Vacation planning - Disneyworld

[RyanbabZ71]

Anyone have any good sites for planning a trip to disney? Thinking of going next march

 

Suggestions of what to see? Where to stay, packages to buy or not? Kids will be 6 and 3-1/2.

 

Legoland is on the agenda most likely

 

Thanks!

[scooby5121]

Universal theme park all day

Downtown disney for an afternoon outting

Old towne after supper

Disney 2 days at least

 

Note: only buy theme park tickets at the parks

Very dangerous otherwise

[scott19677]

Hydrate, hydrate,hydrate! Even the kids. No matter the temps. Nothing like a headache and the muscle cramps to ruin your day. A lot of walking and standing in line plus the wonderful salty snacks and sodium laced drinks. Just from experience. Cant recommend anywhere, its been a while. Have fun and watch kids close.

[Chevyguy85]

I'm assuming not going isn't in the cards. Disney and Legoland are probably about an hour away from each other so that drive shouldn't be so bad. Hotel wise I can't offer much advice other than to assume that the farther you go from Disney the cheaper it gets. Mass transit is pretty much nonexistent here, or to the point of uselessness that it might as well not exist, Taxis are from what I hear expensive as well.

 

As far as what to see well that's a loaded question as Orlando has a lot of good stuff to offer within 4 hours of it.

 

If your kids like space stuff you can visit Cape Canaveral right on the coast, depending on where you stay it's only an hour or two away.

 

Nature is everywhere, if you go to the Cape, there is also a nature preserve not far that you can drive through and see a little bit of our wetlands/nature.

 

The Tampa Aquarium is less than 2 hours as well, most likely closer to an hour, again depending on where you end up staying.

 

If they like history St Augustine to the North is a bit of a drive but the fort there is pretty interesting and deals with some of the Spanish's part in the history of this state.

 

Depending on how you get out to the Cape you Also have Ft Christmas park in Christmas off of Highway 50. Nothing major but nice little piknic type thing with some history plaques and buildings sprinkled in.

 

Seaworld was always my favorite growing up, back then it used to be smaller and cheaper than the other big parks.

 

Universal is right here as well.

 

Bushgardens is in Tampa as well so less than 2 hours from Orlando.

 

Like a previous poster said be wary of scalpers with fake tickets. Check with your job they might have a way to get cheaper tickets.

 

Old Town is good on the weekends I think is when they have the rod run.

 

 

I think Disney has some sort of trip planning thing. At least I'm assuming they do, I've heard other people talking about something similar. They have package deals on their hotels and theme parks. Doesn't hurt to call and ask.

 

Also out in the Bithlo/Christmas or just before (can't remember) is a Vietnam Museum that is 100% donation run. Went there in High School, had some good stuff out there, keep meaning to get back out there.

 

 

I'll probably do more edits as I remember/think of more things to do and see.

[GPGuy]

As for where to stay my recommendation would be a place that used to be called Wilson World but is now called Magnuson Grand Hotell Maingate West. Always stayed there when we went to Disney World when I was a kid. Cool place for kids...looks like they haven't changed it but there was always a waterfall in the pool indoors. The entire inside is an atrium style so it's kinda cool. Just my 2 cents.

 

Here's a link:

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g34352-d80376-Reviews-Magnuson_Grand_Hotel_Maingate_West-Kissimmee_Florida.html#photos

 

Usually use a local travel agent or CAA aka AAA in the US to book the trips here.

[SnakeEyeSS]

Don't miss the twin Universal parks. If you can only hit one Islands of Adventure is the most fun IMO. We stayed at Universal Lowes Resort and it wasn't worth it, way overpriced. It was nice, but not THAT nice.

 

 

Can't wait for my boys to get older so we can go back.

 

 

I wasn't impressed by SeaWorld. If anything, it's depressing. Watch the BlackFish documentary. I was getting the feeling of the stuff they talk about when I was there, a whole lot of BS lines.(I watched that Docu years after I went)

[vettelovralexand]

Yourfirstvisit.net is a great site I found for planning

[Green 1364]

I always stay in Lake Buenna Vista. It's right next to Disney village, easy to get to all the parks.

[sourdough44]

Yes to the above. They do have a 'Legoland' in Chicago, near the Woodfield Mall, maybe a day trip if you are close enough?

 

It's nice to stay on the property if you can swing it, if not plenty of transportation options. We were in Disney's 'Wilderness Lodge' a year ago.

 

Even if you waited another 2-3 yrs you wouldn't be late to take your kids.

[RyanbabZ71]

Yes to the above. They do have a 'Legoland' in Chicago, near the Woodfield Mall, maybe a day trip if you are close enough?

 

It's nice to stay on the property if you can swing it, if not plenty of transportation options. We were in Disney's 'Wilderness Lodge' a year ago.

 

Even if you waited another 2-3 yrs you wouldn't be late to take your kids.

 

 

Thanks everyone

 

The legoland in Illinois isnt the same thing

 

There are only 3 worldwide

 

http://www.legoland.com/

 

http://www.legoland.com/

[doverarjim]

My daughter that lives in Ocala told me that they like to stay in one of the Disney Hotels on site so they can go back and rest during the day and let the kid(s) rest. Also she takes food to eat at hotel to save on eating out so much while at the park. I also found a book that tells you what to see to spend the least amount of time waiting in lines, it may not work for you because your kids are so small but when we used it at Disneyland with my kids at 14 and 10 we were able to ride some of the more popular rides twice with out much problems. I will try and find out what the name of the book was, it was written by frequent visitors to the parks, and they have a whole series of them talking about different parks around the country.

[dsmmace]

I went at the end of August. Holy shite that was hot and humid for this Canadian. We stayed in a townhouse area in kissimee. It was reasonably priced off of vrbo.com. We had a unit that had its own private backyard pool.

 

We spent 9 days total, went to every park.

 

Downtown Disney was great in the evening.

 

Legoland was cool, but I felt like it was operated by Disney's rejects.

 

Universal has something for every age and I'd recommend a full day there.

 

We also went to the both waterparks. They were nice to go to kinda cool off. Drifting on the tubes was fun for our three kids.

 

Food wasn't terrible, there are heathy options, you have to look for them. My kids ate sandwiches, paired with carrots, apples or grapes.

 

Fast Passes are useless if booked or used before 10am.

[99silveradoz71]

Ryan, the wife and I went down to Orlando in April of 11, then met her folks down there in April of 13, and finally, we stayed at her aunt's timeshare condo this past October. Our last time down, we got tickets for Disney from Undercover Tourist. It tends to be a better deal if you buy tickets for 4 or more days. We have days remaining and purchased the non-expiring tickets. The UT site has some pretty good Disney tips too. I'd also suggest you explore AAA if you have a card, etc. We drove in 11 and 13, but flew down last year. We stayed at the Springhill Suites Seaworld during those trips, and it was a nice place that wasn't too far off the beaten path for doing things. Feel free to pm me if you'd like to discuss more as the wife likely has most of our planning info.

[Chevyguy85]

not officially confirmed but... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-ticket-prices-100-20150220-story.html

[Badbird2000]

We are taking our daughter for her first trip maybe this October or next spring (she will be e by then). If you can swing it, go for one of the low budget Disney resorts. You get the benefits of free transportation to all of the parks, no parking. Also, look into the dining plan. It can help you depending on how many meals you eat in the park. When you get ready to book, i would call Disney reservations. They can help find the best package for what you want, and sometimes offer unadvertised discounts. I grew up just east of Tampa, 45 minutes to the front gates. Used to have an annual pass. Spent our honeymoon there. Avoid the summer at all cost. Another benefit of staying on property is if the kids start having meltdowns you can get back the resort and let them nap. We are looking at Art on Animation for our trip.

 

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