Please help us plan a non-Disney summer vacation

[mjkacmom]

I love the Northeast in summer!
I'm near Boston, and there is a lot of variety. - When DS was a kid, we used to do the science museum, the various art museums, the maparium, the history stuff (of course!) and the library is awesome if your DD wants some down time.

South a bit is Plymouth and Cape Cod, North you could do Salem and Hammond Castle.

If you include NY state, we loved:
Howe Caverns, Lake George, and the
Finger Lakes (especially Watkins Glen State Park).

Southern Maine has some great little beach towns, and I agree about the puffin cruise. There's an animal refuge where you can see moose too.

My daughter is in grad school at BU, she loves that library.

 

[jimmymc]

@jimmymc …. There is so much more to Alaska than Denali. Visit Wrangell-St. Elias instead. Or go to Homer. Fairbanks and the nearby hot springs. Travel the Denali Highway. Haines is beautiful.

I'm sure there is, but I also specifically want to visit Denali, so I'll see it all later.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I definitely wouldn't go to CR in the rainy season. We were there in the shoulder season - mid-late May. We had plenty of good weather, but we also did have a few days that were pretty much heavy rain the majority of the afternoon. Luckily it didn't interrupt too much that we had planned.

If you aren't wanting to fly, I would do the New England road trip or else Montreal & Quebec. If you are wanting to fly, I would pick Iceland or UK. From the east coast, neither of those are a terribly long flight. Or for a much shorter flight, I would choose Nova Scotia.

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

If you want to do the beach trip, I’d suggest Turks & Caicos.

Split stay with Beaches and Ambergris Cay.

 

[sk!mom]

We are on the east coast so Hawaii is too far for my husband to fly. Otherwise we’d be heading to Asia.

Have you considered breaking it up? When we went to Hawaii, we flew to LAX and spent a couple of days. Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood Blvd. DS loved The Price is Right as a kid so he and DH went to a taping. Then flew on to Oahu. On the return, we only spent one night. But you could break that up as well with a couple of days at Disneyland.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

I have written about this on the DISabilities board in the past, but the issue we have with flying is that my husband will occasionally have pretty severe panic attacks. It isn’t all the time, but last summer we had major problems on our summer vacation even though we took all of the precautions we usually take to minimize his triggers. We were supposed to go to Japan next year but he just can’t handle it for many reasons (including the flight). He was indifferent to Costa Rica so we figured we could do that trip and he could choose to join, or not, depending on how he was feeling. But the weather isn’t cooperating there, and now we are back to trying to figure out something that would work for everyone. Unfortunately there are a lot of competing/conflicting needs, and it’s hard to figure out how to balance them all. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. There are lots of great ideas here. I just need to find the one that speaks to us the most.

 

[AgentMama]

What are the main activities you're trying to accommodate?

 

[seven dwarfs]

I second Xcaret. I am at Hotel Xcaret Arte now. (Adult only 16 and up) hotel Mexico is the kid side. It's an amazing place and a wonderful time. They call it the Disney of Mexico. It isn't cheep but you can find deals online. The price includes everything so once you are here, no worries. It includes all the parks and so many activities. So much fun. There are things you can add for extras but so much to do not necessary. If your husband has any issues in the park he could easily go bk to the hotel. If you need any help or have any questions just let me know. It can be overwhelming at first to navigate. There is nothing else like it. I don't like to repeat trips, but here for the second time and would come back a third.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

What are the main activities you're trying to accommodate?

Husband - drive from the NYC metro area or minimize flying
Grandmother - mix of different/unique/special activities
Son (15) - active vacation, nature, history
Daughter (11) - Starbucks, shopping, talking to friends, just relaxing. Little to no driving.
Me - not paying a lot of money to herd cats and/or sit around staring at electronics.

Last summer we toured the American Southwest. Pink jeep tour and a hot air balloon (cancelled due to weather) in Sedona, sunrise photography tour and horseback trail ride with members of the Navajo nation (Monument Valley), swimming/jumping off cliffs in Lake Powell, Grand Canyon hike/mule ride (cancelled due to weather), Bryce Canyon hike and dark sky photography, Zion Narrows hike and a photography lesson, Las Vegas for shows and a bunch of random stuff that my son found, and Disneyland. I felt like there was something there for everyone.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

I second Xcaret. I am at Hotel Xcaret Arte now. (Adult only 16 and up) hotel Mexico is the kid side. It's an amazing place and a wonderful time. They call it the Disney of Mexico. It isn't cheep but you can find deals online. The price includes everything so once you are here, no worries. It includes all the parks and so many activities. So much fun. There are things you can add for extras but so much to do not necessary. If your husband has any issues in the park he could easily go bk to the hotel. If you need any help or have any questions just let me know. It can be overwhelming at first to navigate. There is nothing else like it. I don't like to repeat trips, but here for the second time and would come back a third.

I’d definitely consider it. We have done Grand at Moon Palace 3 times I think. Have never made it down to Xcaret though, but it always looks like a lot of fun.

 

[DeeBee3]

Washington DC? You can do history and also visit Mt. Vernon, other parks. Still have a city vibe, etc.

 

[CynBeth]

Washington DC? You can do history and also visit Mt. Vernon, other parks. Still have a city vibe, etc.

I agree there is a lot to do in DC we love a lot of museums and monuments and if you like baseball there is the Nats. I agree about Mt. Vernon and there is an offshoot of the Air & Space Museum by Dulles Airport that has one of the actual space shuttles, all sorts of models of planes and other vehicles, a tower you can see planes take off or land and hear the communication, and an IMAX. About an hour away is Baltimore which has a fantastic aquarium, Ft. McHenry where our National Anthem was written, all sorts of ships you can go on, paddle boats, museums, and for baseball seeing the Orioles. Also, maybe a half hour to 45 minutes away is Annapolis where you can visit the Naval Academy, Maryland State House, and take a sightseeing boat trip among other things. Then there is the beach town of Ocean City about 3 hours away.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

My son went to DC with his scout troop in November. He loved it. We have been thinking about a stop there as part of a “southern” drive. DC, Colonial Williamsburg, somewhere beachy. If we can stand the heat we’d keep going down to Savannah or Charleston and do beach down there. Or we head towards the mountains.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Thank you to the DIS community for all of your advice. I just booked 8 nights at Hotel Xcaret on your suggestion. We are really excited about it.

 

[Travel60]

Our favorite domestic trips:
1. Driving tour of Washington State and Oregon including Oregon Coast, Columbia Gorge, Bend Oregon, Crater Lake and down to northern California.
2. Driving tour Washington DC to Lake. George, NY to Vermont, New Hampshire and Bar Harbor, Maine and came back through Hudson Valley - Hyde Park, Culinary Institute of America.
3. Driving tour of Arizona - Sedona to Grand Canyon.
4. Driving tour from San Diego up California coast - lots of stops.
5 Driving tour in Colorado - one week south of Denver (Air Force Academy, Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods) and one week north of Denver (Rocky MTN National Park, Boulder, Estes Park, southern Wyoming).

On our bucket list:
1. National Park tours in Wyoming, Dakotas, to Montana, Colorado.
2. Canadian rail in Western Canada - Lake Louise, Banff, etc.
3. Cross country rail vacations - Amtrak is advertising Northern and Southern route trips of a couple of weeks that include some nights on train and some nights in hotels with guides and excursions at stops. Have not fully looked at yet but seems interesting.