From our condo near Disney World, Cocoa Beach was about an hour and 20 minutes driving east on Highway 528. We went through three toll booths, which added a bit more time than we had anticipated to our journey, but they totaled less than $3 for our minivan.
We paid the $5 fee to park in the lot at the end of the pier and left our beach stuff in the van while we had lunch at Marlins Good Times Bar & Grill. We picked up some beach towels ($12.99/each - best price we found in any of the shops) at OCEANOTIONS and went to stake out our little bit of beach. The water was warm and the sand even warmer! It was a fabulous day of sunbathing, shell seeking, and wave jumping. We ended up having to pull the kids out of the water kicking and screaming when it was time to go home!
Check out this website for more information: http://www.cocoabeachpier.com/index.html. For a good map, visit this site: http://www.visitcocoabeach.com.
From journal Kissimmee Family Vacation