Challenge: What's your perfect Orlando-no Disney-trip?

[kimberlyWDW]

Here's the challenge: You have 7 days in Orlando with a great condo and a rental car. You can do any Florida attractions EXCEPT Disney. What would your dream trip be?????

 

[cheerky]

My family LOVES Disney. We just returned from our first Orlando non-Disney vacation. DD is 11 and really enjoys thrill rides and my mom (age 63) enjoyed the big rides and all of the shows! DH and I love rollercoasters so we had a blast.

We stayed in a condo and had our own car. We went to SeaWorld for 1 1/2 days and Universal for 3 1/2 days. Next time we plan to go to Busch Gardens for a day or two...

If you have little ones traveling with you, I wouldn't suggest as much time at Universal. Perhaps you could check out Legoland.

Have a great time!!!

 

[macraven]

Here's the challenge: You have 7 days in Orlando with a great condo and a rental car. You can do any Florida attractions EXCEPT Disney. What would your dream trip be?????

your challenge i can not take.
i would be staying onsite at universal for that time period.


i already do a disney portion then universal portion each year for over a 2 week period.

i'm fine with doing just disney and universal.

 

[andyman8]

I would get the Orlando Flex Ticket Plus and do each attraction for one day along with upgrading my UOR tickets to Express. This would give me access to Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, Wet n' Wild, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Aquatica. I'd also plan a day at Legoland.

In any free time, I would go golfing and see Downtown Orlando (Church Street). If you like shopping, my wife likes to stop by the Outlets and the Mall at Millennia.

 

[Shlooma]

We are going in February 2012. We are spending 3 nights on site at Universal and spending 3.5 days between the 2 parks.(we bought a 4 day park to park ticket). we are then changing hotels and are spending 1 day at discovery cove -we purchased the ultimate package for $50 more so that we can spend 1 day at Busch Gardens, 1 day at Aquatica if the weather is nice and 1-2 days at Sea world. We spent less with the ultimate package plus universal tickets than the flex plus and then discovery added in.

 

[LCARDVERO]

Depending on the kids ages, we spent a day in Gatorland with the kids when they were young and my son loved the gators!!!

 

[LCARDVERO]

Tough question...It's hard to spend a week in Orlando without at least a quick trip in one of the disney parks. Does Busch Gardens count? only 1 hour away in Tampa.

 

[kimberlyWDW]

Busch Gardens definitely counts!!!

 

[MrsSparrow..]

I love all the parks. We've managed a two week stay, only visiting Disney once. Orlando Flex-Ticket is absolutely fantastic, therefore would visit IOA, US, BGT, Aquatica and SW. Probably would go back to Universal for another visit.

I would also hit the malls, play a bit of mini golf.. an easy challenge for me.

 

[cbsnyber1]

Not quite 7: two years ago we went for six days in December, almost all at Universal (apologies to the mod if this appears like a mini trip report):

Day one: arrived at hotel about 11:00 AM, checked in and headed to IOA for lunch and some rides, finished the day in the pool/hot tub.
Day two: mostly Universal, dinner at Tchoup Chop.
Day three: IOA in the AM, with an afternoon visit to relatives living in Orlando. Blue Man Group in the PM after dinner at Bubba Gumps.
Day four: dressed to do all the wet rides in IOA, then spent all afternoon at the hotel pool. Watched the Macy's parade in the evening.
Day five: spent time in both parks riding our faves. Dinner at Marley's.
Day six: did a character breakfast at Confiscos, then some park time. Left at 3 to go to Disney just for MVMCP (that way our grandson got a little of the Mouse).
We flew home on the seventh day, but not until mid afternoon. We spent the morning at City Walk and had a great lunch at Margaritaville.

Bottom line: we were pretty busy and NEVER bored! The parks did close early (like 6:00 PM) which cut into our time somewhat, but I could have easily stayed another day or two.

I think we developed two traditions from this trip: a kickoff lunch at Mythos, and a farewell lunch or dinner at Margaritaville.

 

[2girlsmom]

If Busch Gardens counts as okay, then I would think many would include at least one beach day in that time as well, either in Clearwater area or Cocoa Beach, maybe Kennedy Space Center too. I live in Tampa area so get to do these all whenever, when we moved here, we spent several months going to the beach.

 

[tigerpaul1977]

Well my family JUST returned from a non-disney Orlando visit...(BTW the trip was Dec-21st-28th

Day 1--Travel from Memphis

Day 2--Stayed at Nick resort all day just to recover from out 14 hour drive, my son (7 years) LOVED it, loved getting slimed and seeing his father put on 17 pairs of underwear to win a contest.

Day 3--IOA had a great time there as well, lines were not bad at all, longest line was about 20 mins for Harry Potter. We did get there when the gates opened though.

Day 4--SeaWorld...had so much fun here, we closed the park down at 11 after getting there about 9:30. Wasn't expecting so many things to do there, perfect Christmas Eve experience considering the whole park was decked out for Christmas. \

Day 5--Santa left my son tickets to Legoland. Hardly any crowds and he had fun on the rides, some things were a little to kiddy for him but we managed. The lego store was great and seeing all the things built from Lego's were almost worth the price of admission.

Day 6--Universal Studio's once again we got there when the doors opened walked right up to the Simpson's ride and then MIB. We had hit all the main rides within a couple of hours and just had a great day. I was really surprised at the crowds or lack thereof, but from reading it looks like we made a good call on when to be there.

Day 7-Kennedy Space Center, it was fun but we were ready to go, did the space shuttle experience and took the extended guided tour then started making our way home.

Day 8--Travel and home sweet home.

I felt like I was cheating on the mouse, we want to go to Disney before Christmas as well, maybe in a couple of years. But I would HIGHLY recommend going the week before Christmas if you can, the crowds were not bad at ALL.

 

[keishashadow]

Here's the challenge: You have 7 days in Orlando with a great condo and a rental car. You can do any Florida attractions EXCEPT Disney. What would your dream trip be?????

Discovery Cove is a wonderful experience and you can select tix to SW/BG/Aquatica.

The Crystal River area is only place sanctioned to swim with the manatees in FL & amazing if you hit the season right (beginning early Dec) plenty of tour operators.

We've enjoyed KSC, especially the behind-the-scenes tours, and nearby jetty park is convenient to enjoy a dip in the ocean. You might catch a ship sailing out of Port Canaveral there, where there are 3 night cruises offered that you could tag onto a 4 or 5 night condo stay.

We're DVC but have enjoyed offsite accommodations (sheraton vistana is a fav) but part of the magic of Universal for us is the onsite hotel FOTL perc if only for a night or two.

 

[zack123]

I'd do what I did this year - drive to the coast and spend a few days at a hotel on the beach somewhere. I live in a land-locked state, going to the beach is almost mandatory for me when visiting a state with a coastline.

Normally I stay in the Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater area. I prefer the more nature-oriented beaches that are less crowded, but the city beach right next to my hotel was nice for early morning and sunset walks/photos. Then I stayed in Orlando for my park days.

Three days at Universal was good, but I could have found plenty to do had I scheduled more days for there. I've also been to Busch Gardens, it's great if you like roller coasters and/or seeing the animals.

 

[Yoshi]

1 day at the Studios, 1 day at IoA, 1 day at Busch Gardens, 1 day at Aquatica, 1 day at Legoland, 1 day at Sea World, 1 day relaxing and shopping in Orlando and going to Old Town and Fun Spot USA to quickly ride the coasters there (to add to my coaster count).

 

[aubeone]

Hmmm...I have 7 days planned at The Fountains in July. Planning on hitting Universal and Seaworld...maybe a water park. I thought I was good with this...but...

I broke down and the mouse called me! I booked three nights at BWV before going to The Fountains. My daughter needs (well...I need) the Disney Fix!!