What do moms of many do for vacations

[Mamata3]

Am expecting number 4 this summer and want more but DH has an issue with not being able to give our kids experiences because it will cost a lot more with more kids. We have done Hawaii, Disneyland (but lived in San Diego so we drove), we have driven up to Washington to visit family. I just want to know how family's with many do trips, what is cost affective and do you find that you don't fit in hotels in your price range. We are a single income military family.

[McMandy]

We never fly, always drive. Search for deals and use discount sites or groupons when available.

We do not do places like Disney. We usually look for places that have a lot of outdoor fun, like rivers and lakes, nature trails, maybe a working ranch, etc. Kids love the openness of places, and the fresh air. These places are usually less crazy-busy!

We find places that have kitchens or kitchenettes to stay in and bring food or do a little grocery shopping when we get there.

If there are museums in the area, we check them out. Since we homeschool, we like our vacations to have an educational aspect.

Oh, and we typically stay in our state but we live in Texas, so that's easy to do!

[4boys1girlforme]

We just deal shop and make sure we set aside a vacation fund from our income tax return each year.
We go to Great Wolf Lodge (I take all of our food and we eat in the room- meaning I feed 7/8 with a dorm fridge and tiny microwave) every year for my 2 oldest boys birthdays and we go to Daytona every year. We rent a house for a week in Daytona and it has a full kitchen so I prepare all of our meals. We have taken the kids to Disney World but it cost about $400 for one day!

[irishmama2]

what's a vacation?

[mommyfrog]

Camping, but that's not really much of a vacation for me!!

[watermelon]

We travel at off times. I've never had a problem taking the kids out of school as they are good students. We also take mini vacations...

[GooseBella]

I come from a family with 4 kids... we always did camping. But we would go to places that had lots of activities. Free/ really cheap tourist attractions, pool/lakes, hiking/biking trails, etc. Those camping trips are some of my most favorite memories from childhood. A vacation is as fun as you make it. KOAs are great places for camping.

[shanree]

We are a family of 10. We are actually leaving in about 12 hours for our 1st family trip to WDW... The biggest expense was the tickets. We are driving down. We actually found a 4 bed 3 bath villa to rent on vrbo.com thanks to mamas here on ds that recommended that site it has amazing amenities (heated pool, game room, double master suites) and was cheaper than a cheap motel!!! We are going to do all of our eating at the house as it has a full kitchen. I pre-bought our mickey ears hats & small souviners on ebay, saving hundreds! I paid for our villa in payments over several months so it didn't hit us in one chunk. Overall, our family of ten will have 5 days in disney parks, 7 nights in a nice villa and our grand total after food & gas will be $3900.00 (tickets $2100, villa $690, $1000 or so in gas & food)
We are by no means a wealthy family and this is a rare treat. We probably won't take another vacation for the next 5 or so years... So this one will be worth it and I feel it is incredibly cheap considering my parents spent as much taking me & my brother to wdw 20 years ago!

ETA: we are also a single income family (very low end of middle class income)

Shanna. Sent via android

[Rockinmama24]

We get either connecting rooms or a 2 bed suite. I'm not going on vacation to cook so we eat out the whole trip. Disney is great because we get the dining plan. Cruises are great because all meals are included.

Sent from my iPhone

[raisingcropsandbabies]

I'm from a family with 12-14 kids (we had foster siblings as well as biological). For vacation we would go camping at a lake 25 minutes away. My dad did carpentry work for the guy who owned it and so we got in there free. We LOVED going to the lake! Every other year or so we would drive 7 hours away to Nashville and along the way we'd stop at caves to explore and we'd stay with family once we got there. It was so fun.

Honestly, I think places like Disney World would have been too intimidating for us! We lived at the lake in the summer and looking back I think getting a bunch of lower key experiences frequently was pretty awesome.