what to see/do in these cities? (XP from MM)

[CloudBee]

We're looking for a long weekend trip to take in mid-November. There's a very small local airport that does non-stop flights to several hubs.

Here are a few non-stop destinations that have flights on Friday evenings that wouldn't require us to leave work early:
-Charlotte
-Chicago
-Atlanta
-Orlando (willing to drive 30-45 mins for hotel, do not want Disney)

We want to get a rental car and would prefer to outside the city wherever we go.

We're looking to for a quick trip that's less hassle than our typical international vacations, which is why we're not choosing to fly out of one of the 3 major airports within an hour of us.

We mainly want to go somewhere that we can drive around, stop at local restaurants, and just explore, if that makes sense.

Chicago for instance - is there anything to do if we really want to avoid the city aside from popping in maybe just for dinner one night? What's in the suburbs worth seeing for someone who just wants to get away and explore? If we avoided the city altogether, would that be stupid?

Has anyone been to Orlando on vacation and found things to do other than Disney? I'm pregnant so I can't go on any rides. I wouldn't mind swinging in to Epcot one evening for dinner, but that's probably about it. If we do Orlando, the husband would probably want to stop at Harry Potter World. That looks pretty ride heavy, no? Is there much else to do/see at HPW besides rides?

Charlotte - this is high on our list, but if we go here, there's pressure to visit family who lives 2'ish hrs away. ugh

Read more: pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=mm&action=display&thread=46683#ixzz24282Vj6y

[allibally]

Well Chicago is a lot more then the downtown. You could enjoy the food and nightlife in one of the neighborhoods. You could stay in Lincoln Park and enjoy that area of the city and visit the Old Town. We live in one of the more Northern neighborhoods past Wrigley living here and going out is totally relaxed compared to being downtown.

We've also stayed at a BB in Oak Park which is only a 20 minute ride via EL downtown.

[travelingturtle]

For Orlando: Not sure when the food & wine festival is, but if you are there during that time you should go to that. It's at Epcot. Basically there are a bunch of food & wine stations outside of the regular restaurants. It's nice.

Harry Potter is part of Islands of Adventure, so it's not an all-day thing itself. Islands of Adventure is fun, but a lot of the rides there are not going to be good for pregnant people. I would do it anyway since I like IOA, but not sure if it's worth it for you.

If you were to look across Central Florida from I4 going from Tampa to Daytona, some stops off the top of my head... (I apologize if I'm missing anything, I'm not as familiar with things in Tampa or between Tampa and Disney)

Bok Towers
Disney property
I-drive: tourist central, cheesy gift shops and restaurants, Sea World, Discovery Cove, Wet & Wild, lots of miniature golf, ripley's museums
Universal Studios: Citiwalk, IOA
Two big malls: Florida Mall (huge mall) and Millenium Mall (higher end shops) and there are also a few outlets between disney and Universal
Downtown Orlando: The downtown area itself is not too big, but there are some good restaurants and some night life and museums
Winter Park: Cute little area that's very different from the touristy west side of Orlando. Shops, smaller museums, and good restaurants especially in the downtown winter park area (Park Ave.)
Wekiva Springs: For outdoor activities, natural springs "pool", kayaking, canoeing, hiking...
Mount Dora: A cute town with lots of antique shops and restaurants
Deland: Very small downtown area, somewhere near this is a good Pancake restaurant at Deleon Springs. The springs are also really nice.
Daytona Beach: I don't particularly care for Daytona, but the nearby town of New Smyrna Beach is cute.

If you're willing to, you could also drive up to St. Augustine and there are some good things to do there. It's not a far drive.

[scout8]

I second alli. I think that staying in one of the neighborhoods outside of the loop would be fun. If you want to stay in one of the suburbs, Oak Park would be a good choice. Lots to do and easy access to downtown on the el.

If you wanted to get farther out of Chicago, Lake Geneva or Southwest Michigan would be good options.

[moreace01]

IMO, coming to Chicago and not staying in the city is kind of...more hassle than it is worth. Driving is a royal pain since traffic is bad pretty much all the time and parking (and paying for parking) is a hassle. Lincoln park is still technically the city. It would be less annoying to stay somewhere in the city, don't rent a car and then just take cabs or public transportation everywhere.
Its kind of like - I wouldn't rent a car to visit NYC. Its not worth it. I also wouldn't stay in New Jersey if I was going to NYC.

As far as staying in the actual burbs - our burbs are like all other suburbs. Not worth a trip out there IMO.

Lake Geneva is an hour and a half drive from Chicago. Maybe an hour and 15 from O'Hare. Much farther from Midway.

[hz80408]

I agree with Moreace in some regards. It'd be cheaper for you not to rent a car and to take a train into the city; although depending on how far along you are, you may prefer a car.

There's also Evanston, Highland Park, and Naperville; which are suburbs with cute downtown areas...but personally if I were going to fly here, I'd want to go to the city itself.

Is Milwaukee an option for your flights? Its so much smaller than Chicago that it's not a pain to drive there and there's a decent amount of stuff to do.

[allibally]

It's not that difficult to get from the airport to Lincoln Park or Old Town. Even Wrigley isn't that hard. You don't need a car to be in any of those neighborhoods. Take a Taxi or get on the El. No need to get a rental car.

Comparing Lincoln Park to the Loop... Eh whatever you want to think. But to me they are two different places.