I am coming from a town of 600 people. I am not fond of crowds....but this one is for the kids. We're definitely doing at least one day on the gulf side beaches.
We naturally spend most of our time on the oceanside and don't visit the gulf coast too often. When it comes to swimming with dolphins and such, that Sabastian Inlet State park is good for a chance to get close to wild dolphins. To swim with dolphins in a restricted setting, the Dolphin Research Center is a good option (Key Largo , if I remember right). The thing to remember is that there really is more to Florida (or most any other state) than meets the eye. There is natural Florida (my preference) and there is man-made Florida (Disney World and Universal). There are also combinations of the two. There are the two coasts and the interior, north and south, and the everglades. In Melbourne, we have canoed up Turkey Creek and had the manatees right next to the canoe. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can't see it all at once. I think I would get Universal out of the way first (a couple of days should do it), then pick an area to cover. If you want to see South Florida and the Keys, I'd plan on another trip just for that! We spent 2 weeks in Everglades National Park and went back twice more. GD
