Best and Worst Family Spring Break Vacation Spots of 2024

[Anonymous]

Sarasota weather was completely fine this past week. Crowds were bearable. No complaints. Not sure why it's getting hate.

[Anonymous]

Spring skiing at Deer Valley was fantastic this year. We got several powder days.

[Anonymous]

We had a great time at Disney. Which I’m sure will get poo poo’d on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a great time at Disney. Which I’m sure will get poo poo’d on this forum.

We love Disney! But I prefer not to go at Spring Break due to crowds.

[Anonymous]

Currently in Puerto Morelos, MX, easy/cheap 3 hour flight from Baltimore, short ride south from Cancun airport, rented a penthouse on the beach, no need for rental car, good walkability, beautiful beaches, Mesoamerican reef snorkeling, safe and friendly area, cute local restaurants, small town feel. Our teens/tweens love it too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a great time at Disney. Which I’m sure will get poo poo’d on this forum.

+1 We were the fortunate beneficiaries of an unpredicted dead period at the parks (the week of March 17). It was amazing. We had cool weather, low crowds, and minimal waits. We also did the after-hours parties at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, anticipating that the regular days would be crowded. As it turned out, that might not have been necessary, but being in parks and walking onto all of the attractions was incredible. During the parties, we rode Tron, Big Thunder Mountain, and Snow White twice in MK, and at HS, we rode Rise of the Resistance, Slinky Dog, and Mickie and Minnie's Runaway Railway multiple times. On our first day at Animal Kingdom, we basically walked onto Flight of Passage and Everest twice. It was the best trip! I also enjoyed eating whatever I wanted and still losing weight because we walked ten-plus miles each day.

[Anonymous]

We went to Amsterdam. Canals, tulips, museums, biking, shopping, history and lots of walking. It was a great trip, not exactly a sunny destination but it was great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Currently in Puerto Morelos, MX, easy/cheap 3 hour flight from Baltimore, short ride south from Cancun airport, rented a penthouse on the beach, no need for rental car, good walkability, beautiful beaches, Mesoamerican reef snorkeling, safe and friendly area, cute local restaurants, small town feel. Our teens/tweens love it too!

Shhhh, don't tell anyone about PM!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are out west skiing and first day was awful for the tween who had never been skiing. HATES it. Day long lesson was a busy as the other kid in the “new skier” group needed one on one; when we picked up our kid, all they could do is go straight down which terrified them and the instructor admitted he didn’t spend much time with my kid. We tried to go down a longer green run as a family and they had a panic attack on the slope. We are trying one more time this morning but if they are still terrified, we will have to figure out non-ski activities for me+tween while teen sibling + other parent spend the rest of the week on the slopes.

Why would you go all the way out west to ski with a kid who has never skied before? We've been working up to a trip out west by taking our kids to Deep Creek and Timberline. We won't go west until they are confident enough to ski blues and robust enough to ski for a few days in a row.

We are on cruise out of Florida to the eastern Caribbean and so far have been having fun. We strategically chose excursions at each stop to avoid crowds and so far it's been great. Beautiful weather.

DP. It is *so* much easier to learn to ski on Western powder. If you have a kid that is scared to begin with, dealing with eastern icy "snow" is not going to help.

[Anonymous]

I’m currently in a cabin in Inverness, CA (just outside Point Reyes). I live South of San Francisco so it wasn’t a long drive but I would even recommend it for people coming from DC, especially if part if a San Francisco trip. It’s become my happy spot. Kids are 6 and 11. We are only here for two nights and it’s amazing. It helps that we hit good weather. When we were here in the fall we saw the elk and sat on a beach on a cove side. This trip we’ve visited a farm, sat in the Hot tub, star gazed with a bottle of CA red wine, hiked visited the lighthouse and watched a mother and baby gray whale, bird watched, ate dinner at a picnic table by a creek, and visited a march at dusk to listen to frogs and watch the bats. My kids requested a trip with animals and I wanted a trip where we could play things by ear and it’s really worked well. I’m sorry we have to leave tomorrow. If we returned I’d like more time to just sit on the beach, so a puzzle, read and I’d like to rent kayaks and do more of the hikes. If it’s not pouring (a big if) I could easily spend a week here and be happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pulled the kids from school early and went to Japan. The weather was unseasonably cool and wet, but we still had a blast and plenty of perfectly fine days. My kids never complained about being bored or about too many temples, etc. Even the five year old managed 8-10 miles on several days.

The kids had no significant jet lag issues and managed the flights just fine.

The dollar is strong vs. the yen. Lodging and food were quite reasonable other than at the high-end spots. Sushi feasts for a family of four for $60, for example.

How many days did you spend in Japan? Really tempted to go next year with extended family, but I’m worried about the kids missing an extra week of school. Wondering if it would be worth it to go for just 7-10 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Iceland has been great this week!

+1 We went last week and it was amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Iceland has been great this week!

+1 We went last week and it was amazing.

My friend showed me her pics from this past week and said it was frigid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We pulled the kids from school early and went to Japan. The weather was unseasonably cool and wet, but we still had a blast and plenty of perfectly fine days. My kids never complained about being bored or about too many temples, etc. Even the five year old managed 8-10 miles on several days.

The kids had no significant jet lag issues and managed the flights just fine.

The dollar is strong vs. the yen. Lodging and food were quite reasonable other than at the high-end spots. Sushi feasts for a family of four for $60, for example.

How many days did you spend in Japan? Really tempted to go next year with extended family, but I’m worried about the kids missing an extra week of school. Wondering if it would be worth it to go for just 7-10 days.

We were on the ground for two weeks. With my oldest in 5th grade, I was concerned this was the last time I could pretty easily get away with it. I wouldn't go for just a week. It's too far.

Unfortunately, with kids and the weather in Japan, there isn't a great time to go. Now that we've done the "Golden Route," I could see going back in the summer and visiting the north. But I wouldn't want to be in Tokyo during summer vacation.

[Anonymous]

Went skiing out in CO. Had great conditions from groomed to 14" of powder.