Spring Break 2010: Destination Florida

We live in Florida and have traveled through most of the state. Since we live in the Tampa area, we've been in quite a few of the area's towns and beaches on many occasions.

So, planning to leave town for spring break and your sights are set on Florida. There are a lot places to go in Florida and a lot of things to do whether you're a college student or a family. You can go to Panama City, Daytona or Miami's South Beach for specially planned events and activities for the college crowd.

You can also go to St. Pete/Clearwater with easy proximity to Ybor City's party scene, Busch Gardens and the Strawberry Festival in Plant City which runs from March 1 to 14 with major recording artists performing every night for a fraction of their usual fees or you can go to the Florida Keys.

Then, there's also Orlando with Disney World with all of their different resorts and theme parks, SeaWorld, Wet'n Wild and Universal Orlando which has City Walk and Mardi Gras. Orlando is only 90 minutes from either Daytona or St. Pete/Clearwater where there will be plenty of opportunities for activities and events both planned and spontaneous, depending upon your mood and due to all the available venues to choose from.

Even though the spring break college activities are planned for March 7-31, the actual 2010 spring break time table ranges from February 15 to April 9. Especially, in Florida the different school districts have varying spring break schedules, and the neighboring venues take that into account with the different activities and specials that they may be offering during that time.

Each spring break destination listed in this guide has links that will take you to websites with specific information to help you with planning your special spring break experience, from pricing, scheduling and more information than what is listed here.

This 2010 Spring Break Guide is divided into destinations for the party college student, for the college student or family who wants a calmer vacation or family friendly venues:

Destination: College Party Event

Panama City Beach; March 7-31, 2010:

Panama City has 27 miles of white sugar sand(Floridian term is white sugar sand or sugar sand, because the sand isn't just white, but it's also superfine with low gravity and tends to waft on a breeze or disturbance if it's dry.) and coffee tinted tan colored sand. The average temperatures during March can be 71 to 77 degrees daytime values with nighttime being around 47 to 53 degrees. Panama City is located in the Pan Handle or northern end of Florida.

Panama City is considered by some to be "Spring Break Capital" due to the city's preference to put out the welcome mat for college students on spring break. They usually host a wide selection of companies who sponsor many special events with free give-aways and wild contests. MTV often is involved in the festivities offering their brand of entertainment.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_2.htm
http://goflorida.about.com/od/panamacity/ss/springbreak_pcb.htm

Daytona Beach from March 7-31, 2010:

Daytona is located on the Atlantic coast north-east of Orlando. The area has 23 miles of wide white sand beach where 16 miles is compact enough to drive on. Average March temperatures during the day are 76 to 80 degrees and at night they can be 54 to 58 degrees.

The town offers many nightclubs with plenty of nightlife as well as sponsored activities that are specifically planned for spring break. Daytona Beach usually puts on their annual Spring Break Nationals, which involve a lot of fun activities which include bikini contests, a glow-off, concerts and the "World's Most Famous Soundoff" along with a lot of other planned activities. The Nationals are scheduled for March 13 and 24 in 2010.

They also have regular, popular venues such as Daytona Lagoon, a popular water themed amusement park, Daytona 500 Experience as well as water craft rentals and water tours. Daytona Beach is also not that far from Orlando and all of its theme parks.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_3.htm
http://goflorida.about.com/od/daytonaeastcoast/ss/springbreak_db.htm

Miami's South Beach:

South Beach is a trendier, hipper Spring Break location where people like to go see and be seen. It's possible to sight celebrities filming on location or vacationing, as well as to rub elbows with models. You might also encounter rollerbladers as well as owners of vintage cars and Harleys during the days while enjoying club hopping at night.

The big thing with South Beach and the Miami area is the club scene, the shopping and the beaches. There are also lots of places to go and see such as the Everglades, the zoo, parks, cruises and museums.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_4.htm
http://studenttravel.about.com/od/springbreak/a/floridabreak.htm
http://miami.about.com/od/traveltourism/a/spring_break.htm

Destination: Quiet College Student or Family Location

Daytona Beach Area's Spring Family Beach Break Season from March 8 to May 26, 2010:

Special discounts on local attractions, restaurants and shops are available and suitable for couples, seniors, friends and families. There are all kinds of fun festivals planned throughout the season, such as Bike Week, the Spring Car Show and Daytona Supercross in March, National Cheerleading competition, Dance Troupe.

Competition and an antiques festival in April and Daytona Beach Relay For Life and FishStock with a fishing tournament, boat show and kid's activities, etc in May.

www.familybeachbreak.com
http://goflorida.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=goflorida&cdn=travel&tm=8&gps...
http://daytonabeach.com/calendar.cfm/category/all/monthof/2010-03-01/type/mont...

Florida Keys, Especially Key West:

Average March daytime temperatures range from 79 to 82 degrees with the nighttime degrees generally around 69 to 72.

The beaches may close at 11pm. But the bars are open until 4:00am. Key West has a varied population with a variety of activities to suit just about anyone. Some of the venues that they offer are Harry Truman's Little White House, the Historic Seaport and Mallory Square where you can shop in unique shops, watch street performers or take a sunset cruise, Mel Fisher Maritime Museum which displays recovered sunken treasure from Spanish treasure ships, Pat Croce's Pirate Soul Museum which is full of authentic pirate memorabilia, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium, The Ernest Hemingway House and Museum, the Key West Cemetery which has very creative headstone epitaphs, The Key West Lighthouse Museum and the Conch Tour Train which offers two tours of Key West.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_5.htm
http://goflorida.about.com/od/allaboutflorida/ss/springbreak_fk.htm

St. Pete-Clearwater Beaches:

This area is very popular with the spring break crowd, with the miles of available white sand beaches from Caladesi Island to Eggmont Key, along with the centrally located Clearwater Beach. Our favorite is Sand Key Beach, which is south of Clearwater Beach. Average daytime temperatures are usually 74 to 80 and 68 to 74 at night during March.

There are several things to do in the beach area, such as shopping and different activities on the various beaches, depending upon the location. The area isn't that far from other areas of int erst. There are several bridges that will take you across the bay to the club scene in Ybor City, to Busch Gardens, Tampa Aquarium, or I-4 into Plant City for the Strawberry Festival or onto Orlando for all of it's theme parks, outlet shopping and other
venues.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_6.htm

Check out this site for specific Spring Break info on Clearwater/St Pete

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g34141-i132-k3303545-l23589017-Spring...

Orlando for the College Crowd:

Orlando's average daytime temperature during March is around 83 degrees. their nighttime temperatures tend around 62 degrees.

Orlando has Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando and Wet'n Wild. The spring break party center appears to be moving from Disney World, due some changes made last year in their venues, to Universal Orlando. Universal Orlando offers CityWalk which has Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, the Red Coconut Club and several other clubs, as well as their Mardi Gras celebration is every weekend from mid February through to mid April.

Orlando also offers a wide range of outlet shopping and they're not that far from either St Pete/Clearwater or Daytona Beach.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_7.htm

Orlando as a Family destination:

Disney World has special events planned during the spring break period with families in mind. They have several specially priced packages and several different option choices to maximize your vacation experience. They also have several resorts that are geared to the family with children, such as All-Star Music Resort and Caribbean Beach Resort.

Universal Orlando has several special vacation packages which either include free days in their resorts or combine multiple parks. They also offer lower deposits and refunds due to job loss.

You can also stay in Orlando, not at any of the theme parks, where there are plenty of motels to choose from for very good prices and just go into the theme parks for the day and go enjoy the extensive outlet malls along International Drive.

There are also other attractions such as Sea World with their newly added Aquatica and Wet'n Wild.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_8.htm
http://disney.go.com/index
http://www.universalorlando.com/Home/home.aspx?ComponentId=7804&...

Destination: Family Friendly Venues:

There are also a lot of other choices in Florida that are family friendly with different activities and schedules that are either specifically offered for the family with children for both the adults and the children in mind, or they are options that would appeal to both parents and their children for a spring break destination.

There is for example:

Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando, which is like it's own theme park.

The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort on Longboat Key has complimentary recreational programs for differing age groups.

Club Med Sandpiper in Port St. Lucie has all kinds of options for both parents and their children, one of which is their "circus school" and trips to local theme parks.

Amelia Island Plantation on Amelia Island offers a wide range of programs for young children through to teens, such as Kid's Camp and Teen Explorers.

Cheeca Lodge on Islamorada offers various half day programs for ages five and older.

Casa Ybel Resort on Sanibel Island provides three hours of indoor and outdoor activities per day in their Casa Kids Club for ages 4 to 11.

Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Sandestin, they offer a village full of shops for the entire family and day and night children's programs for both children and teens.

The Breakers in Palm Beach have a family entertainment center which includes a toddler room, arcade, computer x-box room and they also have the Coconut Crew Camp for ages 3 to 12.

Then there's St Augustine, which is the oldest European founded city in the country. It has a lot to offer families in its shopping, historical buildings, unique old world ambiance and beaches.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_9.htm
http://goflorida.about.com/od/hotelslodging/tp/familyresorts.htm

Sources:

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_2.htm

http://goflorida.about.com/od/panamacity/ss/springbreak_pcb.htm.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_3.htm

http://goflorida.about.com/od/daytonaeastcoast/ss/springbreak_db.htm

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_4.htm

http://studenttravel.about.com/od/springbreak/a/floridabreak.htm

http://miami.about.com/od/traveltourism/a/spring_break.htm

www.familybeachbreak.com

http://goflorida.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=goflorida&cdn=travel&tm=8&gps=162_185_685_269&f=21&su=p284.9.336.ip_p531.50.336.ip_&tt=29&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//daytonabeach.com/familybeachbreak

http://daytonabeach.com/calendar.cfm/category/all/monthof/2010-03-01/type/monthly#calendar

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_5.htm

http://goflorida.about.com/od/allaboutflorida/ss/springbreak_fk.htm

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_6.htm

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g34141-i132-k3303545-l23589017-Spring_Break_Destination-Clearwater_Florida.html

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_7.htm

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_8.htm

http://disney.go.com/index

http://www.universalorlando.com/Home/home.aspx?ComponentId=7804&SourcePageId=7805#270

http://goflorida.about.com/od/planningyourtrip/ss/springbreak_9.htm

http://goflorida.about.com/od/hotelslodging/tp/familyresorts.htm