First Family Trip To New Orleans?

Question

My family-myself, husband, and 3 girls ages 4,4,and 7-are stopping in New Orleans for the day/night on our way to Disneyworld. Is there anything that we should not miss while we are there? Any recommendations for restaraunts and tours. Also, are there any campgrounds or would a hotel be better?
Thanks for any input

Answer 1

my mom is from new orleans. there are no campgrounds in the city. it is a large metropolitan area, with a diminished population since the hurricaine. you should check out the aquarium of the americas if it is back open and running. they lost most of their fish but did not lose their giant albino aligator and their penguins. by now they may have restored their fish population. you can buy a package deal for the aquarium and the "zoo cruise" that will take you on a riverboat down the mississippi river to the audubon zoo. i'm not sure what shape the zoo is in either but i know they did not lose many animals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarium_of_the_americas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audubon_zoo

also cafe du monde is a wonderful place to eat a fresh beignet and have some coffee. also there is a blurb about "morning call" which is a similar coffee and beignet place in metairie if you wanted to go there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafe_du_Monde

jackson square is also amazing to see. hopefully the artists have returned and are selling their art. my mom, sister and myself got a characature done for like $20 it was fun to do and is a memory of a trip "back home"

i do suggest that you be careful and do not go out at night especially downtown. there is actually talk of instituting a curfew at night due to a rash of recent killings. probably mostly in bad neighborhoods. but i know a guy who goes to loyola who has lived in new orleans for years who was mugged and beaten. also a coworker of my dad had the same thing happen a block away from the police station in the quarter about five months ago. the police are doing little to help or stop the crime.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16490563/

Answer 2

Hey, thanks for visiting. Despite the news and late-night infomercials, New Orleans is a great place to visit as a family.

My advice would depend upon when you intend to visit. Mardi Gras season just started and parades will being to roll February 9th every day until the 20th. Growing up in New Orleans, as a kid Mardi Gras was as big as Christmas. It is family-oriented if you stay away from the downtown tourist areas. Plus, it's free.

Depending upon the weather, you may want to go to the Audubon Zoo. It's a beautiful zoo/park and is a popular place for local and visiting families. If the weather doesn't permit then I'd say to head to the Aquarium.

At 4, 4, and 7 the kids may not appreciate the French Quarter and its buildings. Of course, the parents may. Like the other poster, I'd suggest Cafe du Monde for beignets. Just don't let the kids wear dark clothes because things with loads of powdered sugar on them are just too tempting to not have fun with. Cafe du Monde is also right next to the river, so you can go over there to take a peek.

If I was going to suggest a hotel, there are many areas you can stay. Very few areas that were flooded had hotels, i.e. you wouldn't have wanted to be there even before the storm. You have a choice of staying in Metairie, Uptown, or in the downtown area (not necessarily the French Quarter). Metairie would possibly be cheaper but I'd be more likely to tell you to stay downtown in the Warehouse District. It would likely be cheaper than the French Quarter and safer. The Warehouse District is the area between Poydras and the bridge across the river.

I suppose there are now three areas good for touring. If I remember right the Jean Lafitte National Park operates a tour in the French Quarter. If you would be interested in seeing the hurricane damage you can just follow Canal Street/Canal Blvd out to the lake. It's certainly something to see. If you are interested in seeing the beautiful neighborhoods in New Orleans you can drive up St Charles Avenue to where it hits Carollton, make a u-turn there, take a right on Nashville Avenue, take a left on Prytania and that will bring you bank into town. I live there and my jaw still drops seeing those homes.

For restaurants I can go on for hours. It would really depend upon what you like. I would go on but I'm missing the Florida game. Again, thank you for coming to visit. I hope this helped.

Answer 3

oh my gosh youll love new orleans hear it from a girl who lives and grew up here its historic and beautiful a not miss is a street car ride on canal street and a horse and carrige ride through the french quater. i personally think a hotel is much better than being on a campground in the middle of the city . i reccomend the ritz carrolten or the royal sennesta. the resteraunts i reccomend i emrils (in case you not sure who he is hes the chef)
im wishing you all the funn on yall day trip to new orleans. oh ya mardi gras is the best its rolling on feb. 20th which is my birthday. but you can catch more between feb. 3 to feb 20th . the best parade is on feb. 17 its called endymion that is the celebration of a life time.
what im trying to say is have fun explore the big city of new orleans we need tourist . our city is trying to re build where it was devestated bad from the hurricane.
hope yall love new orleans as much as i do
remember let the good times roll......

Answer 4

Stay at a hotel. New Orleans wasn't safe before Katrina and its definitely not safe now. Try to stay in the French Quarter. That area was basically untouched by the flood. The food there is great and most of the people are nice. Try to have a good time and good luck!

Answer 5

Unfortunately, there have been a lot of murders in New Orleans since Katrina. They are now thinking of imposing a curfew again.

Just be careful and take the suggestions from the other answerers here.

Answer 6

my dad is from new Orleans and he said that there is it a lot of campgrounds so i would just stay in a hotel to be safe you can go to the aquarium its a lot of fun