Great vacations?
 

Does anyone have any suggestions for a great vacation? We have 3 kids - boy age 16(probably last time he'll go), boy age 12, and girl age 6. We did Orlando a couple years ago. We live in Illinois and would like to keep the driving to 12-14 hours if possible. Our kids really love swimming in a nice pool after a long day out. Vistana Villages in Orlando was great. It was a time share, but we opted not to go on the tour. Got rooms for $109.00! Any help?

When are you going? What does your family enjoy doing? Swimming? Amusement parks? Snow Skiing? What is your overall budget?

We will be going the end of June (around the 28th until July 3). Our kids like doing all kinds of activities. We've done a lot of amusement parks in the past. They enjoy swimming, aquariums, sight-seeing. My boys are big into anything sports related - but my oldest also likes Civil War history. It's hard when you have 3 at different ages to make happy. As for budget, we want a nice hotel and are willing to pay for any activity that is worth the money. But we also like the "cheap" days like hiking, etc.

Colorado Springs is approx. 14 hours. Grand Tetons/Yellowstone is 20 hours but well worth it. <BR><BR>Smokey Mt. N.P./Gatlinburg has a lot of different things to do. There are hundreds of very nice cabins all in the mountains to rent.<BR><BR>A neighbor took his 14 year old son to an Ohio amusement park (King's Island?) that has several roller coasters. They had a blast.<BR><BR>There are some nice beach areas on the Florida panhandle.

We've been to Gatlinburg with our kids and had a lot of fun. It is really touristy (more so than when I was a kid!) but we went into the mountains and hiked for a day, which was nice. I've been to Kings Island also when I was a kid, but haven't brought our kids. It's funny, but we are thinking about the places you mentioned - Colorado Springs, and possibly Florida's panhandle. I read where &quot;Dr. Beach&quot; rated St. Joe Beach No. 1 last year. Thanks for the suggestions.