Headed to Florida for first time - Help me plan :)

[Reg]

My wife and I plus our 3yr old daughter and 5 (almost 6) yr old son are headed to Orlando area for a week soon. I am by no means a seasoned traveller having been up in the air but once when I was 13. Kids do not know we are going until a day or two before we go.

Anyone on PPOT who has recent Disney or other attractions do's and don'ts please help us get the most out of this. These are my summer holidays from 2011! Thank You.

[URY914]

Let's see, LegoLand just opened.

Busch Gardens is in Tampa, about 1:30 from O (and 10 minuties from me)

[crb07]

Great, just what we need, more Canadians. To bad you are not as old as the rest of them. make sure you drive really slow, come to a near stop at every intersection and just have a look around. Take your time. Do all your car travel at rush hour. Don't worry about the locals flipping you off, they are just trying to get to and from work.

Have a good trip, you will have fun.

[imcarthur]

I see Orlando 3-4 times a year as a business traveler, so I am your man for hwys & general logistics but Christien goes down with his kids annually to Mouse World so he would be a good one to ask for family info. I generally avoid the Disney & the International Drive Areas as much as possible.

Ian

[azasadny]

Glass bottom boats in Key Largo, if you have the time to get down there, it worth the trip!!!

[azasadny]

Don't wear black socks with your sandals or everyone will know you're Canadian!!

[Laneco]

If you can get a "front of the line pass" at the amusement park - get it. It's generally worth the money especially as you've come so far.

Make sure the rental car has SUNPASS for the toll roads. Roads are good, but nothing is more stressful than digging for change with excited kids in the car and some meanie behind you honking.

For 3 and 5, Legoland would be awesome! A hotel with a kid-sized pool is worth the premium. Don't forget sunscreen. Even in winter.

Don't wear ridiculous huge white leather high-top tennis shoes - they'll think you're from the United States.

angela

[944Larry]

Bring plenty money-we don't have a state income tax here! You will have a large time and you have picked about the best time of year to come. The really big tourist crowds are still a ways off. Bring your laptop as there are quite a few good pelican guys over that way who will be a big help. I'm in redneck Florida (the panhandle) if you need something over this way. Have fun!

[ShakinJoe]

Disney is great and the kids will never forget it. Wilderness Lodge is one of the best places to stay as you get in and out of parks quickly by boat.

Get the fast pass wherever you can and enjoy. All the kids are in school now so you should have free run of the parks.

[72doug2,2S]

Seriously be careful driving around old people, they are by far the most dangerous thing on the streets. Just expect that car stopped at the corner to pull out in front of you. Keep your foot close to the brakes.

I guess for the first trip I'd stick to the attractions at Disney and the others. There's plenty to see. I still need to take the kids there. The Haunted Mansion at Disney was always a cool thing. If you have girls, I think you can arrange for a Princess breakfast.

[URY914]

Bring money.





Bring more money.

[PorscheGAL]

Parking at Disney is $10 a day. It is easiest to stay at one of their resorts and take their bus. My favorite resort is Pop Century. It is one of their cheapest but we like it just fine.

At Disney get the Park Hopper so you can leave when the kids get tired and come back after a rest in the Hotel room.

My suggestion about Disney, especially because yours are young, get a lanyard and the cheapest Disney pins you can buy. Ebay sells them or in Disney hotel shops. Your kids can walk up to any Disney employee and trade their pins for the employees. My son loved the ability to switch out and he was able to easily identify an employee just in case (God Forbid) you get separated.

There are Disney photographers, everywhere. Have them take your picture. It costs you nothing unless you buy, which you can do online once you get home or in the park. It allows you to have at least one family picture at the park.

At Disney's Hollywood studios there is a show after dark called Fantasmic. That is great. The easiest way to see that is to buy the dinner and show tickets. You eat at one of their designated restaurant and are escorted to your seats right before the show.

[Christien]

I can tell you what works for our family, but your's may be different. We just got back a couple weeks ago, 3rd full-length stay, 5th trip in total since our kids were born. Our girls are 5 and 3, so same age as your kids.

First, and most important, when is "soon"? If you're going in February, that's excellent - probably the best time of year to go, for both weather and crowds. We went over christmas break - first and last time we'll do that. The crowds were out of control. There was nothing "magical" about it. But if you're thinking March, avoid March break if possible. I was there last year at March break, and it was liveable, but if you can avoid it, do. And remember different states have the break at different times.

We've stayed at Fort Wilderness in the cabins - they're great, because you can make breakfast in the room (call a grocery delivery service ahead of time, they'll bring it right to the cabin, including beer/booze/wine, if you want) and the trip to the Magic Kingdom is not only fast, it's easy. If you're taking a stroller, you have to fold it up on any bus, but from Fort Wilderness you take a boat, and you can push the stroller right on.

edit: damn shift-enter=post.

That said, the value resorts are great for the kids. The hotels have giant statues of characters from the movies - our girls could spend their whole vacation staring at the 30-foot tall Buzz Lightyear The pools are cool, and there are lots of food options.

Speaking of food, get the dining plan. Combined with the park passes, I don't think you can eat any cheaper, because restaurants at Disney are stupidly expensive. Plus, you're not constantly watching money being spent and keeping that running total in your mind of just how much this trip is going to end up costing. The food at Disney is actually pretty good. Not gourmet, by any means, but if you know where to look you can find some really interesting options, and lots of healthy stuff too. At the Magic Kingdon, go to the restaurant opposite the Haunted Mansion and get the hummus and coleslaw sandwich - I think it's call the Lighthouse, or the Anchor or something. It's one of the best sandwiches I've ever had.

As for parks, you'll really end up spending most of your time at the Magic Kingdom, with kids that age. Your eldest might find some fun stuff at Hollywood Studios, but if you do go there, get there before 9:30 and one of you go straight to the Toy Story ride and get fast passes. They run out usually by 10-11am. I've never actually been able to get one. The Little Mermaid and Disney Jr. shows are really fun for the kids, but that's about the end of stuff at that park for really young ones. Animal Kingdom has about the same # of fun things for kids that age. Epcot has a few more - your oldest can go on Test Track, which is really fun, and the Finding Nemo ride is cool.

Park Hopper option - depends on how much energy your kids have. We've done it both ways. It definitely has its advantages, though this last trip we didn't bother, and there was only one time where we wished we had it.

For non-park stuff, try visiting some of the pools at the other hotels. We went to the pool at the Caribbean Beach resort - it's pirate themed, and is one of the coolest pools I've ever swam in. 2 waterslides and a pirate ship water park play area thingy. And 2 other people using the pool, that's it. Of course, the temperature that day was about 8 celsius.

I'm sure I've got tons more info - shoot me a pm if you want, or just ask questions here.

[id10t]

Remember that Florida isn't just Disney and beaches. If you can, think about driving up here to N Florida (2-3hrs from Disney) and check out the springs, etc. Silver Springs is in Ocala, and definately worth a day trip up.

If you are into aquariums, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa is great, and has a great outdoors play area for kids.

[Reg]

WOW-Thanks for the help folks.

I have not gone through it all the posts yet (supposed to be working!) but we are going last week of Feb.

We are not staying on site but a resort nearby called Regal Palms - it has a waterslide, lazyriver etc...

[bell]

If you stay on site you will not need to rent a car......plus you can take advantage of the meal plan.......
.pm me if you want the real skinny on how to do a disney vacation right and stress free......
The wife and I have been there literally 200-250 times over the past 4 years....stayed at all but 4 resorts.....
You can always rent a car for just a couple days to hit the beach too......

[72doug2,2S]

Bell, Don't keep it a secret share the stress free plan.

[Christien]

Yeah, I'd love to hear your secrets. You guys must practically live there!

[GH85Carrera]

My wife & I did the Disney thing a couple of years ago. Everyone kept asking where our kids were and my wife would point to me and I would point to her.

We did the full bore Disney tour. Disney picked us up at the airport and took us right to the hotel. They had a free shuttle bus running all the time. We had a park pass so we could go to any park and we did the meal plan. The took us back to the airport and we never had to worry about parking or traffic. The shuttle bus worked just great to get to the park.

What ever you do wear very comfortable walking shoes. We averaged 6 miles a day of walking and one day was 11 miles. We ate at the park and the meal plan had plenty of very good food. If you purchase everything ahead of time and plan your visit it is not all that expensive considering what the parks have to offer. Since we did not have any kids we rode a ton of the fun roller coasters. They have some fantastic rides. The trip to Mars at Epcot was the most amazing, but my wife would not even try it. How they replicate the weightless feeling is just cool.

We had a blast and the week at Disney cost less than my trip to Savannah GA for Porsche parade.

[Christien]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The trip to Mars at Epcot was the most amazing,

That ride is SO much fun!!