Visiting with non English speakers

[kulisa]

Hi all,

thank you for all the great answers, my question however is going to be rather difficult to answer, but I would appreciate any advice you can spare.

I’m planning to invite my family (all the way from Europe) to Orlando in the first half of December 2013 (no crowds, fine weather and hopefully some lower resort rates…gasp…)

There will be two adults age 33 and 32, two adults age 50 and 58 (one family member has some mobility problems due to knee surgery, and two family members have mobility problems due to being heavily overweight) and two kids age 2 and 6. And me (the translator..)

Because of the small kids and all the mobility problems I would like to keep the pace rather low to moderate, aiming for 10 -14 days in one of the Arts of Animation family Suites.

My main concern is that I will be the only one speaking English (I do only moderate rides, not a fan of rollercoaster’s) and having been to Orlando numerous times in the past I feel that many of the rides would not appeal to none of the adults and neither to the kids.

I “reserved” a full day for a visit to Downtown Disney and to see laNouba, one day to visit Sea World, one day to browse the hotels and admire all the Xmas decorations, one day at Magic Kingdom including the fireworks.

While visiting Zoo’s back home, the kids had shown little interest in animals, so I think we should skip Animal Kingdom? I also doubt Epcot would be of any interest to them, and I think they won’t enjoy the Disney Hollywood Studios with all the rides either, due to their young age. The same goes for Universal Studios and Adventure Island but perhaps I’m wrong? Due to various reason I don’t want to take them to Aquatica, Splitville, Legoland and neither to see Arabian Nights.

Basically I’m looking to visit places where one doesn’t have to understand much (read any) English in order to enjoy themselves but I also want to get most out of their stay. Sure I will translate some but to translate a whole show would be exhausting and would bother everyone around, so I would really like to avoid these.

Would the Dolphin Cove be ok if I translate? Possible to visit in december or is it too cold?
When are the parades starting and at which park?
Anything else I we shouldn’t miss?

Please weight in and recommend some attractions you think may be suitable for our situation.

Could you also recommend some "light" rides suitable for kids that can be accompanied by adult ( The Simpsons ride was pretty much the max I could do....)

Thank you!!!

 

[chris31997]

I would highly recommend renting mobilized wheelchairs or wheelchairs. It will help those with the mobility issues. Check on the disAbilities Forum for recommendations on who and where.

I would recommend doing Hollywood Studios and AKL. There is more than just rides and Animals. Yes, understanding exactly what is said at the show won't happen but it is fun to go anyway. For instance, at the AKL there is A Bug's Life, a 3-D interactive expierance. Not to mention the differant foods that you can expierance. We are currently living in Japan, and don't understand a word of Japanese but it does not stop us from trying and doing things just because we don't understand something. We have enjoyed shows and musuems all because we tried them. Sure we could have gotten more out of it if we could speak Japanese but we don't so we got what we could out of it.

I would also recommend doing Epcot. There is a kid's activity that will take them around the differant countries. I believe it is also in AKL.

Sometimes, animals in the zoos back home might not be all that intersting but when you go somewhere else....they are way cooler

If you google Orlando tourism board you might be able to research differant things you can see and do while there. IF you are going to have a car, you could go to the beach, either Gulf or Atlantic. Look and see if there is a Ripley's Musuem.

Good luck planning this for your family.

 

[MSSANDRA]

First, be sure that you realize that early December does not equal "no crowds". Yes, there are less crowds than later in the month for sure, but it is no longer the lowest time of year to go. Also the weather is not always "fine" in early December. We have worn coats and gloves before. Now we do LOVE this time of year at WDW, but wanted to be sure you knew that it may not be warm and crowd-less. Second, you are spending a LOT of money to stay on site to just visit one park one day. There are thousands of visitors to WDW every year from all around the globe and I am sure many of them do not speak any English, but still have a GREAT time. There are guild maps in many languages and many CMs do speak other languages. Little kids don't care if they can understand or not, they just want to have fun. I also would not rule out any rides unless you have toured parks with them before and know what they like.

Staying on site for 10 days , I would do at least a 5 day hopper and then they can get a taste of the real WDW. Maybe also consider the DDP to allow them the ease of navigating restaurants and let them experience a lot of different American foods.

A year is a long way away too. I would purchase a guild book in their language and encourage them to learn a few basic English words such as bathroom, menu items etc.

 

[kulisa]

I'm aware of the weahter conditions in Fl in Decemeber, average is 73 but mornings and evenings are rather cold, therefore I eliminated all the water parks, but not sure about the Dolphin experience? Any takers? How about the Promenades - when do they start in December?

Having friends from all over, I was not impressed with Epcot experience and neither with the food there, and family is very selective about "exotic" food, however I have already put together a "menu" i'm confident they would try.

To go to a park just to do 2 attractions is,in my case, "waste of a ticket" and there will be 7 of us. Naturally, because none of them speaks english we can't just split. At the most someone may decide to skip an attraction.

However with the small kids I doubt we can do more than 1 park a day,(even though I anticipate to arrive as soon as the gates open) still I want to stay "onsite" at least for a week so they can get over their jet lag. Yes it is not cheap, but when someone doesn;t feel well 3 hours into our visit, he/she can go to the hotel and lay down and the whole family doesn't have to leave the park as if we were offsite. Even if we returned the transit, waiting to park and re-enter would be way too much of wasted time imo,

I plan their stay for 5 weeks so there will be time to visit the coast, but to spend the frist 2 weeks in Orlando seem like the most reasonable choice in our case, since around x mas and new year the crowds will be nearly unbearable.

Ripley's museum is an interesting thought but most of the stuff there has written explanation - in English, still we may try that. Thank you for the suggestion.

Giuld (guide?) book is not available in our language. Sure they will have to learn some words, but that won't take them far. I learned 3 languages later in life, so I have pretty fair idea what to teach them before their arrival.

But there is a definitely big difference between living and visiting somewhere, but this would be a topic for some "ex-pat" forum.

Based on our circumstance, anything else you would recommend we should see? Please also consider the weather (no waterparks) and I plan to rent a minivan so we will be visiting the coast too but I don;t want to go to see NASA or Tampa Bush Gardens and have no intentions to drive for hours to Destin with 2 ,bored to death kids, in the car, allthough I may make an exception and take them to Key West for a day or two.

Thanks in advance!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

OP in sorry but it sounds like you pretty much have planned what you want to do and have eliminated everything for everybody else. My kids are on their third trip and are 17 months (2nd for her) 4 and 8 and loved all the parks and most specifically Epcot and mk. I am not sure how your guests are just going to go back to the hotel without dragging the whole family if there is only 1 park day and 1 downtown Disney day. Everywhere else would require non Disney transport. My kids routinely drive 2 hours in the car and it is no big deal. I would be so sad to travel all the way to Europe and have my host decide to cut out almost all the "must dos" because they had been there and done that or just decided I would not like it.

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[lost*in*cyberspace]

I agree with the above. Why not let your guests take part in the planning rather than assuming they won't like most of what WDW has to offer? Spending a whole day touring the hotels sounds like a snoozefest, especially for the kids. I don't understand why you are going in the first place!

 

[kulisa]

I agree with the above. Why not let your guests take part in the planning rather than assuming they won't like most of what WDW has to offer? Spending a whole day touring the hotels sounds like a snoozefest, especially for the kids. I don't understand why you are going in the first place!

Based on the answers I received so far I'm truly unsure if my question is perhaps too difficult to understand...?

I have a multi generation family that I'm inviting over to visit, none of them speaks english but me.

I have traveled the States quite well in the past and the reason I visited this forum is to ask advice - what places would be the most suitable to visit in our circumstances.

The reason is; that I would hate to end up like the many foreign families I wintessed during my last visit to Las Vegas at the Believe with Criss Angels, show by Cirque du Soleil.

Apart from the fact that this performer is a louzy magician, Mr.CA spent 3/4 of the 2 hour or so long "show" talking about his "achievements" to an audience of which a sagnificant part was a non-english speakers. Tickets average $120.00 per person and there were sometimes whole families. After the show they were literally reduced to tears. Lance Burton's show was excellent and he talked durign his show 15 minuts top. I have seen both shows and my judgement tells me that I would never recommend to non-english speaking person to visit a show which is 90 minutes of talk.

Regardless of whether you agree with my decissions and my judgement or the lack of it, I came to ask advice but so far the responses are not very helpfull to me and I honestly feel like a first grader mocked by a teacher...Is this really the purpose of this discussion board?

Anyway I have visited most of the Orlando Parks in the past and I'm confident that LaNouba will be much more enjoyed than a day at the NASA, however I don't live in Orlando and my hope was; that someone could recommend suitable attraction I'm not aware of, or forgot about, as was the case with Ripley's Museum that was suggested earlier by Chris.


Happy New Year

 

[mdsoccermom]

Based on the answers I received so far I'm truly unsure if my question is perhaps too difficult to understand...?

I have a multi generation family that I'm inviting over to visit, none of them speaks english but me.

I have traveled the States quite well in the past and the reason I visited this forum is to ask advice - what places would be the most suitable to visit in our circumstances.

The reason is; that I would hate to end up like the many foreign families I wintessed during my last visit to Las Vegas at the Believe with Criss Angels, show by Cirque du Soleil.

Apart from the fact that this performer is a louzy magician, Mr.CA spent 3/4 of the 2 hour or so long "show" talking about his "achievements" to an audience of which a sagnificant part was a non-english speakers. Tickets average $120.00 per person and there were sometimes whole families. After the show they were literally reduced to tears. Lance Burton's show was excellent and he talked durign his show 15 minuts top. I have seen both shows and my judgement tells me that I would never recommend to non-english speaking person to visit a show which is 90 minutes of talk.

Regardless of whether you agree with my decissions and my judgement or the lack of it, I came to ask advice but so far the responses are not very helpfull to me and I honestly feel like a first grader mocked by a teacher...Is this really the purpose of this discussion board?

Anyway I have visited most of the Orlando Parks in the past and I'm confident that LaNouba will be much more enjoyed than a day at the NASA, however I don't live in Orlando and my hope was; that someone could recommend suitable attraction I'm not aware of, or forgot about, as was the case with Ripley's Museum that was suggested earlier by Chris.


Happy New Year

May I ask what your family's native language is? Disney has visitors from all over the world. It's not as if your family would be unique in visiting.

Frankly, I'd ask your family for input. What you are proposing so far sounds quite unappealing. I really think you need to consider more time in the parks rather than a day to tour hotels, a day at Downtown Disney and a day at MK, especially if you are going to be in the area for so long.

 

[mjkacmom]

Orlando is famous for theme parks. I can't imagine a language barrier taking away any of the enjoyment. I also can't. Imagine children not loving all that the parks have to offer. This is what makes Orlando! Honestly, I don't know anyone would go there if not for the parks.

It's like vacationing in Paris planning on eating only fast good.

 

[kulisa]

Hi mdsoccermom - believe it or not, but I too find most of it unappealing since I have already done most of it, and don’t need to see anything again. Honestly I would much rather spend the 5 weeks scuba. ...

Their language is Czech and as far as input from family - my sister wants to meet dolphins, there is no salt water aquarium in Czech republic or anywhere nearby, therefore Seaworld - which I'm pretty sure will appeal to everyone since they have never seen most of the fish before, except on TV. I have asked here two times about Dolphin Cove - so far no response.

Mother loves Christmas, therefore, depending on how tired the day of their arrival (or some other day they feel too exhausted to go to the parks) we may go see the decorations in hotels and kids can stay by the pool if they like or come along, whichever they decide. The Parades is a must - so far no reply as to when the Parades start either.

Btw I didn’t mention I hate X mas, but I just "love" all the comments that suggest I plan the entire stay around my needs...

Kids (both boys) are only familiar with the major Disney Characters that are popular in EU (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Nemo - never heard of Stichy, and too young for Jaws and Man in Black in Universals but we may go for Dr. Seuss and Simpsons anyway), therefore Magic Kingdom (we may need 2 days there, but we will see how it all develops...) and shopping Downtown Disney for gifts and souvenirs with me, while the adults will go see laNouba.

Since they have one of the best Zoo including Safari mere 20 miles from where they live in CZ, we will not go to Animal Kingdom because the kids simply don't care about animals.

Older kid is addicted to Cars - we will be staying at the Cars building at the Art of Animation.

I'm not limiting their stay to 1 park but I see no reason to go to Ak knowing they don’t care for animals, and I will not go to Epcot knowing no one will eat there and they all couldn't care less about listening to Santaclaus about German traditions (whether in English or German) if they can hop the bus and go the 100 miles to a real German X Mas market anytime they want to.

I'm not going to Splitville to spend the day bowling, or to play in the arcades if they can do this at home, or to Aquatica to ride the slides with 70 F outside, neither will we do the Arabian Nights eating food from the week before, and so on.

Father loves beer - sixpack from a grocery store will have to do and he will have to sweat it out with us, no special wishes from him so far, other than the daily ration of beer.

As for my needs - since I will be the translator, the guide, the driver, the planner, the coordinator, and the sponsor - I guess I will be just happy to see them enjoying themselves and having the best time of their life, while hoping that the kids won't cry and argue much, mother won’t be too selective and grumpy all the time and that, no one gets hurt or sick and if I'm lucky enough, I will get a good night sleep every other night or so and won't loose my sanity.... That's pretty much all I would like to get out of this - in addition to some advice for other activities we can do together while in Orlando.

Evidently I have already done some research and have a fair Idea what to see ( listed in the initial post) and now I'm asking for suggestion as to how to fill the remainder of the days the best I could. Although I understand there is no way I can please all of them all the time….

I want to think that each family is different and has individual needs, while one family can commute with kids in a car for 2 hours without problem, the longest “our” kids will generally commute is 30 minutes to visit a grandma, simply because Europe is so small we are not used to commute each day 2 hours to and from work as it is common here. Sure they will sweat it out, but even the adults will be irritated if we spend 2 hours going somewhere and then drive back the same day. This may work 1 time, otherwise they will be *%^&* that they spent their vacation in the USA riding in a car and watching the highway….

73 degrees may sound too cold for some, but if you come from a country with 6 months of rain and snow and temps around 0 most of the time during those 6 mo, the FL December temps are just a perfect break from long winter but luckily a far cry from the tropical heat FL gets each summer, that would be simply unbearable for them.

One can never know but I hope that all this explanation helps and that I will finally get some reasonable advice instead of the comments about what a lousy host I’m…

Cheers and thanks

 

[4HppyCamprs]

The reason I did not answer as to going other places is because you have already shot down the majority of must see places. The majority of which are not shows involving lengthy dialogues or discussions. Your post said you have done this and you have done that and your are not interested in doing x,yz even though Disney is extremely accessible.

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[tikistitch]

There are families from all over the world that tour WDW without a translator present. Also, Discovery Cove is an amazing place but it is EXPENSIVE. I believe the 6 year old would be able to swim with the dolphins but the 2 year old would not. The youngest probably wouldn't enjoy their time there at all, I don't think. I think your trip money could be better spent elsewhere. I really want to say that Disney is going to be your best bet for non-English speakers to enjoy their time, even if they don't enjoy rides. There's so much to see in every park. There's Gatorland nearby that might appeal to your family? I've only been once but it was cute. I'm not sure the level of translating you'd have to do there. Medieval Times is always okay and you don't really need to speak English or translate much, because of the action going on.

The Orlando Mall is pretty big and it could provide a good day of just getting out and about with minimal expectations. It's about an hour's drive to Cocoa Beach, which I highly recommend seeing. Definitely no translation needed in order to enjoy a day at the beach!

The experience I recommend the most is the Osborne family lights at Hollywood Studios. It is the most amazing thing that anyone of any language or culture would just be awestruck at. Also, if the older child is in love with Cars, I believe the Pixar parade is at Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, and you can meet Lightning McQueen and Mater at this park as well. There's a ton to do in this park that isn't big rides. If the relative that adores beer is in for an experience, he could drink his way around the world showcase at Epcot while the rest of you eat small snacks or do the Kidcot craft stops? It might end up with a drunk relative, but it could mean a memorable experience that a language barrier wouldn't get in the way of. Also, the Innoventions building at Epcot is AMAZING for a day of hands on fun and you would need minimal translating for most of the things there. Also right nearby is the Coca Cola Cool Zone where your family can have fun together taste testing various coke products from around the world. You could also spend a while in the Nemo & Friends building just watching the dolphins and the huge aquarium. I know my family spends an hour or two in there every time we go.

The Fort Wilderness resort offers christmas campfires during December and we enjoyed that, Chip and Dale come out and you make s'mores. The resort also offers pay by the wagon holiday hay rides. The lobby of the Grand Floridian is amazing to just sit in for an hour or so. If the weather permits, head over to the beach at the Polynesian and grab dinner, sit outside and just enjoy the beach area while watching the electrical water parade and then the Magic Kingdom wishes fireworks over across the lagoon. The lobby of the Polynesian is also amazing. A character meal with fur characters might be wonderful for non-english speakers, since the characters won't speak anyway. There's a ton on property that can be enjoyed. I recommend the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom, since you want to go there anyway. At the Magic Kingdom there's a daytime parade at 3pm and a nighttime parade that starts after dark sometime, but before the fireworks go off. Both have a musical track that plays but I don't think anything at all would need to be translated to enjoy them. The same goes for the Pixar parade at Hollywood Studios that I mentioned earlier.

I think you're right that Universal would be a waste of money, given everything you've mentioned about your family. However, it could be fun to just spend half a day looking around the Citywalk there. Maybe eat lunch there? Sea World could be hit or miss, to be honest. If the kids aren't into animals, aquatic animals are all that's really here, along with bigger rides and some educational experiences you'd have to translate. The shows you might not need to translate what's going on, it's more about watching animals do tricks over knowing anything that's being said. There's a ton of miniature golf places both on Disney property and off, it might be something for the kids to do and adults to assist as needed for an hour or two.

Orlando is a multicultural melting pot so at any given time of the year there's always festivals going on, particularly on the weekends. You'd have to check with the visitor's center to figure out what's going on while you're there, but it could potentially be something you'd be able to do with little to no translation. I know that in Celebration, a city that's really close by, they have a little hometown Christmas thing going on in their town center during December, and it's nice to just look around and see things.

The Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex restaurants in Downtown Disney would be fun places to go see and eat, and wouldn't require any translation, although a 2 year old can easily be frightened and overwhelmed in places that are so loud and busy. Also, it sounds silly but doing a challenge where you ride every form of transportation at Disney is something my family enjoys doing. We take the monorail around and then get on a bus at the TTC at the Magic Kingdom, and we take the bus over to Port Orleans resort, and then we hop on a boat ferry to Downtown Disney. We take our time looking at each area, we don't do it at a frenzied pace. Also, go to the Boardwalk resort. It's a good afternoon or evening just strolling around, and you can take a boat taxi over to the resort across the lagoon (I think it's the Yacht & Beach Club). The last time we were at the boardwalk they had all kinds of performers out doing things that would need no translation at all, it was things like magic tricks and jugglers.

Sorry I didn't have more ideas for things outside of Disney to do. Also, really don't worry about your family not being able to communicate fully with Cast Members or other guests while you're there. Cast Members are very good about figuring out ways to communicate with speakers of all languages and making everyone feel welcome.

 

[kulisa]

Hi Tikistitch - and MANY THANKS for your valuable Feedback!
I will have to return to this site on a slow day and throughly research everything you suggested - but I appreciate your honest opinion and the time you took to write it all up for me. Once again thousand thanks!

Happy New Year!

 

[kulisa]

I'm almost affraid to add one more question but perhpas some good soul would know the answer - I would like to visit a dining place where the servers "steal" your stuff while serving you food. I have never been to, so I'm not completely sure if this is a good idea since I assume that in order to steal from you the get your attention by talking to you. ANyone who can recommend a place and advise whether this may be suitable for us to visit???? Thank you in advance

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

OP, have you checked the WDW website about translating devices? I know they have maps in several languages, and you can get translating headsets in many languages. I'm afraid I don't know if Czech is one that's available, or if there might be another language--German, perhaps?--that your family can understand well enough to use such a headset. I know there are German ones, that's why I suggested that (my kids love the maps in the different languages).

I think Discovery Cove is a great choice as a once-in-a-lifetime treat for the dophin lover. Expensive, yes, but amazing.

Also, just a thought--I don't know if you should be so quick to cross Epcot off your list. Yeah, they might not care to see Santa, and the German pavilion might not hold their interest. But, might they enjoy seeing the Christmas decorations, maybe try Soarin', Living Seas for the fish lover, and so forth. There are the Kidcot stops for the little guys, and the adults might enjoy just strolling around World Showcase (or motoring, if you think an ECV or two is appropriate). The last time we went, my DD17 decided to get a picture of herself in a hat from each of the countries. Silly, I know, but it was free and fun, and it made a great photo collage when we got home.

I have a family of 6, including kids over an 11-year span so I know the challenges of trying to keep everyone happy and entertained. And it must be difficult to plan all this, knowing the various limitations (ages, language, mobility, etc.). If your family likes parades, definitely consider the ones in each park, or if they like fireworks, etc.

Good luck with your planning, I hope it works out for you.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm aware of the weahter conditions in Fl in Decemeber, average is 73 but mornings and evenings are rather cold, therefore I eliminated all the water parks, but not sure about the Dolphin experience?

Two years in a row it was literally freezing (2009 and 2010) in the time frame you are visiting. Will it be like that when you go? Who knows? Just be aware that it can get MUCH colder than you think Orlando can get. The first day of our trip and MAYBE the last day were the only days it got anywhere *near* 70 in 2010. Just so you know.

(of course, we swam a few times anyway...and then I lost my voice for 3 months and was sick for a month after our trip, so...maybe not the best decision, LOL)

Kids (both boys) are only familiar with the major Disney Characters that are popular in EU (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Nemo - never heard of Stichy, and too young for Jaws and Man in Black in Universals but we may go for Dr. Seuss and Simpsons anyway), therefore Magic Kingdom (we may need 2 days there, but we will see how it all develops...) and shopping Downtown Disney for gifts and souvenirs with me, while the adults will go see laNouba.

Since they have one of the best Zoo including Safari mere 20 miles from where they live in CZ, we will not go to Animal Kingdom because the kids simply don't care about animals.ld be simply unbearable for them.

Can you send them some movies, like Lilo and Stitch, to give them a broader understanding of the characters/attractions they might see?

I would REALLY encourage you to at least show them pictures of attractions. To really get more input, rather than assuming what they might and might not like at Disney (I cannot help with the other stuff...we love Universal so much we would take anyone there, and we haven't done anything else in Orlando beyond WDW and Universal)?

Animal Kingdom could be a great opportunity for the kids to start having an appreciation for animals. I wouldn't skip it at all. Zoos are kind of awful places, and note that I have two zoos near me that are considered really good. They are still pretty awful. Watching zoo animals stand around could definitely keep a kid UNinterested. But AK might spark something in them!


DH's cousins and their kids went to Disneyland, by themselves, and had a GREAT time. All of them from Korea, with very little English language; the ones that did know English were the kids, because everyone in Korea takes English from a very early age, BUT their kids are pretty shy, and since we weren't there we don't know how much they were allowed to speak up to help the mom. I'm certain that I would have a great time at Euro Disney, despite knowing only a tiny handful of French words. It would bother me if someone assumed I wouldn't like x, y, and z there simply because I don't know French. We LONG to visit the parks in Tokyo, despite me having lost the Japanese I learned in my teens. DH and DS don't speak any of it. But still, it will be awesome when we get there!

If you can get planning DVDs in their format, send them to them! It'll be fun.



And that is my advice for you, even though I couldn't help with most of your *specific* questions.

 

[kulisa]

Hi Buzzn'Belle'smom and thank you for all the advice. The first I did was to check on the languages and it says headsets are available in German, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Japanese - unfortunately my folks only understand Gutn'tag so German is not an option - unless I get tired of translating from English and decide to translate for them from German for a change...

I'm still reluctant about Epcot though, since we will go and see the X -mas decorations in the hotels and hopefully we will see some of the parades as well (and all around us all the time) - I heard they have a great decor, but I'm not convinced about Epcot just yet...


Should someone feel too exhausted and stay in the hotel with the kids for a day (in the arcades or by the pool, or wherever) I may even "grab" my sister and her husband and would rather "run" to the universal Studios instead of Epcot , I know my sis would enjoy the rides.

The Discovery Cove is very expensive indeed and they told me once ( when I grabbed their prospect years ago) that whoever goes into the water with the dolphins needs to understand at least some commands in English, for that reason I’m also trying to get more info on Dolphin encounters at Seaworld and there were few other but they required Scuba. Once I get more info on each I will ask my sis which one she prefers, hoping that she would chose the Dolphin experience and not the Cove…


Thanks again for all the advice and I will checkout the Epcot attractions you suggested, and maybe I will change my mind, just maybe 
I'm planning to thoroughly check each park's attraction and evaluate if it's worth going together, but I'm still waiting for the DVD to arrive. I too still have nearly a year to plan but currently I'm "cherry picking" and want to fill any remaining time with other attractions.
It will definitely be a challenge, and I also have to anticipate rainy days so I want to have a good plan and a back up plan …

I know I said I can't have us split - but if they sit put - I'm even thinking to outfit them all with walkie-talkie or some other communication device in case they need help - anyone has any experience or recommendations?


Once again many thanks for your input, wishing you the best in the New Year!

 

[kulisa]

Thank you Bumbershoot - of course it's too early to tell now, and as pessimistic I'm, I truly hope it won’t be freezing when we go, but one can never know.

Thank you for the great "Tip" about loosing your voice after swimming in the Ocean - I hope this will work on the kids too, my sister will love it )
I'm changing the trip as we speak - mandatory first day trip to the Ocean

I'm not sure if the kids know Lilo'n Stitch. Cars and Mickey are their favorites and The Smurfs, thanks to the series. I feel they spend way too much time in front of the Tube already, but I can give it a try to see if something in CZ language is available.

They also have all The Toy Stories 1-2 (in CZ language) which are great, I send clothing and toys with the characters but so far no interest. I'm already collecting all possible video material about all the parks that I will send to the adults - the question is - will they watch it. DVD was ordered last week – not sure about the format yet…

I don’t want to go into discussions about who has a better Zoo's but it's not Orlando - sorry ( Hint: Try San Diego). Zoo for Adult and AK are 2 different animals but, they have a Safari in CZ 2O miles from where they live, I may decide to purchase tickets to AK and/or Epcot onsite on the last minute if they want to go, but as of now I really don’t see us going there.....

I totally admire (especially older) folks who have the “balls” to “jump” into pretty much any situation. My family is very different, growing up in a former communist regime, although my sis and her hubby are somewhat “loose” my parents are mostly “inconvenienced”…

Unfortunately, I'm inviting and therefore I'm expected to take care of everything, especially if I'm the one to speak the language, and my mom expects a full service and entertainment since she is already "bothered" to make the 12 hour trip from overseas...

I’m not trying to limit anyone, but I’m trying to please everyone and as I mentioned before I have already “cherry picked” what I deem most desirable, and here I’m looking for advice as to how to fill the rest of our days in Orlando with suitable activities.

Thanks again and Cheers!