Florida Epilogue

Keely says it best.

Having a full day and good night's sleep is starting to clear Florida out of my mind. Before it disappears altogether, thought I'd leave ideas for any intrepid travelers who may think our kind of chaos is worth doing themselves.

First, tell all your friends your plans BEFORE you leave. We found all sorts of good ideas on Disney (thanks Anne & Martin Steib, Steve Switzer, Kelly Crutcher), manatees (thanks Larry Dowd), Miami and Siesta Key (BIG thanks to Johannes & Jennifer Gerz-Escandon), and Apalachicola (thanks Elizabeth Moore).

Due to the flood of info that hits us daily, we sometimes don't pay real close attention to what folks say. Had we been more focused on other families' plans, our Panama City/Destin drivefest-with-no-place-to-stay might have turned out differently. As we find out now - in Atlanta - we drove right by TWO separate families who were spending a week at Seaside. Knowing their plans or making a simple phone call probably would have made the end of our trip as magical as the beginning. Bliss family actually had rented a 5-bedroom home on the beach and had 3 of them open the night we passed on our Death March toward Destin!

• ST. AUGUSTINE is much more interesting than I ever thought. Worth a visit. Touristy - yes - but in a pretty good way.
• DAYTONA is still the World's Most Famous Beach but truly just the PCB of the East coast.
• MARINELAND (now owned by Georgia Aquarium) is a nice diversion (maybe 1-2 hours most) where you can learn much about dolphins and even interact with them - for a fee.
• Kids like DISNEYWORLD. Not as impressive as when I was smaller but still pretty magical. FASTPASS makes all the difference - as does reading a good guidebook like UNOFFICIAL guide. Didn't make it to EPCOT but have heard it's pretty good.
• Wouldn't go to DISNEY STUDIOS unless kids were older than 11 probably - it's good for a half day if at all. STAR TOURS ride is cool, INDIANA JONES STUNT SHOW pull back the curtain on how movies are made, and TOY STORY MANIA is a fun video game/ride but there aren't a ton of actual rides. Since everyone was afraid to ride TOWER OF TERROR, not a ton to do that isn't informational (backlot tour, stunt show).
• ANIMAL KINGDOM is coolest of them all. Literally, having all the plants, shade, and jungle made it much more tolerable in the heat. World of difference being at the other parks. EXPEDITION EVEREST is a great rollercoaster and the KALI RAPIDS RIVER RIDE was the wettest ride I've ever been on - wear flip flops! IT'S A BUG'S LIFE 3D gets pretty scary for about 20 seconds but it's all worth it as good guys come out on top. DINOSAUR ride is on the cusp of too scary for 10 and under.
• MAGIC KINGDOM is a full day's worth of fun - maybe two slower-paced days. SPACE MOUNTAIN is still the coolest roller coaster I've ever been on. IT'S A SMALL WORLD is still the best way to cool off and feel the innocence of being a kid again. MAD HATTER'S TEA PARTY makes me sick just watching the thing spin but kids love it. No matter how many knockoffs Disney creates of the DUMBO ride, kids still want to ride them (think it's the control-stick-power-envy thing). HAUNTED MANSION has the BEST first 3 minutes of any ride anywhere. The tone and mood they create while you wait to get on the ride is 10X more terrifying and bone-chilling than anything on the ride itself. Deacon would have gladly exited had I let him. After the ride, he didn't think it was that scary. On the other hand, Keely won't be visiting haunted houses anytime soon. THUNDER MOUNTAIN rollercoaster is a great first for kids (lot like Six Flags' Mine Train). SPLASH MOUNTAIN is the 2nd best water ride and surprisingly long. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and COUNTRY BEAR JAMBOREE have not changed. They were magical in their day, and wonderful versions of a simpler time to those of us who enjoyed them as kids. For new folks, or more edgy kids, they may not hold anything special - though the ride is still packed. Heard the JUNGLE CRUISE is still as campy as ever but the wait was too long.
• If you get a chance to go on an airboat ride anywhere, do it. Fun skimming over the water at high speeds seeing all kinds of nature up close.
• Atlantic beaches are better for boogie boarding and enjoying wider beaches with fun waves.
• Siesta Key was our favorite beach, mainly because we could walk everywhere and we could swim among the pier ruins and find all kinds of sea creatures. The family-friendly vibe of the "downtown" area was just big enough to be interesting and still small enough to seem authentic.
• Swimming with manatees is something everyone should do once.
• Panama City Beach has lost its allure. The almost total lack of view of the beach due to gigantic high rise condos and hotels takes some of the friendly feel of the place away and doesn't make we want to return.
• Family trips should be mandatory. Got so few years to really enjoy each other and share experiences, you gotta grab them while you can. "Going somewhere" is fine but, as an artful plaque in our house says, "The Journey is the Destination". Our kids enjoy the adventure of going places and seeing new things. Staying somewhere is just icing on the cake. The discussions we've had over the past two weeks about different people, what people do for a living, and how life works allows us, as parents, to really talk to our kids. Hopefully, we're sharing values and opinions that will make them better people as well as their kids.

Now, where to next? We're open to suggestions. Thanks for reading.