What to do?

[bobcat]

Hi everyone

We will be visiting Florida later this year with our two boys, 4 & 5 years old for around 3 weeks

We are not huge fans of the parks in that in previous visits we have been on a few days but thats it, but did not have the kids then

The kids are really excited about meeting the characters in the parks etc but not sure that they are really up for lots of rides, but we do not want to spoil things for them by not going to parks that they may really enjoy


Thinking of doing the following a parks:

Magic kingdom x 2 days

Busch gardens x 2 days

We would also be visiting Kenendy space centre, Daytonna, horse riding, airboats etc

Would 2 days at MK and 2 days at Busch be enough, or should we try others parks or go for more than 2 days to each park

Any tips on what other peoples experiences are with young children
would be appreciated

Thanks very much

[Albert the Frog]

Don't think you need 2 days at Busch-why not try Seaworld instead -the shows with the dolphins/whales etc are magical-my 2 love them.
Ours-currently 7 and 5 love Islands of Adventure-the theming and colours -there are rides there geared towards younger ones-dr seuss, popeye, and there are always characters knocking about-cat in a hat-thing 1 etc-whilst i'm not a disney freak magic kingdom is a must but why not do half days mornings/afternoons -we found that if we went first thing and tried to stay until the fireworks-they were asleep and we were exhausted! we went just after lunch and stayed and they were ok with that.
also try animal kingdom for the shows-antz world,lion king etc
I've no doubt you'll be deluged with tips so not to be outdone here are mine;
we bought a couple of medium price buggies from walmart-not the cheapest they're uncomfortable-benefit-kids can rest/don't get as tired/can sleep in the heat/can be used to "restrain and control" in busy crowded areas/give you something to lean on!
for eating we breakfasted in the villa and bought a bundle of capri suns from walmart along with a load of school snack packs-thee consisted of crackers/cheese/ham=we froze the capri suns then after breakfast put snackpacks fruit capri suns in a backpack-benefits kids had cool drinks all day and a light lunch that they were more likely to eat than the usual fare.-it was cheaper too and saved time.
that's enough for now!

[steph_goodrum]

You could perhaps get a 3 day pass and get the hopper option to give you chance to dip into some of the others. Often the younger ones like the passports at Epcot where they go round the countries completing craft project in each.

[sammibabe]

We always find 1 day at Busch enough as it is further to travel. It is a full day so would recommend a rest day definately the day after and we usually do a rest day the day before too. Definately think about Seaworld and what about a water park? The airboats is not that long so found that quite a relaxing day. We breakfast out cos the kids eat more and then just a snack is enough for them til dinner. We have breakfast in the villa on the rest days.

[DisneyPrincess]

I agree with previous posters. One day at Busch will be enough - a lot of the rides there are high thrills to so probably not suitable for younger ones.

I would seriously consider sea world, islands of adventure and animal kingdom - in my opinion these, along with magic kingdom - would be fantastic for your children. Sea world really is a must sea - they will be amazed by the shows and have chances to get up close to animals succh as killer whales, dolphins, sharks, polar bears and much more - they will be in awe at the Shamu and Dolphin shows. Gives me goosebumps thinking about it and the dramatic music! [msnsmile2]

[lynnroy]

You should def go to Seaworld, the kids will love it, 1 day at Busch is plenty.
When we went last year- we did 2 days MK, 1 day Animal Kingdom, 1 day Universal, 1 day IOA, 1 day Busch, 2 days Seaworld. We also went back to MK at night for the fireworks.
Thats maybe more than you want to do but my 5 year old enjoyed and kept up with all of this last year.
She also loved Typhoon Lagoon- we also did Aquatica but preferred Typhoon Lagoon.
It sounds like we did a lot but we ended up there for 4 weeks cos of the Ash Cloud so fitted a lot in.
Other things we did that were good were Coco Beach, Kennedy (for my husband)- he queued for two hours to get Charlie Duke to sign his book.We went riding to Horseworld, which I would only recommend if you are a beginner(its extremely boring if you are an experienced rider, plus its a fortune and then the guides hit you with -"we don't get paid and only work for tips" I wasn't impressed) Plus their website promotes trail riding around a huge acreage when infact all you do is go round in cirlces in a small wood.
Have a great time [8D]

[sammibabe]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
You could perhaps get a 3 day pass and get the hopper option to give you chance to dip into some of the others. Often the younger ones like the passports at Epcot where they go round the countries completing craft project in each.
[/quote]

We didn't do the passport because you had to buy it(and they seemed quite expensive timesed by 3) but they did do a thing on a stick where they collected stuff around the World, and had them all dangling off the stick. At China they also wrote their names on them in chinese writing. They really enjoyed doing that. Mine have always enjoyed test track and my favourite ride, Soarin' is there. So Epcot is worth considering if you take out 1 day at BG.

When are you going as well because that will also have some bearing on how busy the parks are likely to be?
We always do a timetable so the whole holiday is planned so everybody knows what we are doing and when. We are going in August so we start talking about it now at Sunday dinner!
Another thing to think about is if you are going to any character meals. These need booking in advance and from 180 days before you want to go. If you are going in a busy period do it is worth booking at that point

[bobcat]

Hi everyone

Thanks for all the feedback and tips

I think we are much clearer now

How does the following sound:

one day at Busch Gardens
One day at Seaworld

Two days at Magic Kingdom (possibly half days)
One day at Epcot

One day at Islands of adventure
One day at Universal studios

A lot more than we initially planned! but I am sure it will be good fun

Some questions though:

1 - Is hollywood studios similar to Universal studios? and which is better?

2 - What sort of tickets should we be looking to buy. I know that for Busch and seaworld you can buy one ticket. Do we need to buy a seperate one for disney and another for Universal? The tickets for Universal seem to be really cheap compared to Disney,would it be better to buy individual tickets for disney as we dont really need a 14 day option?

In terms of character meals and making advance reservations can anyone suggest a few good places for breakfast and how we go about booking

Sorry for all the questions!

Thanks
Nadim

[Albert the Frog]

1. This is an opinion-Universal Studios is better than Hollywood Studios
2.Somebody with far more nouse than I may well advise you differently but a 5 park orlando flexticket will cover you for busch,seaworld,ioa,universal and a water parkI'm not well up on disney as they tend to be quite complex but i have no doubt an expert will be on soon.....

[sammibabe]

Hollywood Studios would be the 1 I would drop particularly with the ages of your children.

With the Disney parks if you get there for rope drop you get to see a lot of characters too. At MK they arrive on a train and at Epcot they come down the line of the rope shaking hands with people. We found we managed to fast pass and do a ride very quickly. We were first on Soarin' and fast passed it on the way out [msnwink]