Travel with our not-quite 2 year old
 

Hi all

Looking for some travel ideas for travel in the period of February/March with our not quite 2 year old daughter. We live on the East Coast of Canada, so we are thinking something fairly close, preferably the Eastern part of North America. I would consider Disney though my daughter to be quite honest is not "disneyfied" yet and is still into Sesame Street characters!

I would like a family-friendly hotel with a nice pool, nearby a quiet beach with the possibility of theme parks... obviously Florida is the first guess but I would be open to other ideas.

Any ideas out there? Things to do? Where to go? We are thinking about 10 days.

Appreciate any help.
KD

In Feb.-March you'll still have to go a little bit south in Florida to get beachy days. Unfortunately, you'll also be hitting spring break, esp. as you get into March.

The Gulf Coast beaches are nicer with warmer and less active (e.g., waves) water than the Atlantic Coast of Fla. Look St. Pete/Sarasota and southward (Ft. Myers, etc.).

Tampa has Busch Gardens, which is still probably too "old" for your daughter. Sarasota has the Ringling Circus museum, which is fun but probably still too old for her, and also Mote Marine, which is an aquatic "museum" that might interest you both.

If you do end up in the Orlando area, she might respond to the Sea World stuff, but she might also be frightened by big fish, or too wiggly to sit still to see a show in the first place.

Recommend you find a place YOU enjoy that allows her to have recreation -- beach, pool. She's too young for you to make the destination about her.

PS; Check out the "Sanibel-Captiva" thread here (ignore the squabble about tripadvisor) for info about that area and that time of year.

We have three kids. When we did Disney in California, my youngest was age 4. He wasn't nearly so interested in Disneyland as he was in Legoland. San Diego would be a long flight, though, and would be more worth considering in a year or two.

For now, I would echo Cassandra. Go somewhere you two would enjoy that is a slower pace. Maybe you could find somewhere with a good aquarium or zoo. You will have plenty of years of theme parks.

Sigh, maybe you're right, travel for her sake is probably not a good idea. But there has to be a compromise since a good vacation to me is backpacking through Asia!

Nonetheless I've been to Sanibel Island before and I liked it a lot so I will look into that.

We also considered going to NYC on the way back from said vacation but that presents a whole host of other questions...

Thanks again
KD

I was going to suggest Sanibel/Captiva. No theme parks, but shells and sand and pools and dolphins and cool birds and manatees.