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What’s There

It’s a compact park, but it’s genuinely well done. There’s a great splash pad, the Muddy Puddles area, which has some fun water slides mixed in, six toddler-friendly rides, a playground, character shows with Peppa and her friends, carnival-style games, a movie theater playing Peppa Pig episodes, a restaurant, and a gift shop, plus more to explore for little kids. The theming throughout is great, it really does feel like walking into the show.

If you want your kids in the splash pad, bring bathing suits without zippers. We learned this one the hard way and had to turn our daughter’s suit inside out on the spot.

We didn’t eat at the restaurant ourselves, but it looked good, and the theming inside was cute enough that I’d consider it next time.

We also caught one of the character shows, and my daughter was clapping wildly for Peppa and her friends the entire time. It was a genuine highlight of the visit.

How Long to Plan

We spent about two to three hours there, and you could probably stretch it to five if your kids are especially into it. I’d plan for this as a half-day activity rather than a full day. Lines for the attractions were short the whole time we were there, so you’re not losing much of your visit standing around waiting.

The Six Rides

• Daddy Pig’s Roller Coaster – A mild first coaster experience (minimum height 36 inches)
• Grampy Rabbit’s Dinosaur Adventure – A ride past dinosaurs and prehistoric mountains (minimum height 34 inches)
• Mr. Bull’s High Striker – A gentle, kid-friendly drop ride (minimum height 36 inches)
• Grandad Dog’s Pirate Boat Ride – A calm family boat ride (no height requirement)
• Peppa Pig’s Balloon Ride – A soaring hot-air balloon experience (no height requirement)
• Peppa’s Pedal Bike Tour – An interactive bike path for children (no height requirement)

My son absolutely loved the roller coaster, he had so much fun on it that we rode it more than once. My daughter’s favorite was the pirate boat ride, she was thrilled to captain her own little ship. And honestly, the bikes were a huge hit with both of them, more than I expected going in.

Combining with Legoland

We didn’t combine our visit with Legoland Florida, but you definitely could, they share the same parking lot, so it’s an easy pairing if you want to make a full day of it. One thing worth knowing: parking costs extra on top of admission.

Getting Around with a Stroller

Bringing a stroller is genuinely easy here. There’s stroller parking all over the park, so you’re never stuck dragging it somewhere inconvenient. Diaper changing stations in the restrooms were plentiful and clean everywhere we went too.

Hours

The park is typically open daily from 10am to 5pm, though this can shift by season and day of the week, sometimes closing as early as 4pm. Worth double-checking the official hours before you head out, since they do change.

Getting Tickets

You can book official tickets here ahead of your visit.

Looking for more Florida day trip ideas? Browse everything under Florida with Kids.

Planning a family trip to Florida or anywhere else? Email me at madison@thefamilytakeoff.com and I’ll help you put it together.

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We spent two nights at Great Wolf Lodge Naples last weekend, Sunday through Tuesday, and the kids had an absolute blast. Since you can access the water park anytime on your actual check-in day, we drove down already in our bathing suits, which turned out to be a smart move.

We booked a Family Suite. Some of the other suite options looked more fun on paper, but most have built-in bunk beds and my kids are still young enough that bunk beds felt like a safety risk rather than a perk. I could just picture them climbing all over the top bunk, so we kept it simple.

Check-In Was Rough

The line to check in was long, about 30 minutes, which isn’t the best start when you’ve got excited kids in bathing suits ready to go. Once we got through it, though, we headed straight for the water park and the day turned around fast.

The Water Park

This is obviously the main event, and it delivers. The indoor water park has slides for a wide age range, some built for younger kids and some geared toward older kids and adults, plus a playground area with a few smaller slides mixed in. There’s also a splash pad zone, a play pool with basketball hoops and lily pads to hop across, and a wave pool.

One of the standout features is the giant tipping bucket, a massive bucket mounted above part of the park that fills up over several minutes and then dumps a huge rush of water down on anyone standing underneath. My kids thought this was the funniest thing at the entire resort.

Outside, there’s an additional pool and a hot tub if you want a break from the indoor chaos. All of this, the slides, the pools, the wave pool, is included in your stay, no extra cost.

MagiQuest

Beyond the water park, MagiQuest is probably the biggest draw for a lot of families, ours included. Kids pick out a wand, and older kids go on an actual quest around the resort, following clues to complete an adventure. It seemed like both kids and parents were genuinely into it, not just tolerating it.

What I appreciated most is that they have a toddler-specific option. Instead of the full quest, which a toddler obviously can’t follow, the wand just triggers something fun, lights, sound, movement, when you point it at different spots and treasure chests around the resort. It’s about $6 per toddler (plus the cost of the wand itself), and it’s good for your entire stay. It’s a nice way to let a younger kid feel included without expecting them to understand a real scavenger hunt.

Everything Else There Is to Do

Beyond the water park and MagiQuest, there’s a genuinely long list of extra activities, all at an additional cost, though nothing felt outrageous:

• Bowling
• Mini-golf
• An arcade (we spent a lot of time and a fair amount of money here)
• A gem mining area
• A VR headset game room with a few surprisingly toddler-friendly options, my son loved the dinosaur one
• A ropes course
• An adventure trail
• A Build-A-Bear Workshop

Beyond the paid activities, the resort also runs a rotating lineup of included events for kids, story times, crafts, a bedtime story, yoga, and other seasonal activities. These are worth checking the daily schedule for, since they’re a nice, lower-key break from the water park and don’t cost anything extra.

Where to Eat

There are a handful of dining options on site. Dunkin was a lifesaver in the mornings, since the coffee in the room wasn’t good. There’s also an ice cream parlor, a sit-down dinner restaurant called Fireside, a buffet for breakfast and dinner, and a fast-casual option for lunch where you order ahead online or at a kiosk and pick up your food on either the water park side or the resort side.

I’ll be honest, the food was mediocre and overpriced, which is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a resort like this. If you want great food, I’d recommend leaving the resort.

The Service Issues, Because I’m Not Going to Pretend They Didn’t Happen

A few things happened during our stay that are worth mentioning. During check-in, the front desk employee excused herself to go “drink water” and was gone for about five minutes, which was just strange. We also asked four separate times for a crib to be brought to our room, and at one point they brought us an unrequested iron and ironing board instead, still no crib. Restaurant service was slow too. It took about 20 minutes just to get our drink order taken.

To be fair, everyone we interacted with was friendly, just seemingly overwhelmed. The resort was very busy during our stay, and we went in the middle of summer, so a quieter time of year might mean a smoother experience.

Getting Out of the Resort: Downtown Naples

We also left the resort for an evening and drove into downtown Naples to walk around 5th Ave South and Third Street South, which turned out to be a really nice change of pace from the resort bubble. Both stretches are easy, walkable, and full of shops and restaurants, a good way to stretch your legs and let the kids burn off some energy outside of a water park setting.

USS Nemo, Which Genuinely Surprised Us

While we were out, we ate dinner at USS Nemo, and I need to talk about this because it caught us completely off guard. It’s tucked into an unassuming strip mall, the kind of location that gives you zero expectations walking in, and the food was outstanding. We brought the kids and the whole family ate there together.

We split the foie gras appetizer to start and we both ordered the miso sea bass, which might be one of the best things either of us has eaten in Florida. We genuinely love seeking out great restaurants wherever we travel, and this ended up being one of the top five restaurants we’ve eaten at in this entire state. Not what we expected walking into a strip mall, and exactly the kind of find that makes a trip better.

Is It Worth It?

This is not a luxury resort, and it’s not trying to be one. If you want a higher caliber stay, you could book somewhere else in Naples and just buy a day pass to the water park instead. But the actual point of this trip was to keep the kids entertained, and on that front, it delivered completely. They didn’t notice or care about any of the service hiccups. They had the time of their lives.

I’ll probably go back, just with more realistic expectations next time, and I might look into staying elsewhere in Naples and buying a day pass instead of booking the room directly.

Want Help Booking This Trip?

Whether you want to book Great Wolf Lodge Naples exactly like we did, or you’d rather stay somewhere more upscale in Naples and just add on a day pass to the water park, I can help put that together as your travel advisor, at no extra cost to you.

Email me at madison@thefamilytakeoff.com and let me know what you’re thinking.

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This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Why This Stretch of Florida Is Covered in Shark Teeth

If you’ve never done this before, it sounds almost made up: you walk into ankle-deep water, scoop up some sand, and there are shark teeth in it. Here’s the actual reason why.

Millions of years ago, during the Miocene epoch, most of Florida was underwater, covered by a warm, shallow sea packed with marine life, sharks included. Sharks constantly shed and regrow teeth their whole lives, so an enormous number of them settled into the seafloor over time. That layer, called the Peace River Formation, sits close to the surface along this stretch of coast, and constant wave action slowly erodes it, releasing fossilized teeth onto the beach pretty much every day. It’s part of why Venice calls itself the Shark Tooth Capital of the World, and Manasota, Caspersen, and Venice Beach all sit on the same fossil-rich shelf.

What’s wild to me is that my home beach on Anna Maria Island is only about 30 miles north as the crow flies, and we almost never find teeth there. It really does come down to this specific stretch of coastline and how the fossil layer erodes here versus everywhere else nearby.

Why We Chose Manasota Over Caspersen Beach

Caspersen Beach is the most talked-about spot for this, but the parking lot there is currently unavailable, so we went with Manasota instead, which I’d call a very solid choice. It has plenty of parking, lifeguards, showers, and bathrooms, all of which matter a lot more once you’ve got toddlers in tow. We walked about five minutes down the beach to get away from the crowd near the entrance and set up there.

What You Actually Need

• A sand shovel/scooper built for exactly this. You can also use a small plastic one if that’s what you have!
• A sifter (the little plastic ones that come with basic beach toy sets work totally fine)
• A floating shark tooth sifter if you want one, which made a real difference for me specifically since I was managing kids in the waves at the same time. My friend didn’t have one and did just fine, so it’s a nice-to-have, not a requirement.
• Life jackets for any non-swimmers in your group. This was probably my best tip of the day. Get your toddler in a life jacket and you can actually be hands-free while you dig.

How to Actually Find Teeth

You can find teeth just walking along the sand, and we did pick up a couple that way. But we had by far the best luck right at the edge of the water, where there’s a little sand and shell shelf and the waves break. Take your shovel, scoop some of that sand and shell mixture into your sifter, sift the loose sand away, and look for small black triangles left behind. Once you know what you’re looking for, you start spotting them fast.

We found a huge range of teeth in an hour, all on the smaller side, but people do find megalodon teeth in this area, so keep an eye out for anything unusually large. We also came home with a fossilized puffer fish mouth plate and what I’m fairly confident was a fossilized stingray barb, so it’s not just sharks you might walk away with.

Where to Eat After

We headed north to Nokomis for lunch at Pop’s Sunset Grill, which turned out to be a great call. It’s kid-friendly, we sat close to the water, and the kids stayed entertained watching dolphins and boats go by while we ate.

A few other kid-friendly spots in the area worth trying:

• Dockside Waterfront Grill – Waterfront seating and a relaxed, family vibe.
• Nokomo’s Sunset Hut – Casual and easygoing, good if you want something low-key after a beach morning.
• Sharky’s on the Pier – A Venice classic right on the Gulf, with a laid-back setup that’s easy with kids.

More to Do Nearby

If you want to extend the day, Centennial Park in downtown Venice has a great splash pad and playground, an easy stop to let the kids run off any extra energy after a morning of digging in the sand.

I also haven’t made it to Wellen Park myself yet, but it’s on my list. From what I’ve read, downtown Wellen Park is built around an 80-acre lake with a splash pad, playgrounds, a 2.8-mile walking trail, and kayak and paddleboard rentals right on the water, plus a mix of casual and sit-down restaurants. It sounds like a strong option either paired with a beach day or as its own outing, and I’ll update this once we’ve actually been.

Looking for more Florida day trip ideas? Browse everything under Florida with Kids.

Planning something bigger than a day trip? Email me at madison@thefamilytakeoff.com and tell me where you’re headed.

The post Shark Tooth Hunting at Manasota Beach with Toddlers appeared first on The Family Takeoff.

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The sponge docks

This is the heart of Tarpon Springs and a great place to start (or end) your day. My kids love walking the docks watching the boats come in, ducking into the little shops to look at sponges, and picking one out to bring home. It’s not overly commercial and it’s not trying to be Disney. It’s just a fun, low-key stretch to wander with little ones who have a lot of energy to burn.

Toddler Tuesday at the Tarpon Springs Aquarium

If you take nothing else from this post, take this: get yourself to the Tarpon Springs Aquarium on a Tuesday morning. This is a small, family-run aquarium, and every Tuesday from 9:30 to 10:30 they run Toddler Tuesday, an hour of storytime, a craft, and animal encounters. It’s included in the price of admission, and kids 3 and under get in free.

This week’s theme was snakes, and it was genuinely one of the best hours of toddler programming we’ve stumbled into. When we walked in, everyone was already coloring a huge snake drawing spread out on the floor. From there, staff brought out a few different snakes and talked about them, then brought them around so the kids could pet them. My 4 year old was thrilled. I was less thrilled, but I kept that to myself. Then came storytime, with a quick lesson on how to spell “snake,” followed by the moment the kids had clearly been waiting for: they each got to hold a snake and drape it around their neck for a photo. My son could not have been happier about it. To close things out, there was a craft table where the kids painted their own wooden snake to take home.

An hour of storytime, hands-on animal time, and a craft (all for the cost of admission!) is hard to beat.

The rest of the aquarium

Once Toddler Tuesday wraps, you’re free to explore the rest of the aquarium, and this is where I’d tell you to spend the extra few dollars on food tickets. There is enough food in one packet to feed pretty much every animal in the place, and it’s plenty for two small kids to share. We fed farm animals, stingrays, baby alligators, small sharks, turtles, and some bigger fish and sharks. My kids talked about the feeding more than almost anything else we did that day.

Most of the aquarium is outdoors, so plan for that. By the time we finished, we’d worked up a real sweat, which worked out fine because our next stop cooled everyone off.

The splash pad and playground

Right nearby is the Tarpon Springs splash pad, which is a great one. It’s a solid setup and my kids ran around it happily until they were worn out. There’s a playground next door with a dock you can walk out on toward the water, so we spent some time there too before moving on.

Where to eat

For lunch, we tried Rusty Bellies for the first time and it was a hit. Good kids menu, and the adult food didn’t miss either. We ordered fried mullet, a grouper sandwich, and a Greek salad, and all three were excellent.

On other trips we’ve eaten at Tarpon Tavern, which is very good and very kid friendly, just in a slightly different part of town than the sponge docks. And of course there’s Hellas Restaurant and Bakery. Hellas has excellent Greek food, but even if you skip the meal, walk into the bakery for baklava. It’s worth the stop on its own.

Other things worth booking

We stuck to the free and low-cost stuff on this trip, but Tarpon Springs has a few paid experiences worth knowing about if you want to build out a longer visit or you’re traveling without toddlers in tow.

The Sponge Dock Stroll is a 90-minute guided walking tour through the docks with a local guide who actually grew up in the Greek community there. You get real history instead of just wandering and guessing, plus a stop for Greek coffee and pastries at the end. It’s stroller friendly, so this one works fine with toddlers if your kids tolerate a slower pace.

If your kids are a little older, or you’re sneaking away without them, the Kayak Eco Tour takes you through the mangroves along the Anclote River with a naturalist guide, and it passes right by the sponge docks. Dolphins, manatees, and bald eagles all show up regularly. There’s also a clear kayak tour that runs through Spring Bayou during manatee season (winter months), and the clear bottom means you’re watching them swim right underneath you. Neither of these is really a toddler activity since you need a kid who can sit still in a tandem kayak, but they’re worth bookmarking for when your kids are a bit older or for a parents’ morning out.

If You Have More Time

Tarpon Springs has more to offer beyond a single day trip. A few other spots worth checking out:

• St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral
• Brooker Creek Preserve
• Discovery Playground
• Old McMicky’s Farm

Bottom Line

This was one of the best toddler animal days we’ve had, and I’d tell any Florida family with young kids to make the trip. If you can time it for a Tuesday, do it. Toddler Tuesday alone makes the drive worth it, and everything else around it, the docks, the splash pad, the food, just rounds out an easy, full day.

Before You Go

Looking for more day trip ideas? Browse everything under Florida with Kids.

Planning something bigger than a day trip? Email me at madison@thefamilytakeoff.com and I’ll help you put it together.

The post Tarpon Springs with Toddlers: Why Toddler Tuesday Alone Is Worth the Drive appeared first on The Family Takeoff.

I had a free night certificate from my World of Hyatt Credit Card that was about to expire, so we did what any reasonable family does with free hotel nights — we booked a quick Orlando getaway. My son is in his pool-obsessed era right now, and I’d heard the pool situation at Grand Cypress was good. That was basically the whole decision-making process. Pool good, certificate expiring, let’s go.

It did not disappoint.

The Room

We booked a standard 2 double room, nothing fancy. The room itself was fine — comfortable, had everything we needed, definitely not luxurious. The balcony is small, and we were high up enough that I didn’t let the kids out there at all.

One annoying detail: the privacy latch on the door was positioned low enough that my 4-year-old could unlock and open it himself. Worth knowing if you’ve got an escape artist of your own.

Here’s the part I’m actually proud of: I used my own advice from my Hotel Upgrade Guide and texted the hotel the morning before check-in. I explained we had young toddlers and would love a room with a view of the Disney fireworks if at all possible. They delivered — we ended up with a view of both the Epcot and Magic Kingdom fireworks from our window. The kids sat there with snacks every night watching fireworks from the room, which might be one of the easiest wins of the whole trip. For reference, it seems like most pool-view rooms on higher floors get you this view, so if fireworks matter to you, request a high floor with a pool view and ask nicely.

We also requested a crib, no issues there.

The Property

This place is enormous. The lobby alone is worth a slow walk-through — there’s a parrot named Merlot that the kids were obsessed with, and the elevators are half-glass, so you get a view of the grounds on the ride up. My kids thought that was the coolest thing, which tells you everything about how easy this age is to impress.

The grounds themselves are the real story here. Miles of biking and walking trails, and you can borrow bikes for free — balance bikes, kid bikes, bikes with toddler seats on the back, helmets included. We took advantage of this and it was a great way to explore.

One of the trails leads to a wilderness area with an old ghost-town theme — I think it’s used for weddings, but on a random Monday it was empty and the kids had a blast running around exploring it. Nobody else was over there, so if you want a quiet pocket of the resort to yourself, that’s it.

There’s also mini golf, a pitch and putt course, evening fires with s’mores kits for purchase, and an arcade that my kids absolutely loved. The fitness center looked great from the outside, though I never made it in. Down by the lake you can rent paddle boats, water bikes, paddle boards, and canoes — we skipped this since our kids are still small, but with older kids or more time I’d definitely do it. There’s a small beach area too if you want to lay out.

One important note: watch for alligators. There are signs posted, and Florida fresh water is genuinely something to take seriously with toddlers. I’d keep kids away from the shoreline entirely — adults should be fine, but don’t let your guard down near the water’s edge.

The Pools

This is the headline, and it earned the hype. There are two main pools connected by a long swim-through cave structure — the arcade and fitness center are actually built into that cave, which is a fun detail. A third pool has a big water slide, though my kids didn’t meet the height requirement this time around.

There are two hot tubs — one for families, one adults-only — plus a splash pad for the littlest kids.

The best surprise: every night at 6pm they play a movie poolside on a big screen. We caught Toy Story 3 floating in the pool with virgin daiquiris in hand, and my 4-year-old was thrilled. Genuinely one of the best moments of the trip.

We got home yesterday and my son is already asking to go back. My daughter has said “me swim” probably a dozen times today.

The Food

This is where the resort came up a little short. There are two main restaurants, a pool bar, and a lobby bar — that’s it for options.

We tried Four Flamingos, which got a Michelin recommendation in 2025, so we were curious. It was fine. Genuinely surprised by the accolades — the tuna appetizer was great, everything else was just okay. The cocktails were fun and inventive. Nothing about it was bad, it just didn’t live up to the Michelin mention.

We didn’t end up trying Lake House, the other main restaurant — the menu looked fine but we ran out of time.

The pool bar was a classic pool bar experience — solid food, good drinks, fast service. For breakfast and snacks, the market and coffee shop inside the resort was actually our MVP. Sandwiches, chicken tenders, bakery items, salads — easy, fast, and exactly what we needed with kids in tow.

What We Actually Did

Day one: We arrived before check-in and they were accommodating about getting us into a room quickly. Lunch, then some time exploring the property, dinner at Four Flamingos, an evening swim, and then back up to the room to watch the Epcot fireworks before bed.

Day two: Early start, breakfast at the market, then straight to the pool to spend our morning. We grabbed bikes and explored some of the trails, then headed to Disney Springs for a 2:30pm reservation at T-Rex Cafe — my son loved this and hasn’t stopped talking about it. They have a little dig site where kids use brushes and shovels to excavate dinosaur bones, plus a build-your-own-dinosaur activity that would be great for any dino-obsessed kid.

After T-Rex, we wandered Disney Springs, rode the carousel and the train (three times), let the kids each pick one thing from the Disney Store, and headed back to the hotel for one more swim — which is when we caught Toy Story 3 poolside. Fireworks from the window, then everyone passed out. We left the next morning.

Should You Stay Here?

If you’re looking for luxury, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for a genuinely fun resort for families with little kids, this delivers in a big way. It’s close enough to Disney to work as a home base — they offer shuttle buses to the parks — but it’s also a destination in its own right. We could have easily spent our whole trip just at the resort and the kids would have been just as happy.

We’ll be back.

Before You Go

I put together a free Hotel Upgrade Guide with the exact strategies I use to get room upgrades, resort credits, and better rates — including the fireworks-view trick from this exact trip. Grab it below.

Want Help Planning Your Trip?

If you’re thinking about a Disney-area trip and want help figuring out hotels, points, or where to stay, I do this for families all the time and it costs you nothing — hotels pay me directly.

Shoot me an email at madison@thefamilytakeoff.com and tell me where you’re headed.

The post Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress with Kids: An Honest Review appeared first on The Family Takeoff.