Normally you might buy a Father’s Day gift from Sears and bring it home. This year change things up a little bit and bring Dad to Sears – the Sears Tower that is. Recently renamed the Willis Tower, this iconic Chicago landmark is one of the tallest buildings in the western hemisphere and a true sight to behold. Visitors to the top of the 1,353 foot-tall tower are offered 360 degree panoramic views and can see four states at the same time.

If heights aren’t Dad’s thing (or yours) there are plenty of Chicago Bike Tours to go on. Rent a bike and cruise around the scenic city as fast or as slow as you like. Rentals include a helmet, a bike lock and a map so you won’t have any problem finding your way to any of the Chicago attractions that are on the itinerary.

Whatever you choose to do with Dad, a trip to the Robie House should be on the list. Hailed as one the most important buildings in American architecture, this nationally-landmarked structure was created by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright for forward-thinking businessman Frederick C. Robie. Completed in 1910, the Prairie style masterpiece is considered to be one of the first examples of modernist architecture.

There are so many things to do in Chicago that Dad will enjoy, make sure to save up to 55% on admission to all the top Chicago Attractions and tours with a Chicago Attractions Pass by Smart Destinations. Save money and skip lines!

No trip to Beantown would be complete without a visit to one of the oldest ballparks in the USA. A Fenway Park Tour is obviously a hit for baseball fans, but stepping inside the family-friendly home of the Red Sox will bring a smile to the face of history buffs and children as well. Also you don’t have to worry about the Curse of the Bambino – it got broken in 2004. 

Boston’s Museum of Science is also a well-known and highly-regarded stop for anyone visiting the city. The planetarium gives astral observers a chance to get lost in the stars and the ultra-immersive Omni Theater gives viewers of its specially shot films a visually stunning experience they won’t soon forget.

Many Boston Attraction Packages also include the New England Aquarium. Home to seals, penguins, sharks and everything in between, the Aquarium’s location near the Boston waterfront is practically a landmark. Just remember, when it’s feeding time, don’t stand too close to the glass!

There are so many things to do in Boston – don’t forget the Skywalk Observatory – that you’ll probably have a tough time making up your mind. Luckily the abundance of  Boston Tour Packages will make sure you have a chance to do it all and save.

Drop by and explore the many alluring exhibits – including:

Aquatic Show: Beluga whales and dolphins join forces to dance and delight viewers in Shedd’s new aquatic show! Prepare to be dazzled by their natural talents and learned skills in the Abbott Oceanarium’s amphitheater.

Amazon Rising: Get a pseudo-Amazon experience in this exotic exhibit as you keep on the lookout for anacondas, piranhas, spiders, rays, and more. In this Amazon replica, observe the animals as they demonstrate their amazing ability to adapt to the water’s dramatic annual rise and fall.

Caribbean Reef: Take a unique 360-degree tour of an underwater reef community. Spot a green sea turtle, moray eel, parrotfish and sharks! This award-winning 90,000-gallor circular habitat will mesmerize you!

Polar Play Zone: A favorite for kids – dress up in a penguin suit, check out the kid-sized submarine, and touch sea stars in the touch pool. Visitors learn about polar opposites – big and small, fast and slow, shallow and deep, and north and south. Educational and fun, the Polar Play Zone is a blast!

To see the other exhibits at Shedd Aquarium, head over to their website. Your special Go Select Chicago Pass gets you access to all these exhibits and more (including the special Jellies exhibit)! Trust that you’ll be getting the most bang for your buck this vacation when you create your custom Go Select Chicago Card. The more attractions you include, the more savings you attain – so be sure to add in the Field Museum and the Brookfield Zoo. At the Field Museum, take in the many world-renowned natural history marvels, and explore the bountiful collection of fossils and samples. Home to 2,000 animals, head to Brookfield Zoo and visit some of your furrier friends! All of this – and more – is possible when you build your Go Select Chicago Card!

There’s Dino Island, an area where explorers can dig for fossils, lie inside a life-sized dinosaur footprint or even take a trip on a roller coaster. Once they are done there, brave buccaneers can visit Pirate Shores and enjoy some of the park’s water attractions. (Landlubbers and scallywags probably shouldn’t bother.)

In the Imagination Zone, guests who want a unique thrill can take in the LEGO Legends of Chima 4D Movie X-perience which opened at Legoland San Diego in March. Watch as powerful tribes of animal warriors fight over the precious energy source CHI in the world of Chima. Visitors to the zone can also indulge in many stimulating free play building opportunities that are designed to get the creative juices flowing.

Another area attraction that will keep the whole family entertained (and thinking) is the San Diego Air and Space Museum. The museum’s mission is to preserve artifacts of space history, inspire excellence, educate the public and celebrate aviation and the history of space flight. Your visit to the San Diego Air and Space Museum will start under a hot air balloon from 1783, but only you can determine where it will end up. Just make sure to get a look at some of the vintage planes -including a Spitfire Mk. XVI, a Navy F6F Hellcat and an A-4 Skyhawk jet – along the way.

Save on admission to Legoland San Diego and other great things to do in San Diego like the San Diego Zoo with the Go San Diego Card discount attractions pass. Save money and skip lines!

Jammin’ at the Zoo is a great reason to use Smart Destination’s Lincoln Park Zoo Discount and spend some time outdoors grooving to some tunes. But it’s not the only reason.

The zoo, which is open 365 days a year, is getting new animals all the time so even if you’ve been there in the past, there will always be something new to discover. The Lincoln Park Zoo recently welcomed exotic animals like Western Lowland Gorillas, Sichuan Takins and Kenya Crested Guineafowls.

Guests of the zoo can also take advantage of a weekly yoga program targeted to beginner and intermediate yoga practitioners. Grab a yoga mat and a bottle of water and get ready to strike a pose while taking in views of the Chicago skyline. Before you do though, use the Lincoln Park Zoo Discount to take a ride on the zoo’s carousel or train!

Don’t forget, there’s another zoo in town as well. The Brookfield Zoo, which recently celebrated the pregnancies of three of its dolphins, has plenty of animals and events of its own. One of the zoo’s most famous friends, Cookie the cockatoo, will be celebrating his 80^th birthday at the end of June. He might not be having a big party, but that doesn’t mean you can’t when YOU visit the Brookfield Zoo.

Save on admission and activities at both zoos and other Chicago attractions like the Chicago Children’s Museum with a Go Chicago Card discount attractions pass. Find fun things to do in Chicago, save money and skip lines!

The tour, which has been given since 1933, allows guests to sneak a peek at areas of NBC studios that don’t usually make it on to the airwaves, including the NBC Sharp Globe Theater and the make-up room. The NBC Studio Tour also gives visitors the chance to produce their very own news and weather programs in the High Definition Mini-Control Studio.

Although NBC Studio Tour guests never know exactly what they will see during the 70-minute excursion, the possible studios on the tour route are Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Nightly News with Brian Williams, The Today Show, Football Night in America, MSNBC, and Dr. Oz. There’s no guarantee that any stars will be in the building at the time of the tour, so keep your fingers crossed!

It might not be on the same network, but if the NBC Studio Tour gets you in the mood for another television-related attraction, the Gossip Girl Tour is an option. Fans of the popular show can experience what it would be like to live a day in the life of Serena, Blair, Chuck, Dan, Vanessa, and Nate on a guided bus tour that visits more than 40 sites which were featured in the show. As an added bonus, local New York City actors and actresses serve as guides on the Gossip Girl Tour.

If you want to have a bunch of options while staying in the city, the Best of New York City package saves you 30% on the NBC Studio Tour, Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, Museum of Natural History, Liberty Cruise & Hop On/Off Bus Tour!

At the top of the list should be a trip to the Brooklyn Museum. The museum is the pride of the county of Kings and its exhibits and collections are just as captivating as what is being offered in Manhattan. The 560,000-square-foot building houses contemporary art, masterpieces from ancient Egypt and always has a rotating set of exhibitions for art-lovers to visit.

The museum is currently home to Raw/Cooked, an ongoing series of exhibitions designed to help showcase the work of under-the-radar Brooklyn artists who are creating works on a daily basis. Another installation at the Brooklyn Museum, Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas, displays pieces from the Museum’s permanent Arts of the Americas collection that demonstrate the concept of transformation.

If you get tired of looking at some of the best art that New York has to offer, no problem – there’s plenty more to do nearby. The Brooklyn Museum is conveniently located in a beautiful complex of nineteenth-century parks and gardens that also includes Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Prospect Park Zoo. Not feeling so adventurous?  Take one of the many Brooklyn Tours that are available and let someone else direct the exploring for you.

When you head back into the city, don’t forget to save up to 55% on admission to all the top New York City Attractions and tours with a discount New York Explorer Pass by Smart Destinations. Learn more and save money!

Upon stepping inside the new part of the park, visitors will immediately be whisked away to Antarctica, the coldest, windiest and driest continent on earth. This unique attraction allows amusement park enthusiasts to temporarily visit a part of the Earth that few people have ventured to…and even fewer have returned from.Empire of the Penguin offers guests a chance to interact with the wild by offering up-close penguin encounters and also gives visitors a chance to connect with each other by taking a spin on its first-of-its-kind family adventure ride. This hot, new attraction is super cool and it’s only at SeaWorld Orlando.

If you’d rather try to beat the heat and cool off in a different way, Wet n Wild Orlando is also a good option. The Blastaway Beach section of the water park – with its sandcastle-themed water playground, 160 interactive toys and 15 slides – is a perfect place for families to enjoy themselves.  For those who want to chill out and really relax, check out Wet n Wild Orlando’s Wave Pool Surf Lagoon, Lazy River and Wild Tiki Lounge… which should all do quite nicely.

For other great ideas about how to spend your time while visiting O-Town, check out Things To Do in Orlando and remember that you can always save on admission to SeaWorld Orlando and other top Orlando attractions like Gatorland with a Go Orlando Card discount attractions pass. Save money and skip lines!

Known as “the Mission District’s biggest and most important cultural event,” Carnaval San Francisco is celebrating its 35^th year in 2013! Despite worries that the event might suffer from budget cuts, volunteers have stepped up to save the day and Carnaval San Francisco 2013 will go on as planned!

Featuring a variety of entertainment from many nations, Carnaval will showcase dance, music, and art in a magnificent Grand Parade and street fair, held May 25-26, 2013. It’s the biggest cultural festival of its kind on the West Coast, so it’s definitely an event not to be missed. Carnaval is also designed with families and children in mind; there will be plenty of food, dancing, arts & crafts, and other activities just for kids.

Photo copyright Roberto Hernandez

The theme of Carnaval this year is “Carnaval Harlem Shake,” so expect to see and hear variations on that song being performed throughout the weekend. Festival events are held between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm both days. The street fair and other events will be held along Harrison Street between 16^th and 24^th Streets, in the heart of the Mission District. The Grand Parade will go off on Sunday, May 26^th. The Parade route begins at the corner of 24^th and Bryant Streets at 9:30 am, and ends in the heart of the Festival area.

Although Carnaval itself is a two-day long celebration, if you’re from out of town you might only want to spend an afternoon exploring the cultural riches Carnaval has to offer. In that case, we recommend attending on Sunday so you can see some of the famous Grand Parade (plus, then you’ll have a chance to see the Carnaval King and Queen!). For more details on the Festival’s events and performances, consult the Carnaval San Francisco 2013 Festival guide. All events are free and open to the public, so it’s the perfect budget-friendly way to spend an afternoon.

If you and your family enjoy these cultural festivities, San Francisco has plenty more to offer that capture the same elements of fun and creativity. A little west of the Mission District you’ll find the famous Golden Gate Park, a beautiful urban oasis that’s full of museums, gardens, and galleries. Check out the best of Golden Gate Park to continue your immersion into local San Francisco culture. Located north of the Mission District is the famous Fisherman’s Wharf area. This is a great spot to pick up cruises and tours, or meet local sea life at the Aquarium of the Bay. There are also a few unique points of interest here, like the Wax Museum or the SS Jeremiah O’Brien naval vessel. Whatever interests you and your family about San Francisco culture, there’s plenty of things to do in San Francisco during Memorial Day weekend and beyond!

Ripley’s Odditorium showcases treasures and relics from around the world that will pique your curiosity and have you rediscovering your sense of wonder. Visitors to Ripley’s Believe It or Not New York City have the chance to ogle and analyze the amazing, bizarre and certainly unique collection of odds and ends that Robert Ripley spent more than 40 years traversing the world to compile.

With two floors and 20 galleries to examine, it’s exceedingly easy to lose track of time examining shrunken heads, antique fortune tellers and even a six-legged cow. Travel to Ripley’s Believe It or Not NYC on a weekend or a special occasion and you will be treated to a live show by Sideshow Performers that will leave you shaking your head and smiling with amazement.

If a member of your party isn’t too excited about spending the day looking at mystical objects from the past, perhaps a modern attraction like the Sex and the City Tour would be more appropriate. Fans of the iconic HBO can embark on a 3.5 hour departure sightseeing trip that will take them to the trendy neighborhood MePa, allow them to get some retail therapy like Carrie at select Greenwich Village shops and whisk them away to the site of Carrie and Big’s wedding rehearsal dinner.

If you’re looking for an affordable way to enjoy more than one recreation destination, the New York City Family Attractions package by Smart Destinations saves you 42% on Top of the Rock, the Museum of Natural History, Ripley’s Believe It or Not New York & Liberty Cruise!