View Full Version : Amusements and what tickets to buy?
Tashmina
24-09-2003, 22:18
Hi All:D
Ok, we have finally booked and arrive in Florida on Friday 10 Sep 2004[8D][8D]. We're staying on I-Drive for the 1st week and then driving down to St Pete's for the 2nd. Obviously we will probably just grab a meal out on the first evening so we can recover enough to hit the fun and mayhem on the Saturday morning. Our problem is what park tickets to buy as we are only in Orlando for 7 days - can we cram it all in[?][?]
Here is an idea of what parks we're looking at:-
Disney: Magic Kingdom, MGM, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and Downtown Disney for evening entertainment.
Universal: Universal Studios, IOA, Wet n Wild (almost next door to our hotel so easily visited later afternoon), Busch Gardens (we will visit here when we are in St Pete's).
We'd be greatful for any advice on tickets and type compatible for the places we intend to visit.
cheers!
Tash
PS: are we being a bit ambitious because of our time scale[?][:I]
wow I'm exhausted reading it!Do you really want three visits to water parks .I think your main problem is that you are looking at one day tickets for each of them unless you plan to return- then a hopper plus will give you admission to the main parks and the recreational disney parks.The number of hopper days depends on the type of ticket you buy but for example with a 5 day hopper plus you could do MK, MGM, one water park and pleasure island and still have 3 days left on it for another visit as they never expire.Universal and IOA do a 2 day pass but sometimes have special deals on like buy one day get another free.you'll need to check their website I think. Others may have different ideas.
Tashmina
24-09-2003, 23:27
Thanks Janny :)
I see what you mean...too many water parks...I'm just not sure which ones to visit! Bit like be a kid in a candy store!
The dilemma we have is that our holiday company offered to sell us the Disney 5 Park Hooper Plus at £189 each and the 5 park Orlando Flex ticket at £154 each...this equates to £686 which is A LOT of money...and I know we couldn't even s****e the surface of 1/2 the parks in this time scale.
So much to do and such little time!
Cheers! Tash
Tashmina
24-09-2003, 23:28
s****e ???? I only said S C R A P E !!!!
The forum word zapper unfortunately doesn't like the middle four letters of your word Tashmina, whether they make up a word with other letters or on its own!
Have a look at the prices on the link at the top of the page for a start as the 5 day Hopper Plus and 5 Park Flex ticket are the only ones which cover all the places you've mentioned, if you're really sure you want to visit all of those. I have to say, however, that your proposed visit list makes me tired just to read it and I honestly don't see how you can possibly pack all that into one holiday (let alone most of it into 7 days in the Orlando area) without needing another one to recover afterwards!
i agree with Blott, we spread 6 main parks over 14 days and added a few minor parks and
a visit to the beach and we were shattered. We are going back for 21 days next year and
will spread the parks out and have more rest days where we wake late and just visit
other parts of florida.
I think you need to accept you will never see it all, and so slow down and make sure that
you at least you enjoy the parks that you do see.
We had to come out of 2 parks after only a few hours cos we were so tired, which was a
waste of the ticket. So next year we will plan it a lot better and go for quality over
quantity
Tashmina
25-09-2003, 02:26
Chris and Blott...thanks for your honesty...I think we need to go back to the drawing board...and hey we've got over a year left to decide!!;)
You can see the type of places that we're wanting to go...which ones would you or anyone else pick over another to help us plan our days/evenings out?
We're not really interested in Epcot/Animal type parks and just want a fun packed week reliving our childhood (we're both 30 and 33 so just really want to be big kids!!!) We'll then collapse on the beach in St Pete's for the 2nd week!![8D][8D][8D]
Cheers!
Tash
Tashmina
25-09-2003, 02:28
Forgot to add...I got 2 excellent books from the library: Top 10 Orlando and A Brit's Guide to Orlando and Disney...but there's so much choice that it's hard to choose!
Epcot I don't think you'll miss much (but I know others love it) - some of the AK rides are quite good and you can probably do the best in half a day so perhaps morning at AK and then go on to Epcot for a look round the different countries and see the fireworks on the lake (the bast bit at Epcot);)
For me I would do MGM, Universal, MK and then 2 water parks, I would also do Epcot
as we love the place, Bush Gardens you can do when your st St.Pete.
Thats my choice
We did Orlando in a week in December 2001. It was very exhausting, and we didn't get to do everything, but we managed to get to all of the parks that we really wanted to visit.
These days we go for three weeks to make sure that we fit everything in and still have enough rest days to make the holiday enjoyable.
Dont forget that there is a waterpark (Adventure Island) next door to Busch Gardens, so if you are really pushed, you could leave it until you're in St Pete's. You dont want to kill yourself and end up hating the place.
The ideal holiday for us would include (not in any order):
Magic Kingdom - For the magic
Islands of Adventure - For the thrill rides
Universal Studios - For the film based attractions
MGM Studios - For the film based attractions
Seaworld - For a more leisurely
Followed by a visit to Busch Gardens while you're down in the Tampa area.
If you are doing Busch Gardens then you could probably drop Animal Kingdom. But I wonder whether you may be best focusing on the Disney parks, for cost as well as timescale, and then get the thrill rides at Busch Garden as they are meant to be good there too. It is only our personal preference, and probably very coloured by the fact that our kids are both young (5 and 2) but Disney is where the magic lives.
Tashmina
25-09-2003, 21:56
Thank Guys!
we've decided...although as a woman I am allowed to change my mind ;) !!!
Here goes:
MK
MGM
Universal
IOA
Wet n Wild - probably late afternoon
Busch when we're in St Pete's
I'm sure we'll cram in some shopping too he he he!!!
Thanks again
Tash :D
just have a great time
Chris
I certainly echo Chrisj.
Do whatever you want to, just ensure that you have a great time, even if it means leaving one of your chosen parks until your next trip.
Mike
Gillian-B
26-09-2003, 17:18
Tash, you've mentioned the 5-park Flex Ticket, but not that you want to go to SeaWorld. The Flex Ticket is great if you're going to be there for a couple of weeks and if you want to visit all the parks included, but with the itinery you're thinking about, separate tickets may be better (and like Blott says, if you buy from the link at the top, you'll save quite a lot:)). At least with the Disney Hopper pass, the days don't run out.
Have a great time (and definately cram in some shopping ;))
Hi Tash,
As everybody else has said, the main thing is just to enjoy yourself.
But for our money our 7 days would be spread across:
MK
EPCOT
UNIVERSAL
IOA
SEA WORLD
TYPHOON LAGOON
Also save some time for shopping.
Then crash out at St. Pete's.
Have a great time. (We've got a year to wait till we go back).
Paul & Sheila