Summer/August activities on the east coast with toddlers?

mommyfied · January 2013

Hey..

We are casually planning a trip to the big USA! We want to primarily focus on the east coast, with the biggest emphasis on DC.

I have some ideas about renting a car to drive wherever we want to go, and Sesame Place, Sea World and Disney World are places we want to try out.

The goal of this journey is to spend time, doing something we love and create lovely memories together alone with J, before we start TTC #2.

Facts if you have ideas:
We love music (mind this not being techno and other noises), sport, animals, camping, pirates, Elmo, nature and learning..

If you have ideas please post No need to hurry

jillybean800 · January 2013

How long are you going to be in the USA? Because Sesame Place and Disney World are at least 22 hours drive apart! If you stay in the mid east coast, you could do New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and down to D.C.

Such activities there would be Jersey Shore (I would stick with Wildwood...the rest of the Jersey Shore is kind of, well, gone now that we had Hurricane Sandy). Maryland, you could do Baltimore Harbor, with the aquarium and other activities there. Pennsylvania is Sesame Place, and D.C. has all the historical sites for our area. I could see you doing a camping trip to all of these places.

OhSewCrafty · January 2013

jillybean800:
How long are you going to be in the USA? Because Sesame Place and Disney World are at least 22 hours drive apart! If you stay in the mid east coast, you could do New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and down to D.C.
Such activities there would be Jersey Shore (I would stick with Wildwood...the rest of the Jersey Shore is kind of, well, gone now that we had Hurricane Sandy). Maryland, you could do Baltimore Harbor, with the aquarium and other activities there. Pennsylvania is Sesame Place, and D.C. has all the historical sites for our area. I could see you doing a camping trip to all of these places.

And Hershey Park! ;-)

lrn327 · January 2013

Wow, fun! Okay, so definitely answer Jilly's question when you can, but like the PPs said, driving between Pennsylvania and Florida will take a very long time. Here are some thoughts too. Most of that drive will be on interstates/freeways and drivers in the US (while we get a lot of practice) do not have to take nearly the amount of training that drivers in Europe do. In other words, many of the drivers in the US are what you might call "bad drivers"! Also, you'll need a US carseat. You can rent one from rental companies but sometimes they are not in that great of a condition. Also, while there are a lot of neat cities in the Northeast and East Coast, the drive once you leave DC to Florida will be long and there's just not that much to do. (You can stop in the mountains in North Carolina, travel through Atlanta (where I am!), and check out the beaches in South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida but there just are not a lot of big cities to visit further south.) So, I guess if I had limited time and possibly limited money (Disney is expensive!), I'd stick to the cities that the PPs mentioned above.

jillybean800 · January 2013

Oh, and as a bonus you can drive through Delaware.

Hi. I'm in Delaware.

(someone please tell me they get that movie reference! Wink )

erind0213 · January 2013

Southeastern PA and into NJ have a lot to offer.

You could do DC, move up to Baltimore which is pretty nice, and has a nice Aquarium.

Philadelphia has a lot of historic aspects, and also has the Philadelphia Zoo, Please Touch Museum, (among many other museums), Easton PA has the Crayola Factory.

There are also several amusement parks, Hershey and Dorney Park, in the Mountains there are some resorts, that have water parks, Great Wolf Lodge, and Camel Beach.

New Jersey has several amusement parts, Great Adventure, Story Book Land, Clementon Park. Plus you always have the beaches, and board walks.

You can also go to New York City and explore too.

missmuffin87 · January 2013

Hmmm... Things do on the east coast in August.... Sweat, cry about how hot it is, complain about the humidity, repeat. Ha I kid.. No not really. If you want to enjoy your vacation go to a lot of water parks!

mommyfied · January 2013

We are thinking maybe like 7-14 days of vacation

And all of the parks mentioned are not "have-to-do"'s, but something that we talked about.

Great ideas. How does it work with renting a cottage or tent? We have friends/family close to South-Baltimore and Charlotte so those would be places we'd visit

jnicolen1 · January 2013

missmuffin87:
Hmmm... Things do on the east coast in August.... Sweat, cry about how hot it is, complain about the humidity, repeat. Ha I kid.. No not really. If you want to enjoy your vacation go to a lot of water parks!nbsp;

All of this. It is muggy and HOT in many of these spots in the summer.

lulu8109 · January 2013

Ditto PPs!

I live in VA, near DC, and the summer is really hot and humid. Yuck!

I think a trip to NYC/PA/MD/DC is your best bet. DC to NYC is about 5 hours, maybe 5 1/2 hours. DC to PA is maybe a couple of hours.

In Pennsylvania, I'd try Please Touch, Sesame Place, and do a tour of Philly (yummy cheesesteaks!). In MD, I'd hit up Inner Harbor for the Baltimore Aquarium and National Harbor for their childrens' museum. DC has the national zoo and many (free) museums.

Disney would be a crazy drive to do amongst all the other stuff. If you really want to go, perhaps try finding a cheap flight?

mommyfied · January 2013

Disney is not a priority as such (because they have Disney land Paris in Europe)

I went to DC for a week 3-4 years ago, and it was so much to see, I wish I had more time. The BIGGEST experience was The Capitol, Lincoln Memorial and one of the Smithsonian's with the big dinosaur exhibit.

I originally wanted to go in the spring (to see all of the spring flowers blooming) or in July - but the tickets are to expensive in July, and we don't have vacation during the spring..

A LOT of good ideas, that I defiantly will bring to my hubbs.

Careful Letranger - I might take you up on that offer

GrayGhost13 · January 2013

If you end up traveling to Florida, I'm happy to give suggestions, but I agree with pps that it might be best to do that as a separate trip, if you're focused on seeing DC and the northeast. It would be a very long drive between the two areas, and there's so much to see in each spot that you might not get to really see as much as you'd like if you're on the interstate too much.

GL with your planning!

mommyfied · January 2013

We will be "working out of" DC We really want to spend most of our time in DC, and the are around. NY is not really interesting..* I have been there - and did not like it! People were rude - one lady stormed into me, I turned around to apologize (though her fault) and she just kept on going. I got back to the hotel and found a bruze.* Also Hubbs doesnt like a big crowd - and NY was just "crowd times infinity"

We want to go to Sesame Place due to Jacobs facination of Elmo and Co, (same reason with Sea World - because we saw that Elmo wanders around there - but it seems to far away)

Are there any beaches/bathingplaces close to DC/Philly?

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Summer/August activities on the east coast with toddlers?

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