First Time Family Vacations

kinnonam

want to know where some of you have gone with the kiddos for family vacations and where do you suggest. Don't plan on going any where any time soon but I want to start looking. I found a Disney cruise to the Bahamas and a Dr. Suess themed cruise also. Sounds pretty fun! 

jordans_wife

This is wayyy lower key then you're talking but one of my favorite places to go growing up was the Oregon Coast. The ocean is so cool to kids especially if you don't live anywhere near it. I hope to go with our 3 kids this summer. 

kinnonam

@jordans_wife im pretty much up for anything family friendly but Hubby has never been out of the country so I figured everyone wins lol 

VitaLuna

A Disney cruise would be money better spent after the age of 2-ish, so the LO could enjoy it more. We took DD to Disneyland when she was just under 2.5 and she loved it. Like PP, we like going to the beach for the night, taking a couple days away in the big city we used to live in (5hrs away now), etc. 

Our next big trip will be when this LO is closer to 2, and we'll take them to Disneyworld. We want to save up so we can stay somewhere fun on property and for a longer time, since we live on the west coast. (ILs live near Orlando).

ladyofsummer

Most of our family vacations are going to be visiting my side of the family since I moved to Montana from North Carolina. My mom lives five minutes from the beach and forty five minutes between two different cities with alot of touristy things to do. So there's a big bonus. (; Plus all that southern food I'm missing so badly...

Also we'll probably visit family further inland too, around Charlotte - probably hit up some museums and other stuff around the area.

DH and I both want to go to Florida at some point. His cousin works at Disney (animal specialist), my grandparents met there, my grandfather's ashes are scattered there, and we're both Harry Potter nerds.

charliegoldengirl

We are also saving for Disneyworld - probably in the next five years or so.  

egraves4

We're going to Disney when LO is 8 months. We go every year though, we have a time share. 

BabyHope2013

We stuck to more local vacations at first--local water parks and such for know my weekends. At 15 months we took DS1 to fort launderdale. It was nice but such a pain traveling with all the baby luggage---stoller, car seat etc. At a little over 2.5 we went to Disney world. By then DS was potty trained, no longer was in a stroller and it was so much easier to travel. And he had an absolute blast---still amazes me how much of the trip he remembers. We will probably do the same kind of thing with DS2---stay mainly local with short trips till he gets older. 

camusoh2011

We are off to Colorado this summer with all of my family.

jellybellybean3

We are Canadian but my parents have a vacation home in Phoenix so I'm headed there over Easter break with my two preschoolers and this babe. Pretty sure I'm crazy, but at least there will be extra hands to help out. 
Cruise's are fun! There are options that aren't Disney that are fun for kids too. I did take one of my kids to Disneyworld when she was under 2.. She didn't really get it at that point so I'm not sure if it was worth it but it was fun for us. There are also lots of resorts in Mexico, Dominican, etc that have huge kid friendly activities/water parks. Most of these suggestions are a lot more fun when your child is mobile and a bit more independent thought. 

Edited to add: while I mentioned a lot of big vacations some of my favorites as a family (especially with an infant) have been in my own country and within a reasonable driving distance. Honestly it's almost harder to go big when they are so little and it can be stressful. We just love doing something new and watching our kids experience it for the first time. Like going to zoo's we haven't been too, or spending days at the beach, etc in a new city/location for a week. 

Disneygeek77

We live in the Midwest and try to do regional trips every year.  One year we took the kids to Branson.  Another year we went to Kansas  City.  This year we are thinking of going to Branson again, the smokey mountains or Chicago.

We also try to go to disneyworld every 5 years.  Going again in Oct 2017.

FriendlySoutherner

We have DH's older kids more during the summer so by then LO will be 5 months. Were not big travellers anymore except for visiting family out of state. We are into outdoorsy & educational type things so we will maybe keep it simple and visit a zoo, the space & rocket center nearby, a few parks, museums & maybe the aquarium. DH and I will probably squeeze in a few antique shops & flea markets for us as well

shupertj09

We love Gatlinburg/pigeon forge TN! Hiking to see waterfalls, driving to see black bears, go carts, aquarium, sky lift, over Gatlinburg has skiing, shopping and tons of other stuff. We love staying in a cabin...we are going to take a short trip before my maternity leave is over. 

Disneygeek77

We are thinking of going to Gatlinburg in the summer ?  Have you been there in July ?  Are there inexpensive things to do there ?