Tiredemma - come and talk to me about Florida....

[FloridaKbear]

been reading some of your threads and I'm planning a trip next year so can I pick your brains? Port Orleans Riverside - good for kids (9 and 6)? I am overwhelmed with choices and decisions to make. Help...

I'm going to work now but back later...

Hi

I'm not Temma, but you do know me but I'm in disguise atm - supposed to be on a break!!!

Anyway, your DCs are similar ages to mine and we were in Florida this summer.

I think you need to book your accomodation nearest to the parks that you will use most - transfer time using the disney transportation service can take a long time (45mins) to the furthest away parks from your accomodation so choosing one closest to where you are going is good!

If it helps mine spent most of their time in Epcot and MGM.

Also do think about booking a couple of nights at Universal - the parks there were much more suited to my DCs interests and if you stay in one of the hotels there you get free unlimited front of line express passes for the duration of your stay. The hub around the universal parks is also fabulous much more 'happening' that at Disney.

Are you wedded to staying on site? I only ask as we spent one week on site and one off, and the week off had incredibly good accomodation for a fraction of the Disney prices. We could also get to some of the parks faster from our off site accomodation than we could from our onsite one!

Don't forget to plan for Seaworld and I also think your DS would love Kennedy Space Centre - it is well worth booking one of the tours there if you can.

Restaurants that we loved:

In Disney - Coral Reef, Flying Fish Cafe, Beaches and Cream, Hollywood and Vine.

Off disney - Red tomato (lunch), the olive garden, The House of Pancakes (THOP) for breakfasts, and the big Chinese restaurant right opposite Pointe Orlande (can't remember its name) and The outback steak house for the best steaks we ate!

hello whoever you are!! Thanks for all that. We are definitely staying at a Disney hotel (because I have connections and get a fabulous discount!) and I get free entry to the parks too. How lucky am I?

Seaworld is a definite - DS is mad about the ocean and especially orcas.

The restaurant tips are great, thanks so much. I was hoping THOP would be nearby, I love pancakes for breakfast!

How much are we talking per night for dinner at Disney restaurants, roughly?

There is so much to think about and I don't want to come home wishing we'd done stuff we missed. I know you can't do it all but it's good to hear about other people's holidays.

yoo hoo

hello!

how odd- dp and I both agreed earlier that we had to go back asap!!

just about to write loads of stuff for you- let me just top up my wine!

Epcot was FANTASTIC! The fireworks are the BEST! I cried every night we went to see them, 4 times!it was so emotional

Loved the Magic Kingdom too and we ate at red tomato because they served normal bread, all american bread tastes like it has sugar in?

Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe were good too.

Kissimmee was a great place to stay, quite central, we stayed there.

Got to go on the Tower of Terror-scared me shitless!

I'm jealous

thanks.. waits in anticipation.

cheeselet - I agree, EPCOT fireworks were the best (but I speak from vague and distant memory as I went 20 years ago).

Right- gosh where do I start??

well- we loved it, cannot begin to tell you how amazing it was - and tbh, I think that it was down to the fact that we were actually stayimg on Disney.

Port Orleans is a lovely resort, we stayed in The French quarter which I chose due to it being the smaller complex of the two port orleans resort. In hindsight now, I wish that i had booked the Riverside complex as the pool was far better, it had a lovely 'port area' with boat hire etc and just generally had a better atmosphere. It also had a better restaurant (Boatwrights Dining hall)- we eat in many of the Disney restaurants- our fave ones were
Fultons crab house (at downtown disney)
Boatwrights.( at riverside hotel)
Brown Derby (at MGM)
Rainforest cafe at Animal Kingdom

We booked our restaurants in advance when we checked into the hotel (tying some in with the 'extra magic hours' that you get as a disney guest)
I would avoid Planet Hollywood like the plague - the food was awful, and also Cap'n Jacks at Downtown disney- the service was appalling.

We loved the extra magic hours and it was amazing to go to Magic Kingdom at 7am while it was still dark and all lit up!

as we went at easter, it was very busy and it was frustrating queing- but the fastpass system is such a good idea.
We LOVED Disney MGM, Magic Kingdom and Animal kingdom.
would avoid Epcot if we went again as it was a bit boring- the only good thing there was the 'world showcase'- we eat in the English Themed restaurant and all around this area was good.

although Disney itself is good- Universal knocks spots off it, the univeral parks and restaurants are so much better than Disney- The spiderman ride at Univeral was amazing!

we also did Seaworld ( Fantastic!!) and the day before we flew home ( when we could barely walk!) we went to Discovery Cove- which was the best day of our holiday.

we also went to the Disney waterparks which proved to be a good couple of days away from the themeparks. You get so tired- when I got into bed at night it felt as if my feet were still walking.

Another benefit of staying on disney is getting to a park mega early ( before the crowds get there) staying there till lunchyime- getting lunch and then going back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours/ go to the pool and then go back out early evening- it stopped the boys becoming overtired and crabby.

I cannot recommend staying at Disney itself enough, it really did make our holiday.

I envy anyone going there!

Oh- Tower of Terror- our boys still talk about that- its best at night when its dark!

I have lots of pics that I dont mind emailing, let me know

Tiredemma - I didn't need convincing but you have described it so well I am now counting the minutes until we go! Thanks so much for all the info.

I think the fact that you can go to the parks early then take a few hours off to chill out by the pool then go back is a fantastic idea, especially with the children as they are going to be exhausted otherwise.

thanks

I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside last year and have booked to go there again next year.

My dc were younger (2 and 4 last year) but they loved the pool and play area. It is a fab place to go back to during the day, get some rest and then head out again for the evening.

One tip, we ate in Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge a couple of times, parked the car there and got the boat to the Magic Kingdom for the evening which was far nicer than driving to the MK car park.

Also loved Brown Derby restaurant (we did the Fantasmic package) and Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Ah well, if you have a fab discount then go for it! I did get mightily pissed off with the length of the transfers to some of the parks but if you go knowing what to expect then it does make it easier.

I'm not too sure how much the disney meals were as we were on the disney dining plan. If you are getting a discount it might be worth seeing whether you can also get the DDP too. WIth that you get one table service meal, one counter service meal and one snack per day. We struggled to get through all of our credits but it did mean we were able to eat in some higher end restaurants and book character meals without worrying about the cost. I think there are plans to do a free DPP for AUgust next year if that is when you are going.

I think the best thing you can do is get yourself over to www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/index.php there is so much help there with planning and booking etc - I found it absolutely fantastic to help plan for our holiday.

We stayed at the Beach Club in the villas which had boat transfer to MGM and the Boardwalk and was 5 mins walk to Epcot. It is intersting that Emma's kids found EPcot boring as ours could not get enought of it! They loved the space ride and soarin and the test track so much that we would often wonder over late in the evening just to fit in an extra ride or two I suspect it depends on their ages - last time we went when they were 5 and 3 we only stayed for about an hour

TBH - just make the dibb your home page for the next few months and you will be perfectly prepared - they even have the extra magic hours schedules on there months in advance!

Have banged on about this book before but it is fantastic if you're planning a holiday to Disney World. Anal but fantastically detailed!!