First Timer

[karl2000]

Hi All,

My family and I are going to Florida for the first time at Easter, we have our tickets for Disney and Universal, so that's the parks done. We are going for two weeks and there are 5 of us, 4 adults and my nine year old daughter, we done a lot of looking around on the internet but can any of you give me some good tips/ hints paractical advice/ do's and dont's while we are there. Thanks guys.

[christhear]

My main advice would be to make sure you have some rest days. I remeber on my first trip we did so much that I came home feeling absolutely exhausted.
I would go to Animal Kingdom on your first day as you will be up early and its best to see some of the animals earlier on in the day. Also I find this park doesn't take as long to do as the ther Disney ones and you will definately be flagging by mid afternoon.

[karl2000]

Thanks Christine, your right I definitely think we will rest a couple of days, we have a villa with a pool. What about good places to eat, shop etc?

[tony2000]

Hi Karl
If you like a great steak try Manny's its on hwy 27
Tracy

[Andrena]

Depends on where you are staying, but there are an excellent selection of eateries at the west end of highway 192.

The Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, The Longhorn, Buffalo Wings, Orlando Alehouse, Red Lobster, etc. etc. you will be spoilt for choice.

Try a quiet day at Winter Park, it is a pleasant little town, shops and restuarants on one side and a park through which the railroad runs on the other. You can also take a pleasant sail on the 'Chain of Lakes' and see all the lovely homes built around the lakes.

Depends on where you are staying, but there are an excellent selection of eateries at the west end of highway 192.

The Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, The Longhorn, Buffalo Wings, Orlando Alehouse, Red Lobster, etc. etc. you will be spoilt for choice.

Try a quiet day at Winter Park, it is a pleasant little town, shops and restuarants on one side and a park through which the railroad runs on the other. You can also take a pleasant sail on the 'Chain of Lakes' and see all the lovely homes built around the lakes.

Have a great time whatever you do.

Andrena

[karl2000]

Thanks Guys, we are staying in Windwood in Kissimmee.

[SteveandJan]

Have a great time, it will be here before you know it. We love Red Lobster and Tony Romas

[Albert the Frog]

You have had the best advice-have rest days by the pool!
You won't do everything in a fortnight so if you get your head around that now you won't go in to panic mode on day 8!
Plan and write down a "calendar" to work by-because everything is so widespread if you don't know when you wake up what you are doing that day you lose an hour or so discussing it and planning a route etc.
Must do's -everybody has a different view and my favourite parks are Islands of Adventure,Universal,Seaworld and Busch Gardens but in my opinion everybody has to go to Magic Kingdom and walk along Main St USA to the castle-it lives with you forever-photograph your daughters face-magical
Finally,you're on the best site for advice and trust me-no question is too "minor"-and there is usually somebody here who knows the answer-Enjoy every second!

[DisneyPrincess]

I agree with leaving some days to rest - its a fantastic holiday but definitely can be tiring.

Here are my tips:

- Before you go check the disney and universal websites for park scheduled opening times and events. You can see which nights they're open later and what parades/shows etc are on so you can plan an itinerary before you go to make the most of park hours and such like.

- Keep a diary or s[bad language filtered out]book while you're away - from the moment you arrive there will be so many exciting things going on from parks to meals and experiences - after 2 weeks its a huge blur! Writing it down means you have something you can look back on for years to come - plus you can use it to help write trip reports for the forum!

- Take lots of photographs - again, memories!

- In animal kingdom, do the kilimanjaro safari and jungle trek first - the animals are much more active on a morning and that way you get to see them out and about. Also the queues for the safari can be quite big later in the day

- If you go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, try the butterbeer - AMAZING [beer]

- Try the desserts in Perkins or Cheesecake Factory - they are to die for!

Most of all enjoy - im already counting down to my next trip in Summer 2012 [msnsmile2] It really is the best place on Earth!

[msnscared] Not sure why its filtered out scra-pbook?? [msnscared] [That would be becsuse it hss s bsd word in the middle of it]

[Albert the Frog]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by DisneyPrincess
[msnscared] Not sure why its filtered out scra-pbook?? [msnscared]
[/quote]t automatically picks up all the letters in between s and book--it's because kids are on here as well-it can be quite funny at times