We are planning a July trip to the area. Lodging is taken care of (Canyon cabins in Yellowstone/Jackson Lake Lodge). We'll have not-very-active grandparents with us as well as 9 and 12 year olds. Here are my questions:
1. I see one can take a dip in the Boiling Pot in Yellowstone. Any first hand experiences on that?
2. One of our members is an avid hiker and several are interested hikers. Best suggestion in Yellowstone for a 6 - 8 hour hike? It does not have to be round trip.
3. The Snake River trips look interesting. Any suggestions on those?
4. Other tips from in-the-know Fodorites of fun/offbeat things to do?

We stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge and took the Snake River float trip that they offer. Truely enjoyed it. Not dangerous at all, no rapids, so you don't have to worry about the grandparents. They have a bus take you from the Lodge to the river bank where you have a steak dinner and they you board the boats, float the river, and when done the buses take you back to the lodge.

There are several companies that offer the Snake River float trip, including some in Jackson. It's a perfect activity for the sedentary grandparents! (The rest of you will enjoy it as well.)

Can anyone compare the white water vs. float trips? Has anyone done the combo package I see on some of the websites?
Also still curious re boiling pots, hikes and special treats....
(And for some reason, this post didn't come up when I searched for "Yellowstone" so I'm putting in the word Yellowstone again!

Assume you are talking about the Boiling River at the 45th Parallel. It is a small area of the river which people have put up a rock "wall" to mix the cold river water with the water coming from the hot spring. It is about a .5m flat walk from the parking lot for the 45th Parallel midway between the Gardner entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs.
A hike you might want to consider that many don't take is to Heart Lake and its thermal features or to Avalanche Peak. Very steep trail but a 360 degree view at top.

Hikes:
1) My wife, 9 yr old daughter, 7 year old son and I hiked to the top of Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone. It was a nice hike, about 3 miles up (IIRC). Going up took 2-3 hours and coming down only took an hour. I would recommend this hike. We took the northern most trail that was very safe for the kids. There is a southern trail up the mountain that didn't seem as safe for the kids.
2) There is an awesome hike in Canyon called Uncle Tom's Trail. You hike down a steep trail that includes 328 steps. It ends at an overlook at the Lower Falls. It is an awesome view of the waterfall and you can really feel the power of the river. We took the kids with us, but I was nervous going down (because of the kids). Coming back up was not nearly as scary. You can continue along the edge of the Canyon if you would like to extend the hike. I don't know how many miles it is total, but the parts we did were nice.
3) There is also a nice hike after you cross Jenny Lake by boat in the Tetons. You can hike for hours there.

We did the float trip on the Snake River with Solitude Float Trips out of Jackson. It was a very peaceful, 10-mile trip that your entire family can enjoy.

You can take the entire family on a cookout in the Tower-Roosevelt area of Yellowstone. Horse drawn wagons take visitors to a cookout site for a steak dinner. This was fun.

If you want to do the chuckwagon cookout, be sure and get your reservations NOW. I bet your whole group would enjoy that. You have the option of riding a wagon down to the dinner site or taking horses.