Florida at Christmas - how hot would it be?..which resorts for a posh holiday

[knakered]

Thinking of going to Florida next Christmas for a month. No real desire to go but wnat to go somewher hot and easy with 4 kids (youngest only 1yr) - worried that it will be really trashy - are there any posh areas/good places to eat

gulf of mexico coast is beautiful...weather usually in the high 70's/low 80's....depends what you want, Florida doesn't have to be Orlando/Kissimmee......

BTW, we happen to have a Villa we rent in that area too

thats sounds great could you send me a link?

the nearest beach absolutely not trashy !

(check out the nearest beaches at Boca grande & Manasota Key)

and here

here's the villa

Contact us directly if you'd like more info rather than through the website which links to our agent (s)

sandy underscore b at madasafish dot com

We try to get out there twice a year and have been doing so for the past 3 years since DS was 3 and DD 1 - we love it !!

This looks fab...where do you fly to (from London)and with which airline?...we plan to go approx 9/12 - 4/1/08 ...if we did have to do Magic Kingdom /Disney/Whatever - is it daytrippable?

We have been to Florida over Christmas and it was FANTASTIC. We did it just the two of us but have been also with ds when he was 11 mths and also great. Vest & shorts during the day with a jumper in the evening.

Have also done Florida Keys (not for kids, nothing to do) and the Gulf Coast, these are both fab. Have stayed from budget motel to posh 5* hotel and a villa.

With children I would recommend a villa everytime. Eating out there is easy as children are a priority and as their resturants open most of the time you can eat when your children need to. Also 'posh' like Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, Garfunklesn and many others.

Shopping, Disney, beaches all great and the weather tops it all.

Have been in Oct, Nov, Dec & Jan. Jan had a bit of frost but this was freak weather to them.

I am so jealous, but with twins on the way we won't be going back again for a while .

Tampa (from gatwick) is a 90 min drive

Miami (From heathrow) is a 4 and a half hr drive - we stay over in Miami for a night as we're usually knackered from the flight TBH !!!

Disney (MK) us a 2 and a half hr drive so it is do able in a day - though, to make the most of it, again we stay over.

we've stayed here which was a stupid amount of money - but worth every penny (dh had just had a bonus so we used some of that to bookk into Wilderness Lodge !!! When we arrived, they upgraded us to consierge service (I think they do this to first time stayers so that you'll book it when you come back next time - very smart !!!!) We just loved it !!!

Don't know how old your children are but Busch Gardens is fab too (our favourite !) as it has a great animal park as well as the best in rollercoasters - embarrased to admit that we're a little bit of adrenaline junkies though not been allowed to indulge since arrival of DC !!!