, Portugal, loved it there and will be back.

 

[nkereina]

We did a cruise on Oasis of the Seas last year and had a great time. Cost slightly less than our normal WDW trip. It was out of Port Canaveral, so we spent a few days at Universal prior to the cruise. We thought the ship was great for all ages, tons of stuff to do so we kept busy, but nice to mix in some Caribbean beaches as well.

We did Hawaii for our honeymoon which was amazing. I'd recommend it to anyone, but its a bigger commitment both in time and cost.

We're currently planning for a Southern California trip, visiting Disneyland and Universal Hollywood. It's costing us only slightly more than our typical WDW trip, even though we're flying farther.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Favorite non-WDW vacations:

--New Orleans
--Rhine River cruise on Avalon Waterways
--DCL Western Caribbean cruise
--Beach (our favorite is Perdido Key, between Pensacola and Gulf Shores)
--We did a kind of modified staycation where we did a bunch of stuff in our local area we probably wouldn't have done otherwise. That one was sneaky-good.

 

[Klayfish]

Such a wide open topic. What is the budget and what are your interests? We have had this discussion in our family a lot...what else besides Disney. We struggle to come up with something. Big city vacations like NYC, Boston, etc...have no interest to us.... for a day trip, sure...vacation, no. Beach vacation...as long as there is plenty to do, I'd be bored to tears sitting on a beach 8 hours per day for a week or more.

If I had the money, I'd go tropical of some sort that has plenty of activities...water slides, day trip excursions, etc...

 

[DopeyDame]

Bar Harbor Maine was one of my unexpectedly favorite vacations - so beautiful and so much to do up there!

Paris, Yellowstone, and San Francisco are favorites too.

 

[E&Cmom]

Timely topic as DH and I were discussing this this morning.

I like Cruising. We went on the Allure of the Sea last year and had a great time. Also did an Alaskan Cruise ( Disney) several years ago and it was wonderful.
Hawaii...love it. Been twice. Once to Aulani ( Oahu) and another time to Maui.
Washington And Oregon State ( Seattle, Portland, Oregon Coast). We are neigbours to WA so easy trips for us.
Canada! My suggestion of where I have been maybe a bit bias as I have lived in a few of these areas Vancouver/ Vancouver Island/ Whistler, Montreal/ Ottawa Quebec City or The Maritimes. Will add Banff even though I have not been but want to go.

I am trying to figure out where to go for March break as I am off for 2 weeks and right now in the running :
New York
London and/or Paris
San Franscisco
San Diego
Arizona
Banff

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Road trip to Glacier national Park, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons, Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore
Road trip through the southwest and did Meteor Crater, Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, Santa Fe, Bandelier Nation Monument, Monument Valley (awesome),
Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and a couple nights in Vegas.
Both were wonderful trips.

Any of these would be at the very top of my list!

Branson
Wisconsin Dells
The previously mentioned D.C.
Beach

A few others come to mind, but maybe not with your age mix.

 

[skyblue17]

I love visiting San Francisco and the North Bay/Sonoma area. The coast is beautiful, as is the forest!

I love going to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, though admittedly I do so for a destination concert and am not sure I'd love it AS much if I didn't have activities and music planned throughout the day while there. I think I would still enjoy, it'd just be even more chill!

I love Cape Cod, especially the Outer Cape, where it's more natural and less touristy.

I live in NYC and it's a great place to visit, just remember it's not just a to-do list of tourist attractions! There's so much to see and do.

 

[HeatherC]

I love every place I have been pretty much! Some favorites are Southern Utah (awe inspiring amazing), Hilton Head Island, Maine, White Mountains, Colorado, Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island, Cape Cod, Lake George, Vermont, Ireland, England, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland. I could go on and on. All these are special in their own way.