Tampa, FL Trip Advice/Questions

[DezaRay24]

I'm planning a trip to Tampa next year April/May and am looking for any advise on what to do down there and what not. It is just going to be me and my 10.5 year old son.

 

I'm not sure what Zoo's, Theme Parks, Water Parks are in the area of Tampa so any help would be great. And links to sites, coupons, discounts and what not too!

 

Thanks

 

DezaRay

[kselzer]

Hit the beaches definately. I liked the Clearwater Beaches the best, although they are the busiest. If you want a quieter beach try the ones in the southwest part of St. Petersburg, go to the last exit off 275 South, before you hit the bridge and go west. You will hit St. Pete Beach area. I would say skip the last exit and go across the bridge, the views are breathtaking from the Sunshine Skyway bridge, then just turnaround and come back to St. Petersburg.

 

There are tons of touristy shops all along the main drag in Clearwater that are constantly competing with each other to have lower prices. I would skip the zoo. I went when I lived down there and I literally went to find a map to figure out where the rest of the zoo was and found that I had seen it all! It is a tiny zoo - but I guess I am spoiled living near the Columbus Zoo. I would definately go to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. It is a great place for any age and one of the best aquariums I've ever seen, http://www.flaquarium.org/ I never really seen any discounts for this unless you had a local Entertainment book, they had a B1G1 admission in there.

 

The St. Petersburg pier is a great place for taking in sunsets or sunrises. Also there is a great park in St. Petersburg, I can't recall the name, but it is like a state park or city park. Free and usually you will see some wildlife on the walk, including possibly some gators.

 

I don't claim to know much about sports, so not sure if baseball is in season in April-May, but Tampa Bay does have a major league baseball team, going to a game might be good for a 10-yr old boy.

 

I lived there and didn't visit so I'm not sure about all the touristy stuff and discount websites.

[roaddogg7575]

Florida Aquarium stinks unless you can get a real discounted admission ticket....If you enjoy rides and roller coasters, Busch Gardens is the place to go. Also. I know you're going to be in Tampa, but Orlando is only 45 min to 1hr away via I-4. Disney Parks, Universal, Sea World...alot more to do there.

[DezaRay24]

Florida Aquarium stinks unless you can get a real discounted admission ticket....If you enjoy rides and roller coasters, Busch Gardens is the place to go. Also. I know you're going to be in Tampa, but Orlando is only 45 min to 1hr away via I-4. Disney Parks, Universal, Sea World...alot more to do there.

Disney world just seems a bit out of our price range right now. and I'm not sure If we are renting a car or just going to take a taxi to places.

[lecomptek]

My family loved the aquarium and Busch Gardens in Tampa. :)

[heatherkw]

We go to Busch Gardens in VA all the time so we purchased the season passes for Busch parks. If you live close to any these are a good deal. We plan on taking the kids to BG Tampa the beginning of '08 before they expire. We really like the park here' very clean and family oriented! Have fun DH and I will also be there the first of the year for him to have surgery. We stay in downtown Tampa and ride the Trolley. If you take a cab downtown to anywhere else downtown it is a flat $6 don't let them overcharge you! It was $22 from the airport to downtown also a flat rate.

Heather

[ms_mckenna]

I have to agree on Busch gardens. I went every year when I visited my god mother in the summers and I loved it there!

[Kayakmom]

Last year we took a little side trip to Clearwater Beach from my mom's house (she lives about an hour north) and stayed for 4 days right near Pier 60. It was awesome! The beach was the bomb, hubby and I enjoyed the little street bars and singers, and Sunset at Pier 60 was very neat. My kids still talk about the Tricky Dog Show and the fire eating man and the silver lady (mime). It was really a good time.

 

Other than that, they've liked The Florida Aquarium and Lowry Park Zoo. It's a really neat zoo and have kids wear bathing suits because they have all these neat spouty things coming out of the ground to get wet and there are spray things in the kid section. There are also a couple of tame rides. My older son (10) enjoys them, but he prefers stuff like Tower of Terror or Rockin Rollercoaster at Disney, lol. MOSI has been on our "to do" list for a while, but we haven't made it there yet. We did see a MOSI guy doing a really cool show at my mom's local library. Busch Gardens and Islands of Adventure are right in Tampa, too. There are really plenty of choices.

 

Oh yeah. St. Pete airport is very chill and laid back compared to Tampa where you have to take this whole tram/shuttle thing to get back to the main airport part and all that. St. Pete is a walk in/walk out sort of little place with an island kind of feel. Tampa has the "metropolis" kind of feel, I think.

 

I must say that I loved Clearwater Beach and I would go back there with my hubby again in a heartbeat. It was one of the nicest times we've ever had. (Of course it helped to have grandma (my mom) with an adjoining room so she could keep an eye on the kids and we could go out whenever we wanted, lol.)

[bassgirls]

Having lived in the Tampa area For 28 years Id say most advice given was right on Lowry Park Zoo (its great with new additions to it now) The aquarium is cool , MOSI (museum of science and industry) is pretty cool and they have an IMAX theatre there but its all science realted shows, Busch Gardens is cool but their prices rank right up there with Disney, Adventure Island- part of the BG family- is cheaper and fun. Its a water park that opens early with heated water until it warms up..., theres the St. Pete pier, and beaches The best beach in Florida is Ft Desoto and thats by the beach voting things really nice. Theres tons of other stuff but it requires some drive time