Please help me plan a half term trip to Florida!

[ScienceRocks]

Hello wise MNetters,

I am trying to plan a trip to Florida in October half term but am bewildered by the amount of information there seems to be out there. Has anyone been who can help me with the following?

1. will the weather be ok at that time of year?

2. we want to go to disney for one day and the harry potter bit if universal for one day. What is the best way of getting tickets?

3. DH is keen on one of the water parks. Which is best for our water-loving DDs who will be four and eight?

4. any other must sees while we are there?

5. where to stay? My preference would be for a villa with pool for the non-theme park days so all recommendations for areas and operators would be appreciated?

Thank you in advance!

The weather will be nice then. Are you only going for a week, is there any way you can go for longer- there is so much to do and it's a lot of flight money for just two park days.

Which of the four disney parks do you want to do? Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot or Hollywood Studios? If you're only going for a day you can buy tickets at the gates. I'm not sure if you can buy single tickets from the uk for disney. You'll need a full day to get the most of any of the parks.

Universal has two parks, the existing Harry Potter area is in Islands of Adventure and the new development is in Universal Studios, so if you want to see both you'll need a two park ticket. The Dibb website will be really helpful.

Ooh, thanks for answering!

We can only go for a week really - both DDs will be at school and I am reluctant to pull them out during term time, even for a day or two.

At Disney, we only want the magic kingdom, I think. It's for dd2 really. Dd1 is the harry potter obsessed one, so universal is for her. I didn't realise that the attractions were split over two parks, that does complicate matters a little. I loved Epcot when I went as a girl, but think my two may be too young for them. They are also not bothered about non-harry potter film things, so the rest of universal and MGM don't appeal.

I know it might seem odd to go to the theme parks for a couple of days only, but I think they will be long days and we will need time in between to recuperate! Hence the villa with a pool.

The Wizarding world of Harry Potter in Islands of Adventure is great, but pretty small so the new area will hopefully be a little bigger. There are parts of Islands of adventure that your children will enjoy, especially the Dr Seuss area and rides. There are three rides in the HP area, only one of which your youngest will be able to do, and that's really nothing special. Another is a huge coaster and the last is the main attraction - harry potter and the forbidden journey. You'd need to check height restrictions for this one for your eldest, but my tall dd was 9 when we went and was fine. It's a pretty intense ride so not great for those easily scared, the dementor scared the crap out of me. It's a brilliant ride though.

The new area is going to have a coaster ride but I'm not sure what the height limit will be.

Queues for these areas have been nuts so we tend to book a night Ina. Universal hotel to get the benefit of getting into the parks an hour early.

As for villas, we love the Lindfields area.
We're off for three weeks in August, can't wait!

One day tickets can work out to be overall more expensive that multi day tickets; I would consider buying a two day ticket for Universal. Same for Disney as well, it does not cost a lot more to go for 2 days (its in the theme parks interest for you to spend longer there as well!).

Universal (the original park) is still building their Harry Potter extension (there will be a Hogwarts express train that will run between this park and their Islands of Adventure park). I would carefully check the height requirements for all the rides as soon as you are able as they are strict on this.

I visited Universal earlier this year, if you do go there I would suggest you go to the Harry Potter part of the park first and see that. Even then the wait time for Forbidden Journey was 90 minutes!. This is also because on the day I visited, the staff actually were stopping people from entering that part of the park due to sheer numbers. The staff then were issuing timed tickets for people to return to that part of the park and then they would have joined yet another line to ride the ride of their choosing!.

(BTW Disney dropped MGM from their Disney named park so its now called Disney Hollywood Studios).

You also have to be at least 48 inches talk to actually ride the Forbidden Journey ride at Universal.

we went in oct half term in 2012. we arrived just as the hurricane was doing its worst.

it was very very windy, but i still got sunburnt.

the disney water parks are brilliant. we prefer typhoon lagoon, but blizzard beach is also great.

we got to the universal parks early and didnt queue at all during half term.

Thank you all. Good point on the height restrictions, I will check that. It would be awful to get there and then not be able to go on things.

Am I overthinking the tiredness that will ensue and my perceived need for quiet days in between?

If you are wanting to see both harry potter bits you will need a two park ticket that covers IOA and Universal.

Animal kingdom may be good for DCs too.
Sea world?

If you are travelling all that way I'd try and cram in as much as you can.
Go to parks early for rope drop and go back to hotel late afternoon to relax.

We go every year and found last summer that the Harry Potter part of IOA was much quieter than the previous years. You still need to get there early though so head there as soon as the park opens. In late August they were still building the new part adjoining universal.

Villas are great, more flexibility than hotels. Have a look at www.loyaltyusa.com for luxury villas within 4 miles of Disney. Most have private pools and many have games rooms and company owned by an English lady

We went last October, weather was perfect, couple of overcast mornings, couple of scorcher days the rest just warm and perfect. We stayed in a villa with a pool and games room which I thoroughly recommend. Great to relax after being out all day at the parks.

We went to both universal, all 4 Disney, both Disney watermarks, seaworld and the seaworld watermark! Enjoyed all of them to be honest. Seems a bit odd to me to only go to both universal and 1 Disney only, as they are quite different. If only there for a week could you do 2 Disney, 2 universal and a waterpark? The waterpark days aren't much different to relaxing by the pool, quite chilled.

October was great, queues weren't too bad and we went to the mickeys not so scary Halloween party at magic kingdom which was brilliant, a real highlight.

Be careful what day you go the universal studios in October if you are only allocating one day - they close it early a lot of days in October (4 I seem to remember) for their Halloween Fright Nights.

We also went when the hurricane was there and got a few extra free days as a result. Disney was fantastic, I loved animal kingdom and the boys had a marvellous time at mickeys not so scary Halloween.
We spent a day at typhoon lagoon and booked a day at discovery cove.
We only had a day at universal but really could have done with two.
Legoland was too far out and I regret the money we spent on it (it was empty)
I do think with jet lag a week is too short. It really is a 'once' holiday and I went for ten days. Next time it will be for longer.

Ok, thanks for all the advice and tips. Clearly I have much to ponder...

It was Halloween when we went, we didn't go to Disney on our last trip so didn't go to mickeys Halloween party, my kids are a bit old for that anyway.
Fright night at universal was too old for them so we went to celebration and watched all the people trick or treating in their costumes. It was great fun but very busy.

We are also going this October. I got a much cheaper deal on flights by flying to Tampa instead of Orlando. Obviously this means a bit of a drive when we arrive but I think it is not too bad, around 1 hour and a half.

We have booked a 3 bed villa about 15 mins from Disney for 2 weeks for under £900 (including pool heating). Have a look at www.vr360floridavillas.co.uk for privately let villas at decent prices.

Having been before I would say Typhoon Lagoon is a great water park for the kids.

if you are going for a week, you may find you need to keep the kids off school when you get home anyhow .. the homebound jetlag is a killer....

we took the week before the oct half term out of school to take ours away - then went for 10 days.... flights were cheaper that week and we got back 3 days before back to school.

Mickey's not so scary halloween party (MNSSHP) is FANTASTIC- costs extra, but well worth it.