Help what tickets do i buy

[Tracy Aldridge]

HELP!!!!! We shall be going to Florida for the first time this year with our 8 year old twins, very excited twins should i say. In need of desperate help in planning and ticket buying. So many things to do and see. Thinking of buying the 10 day wdw pass and then a pass for universal but so many other things as well. Do we need tickets for everything or is it best to buy there. Very confusing. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Also thinking of maybe going to the coast and staying overnight so we can have a day on the beach any ideas of where??? Look forward to hearing from anybody out there who can advise us. Happy holidays.

Forgot to mention we are going for 3 weeks in staying in a villa on Indian Creek. Any good eating places around here? Flying Virgin and think the check in the night before a brill idea.

Just want to say a big thank you to all that have replied i am sure we will have many more questions and look forward to hearing more of your good advice.

Bye from the very excited Aldridge family

 

[UKDEB]

Hi, Tracy and welcome to the DIS!

How long are you visiting for? In my view, WDW and USF are the absolute 'must-dos' for a first trip, but others won't necessarily agree!

10 day passes for WDW will give you some flexibility. When we first visited, the maximum was a 4 day hopper pass and we felt that we had to be at the parks from the crack of dawn until closing to get the most of them. I'd far rather have 10 day passes and be able to take it in my stride - the best advice I could give to first time visitors is to relax and enjoy every minute. If you try to blitz it all you'll come away shattered and feeling you've missed something.

Also, when we first went in 1992, Universal was just one park. Now it is a whole complex, and one which gives Disney a run for its money, IMHO.

Where are you staying? Who are you flying with? Do you have a guidebook? Have you decided on your absolute must-sees? There is so much information to share with you!

 

[Yorkshire Lad]

There's lots more 'thrill' rides at Universal imo, but your kids are at the right age to really appreciate Disney, so you're in a no lose situation. Depending on what Universal pass you get, it can also give you access to Wet 'n' Wild (a great water park - has some of the best slides in Orlando), and also Seaworld which is a totally different theme park to both Disney and Universal - whatever you do, don't miss out on Seaworld!

Don't feel you have to do it all this time round, because there's nothing more certain than the fact that you'll want to go back again and again!

 

[Sue & Co.]

For our first trip we had 7 day park hopper passes for Disney and 5 park flex tickets for Universal. We came back with one of our Disney days (which we will use this time) and made good use of the flex tickets (14 days unlimited access) but as we didn't rate Busch Gardens this time we are trying to choose between 4 park flex tickets and off peak annual passes and pay for Seaworld separately (it is very good). At the tiem my son was 9 and my twins 7 and they liked Disney and Universal equally so perhaps that helps.

 

[signtalker]

Hi There,
As you said so much to see and do!!!. Busch gardens is a big hit with most of the people here on the boards, and if you only plan on doing 1 day at seaworld, you can get a combined seaworld/busch ticket at a good price.

other than the theme parks there is Boggy creaks airboat rides, a must do, and something the kids will love(gets you really close to nature!).

A good start is "The brits Guide" by Simon Veness, defentely helped us plan abit more!.

A good tip is once you roughly know where you want to visit, make a rough daily planner.

Jules
im soooooooooooo excited

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

The great thing about Orlando is that there is so much choice of stuff to do. The worst thing about Orlando is that there is so much choice of stuff to do!

On our first visit we restricted ourselves to just Disney, the Kennedy Space Centre and a bit of shopping and relaxing. Trying to "see it all" in any one trip is just impossible, and you run the risk of not enjoying what's on offer because you are rushing around so much. Best thing to do would be to check with this board from time to time and ask whatever questions you have, and buy Simon's guide to Orlando. The author, incidently, is a regulat contributor here. You'll then have a better idea of what your family will enjoy, what can be left for perhaps another visit and what doesn't interest you at all. You don't need to buy tickets in advance if you don't want to, although you might be able to get a little bit of discount if you buy online. The most imprtant thing is to make sure you buy the tickets which are right for the holiday you want, as mistakes can be expensive.

Regards

Rob

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Hello Tracy, and welcome to the DIS

We only ever spend one week of our yearly Florida trip in Orlando as we also like to spend time on the beach.

Last year we bought the Disney 10 Day World Pass - would highly recommend this especially as most operators, Keith Prowse etc are doing good deals on these up until the end of May (there are a number of threads on this subject around ), where you will pay hardly any difference between 10 days World Pass with the extras as compared to the standard 5 Day Hopper.

This means you get the equivalent of 10 day hopping between ALL the Disney parks, plus 2 trips to their Water Parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, very enjoyable), plus entry to Downtown Disney's Pleasure Island . . . and a free character breakfast thrown in, which I'm sure your 8 year olds would really love. These breakfasts have excluded Cinderellas Castle and Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom this year, but if you take a look on the main Boards - the Restaurants board will give you a really good feel for what people's views are on the restaurants.

When we go back this October we are doing only Epcot and MK for MNSSHP because we love Busch Gardens and are visiting there for one day. But 2 days in Univesal is what we all want - we have a 10 year old daughter and she's just discovered the (less extreme) rollercoasters and we're going for The Hulk (maybe ). Universal has loads to offer both adults and children. When IOA first opened we didn't bother going because I was the only one who did remotely anything resembling a "thrill ride", so didn't seem much point in Darryl and Katie standing around waiting for me - we hit IOA last October for the first time and really really can't wait to get back this October. It was brilliant, as is Universal Studios.

There are some great deals on Universal Passes (tickets) at the moment as well - 7 days for the price of 3 I think one of them is, great value.

As for beaches - there are so many to choose from but, all depending on how far you want to drive, you can go to the East coast - Atlantic ocean like Daytona, nr Kennedy Space Centre (again, another great place to visit) which is about an hours drive from Orlando, or the west coast - The Gulf of Mexico - to places like Clearwater and St Pete's, roughly 1.5 hrs away, but well worth it IMHO and dead easy roads.

Happy planning - shout if there's anything else you want to ask, we love questions

 

[SidB]

Originally posted by rob@rar.org.uk
On our first visit we restricted ourselves to just Disney, the Kennedy Space Centre and a bit of shopping and relaxing. Trying to "see it all" in any one trip is just impossible

I absolutely agree with Rob. On our first visit we used the 10 day pass and did a bit of shopping, lazing by the pool for a day etc. Even taking things easy we all got very tired as there is a heck of a lot of walking at Disney.

If you want my advise, do Disney, Disney, Disney. Next time you go, (and yes there will certainly be a next time trust me) you can do Universal etc. If I were to do one other park it would be Seaworld.

 

[Disney owl]

welcome Tracy

we're going on our 2nd visit in August & have bought 10 day passes which are great value at the moment.

like you wer'e still deciding what else to do but DH says were def revisiting Sea World.

the kids also want to do Island o Adventures but mine are older. They have the best rides there but we may limit this to just one day.

advice ? go back to your hotel / villa in the afternoon for a break and or swim & then return to the parks later.

 

[DisneyDes]

Originally posted by SidB
I absolutely agree with Rob. On our first visit we used the 10 day pass and did a bit of shopping, lazing by the pool for a day etc. Even taking things easy we all got very tired as there is a heck of a lot of walking at Disney.

If you want my advise, do Disney, Disney, Disney. Next time you go, (and yes there will certainly be a next time trust me) you can do Universal etc. If I were to do one other park it would be Seaworld.

Welcome Tracy,

Can only echo SidB, on our first trip we only did Disney and shopping, came back knackered, broke and ready to book for the next one (2 weeks time )

For this trip we will "do" Disney (naturally we have a 6 year old DS) a day each at the Universal parks and maybe Seaworld.

One things for certain you will want to go back

Des