Travelling to Florida with Parents!!!!

[Claddagh]

We are travelling to Floriday in November/December for the third time. Only difference is, this time we're taking my mum and dad and DH's dad. We are a little bit anxious to say the least, you know in case it's too hot (though I have read on these boards that it's not so bad that time of year), incase they don't enjoy it as much as we do, etc etc. Anyway a few questions ,

1. We fly out on the 26th November (Fri) and it's my mums birthday on the 28th (Sun). Does anyone have any suggestions of what would be a really nice birthday surprise for my mum? She will be 62, which is not that old I know but she has hydrocephalus so is not too good on her feet.

2. We will need to hire a wheelchair for my mum as there is no way she could do all that walking around the Parks. Would it be better to do this in the Parks or outside the Parks?

Any words of reassurance from anyone who has travelled with "Golden Oldies" would be much appreciated!!!!

 

[Hilary]

What a great trip you have planned

I went with my DM a couple of years ago on a just-the-two-of-us trip for a week. Before we went I planned with Mum which attractions she was most interested in, and which she could quite happily miss. As we had only a week our schedule was pretty tight but, luckily, Mum is pretty nifty and managed to get around very well.

Will you DM need a wheelchair for the whole time, or only in the parks? If only in the parks then I'd suggest hiring there. I'd suggest checking on the disABILITIES board to see whether there are likely to be any problems with wheelchair availability. If you hired outside the parks you'd need to make sure you could get the chair to the parks with no problems.

I asked Mum to read through Simon's book to see which rides she thought she would enjoy but, in the end, she left it up to my judgement () which was quite a responsibility when she was sitting next to me strapped in to Test Track! (she did enjoy it, I think!). She came to rely heavily on the 'has it got a seatbelt?' test to see whether she needed to be worried about a ride!

Some of her favourites things were:
AK safari
Kennedy Space Centre
World Showcase
boat ride from MK to Wilderness Lodge
relaxing at Wilderness Lodge

Have fun planning your trip

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

We took my MIL with us on our first trip to Florida as a family. Unless your folks have good appetites, the MIL struggled with the amount of food on her plate (we don't ), so some of the time we ordered children's portions for her; down on the gulf coast the restaurants were a little more OAP friendly and offered "senior's" portions.

My MIL loved Sea World - the peace of the park compared to Disney (and she'd been there loads of times because her best friend lives in West Palm Beach), together with the beautiful grounds made this her favourite non-Disney park. She did prefer Epcot - world - from the Disney parks, but also loved USF (she didn't get to IOA). MGM was a bad day because she was very tired, it was incredibly hot and humid and packed. Try and pick the best days to visit each park.

I agree with Hilary that a visit to AKL would be great, have a dinner/breakfast there and take time to look around, it's a fantastic place.

Where abouts are you staying? Will they be wanting to come out with you all day every day, or sometimes be doing their own thing?

 

[angel659]

Hi

I would take her to the Garden Grill at Epcot for lunch. It's a all you can eat buffet with character dining and they are excellent. We have been 4 times and everytime we go to Florida Garden Grill is a must. I think this would be a great surprise lunch or dinner.

Hope you have a great time.

Michelle

 

[Claddagh]

Thanks for all your advice. All taken on board and hopefully will come up with something mum will enjoy. Our next problem now is getting travel insurance for my father in law as he has angina - lots of insurance companies won't touch him and those that will are charging the earth! DH is getting a bit stressed about this in particular as he has called LOTS of places and keeps getting the same answer! Ah well, these things are sent to try us, etc, etc. At least at the end of it there is a great time to be had, of that I am certain!

Thanks again for all your advice

 

[oscarwilde]

why don't you try the post office. They did insurance for my father when he was waiting for bypass surgery. the cost was no more but the excess was more.
hope this helps
cath

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I'm taking my parents (both in early 60's) with us during August. I'm a bit worried about the heat and humidity, so we plan on making relatively short visits to the parks and a decent midday break each day. Because of this we've made sure that they have flexible tickets so they don't run out of days before they see everything they want (FITS tickets for Disney, annual passes for Universal). They won't do the 'white-knuckle' stuff, but there is so much there to see without heavy doses of adrenalin that I'm sure they'll have a great time.

Regards

Rob

 

[Miffy2003]

Would Age Concern be a good bet for insurance? My MIL & FIL have just sorted out their insurance for our December trip and said they got a good deal (and it had to cover several pre-existing medical conditions)

Cheers

Karen

 

[mkingdon]

My DF and DM are coming with us too, in August.

They are however very fit early 60's, with many years of theme park commando touring under their belt.

They have left the plan up to me (they had no choice), and as they have been many times they will know what they do and don't want to do. Both (especially DF) are theme park freaks, and they will be dragging my DDs on to all the big rides.

I think as long as you don't try to do too much, and recognise when the first person in your party is flagging and call it a day, you should be fine.

Hope you have a great time

Craig

 

[Claddagh]

..... for all your advice. We have just got my FIL's insurance sorted out through Age Concern for £150 which is fantastic considering one place quoted us £1200!. He has to pay the first £300 excess but thats ok. Thanks alot for all your advice. My DH is a lot more relaxed now!