Orlando is a wonderful family vacation destination. Traveling with teenagers, though, might seem to be a daunting task, considering that the things geared toward young children will probably not hold a teenager's interest for long. (Really. Try getting a teen girl to play license plate bingo or sing "The Wheels on the Bus." I dare you.) We took a family vacation to Orlando when our kids were 17 and 14 1/2. Instead of flying, we decided to there, and so we knew we had to plan things that would keep them interested. With a little research and planning, we made what could have been the drive from heck into a fun part of our vacation!
Tip One: You have to stop, so make the stops fun for the Beasts--I mean Teens.
The kids were not thrilled to be taking the drive at first, but we stopped the first night in Tallahassee and visited Florida State University, which was fun for both of our kids, who are avid softball and baseball fans and players. My son was able to take a picture on the baseball field there and he still loves that picture. On our continued drive down to Orlando, we stopped in Gainesville and visited the University of Florida, which my daughter loved. She was just about to start her senior year in high school, so visiting another state's college campus really interested her.
Tip Two: Remember how you need space away from each other at home? Double that on vacation.
We had decided not to stay in a hotel for the week we were in Orlando. Instead, we stayed in a vacation rental home. I can honestly say that it was much better than spending 7 nights in a hotel room. We had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath villa to stay in, with a full kitchen and living room. The kids each had their on space to sleep in, and Dad & I had our own space. We knew after spending all day out doing things, we would each want some privacy, if even just for a few minutes, each night.
Tip Three: You don't need to reinvent the wheel--Disney has done that for you. Spend time at the parks and let the Disney Magic work its...um...magic.
We were offered a great deal on all of the Disney theme parks and water parks, so we decided to do that. We visited all four theme parks and both water parks during our week there. We spent the most time at Epcot (a whole day) and MGM (a half day), and visited both Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, doing just a few things at each. The kids loved Epcot. There was so much there that would keep a teenager interested. All of the science shows and rides in the front half of the park are great, and the different countries represented in the back half of the park are truly wonderful. MGM was fantastic with the stunt show and some scarier rides that my kids enjoyed. The water parks were a huge hit with both of them. We spent several hours at each one the days that we went.
Tip Four: Remember their interests--maybe space, maybe beaches, maybe shopping. Probably shopping.
We took one day to drive over to Kennedy Space Center for our son to see all of the various things there, and then went to Cocoa Beach for our daughter to enjoy and shop there. We went to Universal's city Walk a few nights that we were there, and that is a lot of fun for all ages.
Take it from me--most people think of Orlando as a place to only take young children, but there are many things that will appeal to your hard to please teenagers as well, and you will come home, as we did, alive and kicking, with a lot of pictures and some great memories of a wonderful family vacation.
This tidbit of real travel advice was brought to you by Dawn Ellis
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