Family Vacations - March Ideas

A big sports weekend is coming up, at Disney World: March 3 to 5 2006, "ESPN- The Weekend" rocks Disney-MGM Studios, with live telecasts, star motorcades and Q&A sessions, interactive sports zone, and more from ESPN-- plus all the theme park fun.

And on the topic of Disney: book by March 19 2006, for Alaska Airlines Vacations Kids Fly Free to Disneyland package, for travel until June 28.

Mardi Gras weekends continue right through March at Universal Orlando, with parades, costumes, specialty foods, and live music including some headliner bands. (And by the way, the real Mardi Gras in New Orleans has started, with parades from Feb. 18 to 28.)

Meanwhile, up north it's maple sugar season, and the Rosewood Country Inn, in Bradford NH, has a sweet Maple Sugar Weekend package: guests take a self-guided tour at neighboring sugarhouses. Kids over 12 only, though.

More sugary ideas: head to the snowy countryside and visit a maple sugar house on March 24 to 26 2006, the dates of the 5th Annual Vermont Maple Open House Weekend, at sugarhouses throughout Vermont. See how maple sugar is made, and try samples, of course; stay at a family-friendly B&B or Inn. Some are offering special Maple Sugar Packages.

And of course, for many families March is Spring Break and a time for a major family vacation.

• See many Spring Break ideas.

^{*photo courtesy of Universal Orlando}