Florida --the touristy bit
 

Looks like we're doing Disney in feb with my sis, BIL and 6yo niece from UK. What to do, what not to do, how to get best deals on park entrance...? All non-spam imput appreciated. Probably staying in a villa they're renting -input on that also appreciated.

thanks

Get meal plan. Eat at all-you-can-eat places. May not need reservations in Feb., but you can make them so there's no waiting. The food is one of the very best things about Disney! Oooooh, the food! My two favorites were the German place in Epcot and the African place in Animal Kingdom. Yum yum!

I'll ask my bro, I think they go every year (:eek:)

Do Epcott, if you can. I was just a kid, but I remember thinking Epcott was way cooler than the main Disney park.

And I know you're not doing Universal Studios, but if you were, you should make sure to stop by the big caricature booth and say hi to my cousin Glenn. :)

I was just a kid but I remember Busch Gardens Africa being much cooler than Disney. And the run of the mill water park being best all around.... but it was summertime in FL.

The villa is booked! Aunt Scary, Uncle Elvis and my 6yo niece are coming over from the UK for two weeks, We're going down for a week or so, doing Disney and the like....

I dunno... we're toying with a trip. Miss Dallas' school orchestra is doing a Disneyworld trip in April. We're toying with heading down at the same time, to hear them play and hang out at the park.

I would love to revisit Disney, and see Epcot and Universal.

I was at Disneyworld ONCE. My family never went when I was a kid. I got to go because one spring my previous college roommate had transferred to Embry-Riddle and another girl and I went to visit and took a day to go to Disney.

I think I'd really like Epcot.

I would rather gouge my eye out with a fork than endure anything <shudder> Disney.

Cape Canaveral. Srsly.

That is the one FL thing my parents DID take us to.

I'm not a big fan of Disney either, one of the anti-christs along with Wally World and Time-Warner, but I love amusement parks and the like.

I thought I would also hate Disney, but I didn't, not at all. :)

I'm also not Disney. but I still want to see first hand, and so do the kids. So tell us how to do it cheap and kick disney one in the financial nuts! ;)

It is Food and Wine Festival time at EPCOT. Take a big wad of singles with you and eat/drink yourself around the world.

To clarify, Food & Wine is going on now. Last I remember there are no special events going on in Feb.

allears.net is a great website with lots of advice and money saving tips.

One of the best money savers would be to bring snacks from home. While the food IS one of the best things about Disney, it can all cost quite a bit. The meal plan is a good route if you're going to go to the parks for a few days. When I was a kid and we used to go once or twice a year, someone would bring a backpack full of snacks from home. Pretzels, some apples, etc. Just so that when the kids were clammoring about hunger, no one had to shell out $4.50 for Mickey-shaped pretzels.

Are there "no outside food" rules? and if so, are they easy to violate? we always bring our own -either openly or stealthily- because no-one likes they stuff you buy, rip-off or not.

Nope, but there are container rules.

That's an excellent link, thank you.

Choco and I often consult allears.net for other info when trying to plan. I think Choco knows of even more links to good info sites -- hope she will share them.

Actually, I rely primarily on memory and allears.net for our planning. :) Since Kitsune and I don't have kids (yet), we don't have to worry so much about logistics and are able to just pick up and go.

Monster, if you and your family DO decide to eat at a table-service restaurant within the parks, I'd recommend making reservations in advance. Waiting for a table can often take a ridiculously long time -- time that could otherwise be spent running around and having fun. It can be pricey, but a lot of the food is so good it might be worth it to plan at least one nice dinner out.

Are you staying at a Disney villa, or one off-property?

I don't know if this is viable for Disney or not, but when we took the boys (and their friends) to Cedar Point, we filled two huge coolers with drinks and food and kept them in the trunk of the car. We just met out there for for our midday meal.

Answer from my bro, multiple-Floridian-holidayer:
He came round today (before I'd had a chance to read his mail) and said he's more than happy to advise if you are willing to provide info as per questions above. Ste is like me - a planner and a pedant. Of course we agreed you might not be arsed about detailed advice, but if he's going to give even general advice, he likes to to get it right :)

staying in a villa off-disney. No, no expensive Disney restaurants for us.

No, not detailed planning, usually we pick up and go. This only has any element of planning due to rendezvous with rellies.

yes, other parks.

more commando than placid, but is not necessary to do absolutely everything. maybe some chillin' by the pool, but not much as we swim every day anyway ;) Deffo no shopping for us ugh, prolly some for the visitors. perhaps do two park days, one day off....then two more. s/t like that.

mix of roller-coaster junkies and fraidy-cats, but we can probably figure that part out thanks. I guess we mostly want to know where to find good deals on tickets etc.

Oh and the get there before opening is noted and taken on board, thanks. We tend to do that just to get the most out of the day but it does have the advantage of stuff being quieter at the start so we usually head straight for the biggies rather than build up to them because that's when lines are shortest.

appreciate input on which are the long-wait things in any park -sometimes things we don't think will be popular are and those we expect long lines for are not.....

A lot of the more popular rides at the Disney parks have a feature called FastPass. (Universal Studios has these too, but I can't remember what they call theirs.) You put in your ticket and it gives you a time to return to go through a shortened line. These are incredibly valuable for getting through the most popular attractions without wasting three hours of your life waiting in the Florida sun.

Allears.net has a list of which attractions have FastPass lines here. Most of the rides also have a clock at the front which'll tell you right off the bat how long the wait is, so you can decide whether you really want to wait 2 hrs for Splash Mountain before hand.

cool thanks

We really liked Discovery Island too. And add my vote for Epcot.

The travel agent (AAA) tried (sort of) to talk us into the park hopper deal - you pay extra and can visit more than one park per day. We opted not to get it, and I think that was wise; there's certainly more than enough to see in one park to spend a whole day there without getting bored.

I want to go Baaaaaaaaack! ::sob::

Having just been there in the wrong month (August in Florida sucks the life out of you) ...

I loved Disney, especially the Magic Kingdom. EPCOT was quite cool. Hollywood Studios superneat, Animal Kingdom was cool, but not as exciting as I had hoped it might be. Okay, Expedition Everest rocked. Fastpasses get handed out EARLY. If you want a fast pass for one of the more popular rides, you have to head straight for it as soon as you enter the park, because once they are all handed out, they are gone. One thing nobody tells you, is that you can arrive any time AFTER the time on your fastpass and get on, even if your pass is "expired."

Parkhopper is a fantastic option, especially if you decide you want to bumble around the Magic Kingdom during the day and then catch the monorail to EPCOT for their fireworks.

Oh, and another advantage of staying on a Disney property is that you get "Extra Magic Hours" ... you get into the park early, and you can stay late. There is a schedule posted. It is very cool to be bopping around in the Haunted House after midnight.

Disney Pin trading is a racket, but it is a fun racket, and cast members cannot refuse a trade. I will have to post a picture of my lanyard at some point.

Universal Studios ... my opinion only, YMMV ... stick to the Movie side, the other half is really just a conventional amusment park. Spiderman was okay, but The Simpsons was WAY better. DO NOT MISS Terminator, the Mummy, and Men in Black.

Express Pass at Universal is a ticket add-on, works for all the rides. It is worth it.

Sea World was magnificent. I did not go for the rides, I went to look at the fishies, sharks, and sundry and assorted sea mammals. I cried during Shamu. It was beautiful.

It's actually very convenient to stay at a Disney Site. I was at Old Key West, which was beautiful. You only need a vehicle if you're going to a non-Disney property. All the Disney Parks have either a Magic Mickey bus or a boat that will get you there.

Parking for The Magic Kingdom is off-site, you have to take the monorail to approach it.

I want to go back during a more sensible time of year. You know, one with temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with no hurricanes.

Pretty much unedited vacation photos from Orlando.

Oh, and the Pirate Adventure Dinner is a heck of a lot of fun. Great entertainment, with audience participation.

thanks, that's great..... say, why not come back in Feb? :D

yeah,, Juni, my sis mentioned then and I thought "more than one park in one day with 3 kids -in what way is that a vacation?" :lol:

I don't think I will have paid for the last trip by then ... otherwise, I'd love to.

Oh, and I'm out of vacation time, and you don't accrue any during FMLA :(

Hey Juni, I'm going this July and I purchased the meal plan for me and my husband for 3 nights, but now I am getting cold feet. I'm worried that tying down our day for a dinner reservation is just going to aggravate me. On one hand I want the freedom to be spontaneous and on the other hand I like the cost savings - but of course, thats only if ever meal gets used.

How did you use yours? Did you make the reservations way ahead of time?

I haven't seen Juni around for a loooooooong time.

she graduated and r u n n o f t.

Pico -- because July is a really busy month at Disney, you might want to consider making those reservations. It can be really hard to get in to some of the better restaurants, otherwise. Another tip is to eat a sit down lunch so you can enjoy the air-conditioning during the hottest part of the day, and leave yourself open for dinner.

Thats a good idea...the lunch one. I suppose if we manage to miss a couple of dinners I could use the credits on a room service breakfast too. Chocolatl, how easy is it to get from one side of the park to the other, say from one of the water parks to the Magic Kingdom? Im concerned that a lot of time will be spent travaling in order to make the dinner reservations.

By car, or by resort transportation like buses? By car it's pretty easy -- you just hop in and go, and it seems that no matter how many wrong turns you take you'll eventually end up in the right place. To get across the resort by car takes less than half an hour even with wrong turns, in my experience. The buses are usually pretty reliable, but it can be complex to get from point A to point B -- like from one hotel to another, you usually have to stop off at a theme park in between.

Friend of mine was playing Facebook family feud.

Q: Name something you might do in vacation in Florida?

I suggested "scrub oil off pelicans".

To kick Disney in the ideological nuts while you're there, organise a photo with an amputee.:D

Off to the Miami area soon for some family rec time. We're staying at a beach timeshare. The significant other insisted on a rental car for the entire trip, so we are mobile.

Any recommendations?

I have a lot of restaurant.com credits racked up, so I'm looking for ideas there, too.

I like jazz, blues, and salsa music, but I don't like to dance.