We had a very nice time in Lancaster with the two little ones - check out Strasburg railway, Dutch Wonderland, Cherry Crest Adventure Farm, the farm at Verdant View, Hand's On House, Turkey Hill ice cream tour, Choo Choo barn, Caribbean Indoor Waterpark, there are multiple campgrounds, hotels and vacation rentals to choose from, hiking and fishing, Hershey...the countryside is very pretty up there

Chincoteague also has reasonable weekly vacation rentals - we use chincoteagueresort.com

OBX has houses and condos with pool access - if you go further down, like, Avon, it is cheaper than up in Duck or Nags Head and there is a cute toy store near the entrance to the Hatteras light...

Massanutten resort. If you can't find affordable hotel in the resort, you can get a cheap hotel in Harrisonburg, and they have a Cici's there.

Drive to ClubMed in Florida. Kids under 4 stay free and if you are flexible with dates, you can get $120/day deal.

Do not attempt Disney on $1000. The parks alone will be $200 a day so 5 days will eat up your entire budget JUST on tickets. You'd still have food, transportation and lodging to worry about. You've gotten lots of good suggestion. Hersheypark would be a lot of fun.

Maybe shorten it to 3 days and widen your range. 3 days in Philly could be fun.

Anonymous wrote:You could go to Chincoteague. Priceline a cheap hotel, go to the beach, the lighthouse, check out pony rides and the wild ponies. It's a nice, quiet place but our 3 year old loves it. Lots of nature good for walking or biking with your kid in a child seat), great ice cream shop, there's a BBQ place with a free bounce house and other games for kids. You can relax and it's well within your budget. If you go with someone else you can rent a fully furnished house for a few days. Depending on when you go, they have a nice little festival for the 4th of July and there are the Pony Penning and Pony Auction weekends, although accomodations will cost more during those times.

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Too buggy with a toddler IMO,

Fun hotel with a pool and splash pad in Lancaster.

You could go to Chincoteague. Priceline a cheap hotel, go to the beach, the lighthouse, check out pony rides and the wild ponies. It's a nice, quiet place but our 3 year old loves it. Lots of nature good for walking or biking with your kid in a child seat), great ice cream shop, there's a BBQ place with a free bounce house and other games for kids. You can relax and it's well within your budget. If you go with someone else you can rent a fully furnished house for a few days. Depending on when you go, they have a nice little festival for the 4th of July and there are the Pony Penning and Pony Auction weekends, although accomodations will cost more during those times.

I also vote Lancaster. Easy drive. Stay at a hotel with a pool (Eden resort is nice). Dutch wonderland, choo choo barn, petting zoo, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Sesame place? Hershey Park? Does she like to swim? You could do a nice waterpark for that price.
Have you looked at Groupon?

Sesame place is in Philadelphia. A lot of accommodations to choose from. Crayola factory isn't too far either.

Dutch wonderland in Lancaster, pa. There are a lot of nearby smaller attractions that are fun for small kids (Strasbourg railroad, cherry crest adventure farms, Amish country).

Hershey park is not as fun for a 3 year old as the other 2.

If you tried to do Disney and maybe beach town off 95 - drive ($200), get a great deal on a condo type lodging for about $100/night through a travel discount site, eat breakfast and dinner at your lodging, which you'd prob do anyway with a three year old...bring snacks, spend a couple of days at the parks for $200 a day plus parking (or take a free shuttle.) A 3 year old only really needs one day at the Magic Kingdom. Stay with friends? It would be easy to blow your budget.
We just did Legoland - that would great with a three year old.

Ocean City New Jersey. So child friendly as no bars in town. Go before middle of June since PA/NJ schools not out so you will have spring prices with a summer feel. Love that place and I go each year even though we can afford more luxury places, we go there because it is so cute and kid friendly. 3 hour drive.

If you are really good on a shoe string budget, you can do Disney for $1,000. You will need to drive, which will cost you about $175 in gas. You can get a cheap hotel on hotels.com for less than $50 a night. Your park tickets will be around $200 per day which will include parking. You will have to eat on a shoestring and carry water bottles instead of buying drinks. Your hotel will likely have a refrigerator and a microwave, which allows you to get groceries instad of eating out for every meal. But you could likely do two park days and a day at Wet n Wild.

I've done Disney on a shoestring twice and we had a great time. We had two drivers though, which allowed us to drive all the way through without stopping. My budget wouldn't help you because there are five of us and last time we went was three or four years ago. But, I believe we spent less than $2k for five. We bought cereal for breakfast and we ordered a pizza each night, which we split. I found lunch to be the hardest thing to save money on because you really don't feel like leaving the park and it's just expensive to eat. But, we picked things that we all liked then bought two or three meals and shared.

There are other things that are closer like Sesame Place, the Crayola Factory, Dutch Wonderland, etc. I didn't read all of the posts, but I'm sure people mentioned these things.

I second Dutch Wonderland. We did it with DS three years in a row while he was 3/4/5. He has outgrown it, but for that age group it is perfect and I think within your budget. Also the DC museums are free if you live in this area (no hotel needed), and I would recommend the Zoo and Natural History.

Ocean city MD

Dutch Wonderland is awesome for that age group. There's a deal on Certifikid. We liked the Eden Resort.