Disneyland Florida - Tips - Park Tickets - Info

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MLE

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Group of 8, five adults + 3 children age 13, 8 and 5 travelling to Florida in June for 3 weeks. None of us has ever been to U.S. before. I would appreciate any tips your readers might have as regards buying park tickets, best parks to see, how best to divide our time, any other sights worth seeing and anything else you can think of! We have booked a villa and hired a car.
 
Ooooooooooooo you have set off my exite-ometer big time with your questions.

Haven't been to Florida since 2001 but did lot of Disney/Universal research for that trip.

Have only seen your message as I'm signing off for the night, and unfortunately have work in the morning, but I'll get lots of info for you.

For starts I'd recommend International Drive for a first visit, that way you can do Disney or Universal plus all the great places to eat and drink and shop around "I Drive". But I see you've already booked a villa, chances are it's nearer Disney than I Drive. DONT WORRY! YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT TIME WHEREVER YOU STAY! (Sorry for shouting! - but really, it's not like Dublin traffic!)

Give me some specific questions and I'll try to find out answers for you. When we went in 2001 it was a bit of a risk buying park tickets online but I checked out where we were buying from and we saved hundreds!

If you want to buy a book to help, the first one I would recommend is "A Brit's Guide to Orlando" by Simon Veness and regularly updated. Top notch advice.

Any space fans should make space for a trip to Kennedy Space Center.
Really, I have piles of links for Florida holidays, if you want to have them, let me know.

-- And if you can't fill your suitcases, I'll go on a diet and make sure you don't take off on empty!! --
 
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Try the following sites for more info:
www.disboards.com - there is a section for UK visitors

http://www.orlando-guide.info/

http://allearsnet.com/

http://www.internationaldriveorlando.com/

Book your tickets before you go and as your staying for the 3 weeks book a 21 day pass for Disney and a 5park/14 day pass for Universal studios.

We booked ours from www.tickets4fun.com

We enjoyed the Cracker Barrell resturants, go to Celebration Village, the various shopping malls.

Like TreeTiger if you have any specific questions and I try to answer them.
 
With 3 kids maybe you should try some of the Character Meals at Disney. They need to be booked well in advance but they are a great way of meeting Disney characters in peace and interacting with them and of course the food is good too. Chef Mickey, Cinderellas Breakfast are two my youngest loved but there are lots to choose from - check Disney sites for details. We bought a 14 day Disney Ultimate - we could visit one park in the morning, a different one in the afternoon and another in the evening if we wanted. It was great for coming and going but study them well to see what suits the way you want to work it. Bought it online before we left from www.themeparks.com I think but allow lots of time as ours only arrived the day before we left!! Heat was intense but everywhere airconditioned and lots of welcome shade. Do visit the Disney water parks - Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon - great fun for every age and relaxing too if you get the chance!
 
One place you got to go to is the Epcot center, leave it for a night trip it has lots of little villages of the different countries(none for Ireland) but they have UK and they all light up at night, there is a great firework display also. I agree with OP book a meal with Mickey mouse had one with my grandchildren and we all loved it
 
Thanks for all your advice folks. I really appreciate it. I have looked up some websites already but I found it all very confusing. There's nothing like personal recommendations!

I think my sons (13, 20 and 22) will enjoy the Epcot centre and the waterparks. My 13 year old wants to swim with dolphins?? My daughter 17 and my sons girlfriend 22 want to shop, shop, shop!!

How do you go about booking the Disney meal? That sounds like a must for the little ones (8 & 5).

So much to do and so little time ....!!

Our villa is in Davenport Lakes, which I'm told is 15 mins from the parks (and half a mile from Walmart).

Since I will be doing all the driving, I'm relieved to hear it is easier than Dublin! I've never driven an automatic before, but it shouldn't be too difficult ... should it?

Keep the advice coming please ...
 
I would definitely recommend Busch Gardens. The theme park rides are some of the best and there is also a zoo/nature park so there is something for everyone.
 
we are flying out on the 9th June and staying on international drive.

couple of links for you.

they will price match on tickets if you find a cheaper deal in sterling.

[broken link removed] a very good map of orlando which is due to be released and will cost £6 sterling. Worth it IMO.

http://www.airfloridahelicopters.com/orlando.html Helecopter Flights on International Drive

we booked with american holidays and got our tickets with attraction tickets direct. were staying in a hampton inn hotel. Not going to bother hiring a car.

busses are plenty frequent:

http://www.iridetrolley.com travels up and down international drive a dollar for a single journey or you can get weekly tickets.

http://www.golynx.com the number 50 lynx bus travels from seaworld to disney take about 30 - 40 minutes and costs $1.50 for a single journey.

Some recommended restaurants http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/images/smilies/smile2.gif

http://www.charleyssteakhouse.com/

http://www.smokeybones.com

http://www.tonyromas.com



http://www.logansroadhouse.com

http://www.lonestarsteakhouse.com

http://www.fuddruckers.com

http://www.hardrockcafe.com

http://www.mimiscafe.com/

http://www.chilis.com/

[broken link removed] http://www.rubytuesday.com/

http://www.bucadibeppo.com/



and http://www.olivegarden.com

Hope you enjoy your holiday, I am so looking forward to mine

Neonitrix
 
MLE said:
Since I will be doing all the driving, I'm relieved to hear it is easier than Dublin! I've never driven an automatic before, but it shouldn't be too difficult ... should it?

Keep the advice coming please ...
Click to expand...

WRT driving an automatic - this may be obvious to most but I spent 10-20 minutes trying to start the car before copping on that the gearstick needs to in the "park" position and you need your foot on the footbrake.:eek:

We didn't get a Sat Nav nor did we need one - some lose their orietation if you go under some wide bridges. We had internet access in the house and looked up our routes and exits, we also purchased a local map. I think this was the site we used - http://www.frommers.com/destinations/orlando/22_maps.html

Also, we had 2 cars so we bought walkie talkies and kept in contact that way - handy in the parks too.

enjoy.
 
you will have no problem with the driving they seem to travel much slower over there and are so well mannered.
 
Well Neonitrix has given you lots of great links, some of them are ones I have bookmarked. In particular disboards - Simon Veness, the author of the book I mentioned used to post there, I don't know if he still does.

If you're flying into Orlando you may find this useful http://www.orlandoairports.net/main.htm - it has an arrivals walkthrough so you can see what things will look like when you arrive in the airport. I must say I found Orlando to be one of the most civilised airports ever. We were able to check in our luggage hours before our return flight, and we spent the time between shopping and relaxing. But with things being much stricter now I don't know if it's possible to check in as early as we did any more.

[broken link removed]
Now this link I love. If like me, you get lost easily, this is brilliant!
Great tips for first time drivers in the states, and photographs of the route from the airport. Just print them off before you go, and hand them to your navigator.

I see you've already been told about Walmart. It has to be seen to be believed ...
 
Some great tips and advice there. Thank you all very much for taking the time to reply ... I think I'll need all the help I can get!
 
Defo worth planning what days of the week to visit certain parks. There used to be a web site that you entered the parks you wished to visit and the dates of your holiday and it set a plan on a kind of traffic light system (green for good days to visit, red for avoid etc.) Can't remember the site but if you do come accross it, use its advise. It recommends the days when there are good activities at the parks, not every park has fireworks every evening etc.
 
Thanks again everyone. I've found all of your links and tips very useful.
 
Might be this site? We used it to some extent for the first few times until we got used to it. Even though we stayed in Disney and had the advantage of early and late entry, we rarely used it as the parks tended to be very packed those days. Instead we would look at the chart for the one expected to draw less crowds and it worked quite well. The Unofficial Guide was a great book too - it became our "bible" to the parks and simplified things greatly so do consider getting a good book too.
[broken link removed]
 
I've just ordered the Unofficial Guide. I found the line very useful indeed. Also, the link to orlandoairports.com is great. I can plan my journey from the airport to our accommodation and it should make things very simple.
 
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