I live here. I dont spend too much time on the tourist strip. If you stay on the tourist strip you wont see any places that are scary. The tourist strip is about 12 miles from the downtown section.
Personally I like Seaworld. Havent been there in a while though and they do change it from time to time.
Youre right about KSC. Not for a 10 year old. If you come back later and go to KSC then my suggestion is that you go online and get tickets for a launch. That is thrilling. But because they postpone them you need to be prepared to either hang around until they actually launch or accept that you wasted a few bucks on launch tickets.
I also have a condo on the beach in New Smyrna Beach near the National Seashore. You would probably do as well to just stop at the public beach in New Smyrna which you would pass on the way to the Nat Seashore. The beach is slightly more picturesque at the Nat Seashore but at least you wont run into any X rated scenarios.
“You would probably do as well to just stop at the public beach in New Smyrna which you would pass on the way to the Nat Seashore.”
New Smyrna Beach is unique because you can drive on the beach, its so much nicer than going to Daytona. Its $20 to get on the beach, or park... so there is that to remember. Flagler Ave is a neat little surf town-like area in New Smyrna Beach.