Where to go when family vacations keep sucking

[Anonymous]

I think you can still do city-type vacations if that is what you want, but you need to plan out child-friendly activities.

London is actually a great city for those ages -- we took ours around that time. but instead of spending it the trip in the National Gallery and British Museum, do the Science Museum (very kid friendly), Diana's pirate ship park (mine wanted to go several times, it's amazing), St. James Park and the changing of the guard, go to Windsor and Hampton Court -- places where the kids can run around and explore on a freer rein. Skip long dinners and go for quick pub food. Let them eat fish and chips for every meal if they want.

[Anonymous]

I think literally any destination (Europe, Disney, cruise, US city break) can be fun with kids as long as your expectations are set correctly. If the kids are young, then do fewer things, cater to naps, don't do fancy dinners, etc. To expect a vacation with a young family to feel like a couple's city break is only setting yourself up for disappointment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ive posted this before (and I swear I dont work for Marriot) but the Marriot vacation club properties are great. they have many 2 bedroom units with living room and kitchen, nice pools, usually beach front, some type lf pool bar or casual restaurant on-site (but not the fancy restaurants like at full resorts), and typically one or two fanily friendly activities a day. They are sort of halfway between a condo situation and a fancy resort. They are timeshare properties but much nicer than typical timeshare and you can book directly thru marriott or rent from owners on redweek. We don’t own but have stayed at several of them. The Hilton Head Grande Ocean is a nice one thats not too far.

This is spot on. I’ve stayed at at least a dozen Marriott vacation properties and they are all nice. We liked the Barony Beach Club in Hilton Head a lot.

Until your kids are 4ish, just do beach trips. Drive to OBX, rent a condo with a kitchen and lower your expectations. Eat easy stuff like cereal, toast and fruit for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. Then go out to dinner. Then you don’t really have to cook or clean up kid kitchen mess.

[Anonymous]

I have 2 kids, one with special needs making frequent restaurant visits miserable, why not just rent a house/condo with lots of room, near the beach, where you can stay home and be relaxed. Those are our favorite vacations.