Orlando parks, worth trying to do everything? Or which parks would be ok to miss? Anyone care to offer some advice please??

[ElizabethWakefield]

We are off to orlando this summer, we have started looking at some of the park tickets and offers online, but are feeling a bit confused over what to buy.

We are in orlando for 14 days, staying in a villa, close to the disney parks. We will have 5 children with us ages 10, 9, 9, 7 and 5 (turns 5 while we are there) while we are there we also want to try to spend some time at the beach and do some shopping.

So is it worth just splashing out and getting the all inclusive tickets for both the disney parks and the universal parks, or is it better to try and pick and choose what parks to go to (and maybe save a bit)?

Are there any parks that have rides that would be too big for the kids or are all the parks pretty mixed?

Any other advice or tips would be much appreciated too

The multi-day passes are usually much, much cheaper. Sea World did a thing that if you bought a one day pass, you got a second day free. We only had time to go once, so it was really expensive for a day.

We didn't go to Universal, but our children are younger.

But all the parks are pretty mixed. So you might be as well to buy a 3 or 4 day pass to Disney, and similar for Universal, then spend the others days shopping/beach (although the beaches are quite a drive - you might prefer to use the Universal or Disney water parks that you'll get access to with a multi-day ticket).

One thing to bear in mind is that if you go to Disney on a birthday, they either let you in free, or if you've bought a multi-day pass, give you a gift card to the value of a one-day ticket. So I recall I got about $70 gift card (the adult one-day entry) to spend in Disney on my birthday, even though I'd got a multi-day pass. So you'd get the child one-day entry value on a gift card on your child's birthday (take the a passport to verify).

Thanks very much for that, that's good to know about the birthday voucher, we would never have known that otherwise. That's a nice little bonus.

With a 3 or 4 day pass would you be able to see all the disney parks? From brouchures everything just looks so massive, but i think to get maybe 4 day passes for disney and the same for universal might be the best, and that will leave us time for shopping, maybe a day to just relax at the villa and the beach.

I though there were beaches about an hour or so drive away (according to the Virgin brouchure) but someone else has mentioned to me that they don't think that is the case, so we might re-think the beach if it will take hours to get there and back.

Thanks again

I would not try to rush round and do every single park. We went in october pre-dc and even then found it so hot and busy that we needed a day chilling by the pool to recover from every day spent at a park!

So pick and choose what to do, eg we only bothered with Magic Kingdom at Disney, and not Epcot etc. At universal, islands of adventure is so great that worth a return visit imo. Universal studios was not a patch on it.

I have been to Cocoa Beach and that was only an hour away (Atlantic coast, near to the Space Centre).

I have only done the Disney Parks, always had a pass for several days. They are all mixed in terms of what rides etc. are there.

I would recommend the series of Unofficial Guides (There is a non-Disney one too) I am a saddo who likes to read up before I go somewhere but, in this instance, even dh had to agree it was worth it as it helped us to be focussed on what we wanted to do. We did a park early each morning, came home for dinner, chilled in the afternoon and then back to another place at night and that worked well for us.

I think with older children, you could get away with half a day at Magic Kingdom and half a day at the studios, then a day at Epcot (it is great - esp for older children) and just under a day at Animal Kingdom, you can then head back to finish a day in your favourite park. So three days wd do it.

But it will be hot - we put our nearly 5 yr old in a buggy to get him across the parks, as walking was draining in the heat. So depending on the cost difference, you might find a four day pass takes the pressure off - you can then come and go as you please a bit more. And you may also want to use the water parks for a day (we didn't - our children were too young really).

Can't say about Universal.

I forgot about the Water Parks - great for some relaxing - have done them with 2, 4 and 6 year olds (as well as 60 somethings!!). Get there early to claim a shady spot.

Universal studios are great for older children as there are a lot of big rides but your DC seem a bit young.

I'd stick to the Disney parks including Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios but only do Epcot if you find you have any energy left.

Agree that it is extremely hot and draining so you might want to go out for half a day - return to the hotel for little snooze and back out for the evening to catch fireworks and light shows which are amazing.

Thanks very much everyone for your tips and advice.

I have found this deal combi tickets which seems like not too bad a deal, i think it includes all the main parks we would want to go to and is flexible over the 14 days so we could have a break in between. I can't see anything obvious that we would be missing out on.

I hadn't really taken the heat into account, but i guess that will make us extra tired, so maybe mid day breaks would be a good idea too.

I think the afternoon breaks thing is so important - the couple of times we decided to go on we (us and the children!!) ended up in mid afternoon melt down! For us at least, making sure we get to the parks at opening, get a few hours in, leave after dinner (and that can be hard but we usually set a time and really stick to it), a laze by the pool/sleep and then return after tea for a few hours in another park means we maximise the time. When dd was 6, she still sometimes had a couple of hours sleep in the afternoon.

The other thing I did was use the guide book/website to double check the height requirements for the rides we wanted to go on so that we knew in advance which rides the youngest couldn't go on and there were no nasty surprises when we were there.

You have been given some very good counsel already. They are quite unforgiving on height requirements for rides particularly at Universal (the websites do give height requirements to ride).

Your three eldest children will now be paying adult prices (!) for admittance to the theme parks. The 14 day flex ticket is a good deal.

If you arrive into Orlando airport wear comfortable shoes as you will walk some considerable distance.

If your children like Harry Potter this will soon open at Universal Islands of Adventure. There are rides suitable for your younger children there as well (Seuss Landing is popular for the little ones). Again researching the websites will save you time and give you valuable information. They also give park opening hours.

If you do go to Universal (Btw this applies to any of the parks) do get there asap after opening time and ride the most popular rides first. The lines generally do become very long after lunchtime (you'd be surprised how many people actually arrive after lunch) and in the early afternoon even if you had one of the Universal passes that would bypass some of the line. Even those lines can get very long indeed and 90 minute waits for the most popular rides in summer are not unknown.

The heat of summer is quite intense (it can be very humid) so do drink plenty of water and take a break during the heat of the day. A trip to the water parks like Wet and Wild or Aquatica is a good bet.

Also do not forget the shopping malls!.

On a much wider level do not forget to complete the ESTA (electronic authorisation) application online for each member of your party. This is now a mandatory requirement for entry into the USA. Only use the US govt official website, there are many scammers out there who will charge you for processing an ESTA when it is free.

esta.cbp.dhs.gov

I think the free day for your birthday/or the gift card ended on 31st December. We certainly didnt get it despite showing proof of DS's birthday. Though the lady at the ticket centre did take over 20 minutes to process our tickets and I was loosing the will to live by then

elizabeth we bought our tickets through that company, they were great,

Islands of adventure is great, you must go there.

Aquatica water park would be ideal for the ages of your children. Break up the holiday and park visiting by having it in the middle.

If boiling go shopping, the malls are chilly!!