No WDW or U/S- other activity questions

[jm106]

Such a hard decision. We have time to sort it out. I thank you for sharing all of your experiences.

 

[gigi1313]

We have heard/read good things about Wonderworks and will be incorporating that into our first "non-Disney" Orlando vacation... also visiting Sea World... still unsure what else!

 

[jm106]

We went to Legoland when the boys were 10 and 12--strictly because the 10-year-old is a HUGE Lego fan. I mean lives and breathes the stuff! Yes, it's geared to younger kids. But you are able to ALL ride 90% of the rides. We certainly didn't just sit back and watch. The water park is a lot of fun too. The Miniland is worth the price of admission alone!!! I'd definitely consider it! The 12-year-old was definitely going just to make his brother happy, but ended up having a blast too. Of course, it helped a lot that we went the last week in August and there was absolutely no one--and I mean no one--in the park. As we walked in, I asked my husband if he was sure it was even open! We literally walked onto every single ride all day. At most, we waited for one round on the roller coaster. They had the run of the place!

Thanks, that is helpful. I was given the impression that much of it is parents watching kids go on kiddie rides.I saw pics of a friends kids in the cars you drive and they looked too big for the cars. No way adult could get in it
I am still so undecided but I think we will do LL because they will only get too big for it in time. Ods is into Lego, Yds is not into Legos, both into Big rides. We can do water park too it seems. Are they connected?
DO we need to do a second day for water park area? It looks like you can add it as second day for additional cost.
I wonder how crowded water park will be then if LL is generally empty.
Kennedy is far for a 3 hour attraction. I thought it was an all day thing. For the cost and travel, it is likely we will skip it. The boys were looking forward to it but it will be there for another time.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

The car ride is the one I remember having to stand back and watch--no way adults are fitting in those! But most of the rides are adult-friendly. Here's a page from their site with height requirements:

http://florida.legoland.com/en/Plan/Know-Before-You-Go/Ride-Height-Requirements/

With that, you'll see most of them have minimum requirements, but not maximum.

The water park is in the back of the regular park. You need to go through the regular park to get to it, and then have a separate water park admission. We did it all in one day, but that's because we waited absolutely zero time for any rides. I can definitely see it becoming a two-day park/water park when you have crowds there at all. And we only spent a couple hours in the water park too, but I'm sure you could be there much longer if you wanted. We also didn't go into the gardens or watch the water ski show. So it really depends what you want to see while there.

You're really not going to get "big rides" here at all, but they're not all toddler rides either.

 

[CanadianChickie]

We did both Gatorland and Kennedy Space Station in Feb with our 12 year olds. I think you would enjoy both. Gatorland is low key, only takes about 3-4 hours to see it, and the shows. After visit the ice cream place right across the street for liquid nitrogen ice cream where you get to chose your own toppings.
Kennedy Space station is about an hour drive. We arrived at 10am and left at 5pm and still missed the 2nd IMAX. It is a full day if you want to see it all. The information desk was great in recommending the order to visit things in for the age of our kids, where to eat etc. If you like seafood, eat at Dixie Crossroads in Titusville on your way back.

If you decide on an airboat ride (could do this instead of Gatorland or do both in one day) we chose WildFlorida as the admission price included the wildanimal park as well. They had a little show where you could touch live animals which was well done, this was one of our favorite days. If you decide to do this follow the driving directions from their website as our GPS took us onto the Florida Turnpike which we had great difficulty getting off without a Sunpass.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

wrong thread!

 

[jm106]

I would expect more crowds in summer but have never heard of LL being crowded.
I just looked over the rides and we are watching a video on it.

 

[100AcreWood]

Kennedy is a full day for sure. We opened that place and left when it closed. And we never saw the same thing twice. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! My kids were 12, 7 and 6 at the time.

 

[jm106]

We watched a bunch of you tube walk through videos of different park and attractions. Dh and Ods voted Kennedy,(surprised me since he loves to build Lego), Yds picked gatorland, said it looks AWESOME and he was more interested in LL. No one thought the rides looked too exciting. Surprisingly, they didn't care much about waterpark.
I still don't get why they are all so into Gatorland but I'm outvoted. That's not uncommon being the only girl lol

 

[jm106]

So it is decided to stick with original plan of Kennedy and Gatorland
I was thinking though, maybe it would make sense to drive to kennedy mid week then do gatorland after we checkout since it is just a few hour park. Then we can drive from orlando straight to West palm.
Monday Check in Wyndham Grand Hotel. Enjoy resort

Tuesday- Time share presentation, drive around neighborhoods/resort

Wednesday- Kennedy Space center then return to Orlando

Thursday Check out, gatorland then drive to West Palm.

Option 2- would be leave South Carolina Sunday early, drive to Kennedy area instead of Orlando (check in Wyndham Grand is Monday) and do Kennedy Space Center Monday then drive to Orlando and check into hotel.

 

[kathy884]

Have you thought about SeaWorld. They offer some great discounts with the second day for $15 and it's such a great park for all ages to enjoy together. It's my family's favorite park in the Orlando area and quite economical. We get the advanced tickets online for a discount and then go to the customer service desk to get another day within 7 days for just $15 a piece. The animal exhibits and shows are wonderful. And the Shamu Happy Harbor play area is just fantastic for the kids letting off a little steam. They have two nice coasters too, for those tall enough to ride in your family. If not this time, maybe consider that for another trip.

 

[jm106]

Have you thought about SeaWorld. They offer some great discounts with the second day for $15 and it's such a great park for all ages to enjoy together. It's my family's favorite park in the Orlando area and quite economical. We get the advanced tickets online for a discount and then go to the customer service desk to get another day within 7 days for just $15 a piece. The animal exhibits and shows are wonderful. And the Shamu Happy Harbor play area is just fantastic for the kids letting off a little steam. They have two nice coasters too, for those tall enough to ride in your family. If not this time, maybe consider that for another trip.

Thanks for the suggestion, we have been twice.!!