2 weeks in Florida, What Order is Best to do Things?

[BaconAndAvocado]

Have posted a couple of times re our Florida holiday 2015.

Now,it is actually booked (albeit for 18 months time!) my inner OCD is already started rumbling!

We have tickets for Disney, Universal, Sea World and a day booked at Discovery Cove.

What is the best way to do things? 1 day park then 1 day at villa or,is,it better to mix up the days with half park/half chilling by the pool.

How many days all in all do,you think the parks will take?

So,many questions and so much time

Tia

(Got a feeling I may be here rather regularly!)

Oh! Another question for all you Disney afficienados, what is best character breakfast for a 6 year old girl's birthday?

Best breakfast is Akershaus... loads of princess interaction and photo ops - if you book the first slot of the day you will also be able to get pics of the kids holding up the EPCOT "golf ball" in an empty park.

Be aware that if you are due to land at 5.30pm, you will probably not leave the airport until after 7.30pm.... IF your plane lands on time and you are the first plane through immigration... we had one where the plane was late, there were 3 planes unloading and we got to the villa after midnight.... if the villa has a lock box for the key, take a torch..

think about booking a night in a Universal hotel for the express line privileges - it was well worth it for us - you check in really early, so you get express line for 2 days...

also be aware that if you are not staying in a Disney hotel you have to pay for parking.

and some villa management agents require you to register on the first morning - one in particular we had to be in the villa any time between 6.30am and 10.30am - it is a legal requirement that you register in the first 24 hours

and lastly consider getting a mapman map.... here they are worth their weight in gold - they show ALL of the villa communities, the routes to the parks, the restaurants, the supermarkets, pharmacies, the hotels - everything......

Wow shadow there's so much to think about!

Yes, I have heard that Orlando airport can take an age!

Thanks for top tips

bacon are you going sept 2015 too?

I can't wait

I know it's already been mentioned but I took loads of tips from the Dibb website and saved plenty of queuing times in the parks. There is good advice about what days to avoid and which rides to go on first/using fastpasses. We went in August 2012 and never queued for more than 25 minutes on any ride.

You'll probably find that you don't have many "off days" as there's so much to do. We mixed it up by either going to a water park first and then heading to the park later or park first and water park later. It was so much better than being on your feet for a full day.

I would definitely have some sort of timetable in place. It doesn't have to be set in stone but a loose plan is certainly needed as it's a full on holiday.

I want to go again

Tip from the Dibb - when we landed at the airport dh went straight to the car hire place. Me and dc collected the luggage and then went to meet him. This saved loads of time ( and when you waited an age going through passport control, every second counts ).

We inadvertently timed our arrival on Day 1 to be at the Magic kingdom just as the morning parade started. It was FANTASTIC. Great idea to have breakfast at crystal Palace too.

We did Discovery Cove midway. Suggest you have a pool day and early night the day before. DC is brilliant, but you only get one crack at it and its very expensive. You do not want knackered, fractious kids that day.

Tip: at the lagoon look out for Ranger Steve. Tall grey hard surfer dude. He let DS help him feed the fish. Lovely, lovely man.

At the Magic Kingdm evening parade be aware that people reserve their piece of pavement for hours, and get super-arsy about it if you sit down on what looks like a gap. I've never wanted to punch adults as much as I did that night for standing at the front and blocking kids views.

face I'm slightly addicted to the Dibb

Are you hoping to go back? Once is never enough...

I'm back.

The Nemo show is so good I teared up! We like Animal Kingdom the best of all Kingdoms.

At Seaworld, when you get to the whale stadium keep walking round the perimeter. Most people pile up the first staircase. If you walk right round it's easier to get seats in the Splash Zone. We were feet away from the whale platform.

Just skim read but not sure if anyone else has mentioned www.thedibb.co.uk - all the information you could ever need for planning a holiday to Orlando.

There is also a US site www.disboards.com

Agree wholeheartedly with the recommendaton for mapmans map - excellent resource showing restaurants and shops

HTH :)

Face DH and I adopt that strategy at all airports!

TSSDNCOP I loved its tough to be a bug! Favourite ride ever!

www.thedibb.co.uk
www.disboards.com

at Chesty

I just saw on DIBB that the Animal Kingdom parade ends in June 14. That's so sad. 'twas my favourite parade

Hi chesty again!

We are going in August 2015. Only 18 months to go

Loving all these superb tips. Need to write them all,down.

DH thinks I'm most peculiar already planning......can I keep this pace up for 18 months?

Quick question.....how many days do you think we'll need for,each of following parks:

Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Animal Kingdom
Sea world
Aquatics
Universal Studios
Island of Adventures
Cape Kennedy

Think I've covered them all? We decided to give Busch Gardens a miss.

We have 14 days and want to mix and match days/afternoons etc with taking it easy back at the villa.

You have a month less to wait

Are you not doing hollywood studios and downtown disney?

We planned a day at each and then returned to our favourites.

Magic kingdom might take two, depends how long your days are going to be?

We did
2 days at MK, one an early start to do the big rides, the other a late start to do the parades/shows/fireworks (last night for us just HAS to be MK "Wishes" fireworks...)

2 days at Epcot, same as above

1 at AK

1 at Hollywood Studios - get there EARLY!!! if you want to do Toy Story ride.

Seaworld after playing crazy golf in the morning at the Disney Winter- Summer land mini golf course.. but we don't like the "shows" so much there, more the conservation side...

didn't do Aquatica

Universal Studios and IOA we did over 2 days with a stay at a Universal hotel in the middle - gets you 2 Express line days (SO worth it) ...and 2 early entry days for HarryPotter stuff at IOA .. and we park hopped after early entry one of the days.. bought Hard Rock hoodies for the kids - bought big and they have lasted 3 years so far, then spent the evening at the hotel floating in the hot-as-a-bathtub outdoor pool under the stars....

Kennedy Space Center - took a whole day, with the travelling.... and we saw a lot of wildlife that day!! If you want any of the tours, pre-book, they sell out fast... We took the kids to Cocoa beach before heading "home" so they could paddle in the other side of the Atlantic....

We also had an away from the parks day - morning at BoggyCreek airboats (we met alligators up CLOSE!) and afternoon in the shopping Malls.... there is actually an M+Ms chocolate shop!!!!

And some time - probably 4 hours with some downtime back at the pool - at Disney Quest/ Downtown disney souvenir shopping, followed by one of the park evenings for the fireworks..

I was in Florida last year with my brother and his wife. We are in our late 40's and mid 50's. We stayed in a very nice apartment in the Sheraton Vistana Resort.

In two weeks we saw up the road one way for about 5 miles, along the road another way for a few miles, down the road for about 5 miles, and along again for another few. That was it really because we spent the entire time being children in the parks. We only did the Disney parks and only one of the Disney Waterparks. It was fab. Of course we did the outlet malls and Florida mall a few times but that was it, and yes, we were out from morning to night - there was no pacing ourselves.

Do I regret it for a moment? Absolutely not! Would I do it again? Yes, and the trip is already planned. Did I think I would enjoy it? No, I honestly just went along with it to spend time with them both. Do I understand why they go every year? Yes. Do I laugh at them anymore? No. :D

Yes chesty we will do Hollywood Studios!

Thought Downtown Disney was more for adults?

Just got some more Florida brochures for me for kids to look at!

Thanks for,those suggestions shadow

I'm guessing doing anything spontaneously won't be part of the deal in Florida?!

We are at Disneyworld at the moment. Two weeks of just Disney, with ds who is 6. It makes k lovely holiday!

We got Disney park hopper tickets and did mornings in parks, leaving around 1 when parks getting busy and hot, back to pool for afternoon then dinner somewhere (Another park, or downtown for t-rex etc.)

We got magic bands and booked fastpasses online through my Disney experience, and meals too. Really great system and you can change and update easily if you have a smart phone, even when in parks waiting inline

Best meals were Cinderellas castle, hoop de do revue, coral reef at epcot, rainforest cafe at animal kingdom.

You might want a bit of flexibility to do water parks on really hot days, not sure of weather when your going? We always do Feb.

I planned every day either up till 12 followed by booked lunch, or booked some fastpasses for late afternoon then booked a dinner for about 6.30 - this worked really well for us as we still had a lot of flexibility in the day.

You will have a wonderful time! We are booking again for next year in May

Ooohh stairs sounds like you're having a stonking time!

What is T. Rex and what is there for kids at Downtown.

Also , we will not be staying at a Disney hotel , can we still get fast passes?

Enjoy

T Rex is a dinosaur themed restaraunt at DTD

There's shops, restaurants, air ballon, disney quest etc at DTD and of course Earl of Sandwich! Is worth a visit just for their sandwiches! And of course Ghiralldis for ice cream
We just allocate half a day.

Planner for me looks like..DTD morning, hotel pool afternoon, park evening.

Not that I've been planning my days yet, honest

Seriously the Dibb website is full of other disney obsessed planners and has loads of great tips.

As far as I know it's only on site guests who can book fast passes via MDE 60 days in advance at the mo.

You can still get them by going to machines in the parks.

Wasnt over impressed with DTD.

Just a short drive down the road though is a mall of restaurants including Umo where you'll eat better food at half the price of DTD.

We only ate ice cream and sweets from Goofy's candy company when at DTD - but the kids loved Disney Quest games there... and taking the water shuttle from one end to the other, and the massive year round Disney Christmas shop... and the lego store and, and, and... they loved it there...

Year round Disney Christmas shop you say?.......it gets better and better!

yep - and they pump the scents of Christmas round the store and don't have many windows - to give a twinkly light feel - so it smells and feels Christmassy even in the summer....