park decisions

[amyminzey]

We are going to Orlando for 2 weeks for our honeymoon in January. I have not been there since I was 8 (will be 26 by the time we go), except for a quick trip a couple yrs. ago to Discovery Cove, SeaWorld, and half a day at Magic Kingdom - where I barely got to do anything. FI has never been there. There is a ton of stuff that we want to do, but since it is our honeymoon, we would like to have some days off just relaxing, also. So, I'm hoping to get some opinions/advice on the parks we want to visit.
Please list in order the parks you would like to see, starting with the park you'd most like to visit and ending with the park you'd care the least to visit (and if you want, the reasons why). Also, please list the number of days you would take for each park (during the slow season) if you would like to try and see it all (at a relaxed pace - not running from attraction to attraction).
Thank you so much!! Here is the list of parks we want to go to:

MK
Epcot
MGM
AK
Univ. Studios
Islands of Adv.
SeaWorld
Discovery Cove
water park (whichever disney waterpark is open at the time, looks like it will be Typhoon Lagoon)
Richard Petty Driving Experience
Wet 'n Wild Waterpark

 

[wdwrich]

Okay. Here's my 2 cents:

Epcot-2 days
MK-2 days
MGM-1 day
AK-1 day
Islands of Adv.-1 day
Univ. Studios-1 day
Discovery Cove-1 day
SeaWorld-1 day
Disney water park -half day
Richard Petty Driving Experience-0
Wet 'n Wild Waterpark:-0

Where are you staying? That will have an impact as to the pace of your visit. Also, the days recommended for each park don't have to be done all at once. For example, you might spend a morning in MK and and afternoon in EPCOT or just relaxing. Two weeks should give you plenty of opportunities to just kick back.

 

[amyminzey]

Thanks for your help!
We are currently thinking of staying at Coronado Springs, though the price may be a little much for us, and we are also concerned about transportation to the Universal/SeaWorld areas. So, we may change to a cheaper offsite hotel, if we can find one with good transportation to everywhere we want to go. But, maybe will get lucky with a great discount code for CSR!

 

[monorailsilver]

About the transportation if you stay off site, to my understanding (I haven't stayed off site in years & when I did there was just MK & I think Epcot in the area... anyways, the busses leave at a certain time & pick you up at a certain time.

Like if you were staying at the Holiday Inn, the bus would leave at 10, 11, 12, etc.... and it would pick you up at 10:30, 11:30, etc... (this is an example & a girl I know told me that was how her hotel worked). So if you wanted to stay til the end there may not be a bus so you'd miss out on the fireworks.

I would rent a car if you were staying off site. Get the basic AAA membership or join a car club to get a discount.

Here is how I'd rate your list:

MK-2
Epcot-2
MGM-1/2 day to 1
AK-1/2 day to 1
Univ. Studios-1
Islands of Adv.-1
SeaWorld-1?
Discovery Cove-again an expensive option so I'd forgo that & stay inside Disney (granted we didn't want to do a helicopter when we were in Hawaii since it was $$$ but we ended up going on one while we were there so we could see lava)
water park (whichever disney waterpark is open at the time, looks like it will be Typhoon Lagoon)-1 or 1/2 a day but since it is January I might say skip it since it can be cold & opt to relax at your resort pool.
Richard Petty Driving Experience-I wouldn't go since you said money is tight & it is expensive to do a lap

Even though it is Disney it is your honeymoon too so plan a few days to do nothing or take a drive to the coast (OK do nothing). I planned our first week in Hawaii & we went to 3 islands & did lots. The 2nd week we spent on the 4th island & relaxed 5 out of the 7 days there.
Wet 'n Wild Water-0

 

[schmitty]

You people must walk the pace of snails.

MK 1 day
Epcot 1 day
MGM 1 day
AK 1 day
Univ. Studios 1/2 day
Islands of Adv. 1/2 day
SeaWorld 1 day
Discovery Cove Never been so I wouldnt know how long it would take
water park (whichever disney waterpark is open at the time, looks like it will be Typhoon Lagoon) 1 day
Richard Petty Driving Experience Never been so I wouldnt know how long it would take
Wet 'n Wild Waterpark 1 day.


If you get to the parks everyday at opening you will be able to do everything you want to do in the park easily in 1 day at WDW. Universal Studios and IOA you can easily do in the same day. Sea World might take an entire day because there are alot of shows there so youd be there longer if you want to see all the shows. Typhoon Lagoon you can spend the first half of the day doing the slides and the second half just floating around the river and relaxing maybe scuba with the sharks for a bit. Wet n' Wild will probably be between a day and half day depending on how many times you want to go on the rides. Its like that with all the parks really. If you want to ride the stuff acouple times each it will obviously take longer but if you want to go on every ride you can do it easily in 1 day.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

I went to Disney World for my honeymoon this past January and we had a blast. We were there from Sunday-Saturday and had plenty of time to do it all. When we were there we took our time, never got to the parks at opening and were able to ride everything we wanted. However, we only did Disney and did not venture out Also, when we went it was really really slow (which was awesome!) Here are my suggestions:

MK - 1.5 days
Epcot - 1 day
MGM - 1 day
AK - 1 day
Univ. Studios - 1 day
Islands of Adv. - 1 day

That's all I would do. I would also put in there at least one day to rest (i.e go to Downtown Disney, go golfing, have a nice dinner at a resort, etc) I would stay onsite for Disney and then switch to a hotel close to Universal for convenience.

Just my two cents Have fun planning! I had a blast!

 

[rlovew]

Epcot- 1 to 1 1/2 days
MK- 1 1/2 days
MGM- 1 day
AK- 1 day
Seaworld- 1 day
Discovery Cove- 1 day
Islands of Adventure- 1 day
Universal Studios- 1 day
Any water park would be out for m in January but I prefer Disney's over Wet and Wild. I would only take a half day at Typhoon Lagoon and spend the other half at the Richard Petty Experience (this should only take a little while for a lot of money)

On the other hand my DH and I love Disney Quest and are looking forward to an evening at Pleasure Island.

The biggest thing with your honeymoon is to take time and ejoy but you will have a better time at the parks if you get there first thing in the morning and have a basic touring plan. If you stay on Disney property you can rent a car for a few days from the car care center near the MK. If you stay off property I would suggest renting a car the whole time because I have never had good luck with an offsite hotel that can really get you where you want to go and be there exactly when you want.

 

[amyminzey]

Thanks everyone! You helped a bunch!

 

[Minnie824]

MK - 1 day (or 2 half days)
Epcot - 1.5 days
MGM - .5 days
AK - 1 day (or 2 half days)
Univ. Studios - 0 days
Islands of Adv. - 1 day
SeaWorld - 0 days
Discovery Cove - 0 days
water park (whichever disney waterpark is open at the time, looks like it will be Typhoon Lagoon) - 0 days...kindof cold)
Richard Petty Driving Experience - .5 days (if your future DH really wants to do this)
Wet 'n Wild Waterpark - 0 days

Ok, so how many days are you planning to go, or is that still in the works? You also forgot to mention Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island. To us, its easier to split things into half days, we'd rest in the afternoon or swim, then head back out. Epcot is great for dinners, especially since it'll be just the 2 of you. Without transportation, I wouldn't go too many times off the grounds. I would suggest a park hopper as well.

 

[Todd&Copper]

Since it is a honeymoon, I agree, don't overplan. DH's usually want to spend some intimate time with DW's on their honeymoons, and vice versa.
Here's my order:
Epcot-2 days
MK-2 days
Univ. Studios-1 day
AK-1 day
MGM-1 day
Islands of Adv.-1 day (if you like thrill rides; if not, I'd skip it)

I don't really like water parks, but if you do, I'd go for at least half a day. I wasn't impressed with SW Florida - I thought SW San Diego was so much better that I would never even waste half a day there anymore. And if you have 2 weeks, that leaves 6 days of other fun.
I'd probably split my stay and stay onsite for the first part of the trip and do all the Disney stuff then, then go offsite for the next week and maybe rent a car for a day or two if you wanted to drive out to a beach. Several hotels have shuttles to/from the parks, though, so definitely look into that. We stayed at Comfort Suites near Old Town, and they were really nice and had a free shuttle to WDW, Universal, and Sea World, with decent drop off and pick up times. You can always get a cab, too, but that will run about $30 each way from this hotel.