Tag: Florida

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Florida USA

Hidden treasures for kids in Florida

Snorkel in the clear water at Wakulla Springs, Florida (courtesy Quantum Physics at Flickr CC)Many people see the state of Florida as one big tourism mashup; Disney, beaches, sun, maybe some gators thrown in. I have a new Education.com article up that attempts to reveal some of the lesser-known Sunshine State places/events that families might enjoy.

(If it seems like I’ve done a lot of these state roundups lately – Georgia, Michigan and Texas is still coming – it’s because I have, which is why my posting rate here on the Family Travel blog has slipped a bit. 🙂 )

Here are 4 highlights out of 20 in the article:

  • Wakulla Springs State Park – Perfect for a stop-off between Tallahassee and Jacksonville, the park is home to a massive freshwater spring, one of the delights of northern Florida and a great excuse to go swimming. Take one of the glass-bottom boat tours to get crystal-clear views of spring wildlife below the boat. The comfy Lodge in the middle of the Park was built in 1937, and still welcomes guests for meals or an overnight stay.
  • Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City – One of the oldest areas in Tampa, Ybor City was the center of the Florida cigar-making industry in the early 1900s, and it still has a very strong Spanish and Cuban flavor. Opened in 1905, the flagship Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City is a local landmark serving a wide variety of traditional Latin cuisine. They also have live flamenco shows twice nightly except Sunday. There is a children’s menu.
  • Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki – This excellent museum of Seminole culture is about one hour west of Fort Lauderdale, and includes audiovisual exhibits, a living village, rare artifacts and a one-mile boardwalk around the property.
  • Miami Festivals – Festival action never stops in multicultural Miami. In March, the traditional Cuban heart of the city is filled for the Calle Ocho Festival (where you may get to join the world’s largest conga line.) The Miami Children’s Museum sponsors a popular Children’s Film Festival in May, and in June the nation’s largest black heritage festival, the Miami/Bahamas Goombay Festival, kicks off in nearby Coconut Grove. In November the Miami Book Fair International celebrates literary delights and has a Children’s Alley, and the Junior Orange Bowl festival is stuffed with arts and sports events in late fall and into January.

For the rest of the goodies, please visit Fun and Learning in Florida! on Education.com.

Related posts:

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Florida USA

Educational tours at Walt Disney World

Are you in China? No, you're in Epcot's World Showcase (courtesy goodgrief at flickr's Creative Commons)Yes, you can do more at Florida’s WDW than scream your head off on the rides….not that there’s anything wrong with that….

My new article on education.com, Learning at Disney World? outlines some behind-the-scenes tours that your family might enjoy at Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios,) Epcot, etc.

All tours are an additional cost above park admission.

As you’ll see from my discussion in the article’s comments, the vast majority of the tours have a pretty high minimum age. A teenager or maybe a tween can have a heck of a time, but younger children don’t have many options.

For best general educational value, I recommend Epcot’s World Showcase and Animal Kingdom, where there are plenty of (free) educational demonstrations and activities going on all day. My kids loved the Dragon Legend Acrobats in Epcot’s “China,” and you might consider Flights of Wonder to learn about birds at Animal Kingdom.

Always check each park’s Daily Activities handouts when you arrive, for a complete list of presentations, performers and musical highlights.

Related posts: Survivor’s Guide to Walt Disney World (first in a Family Travel series)

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Walt Disney World, Florida, educational travel, Disney, WDW, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Orlando, travel with kids

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Florida Photos USA

Photo of the Week: Indian River fruit at Crystal River, Florida

                Bags of oranges and grapefruit, Crystal River fruit stand, Florida (Scarborough photo)

Normally the Photo of the Week would be up on Wednesday, but we’re slipping a little this week as we battle a (nice-to-have) tidal wave of work.

I took this photo in Crystal River, Florida, about 75 miles north of Tampa/St. Petersburg near the western coast of the state.  I’ve talked about Florida’s manatees, pre-Columbian mounds and sugar plantations this week (and it’s the height of Florida citrus season) so here’s a juicy shot from a roadside fruit and produce stand.

“Indian River fruit” is just a moniker attached to fruits, usually citrus, harvested within a certain distance from the Indian River in central Florida.

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Florida USA

Guaranteed Florida manatee sightings

Manatee, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, Florida (Scarborough photo)If you are anywhere near Florida or are planning to visit soon, you’re in luck.

November to March is the best time to see (in the wild) the large, gray aquatic mammal known as the manatee.

The “Save the Manatee” organization suggests several Florida spots for best viewing, but what if you plan to visit the state between April and October, maybe on summer vacation?

Try Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, located in the aptly-named Citrus County on Florida’s western coast, about 75 miles north of Tampa/St. Petersburg.

Weather permitting, a short boat tour along Pepper Creek takes you from the Visitor’s Center to the park entrance. A Ranger-led manatee education program three times a day introduces visitors to the rehabilitated manatees that live year-round in the park’s springs.

Bird trail flamingos at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, Florida (Scarborough photo)

A big winner with families is the Fish Bowl, a submerged viewing bubble.

Visitors can look out through large windows into the spring and watch the manatees and other wildlife swimming around.

Homosassa also has extensive birding trails (lots of lovely pink flamingos and owls) plus black bears, bobcats, white-tailed deer, Key deer, American alligators, American crocodiles and river otters.

A walking trail through the animal enclosures is stroller-friendly.

  • Wildlife Encounters: 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
  • Manatee Programs: 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
  • Alligator/Hippopotamus Program at 12:30 p.m.

Fruit stand bounty near Crystal River, Florida (Scarborough photo)

There are many special events in 2008, including birding walks, a birthday party for the popular local hippo, an Easter Egg Hunt and a spring gardening workshop.

An extensive Educator’s Guide to the Manatee helps with the details, if you and the kids want to brush up before you go.

Nearby is the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge (accessible by boat) where you can see manatees in the wild.

If you’d like a guided tour there, check with Adventure Outpost based in pretty High Springs, FL, near Gainesville. They often run family-friendly manatee tours to the Crystal River area.

Technorati tags: family travel, travel, manatee, Florida, travel with kids, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

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Florida USA

Non-Disney fun in Florida

A Florida fruit stand at Crystal River, near Homosassa Springs State Park (Scarborough photo)I’ve recently had the pleasure of writing a series of educational travel articles for the Education.com Web site.

The latest one gives families some things to do in Florida that do not involve Mickey Mouse or any other Orlando theme park:

Non-Disney Fun in Florida.

Ideas and links include saying hello to a manatee at Homosassa Springs State Park, and seeing the “Real Florida” of freshwater springs, sinkholes and the Cracker farmhouse belonging to the author of “The Yearling.”

Previous Education.com articles include All the Little Houses: Following in the Footsteps of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Check it out….

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Florida

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Disney World Orlando Florida USA

Survivor’s guide to Walt Disney World: Wrap-up

Here are a few other tips that didn’t fit into the rest of the Family Travel Walt Disney World series:

There is a Disney lodging option if you have ties to the military — the Shades of Green resort. This is a full-service hotel on Disney property that largely caters to active duty military members and their families, but check the eligibility guidelines to see if you might qualify to stay there.

Be smart and avoid disappointment. Check Disney’s Operational Update page before you visit, to see ahead of time which attractions are closed for refurbishment, so little hearts aren’t set on some Winnie the Pooh thing that isn’t available. For lots of detail, check the Disney fan sites and blogs like Mouse Fan Cafe, Mousesavers, the Disney Blog, the Mousekingdom Blog and overview articles like this one in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.

There are combinations of visits to the parks with a short Disney cruise. You can even make Disney your travel agent to plan kid-friendly international trips.

Florida not in your plans but you’d like to try Disneyland in California? Check out the spring Kids Fly Free promotion to see if the timing works for you.

Orlando always has a lot going on that is not associated with Disney, so always check the comprehensive Orlando Convention & Visitors Bureau Web site for the latest offers and details.

For example, there is the Discovery Cove resort with dolphin and manta ray encounters. The Nature Conservancy has just partnered with them for a “Rescue the Reef” program to help to raise awareness and funds for protecting coral reefs. Through a special offer, Discovery Cove will donate $25 directly to Rescue the Reef. Book a Discovery Cove dolphin swim and you’ll also enjoy 15% off your admission price. Go to DiscoveryCove.com and use promo code TNC when booking.

Does this series make you thoroughly sick of Disney/theme parks and eager to know if Florida has attractions that aren’t man-made? Check out some of the attractions in “Nature’s Theme Parks,” like manatees at Homosassa Springs, and other fun options at About.com’s Florida for Visitors.

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Disney World Orlando Florida USA

Survivor’s guide to Walt Disney World Part 2: Epcot

Epcot entrance with Spaceship Earth dome (Scarborough photo)The Epcot (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) theme park, which was originally conceived as a futuristic community with people actually living in the park, has something of an identity crisis.

There are two sections to the park. Future World has excitement and G-forces, including a ride that occasionally kills people, but it’s combined with the fairly staid international destinations in the World Showcase.

Disney positions Epcot as a more appealing venue for adults — a permanent “World’s Fair” with special highbrow-ish events like the annual spring Flower and Garden Festival, plus the fall Wine and Food Festival (which gets an OK review here on Mousesavers; they generally like it but feel that the paid seminar-type sessions are overpriced.)

That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of things for kids; mine had a great time. Then again, they’re both travel nuts and were really into the World Showcase pavilions of the different countries (comparing “Norway” to our actual visit to Norway was a treat.)

World Showcase venues often stay open later than the rest of the park since there are tons of different restaurants plus the nightly Illuminations fireworks/laser light show over the park’s lagoon.

Kids also like fun/educational rides like going deep into the sea on The Seas with Nemo & Friends, although you have to put up with Crush, the surfer dude Aussie turtle who is a takeoff on Sean Penn’s perpetually stoned “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” character Jeff Spicoli.

Like, totally, Mr. Hand.

** This park summarized: Disney for grownups and travel enthusiasts (but you’ll really need a map.) Be ready to do some walking, but the wide-open pathways make it stroller-friendly even in crowds. Once older kids have knocked out the thrill rides they may bug you to leave the park, but try to hit a little of World Showcase for their edification. Bribe them with the varied international gift shops if you have to.

** Key tidbit: This park may work best towards the end of the day, if you want to kick back a little. Ferry boats (FriendShip water taxis) across the big 40-acre lagoon can save aching feet from walking all the way around the semi-circle of pavilions. There are boat stops in Mexico, Canada, Morocco and Germany.

The Maelstrom water ride in Norway and El Rio Del Tiempo water ride in Mexico are mildly hokey but fun breaks that younger kids can usually handle.

** What to do as soon as you arrive: Get your FASTPASS times for Mission: Space, (blasting off in a rocket) Soarin’ (sort of hang-gliding above the sights in California) and Test Track (a racing ride.)

The thrill rides are the only ones with significant lines in this park. Read the restrictions carefully if you have medical problems, especially Mission: Space. They aren’t kidding about the G-forces.

Also grab a daily calendar for the park as you enter; there are lots and lots of small performances all day in World Showcase. We loved the Chinese acrobats and mariachi band.

If the front of the park is already packed, head to the back to start, just like I recommended for the Animal Kingdom.

Continue reading “Survivor’s guide to Walt Disney World Part 2: Epcot”
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Disney World Orlando Florida USA

Survivor’s guide to Walt Disney World Part 1: Animal Kingdom

Contented tiger on the Maharajah Trek, an Asian-themed zoo habitat, Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World (Scarborough photo)In my Intro to this family travel series on Walt Disney World (WDW) I talked about the importance of good planning in order to really enjoy the sprawling attractions of Disney’s giant theme parks in Orlando, Florida.

Think of a trip there as a major fun-but-pressured event, like a wedding. You wouldn’t just “wing it” for a wedding, would you?

It can be overwhelming to try to meet your entire family’s expectations, plus you’ll hear the marketing hype drumbeat of whatever Disney advertising campaign is in full swing. The 2007 theme is “Year of a Million Dreams.” There are some new rides and productions, giveaway contests plus the chance to sleep in the Royal Suite of Cinderella’s Castle, overlooking the park.

Don’t worry, though; there are specials and extras all the time, every year at the parks. Anyone can enjoy them with a little digging.

To get the scoop, a good starting point is ordering Disney’s free vacation planning DVD. Of course there’s a lot of woo-woo and slick, sparkly Tinkerbell stuff, but it does provide a good overview and comes pretty quickly in the mail. Watch it to take a quick virtual tour of the parks and get a sense of layout, rides, etc. (there are also helpful maps on each park’s Web site homepage.) Have your children decide which attractions interest them the most, so that you can begin sketching out how you’ll spend your time.

Meeting Goofy in his safari gear, Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World (Scarborough photo)

We started our WDW visit at Animal Kingdom, and it was a good choice. The park is relatively small, nicely laid out and can be “done” pretty quickly, so you don’t wear yourself out at the very beginning of your vacation.

My top tips:

** This park summarized: Mellow and compact, this is mostly African-themed good times for animal-loving younger kids, although bigger ones will like thrill rides like Expedition Everest and getting (very) soaked on the Kali River Rapids.

** Get there when it opens, or even better, a half hour before opening. Yes, this pretty much applies to every park, but if you want to see animals at their most lively, then 2 in the afternoon is NOT the right time. Not only are the critters more visible in the earlier morning, the Disney characters (usually dressed in safari gear here) are out and about and very accessible, if you want those photo ops. My daughter hates mascots/characters of any kind, my son loves them, so there you go. 🙂

Continue reading “Survivor’s guide to Walt Disney World Part 1: Animal Kingdom”
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Disney World Orlando Florida USA

Survivor’s guide to Walt Disney World: Intro

Mickey's Sorcerer Hat at WDW (photo by Sheila Scarborough)Over the next few days, I plan to post a short series on travel with kids to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

I’ve been resisting this because I’d much rather focus on more unusual destinations, but the fact is that theme parks are a big part of family travel, at least in the U.S. This includes my own two kids, even though I’m amazed that they don’t want to see more, I dunno, Civil War battlefields or art museums or interesting ethnic neighborhoods. 🙂

Nope, they want the Mouse and a lot of it.

Even savvy travelers may not have a clue about how to get the most out of a visit to the parks. I recently read a series of posts by the flabbergasted Will Allen, who freely confesses during a lessons-learned series on his blog that he was not up to speed on planning his recent WDW trip. His specialty is air travel and business travel, and the Mouse ate his lunch.

His commenters raked him over the coals for not prepping enough, and I have to somewhat agree. If you’re really into creating a “magical experience” (and would also like to avoid spending a fortune) this is the trip when you do your homework. It’s not that hard — there’s a lot of good guidance out there, and the payback is less aggravation for you and more fun for everyone.

I will run separate posts on each park in WDW: Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios and the Magic Kingdom. For those who are saying right now, “Wow, you mean there’s more than one park?,” this series is definitely for you! As always, comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated.

There will be one post on Blizzard Beach, one of the two Orlando Disney water parks, but it will all be feedback from my daughter’s school trip there; I did not actually go myself. Heck, a teenager’s perspective is probably better, anyway.

Done right, the parks can be a blast.

Done poorly, they are expensive misery.

Let’s ensure that you’re one of the visitors who creates a dream vacation and not a nightmare.

Here’s the first park we’ll visit: Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Update 4 May 2007: The Washington Post blog Travel Log notes that Zagat has published a “Walt Disney World Insider’s Guide,” just in case you didn’t already have enough research to do. It’s not just restaurants, either; they have reader opinions on parks as a whole, rides and lodging. Reviewer John Deiner throws in his own point of view as well.

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Walt Disney World

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Florida USA

Here They Come: Travel to Florida in Hurricane Season.

The Fun Zone During Hurricane Season (Florida postcard)Oh boy, as of 1 June we get to start another hurricane season. As one who had a tree fall on her house in a Florida hurricane, I’d like to just take a pass, thanks.

Many visitors to the Sunshine State don’t seem to feel the same dread; they’re ready to take their chances and visit anyway.

As long as people are going to insist on coming, they might as well get some good info and links, right?

You can still catch the last two Star Wars Weekends at Disney-MGM Studios (and if you want to pretty much skip hurricane season, make reservations now for Halloween and Christmas at Disney.)

For more opinions and options, check out the Orlando Sentinel for a good rundown on the theme parks, area attractions and places to visit. The Miami Herald does a great job of laying out itineraries/hotels/eats for a variety of visitors such as “Princess Picky,” “Teen on the Scene” and “Abuela & the Twins.” Besides theme parks, there’s the “other Orlando” of International Drive activities and outlet malls.

Or, just escape Orlando altogether and head for Tampa/St. Pete; many say that the best all-around theme park (for little ones AND those who want to scream their heads off on rides) is Busch Gardens Tampa. I know that my family had a wonderful time there; plenty of rides at all levels for everyone (I lost count of how many times my daughter went on the SheiKra coaster, but I know I had to do it twice.) My young son loved the Rhino Rally and looking at the Budweiser Clydesdales.

Naturally, you can chuck it all and go to the beach — one of the best in the U.S. is near Tampa at Fort DeSoto Park. Aaahhh….

Want to see anything but theme parks and not really very beach-y? Head over to the northern part of the state, which is most “Southern,” the Florida Panhandle.

Whatever you do during hurricane season travel, keep that rental car gassed up, bring a backup evacuation plan/route (or two,) a flashlight and a small transistor radio to stay informed.

And when they say to “git,” you need to listen.