Mrs. HeyHomie and I would like to spend a day at the beach when we go to Disneyworld this October. Right now it looks like we’ll be landing at MCO on October 5, so we’ spend the night of 10/5 and the day of 10/6 at the beach.
The only FL beach we’ve been to is Daytona Beach, and we enjoyed it immensely, but that was about five years ago in late June, during the height of the summer tourist season.
What are central Florida’s Atlantic beaches like during the first week of October? Are they deserted? Is the water still warm enough to swim in? Also, are the waves bigger that time of year? We were at WDW a few years ago and thought about driving to Daytona Beach, but a local told us that the water gets “pretty rough” that time of year. FTR, I’d rather go there when the water is "pretty rough
"; I think big waves are cool 
.
Also, are there any better beaches than Daytona within a 2-hour drive of Orlando? I see that Coco Beach is somewhat close. Is it worth the extra drive?
Here’s what we’re looking for in a beach:
[ul]
[li]Warm water.[/li][li]Not terribly crowded, but not deserted either.[/li][li]Waves big enough to body surf or Boogie Board.[/li][li]Diverse crowd (not all old/young/tourist/locals).[/li][li]Something to do on the shore (restaurants, shopping, etc.)[/li][/ul]
Can anyone make a reccomendation/give us some advice?
Thanks.