First timer going 12 july.

[duggie]

Again thanks for all your replies.

Can anybody recommend places to eat either for breakfast or after a day at the parks.

Any more sugestions on other places to visit we do fancy spending a day at the coast but which one?

Thanks

Lee

[lynnroy]

Clearwater is supposed to be lovely- we are planning a day there this year.

[caroline]

We went to Fort De Soto and much preferred it to anywhere else in the area, no high rise condo's or hotels overlooking the beach! If you want to go to the Atlantic coast then Vero Beach is hard to beat. We stayed in a lovely condo for 2 nights at Sea Oaks, would thoroughly recommend it.

[Sandra M]

Loved Fort de Soto and also Siesta Key but all the beaches on the Gulf Coast we have visited have all been lovely.

Fort de Soto has a small cafe so at least you can get snacks there and year on year it is on the Best beaches list.

Siesta Key was voted number 2 beachin the whole of the USA last year.

Sandra

[duggie]

Thanks will definetly go to fort de soto / Siesta Key they look fab.

Can anyone give me some advise on money requirements do i need to take alot of cash / travelers cheques ? I have a santander zero creditcard that does not charge an exchange/usage fee i was thinking of maybe just taking a bit of cash and using the creditcard for everything else?


Thanks Lee

[Lizb]

I took a drive to Treasure Island beach last week,well worth the drive. You can walk on the white sandy beach barefooted, the sand does not burn your feet. The sea was lovely and warm, I cant swim but did go in for a paddle.[msnsmile2][msnsmile2]

There is a pavilion where one can have a picnic if you take along a cool box. The showers are outside, changing/restrooms, machines offering soft drinks and I am sure I seen one with beer, a snack machine stacked with crisps, sweets and chocolate are all located under the pavilion.

You can pay to park for the whole day for $6.00 or $1.50 per hour.

A day visiting one of the many state parks as an alternative to the Disney, is also a good idea.

Have a great holiday.

[Appledore]

Definately plan days in between. You may find the weather humid and therefore rather draining. As you body clocks will not have adjusted I would suggest going to one of the parks early on the first day, grab some breakfast in one of the many resturants - I would suggest Ponderosa purely for the experience of everything you could possibly want.

The following day take it easy and perhaps chill around the pool and make some sort of plan you'll understand a little better how things work over there (it's something nobody can really explain)

I couldn't see that anyone had reccommend Sea World but IMHO it's a brilliant day out. Not quiet so exhausting because you are sitting down at different times to watch the shows.

If you want a day awy Kennedy Space Centre makes a total change and as others have said Boogy Creak is really fun but take the insect repellant.

As your family are a little older (if they love bigger rides Universal and Bushe Gardens may suit them better.

Hope this helps - I bet i've just confused you even more.

Regards
Elaine

[kitch50]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by duggie
Again thanks for all your replies.

Can anybody recommend places to eat either for breakfast or after a day at the parks.

Any more sugestions on other places to visit we do fancy spending a day at the coast but which one?

Thanks

Lee
[/quote]

For breakfast I would recommend Cracker Barrell if there is one near where you are staying or a Waffle House or IHOP. For an all you can eat buffet breakfast the Golden Corral is one of the better ones and quite cheap. Bob Evans or Perkins Restaurants also do a good filling breakfast as well.

[SDJ]

Not sure about your Santander card not charging anything on transactions. Mine certainly does. You can buy preloaded cash cards from certain places, and a few people still use Travellers Cheques.

You will need some cash and you will also need some change when you leave the airport as you will probably be using one of the toll roads.

Sandra

[Albert the Frog]

I don't want to go off on a tangent but by way of explanation-the Santander zero current account debit card does not attract any foreign use surcharge.
The Santander ordinary current account card does.

Again without over complicating things-I would take some cash-small denomination for incidentals but for the vast majority of my purchases I use my zero debit card. The one point that I would make though is that because the US system does not directly link to the UK one, when you use your debit card you have to "pretend" that it is a credit card as far as the US payment terminals are concerned. How it appears on your statement etc is unaffected.

But, moving on we like eating out at Olive Garden and Chili's in the evenings and IHOP and Denny's for lunches--Cheesecake Factory is really good but doesn't really have a "small kids" menu and is quite expensive.
We used to have a tradition of having our last meal at the Rainforest Cafe but because now you need an additional mortgage to eat there we've sacked it.
We do still love Hard Rock cafe though!