Only in Orlando for 8 days, not sure where to start!

[novanic]

We are coming to Disney World on 25th October and staying just 8 nights with my 8 year old and 2 year old (I wish it were longer :-( )

We particularly want to fit in Disney World, Animal Kingdom, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld and Busch Gardens.

Any advice on what is the best order, or maybe best ticket/tickets to buy, etc? Is it best to stay on International Drive?

 

[mm1971]

We are coming to Disney World on 25th October and staying just 8 nights with my 8 year old and 2 year old (I wish it were longer :-( )

We particularly want to fit in Disney World, Animal Kingdom, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld and Busch Gardens.

Any advice on what is the best order, or maybe best ticket/tickets to buy, etc? Is it best to stay on International Drive?

Need some details. Are you staying on Disney property or off? Have you booked our hotel(s)? Do you plan to drive to Busch Gardens or are you planning to stay over there? It really depends on lodging and what you plan to do. Are you driving or flying? Renting a car? Really hard to give advice without knowing the details.

 

[novanic]

Sorry. I've only booked the flights so far (from the UK). We'll hire a car when we arrive. I was looking at the Rosen International (as it's cheap and get quite good reviews on Tripadvisor), but driving not an issue.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

You might want to consider moving your location once or twice. Maybe stay near Disney for Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom, near Universal for IA and Sea World, then another move for Busch. The last one in particular is not really conducive to staying in one spot. You could maybe get away with it for the first 4.

 

[tigerbelly]

We have stayed at International Drive and think that the Rozen is very nice. We have only visited though. We stayed at the Homewood Suites and highly highly recommend them. The friendliness and all the amenities were amazing! They have a free shuttle to Disney (about a half hour trip- it takes you directly to Epcot and then you can travel to whatever park from there) and it is quite close to Sea World and may also have a shuttle there too. They have an amazing FULL breakfast buffet and a light meal and drinks (free) on weeknights.

Busch Gardens might be a stretch since that is in Tampa- 2 hours away.
I don't have much experience with Universal but seems like a possibility to fit that in- in 8 days.

Since this is the Disney forum you'll get a lot of people saying that your whole 8 days could easily be spent at Disney.

 

[novanic]

I so wish we were going for 2 weeks but I've already booked the flights (which incidentally have dropped down by £100 per person in the week since I've booked them!).

Thanks for the advice, I'd forgotten that Seaworld was quite far away.

We went to Disneyland California in November just gone and had such a fantastic time, we've got the holiday bug and for once I threw caution to the wind and just booked the flights!

Not sure how best to go about buying the tickets, is there a good combination ticket or will I need to look out several deals?

 

[MatoMany]

Unless someone knows something I don't you will need 3 tickets. One for Disney World/Animal Kingdom, one for Universal/Islands of Adventure and one for SeaWorld/Busch Gardens. I don't believe there are any tickets that combine all the parks since they are all from different businesses.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

You can get combo tickets for everything but Disney. But, it may or may not be the best deal. The 5 or 6 (non-Disney) park combo tickets are a good deal, but since you're only doing 3, it might not make sense.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Is this your first trip? Will you likely return while the children are little?

first, Walt Disney World has four parks. Animal Kingdom is just one of them. There is the Magic Kingdom (like DL), Epcot, and Disney Studios. There four parks are all on Disney property with a vast number of hotels and shopping and restaurant choices. If you choose to do just these things, you have a whole weeks worth of fun and you can buy a multi-day pass and save a lot of money. You can also take the free Disney bus from the airport and not need a rental car at all. If you have never been ,and will have a chance to do other things later, you might want to consider just disney the first trip.

The other parks are separate. Universal and sea world is in Orlando area, but Bush Gardens is in Tampa, about an hour south. If you do all of these, a car would be needed. You could choose to stay off site at a central location, but staying onsite at universal gets you front of the line access that is soooo nice. Someone suggested staying several different locations and while I am not a huge fan of moving sites....this would be ideal if you do all three. Onsite at WDW, and Universal, and somewhere very near Bush Gardens. Really, I would probably cut Bush Gardens.

 

[motherof2boys]

We are coming to Disney World on 25th October and staying just 8 nights with my 8 year old and 2 year old (I wish it were longer :-( )

We particularly want to fit in Disney World, Animal Kingdom, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld and Busch Gardens.

Any advice on what is the best order, or maybe best ticket/tickets to buy, etc? Is it best to stay on International Drive?

As others mentioned, Disney World is 4 Parks. Islands of Adventures is another Universal Park. Our family went to both Universal Parks in Aug. We did 2 days at Universal & 1 at Islands of Adventure. If we did it again we'd reverse it. IOA was mostly"big kid" rides while Universal seemed geared to a younger crowd. (according to my 14 & 11 yr thrill riders) I think there is much more for a 2 yr old in Universal than IOA.

Not trying to be mean, but it sounds like a lot in 8 nights. Will you have a rental car? If not, the buses can be a pain to wait for. Disney, Sea World & Universal are that not far from each other (never been to Bush Gardens so I have no idea) but when you're limited on time it adds to the stress.

 

[novanic]

Thanks for the advice.

I went to Disney and Busch Gardens 30 years ago and I'm sure a lot has changed but I will take your advice and skip Busch Gardens seeing as it's a short trip. However, back then, we preferred Busch Gardens as the queues were much shorter but we'll be back again in a few years I'm sure.

My son will be 8 and he really wants to do the Island of Adventure because he's into Marvel, etc and I think it would be just right for him and yes, we had planned on hiring a car.

Personally I'd be happy to skip Seaworld as we only went to the one in California in November but my son just loved it and rated it the highlight of our California trip so don't think I have much choice in that one!

 

[amym2]

I'd try to split your trip as others have suggested. Spend a few nights at a Disney resort (that way you get Extra Magic Hours, Magic Bands, etc) and a few nights at a Universal resort (for the FOTL pass). If you must do Sea World, do it during the Universal portion.

Tickets will be separate. You'll need Disney tickets for any Disney parks (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom) and can get tickets good for only one park per day or for multiple parks per day (park hopper). I'd probably do 4 days at WDW. Keep in mind that the price per day goes drastically down the more days you are there. You can get 5 days for just slightly more than 4 days.

For Universal, you can also either get tickets good for one park per day or for multiple parks. There is a new Harry Potter section opening at US this summer (the other HP section is at IOA). I'm not sure when it will open, but they are building a train (the Hogwarts Express, of course) that will connect the two sections, but you will have to have the tickets that allow you to get into both parks on the same day. I'm guessing that won't be open by Oct. Actually, in terms of the 2yo, the Dr Seuss section in IOA is definitely geared for little ones. I'd probably plan two days at Universal, including one day at US and one at IOA. Keep in mind that Universal is definitely geared for older kids, and there will be many rides your kids (even the 8yo unless he is really tall) cannot ride.

Then plan Sea World for the remaining day. I think you can get combo tickets with Universal and Sea World, but you'd have to research whether that makes sense for you. You can definitely get Sea World and Busch Gardens tickets, but I agree that I wouldn't try to squeeze in Busch Gardens. Have you been to Legoland? That might be worth a trip.

 

[novanic]

Not been to Legoland but we have one here in the UK not far from us and we didn't bother with Legoland in California either.

Does Island of Adventure have many suitable rides for an 8 year old? My son isn't into Harry Potter at all.