Family Vacations - What are your bests?

I didn't bring any kids, but the wife and I have gone up the west coast hitting a bunch of zoo's, aquariums, and museums.
 


Portugal (Algarve) for me. Great unspoilt beaches, amazing seafood, cheap local beer (80c) and really lovely friendly people. Love the place...............
 
btw Knoebels amusement park in pennsylvania is the bomb


ive been to BVI and had a terrible time and had an amazing time domestic. all depends on your attitude and people you are with.

hiking through Burlington VT as a child best childhood vacay memories

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eliquid said:
Yeah, we did this a couple years ago too in one of those luxury cabins. I know its unfair to say, but I will prob. never be back. The experience was horrible ( all cabin related ). I planned it out months in advance and the people we used:

1. Did not have the cabin ready for us. We waited an additional 8 hours to get into our cabin.

2. Phone did not work the entire time. We couldnt call out in case of an emergency and the cell phone I brought had 0 service ( fucking ATT )

3. Internet did not work ( one of the sole reasons I chose this cabin )

4. The hotub was slimy and dirty.

5. The washer did not work and leaked all over the place while we were gone ( was on the 2nd floor ) and leaked thru the 1st floor ceiling damaging my cell phone I left on the counter.

6. In the middle of the night, a huge bear was on the front porch eating the trash they have in those special bins there. While this was actually pretty fucking cool, it happened on the first night and thus left us cleaning up the fucking mess later on since no one else was going to.

I think if I would have dealt with a better company, my experience would have been 10x better. One of my fav. restaurants is located there though, the Cherokee Grill. The company I used was highly recommended, so I dont know WTF to say really. I complained about all that went wrong ( except the mess the bear made, who could account for that shit ) and they were not going to refund me or help me out any at all with the issues.

Left a bad taste in my mouth. Gatlinburg though, was pretty fucking fun in itself.
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Yeah, you have to be careful what you rent. Hotels are no different. The first time we stayed there many years ago I booked a room at the ramada. The pictures looked good, it was in a good spot, but when we got there they didn't put us in the main building, they put in the trashy main street side hotel. The place was filthy, even the ash tray had butts in it still. Needless to say we opted not to stay there. One time we stayed in a nice condo on the river, right at the entrance to the park that was nice, park place or something. Estes Park is the same, they have a lot of crappy places that are marketed well with nice pictures and all. Must be careful.

Banff CA is supposed to be pretty awesome, but I haven't gotten there yet.
 
Cruise ships.

Multiple destinations, good entertainment, endless amounts of food. The few times I've been I'm pretty sure I ate my ticket cost worth of lobster and steak. If you have kids you can send them off to the kids or teen club which typically has activities practically all day so you and wife can relax a bit too. I wouldn't consider much else vacation wise anymore.
 
Whats your goal? Do something everyone will participate in 'together' or do you want to go somewhere where each one can go do what they want?
 
DewChugr said:
Yeah, you have to be careful what you rent. Hotels are no different. The first time we stayed there many years ago I booked a room at the ramada. The pictures looked good, it was in a good spot, but when we got there they didn't put us in the main building, they put in the trashy main street side hotel. The place was filthy, even the ash tray had butts in it still. Needless to say we opted not to stay there. One time we stayed in a nice condo on the river, right at the entrance to the park that was nice, park place or something. Estes Park is the same, they have a lot of crappy places that are marketed well with nice pictures and all. Must be careful.
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Oh the stories I could tell about Gatlinburg... I vacationed there about 50 times throughout my youth... Now that I've travelled around outside of the south a lot I can say with full confidence that Gatlinburg is one of the absolute worst tourist destinations in the US. Something about the culture up there makes most (all?) hotel/resort owners outright crooks, and every attraction comes with a catch... (Ironically the big Ripley's aquarium isn't so bad, but that's it.)

The premise of the whole townl in the first place; a country-music-filled, "rustic-cabin-in-the-woods-experience" is just dogshit in the first place and I can't see how it even started to gain any popularity... But somehow popular it did become, and because of the geography it's so damn crowded there that even mid-week and off-season it can take an hour to get from your hotel/resort to see anything at all!

Gatlinburg: 0/10. Would bomb again. :disgust:

Disney World & Land are far better, but I can't stand their food... Even their high-end restaurants around the park, and sadly the international foods around Epcot's "The world" all are filled with 900% more salt and grease than you'll find at comparable restaurants at home... If you honestly watch what you eat at all you'll be departing disney early for the diet problems alone. :(

Last time I did disneyworld we brought a ton of packaged food with us, trying not to eat that shit in the park at all.

Cruises usually are a rip-off and not relaxing at all, but some of the smaller, non-so-touristy lines are better and I plan to try some of those...

@roclafamilia: I never thought about chartering a sea-going vessel before... Did you have to learn how to pilot & navigate that 40 foot catamaran? That trip sounds awesome! Love to hear more details on that.
 
Agree, disney is great.

1. Kid friendly hotel in Las Vegas. See Grand Canyon, Hover Dam, a lot of other attractions.

2. Washington DC has a ton of musemus, monuments and such. Hotels are a little expensive but many of the attractions are free.

3. If the kids are old enough to enjoy history think about one of those tours of Rome, Venice, and Florence. I was in Rome a few years back on a business trip. I definetly plan to take the family one day.
 
Topsail Island on the coast of North Carolina is beautiful.

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Atlantis in the Bahamas. Expensive but worth it. I have been there twice in the last few years. Best water park ever!
 
I second lukep's negative review of gatlinburg it has to be one of the worst tourist traps I've ever been to. I was only there because I needed to do something for a few days after finishing a portion of the Appalachian trail early. I gained absolutely nothing from visiting, hotel was grimy, country music all over, obese middle americans everywhere, and one of the maids stole money from pants while I was out eating. 1/10 only bc of the ripleys museum which wasn't that impressive but took my mind off the fat slobs marinating in the hotel's hot tub of bacteria.
 
I don't get the haters bro, Gatlinburg was pretty fun to me. I like the Go-karts and the Man-made Snow Ski Resorts.
 
So if you were going to Disney World again, where would you stay that is awesome with a reasonable rate?

Paying $470 per day at Grand Floridan isn't ideal.
 
Went to "Playa Del Carmen" (near Cancun, Mexico), more exactly to Iberostar Quetzal complex (all inclusive resort). Absolutely perfect spot for family vacations.

You can even do some tours to several Mayan Ruins and Piramids since it's so close.

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cuba but leave the family at home...

" honey, cuba is opening up and i gotta go down there to explore business opportunities.."

it never fails.
 
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