A good family vacation within three hours (by air) of Seattle?

February 25, 2009 1:27 PM

Sun and warmth no more than a three-hour flight from Seattle?

My family and I would like to take a vacation. Somewhere warm, somewhere sunny, somewhere other than Legoland (which is great but we were there recently). Some qualities I'm looking for:

- If we fly the flight can't be more than three hours long, leaving from SeaTac. I think that's going to be the biggest problem.

- Lots of activities for two small, hyper children.

- A reasonable number of activities for two energetic adults.

- All-inclusive is fine, cheesy is fine.

- Nobody trying to get more money from us. (It was annoying and stressful at the San Diego Wild Animal Park to have to keep explaining to the kids why we couldn't do various activities.)

- We're not interested in mingling, or taking part in limbo contests. It's fine if they're going on around us, but it needs to be okay for us to not participate.

- If the three-hour flight is too limiting, we could consider taking a train somewhere not warm but with good snowy activities. Idaho? Montana?

Any suggestions? Don't worry about the budget: please just brainstorm away, and I'll figure out for myself what's possible.

posted by The corpse in the library to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Woo Hoo! Come to Phoenix!! Stay in a resort such as this one. They have kids activities, a water park, etc.
posted by Sassyfras at 1:39 PM on February 25, 2009

Albuquerque is downright hot today (thanks, global warming!) and has lots of fun things to do with your family -- hiking, mountains, an aerial tram, a great zoo, an aquarium and huge botanical garden with a working farm, shopping, bicycling, drunken vagrants, I could go on...

Plus it is cheap, and could alternately be considered all-inclusive and cheesy.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 1:48 PM on February 25, 2009

Palm Springs - La Quinta Resort. If you google that name + kids you'll see some good reviews. Warm, sunny, easy hiking/walks, 40+ pools, and the Children's Discovery Museum.

Or Palm Desert - Marriott Resort.
posted by barnone at 2:44 PM on February 25, 2009

Search through here to see all the nonstop destinations. I see one flight a day on Horizon Air from Seattle to Fresno (QXE531, operating for Alaskan Airlines)... that could be a good launch base for Yosemite Park and the Sierra Nevadas.
posted by crapmatic at 2:48 PM on February 25, 2009

Ha - I was just about to suggest San Diego and the Wild Animal Park (I was there last weekend). There's plenty of other stuff to do down here, though, and it's lovely outside.
posted by mamessner at 2:50 PM on February 25, 2009

barnone beat me to it. Palm Springs and not just Palm Springs but specifically La Quinta Resort.

As a Seattlite, I've taken comfort there twice in the past year and it's just awesome. FANTASTIC pools everywhere (with subtle differences in temp so you can always find one that's just right) and beautiful grounds.

From there you could do a bunch of stuff and at the top of the list I'd put the tram to the (not quite) top of Mt San Jacinto.
posted by donovan at 3:35 PM on February 25, 2009

If snow is okay, Northern Utah is (understandably) great for a family with little kids. Park City can be fun and there are many local oriented snow play areas (not expensive).
If you really want sun and warmth, you can fly to Vegas (horrible airport, BTW) and get to Zion, Bryce, Cedar Breaks etc. within an hour or two in a rental car.
posted by Carmody'sPrize at 4:23 PM on February 25, 2009

Virgin Atlantic has sale fares to Los Angeles and you can do things like go on studio tours or theme parks.
posted by matildaben at 5:21 PM on February 25, 2009

We once took a cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles, then did some activities there for a few days before flying home to Alberta. Princess & Royal Caribbean have wonderful kids programs, our kids always wanted to stay "a few more minutes" when we went to pick them up and loved the staff members. This gives mom and dad some time to do some relaxing sans kids which we loved as well. There are also cruises that continue down the west coast of Mexico which will last a few days longer or north to Alaska which would be beautiful in the summer. Have fun!
posted by albertagirl at 11:24 PM on February 26, 2009