Trip to Arizona with kids

I'm taking off to Arizona with 2 of my kids who have never really traveled before. We've done local road trips around the PNW but they have never flown. My husband is in Vegas for the HD expo and flys from Vegas to Phoenix tomorrow, and we are all meeting up in the airport.

Tonight we are staying in Seattle at a place near the airport, so tonight is kind of the start of our vacation!

Me and the kids are on SWA. I bought our tickets MONTHS ago and did early bird. Just got our boarding passes and we got A45-A48. I'm starting to think Early Bird isn't really worth the $$ as the last few time's I've gotten end of A or early B boarding.

We have family in the SunTan Valley area who we will be staying with. We plan to hit up the Phoenix science center, maybe Wildlife World, the Mesa swap meets, and go to Rawhide. We had planned on Tombstone but its 5 hours round trip and I just don't think my kids would want to spend half a day of their vacation in the car. But, plans could change. Who knows.

As I just posted on another thread, upon checking in for our flight i see my 13 year old was granted TSA pre-check and me and my 7 year old were not. I'm hoping we run into no problems with her just using the standard line with us because she would be so scared if she had to go off on her own since she has never flown or done the security line before, and she is SO painfully shy.

 

Tombstone is a bit of a haul. Tucson really isn't that hard to reach, and few "zoos" are on a level with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The Phoenix Zoo is OK. Maybe Big Surf Waterpark. San Tan isn't exactly in the heart of anything.

 

The Phoenix to Tucson drive could be pretty hot this time of year. Might want to check the weather. As for the pre-check, ask if you could all get in on the pre-check line since you wouldn't want your child to go alone. Worst they can say is no and you just go into the normal line. Anyway, hope you have a great fam vacation.

 

I'd not be too worked out about spring temps and driving a car with AC. Sure, it can get warm in summer, but we're not talking the Bataan Death March.