What is your best family vacation besides Disney?

We have loved trips to Hilton Head - by far our favorite beach trip, Smokey Mountains and amazingly enough my kids really loved NOLA.

Would love to go out West next year, so the info about Arizona is right up my alley!

Interestingly enough, I'm looking into the Smokey mountains and/or Hilton Head for next year! It would be during April though (over spring break) so I worry about weather for HH and the beach.
 
Where has your best family vacation been besides Disney?

We go to the Smoky Mtn. National Park much more often than Disney. We are campers and love the outdoors - hiking, biking, relaxing at the campground by the streams, etc.

Also, to NOLA once a year - near home area, though live many miles away now. Have to get our 'fix' of great food at least that often!

Also love Acadia National Park at Bar Harbor, ME
 
Interestingly enough, I'm looking into the Smokey mountains and/or Hilton Head for next year! It would be during April though (over spring break) so I worry about weather for HH and the beach.

I think April in the Smoky Mountains would be gorgeous. With all the trees blooming and such. Plus the cooler weather would make the hiking that much more pleasurable than summer heat. That vacation is one you can take so many different directions; can be very touristy or more about the scenery and nature.

As far as Arizona goes, we do have 2 boys that are getting older and starting to appreciate natural beauty more. They've been dying to get out west so I'm thinking it makes sense.
 
I think April in the Smoky Mountains would be gorgeous. With all the trees blooming and such. Plus the cooler weather would make the hiking that much more pleasurable than summer heat. That vacation is one you can take so many different directions; can be very touristy or more about the scenery and nature.

As far as Arizona goes, we do have 2 boys that are getting older and starting to appreciate natural beauty more. They've been dying to get out west so I'm thinking it makes sense.


I love Arizona! I would say go for it. One year we did a few days in Sedona, 2 days at the Grand Canyon and then we drove to Las Vegas. That was a fun combo of natural beauty and then lots of activities and shows.

I think our Smokey Mountain trip would be combo nature and touristy. We want to do Dollywood and shows, but we like to be on nature trails too (easy, well populated trails bc now we travel with kids (7 and 9 years old) and my parents - they are 70 and in pretty good health, but still not super adventurous). I love going to Florida in April, but the airfare for school vacation week is outrageous so we are looking at alternatives. Smokey Mountains is the top contender for 2019. I love planning vacations! Lol.

So glad this thread was started. There are so many amazing ideas on it!!
 
I love Arizona! I would say go for it. One year we did a few days in Sedona, 2 days at the Grand Canyon and then we drove to Las Vegas. That was a fun combo of natural beauty and then lots of activities and shows.

I think our Smokey Mountain trip would be combo nature and touristy. We want to do Dollywood and shows, but we like to be on nature trails too (easy, well populated trails bc now we travel with kids (7 and 9 years old) and my parents - they are 70 and in pretty good health, but still not super adventurous). I love going to Florida in April, but the airfare for school vacation week is outrageous so we are looking at alternatives. Smokey Mountains is the top contender for 2019. I love planning vacations! Lol.

So glad this thread was started. There are so many amazing ideas on it!!

That is exactly what we did--hiking or rafting by day and go-carts and arcades by night! We also did the aquarium, dinner shows, and an escape room game. Great vacation!
We also had a great trip to DC, including Mt. Vernon; a New York road trip that included Niagara, Ithaca, and NYC; and this past summer we went to South Florida and the Keys. They were all a lot of fun!
 
Here recently it was Gulf Shores Alabama. But you have to understand we hadn't been on a vacation for along time. Our twins were too much for us to handle. LOL
 


Beaches turks and caicos. Seriously. And my LO loved daily camp activities w sesame street characters (baking cookies w cookie monster) ans we loved sleeping on a perfect beach while he was having a blast at camp. And it's all inclusive. 5 nights there cost the same as 5 nights on free dining week at AOA suite with tickets, plus all of the character experiences are included in the up front price. It's amazing.
 
What's the best plan for getting a deal on Beaches Turks & Caicos? It looks awesome, but when I put some dates in the prices were WAY above my normal Disney budget (like 2x). Is there off-season, or is there a trick to getting a good deal?
 
Gatlinburg! There is so much to do. My kids love being outside so it's perfect and the weather is always nice
 
We love to cruise and are looking forward to taking our girls on their first RCL cruise this summer to the Bahamas. Other than that, probably Gatlinburg. We love the mountains. Anxiously waiting for the day we can go to Colorado or somewhere for lots of real snow and skiing!

My youngest just turned six and we took our first family ski trip last year. We loved it so much we bought season passes! Mammoth Mountain is a 6ish hour drive for us so that's where we've gone, but with the new Ikon passes we may try to venture out to Colorado next year! I've been to Copper many years ago.

I think ski vacations are great. Available child care, family friendly, active, casual yet upscale. Not super cheap of course, but comparable to Disney. Plus it's easy to do extended family trips by booking a condo.
 
We also like to go on cruises and we go to Hawaii every year. Besides that we go on mini-vacations to Lake Tahoe, Monterey and Mendocino (we live in Northern CA)
 
Bar Lazy J dude ranch in Colorado. Great Food, diverse riding, kids program, zip lining, hiking, petting zoo, incredible staff.

So good to hear! As we live here, will have to look into it.

For us so far, it's the Big Island in Hawaii. We've stayed both in Hilo for a couple nights and Waikoloa. Amazing trip!
 
Took DD to the UK/ France and Spain. She loved visiting and climbing through all the castles.
Also visiting her BFF who moved to Eastern Ontario the past 2 summers. DD would probable rate that even better than Disney.
 
My kids love history- Philadelphia and Boston are favorites for a short getaway. We always do a week in Ocean City, NJ definitely our favorite week of the year.
 
My favorite trips since my son was born have been Costa Rica and Disney Cruise Lines to Alaska. Both of those trips exceeded WDW. We have never had a bad family vacation though.
 
Our two week trip to Hawaii was amazing! We were lucky because my stepdad is military and was stationed there, and they flew us out there and because they had a house we basically went for free. We did pay to stay at Waikiki Beach for a couple of days for our anniversary but other than that we stayed at their house. We went to an amazing luau at Paradise Cove, went to many beaches, the Dole Pineapple Plantation and more. I would love to go back and visit another island there though!
 
Besides a "staycation"...which can be completely awesome by the way...we haven't done a traveling family vacation to anywhere other than WDW since 2005 or 2006, and we only had one child at that time. But those trips pre-2006 were to Atlantis, which is on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. That's where we plan to go next trip, after WDW. It's phenomenal!!!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top