Leaving KC on Thursday afternoon & will be in Orlando on Friday afternoon if I drive the 18 hours straight through. Mapquest takes us through St Louis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, then straight South to Orlando. I may add a couple hour detour & go East a little farther in Georgia & follow the coastline South through Jacksonville, Daytona, etc... Planning on taking the kids to Magic Kingdom on Saturday, Clearwater on Sunday morning for the beach (saw lots of manitees last time I was there), & maybe Sea World on Monday, & drive home Monday night/Tuesday. Any stores or other cool stuff you would recommend we hit while we're there? Kids are 8 & 5.
Check out Busch Gardens in Tampa also as that is pretty cool. You may want to avoid the traffic in Atlanta which can be a total bummer and catching it at the wrong time can add hours to your trip. You may not be giving yourself enough time at Mickey world with the little ones. Just an observation.
If you're driving back the same way (we did KC-Tampa two years ago), stop in Nashville at the Adventure Science Center (Children's museum). It's a blast. Lots of hands on things to do.
Cape Canaveral is just an hour east of Orlando, just north of Cocoa beach. My boys loved visiting the Space Center.
Holy smokes I feel awful about not updating how our trip went. You guys were awesome in giving suggestions. As you know, our time was very limited in what we were able to do. Sleep was 1 of them for me. I drove the 17 hours there straight through after Christmas Dinner at the in-law's house & we were at Cocoa Beach for breakfast on the 26th. I took a little nap on the beach while my wife & kids got to spend their first time playing on the beach in the sand & in the ocean - 2 of my favorite things in the world. Day 2 - Went over to Sea World. The kids had fun but we probably won't return. It was just as I remembered it 20 years ago. Fun once but then you're good. Both of them fell asleep at 6:30 on our way back to the hotel. Day 3 - Magic Kingdom. They both had a blast! We arrived just in time to sit down for the parade. Princesses, Pixar Heroes, all the Fairy Tale characters, etc... We brought a Woody doll along this trip to take pictures & have fun with. The smile on these 2 faces when the real Woody started waving & pointing at their doll was priceless. Rode all of the rides I rode when I was kid & a few new rides that they really enjoyed. Here's a little token for those of you who have been here, I don't want to be the only 1 with this stuck in my head... "It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all..." =) You're welcome. Day 4 - Drove home. Hit traffic jams in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, & St Louis. Next time I'm making this trip at night. 22 hours straight through. I was still wide awake & kicking from the 5-hour drink, so I went to work & my partners made me go home. Slackers. All-in-all we had a great time full of smiles & laughter - everything a parent wants for their children.
