Newbie to this part of the board...where to start???

[2 lil'princesses]

So my family (DH, DD6, DD4) just got back from a great WDW vacation but I'm sad because I spent two years planning it but now it is over. So DH wants to the next trip in the summer of 2013 to be Discovery Cove, Universal, and Seaworld, possibly Aquatica and Busch Gardens. I started looking at the websites and some of the threads on here and realize that I know a lot about WDW but next to nothing about these parks. I'm a planner so I figured I might as well get started.

First, I just want to figure out how many days I'm going to need for each park (just one for Discovery Cove, I know) and whether my kiddos are good ages for Aquatica and Busch Gardens. They will be 6 and 8 at the time. Please tell me what you think.
Also, if you have any good hotel recommendations that would help. I don't think we will be able to swing the Universal on-site hotels but maybe the partner hotels. Looks like they have a lot of good deals going on. Don't know if that will still be the same in two years though.

TIA for any information you can give me to get this planning started.

 

[nytimez]

Dang... I wouldn't waste any time planning a Universal/Sea World trip two years ahead of time. Not trying to sound mean -- it's just not necessary for that level of planning.

 

[KRAGGI01]

I have been to all of those parks except Discover Cove and Universal And all of them can be done in a day or less.

 

[macraven]

i need many days to do UO.
every one is different on how they spend their time in the parks.

if you stayed onsite at UO, you can use the free shuttle to SW and Aquatica.

the luxury busses are, or were when i was last there, $10 a person or rt.
not the usual busses but the it has even a rr, bus.

DC is pricey and a full day event.


i suggest you spend some time reading the trip reports and the last forum for sw, etc, to know what to expect.

planning for 2 years from now for this trip .......well, anything can change between now and then.
prices, set up, amenities, etc.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Hi, I am a newbie, too! I am planning my trip for a year away, though. For us, it is a must to get dates in order asap so we will have matching schedules since I am travelling w my brother's family. It is overwhelming when you are used to "knowing everything" about Disney and then you want to plan a trip where you don't have all that knowledge. I am really enjoying reading the TR's on here and I think they help a lot with figuring things out. I think first maybe decide if you want to stay onsite and what dates you are looking at. Then, you can use the TR's to help you figure out how much time you want to spend at each park, based on what you want to do there. For example, I remember liking IOA better than Universal, but now I want to research because so much has changed. HTH. Maybe we can figure things out together.

 

[SmallWorld71]

We had our first Universal vacation last August. I was panicking too, but it really is a lot simpler than planning for Disney. No need to make ADR's 6 months in advance etc...

We stayed 8 nights and spent 1 day at Discovery Cove (loved it!), 2 at SeaWorld and spent the rest of our days at the Universal Parks. I highly recommend staying on site. The front of the line perk was incredible and made for the most relaxing, easy going vacation we have ever had! We just sauntered over to the parks whenever we felt like it and basically walked right on to the rides. Then, if we got hot, we would head back to the hotel pool. We only made a point of being up real early on 3 of our days: Discovery Cove (got there for the 8am check-in), one of our Sea World days, and one day for early entry into Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel, but with the ages of your kids, Royal Pacific might be a good choice. We stayed concierge level, which was great.

To me, one tricky thing about the planning was that everything wasn't all inclusive like I was used to at Disney. I scoured these boards for months before and ended up with great discounts, but it did take some comparing to figure out the most economical way to do things. Good luck with your planning.

ETA: One last suggestion is to schedule your Discovery Cove day for early in your vacation. That way, if it is inclement weather, you will have a much better chance of rescheduling.