Booth Bay
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First of all, skip Boothbay. I love it, used to go every summer, but it has nothing that Bar Harbor doesn't have, literally nothing.
As much as I love Portland, that's where we'll be, I'd skip that too. It's 3.5 from Bar Harbor and not really worth a day trip, that should be its own unique trip. There's enough to do for y'all in 8 days, it will be a really relaxing trip, like the polar opposite of your Disney trips.
The only recommeno I'll make outside of the immediate Mount Desert Island area is a trip to Calais. It's 2.5 hours away up northeast from Bar Harbor. It's a really cool city on the border and you can go to St. Croix Island which is literally on the border and it's very pretty there.
www.nps.gov/sacr/index.htm-Forget about any beach and take layers even if you go in July. The only real beach in classic terms at Bar Harbor is pretty small and clearly made to appease tourists. If you insist on going to a real beach you will then need to go to Boothbay to either Popham Beach or Reid State Park and hope for warm weather. Both are nice beaches but you're in the North Atlantic so the weather is rarely warm enough for a "beach day." Boothbay is far enough south for there to be some of those days. If you check the weather before you leave for Maine and see you'll get some hot coastal days, bear in mind the warmest part of the day there is late morning to early afternoon.
-Go Sea Kayaking. You actually won't be on open Atlantic waters, there's lots of coves, so it won't be intimidating for anyone. I can't even swim and I did it and it was great. This company is great
www.acadiafun.com-Two restaurant selections you won't see but you must do are Pat's Pizza and Governor's Restaurant. Both are Maine chains but are very much Maine things to do. The Pizza at Pat's is very good and it's usually a good family atmosphere with good local beer choices too. Have a Shipyard for me! Governor's is like a local version of ihop but their menu has a lot of local flavor with things like Lobster Rolls and Poutine. Again plenty for the kids and their dessert menu is unmatched.
-The Lumberjack Show is cool and a very unique experience. One of the ladies who is part of the show, maybe the owner, was on Survivor.
www.mainelumberjack.com-There's a cool fun center just as you cross onto the island. They have water slides, mini golf, go carts, a ropes course, and a bunch of other stuff. It's far enough from the ocean that the water slides won't be freezing.
www.wildacadia.com-Many people don't know this but Maine produces nearly all of America's blueberries. Cool blueberry restaurant and kitschy spot.
www.wildblueberryland.com-I think there is only one boat cruise company and its on the Maine drag of Bar Harbor. That street goes right to the ocean and ends at this spot. They have all kinds of boat tours; whale watches, harbor cruises, deep sea fishing, etc. I've never done the whale watch because we normally do that in Cape Cod because there's a whale sanctuary there and we know we'll see them. If you go on one or more of these excursions, and in 8 days I'm assuming you will, don't just do the harbor cruise. All of their other excursions basically include everything you'd see on the basic cruise.
https://www.barharborwhales.com/#activities-I mentioned it before, they're currently planning on being closed for the summer, but if they do open take the CAT Ferry to Nova Scotia. It's such an amazingly unique experience. When you get to NS go Puffin watching if you don't see them on the CAT.
https://www.ferries.ca/thecat/overview/-Finally I didn't include anything from Acadia because you don't need any tips from me on that one. The one thing I'll say about Acadia is the most underrated part is something many people don't see because it isn't actually on the island. It's Schoodic Peninsula it's only like 30 miles away from Bar Harbor but it takes an hour to drive there. It's still part of Acadia, but it's on a peninsula across from the island looking back, it's beautiful and not nearly as busy. Go there.
That's it my friend. Any questions, ask.