We are planning a family trip for spring break 2005 to the Cocoa Bech/Treasure Coast or Ft. Meyers area. With a 14 month old, activities will be somewhat limited. Our needs include: clean beachfront accomodations, somewhat empty beaches, stores nearby for convience and strolling, no college kids and not too far from disney all in a town that is not super tacky. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Empty beaches during Spring break? The only place I can think of would be Flagler Beach, about an hour north of Cocoa.

Ft. Myers is not very close to Disney at all, Cocoa is much closer. I don't know any accomodations in the Cocoa area to recommend as I haven't been there in awhile. You might check into St. Petersburg. I'd recommend the Bonaire which is on the beach, 2-stories, apartments with pool. They don't have a web site, you'll need to get the number from information. If your child has never been to the beach, be sure to get a place with a pool as many of them prefer the pool to the beach. Places will be scarce and expensive during spring break so book now.

www.bonaireresort.com

Ft. Myers is three to four hours from Disney depending on traffic; Cocoa Beach is about an hour and 15 minutes. The water will still be pretty cold in CB in the spring. You may want to consider something like Lido Beach off Sarasota, which is less than two hours from Disney and relatively quiet, even during spring break. Plenty of strolling around St. Armand's Circle and in downtown Sarasota, nice beaches, and plenty of weeklong condo rentals if you want a kitchen.

St. Petersburg Beach is 40 minutes from Tampa, which is 1 hr. 15 minutes from Lake Buena Vista (DW). This is when there is minimum traffic. Lido is very nice but it is also further than either St. Pete or Cocoa. If you check into Lido, take a look at the Radisson Resort there. It's very nice.

Just drove from Disney area to Lido last Saturday - it took exactly one hour and 45 minutes. It all depends on whether or not there is traffic.

To get what you're looking for, I'd suggest heading south of Cocoa to, maybe, Melbourne Beach. That's where you'll find the quiet, empty beaches, no partying college kids and access to the town of old Melbourne. You'll be about an hour and 15 minutes from Disney.