Schumi, block out a decent-sized span of time in case the launch gets scrubbed a few times b/c of hardware, software, or weather. Maybe you could check and pick a mission that has several launch windows within a week.
There was a launch the same day we left to come home from Didney Wurl in the summer of '89. I talked with a guy in a Minimart in Kissimmee about it when I was filling up the car the night before. He said we should get up early and head up there, but that we'd never be able to get very close because on both sides of whatever road that runs East toward the center, there would be tons of motorhomes that had already been there for 3-4 days.
Neither my wife nor I wanted to get up early and buzz up there and not have a great view... or have it scrubbed after making the effort, so we just left around checkout time.
We turned on the radio, and the original launch time had been scrubbed, but they were gonna try again about the time we would be passing by the Flagler Beach exit on I-95, so we got off and headed over to the coast. They scrubbed it again.
A few years later, we went to the OmniMax theatre at Discovery Place in Charlotte and saw Blue Planet, which included a shuttle launch on that huge screen with those amazing speakers solidly thumping our chest cavities as if we were about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away.... WAY closer than we would've ever gotten at the Cape. We truly felt like we had seen and felt the power of that launch... it was amazing.
So, if you can't make it for a real launch, check the closest IMAX or OMNIMAX theatre to see if they ever plan on showing it again. I would guess that watching it on that screen is at least 7/10ths the intensity of the real experience.
The film also included a lot of footage of the earth shot from the shuttle... which was equally breathtaking.
Hmmm... it's available on DVD... how good is the sound on your home system?
IMAX: Blue Planet / The Dream Is Alive