What to do after Universal/IO for 5 days?

[shl1108]

We are coming from Seattle to Orlando for 10 days the first week in June.
Staying the first 5 nights onsite (hopefully PBH Club room). We have park tickets from about 5 years ago that we are using and are flying by air miles! Yeah! So far, so good money wise
Can't wait to do Universal/IO again! Our kids are now 5 years older and we are so excited.
My question is...we were going to do Disney World for the next 5 days, but park tickets are looking to be about $1400 for a family of 5 ! (For 3,4 or 5 day park hopper passes for 5 of us). Plus food etc.. We have free lodging taken care of if we need it.
For close to the same amount of money...we can take an all inclusive Carnival Cruise for 3 days to the Bahamas...all in one room eeks!
???? Any other ideas on what we can do for the 5 days? I just can not pay that much money for park tickets alone for DW!
Open to any fun suggestions...kids are three girls, 7, 12 & 14. We will be renting a car.
Thanks!

 

[lmf70]

We are spending 10 days in August-6 at an offsite condo where we plan on doing Seaworld (2 days), Kennedy space center, Gatorland and at least one day of down time then we head to HRH for 4 days. I think there is plenty to do in Orlando w/o Disney- we contemplated same thing but agree the tix are just too much. To get our Disney fix we are having my b-day dinner at cali grill so we can at least see the fireworks!
We did a Carnival cruise last year and the kids (14 & 16) were in the room next door to us. You couldn't pay me to spend 3 days with 5 people in a room-NOT FUN!!!
I'd either stay in Orlando or go home and save the $$

 

[mrebuck]

You can also get one day in a Disney park for FREE! Have your family volunteer under the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day promotion, and you will get a free day in any one of the four Disney parks for free. (That's what my family did - we have our vouchers in hand and now just need to decide which of the four parks we want to visit!). Here's a link to the website telling you more about the program: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/di...ebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day

 

[Tiresius]

I second both the Kennedy Space Center idea and the free day with Give a Day Get a Disney Day. Kennedy Space Center Tickets are available for less than $30 per person and good for two days. If you do the bus tour, both IMAX movies, take the time to listen to an astronaut speak, ride the shuttle experience, and then also use your ticket to get into the Astronaut Hall of Fame (which has a whole room of simulators, games, and interactive things), it can totally fill two days.

With a car, its only about an hour drive from Orlando, and if you are beach people, you can also spend some time at the beach while there (we spent an evening at a beach after a day at Kennedy, but we aren't beach people, just wanted to see the ocean and dip our toes).

And you can do some Disney things without getting full-blown tickets. Get a free day if you can, then you can chose to add one paid day or do things that are less costly like a day at a waterpark, go mini-golfing, or take a tour that doesn't require tickets (go horseback riding at fort wilderness, swim with the dolphins or in the aquarium at Epcot, go to a dinner show).

Or do the other parks close to Universal, like Sea World, Aquatica, Wet and Wild, etc.

 

[tink1953]

I think the first week of June is Gay days????
Probally be very crowded...not sure if Universal partispates??

YOu might want to do the second week in the parks??

Just a thought.

We love to drive over to the space coast and check out the space center and the beaches. They have a nice nature preserve you can drive through.

There a lots of things to do on international drive and Hwy 92...

I agree with the $$$$ for tickets, its hard to pay that much for a family isn't it?

As the previous poster said..there are some free things to do around Disney...Fort Wilderness is fun and you can watch the fireworks from some of the resorts, the water pagent is nice too.

Your family will have so much fun...

BArb

 

[Metro West]

I think the first week of June is Gay days????
Probally be very crowded...not sure if Universal partispates??

You are correct...the first week of June is Gay Days. There are different activities for each day and I think Universal is usually done during the week and Disney on the weekends. This year...Harry Potter is bringng in the crowds...not Gay Days but it certainly isn't going to help.

 

[shl1108]

ohhhhh did not know about Gay Days. Maybe much bigger crowds.
I have no problem with that, but I might have to prep my kids to same sex couples etc.. we are in a fairly suburban community here where I live. (actually very suburban) So we haven't discussed that too much around here as most families are traditional.
We picked this week as to dodge the crowds before school lets out! oh well.
Can't change now I'm afraid.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. The give a day get a day is a great program! Last year we went to Disneyland on 2 of our kids birthdays and they have all of these extra fass passes which were so amazing to use all day on their birthdays (we already had multi day passes)
I'll check out the beaches too, great idea.

And yes, 5 in a room sounds CRAZY for a cruise. I think I was hoping we literally would only lay our heads down there to sleep and be up on the ship until late seeing shows/eating etc.. Strangely, the RC line has a similar Bahamas Cruise, and we would get 2 rooms there as they don't allow 5, but their rooms are much much smaller than Carnival. ahhhh well, we will still be planning those 5 days probably up until a few weeks before we go.

I wonder if Busch Gardens for the day would be worthwhile. Haven't checked the ticket prices there yet.

 

[Pink Flamingo]

If your kids like water parks, Wet n Wild might also be a fun option.

Right now, on their web site tickets are $47.95 for unlimited visits through the end of 2010, so you could go multiple days if you wanted to.

 

[tink1957]

Sorry to tell you that the GAD program is ending.I read about it today on the Budget Boards. Here's the link: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2412113

They have a combo ticket for Busch Gardens, Seaworld & Aquatica that may work for you, check out Seaworld's website.

 

[lmf70]

Seaworld's website has the best price for one day admission (with second day free) but I believe undercover tourist has the other combo tix cheaper. Can also get Kennedy tix there as well. Have used them several times before and are very reliable and the tickets usually ship very quickly so you don't feel pressured to make your decision yet!

Whatever you decide have a great time!!