Summer Vacation Ideas

If you consider yourself a work-a-holic and your kids seem to be growing up before your eyes, then there is no time like the present to start planning for a vacation with your kids where you can leave behind your laptop and cell phone and spend quality time with the ones you love. Summer vacations for families come in every shape and size from the ultra expensive and luxurious stay at Disney World to pitching a tent at a national park and enjoy the beauty of the great outdoors. There is a perfect vacation for you to plan. All it takes is coming together with your family to decide what everyone would like to do on vacation, a little bit of money and a lot of imagination and you come up with a dream vacation perfect for your family.

Summer vacations for families can be incredible if you decide to take them on a cruise. If your children are a bit too old for a Disney cruise, or if you would like a cruise with a little more relaxation and not so much chaotic energy, there are a multitude of other cruise lines. These cruises will still offer the very best in luxuriousness and relaxation for the adults while still allowing plenty of activities like swimming, arcades plus a plethora of other opportunities for the kids that will keep them busy, occupied and out of your hair from sun up to sun down.

The Disney Company saw that the market was faltering a bit in the family cruise demographic and decided to profit off of it and make a regular Disneyland on the Sea. The Disney Cruise line is a virtual wonderland of all things Disney magic. Adults and children of all ages love this cruise line. There are incredible shows throughout the day and night that will leave you wondering how on earth they managed to do that on a cruise ship out in the middle of the sea. Disney characters are there to greet you around every corner delighting young children everywhere. The food, like on any other cruise line is to die for, but the Disney Company makes sure that their menu includes foods that will appeal to every Disney fanatic; Mickey Mouse shaped macaroni, pancakes and waffles can be found at all hours of the day or night. One of the most incredible parts of the Disney cruise is the stop at the Disney owned private Caribbean island where you will spend your day doing water sports, swimming in the lagoon, getting your hair braided or a multitude of other activities on this gorgeous beach. This is the perfect summer vacation for families.

Cruises were once a vacation designed and designated mostly for the older generation, where afternoons were spent playing gin and shuffle board on the deck. Well, cruises have come a long, long way in the age demographic and now more families are opting to take cruises for the adventure as well as the all-inclusive amenities that cruise ships provide. Many cruise line focus entirely on relating and entertaining families. They offer children’s clubs which will allow the parents to go off and enjoy some of the ships amenities not necessarily geared towards a child’s enjoyment. These clubs keep your child busy from sun up to sun down with hours of arts and crafts, games, swimming and story time making it a wonderful summer vacation for families.

If you are the parent of a toddler, no doubt Elmo and Big Bird are ever present around your house. These furry little creatures of Sesame Street have delighted toddlers and preschoolers for several decades. If you want to delight your little sweetheart on an incredible vacation, travel down to Pennsylvania and visit Sesame Street Place. A summer vacation with toddlers can be trying sometimes, but a visit to Sesame Street Place will keep you little ones constantly entertained and fascinated and will guarantee a great night’s sleep when you return back to your hotel room for the night.

Sesame Street Place is all about the characters and you will be able to find your favorite Sesame Street monster wandering around the park at all times always stopping for a photo opportunity with your little ones. There are fun shows starring Elmo, Abby Cadabra and Cookie Monster to name a few. These silly little characters will bring warm, bright smiles to your precious little toddler.

Summer time in Pennsylvania can be incredibly hot. Sesame Street Place took that into consideration when building the theme park and added many water friendly rides and attractions that will help cool you and your kiddos off during the hot summer months. Your toddlers will have a splashin’ good time on Bert and Ernie’s Slip and Slide and Count’s Splash Castle where you can get doused with a 100 gallon tipping bucket and play with hoses and hydro blasters. Once you cool off, you’ll be ready to get back into the sun to go and visit more characters and watch more shows.

When it is time to take a break for lunch at Sesame Street Place, there are lots of tasty, all kid friendly restaurants for you to sit and enjoy a meal together before you get back to all of the fun. If you want to make this summer vacation with your toddler and even more special, you can pay a little extra to dine with your favorite Sesame Street character! Share some cookies with Cookie Monster, lunch with Big Bird and eat scrambled eggs and bacon with that lovable red furry head, Elmo. More likely than not, your toddler won’t remember this vacation for years to come, but it’s the “in the moment” times that will indelibly stick in your memory forever.

Nothing screams FUN more than water and a summer vacation with kids to the Water Park of America will be an action packed, memory filled vacation that your kids will not soon forget! Located inside the Radisson Hotel Bloomington near the Mall of America in Minnesota, it is the largest indoor water park. You will be able to “surf” on the indoor Flow Rider Surf Simulator and pretend like you are riding the waves in Hawaii. You will spend hours body surfing the waves in the Lake Superior Wave Pool. This water park is geared for all ages and can easily accommodate and entertain toddlers as well as adults with the greatest of ease. This will be a summer vacation you will not soon forget!

At the Water Park of America, you can hop on board a raft and float down this incredibly fun family raft ride. This ride is ten stories high and over a mile long! Your family will love it! For those thrill seekers, there are a multitude of fast moving tubes that will shoot you out like a cannon and leave your running back up to the top to get more! For those less adventurous types (and for children too small or young to go down the fast moving tubes), there are plenty of activity pools to easily fill up your days. There are balls and hoops for a game of indoor water polo or water basketball as well as small wading pools for toddlers and children who do not know how to swim yet. In the Fort Snelling play area, there is a huge adventure park for kids with a 500 gallon bucket that dumps the water on the kids every two and a half minutes! This play area is full of climbing nets and slides for hours of fun and entertainment.

Kids and adventurous adults are not the only people who can enjoy this park. The Water Park of America also boasts a luxurious spa that will pamper the day away. You can dine at two delicious restaurants in addition to snack bars around the park. If you need to do a little bit of work during your summer vacation with kids, there is wireless internet that lets you connect online whenever needed. If you or your kids need a little break from the water park, you can unwind in the incredible 5,800 sq. ft arcade with video games and other types of arcade games galore. The Water Park of America is will let you splash the day away with your kids and fill your vacation with memories that will last a lifetime!

In the tough economic times that most everyone is facing in one way or another, it is hard to imagine planning or saving for a vacation, but for the lucky few whose pocketbooks have not been affected by these tough financial times, you can give your kids the vacation of a lifetime that they won’t soon forget! Summer vacations with kids used to only include packing up a tent and a sleeping bag and going for a weekend to a national park. While those vacations were fun, they did not include the activity packed vacation that may stick in your kid’s memories forever. If your still want to have your kids have a taste of nature without having to rough it out in the middle of nowhere, there are plenty of options available…you just have to know where to look!

There is no place more beautiful than Yosemite National Park. This infamous forest is filled with majestic trees, gorgeous rivers and incredible scenery. And, while there are plenty of spots available to camp, you can go one step up and stay in the luxurious gorgeous Ahwahnee Lodge. This 4 star hotel has served the average Joe as well as royalty, presidents and celebrities alike over the years. They boast on being a perfect balance of history, hospitality and elegance. Completed in 1927, the Ahwahnee Lodge is a mixture of Native American, art deco and Middle Eastern design. There are several different gathering rooms at the lodge dedicated to providing guests with the utmost in luxury and relaxation. The lodge boasts beautiful windows which allow you to take in all of the breathtaking scenery around you.

Activities about at the Ahwahnee Lodge and your summer vacation with kids will be a full of non stop adventure both at the lodge and the surrounding area as well. There is an incredible history to learn about the lodge with its amazing architecture and Native American lessons all around that will keep your children occupied for hours. Venturing out to the park, your kids will have a blast at any age. There are wilderness programs available for very age group. The Wee Wild Ones group is geared for kids’ ages 3 years and younger and fills its days with fun stories, animals, games and arts and crafts all geared towards Yosemite. This is free, so it’s a great deal! The Junior Rangers Club is for the 7-13 year age group and teaches the group valuable lessons about our environment while making the course fun! The group will go on a nature walk, picking up litter along the way. At the end of the course, if they have completed their ranger handbook, they will earn their official Junior Ranger Badge. This course is also free with exception of the $3.50 activity book.

There are a million and one things you can do on a summer vacation with children that will fill your kids with memories to last a lifetime. Whether the vacation is elaborate or simple, the fact that you are together is what makes a vacation truly special. Get your kids in on the planning. See what they would like to see or which fun activity they would like to do while on vacation. That way, they will feel important that they were able to be involved in some of the decision making on the trip and you will be surprised at how much fun you, as a parent, end up having!

A great place to visit with kids is to the San Diego area. This lovely Southern Californian town boasts beautiful weather year round with a gentle breeze that always blows from the water. You can spend a day or two at the incredible Sea World where you will see amazing sea life. You can see huge killer whales gracefully leap into the air, or take a daring adventure walking through a tunnel surrounded by sharks in the Shark Encounter. Sea World also has a bunch of ride attractions for the whole family and delicious restaurants to appease any picky appetite. On your days away from San Diego, take your kids down to the beautiful beaches to body surf and play in the sand. La Jolla boasts incredibly beautiful beaches that seem to go on for miles. You can drive your kids into Old Town San Diego which is full of adobe style and gives you an almost “old west” type of feel. For an extra special splurge, book a room at the Hotel Del Coronado. This landmark hotel is located directly on the beach and has been host to many of Hollywood elite and royalty for decades. A stay here is truly a treat.

Not far from San Diego is Lego Land. This theme park is modeled after every child’s favorite trinket, Lego’s. The rides are made out of Lego’s as well as the buildings. This theme park will show you incredibly interesting and creative displays made entirely out of Lego’s that will leave you in awe that it was made out of little plastic pieces! If you have a Lego lover in your family, take an afternoon to visit this place. Plan on bringing your wallet along as there are plenty of little stores that sell the latest and greatest Lego’s that will have your kids begging you for a souvenir! A summer vacation with children can be so exciting in San Diego. Your kids will love it and so will you!

If you wish to give your kids the gift of a vacation where they will learn a huge amount about our nation’s history, no place is better than a summer vacation to the United States capitol of Washington DC. No where else in the country will you find more history than in this small city. In Washington DC, you will find an endless supply of Smithsonian museums and historical monuments, not to mention the White House and the Capitol building. You can easily spend a week here and still not see everything, so it is important to have a schedule and plan so you can fit in the key sites to the city.

The Smithsonian museums should not be missed. What many people do not realize is that the Smithsonian is not just one museum, but a collection of museums each specializing in a certain era or factor of American history. The most popular and most often visited Smithsonian is the American History Museum. This museum houses such historic artifacts as President Lincoln’s infamous top hat, Archie Bunker’s easy chair, and Judy Garland’s ruby red slippers from the Wizard of Oz as well as the awe inspiring Old Glory original American flag. You can easily spend the entire day exploring these walls. There is something new and exciting around every corner.

The Air and Space Museum is another interesting Smithsonian to explore, especially if you have children who are fascinated with space ships, astronauts and aircrafts. In this museum, you will find airplanes flown by the Wright Brothers and Amelia Earhardt. You will also find out everything you needed and wanted to know about space exploration including flight plan information and space artifacts gathered from several space missions taken by astronauts in our nation. This is a truly incredible museum that should not be missed.

If you want to give your kids a true history lesson, the National Holocaust museum should not be avoided. This museum, though not a part of the Smithsonian group, it is simply remarkable. Older children will appreciate this museum more than younger ones, so keep that in mind. You will read and witness stories from Holocaust survivors. You will see artifacts such as concentration camp uniforms and bunk beds from Auschwitz that will leave an indelible impression in your mind. The most moving aspect of this museum is the shoes. Thousands and thousands of pairs of shoes from victims of the Holocaust are piled stories high in this presentation. To see these shoes that were once worn by innocent people who died in a horrible bloodshed will not soon leave your memory. A summer vacation in the United States Capitol should be experienced at least once in your lifetime.

Are your kids practically begging you on hands and knees to take them to Disneyland, but you just don’t think you can make it work financially? Well, you are in luck because there is a way to visit the Happiest Place on Earth with breaking the bank. A Disneyland summer vacation on a budget can be done if you have the right mindset and a lot of self control. The self control part comes in when your children are asking you every time you walk into one of the gift shops if you will by them this and that. Souvenir shopping alone is enough to wreak havoc on your pocket book. By really being budget conscious on your Disney vacation and being mindful of how much you are spending (because it can add up quickly), you will be able to make your kids Disneyland vacation wish come true!

When you are planning for your vacation to Disneyland, you should keep in mind that summer is considered the high tourist season, so not only will there be a much larger amount of people visiting every day, but the hotel prices will be considerably higher than during the off season tourist months. If you are not particular about what kind of hotel you stay in while on vacation, there are plenty of moderate to budget priced motels that will help you keep within your budget. These accommodations may not have all the amenities of a 5 star resort, but they will be clean and you can expect to have a friendly staff to help make your stay a pleasurable one.

If you can afford a higher priced hotel with a kitchenette, it may pay off in the food portion of your vacation. Disneyland is known for their high priced meals. Even their snacks and ice cream, though delicious, are outrageously expensive. If your hotel room has a small kitchen in it, you can save money by eating breakfast in your room every morning. You can also pack a lunch for the day. Although you will not be able to bring it inside of the park, you can rent a storage locker outside of Disneyland to store a small cooler and have a picnic on the grounds between Disneyland and California Adventure. Although you are trying to manage your summer vacation on a budget, if you are going to splurge on a meal, it should be dinner time at the park. Yes, the food is expensive, but it is tasty and the portions are good. Each “land” in Disneyland has food that matches its theme, so if you are staying for a week or so, you will have the chance to eat dinner at every “land”.