Where in Florida (On the Beach) to Vacation with a 3 Year Old?

My parents live an hour from Tallahassee, we have been all over Florida. Last summer when my kids were 1 and 4 my parents took us to Jacksonville. We played on the beach and had a ball. There is a children's play place called the Hands on Children's Museum that was big fun for my kids. I would not describe it as a museum, they had different play areas...a firehouse, police station, restaurant, grocery store, a bank, a post office, a play scape and more. My kids really enjoyed it. (http://handsonchildrensmuseumjax.startlogic.com/FlashCont...) We also hit up the Jacksonville Zoo. That was the highlight of the trip for my kids. We have a great zoo here in Fort Worth, so I didn't think they would be that impressed. But not only did they get to pet stingrays, they also got to feed a giraffe.

Destin - just got back from there . . . We stayed @ the Palms of Destin (condo resort) w/a huge (5 diff) areas of pools. Our 4 y.o. and 2 y.o loved it!

Clearwater beach has an aquarium, then there's tours and fun stuff to do also. A little south, maybe 30 minutes, there's Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg, which is a botanical garden. About an hour north is Weeki Wachi, where they have a live mermaid show, and Homosassa Springs that has a really cool zoo. That's a good day trip if you want to get off the beach for a bit. Have fun!

We went to Ft. Lauderdale and my kids had a blast! They were 2 and 4 months at the time...so I guess the 2 y/o had most of the fun! ;) Anyway, she loved the beach and loved the pool at the time share. We rented a time share that was directly on the beach and it was pretty reasonable and super fun, plus it had a kitchen, which you can't beat with a toddler. There were tons of things to do around the area. Our favorite was Butterfly World. My daughter still talks about it! I think any major city will probably have a good mix of beach stuff and other stuff. A lot of the FL cities are big tourist destinations so they have activities for all age levels!

Destin. For sure on the Gulf side. it is prettier and cleaner