Help with itinerary 6/25-7/2

[dalton165]

I realize that this is considered peak time but it was the only week we could schedule. My husband and I are taking our 2 kids to Orlando... My son is 17 and we are trying to get in as much family time as we can before he heads off to college.

We exchanged our timeshare week for a week at Holiday Inn at Orange Lake Resort. Driving from NC. Here's my itinerary so far:

June 25 - arrive at timeshare around 1:30/2:00 - relax at the pool, get used to the resort

June 26- try to get to the Hard rock by 6:00am to drop off bags and check in. Planning on buying 2 day base passes instead of park to park. Opinions? Not sure which park to go to first. How do you find out ahead of time which park is offering early admission for hotel guests?
Want to do the parks early and then break and head back to the resort pool from 12-3. Go back in the afternoon/early evening when it's cooler

June 27- whichever park we didn't get to on the 26th is the park we hit up on the 27th- follow the same plan with the afternoon pool break- question if we check out on the 27th can we still use the pool?

June 28- Discovery Cove- not sure about the dolphin swim. It's pretty pricey and we did it in Mexico 4 years ago. Can we add this while we are at the park if we change our minds

June 29 -Seaworld

June 30- Aquatica

July 1st- relax at the timeshare

July 2nd- Seaworld or Aquatica on last time - drive home after dinner

So is this doable?

 

[macraven]

i would make the dolphin swim in advance.
you need to chose a time slot in advance.

since you will be staying onsite for june 26, you will have the express photo cards for that day and the 27th your check out day.
you can use the early entry on both checkin and checkout days.

and you can use the pool at hrh on check out day.
your room key will allow you to get towels poolside.
you can use the shower/restrooms for changing after your swim time at hrh.

dates looks good for sea world and aquatic too.

hope you have a fun trip with the family.
last big vacations before a child leaves for college is always so special.
it makes lasting memories on the trip

 

[RMulieri]

If you only have 2 day park tickets and not park to park tickets, you WILL not be able to ride the Hogwarts express. You need a park to park ticket to ride it . At Universal park hopping is alot easier too..The parks are right next to each other and you can walk from gate to gate in less than 10 mins

 

[dalton165]

Thank You Both for the information! I'll check the price difference for the park to park.

Is it advisable to follow a touring plan at Universal?

 

[TommyJK]

My recommendation would be to have park to park and make a "loose" touring plan. As it stands right now you don't know which of the 2 parks will have early entry for the time you are down there. So any plan you make now might need to adjust.

But the key thing is that if you have both Park to Park, along with Express Pass, you can play it a little more by ear to suit your needs. You'd essentially start the day in the Harry Potter land that is of your park that has early entry, and go from there.

 

[dalton165]

We decided that the park to park tickets would be the smarter choice. Thanks for the advice

 

[tinydancer09]

Sorry ahead of time if I share things you already know to be true. I figure it's always better to say too much than too little and miss out.

At universal, as long as I have express pass, I just go to the park and make my way in a circle. Of course, I would utilize early park entry and do potter FIRST since you're going in summer. Gringott's and/or Forbidden Journey will be open during the early park entry. You'll have express pass check-in and out day as mac already mentioned.

Check the early admission link in the "quick access sticky." Only hotel guests and AP holders get the early entry,7 and not everyone (me) gets up for it so that will be the least number of people to contend with. Potter stuff doesn't use Express Pass, so doing those while the lines are less is important. Plus, the potter areas are so compact that once everyone starts piling in the area gets very very crowded and I personally cannot stand it. So, my recommendation is doing that early and late. You'll already be at the back of the parks when everyone starts filing in so you'll be starting at the back forward rather than the front back like most people meaning shorter express lines.
Oh oh! Make sure you take the train BOTH ways. Its different.

We did discovery cove in the Bahamas and LOVED it. It is very expensive and personally I don't see the point in doing it again unless I'm with a group that hasn't done it... or waiting a very long time. That's really my personal opinion though. I would imagine those get pretty booked up though.

Oh and the plus side about kids going off to college is that their breaks usually are less busy than grade school. We always left from my finals to go on vacation and the crowd levels were always awesome! I realize you probably still have one in school though.

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

My standard Universal tips are to arrive as early as humanly possible. If you plan to take advantage of early hours that start at 8am, plan to arrive at 7 30 am....well, that is how I like to do it. ANd, download a wait times app. Sounds like a fun trip!!!

 

[dalton165]

Update on our itinerary:

Sat. 6/25- Arrive at Holiday inn Orange lake around noon. Unwind at the pool until 6:30- head to Citywalk and dinner at Margaritaville -after dinner head to Hollywood drive for a round of mini-golf

Sun 6/26- Try to get to the Hard Rock by 6:30am to check-in & get tickets/express passes. Contacted the hotel for balloons to be delivered to the room to celebrate daughters birthday

Mon 6/27 - explore universal & IOA

Tues 6/28 - rest day. Hang out at Orange lake. Dinner at Millers ale house & then off to The Escape Game to solve the Gold Rush escape room

Wed 6/29 - Seaworld

Thurs 6/30 - Discovery Cove

Fri 7/1 - Aquatica (thinking about renting a cabana but at $219 is it really worth it?)

Sat 7/2- either Seaworld or Aquatica on last time before driving out in the late afternoon & heading back home

 

[macraven]

Sounds like a fabulous vacation you lined up !

You are covering a lot and will enjoy it all