Theme Park Hours and Shows

[Ian Mcc]

Coming over in Oct next year and am trying to be mega-organized and was trying to plan an itinerary just to see how many parks we could reasonably expect to fit in therefore what tickets we would need, I was checking park opening hours / show times etc based on this years times, my problem is and my question is, is there any logic or pattern to when some of the displays are or indeed not on i.e Wishes, Spectromagic, Fantasmic as they dont seem to be on every night, also it seemed to me that the displays were on after the closing time of the park, is this right????

Thanks in anticipation[xmas1]

[kitch50]

Hi
The parks focus on Halloween during the month of October so the parks do close early for the general public on some days for their "Fright Nights" and you have to pay an additional sum to enter the parks for these nights, this year it was around $50 pp for Universal as far as I can remember, although we didn't go (a few scaredy cats in our household)! They are apparently fantastic if you like the %^&$ scared out of you!

[ukman]

To me being organised for a trip to florida is never wrong but i believe at times you can be to organised. My family and I at times, just like to leave things to the open air and I feel that is when you can discover some real gems, finding the unexpected. Florida as a whole has so much to offer, yet also little orlando, did i say little orlando, let measure it to the uk, ok, big orlando, has so much you can find. I feel at times first timers concentrate too much on just the parks, yes it might be what drives them to orlando, but overall it should be a holiday and for that doing the parks day in day out, leaves so much out, and just gets you exhausted.

[KH2508]

I agree with ukman even though I'm one of life's 'planners'. If you plan every day, down to the last detail there is a danger of becoming overloaded. Whilst it's understandable you will want to cram as much as possible in, you risk losing some of the enjoyment by having everything timetabled. Don't underestimate just how tiring it can be if you're trying to fit too much in. I'd suggest deciding which parks/places you consider a must do in advance, buy the appropriate passes, and then play it by ear when you're there. If you're looking at any evening shows, make sure you spend the day doing something less hectic.

And I'm so jealous of you going in October, it's a fabulous month to be in Florida.

[kitch50]

When we were over in October this year we had already purchased tickets for the parks we wanted to go to namely DC, Seaworld, Busch Gardens, Universal, and Aquatica but we also scheduled in some down time and shopping time and it worked out pretty well, we did a couple of the parks twice and also did a morning at Boggy Creek the rest of the time we spent chillin' by the pool in the lovely villa we rented with the occasional afternoon shopping. Ooh how I wish we were back there now

But I remember the very first time we went to FL a fair number of years ago, we tried to cram so much in in the 2 weeks we were there, looking back it wasn't the holiday it could have been as we were all so tired and "parked out" by the end of the holiday some of the enjoyment and excitement was lost.

Mostly I think it was because we didn't think we would ever be able to go back so we needed to see and do everything that one time. But this last holiday was our fifth time in FL and I think that THIS time we finally got it just about right. That is until next time.... whenever that may be.

So I agree with the ukman and KH2508 and their comments.

[8D]

[Val]

Hui,

I also agree with Ukman trying to fit in too many parks is just exhausing, by all means decide which you want to go to the most but have days just to chill enjoy the villa and the pool, perhaps a little shopping, go and take a walk round Celebration, perhaps a quite day and the evening down Oldtown. All the Disney hotels are also themed so a quite day and a meal in Animal lodge. I alway say to my guest to enjoy Florida the most perhaps a park every other day and a day to recover.

Val

[randyj]

HI Ian,

We are going down march and will be our fifth trip in a row and i agree with the others down time is needed to enjoy your vacation. we were down march of this yr and did not do any theme parks but did other things away from them and really enjoyed our selves. Daytona 500 as well as the beach up there fantastic, another was at Cocoa BEach awesome even the gift shop out at the road had the best prices on clothes etc, besides the JCPenny at the orlando mall, Exploring different parts of florida was nice as well as a few days around the pool at the Kingswood retreat was worth it. Try Boggy Creek boat rides its worth it. also down highway 27 there was an orange groove market which also had a huge monster bus which took us thru the orange grooves which was exciting. When we go down in march of 2010 we will be doing 4 days of parks and split it between the 14 days so we don't feel wore out at the end of our vacation this has worked in previous trips down.
Have fun planning and enjoy

[njstringer]

Hi Ian

As others have said - do not over do the parks. If you are going for 14 days then a maximum of 7 days in the parks is what I recommend. There are so many other things to do and you need time to relax.

Nigel

[SteveandJan]

Hi Ian, we usually relax in the mornings by the pool and go to the parks later in the day, we have always found they filter out a little towards the end of the day and my two teenage sons can then get onto the rides quicker. Our friends who often rent the villa next door do it differently, they get up early and there for the opening and then come out just after midday come back to the villa for a relaxing afternoon before going back in the evening.