Florida off the beaten track

[4hoursanightisnotalright]

Hoping some of you can help. We are planning a once in a lifetime holiday for around 3 weeks this July/Aug and are hoping to go to Florida. We have kids of 6 and 4. We are hoping to do the Disney thing for around 3-4 days then go somewhere more chilled, then perhaps do the Seaworld type places for 3-4 days at the end. Would love to take in some beaches, forests etc. We normally like quite an adventurous holiday with several different places to stay so would like to plan a couple of days in each place if that makes sense rather than going for the package tour and staying in one hotel. I would love any advice from people who have travelled to Florida and found little hidden gems. Also any advice on best/cheapest airlines to fly with. So excited, but no idea where to start! Thanks xx

Hi please pm me if you want any more info. first thing check out the temperatures. are your family good in very hot weather - need to take account of this when thinking about activities. Florida keys Islamorada is fantastic. really chilled loads of water based activities to do and only an hour and a bit from miami. also everglades you can get guided boat trips. bear in mind the waiting times at disney and the cost if you split your hols 3 weeks apart in terms of tickets (not sure if price is an issue for you or not) waiting times for toy story ride in January were 120 mins other rides less so but need to prepare for this. water parks often shut mid morning due to sheer weight of numbers. we used hidden planet florida guide which was really good. fly into tampa its cheaper and sort car out before you get there. There are some good beaches on the tampa side - a bit quieter than miami which is more suited to older kids i personally think. have loads of info on the upper keys and everglades but wouldnt want to bore everyone else so just pm me if you want anything else.

Thanks Mummymeister. This is great. I'm not sure how to do the pm thing as I am new to this. We were thinking of starting somewhere chilled, then doing disney for a few days, then doing something chilled before going to the water parks. I think the kids will be a bit young for a lot of the rides so we will probably just pick a couple of must do rides then just soak up the atmosphere and probably head home when it gets too hot! We are really early birds so we definitely plan to go as soon as the parks are opened. The everglades sound fav, and I am really interested to hear more about them and the upper keys. Which airline did you use for Tampa flights? I was hoping to start the holiday over by Tampa anyway. thanks for your advice!

hi 4hours mumsnet hq will tell you how to pm. have loads of info and could rant on for britain so give them a shout and pm me for more info.