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heathera

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 15, 2007
Messages
48
Hi all,

I just returned from Florida, we rented a rental Home in Davenport 5 miles from AK, we visited all the WDW parks, Universal & Island of Adventure as well as Busch Gardens and Kennedy Space Center & Cocoa Beach. Shopped the outlets and Florida Mall. Any questions please pm me I'll be glad to answer I have lots of cost saving tips!

Heather in Nova Scotia
 
How was Cocoa Beach? We are looking for a nearby beach when we are there in November! Which mall did you prefer? Thanks!
 
How was Cocoa Beach? We are looking for a nearby beach when we are there in November! Which mall did you prefer? Thanks!

We did Cocoa in Dec 03 and it was nice but it was chilly and pretty desserted I guess the time of year had quite a bit to do with that. We used teh Holiday inn kids suite it was off season so it was only 39 bucks for the night at that time so we did a weekend out there. The hotel was under refurb but the pool and play area was really nice.
 

Welcome home! Sounds like you had a great trip!

We are leaving in 22 days :cool1: :banana: and we are planning a day at Kennedy Space Center. Did it take you the entire day? Could we do a quick visit to Cocoa Beach the same day or is it too much to attempt?

We have visited Daytona Beach in the past and would like to see Cocoa Beach but we don't want to take two days from Disney. Any feedback would be great. Thanks!
 
Hi there, I am hoping to get some shopping done, while at disney,
can you tell me where the nearest shopping mall or outlets stores are,
I am hoping to sneak away from everyone for a little while on my own and shop,shop,shop!!!!:banana:
 
Hi All,

Thanks for your replies! I was there a total of 9 days!

As for Kennedy Space Center- It took us 4 hours to do it- no kids- it was rather boring and dated- all about the Apollo or Moon missions mostly, nothing about the more current mission to mars or such, and all the videos except for the IMAX 3D Films, were very dated- 70's or early 80's probably- I don't remember anything differenet from when I was there in 1990, and stuff was priced worse than Disney- $3 for a bottle of pop! The views out on the bus tour are spectactular and we seen dolphins swimming and feeding along side the causeway on the way in and that was the highlight of the trip. I'm not saying don't do it, but it is costly, with coupons it was still $81 for 2 adults, and I'd definetly not do it again, they are opening a ride similar to mission space at Epcot in June though. (PS. go into Titusville and grab some lunch there before heading across the causeway to the space center to save some $$)

Cocoa Beach was REALLY NICE! Nicest beach I've visited in Florida but I haven't been any further south than ft. Lauderdale, it has some great surf and lots of miles of surf line and white sand, it seemed very clean and also a lot of places nearby to rent body boards or surf boards. The water was extermely warm and there is a GREAT VIEW of all the cruise ships headed out. Apparently it is one of the best places to surf in Florida however one half of the beach was realtively calm near the pier, wave wise, and appeared great for swimming and kids. We arrived at Kennedy before noon left around 4 PM and went to the beach for a couple hours. It would definetly be hard to do both fully in a day with kids and depending on how much time you wanted to spend at the beach. A couple hours was sufficent for us and the crowds were low late in the afternoon and lots of parking available (by the way you have to pay to park or use a meter at the beach).

We like Florida Mall but there are a lot of pushy vendors in the centre of the aisles selling basically 'seen on TV" crap in my opinion, I picked up some perfume and a nice saphire ring at least 50% below the cost of comparable product here in Canada. They have all the stores there Macys, JC Penney, Nordstrom's, Sears etc. JC PEnney and Nordstroms had the best selection and prices for what I was looking for. There is also a store called Adrenaline that has a indoor surf park which is pretty cool, it's like a little enclosed wave to learn to surf or body surf on, it was $15 a session and there was a big crowd watching, it was pretty neat.

The BEST outlet is Lake Buena Vista near Disney, it is just a short jaunt down from the Nickelodeon Suites Hotel on Apopka Vineland Road, it has EVERYTHING, Gap, Eddie Bauer, Children's Place, Disney Outlet, Rack Room Shoes, etc, etc, and a really great place called VAnity fair which had some great prices on brand names and a big Nascar selection. MUCH BETTER than any of the international drive outlet centres, and much easier to walk around, no street crossing required, just basically a big cube of stores you can easily walk around.
 
Hey there - we are headed out tomorrow! Yippee! Any tips on the lines or what the crowds were like?

rhonda
 
Crowds were sooo light last week, however apparently they will be heavey in the next few weeks because of Easter and more spring breaks. For Disney I suggest you pick on ride you want a fast pass for in each park, one ride you HAVE to do and get that fast pass first thing in the morning, you have to wait 2 hours to get your next fast pass so chose wisely. In MGM we Fast Passed Tower or Terror and did rocking roller coaster standby, by the time we were done at RnR (20 mins) it was time for TOT. At Epcot we fast passed Test Track but that was only because they were all gone for Soaring which was at 60 minute wait, so fast pass Soaring if there are still some available, to get to Soaring go towards the living seas when you walk in the entrance, go RIGHT, then straight ahead do not turn right again to the living seas., Animal Kingdom Everest or Kilijamaro Safari. You MUST do Fantasmic Light Show at MGM it is THE BEST, we did it with the hollywood and vine dinner (23.99 per adult for an AMAZING GOURMET BUFFET and reserved seating so you don't need to stand in line and wait for a seat.) are you doing other things in Orlando area- if so Southwest Airlines offers 20% off Sea World and Busch Gardens Admission- you can sign up for free and get an instant temporary card to show at the gate to receive the discount, Universal- we bought the 7 day unlimited for $90 per adult- we only used 2 days but could have did both the parks in 1 day if we were more ambitious, but with Kids you'd definetly need 2 days, and we put the express pass for $20 each, for Universal which allows you to jump to the front of the line at all the attractions (minus a couple shows) which was well worth the money and saved a lot of time, especially in the afternoon when the crowds swell. Good luck and email me if you have any further questions!

Heather
 
Hi Heathera,
How was your house in Grand Reserve? It looked very nice and what did you think of that area compared to being closer to 192 ?
 
It was actually in the Hampton lakes Subdivision and it was great! Easy on off access to the left or right right to the 192 and left to the #4 no traffic, a publix and applebees and numerous restaurants just down the road. The subdivision was quiet, and I have a short cut into AK from the 192 now if you want to know it from that area, it bypasses all the lights into the disney 'speedway' as we call it! It was 10 mins to AK from the doorstep!

Heather
 
Ok Heathera I would be interested in the shortcut from Hampton Lakes. I know the area quite well.
 
I'm not so sure this is a short cut but it bypasses traffic-

From Hampton Lakes turn right onto the 27 and then follow to the 192 turn off toward disney, take this on your right, go onto the 192, I think it is 5 sets of lights, on the 5th set it should be Black Lake Road turn left onto this road, follow through to the end turn left, then follow through to the lights(this will be Osceola Pkwy) at the lights you can either turn left and you are immediately at Animal Kingdom Lodge or turn right and then take the next immediate left turn almost a median like turn and you're in the AK entrance lot.

Hope this helps you as much as it has us!

Heather
 
Thanks, when we stay at Windsor Hills we take the Sherberth Rd. shortcut and by the sounds of this, Black Lake Road comes out on Sherberth then at the lights turn right on to Osceloa. Only thing is that you're bypassing 192 further to the west on 192.
 
That's right, we just basically drive behind all the hotels and restaurants and by pass 2 sets of lights to the Sherbeth road.

Heather
 
Thanks for the info! I just read on another thread that MK was closed for a while today because crowds were at capacity (BB was also closed for part of yesterday and today due to crowds). You really picked the right time to go!!

Hopefully, the crowds will be light when we go in 21 days!!:goodvibes
 
Yes I was worried initially about when we chose to go but we lucked out, I think all the spring breaks in Canada were over and the majority in the US are this week and next. It probably did help that it was just us, 2 adults, and no children as well so probably bi passed a lot of the 'character' crowds so to speak! And the weather was sooo good! It was all a dream vacation without a doubt! I even came home with $76 still in my pocket!
 
We were there last week and we found it a bit of a zoo on Wednesday am at Epcot and by lunchtime on Thurs at MK. If thats quiet I'm worried :) Our last trip was the first two weeks of August and we found that to be pretty quiet in comparison, the Florida schools had just gone back.
 
Well our last trip to the theme parks during our visit was on the 27th, we spent the late morning and afternoon at MGM, we got into the Sci Fi Diner without ADR's for lunch no problem, 30 mins for TOT and fast passes were still available for TOT and RnR after lunch. It may have picked up later on in the week but that was all smooth sailing for us. We were worried to because MGM was on EMH on Tuesday too when we were there.

Heather
 
I am glad I found your post! You did pretty much everything we plan on doing (minus seaworld). So it was nice hearing it...We are going for 12 days ...you got me all excited again!!!

Thanks for your stories!
 














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