We are looking for a warm, affordable place to spend spring break,April 1-10, 2005. We do have 2 days left on disney passes. We are a family of 6, (kids 18, 16, 14,& 11)leaving snow country. Any ideas?

We did something like this last year with six people and affordability can be a real issue. If you'll be flying, it's easy to be into this trip for well over a couple of grand by the time you have your flights and a suitably-proportioned rental vehicle lined up. The other thing that adds up costs is the length of time. Having a couple of days worth of Disney passes left is going to be helpful!

We ended up spending a relatively short time in the Orlando (Disney) area and then the rest of it in the Cocoa Beach & Melbourne areas.

With that size of a crew and that length of time to work with, you will want to take a hard look at whether you can do something with a condo for your beach time. In addition to giving you a nice home base, it can really help out on the food end to have your own kitchen.

You should start looking into all of this IMMEDIATELY.

What about a base near Tampa area - maybe you can rent a condo for a week and save some money on food that way. Feeding teenagers in a restaurant will not be affordable, no matter how you do it. Balance distance from beach with cost to save more money. Kids might like Busch Gardens. You could even do a LONG day trip to Disney from there, or do one night in Orlando area at beginning or end of trip.

I think Orlando area will likely end up being more expensive than some other city, even with the Disney passes, but obviously you will check this out. After 2 days at WDW there is less to do for more money in the Orlando area as well. In Tampa Beach area at least they can go to the beach.

We have saved some money in past by being creative about airports - if you don't mind driving a few hours from airport to accomodations you can sometimes save a great deal of money by checking out all air options - Southwest, Independence, etc. plus older airlines as well. I might avoid USAirways and Delta since there future is more uncertain than some of the others.

I agree with both posters that you should head to the beach and rent a condo. Specifically, I think I'd recommend that you spend two days in the Disney area using up your passes, then reserve a condo on the beach for the remaining week. With kids those ages, I'd suggest St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island, or any of the various beach towns between St. Pete and Clearwater (but not Clwr. which will be mobbed with the MTV crowd). For condo rentals, check out VRBO.com or vacationrentals.com.

There is lots to do in the Tampa/SP area. Busch Gardens is pricey but it's a great park. Another park that they would all enjoy is Adventure Island water park next to Busch Gardens. It is relatively inexpensive. Look into getting advance tickets on Busch's web site and I think you can reduce your ticket prices.

I think the beach house or condo idea is a great one. Thinking of the same thing myself.

The condo/beach house idea is a good one. However, one poster recommended Melbourne Beach, which might not be a goood spot for you.

Ordinarily, I'd agree with Mlbrne. Bch, but with four kids that age, maybe not. Mlb is pretty quiet, not suited to teens. Consider Cocoa or one of the recommendations on the west coast of FL.

I would agree with that assessment of Melbourne. It wasn't a problem for us because the kids involved were younger, but Cocoa Beach is far more active. The Gulf side suggestions are also good.

My family rents a house on Longboat Key for a week each year and it's a wonderful time for all of us. The Gulf is 25 yards from the back door of the house (which sleeps six) and we swim, fish, walk the beach. ride bikes, etc. It's $1200 for the house rental, but there are more inexpensive rentals on other beaches, probably on Anna Maria Island and the St. Pete area. We found this house a few years ago on vrbo.com and have had nothing but wonderful experiences with the owner and the house. Something to consider...