Disney novice - advise needed!

[stupidphone]

My in-laws have very kindly booked for the family (10 in total) to go to Orlando. They have paid for the flights and hotels (one week near Disney and one week near Clearwater) and car hire. We have to get the tickets. Little did I realise how much these cost!!! We normally go camping to France with total cost of about £1200, so we are going to do some serious saving! I have looked a little and think we like Universal. We would like to go to the space centre also. My question is.... where is the best place to buy tickets? And will it really cost £1200+ for a family of 4?! For each park? Also do we NEED to do magic kingdom? Kids are 10 and 8. Not at all into princess or character stuff. DD is anxious with loud noises and probably won't go near a ride!!! Not keen on sea world. Like the sounds of Harry Potter etc and a water park. Probably will need to eat off site as will be skint! Any advise great received!!!

Sorry OP, no advice coming from me but I am too a Disney novice and looking to book for next year. Your questions are just like mine and my kids are 12 and 8 (and youngest is ASD). Hoping someone will soon come along and help us out!

We did Disney this year. I would say that it wasn't on my bucket list, BUT I really wouldn't miss the Magic Kingdom. It isn't all fairies and princesses. We don't do water parks, and visited 6 theme parks in total - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.

We also visited the Kennedy Space Centre and did an airboat ride to look for alligators. Now that was very noisy, but they do provide ear defenders. Although some idiots didn't wear theirs.

It isn't a cheap holiday. Kennedy Space Centre tickets are $40 for children and $50 for adults. 7 day unlimited Disney passes are from £359 each and Universal from £165 each.

Eating at the parks and within the Disney area is expensive, but if you leave the hotel and the Disney World area there are some brilliant places to eat that don't cost the earth.

It isn't a holiday I would redo, but given my time again I would go self catering as hotel breakfasts are expensive (they are very rarely included in the room cost). Also bear in mind that tax is added on to everything so the price you see is not what you pay. Unless you eat somewhere that is self service dining you are expected to add a tip of at least 18%.

The cheapest way to eat would be to get food from Walmart and take it with you, but in 36 degree heat food that you have been carrying around all day won't be very nice - they don't let you take cool boxes into the parks.

I don't want to put you off, just prepare you.

If you are going in the summer holidays it will be very crowded

You need to google the DIBB forums and prepare. Also lots of threads on here if you run a search. Trip advisor too.

We have been a few times now and returning at February half term. Dd is 14y and we've been going since she was 2y. :)

So, you have a week near Disney... is that 6 full days? Or 5?

Parks

• there are 4 Disney parks. All are very different and offer different things. Disney is the 'magic' bit. DD has never outgrown it, she loves the whole thing.
• within the Disney resort there are also 2 water parks, both themed
• there are then 2 Universal parks, this is also where Harry Potter is, spread between both parks.

My question is.... where is the best place to buy tickets? For each park?

Also do we NEED to do magic kingdom? Kids are 10 and 8. Not at all into princess or character stuff. DD is anxious with loud noises and probably won't go near a ride!!!
For an anxious child I would say Magical Kingdom is probably the better of all 6 parks. The rides are smaller on the whole, but there are a handful of bigger ones. It isn't all princesses. This is the park where there is a lot to see - the parades and shows, etc plus they general sights of the park. Animal Kingdom would have the animals to walk round and see and a couple of great shows. Epcot is much quieter on the whole - a lot more wandering and walking round.
Universal parks are much louder - the sound of The Hulk coaster can be heard really loudly in that area. And the HP places are excellently themed but as a result are very 'wizardy' and Knockturn Alley is dark and spooky, fabulous but can be scary for an anxious child.

I would recommend your Dd watching lots of You Tube videos - all of the rides and attractions are on there in full. Follow people like Tim Tracker or the other dozens of regulars - they talk you through all areas. Then see what she likes.

Not keen on sea world - we haven't been since DD was 4y so couldn't really comment not hat much anyway.

Water Park - there are two Disney water parks, our favourite is Typhoon Lagoon for the waves. There is a slo a newer Universal water park - not been there as our more recent visits have been in february and only for a week so no time!

It is a faff coming in and out of parks. I would eat a big early breakfast - lots of buffet places off site. Then you can bring in snacks if you want to carry a backpack, or have a fast food meal during the day. Then eat off site late after the park closes/you leave - or if doing fireworks you could eat off site at tea time and return.

We buy tickets direct most of the time now as the savings from other places haven't been that much differences I would recommend only using official sellers, and ones where you get an actual ticket.

Tickets are expensive and it is full price for anyone aged 10 or over, and child ticket isn't much different tbh. Hence we go to parks every day for the whole time and get our moneys worth. We don't bother with hopper tickets for Disney as there is enough to do in each park, but you need a hopper ticket at Universal to do the Hogwarts Express train.

Go onto the WDW website and register for My Disney Experience (also as an app) - lots of info there for the Disney side of things.

fifipop - Let the parks know that your DC is ASD. They can help make the whole trip a little more manageable when required. One of DH's colleagues goes regularly (they have a place over there) with her child - well, he is a much older teen now iirr, but they've been going since he was small. She thoroughly recommends it.

disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/cognitive-disabilities-services/

and look at the Disability Accessibility Service if it is applicable : wdpromedia.disney.go.com/media/wdpro-assets/dlr/help/guest-services/guests-with-disabilities/Disney-Parks-Disability-Access-Service-Card-2014-04-10.pdf

Forgot to say that we love the Space Centre - not been for a while due to only going for a week in recent years, but I do love it! Well worth a visit.

Oh, and it costs $20 a day to park at the theme parks, and then there are the motorway tolls - not expensive, and you can settle up when you return your car. Just be aware of them.

As you're only going to be in the theme park area for a week then you're probably better off not going for the full Disney fortnight tickets, that you buy in the UK.

With your age of DCs you'd probably get away with one day at Magic Kingdom and there is a ticket you can buy with a water park add on. Check the prices here: www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/tickets.htm#tickettypes.

For Universal, I think the UK ticket is cheaper than going for 2 days, so you need to decide in advance if you're planning to visit both parks. We're not a great fan of crowds and parades and things, and actually found ourselves spending the full day at Universal rather than half a day at Disney as it didn't seem as intense somehow.

I was at Disney's customer services for a restaurant booking and I heard them talk to a parent of an autistic DC. it sounded like they were really well set up for it and there are quiet rooms they can queue in to make it a more tolerable experience.

I think that the Kennedy space centre could be nearer to Clearwater so I'd save that for the second week.

I'd recommend this book (sorry extra expense ) to help you make sense of it all: www.amazon.co.uk/Brit-Guide-Orlando-2017/dp/0572046286.

We didn't find food in the parks to be too pricey ( mind you the exchange rate was a lot better at the time). A fast food meal will cost around $10-12. There are lots of buffet type places that offer really cheap deals outside the parks i.e. Cici's pizza buffet was super cheap, however we found buying groceries quite expensive compared to here.

I'm sure your DCs will have an amazing time.

Thank you for replies! Yes 6 days and day to drive to the coast. DD is anxious mainly to do with weather! Very nervous about thunder. Hasn't been to theme park before but says doesn't want to go on rides, but you never know! Like the sounds of Universal because of new water park and Harry Potter. What is a hopper pass?! And what exactly is a fast pass?! Good idea about big breakfast. Thinking small snack first thing then go to either hotel or local place outside to fill up on breakfast. Maybe have one meal in ?Epcot as hoping it may be a bit 'different' as supposed to be from places around the world? Also is the soaring ride really a simulator? Think DD will like these more than rides that chuck you around up high! I just can't picture or imagine what it's like. I am looking forward to it but also a little paranoid about heat and queues and lots of people

The ride in Hogwarts is a simulator. DD hates roller coasters, but loved the Hogwarts ride. I hated it BTW.

Hotel breakfasts are expensive. We stayed in a hotel at the lower end of the market and the breakfasts were about $17 each. I doubt breakfast will be included in the room rate.

The space centre looks as if about an hour from Orlando but 2+hours from Clearwater, unless I being completely thick! Which isn't hard when it comes to trying to organise this trip!

Universal has a lot more simulator rides than Disney - so the Minions ride ( loved this one), The Simpsons and quite a few others are all simulators. For the Minions, if you can't cope with your chair moving which it does from side to side a bit, then there are non moving seats as well.

If you're only there for 6 days then you won't be able to do all Disney parks. We could only cope with one a day. Epcot would have been my favourite, as I really enjoyed the mini countries, but it most certainly was not DS's and he moaned the entire way round.

If you're at the parks for your first week then your bodies will still be on UK time. Therefore I'd sacrifice the huge breakfast (or bring some sandwiches with you) and get to the parks as early as possible. That way you can work your way round before they get busy and it gets too hot. We kept an eye on the time of parades etc. for the opposite reason as most people as we actively wanted to avoid them.

Hopper pass means you can visit more than one park a day - see above, you probably won't want to visit more than one a day unless you are very keen. Fast pass means you can skip the queue for some rides, for Disney if you buy your tickets in advance you can fast pass some rides, but it does involve making a decision in advance about where you're going to be at a particular time on a particular day.

I'd recommend working out a rough itinerary in advance and then pricing up the ticket cost options based on that. I'd build in at least one day in the middle not doing very much as the parks gave us a bit of sensory overload , and I get the feeling you're quite similar. I was super annoyed as DH and DS went on strike and refused to leave the condo lazy river and as I'd bought the fortnight tickets I felt we were wasting money. They were right of course, we were on holiday and it's not a sin to relax.

For Water Parks we went to Disney's typhoon lagoon and really enjoyed that, lots of artificial beaches and felt vaguely relaxing as we had a spot to retreat to.

Don't try and squeeze in both Universal and Disney if you only have a week.

What month are you going?

No you're probably right about the Kennedy space centre distances.

If you're planning that as well then I'd say something like this would work:

Day 1 - Water park ( as you'll be too jet lagged to do a full on park)
Day 2 - Universal - one park
Day 3 - Kennedy Space Centre
Day 4 - Magic Kingdom
Day 5 - Relax
Day 6 - Universal - other park

I'm sure others will critique this, but you can't fit everything in on one visit.

Rookie that looks good itinerary. My thoughts are, why bother buying expensive Disney tickets to go to the magic kingdom for one day? Or can you just do one day? Or less I am reading everything wrong they seem to be 7 or 14 days for well over £1000! My DH says we can't go all the way to Florida without going to 'Disney'. Maybe I am tight but not paying that for one day!!!!

Hi, it's possible to buy one day tickets on the gate:
www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/tickets.htm#tickettypes , not sure if there is anyway of buying them for one day any cheaper in advance, but it will certainly be cheaper than the 14 day extravaganza. It looks from there as if an adult one day ticket is around $114 and maybe tax on top. So whilst it's not cheap, it's cheaper than the £350+ per adult for the 14 day pass.

If you can squeeze it in, I would recommend a day at Magic Kingdom. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and DS had a blast. He was 7 and there were a lot of tamer rides that I/he enjoyed ( DH would take him on the less tame ones). I'm kind of with your DH as whilst you're there, you may as well go. Universal was fun, but Disney has more ambience about it.

We did both when we were there as DH was adamant that we weren't going back. However he was so taken with Kennedy Space Centre, that I suspect we'll have another Florida visit when the exchange rate (hopefully) perks up a bit.

PP is correct in 6 days you have to pick either Disney or Universal, please as suggested go over to www.thedibb.co.uk where there is so much advice and descriptions of each park and ride.

At that age I would normally recommend Disney as it is gentler and aimed at the age group (and I prefer it).

Plan would be one day at each of the 4 parks and a day at a water park.

This site has some great tips about the best value tickets for what you need:
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-disney-florida-theme-parks

We found undercover tourist the best place to buy tickets to the parks in advance. We did it this year with a 15 yo (boy) and 9 yo (girl) and they loved every second of it. Our itinerary was:

Day 1- Magic Kingdom
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom (we wanted 2 days here as it is the main Disney park and lots to do plus the atmosphere is amazing, even my moody 15 yo boy loved it)
Day 3- Sea World (mainly for the 3 amazing rides but shamefully I will admit I enjoyed the rest of it also)
Day 4 - Discovery Cove (if you have the option to go I highly recommend it, it was the best day out of all, relaxing and the kids loved the snorkelling with sting rays, we did the dolphin experience but the highlight was still the exotic fish snorkelling)

Day 5 - Universal Studios
Day 6- universal studios Island of Adventure.

It was crazy and intense but we felt it was the perfect combination for our kid's age. Oh and for universal you really need fast passes.

Second week it was to relax near Clearwater also and it was great after such an intense first week.

Oh and undercover tourist does 2 days tickets for Disneyworld.

We go for a week in February - 70 days time, I know as I paid the balance today!

We are a bit more used to it all though and it will be our 8th (or 9th) visit I think and I have a theme park mad teen. THis time we are also staying in a Disney hotel with dining plan. We're also taking dd's friend who has never been before and unlikely to return unless as an adult so trying to fit in as much as possible and making the most of the dining plan and character meals! Dd is a huge Disney (esp Beauty and the Best, and Stitch) and HP fan. Her friend Ian just incredibly excited about it all and also loves HP.

So our busy itinerary for this week will be:

Day 1 - arrive, chill at hotel
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom, eating at The castle for breakfast and Be Our Guest for dinner.
Day 3 - Universal for the non HP rides using an express pass (Presidents day so may be very busy); no dining booked but plan to go to the Chocolate Emporium and also one of the HP restaurants if not too busy (else go on next visit)
Day 4 - Epcot, eating dinner as Akershuh
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom, eating breakfast at Tusker House
Day 6 - Hollywood Studios, eating at 50s Prime Time Cafe
Day 7 - Universal parks especially the Harry Potter rides; likely to eat at Hard Rock Cafe
Day 8 - late breakfast at the Polynesian resort for the Lilo and Stitch breakfast. Then airport via a mall and home.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with Rookie. First day jet lag is your friend - up early and get to the parks to beat the crowds! If you only have 6 days then I definitely wouldn't waste one with a relaxing day.

If your daughter doesn't like rides then that will limit your options, but also queue times.

Epcot and animal kingdom have lots of places to walk around and experience, so they might be good. I can't imagine not doing Magic Kingdom, and there are some lovely, gentle rides there like Small World, Peter Pan etc.

Fastpass is something you now book via the My Disney Experience app, and use to join a shorter queue for popular rides. It's included in your ticket price.

You'll have to do the maths and work out whether pre purchasing tickets for Disney + universal in advance (even with days you won't use) is cheaper than buying on the gate. We paid about £1200 for a family of 4 for 14 day tickets for Disney and universal - yes, it is pricey!

Universal offer something similar called universal express - it costs additional for universal or is included if you stay at a certain level of Universal resort hotel (but park,tickets have to be bought as well).

Kennedy Space Centre is brilliant. Well worth it if your kids are into space stuff.

I'm glad some other people have said it is possible to do Disney and Universal in the same week. I thought I was committing some sort of Disney crime by suggesting it. It makes sense to me, particularly if you aren't likely to be coming back to Florida.

I agree it's a shame to "waste" a day as it were, but it depends very much on your tolerance to crowds Hermione, also we all got a bit of sensory overload as we usually tend to holiday near the countryside, so we definitely needed a bit of time to decompress.

I suppose we didn't have a relaxing week to look forward to afterwards, so there was less incentive to power on through.

I think the important thing to remember is that it is a holiday and is meant to be enjoyed, so if it all becomes too much, then it's fine to just chill for a bit.

Hermione I totally agree about the first few days re jet lag.

We were up, and chirpy with it, at 6am the first day and arrived at Magic Kingdom at half 7 ready for our 8 am breakfast. It was beautiful as it was so empty and walking up Main Street that morning is one of my fondest memories of the holiday.

fleurdelise we LOVED the snorkelling with the rays and tropical fish too and found the dolphin swim far too cold and a bit of a conveyor belt.

We are returning next year and have booked a non-swim for the snorkelling as this was one of their favourite bits of the holiday.