What is your best family vacation besides Disney?

A couple of places come to mind for us: San Diego (we stay on the beach/bay), and San Francisco.

We've also been to Vegas, camping in Sedona, Az, Wash Dc, Branson.

Now I think I'd actually say cruising as our first choice but since this is supposed to be a non-disney vacation and our cruises have all been DCL then I guess I can't use that.
 
We often to to Washington D.C. due to DH's family being in the area and we always enjoy our trips to the museums, etc.

However, I would have to say that besides Disney, my favorite vacation place is on a cruise- doesn't really matter where as long as there's something to do! We cruise Carnival b/c I just can't justify the DCL prices. If I want to see the characters or fireworks, I'll just go to Disney ;).
 
Hands down our favorite vacation destination is Hawaii.

Our other top vacations were to London, Paris and a cruise to Greece & Turkey.

We also enjoyed visiting NYC.
 


We are in agreement that the "best vacation ever" was an ABD trip to Germany.

The kids really liked Hawaii and Mexico, too. They've liked all their vacations. We've cruised, gone to California, camped, and done the lake cabin.
 
We live in Greenville, SC and it's an excellent location. We can be in the mountains in less than hour and we can be at the beach in under 3 hours. We're between Charlotte & Atlanta, so we can visit either of those cities for long weekends or quick day trips. We're also fairly close to Gatlinburg and Cherokee, NC. My cousin also owns a cabin in the Smoky Mountains that we can stay in for free. We really don't have one set location that we visit, and Disney is usually our only vacation where we leave home for a week or more. Our best family vacations have always taken place there.

DH and I recently decided that we need to visit more places, so (as much as I dislike it), we're going to start going to WDW every other year. On the off years we'll go somewhere we've never been before. I'd love to take DH to Vegas (and I'm hoping he wants to take me to Europe :laughing:), and DS is dying to see the Grand Canyon. So this decision could be a good thing!
 
Trips we enjoyed with the kids:
Colorado Springs
Wisconsin Dells
Family church camp at a lake every year

Hoping to do:
San Diego (went pre-kids)
Branson

And after reading some of these posts, maybe a few of those ideas too! So many places, so little time, and DH wants to do Disney every other year.
 
Our favorite vacation after WDW and Gulf of Mexico was an old-fashioned drive from the midwest to California. We saw the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, desert, Bandolier National Monument (Indian caves and petroglyphs), Mexico, San Diego, the ocean, Legoland, and the giant Sequioa trees in Central California. We then stopped by a fossil place where you could dig up your own trilobites.
 
The east coast - Nova Scotia and PEI. It is so incredibly beautiful and the people are so generous and kind. We go every summer even if we are heading south to Disney.
 
We just got back from a FANTASTIC trip up to a local lake. We camped, and between swimming, biking, hiking, campfires, fishing, boating, and all the awesome outdoor food...it was a BLAST. Any time we go camping we have such a great time -- and this time, we had practically no cell signal, so it was downtime from my phone/work umbilical cord, too. Bonus!
 
Growing up we loved going to Lake City, CO for the 4th of July. But my kids love history so their favorites are Gettysburg, Philadelphia and Washington DC (when it is not 110 degrees).
My ds21 loves history too so when we went to London & Paris last summer he asked if there was any way to squeeze in a day to visit Normandy/Omaha Beach. I kind of rearranged our plans to make it happen because I know it means a lot to him and he really doesn't ask for much. Well, oh my, I am so glad we went! I'm not even into history and it was just jaw dropping. One thing they are good at in Europe is preserving history and there are so so many saved artifacts from our soldiers at the Paratrooper museum in Sainte Mere Eglise. I was floored (and humbled) to see so much gratitude to the US and Allies. :lovestruc :grouphug:
I'm so glad he asked for this or it wouldn't have crossed my mind at all. For anyone into history, this is a must see addition to your bucket list. :thumbsup2:thumbsup2
 
We really enjoy cruises.... But we typically do Disney. But we had a wonderful time in Copenhagen - I was surprised at just how kid and family friendly it is there....

But a place that we love closer to home is Newport, Rhode Island. Absolutely beautiful and good mix of adult & kid friendly things to see and do.

We are looking to plan trips to France and Gatlinburg in the coming year.
 
My husbands: White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns, Belize, Grand Canyon, Badlands
Mine: White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns, Barbados, St. Louis
DD#1: Chicago, Grenada, Barbados, White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns
DD#2: White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Mt. Rushmore
DD#3: St. Louis, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Dominica
DD#4: White Sands, Henry Doorly Zoo(Omaha), Puerto Rico, Florida(where gram lives)
 
One of the trips we enjoyed most was to Colorado Springs during the summer one year. The Broadmoor was amazing and we did horseback riding, Pike's Peak, white water rafting, and lots more. It was a beautiful area. Other than that, we love beach trips to Florida (Destin, Pensacola).
 
We love to cruise and are looking forward to taking our girls on their first RCL cruise this summer to the Bahamas. Other than that, probably Gatlinburg. We love the mountains. Anxiously waiting for the day we can go to Colorado or somewhere for lots of real snow and skiing!
 

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