2 centre holiday help!!

[MadameCastafiore]

We want to go to disney for a week the week before easter hols next year then on to somewhere hot and where I can recover from the forced jollity which I will have had to put up with for a week.

Am thinking Orlando and then Florida but no idea where to stay, where to fly to, where to go in Carribean and who to book with - no webisites than can give ou comprehensive quotes.

DH happy to go Orlando and then the Gulf Coast but he likes rollercoasters and all that gumph and I WANT TO GO TO CARRIBEAN!!! (cue lots of feet stamping and nose rumpling!!_

Just driving along the gulf of mexico and finding places as you please is great.

Lots of people do two centres in Florida, a week in Orlando then a week in Tampa/St Petes or Naples which is lovely. Or further afield you can go to Miami or Florida keys.

You could get a cruise to Bahamas (or other islands) from Fort Lauderdale or Miami which are 3 - 5 hours drive from Orlando. Lots of companys do short cruises to Bahamas, around 3 to 5 days so that might be a good compromise for you

Captiva or Sanibel are nice places to veg after a week of madness! The beaches/sea are not as nice as the caribbean, but still pretty chilled with the added attraction of margaritas on tap (rather than rum punch) - v nice speaking as a tequila junkie!!! (insert hiccuping emoticom)

Captiva and Sanibel are beautiful, and quiet - and miles away from the very commercial madness of Miami and Orlando, and many of the places along the gold coast. Or you could drive to the Keys - that's really lovely - laid back, blue sea and white sand everywhere you look, not so different from being in the Caribbean, but less of a faffy journey.

We stayed <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=4.bp.blogspot.com/_W2AOzDlPYhM/RuIJONRzXyI/AAAAAAAAAGk/jhLCwOlk0fM/s320/dobby5.bmp&imgrefurl=dsmaniac2.blogspot.com/2007/09/dobby-post-i-mentioned.html&usg=__y_CdvVUVQnKpJH6G6iXZzQv5vTw=&h=238&w=278&sz=12&hl=en&start=12&zoom=1&tbnid=bP6ik2La519K6M:&tbnh=143&tbnw=166&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddobby%2Bharry%2Bpotter%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ACAW_enGB333GB334%26biw%3D1174%26bih%3D461%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C309&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=624&vpy=151&dur=951&hovh=190&hovw=222&tx=111&ty=97&ei=PUpwTOiyHtm5jAfgorD7CA&oei=MUpwTPepIYu7jAeV8uj6CA&esq=2&page=2&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:12&biw=1174&bih=461" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here

which is in Marathon Key. It was absolute bliss, and the restaurant was fab, though there are cheaper more laid back beach bars within walking distance or a short drive.

Marathon is halfway down the strip of land that makes up the keys - so everywhere is within an easy drive to visit. You can swim with dolphins at Key Largo (at the top) or drive down to visit Key West. (well worth a visit - pretty architecture, and very colonial/caribbean in atmosphere, lots going on, but hugely commercial - personally I wouldn't stay there.)

We did an overnight stop to break the journey, at Fort Lauderdale.

OK, slight problem with my link there. Will try again!

here