Park tickets.....

[alibeau]

Hi Guys,

Just wondered if I could pick your brains re park tickets especially those of you with little ones

Our girls will be 4 and almost 2 years old at the time of our visit and so I'm just trying to figure out which parks will be best for us to visit with them in mind as all of our previous visits were BK (before kids!). Our 4 YO is tall and would probably be able to get on 'most' of the bigger rides, I just don't think she is ready for them yet....

I'm thinking that Busch Gardens would be nice as would Sea World with all the animals etc, I'm guessing if we buy a hopper ticket type thing that all of the Disney parks are a must but I've had a look at the Universal web site and am really struggling to decide whether it is worth going there, although Barney is there and DD would kill me is she knew we'd been to America and not met Barney

Also, we had planned to have a few days just relaxing

Anyhoo, just wondered if you could let me know of your experiences of visiting the parks with LO's.......

Thanks in advance,

Ali

 

[CHEK]

My DD's are 8 & 7, they've been to WDW 4 times now and we've never been to Universal yet!!. Been to Busch Garden's 3 times which we all love , they have an area with lots of little rides for the little one's. Seaworld twice (not our favourite park) but each to their own. But we all adore Disney and so will your's MK is a definate .
You won't need to purchase a ticket for your youngest as she's under 3. My youngest was 2 on her 1st visit and she really disliked the characters!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We prefer Universal to the Disney parks to be honest and have always found plenty for Joshua to do at IOA and US.
Having said that your children are probably a little young still for both perhaps, though your eldest may like Suess Landing with the Carousel type attractions there and obviously Barney at US.

I guess overall Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland area is the best bet for your 4 year old.

I also think Sea World is a must for young children and very educational, I would definitely spend some time there.

Universal and Sea World always have special offers on, for example we had a 7 day pass at SW last year for the price of a 1 day ticket.
So I would check out their own websites for those.

Ultimatley your children will appreciate all the parks as they get a little older.

It's also important (in my opinion) to do at some stage ALL the parks and not just be restricted to WDW.

 

[Jakey Rowling]

My kids are young teenagers now and I found the wonder of Disney wore off slightly as they got older.

At the age your kids are I'd recommend the Disney parks without hesitation.

Don't be tempted to do too much, you simply cannot "do Orlando" in two or three weeks and there is plenty time for a return trip which you will want.

For me Universal is for older kids as it Busch gardens to a slightly lesser degree.
That's not to say there isn't things for their age group but it's in the minority and does not offer best value for money in my opinion.

At 4 and 2 you can travel outwith the school holidays so can benefit from the better weather available but it's still a tiring day at the parks so I can only reiterate don't try and do too much.

 

[luke]

I also think Sea World is a must for young children and very educational, I would definitely spend some time there.
.

Couldn't agree more, even without kids Seaworld was easily one of our favourite days in Florida last month, especially Clyde and Seymore, don't miss them whatever you do!!

 

[natalielongstaff]

the 1st time we went we just concentrated on WDW this time around as our kids are a bit older we have added in US/IOA as well

TBH i would just do WDW this time around in your situation

 

[alibeau]

Thanks guys!

It's just so difficult to decide what's best. DH says he is happy to buy tickets for both WDW and US, so 'what the hell'!!!!!!! Even if we just have a nice walk around the parks and not go on too many things, it will still be a great day out?!?!

I think I am going to study some of the park maps and hopefully that will give me a better idea....

Thanks again,

 

[Jakey Rowling]

Only other advice I would give is to leave sufficient days off from the parks to recover, it can be hard work

This site provides good coverage of most of the park maps, universal and BG are down at the bottom.
http://www.willcad.org/disney_maps.html#parks

Happy studying.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Thanks guys!

It's just so difficult to decide what's best. DH says he is happy to buy tickets for both WDW and US, so 'what the hell'!!!!!!! Even if we just have a nice walk around the parks and not go on too many things, it will still be a great day out?!?!

I think I am going to study some of the park maps and hopefully that will give me a better idea....

Thanks again,

I would go for it! The advantage of US/IOA is the parks are just a few minutes walking distance apart so you could have a walk around both in one day.
Plus Universal always have special offers on their tickets making it even more attractive to go there.

 

[luke]

The advantage of US/IOA is the parks are just a few minutes walking distance apart so you could have a walk around both in one day.
.

Easily enough time to walk round them both in a day (like DLP and WDS in Paris), as long as you dont want to do rides, with their stupid paying for their equivilent of fastpass system they have going - that disappointed me more than a Rob Styles' "penalty decision"!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Easily enough time to walk round them both in a day (like DLP and WDS in Paris), as long as you dont want to do rides, with their stupid paying for their equivilent of fastpass system they have going - that disappointed me more than a Rob Styles' "penalty decision"!

Yes mate - I was there yesterday, shocking decision.

If you get to the parks early enough you can get on the more popular rides before it gets crowded (keeping thread on topic - football rant over).

 

[luke]

Yes mate - I was there yesterday, shocking decision.

If you get to the parks early enough you can get on the more popular rides before it gets crowded (keeping thread on topic - football rant over).

Although we got to IOA early and walked onto Spiderman, queued 15mins for Dr Doom's Fearfall, then encountered an hour (!!) queue for Hulk, this was before 10.30!!

Don't forget Universal's stupid locker policy thing too, where the fingerprints never seem to work properly for at least 1 person waiting to use them - we waited longer for a locker at US than we did for the ride we were using them for (MIB)

 

[Jakey Rowling]

Although we got to IOA early and walked onto Spiderman, queued 15mins for Dr Doom's Fearfall, then encountered an hour (!!) queue for Hulk, this was before 10.30!!

For us early at the parks means 8.30 for opening.
In the case of IOA it's the front of hulk, spiderman then off to the back to the dragons and return anti-clockwise for the best results.

The 8.30 start can be a pain but it allows an early finish or afternoon break and back to the pool to cool down.

 

[alibeau]

Blinkin eck, I hope to be just about crawling out of my pit at 8.30am

Oh and at least the penalty decision explains why DH was throwing a wobbler in the conservatory when the match was on, I thought it best not ask at the time

Ali.

 

[GlendaONeill]

We went for our first trip to Florida in June/July this year. DS1 is 4, DD3 and DS2 was 17 months. Although we went in a group of 10 (the in-laws, can't understand what I was thinking, but it wasfine), we went most days to the parks ourselves. We had a 7 day hopper for Disney and also went to Seaworld twice (buy one day get another free).
We didn't go to Universal as we thought it was a bit old for the age of our kids. My kids enjoyed every Disney park we went to.
My youngest son needed loads extra to drink and we tended to try and do things inside when it was hottest except when we watched the parades. I think he enjoyed it the most to tell you the truth.
Seaworld was my eldest son's favourite, now Shamu mad. There is plenty in each park for the little ones. When we went to Epcot we found an extra guide for people with under 5s for all the Disney parks. It was invaluable. It directed you to specific things for them and what to avoid. There were things mentioned we hadn't considered taking them to. Find it when you go!!