Vacation ideas in Florida (not Disney)?

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Since another thread is discussing vacations, I thought that I would bring up my quest for vacation ideas.

We can get pretty good flight tickets to Orlando in mid-June for about 10 days. We are going to visit my wife's sister in Jacksonville for a little bit of the trip, but they don't have any recommendations for us.

I would like to hit up Universal Studios and Islands of Advenure, but we've done Disney twice in the past 5 years, with Seaworld both times as well.

It will be me, my wife (we are in our early 30's) and our two daughters, 13 and 8. The 8 year old is a bit more "reserved" but the 13 year old is somewhat of a daredevil.

So no Disney and no Seaworld. We are open to "outdoor" ideas too, not just theme parks (even though that is all that I have mentioned...

Ideas anyone?

You could always go to Cape Canaveral. I thought it was great when I was there at age 16.

Lots of kayaking possibilities. My wife and I did it here in Jacksonville and it was a lot of fun. Look up Black Creek Outfitters in Jacksonville. They have lots of guided tours and such. There's a guy at the YMCA here I can put you in contact with that leads climbing trips to Alabama/NC. But of course, that's a bit of a weekend thing. Other than that... well, there's always the beach, off shore fishing...

I'll let you know if I think of anything else.

Nick, when you're at Universal don't miss "The Hulk", and "Revenge of The Mummy" - They are musts!

There are tons of other things to do. Here are just a few to get you started:

Busch Gardens - Tampa
Fun Spot Action Park
Old Town - Kissimmee The kids may find it a little dull, but there is the "Slingshot" that launches you 365ft into the air at 100mph, and the "SkyCoaster" which is a 130ft free fall in a hang-gliding sling harness.
Wet n' Wild
Fantasy of Flight
SkyVenture Indoor Skydiving
Titanic - The Experience I saw a smaller version when I was in Vegas - it was amazing.
Central Florida Zoo
Gatorland
Daytona Beach

And here is an article about going to Florida with ‘tweens and teens.

Also, I've had two bad experiences with Dollar Rent a Car down there, so I'd try to avoid them.

I've heard of most of these. Oh, and I've riden Revenge of the Mummy about 30 times the first year it opened. I happened to be in Orlando for a tech conference, and the last day they opened up about 1/3 of Universal Studios to just us. That left Shrek 4D, Twister, a haunted house (since it was in October) and a couple of other things, including the Mummy ride. It was VERY cool!

Anyway, I'll check out some more of the links as well as mrnomas' idea about kayaking...

Anyone with any personal recommendations for any of these?

Apparently, Shawn has a promising career as a travel agent.

We LOVED the Universal parks when we were there.

Also had a very enjoyable day at the beach in Clearwater. I was amazed by the soft, powdery, white sand. That is one freaking boring drive from Orlando to the gulf coast, though. Is the tallest point in Florida somebody's TV antenna? I thought Kansas was flat.

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Apparently, Shawn has a promising career as a travel agent.

Nah, we've just gone every other year for the past 20 years. (Give or take)

As much as we say that we're going somewhere else, it never happens.

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Also had a very enjoyable day at the beach in Clearwater. I was amazed by the soft, powdery, white sand. That is one freaking boring drive from Orlando to the gulf coast, though. Is the tallest point in Florida somebody's TV antenna? I thought Kansas was flat.

Apparently you haven't been to south Florida Tom? Whenever we go up to Orlando we are fascinated by the mountainous terrain.

Well you could just go hang out with Richard. He only lives about 300’ away from a beautiful sandy beach. – no I’m not jealous - the bastard.

I just spent a couple weeks in Orlando on business and took my 13 YO boy with me. I know you said you don’t want to hit Disney, but you ought to spend a day at MGM studios anyway. The tower of terror is a bit different now because they have unlimited ride variations. We must of road that thing a dozen times and each time it was different and scarred the piss out me. Then they also have the Rockin’ Roller Coaster which is way cool. Fantasia was incredible. The stunt car show was pretty cool too.

Universal studios is a blast. We bought season passes with that ‘extra charge’ express line pass. It was worth it. But after two days of Universal and going on every freaking ride there at least a dozen times, we were both burnt out.

We spent about a half day at Canaveral. Man I sure wish we would have spent a whole day there. They even have one of those anti gravity things you can go on. We ran out of time and missed out. If you go, take the advanced tour. You get up closer to the launch pads with this tour. Don’t miss out on the Imax movies either. Way cool…..

If you just want a white sandy beach for day or two, head on over to Siesta Key. That beach has got to be the prettiest I’ve ever seen, anywhere. And I’ve been all over the Caribbean and Europe. The sunsets there are a community event, similar to the Key’s down south. I like Siesta Key the best because it’s a little less popular and not so ‘touristy’ than Clearwater or the Keys. I sorta got ‘lost’ there for a few months. Wished I wouldn't have found myself ever since.

I’d also recommend that you wander over to Bush Gardens. It’s a lot better than Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Better rides and you get up closer to the critters. And when your in Tampa, you really need to ditch the family and go on over to Hooters. The original Hooters is quite a bit different than the rest of them…..

Yeah, Rick, I've been to Miami a couple times.

That 345 foot high Britton Hill, the tallest point in Florida, must be a monster.

It's all relative, Tom. Possibly it affects Floridians about the same way that Rainier does you.

I believe what affects we south Floridians most is the height of the landfills down our way.

Okeechobee county has sold their landfill usage to Dade county as well as Disney World and I do believe in the not too distant future that particular landfill will surpass our current highest elevation point of the 345 ft Britton Hill ... I'm curious to know if plans are to implement a park, monument and hiking trails similar to that of Britton Hill.

Maybe you could get George Wendt to reprise the Hugh Grant role in the remake of "The man who went up a garbage heap and came down a mountain"

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Maybe you could get George Wendt to reprise the Hugh Grant role in the remake of "The man who went up a garbage heap and came down a mountain"

What, George Wendt and Hugh Grant are doing a sequel to Brokeback Mountain called Britton Hill? Dang.

Rich

Don't they have a Hanging Chad Museum in Florida? That could be interesting.