The trip planning goes on and now we are working through the Orlando bit. We have 7 days in the area and these are the bones of the plan

day at the springs - Wekiva?
Day at Winter Park, followed by an afternoon at Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon?
Day with the boys at Nasa and the girls at Florida Mall or similar
Day at Mount Dora/ visit Celebration and afternoon/ early evening at Disney Quest and Downtown Disney.

We will not work in the order above, we will have a park day then a non park day etc.
3 days of theme parks, but which ones?
Magic Kingdom - because its Disney?
Epcot - though some say its boring
Animal Kingdom is out as we have enough animals in Africa
MGM we also ruled out
Universal Orlando?
Islands of Adventure?
Sea World we can maybe miss as we live by the sea at home and will have sepnt a week in the keys.
Discovery Cove i believe is excellent - but soooo expensive.

To remind you all we are an adventurous dad, an 11 year old boy, a 15 yr girl, me and the grandma. Us 3 girls are not bothered about fast rides, but we would go along to the park for the boys sake, so there would need to be stuff for us to do/ see.

Any suggestions would be welcome. What have we missed? How would you spend 7 - 8 days in the Orlando area. We arrive lunch time 6th Jan and depart the afternoon of the 13th

I really like the day on - day off idea (I get WDW overload quickly). I would back up a bit and check on pass prices and rules - that may effect which places you go. It used to be there was a 3-day pass that could be used at all parks - that would work for you. Figure out which parks are covered (for example, Seaworld is not a Disney park so it is not included in price). Work backwards from there.

For a truly unique experience, go to Gatorland. It is strangely tacky and appealing at the same time.

As far as water parks - January often is too cold in Orlando for water parks, in my opinion. But teenagers often feel differently about that.

Hmmmm...not really an Orlando expert- but of the parks you mentioned...

Definitely one of the water parks.

Epcot.

Magic Kingdom- unless you've done the whole Disney thing before (then just Epcot- but isn't there a park hopper? you could do both.)

Universal's a lot of fun- really, unless you've never done the Disney thing, I'd do Universal/islands of adventure instead of MK....especially for the boys!

Seaworld has really nothing to do with the sea, so you may enjoy that- the shows and rides are the best part....


Have fun!

Universal's fun.....

Oooooh, yeah, Gatorland! LOL

I too get overloaded by WDW....but my cousins for example can spend an entire 10 day vacation only at WDW...

And oh- you're going in January? Maybe not the water parks then- unless you're feeling particularily adventurous....

If you buy the ticket to Discovery Cove it includes a day at Seaworld. There are some fun themed rides there and some good shows.

Perhaps one day the boys can go to Islands of Adventure and the girls can go to Universal. You could meet for dinner at City Walk.

If you have never been to Disney World, be absolutely sure to go to the Magic Kingdom. (Still my favorite park.)

I think Epcot makes a nice day. Science stuff in the morning, culture stuff in the evening.

Yes, it might be cool for swimming, but you will also find NO LINES at that time of the year. Your son will LOVE Disney Quest.

Surely you'll get lots of opinions. Best wishes for a great trip!

I suggest you get a pass that lets you hop among the Disney parks for the days you are there. You should absolutely go to the Magic Kingdom. I don't know why you knocked out MGM but that and Epcot would be the other 2 Disney parks I would pick. I think the water parks will be too cold - not even sure they are open in winter.

Blizzard Beach is closed Jan. 1-6 for refurbishment.....open rest of month 10am-5pm (in comparison to summer hours: 9-7)

Typhoon Lagoon, on the other hand, is OPEN Jan 1-6, closed rest of January....So, cape, looks like you'll probably only get to go to one of thos parks, anyway....

Not a good time for the water parks.

This so depends upon the kids' likes/dislikes. I totally agreed you need a Disney park hopper.

MY KIDS and GRANDKIDS- even the ones as young as yours: are done with Magic Kingdom in about 2 hours- need at least 1/2 a day at MGM- need two days in EPCOT- need 1 day in Sea World.
And always hop over to Animal Kingdom just to get the "new" and uninitiated person on "It's Tough to Be a Bug".

And in between or after that they also want to go to Universals' and/or "hop" to do thrill rides for 2 days until their brains fall out. They get those "front of the line" things (you can obtain a timed ticket and then come and enter at the front of the line- I believe it costs more money.)

They can do water parks at home and ours in the Midwest are phenomenal.

If yours are more subdued there's an area called Blue Spring Park near Winter Park that is real nature and you can view the manatees and take a tour with the park guide (more $) and we spotted at least 25 different kinds of birds.

My kids find the Land, and all the other EPCOT scientific stuff far more fun than Beauty and the Beast, or Snow White. Others are different.

Hi, Capetown. You will freeze at a water park in Orlando in January. Even if the water is heated you will be chilly. Even the kids!

If I were choosing three parks, with your kids' ages and counting out AnimalKingdom for your stated reasons, I would choose

Magic Kingdom: because it's "the" themepark, it's Disney, and it's fun for all ages if you like parks

Universal: your kids are just the right age for this; it is considered "the" themepark for teens/tweens.

MGM: this is an often overlooked park that has some fun rides, lots of good shows, and will be a thrill for your mom, too.

The above three parks have something for everyone in your party. I wish you well with your planning!

No offense to those who like it, but you can skip Gatorland, capetown. It's an ageing "old florida" attraction (and I use that last word very loosely) that is poorly maintained, smells bad, and isn't that interesting.

Am i right in thinking that the general concensus is that we can do more than 1 park in a day without killing ourselves. Can we monorail between them and leave the car in one place or do we park and pay again as we change parks?

If you have a lot of energy and aren't Disney addicts, then yes, you can do more than one park a day Like some others have said- there's a good chance the kids will really zoom through MK.

I think the Magic Kingdom will absorb an entire day, especially if you plan to see any of the shows.

Ditto Universal Studios; there is plenty there to keep you busy for a day especially if your boys like to ride on rollercoasters multiple times, like mine You might plan one of your evenings, like Disney quest or pleasure island to pair with the Universal day.

MGM could probably take a half-day, leaving in the early afternoon, with the other half spent at Epcot. Or, you could get multiple park tickets for this day and split up if anyone wanted to stay on at MGM. I think Epcot is interesting and worth a look, and you could book dinner at one of the nice restaurants there and stay for the Illuminations fireworks at closing, which are magnificent. This makes a long day, and you could go to MGM very early, leave at lunch (and have lunch at your hotel or offsite), relax at the hotel for an hour or so, and go to Epcot around 4 or 5 pm, in time for dinner and an evening. It will be chilly and dark, but the parks are well-lit and obviously full of people in the evening, too.

Parking: I believe you pay one price per day even when park hopping, but check disney site for that. I know you can go in and out of the same park multiple times per day (although you'd be wasting your park time doing that).

If you are refering the the 4 Disney Parks, Yes. With a Park Hopper style pass it's especially helpful if you want to see a special performance at a particular park at a particular time, but want to spend most of the day elsewhere.

Or for example, you could go early morning to MGM to go on Tower of Terror, Rockin Roller Coaster, and Great Movie Ride, and eat lunch at Sci Fi Diner. Then scoot over to Animal Kindgom for Bugs Life, River Raft, and Dinosaur ride. Then back to MGM for laser show, if they have it Jan. (Not sure; parks close earlier.)

I believe only Epcot and MK are on the monorail, though. But yes, you just leave your car in one spot and take park transportation through out.

There's immense inter-park transportation that is available, between parks. Park hopper is the thing, and read one of your local library's Disney guides to see what you'd like, if you don't want to buy one.

Bus, monorail, ferries from behind EPCOT go to others and to all the Disney properties. AK is the farthest and the only one, in our experience, that requires a bit of a "wait" to the others. But access is included with your park hopper and EASY. No car, no big long "trip" across the lagoons to get into MK.

Right. Here's the new thinking with all your input.

Do Disney over 2 days with the park hopper as follows:

Day 1: MK in the morning and MGM after lunch and stay for the Fantasmic show - sounds great.
Day 2: Epcot - science part in the morning, over to Animal Kingdom fot eh bug show, and maybe dinos - don't need the Africa part, but Asia could be good, then back to Epcot for World Showcase and stay for Illuminations show.

On a different night we thought of booking at the Carribean Grill to watch the MK Spectromagic show that way.

We will then deal with Univrsal seprately with a break to the springs and Winter Park etc inbetween.
Will probably give the water parks a miss unless you are all hving a heat wave!
I will post a seperate parking questions I think

Thanks to you all from a very wet and stormy Cape Town - brrrr!

When we went to Disney my sons were 12 and 15.

Epcot was their favorite park. I was amazed that they didn't want to spend endless hours in the future area, they loved the countries. The 12 year old bought a disposable camera and used up the 24 pictures in the countries. Of course the belly dancer in Morocco might have had something to do with it.

Magic Kindom was their least favorite.

Universal was great, probably their second favorite.

We did Animal Kingdom - they had the BEST souvenirs - most made in the country that was represented.

We also did Disney MGM and my artist was fascinated by the behing the scenes of an animated movie.

We also took a day for down time. The grownups chilled and the kids spent a day at the pool.

My kids liked EPCOT and MGM better as well as they didn't ever go to WDW until they were over 10 and thought most of MK too babyish for them. They could not tolerate "Small World" type of rides. I think the boys only liked some of the shows (Bear Jambouree was one, Pirates of the Carib. another) and the Haunted House in MK. Tiki-Birds were the last straw. LOL!

Hi capetownfolk,

We're from the UK & have visited Orlando three times over the last 6 years.

Like you, our party covered a very wide age range, from my mother-in-law (in her late 70's), to myself, my wife & her sister (in our 40's) & my two teenage sons.

We have visited most of the places you've mentioned, including all of the Disney parks, the 2 Universals & Sea World & without a doubt the favourite across all the ages was MGM. There really is something there to suit all ages & my boys would be horrified at the idea of visiting Orlando & not going to MGM - as would their Gran!

Although Celebration is nice enough I don't really think you would be looking to spend too much time there. Certainly go to Downtown Disney in the evening - I would suggest parking your car at either East Side or West Side, taking the free boat across the lake to the opposite end and then walking back
round to your car through all the shops & restaurants - very enjoyable.

JJBhoy, thanks for the parking suggestion at Downtown Disney - will employ.

Think we now have the parks sorted and will do all the Disney ones.

Next need to apply my mind to the Universal ones.

I will post a question about restaurants now if anybody can give input

thanks a lot fromthe now sunny Cape of Storms