Places to go outside of WDW

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Ok, so we are going in October and committing the biggest sin rotfl we are not going to Disney!

Our plans are to goo Universal as we have not been for some years, also looking at the ultimate Discovery Cove ticket so will have Sea World and Busch.

If funds permit we may goo MNSSHP just for a small fix

I have seen a lot of people saying they might not go next year, so what are your plans?

We are hoping to go to the beach as I am hoping it will be warmer than December. I also might try DeLeon state park. In December we went to Kissimmee (the town) which we enjoyed and Clermont (not in a rush to go again) as well as Celebration and Blue Spring state park.

Has anyone been to Bok Tower gardens or have any other suggestions for me to look at?

Looking forward to your replies.

 

[queendisney]

there is absolutely no way I could ever go to Orlando and not 'do Disney'
Although we have been a lot I can't and I don't think I ever will get fed up with WDW..so everything we do is planned around that.

The Bok Tower looks good. There is one thing that we still want to do but as of yet still haven't got there and that is the Kermit Weeks Air Museum so we may try this time if I can possibly drag myself away from WDW

 

[luke]

there is absolutely no way I could ever go to Orlando and not 'do Disney'

We have hit the opposite point now, in fact I don't think next time we go we would even go to any theme park!!

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

Wait...there are OTHER places!?!?!?!? LOL!

 

[MichelinMan]

We went to Silver Springs last time we went, which was nice. Wouldn't usually recommend it over the theme parks, but it is something a bit different.

We are doing Gatorland this time, which I have always wanted to try.

And there is always Legoland (although it doesn't appeal to me - seems a bit too familiar to me, having one in the UK).

Remember you also have Aquatica on the Discovery Cove ticket too. Makes the DC ticket seem more value when you consider you can get 14 days of theme parks included in it. We will be using it for 5 days at Seaworld / Aquatica / DC.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

there is absolutely no way I could ever go to Orlando and not 'do Disney'
Although we have been a lot I can't and I don't think I ever will get fed up with WDW..so everything we do is planned around that.

The Bok Tower looks good. There is one thing that we still want to do but as of yet still haven't got there and that is the Kermit Weeks Air Museum so we may try this time if I can possibly drag myself away from WDW

Now I do still have an AP for WdW so perhaps I could have a day by myself but that might not go down too well!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Wait...there are OTHER places!?!?!?!? LOL!

Apparently so

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We went to Silver Springs last time we went, which was nice. Wouldn't usually recommend it over the theme parks, but it is something a bit different.

We are doing Gatorland this time, which I have always wanted to try.

And there is always Legoland (although it doesn't appeal to me - seems a bit too familiar to me, having one in the UK).

Remember you also have Aquatica on the Discovery Cove ticket too. Makes the DC ticket seem more value when you consider you can get 14 days of theme parks included in it. We will be using it for 5 days at Seaworld / Aquatica / DC.

Yes I think it is good value and we will get a few good days from it. Legoland I think will be too young for dd. I have looked at Gatorland a few times and am still on the fence about it

If you or anyone knows how to multi quote it would help me out!!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We have hit the opposite point now, in fact I don't think next time we go we would even go to any theme park!!

So what do you plan to do?

 

[luke]

So what do you plan to do?

Shopping, eating, play some mini golf.
Haven't really got any further than that in planning this as yet hypothetical trip.

We plan to do a cruise along with Orlando though

 

[ukool]

Thiers old town which looks a fun day / night out.

 

[dixonsontour]

We did non disney except MNSSHP in Oct 2011.

I did a trip report Everything but disney on the uk trip reports board. Give me a shout if you can't find it.

Seaworld includes the spooktacular at weekends in the price. This was fun - they had trick or treating, sesame street show - we did it twice plus our usual seaworld visits.

Celebration - has a pumpkin patch and halloween decorations.

Showcase of citrus at Clermont. We did the monster truck tour tour and orange picking. Often on groupon.

Airboat ride - we've done boggy creek.

DTD has halloween decorations. We also did the boardwalk and campfire singalong.

Bok Tower - we've been once a few years ago and enjoyed it. Nice change of pace.

Clearwater aquarium - visit Winter the dolphin (from the film dolphin's tale) We had an enjoyable afternoon here last May.

 

[juliebro]

These days we spend most of our Florida holiday outside of WDW. We are in Orlando at the moment and aren't doing much Disney. Have done loads of other things. I have a live trip report thread going and have done three others. Le us know if we can offer any help.

Kermit Week's Fantasy of Flight is excellent!

 

[disney2014plan]

If you don't mind a little driving (think it was somewhere between 1-2hours if I remember) then Crystal river to take a boat out and swin with the manatees is awesome - and much cheaper than many other organised wild animal interactions!

We used a company called Bird's Underwater Explorers because we hired some dive kit too, but I think there are lots of outfits around Crystal River.

 

[Camac]

We visited Crystal River and swam with manatees which was excellent. Had this on Groupon for a great price.

Also really enjoyed the Segway tour of Celebration.

 

[Caseheidi]

One of our favorites has been a day at the Kennedy Space Center, about an hour drive. We have been twice, and plan to go back when our DD is old enough to enjoy.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

These are all great ideas, some I have read before and forgot about

I was hoping that Seaworld would have Halloween events and we did plan to go to Celebration too.

In December we passed the Citrus place and dd asked about picking oranges this year so I will have a look at that.

Crystal River sounds like a good option but I'm not a good swimmer although I don't mind if my dh and dd want to do it. The manatees are really big, is it a bit scary been so close?

Thanks again for all these ideas - we won't have time to do everything at this rate!

 

[pampat]

If you like architecture, try Lakeland College. Lakeland is halfway-ish between St. Pete's and Orlando. Some of the college buildings were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and are absolutely stunning. There are guided tours which are very reasonably priced and the whole town of Lakeland is very pretty.

Pam

 

[Camac]

The water is shallow - chest height on me (5'3"). They kit you out In wetsuits and snorkels but you can easily just walk amongst the manatees if you don't like snorkelling or you can stay on the boat and see them very easily as the water really is 'crystal' clear!

The manatees are large (the babies are so cute) but they are very gentle and just glide by. You are not allowed to touch them and must not splash around them.

A really great day out day, approx 1 hour drive from LBV area.

 

[magicgirl]

Captain John's airboat ride on the St Johns River, you go from outside a town called Christmas. We have been several times and it is amazing.