Minor Attractions, how long do these take?

[poober25]

Cast: DH, myself, ds9, dd6
When: Nov. 25-Dec. 2


We will be traveling durning the above dates and are staying at Orbit One. We are planning on making this a (gasp) non-Disney trip. The only Dis thing we are doing in MVMCP on the 27. We are also going to go the Holy Land Experience.

We are thinking of purchasing a Go Orlando card, and were wondering how much time to allocate for some of these attractions to decide if it's worthwhile. Here are the ones we're considering:

Boggy Creek Airboat Rides
Gatorland
Titanic exhibit
Ripley's
Wonderworks
FunSpot Action Park
Hawaiian Rumble Golf
Congo River Golf
Kennedy Space Center
possibly Cypress Gardens

I would love to have opinions on how these attractions take, if they're worth going to, etc. Thanks.

 

[flowers]

Kennedy Space is a whole day and you get a second day free if you buy their tickets. I cant remember what its called but there is now something new that is special. There is also the 3D IMAX movie which I love. Have you seen any of the IMAX movies? You feel like you can reach out and touch things in the movie.

My friend went to Gatorland for her anniversary so she wants me to go there. Its 105 acres with 3 animal acts basically. One is alligators, one seems more for little kids who get to hold animals, cant remember the other.

I was thinking of Cypress Springs but the person with me doesnt have much endurance and its over 40 miles each way from our hotel in Orlando.

We have 3 days there precruise so Iv been looking too.

 

[mbb]

Your kids will love WonderWorks, and you can buy the tickets that will get you the day at WW, and then the Magic/Comedy show with pizza for supper.

Fun day

 

[Boatingmom]

Gatorland is nice but simple. It should take about 1/2 a day or a little more as there is a show involved. Get the discount coupon on the web site. The 6 yo will enjoy it. Croc hunter stuff. Enjoy!

 

[flowers]

I found it is cheaper to get Gatorland online at their site than to use any discount coupons on other sites, check out gatorland's site first if you are interested. I think its 16.95 for adults last time I looked.

 

[poober25]

bumping.

I am mainly interested in knowing how long to allocate in a day, for say, Wonderworks, 2 hours, 6 hours?? Titanic, etc. I know Kennedy is a whole day, but I would think I could also do something else that evening, yes, no?

Thanks for any input.

 

[flowers]

bumping.

I am mainly interested in knowing how long to allocate in a day, for say, Wonderworks, 2 hours, 6 hours?? Titanic, etc. I know Kennedy is a whole day, but I would think I could also do something else that evening, yes, no?

Thanks for any input.

I think that question would be hard for anyone to answer for you. For instance you can probably squeeze a lot into the kennedy space center in 1/2 a day. Its not open at night so yes you could do something else. But there is also the Astronaut Hall of Fame which is as I understand it at a separate place. many do it a 2nd day, plus its an hour to the coast and back, so add 2 hours of driving. If I were going all the way to the coast, I would want to eat at the port at one of the great grill places and walk on the beach after dinner, not rush back to do something in Orlando. btw the tickets to Kennedy that I have seen are good for 2 days.

You mention wonderworks, but they have coupons for just going in or doing a lot of other things including dinner and a commedy show (which was what I was thinking would be fun with everything else there, the bigger package). Since none of us really know what you have in mind, I know I for one cant really say how long someone else would want to stay at a attraction.

Maybe someone else can give you better estimates, I cant. sorry.

 

[flowers]

I dont know if you are interested in Cypress Gardens, but its about the same price as the Kennedy Space Center and according to the mapping service says I can get there from my hotel in 48 minutes but would take me 1 hr 16 minutes to get to the port (where Kennedy is). Cypress Gardens has 100 + rides and a nice water park and less lines than either Universal or Disney.

 

[mtry]

We did the go orlando 1 day card and we rushed to get lots done in a day to get our money worth. Ripleys...lots to see 2.5 hours, wonderworks 3 hours...,we rushed through the titanic in less than an hour but really skipped most of it as we had just did the other 2 places and the kids weren't really interested and then funworks with the go carts and arcade and stuff about 2 hours but you could easily spend 1/2 a day there.

 

[poober25]

Thank you, mtry, this is exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. Did you feel you did your money's worth with the card, or did you feel cheated? Also, if you don't mind saying, how old are your children?

We were thinking of getting the 3 day card, and doing Cypress Gardens one day, and maybe Arabian nights that night, and the maybe the airboats & Gatorland the next day, and then as many of the little attractions as we can get to the 3rd day. What do you think?

Anyone else have any experience with the Go Card?

Thanks

 

[flowers]

Well I guess I didnt understand the question was to see how many attractions you could squeeze in, sorry.

 

[poober25]

Flowers,

I did not mean to offend you. Sorry if I did. Basically, what I want to know is how long people have stayed in these attractions, and if they feel they've their money's worth. For instance, there is a big difference between spending 3 hours and 6 hours somewhere. If most people spend 3 hours, then that is probably around what I spend, if most people spend 6, same thing. I know each family is different, I am just looking for averages. Again, sorry if I offended, it was not my intention.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I have done fairly recent the airboat ride and Gatorland.
Both were pretty cool.
Gatorland I agree is easily done in half a day. If you have an Orlando Entertainment book, there are a few BOGO coupons in there for Gatorland.
The airboat ride was only a half hour long. But easily took that long to drive each way. So two hours and that is done too.

 

[dizzi]

Cast: DH, myself, ds9, dd6
When: Nov. 25-Dec. 2


We will be traveling durning the above dates and are staying at Orbit One. We are planning on making this a (gasp) non-Disney trip. The only Dis thing we are doing in MVMCP on the 27. We are also going to go the Holy Land Experience.

We are thinking of purchasing a Go Orlando card, and were wondering how much time to allocate for some of these attractions to decide if it's worthwhile. Here are the ones we're considering:

Boggy Creek Airboat Rides
Gatorland
Titanic exhibit
Ripley's
Wonderworks
FunSpot Action Park
Hawaiian Rumble Golf
Congo River Golf
Kennedy Space Center
possibly Cypress Gardens

I would love to have opinions on how these attractions take, if they're worth going to, etc. Thanks.

ARe you doing the GO ORLANDO CARD?????

 

[dizzi]

OH SORRY!!!!!!!!

I guess i should have read more before asking........

We did just what you are thinking abotu doing for Christams last year, we ive fairly close about3 hours from Orlando. We did nothing DISNEy but we stayed on property.

We got the 3 day card but wished we had been able to stay longer and get the 5 or 7 day card VERY WELL WORHT THE MONEy, i think i figured we saved about $400 if not more!

We did do Kenneddy space center, I will mostlikely never do this again! I was not happy there and was feelign sick that day and wished we had not used our day for this. But htat said ALOT of people like it.

Wonder works was fun. we did it in about 2 hours but we also paid to see the show add on another 2 hours this the kdis still talk about and want to do again. ( SHOW) VERY CUTE, pizza sucked. DO NOT go to WONDER works expecting anythinglike DISNEY QUEST. It is not this. But cute.

BOGGY creek airboat rides, if i remeber right it was an hour ride, and add on a half hour for in and out, NICE RELAXING, we also rented fishing poles and tried our hand at that bti didnt cathc anything!!!! EXTREMELY FUN!!!!!!

Titanic EXHIBIT, depending on the age of your kids and if they ahev seen the movie, minehad ot seen the movie so for them it was broing, but for me and DH we like it and it took, oh about 2 hours tops.

Ripleys, VERY COOL, i had nver been, my kids loved it and we took awhile in here just to enjoy everything i woudl say about 4 hours.

FUN SPOT ACTION WORKS!!! incredible anount of fun, we went at night! and spent about 4 hours there, i think we could have spent longer. Jst the GO CARTS alone is WEL WELL WELL worht the card. If you have EVER done go carts you know you have to pay each ride and we must have rode 20 times a piece witht he 4 of us, this would have been VERY VERY EXPENSIVE!!!!! There is a "FREE" arcade, also, no new games but soemthing to fill up soem time. there arerides for small children also but we didnt do any and there is a ferris whell we did and a bumper cars and bumper boats, all fun as well! We spent about 4 hours here, and would have spent more but they were clsing, food is okay here.

Both golf places are nice have dont both!

We also went to cypress gardens, the water park WILL NTO BE OPEN WHEN YOU ARE THERE! but the shows are cute, not extremem like disney but old fashioned cute and they should have christams stuff up, ladies in gowns, nice rides, very quiet, NO LINES! fun easy time. We spent 6-7 hours here woudl haev spent longer but going back for dinner.

We also did the TRAIN MUSEUM, do not skip this, it is
VERY COOL!!!!!!! It willtake abotu and hour, and well worth the family interaction, the train set up itself is pretty awesoem and then there is a game you play to find different stuff in the setup and it is fun and very family oriented.

PIRATES DINNER SHOW we did this too with the card and it was very good! VERY interactive with the kids. If you go get there early.

I think this was allw e did, FUN TIME, any questions dont hesitate to ask.


NOW 1 draw back!!!! BE careful, we used the card for WONDERWORKS and NOT FOR THE show at wonderworks becasue the show at wonderworks is WAy cheaper than the PIRATES show, and whenw e got to PIRATES WONDERWORKS had charged our GO CARD for the show even though we had paid for the show, I had the proof , so i had to get on the phone with GO CARD epole they finally got us in the PIRATE show and then after i just ahd to send them the receipt that i had paid for WONDERWORKS show. They worked it out thank good ness, but just be aware as to what goes on your card.
And dont forget if you like something you can go back the next day for free again.

 

[poober25]

Thanks for the info, and the warning about the dinner show being charged wrong. I was kind of worried about that happening.

 

[flowers]

Thanks dizzi, some thought Cypress Gardens was worth the time to go to that talked on another board, and here on this board so far everyone was diss'ing it. Glad you agreed worth it if you dont expect spectacular, just fun and no lines. Several posters here gave it a thumbs down and one said stay away it's like a state fair not a full blown amusement park. I like state fairs so have been undecided.

In case anyone who is a senior is reading this, some of these have senior prices which might be a better deal than the go cards. Wonderworks, lazer tab and the show are $29.95 seniors and $39.95 now. They must have gone up this week $1. The prices were $28.95 and $38.95 for all 3 a few days ago.

My sister will be 54 this year so some things like Cypress Gardens and Wonderworks etc, will be cheaper to buy senior tickets for her NEXT year than the Go Cards since she also doesnt have your endurance to hit so many places a day.

That go card does sound like a good deal though. We have 3 days and dont want to be too exhuasted when we go on our cruise afterwards out of Port Canaveral.

Interesting perspective. Glad you liked Cypress Gardens, we were thinking about that one too, or waiting until next year and staying closer to it.

Im still thinking about what to do as well.

 

[mtry]

Hi Poober 25, Sorry I, haven't been on this forum and havn't followed up, Anyway, I feel we got our money's worth. Ripley, $18 Wonderworks $18. Titanic $18 and Funworks, (that go cart place, with the arcade) I think that was close to $29/person. I paid around $50./person for the one day. Considering that we didn't get back to the hotel until 11.30 to midnight and we started around 1 or 2 (paused for dinner) we Made sure we got our moneys worth. We really took our time and took everything in at Ripley's and Wonderworks, but hurried through Titanic. We had enough time I guess, at Funworks but my kids love go carts and video games so this could have easily taken more than 1/2 a day. My ds's were at the time 11, 11 and 17
Just go to the individual websites or a discount ticket seller and price the attractions then do the math. Hope you have a great time!

 

[mom2mykids]

If you had to choose Ripley's or Wonderworks what would you choose? I am planning on having 1 day before our Disney vacation starts and I was looking for something for the kids (and dh and I too, LOL). We've done gatorland long ago so thats an option too. I don't want to get too tired since we will start Disney the next day. Thanks!

 

[dizzi]

If i had to chose between RIPLEYS or WONDERWORKS, it would definitly be RIPLEYS, but if you add Gator land into the mix it would be GATORLAND, it was outside yet it was mostly shaded and not too hot. They have redone it in the past year becasue a good bit of it caught on fire a year or so ago and it has grown over the years also.