Home to Winter the famous dolphin with the prosthetic tail featured in the hit movie Dolphin Tale, Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) is a wonderful place to travel with your family. Winter the Dolphin's story is an incredible one of survival and tenacity. Winter's inspiring story resonates with children and adults who, like her, have physical or cognitive challenges, have suffered life-changing injury or illness and had to struggle to adapt. A combination aquarium and animal hospital, CMA is an engaging and educational facility that shares insights and information about sea animals from the Gulf Coast of Florida that will leave your kids wanting to learn more. CMA's core mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release the animals that they find. Unfortunately, there are some animals that, due to unique situations, will never be able to be released. CMA provides a wonderful home for them. Clearwater Marine Aquarium is the permanent home to dolphins, sea turtles, otters, sharks, pelicans and stingrays. This is a unique family vacation that will give your family stories to tell for years to come!
What child doesn't love Disney? And Disney certainly knows how to do it right! Some of my children's highlights of the day at the Hollywood Studio were the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, Beauty and the Beast Live, Toy Story Midway and the perfect ending to our evening-- Fantasmic, an outdoor musical starring Mickey Mouse battling good and evil!
Disney's Magic Kingdom 1180 Seven Seas Drive Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830 407-939-5277
For those families who have never been to Disney World, this is a must do and see. It truly is incredible. Disney does an amazing job creating a magical experience for families, which allows parents to be able to sit back and enjoy the park with their kids. The Wishes Nighttime Spectacular fireworks show over Cinderella's castle with Disney characters narrating was absolutely beautiful and my kids loved it! And so did I!
Sea World 7007 Sea World Drive Orlando, Florida 32821 888-800-5447
Sea World is one of my daughter's favorite places to visit. It is such an amazing place to learn about the underwater world and the animal life that inhabits it. Highlights for our family included the Blue Horizons with the dolphins and the One Ocean shows. If you have a family member who loves roller coasters, the Manta and the Kraken are not to be missed. My kids preferred the Shamu Express roller coaster that, according to them, was just thrilling enough!
Dinosaur World 5145 Harvey Tew Road Plant City, Florida 33565 813-717-9865
If you have a dinosaur lover in your family, this is a great stop to make. With 20-acres to explore and over 200 life-sized dinosaurs, your kids will have loads of fun! They can participate in a fossil dig and learn about becoming a paleontologist. Be sure to check out the Fossil Museum that has a nice selection of fossils. There is even a museum with animatronic dinosaurs that will raise the hairs on the back of your neck! There is a fun dinosaur playground for young kids to expend some extra energy. But beware of the amazing gift shop as you enter and exit because your little ones will surely find lots to love!
Beaches – Siesta Key If you're looking for a day or two away from the parks, check out the Siesta Key Beaches. Siesta, Crescent and Turtle Beaches make up the 8-mile stretch of white sand on the Gulf of Mexico. Each beach is unique but they all offer a day of frolicking in the ocean and the Florida sunshine!