Trip Itinerary - family with 5 yr old girl & infant

[Rocco Barbosa]

Antico's Pizza
Goin Coastal

Originally Posted by MovingToWhere?

We are planning a two night trip to Atlanta at the end of the month on a Friday/Saturday leave Sunday. I have read a lot of threads and did research on the various attractions. It appears the locals do not recommend staying downtown (see the thread from a few months ago in citydata) near the Aquarium/WOC due to the lack of other walking attractions and food.

It will be a family of four with a 5 year old girl and a infant. We will not be able to pack too much into the days and will probably have to take a break every 4 hours for feedings.

My only MUST see is the Aquarium and a cocktail at the Sundial restaurant.

I think we may be able to fit another 2 or 3 stops into the trip. The other items that I thought might be worthwhile are:

• Children's Museum
• Ferris Wheel
• Stone Mountain
• Center for Puppetry
• Inside CNN Studio Tour
• Legoland Discovery Center
• World of Coke
• Zoo

I would appreciate your thoughts and feedback on another 2 or 3 things to fill the itinerary.

In regards to lodging, my family prefers a suite type layout. I generally look for Residence Inns or Embassy Suites. That being said the Embassy suites near the Aquarium is full during my stay. I was planning to book the Residence Inn until the feedback I saw in other threads about the location non- ideal and the parking premium.

I'd appreciate any restaurants for family recommendations as well. So far I have heard good things about:

• Fat Matt's
• Buckhead Diner
• Mary Mac

Thanks in advance!

[AtlJan]

Six Feet Under is fun for kids and is right near Zoo Atlanta

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by gumboula

I have two kids about the same age apart (now 7 and 3) and have spent lots of time at all the attractions you mention. It is going to be a quick trip and you don't want to spend time lugging kids in and out of the car and trying to find your way around the city (which really isn't easy). So I would actually disagree about not staying downtown near the Aquarium. I would stay at any of the hotels right near Centennial Olympic Park and focus on what is close. Nowhere in Atlanta is a very walkable, but getting on the highway for anything is no fun at all.

My ideal itinerary would be:

Friday - Aquarium, all day. See the dolphin show and the Nemo movie. Eat lunch there. It has a kid friendly food court. The restroom has a good nursing area, plus upstairs is overflow seating which is often a quiet place to feed a baby. Go back to the hotel and rest. Late afternoon/early evening take the kids to the Centennial Olympic Park playgrounds that are right across from Pemberton Place (location of aquarium, World of Coke, etc.), then cocktails at Sundial and dinner downtown.

Saturday - Zoo Atlanta, all day, if you are up for a quick drive. Get there as soon as it opens. Eat there (also good, kid friendly food). Go back to the hotel and rest. Late afternoon/early evening ride the Ferris Wheel. Then take the MARTA train somewhere for dinner. You can get off at Arts Center and have a number of options of places to eat in walking distance. And just getting on the train for a quick ride is fun for a five year old. If you have a good zoo at home, then replace the zoo with the Children's Museum. The Children's Museum will only fill a few hours, though. So I would replace the Ferris Wheel with the High Museum in the afternoon (take MARTA to Arts Center and stay in that area for dinner). Looks like the Alliance Theater (which is adjacent to the High) has a Theater for the Very Young performance at the end of the month, so you may want to work that in.

Honestly, I wouldn't seek out any special restaurants. Anything worth a special trip is not going to be very kid friendly. Fat Matt's is not the best BBQ around; Buckhead Diner is really fancier than you think when you hear diner, and not worth a special trip to Buckhead; Mary Mac's would be an OK choice for the kitsch factor, but not much else.

eat at the aquarium!? no restaurant trips!? kitsch factor?!?!?!?

this is supposed to be a vacation, right? i know you've got kids to carry around, but you're going to be absolutely miserable if you have to go to McDonald's for every meal. and kitsch factor? what's kitschy about mary mac's? it's southern food, not "south of the border". there's no gimmicks, it's a tea room, been there since the 1940s.

i think the above person has some good suggestions about staying in town and not driving long distances— in general that will be a waste of time that you could spend doing other things. but atlanta is a restaurant city— we've got 1 restaurant for every 400 people. we've got tons of local restaurants that range from affordable hole-in-the-wall type places to gourmet. you can't eat junk food for two days because you think your kids want junk food. some of my best memories as a kid are eating at local restaurants with my dad... there's a personal and endearing nature to many of our spots that will make memories. don't miss out on it.

as someone else said above, i would definitely put piedmont park and the botanical gardens up at the top of your list— they are right next to each other and would make a really nice trip. as for the beltline, it was just finished last fall and is not that great because there isn't a lot of tree shade or stuff to do along it yet— your kids will get hot and tired.

if you'd like to go to a neat place for lunch one day, you might want to check out the sweet auburn curb market (the sign says "municipal market"). it's a combination of a traditional market and several local (and affordable!) restaurants together. your kids might get a kick out of that (it's like the produce section at the store except with restaurants! what!? )

also, ride on the subway at least once, if you're not going to use it for the whole trip (which is very much possible), and ride up the really long baker street escalator at peachtree center. your kids will get a kick out of that. also, the subway escalator ends at a mall (peachtree center mall). that used to blow my mind as a kid.

the aquarium is definitely a good idea— the world of coke might bore them, except for the end, where you get to taste 150 different types of soda.

one last suggestion— go to antico! it's a neopolitan pizza place where you see movie stars all the time, but it's super casual. you get to see them bake the pizzas also. kids will love that.

[gumboula]

Update on my earlier post... Took my kids to the GSU football game at the GA Dome this weekend and things were literally hopping around Centennial Olympic Park. We at lunch outside at Hudson Grille (corner of Marietta and Andrew Young) and the kids loved it. So I repeat my suggestion to stay around downtown.

BTW, in response to bryantm3 above... I DID NOT mean to imply eat at McDonald's when I said not to go out of your way to seek out special restaurants. I just meant that you can find good places to eat downtown without heading to Buckhead (home of Buckhead Diner and sort-of near home to Fat Mat's) or the Westside or even Midtown. Hudson Grille is not my idea of the best place to eat in Atlanta (a local chain), but it is convenient and you could walk to it. And definitely not McDonald's. Ditto for eating at the aquarium or the zoo. When I said kid-friendly, I did not mean that all you could get were chicken nuggets. My kids love the salad bar at the aquarium and the veggie burger and homemade chips at the zoo. (I think that some of the posters either don't have kids or haven't had them at home for a long time. Sorry for the snide aside.)

[MovingToWhere?]

@junimar
Thanks I will look into for the additional list of suggestions and restaurants. I will
definately check them out. Are the shows at the theaters kid friendly? Thanks for the tip
on the new Hyatt Place, I didn't come across it previously.

@lastminutemom
She does like children's museums so I will definately move that up and drop the visit to
Legos. She isn't passionate about Lego's I was just looking for unique experiences to fill
the agenda. Thanks for the other tips - we love going to Zoo's but don't have a convenient
one near home and thus do not make it there often. Based on your feedback it sounds like
the theaters and puppetry are off the list. We are planning on coming in Friday around
noon.

@dblackga
I appreciate the recommendations especially the other hotel options. We are coming in next
weekened 25-27 so I don't think the Pride festival will come into play.

@AtlJan
You speak the truth. I often try to share these trip experiences with my daughter who may
not be as excited as I am. As you state, she would be just as happy if not happier at
chasing a lizard. At the same time, my wife and I would like to enjoy the city attractions
as well so it is delicate balance. We are coming to Atlanta for just a quick weekend
getaway, we don't have family in the area.

@deacongirl - Thanks!

@gumboula
Thanks for the tip on the hotel location, that was my inital thought as well given the
limited amout of research I reviewed on Atlanta. I love the itinerary and appreciate the
additional feedback on the secondary options which confirms the recommendations you have
made. The detail on restaurants was especially helpful. On trips I really enjoy eating out
and trying good local food.
In regards to your second post, I understood what you meant the first time. That given the duration of my trip, kids, and traffic that it doesn't make sense to crisscross over the city just to eat. I do appreciate the additional clarity.

@AtlJan
Yes, coming at the end of the month 25-27th. Thanks others have mention planning time for
Centennial Park. I will be sure to plan for it.
I appreciate the Six Feet Under recommendation. I wasn't sure what was going to appear
after I googled it.

@residinghere2007
Thanks for the feedback. Given that many are recommending the Children's Museum, Zoo,
Acquarium, and Fernbank perhaps we can come down late Thursday to give us more time on
Friday to spend the day visit. Othwerwise do you think it would be difficult to fit all 4
in 1/2 day Friday, all day Saturday, and 1/2 day Sunday.

@Rocco
Thanks for the restaurants!

@bryantm3
I agree with most of what you said. As I mentioned above I really enjoy eating out and
trying good local food. Sweet Auburn Curb Market sounds truely unique and awesome. I'll
have to put that down as a must do in addition to the subway and escalator.

I appreciate all the help of the forum. Thanks to your help, I'm looking forward to the trip even more now. I will be finalizing plans this week.

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by MovingToWhere?

@junimar
Thanks I will look into for the additional list of suggestions and restaurants. I will
definately check them out. Are the shows at the theaters kid friendly? Thanks for the tip
on the new Hyatt Place, I didn't come across it previously.


@residinghere2007
Thanks for the feedback. Given that many are recommending the Children's Museum, Zoo,
Acquarium, and Fernbank perhaps we can come down late Thursday to give us more time on
Friday to spend the day visit. Othwerwise do you think it would be difficult to fit all 4
in 1/2 day Friday, all day Saturday, and 1/2 day Sunday.


I appreciate all the help of the forum. Thanks to your help, I'm looking forward to the trip even more now. I will be finalizing plans this week.

I think you could do all of those in your visit but it would be tight and depends on your kids' level of exhaustion lol. My 5 year old can go-go-go, so I base my recommendations on her. I would do the aquarium and maybe the children's museum on the same day since they are close together.

I will be honest and say, personally, I'm not all that fond of the aquarium, we have spent about 2-3 hours there for a visit at the most (I've been 3 times). My kids like the Children's Museum more because it is more....I can only think of hectic in a kid sort of way. My 5 year old especially loves it and due to us kind of speeding through the aquarium, I would do both in the same day, maybe a morning and afternoon sort of activity, but that could be tiring for your baby or you and your spouse with all the walking. My 5 year old wouldn't get tired lol. So I would load up on espresso and take her to both in the same day, probably Saturday and spend the half days of Friday and Sunday doing the zoo or Fernbank, both of which we usually take more time to go through versus the aquarium. The zoo is a longer visit than the Fernbank though as my kids like to look at the bones and get to the play area more than anything at the Fernbank so we spend most of our day at the play area there where at the zoo there is just so much more to see and do so we frequently spend 4-5 hours at the zoo.

[gerrythesnake]

Take them to the new haunted house attraction in Atlantic Station

http://blog.atlanticstation.com/even...-attraction-7/