To cut a long story short, I had unbelievable luck the other day and won free flights to Florida for use in the summer. Now I’ve been to Florida before and I enjoyed it, big road trip from the top to bottom and spent a week in Miami, things change in life however and now I’m armed/saddled/blessed with a little girl who will be almost 2. Probably not old enough to appreciate everything Orlando has to offer but I imagine that she might enjoy the Magic Kingdom. She would certainly be interested in Bush Gardens etc over at Tampa. Anyway, Florida wasn’t high on my list, been there, done it and will no doubt have to go back in a few years when she is older, but given its free flights then of course I am going to use them. I am half tempted to just land in Orlando and then get a connection to a part of the states I’ve not been but the other half is not onboard with that. So my question to wordforgers is really where to go, where is going to be nice, chilled, relaxing but enough to entertain a two year old? Given her age, there will be no requirement to stay in Orlando unless I really want to. I’ve heard that the West coast of Florida has quite a bit to offer, Tampa, Sarasotta, Naples etc? So what say you WF? Somewhere nice, beaches would be good, good selection of restaurants and attractions and doesn’t have to be beside all the fat cunts who will be in Orlando? Of course if you think Orlando is going to be awesome even with a two year old, then pipe up. I’ve only spent one day in Orlando previously. Did Universal/Islands of Adventure. Obviously I’m going to do much more research than WF, but it’s a good sounding board. I’m sure there are plenty American Wordforgers who have holidayed in Florida and may not necessarily lap up the Orlando theme parks. Oh and free flights to Florida! Fuckin yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaasssssssss!!!!!!!!
I've been to Busch gardens - yes, it's great for young kids! And of course Disney World. Yes I agree with your better half - you don't want to waste your limited time dealing with the logistics of traveling - the more links in the chain, the more things can go wrong - and with an impatient child things can get ugly fast. Do some internet research and you will find plenty of kid-friendly places to visit.
I really like Cypress Gardens (about an hour southwest of Orlando) - beautiful botanical gardens. Silver Springs State Park has lots of wildlife and glass-bottom boat tours - see lots of fish and manatees and stuff from an interesting perspective. Lots of other places also have boat tours that a little kid would love. Some places also have kayaks for rent; that might be another fun activity with a small child. Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center is closer to beaches and has awesome tours. My family went on a bus tour of the place when I was about 8 and it might have influenced my path towards aerospace and becoming a pilot.
Yep, its more the area to base myself in at the moment im looking for thoughts on rather than activities. I never got to the keys last time......
You can stay in the St. Pete/Clearwater area and hit the beaches. Clearwater beach is pretty nice, and there's several good places to eat at there. Getting to Busch Gardens from Clearwater isn't a bad drive. It's about a 45 minute drive. If you head to Tarpon Springs, there's the monkey zoo which kids can have fun seeing. Stay away from the shit chuckers though. You can also hit Weeki Wachee from Clearwater Beach, that's just over an hour away. A couple years ago the family got together and we were there with my nieces who were 2 and 4 at the time, they both had a lot of fun there. But then again they clung to me the whole time, and I was pretty agreeable to whatever they wanted to do. So that may have had something to do with it. If since you;re going in the summer, you can also to Adventure Island which is pretty much around the corner from Busch Gardens. And it would totally awesome if you wound up on a Florida Man story.
He's from the UK, those guys never end up in Florida Man stories. They specialize on dead tourist stories. @Stallion, whatever you do, don't drive a rental car on a country road after dark. The survival rate for Brits is not good.
Well iv been to the states 4times now. So far i've got a pretty decent record. I've managed to avoid: - crashing rental cars - being eaten by aligators or fat people - being murdered by a gun totting crazee - being murdered by a gang banger - visiting arkansas and meeting dayton - buying a timeshare - shooting up any high schools
Trip is wasted unless you do KSC. Been out there twice and it never fails to disappoint. I can take or leave Disney these days. Only really good if you have kids, and then kids that are old enough to enjoy it to it's fullest.
And if you feel up to it, you can take an hour and half drive down to Venice. If you hit the beach for the day, you can find literally hundreds of shark teeth to take home. At two years old, your daughter might like that too. You can also take a day or two to go out to Orlando/KSC from Clearwater. That's also about 1.5 to 2 hour drive out as well. Or you can stay in Orlando and hit the Clearwater/St. Pete/Venice area as well.
