Advice needed again....Visit Orlando, Florida

[weisan]

The fine folks of this forum have always come through for me in the past and never let me down, whether it's bike-related questions or not, or the recent trip to Yellowstone, previously trips to DC and BlueRidge Parkway etc - I have always received high-quality advice...so here I am again asking for recommendations.

We have lived in the States for the last sixteen years. All five children were born here. This past May, we finally decided to move closer to family. I went for a job interview somewhere in Melbourne Australia a month ago and had the privilege of meeting fellow forumite thinpin. I was offered the job and I have accepted it.
So, it's official: We are moving SEPTEMBER!...if everything falls into place by then.

Before we leave this continent, the kids have only one wish.

"Can we go to Disney World in Florida?"

Well, we were never big on theme parks, have only brought the family to Sea World in San Antonio back when we were living in Austin. So, this is new to us.

When I did a quick search, it seems like there's more than "just" Disney World in Orlando, FL.

"Wow!" was my reaction. :D

I am overwhelmed.
usually when that happens, it also means, I am stuck. Analysis Paralysis. Some of you may be familiar with the term.

Where to go, where to stay, where to eat, where to park car...I don't know where to start...no wait, I actually retain enough cognitive consciousness to come and ask for advice on the forum. ;)

So, give it a go, educate me, would you please?

We will most likely drive from Austin, Texas to Orlando, Florida in our 12-year-old minivan (please don't break down)...as early as first week of September.

That's all the information I have to begin with. Nothing else is in the works.

What do you suggest? I have my pen and paper ready. :hello:

Oh yeah, we are on a shoestring budget. :crap:

THANK YOU in advance! :banana:

[LouDeeter]

Shoestring budget, then stay at any hotel that you can afford, not necessary to stay in the Disney park itself, although you do gain a bit of convenience by doing so. As you have seen by your research, there are four Disney parks, plus complexes called "Downtown Disney" and "The Boardwalk". You can park free at Downtown Disney and the "Boardwalk". The Boardwalk gives you access to Epcot, but it is a bit of a walk to the back gate of Epcot. Once inside Epcot, you can then see Epcot and, after a walk, have access to the monorail system that connects all the parks. It is expensive to park at the parks, but you gain the convenience, even though you sometimes still have to walk a ways. Eating in the parks is more expensive, but it is also an experience. You can't just bring in bags of your own lunch, but you can carry snacks in your backpacks. I recommend everyone also bring a water bottle and then refill them at the public fountains. Email me at loudeeter@aol.com with more questions. I live in Orlando.

[LouDeeter]

Regarding the "where to go", Orlando has Universal Studios with the "Islands of Adventure" and Harry Potter experience; a Sea World; and of course, Disney. There are also two large Outlet Malls and International Drive, which has a lot of restaurants and attractions as well. I like all the parks, but Epcot is our favorite. It really depends on what you want to get out of it. If you have younger kids, Magic Kingdom is special, and, it is the core of the Disney complex. Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are also fun. There are fireworks displays every night a 9 or 10 PM, depending on which park, with Epcot and Magic Kingdom being the most notable ones. Be prepared for a LOT of walking and to get your money's worth, plan to start early and end late. Have a plan or you will find yourself wasting a lot of time trying sort out your schedule and routes.

[Louis]

Whatever you do while in Orlando, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, do the "It's a Small World" ride.

Unless, that is, you want that song in your head for the next twenty years.

[Ralph]

I live in the Orlando area, and second what Lou says. I would add......if possible stay at one of the Disney resorts so you and kids can use the free Disney transportation system of buses, boats, and momorail system to get around. That's about as much fun to do (for kids anyway) as the theme parks themselves.

Some of our relatives recently stayed at "Dixie Landing" with their kids on a special package at a very reasonable price. That's one of the family priced resorts. There are many others. They had some of their own food, plus ate a lot at the food court, which had something for everyone at a reasonable price. As I recall....when my kids were small....it was the eating that killed the travel budget while traveling.

You may find a special price package in the fall. Weather should be nice, unless we have a storm brewing.

[Ralph]

If you were to bring (or rent) some bikes for the whole family...and had an extra day.....this would not be far away. It is one of the "other" attractions in the area. Have pizza or ice cream on the trail in down town Winter Garden. You can Google all the family oriented trails in the area. There are many.

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/regions/eastcentral/trails/west_orange.htm

[Pete Serotta]

Years ago I(20+) I use to go to Sydney when I worked for IBM. I liked the country and people. Except for being so far away from family and friends, I would have thought about taking an assignment but in the 80s the kids were small and all the aunts, uncles, grand parents were on the east coast of USA and I also really liked the work I was doing.

Now, I would love to go to western NC mountains but the "boss" loves RALEIGH and one of my daughters teach in DURHAM.


With Kids, stay in DIXIE LAND FOR YOU can go without a car anywhere and the kids have more to do. I stayed there when my daughters were 8 and 11, so 25 years ago was a long time

Off site hotels can be cheap (and where I have stayed about 5 years ago, it takes longer to get into park.(and if you are driving they charge you) But if you are staying to go other places I have stayed in a Marriott not far from International drive and they even had shuttles to Disney as well as breakfast for all.

[Joel]

Another Orlando resident jumping in. Lou is right on point with every one of his recommendations.

Even as long time locals we do the snacks and water bottle thing at the parks too.

What I'd add to it is a suggestion to get a guide book (old school I know) and spend some time planning what you want to see. You really can burn some time moving place to place. Orlando and the attractions are very spread out.

Depending on how old your kids are, we enjoy Kennedy Space Center and the mother of all old Florida tacky tourist destinations - Gatorland!

Further, there are a ton of very affordable hotels proximate to Disney in Kissimmee (but again, map out what you want to do first) as well as on International Drive (closer to Universal).

Once you figure out how many days you have to spend and what general things you're interested in seeing, I'd also be happy to help with specifics.

Best,

Joel

[AngryScientist]

i'll add this: (i've been a few times, my wife loves the place)

transportation -

the disney transportation "system" (buses, boats, monorail, etc) are all free interpark. they do not ask for any identification to get on. best bet would be to ditch the car daily at the transportation center (if you're staying "off-compound") and take the disney provided transportation all day, it will be free and they will not hassle you at all.

food: the shoestring budget might hurt, but there really are a few fantastic restaurants within Disney, and NOT at the parks or highly trafficed areas, they are in the hotels, which are easily accessible from the transportation system i mentioned above. if you're interested, PM me and i'll give you a short list of the best places to eat, they;re all pretty pricey, but if you want to have one "good" dinner while you're there, you're way better off spending your money at one of the lesser known quality restaurants than throwing it away in a theme park tourist trap restaurant for the same $$.

park tickets: they're going to be expensive, do a lot of research on the packaging to determine the cheapest way to do it based on your stay time.

[JonB]

Keep it simple. If the family wants to go to WDW, stay focused on WDW and forego the other options.

Do the packed lunch/water bottle thing. Otherwise you'll spend some SERIOUS money on food. It adds up quickly. Check that the hotel room you stay in has a refrigerator for groceries.

Another point is that with on-site lodging, you'll have the convenience of going back to the room during the afternoon. Its quite hot mid-day, so its nice to spend time in the parks in the morning, chill @ the hotel til 5-ish or after the rain showers and then head back to the park in the evening. If you stay offsite this becomes a lot more unrealistic.

[Ralph]

Keep it simple. If the family wants to go to WDW, stay focused on WDW and forego the other options.

Do the packed lunch/water bottle thing. Otherwise you'll spend some SERIOUS money on food. It adds up quickly. Check that the hotel room you stay in has a refrigerator for groceries.

Another point is that with on-site lodging, you'll have the convenience of going back to the room during the afternoon. Its quite hot mid-day, so its nice to spend time in the parks in the morning, chill @ the hotel til 5-ish or after the rain showers and then head back to the park in the evening. If you stay offsite this becomes a lot more unrealistic.


Good advice.....The kids can do the resort pool thing during middle of day when it's hot. When you need some rest. Go back to parks at night. As locals....that's the only time we go....night.

[weisan]

you folks are the BEST...you heard me? THE BEST!!!

I am digesting alot of the stuff, will write back soon with a fuller response, in the meantime, please keep em' coming.

[mandasol]

Disney is so huge and so much to see that I second the advice of just sticking with disney if that's the main reason for going. Maybe a day at Universal or another theme park if there is something in particular you really wanted to see. Though Disney's Hollywood Studios is almost like Universal and after you see so many shows and rides you kind of forget which one was were anyway.

Tickets are expensive, though the more days you purchase the cheaper the daily cost per ticket. There is also a base ticket and park hopper. The base ticket only lets you into one park each day, so if you wanted to go to Hollywood studios during the day and catch the fireworks at magic kingdom at night, you need the park hopper. Though each park can easily take a whole day so we never really saw the need for the park hopper.

Express pass if your friend, but you gotta know how to use it. There are machines by select rides/shows that have express passes. You need to run all your tickets through them and it punches out express passes with a time frame that you can come back so you can jump in the express lane. You can only get one express pass at a time per ticket, so until you use the pass you can't use your ticket to get another express pass for another ride.

If you have a smartphone get a Disney wait time app. They tell you an estimate of the wait times for most of the ride/shows. You can use this so that you get the express pass for the longer lines and enter exhibits in the shorter lines and just wait those out while you wait for your express pass time to come up.

There are lots of shows that you just show up at the right times and almost everyone gets in if you get there early enough. The shows are the best parts of going to disney IMHO, and they can also fill up time while you're waiting for your time to come up in the next express pass ride.

It's really HOT in Florida, and this time of year it's stinkin' hot and humid. Whatever you can do to reduce your wait times or make it more bearable do it. Also, I would freeze a few bottles of water and in the morning throw them in a bag/backpack with other bottles of water that you took out of the fridge. The iced bottles will keep the others cool and at the end of the day the iced bottles will melt and you will still have some cool water.

If you have a small child take a stroller, there is stroller parking everywhere. Get a big stroller that you can load down with snacks, water, etc. An umbrella/parasol may not be a bad idea to cool off while you're waiting in line.

If you're going to be staying up to a week, look into condo's. Go to websites that list time shares or condo's by owner's. We booked a two bedroom condo that sleeps 8 at the Windham Bonnet Creek for a whole week for only $800 at peak season, if it's not peak my buddy was able to get down to $500. The Bonnet Creek is located on Disney property (but does not belong to disney) so you can take the provided transportation to all the parks throughout the day. Condo's also have full kitchens so we used ours to cook in for most breakfasts and a few dinners, saving a ton. What ever you do DO NOT take any of the time share tours! No matter what they promise you.

Hope you have a great time.

[Bradford]

I could write about this for the rest of the day and still not get out all of what I had to say...so I'll keep it as short as I can. Read the key sites on the internet, you will be shocked how much information there is. Here is a start:

Dis Boards, think Serotta board for Disney nuts: http://www.disboards.com/
Mousesavers: http://www.mousesavers.com/
All Ears: http://allears.net/index.html

I'm sure there are more, but that will get you started.

I'll give you a few tips, the rest you can pick up from the above sites.
1) People move through the parks in predicable, and similar patterns. On a scale of 1 to 10, a park can be a 2 on a Tuesday and a 8 on a Wednesday. What days you go to each park can dramatically impact how long you have to wait. Use a site like Touringplans.com to plan your days so you are in the right parks on the right days. It cost about $10 a year to join.
2) Stay in the park, there are some affordable options
3) Unless your kids are asking to go to other parks, like if they want to see the Harry Potter thing at Universal, stick to Disney. If you are there for a week and are perfectly efficient, you will still be scratching the surface of things you can do.
4) Get to the park as early as you can...most people sleep in and get to the park mid-morning. If you can get there when it opens (rope drop), you save a lot of time waiting in lines
5) Don't just focus on rides, see the shows. Make sure to catch Fantasmic at Studios if at all possible. I'm also a big fan of catching the roving shows, like the Dapper Dans. Kids may be less interested.
6) Fastpasses...use fastpasses whenever possible
7) If you want a table service meal, make reservations as soon as possible, like today. I usually plan one table service meal a day, but it can be a hassle to plan things to be in a particular spot at a specific time
8) Budget a lot of money, it is a great place, but anyway you slice it, it is expensive
9) Relax, slow down, take your time, be diverted, and look at the details. Disney goes through extraordinary efforts to pack every conceivable corner with little things to look at, hear, and experience. When people run from ride to ride, they miss so much of it. When I went this year, I had a plan for everyday...and when my kids got caught up in something I hadn't planned for, I just let them go and have fun. It made the vacation a lot better.

Good luck, I hope the family loves it.

[oldguy00]

Not much to add...
We went last April and stayed at the Disney Swan hotel. It was great, but everything is expensive! And when at the disney hotels, there isn't much in the way of grocery/convenience stores. But if you have your own transportation, you can get to one, and fill your room fridge.
The pool area at the swan was really nice, as is the boardwalk area behind the hotel.
As others have mentioned, there are free buses to get to the disney parks from the disney hotels.
We have a 4 year old boy and a 1 year old girl. The 4 year old can't stop talking about going back. As of now, we are planning to during the spring break (wife is a teacher, so not much choice) and stay at the Swan again.

[Geoff]

my only advice is this, stay at a hotel on the property with a good pool (easy/quick to get to from the parks), go early, come back at lunch, hang at the pool (it is still africa hot in September), then go back in the afternoon for the rest of the night.

and yes Its a Small World is a nightmare ride, but it is air conditioned so a good choice if your tired of the heat.

G

[93legendti]

We went in February. Thru Expedia we booked 5 days before we left. We were booked in a 2 bedroom Condo ~12 minutes from Disney. Expedia upgraded us to a 3 bedroom condo and to 1rst Class-not sure why... For airfare for 5 and 5 nights in the condo, we paid $2800 or $3300-I can't recall.

My kids liked the water parks the best. They are 8 and 5 yrs old and found that some of the other parks involved too much walking between attractions.

[rugbysecondrow]

Remember, Disney is more fun in hindsight than it is in real time, at least that is my experience. I felt like I was living my version of hell when we went to Disney, now I want to go back...I must be crazy.

[93legendti]

Remember, Disney is more fun in hindsight than it is in real time, at least that is my experience. I felt like I was living my version of hell when we went to Disney, now I want to go back...I must be crazy.
I agree with the first part... :)

Oh yeah, Weisan, bring your own water. It stinks waiting in line for water when your kids are thirsty (not to mention paying Disney prices). I wore a backpack with a camelbak bladder for me and attached my kids' camelback bottles to the bottom of my pack with 2 way clips and they would just come up behind me and drink when they were thirsty.

[Chad Engle]

-Use fastpasses

-stay on property

-bring cooler, get room with fridge. We ate yogurt, bagels, fruit, etc. for breakfast each day. Bring your own beer too, it was $6 a bottle if I remember correctly.

-The meal plans are a good way to stay within your food budget, keep your eye on their website for specials. We ended up getting ours for FREE!!

-I would not do the park hopper pass. If you try to do more than one park per day you'll rush and miss things.

-Be amazed at how detailed and clean the place is. Watch for when someone spills a little popcorn on the ground and count until someone sweeps it up, you will be amazed. Similarly, my son walked into a "hitchin' post" at hit his head/nose. Disney staff was on us in seconds escorting us to the first aid station.

-My last piece of advice is to leave the park a little before the fireworks go off at night. Beat the rush, the buses get really packed when everyone leaves.

Enjoy, it's as much fun for adults as it is for children. :)