Where to go? what passes to buy?

[silver apple]

Hi everyone

We are going to florida in april for 2 weeks. There will be two families and 4 children (11,5,4,3).

We will have a hire car, and don't really want to spend the whole 2 weeks in the theme parks. Though we don't want to miss out on anything that is "must do".

Any tips on what type of passes to buy and what we should see/do would be really welcome.

Thanks xx

 

[Elmo888]

I would start with some books. For Disney, try the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. The Disney passes that you buy would depend on how many days you plan to spend at Disney, how many parks, etc. For Florida, try a Frommer's or Fodor's.

There is a lot to see and do in Florida, and Florida isn't a small state. So, it would help if you narrowed down your interests and planned. With small kids, I would definitely hit the beach, and there are a number of them in Florida. If you are flying into Orlando, you could go to Tampa/St Petersburg/Clearwater area on the Gulf coast or drive 2 or 3 hours in the other direction to the Atlantic coast. The NASA space center might be another choice. There is also Sea World in Orlando. (As you can see, lots of choices!)

Have a great trip!

 

[Snow Shoe]

Narrowing down your choices is a must. I would highly recommend going to the Kennedy Space Center though. You relly get to see some very interesting things. http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/

If I'm not mistaken, there is a special UK Disney ticket you can purchase. I've looked all through my ticket links and cannot find it though. Maybe someone else here has this info that can help you.

Have a wonderful time.

 

[K8T]

Hi

I have been doing a lot of research on this recently and there are two main tickets that you can get in the UK and are really good value.

One is the UK Ultimate ticket, which is a 14 ticket which allows you to park hop from one to the other and also gives you entrance into the waterparks and downtown disney.

The other is the Premium Ticket, 7 day may do you if you don't want to be in Disney everyday and it lasts for 14 days from when you start it.

Best book I got was Brits Guide to Orlando and there is a site for this too. They also provide planning for around £20 taking into account your group and what you want to do, I am waiting to receive mine - we go next week.

Where to buy a ticket is another problem, as so many options, cheapest do a search on Google and you will come up with a couple, I know ATD have been used a lot and have a good reputation.

However, most of the good information is from this site, I have been cutting and pasting stuff like secrets, freebies at WDW and must sees for three weeks now and feel I am ready to go.

Best of luck.

Kate

 

[TheDizMom]

There are so many things to do and see. I would agree that you need to narrow down your choices. Decide what parks you really want to do and how many days for each, as well as any other disney attractions you want to do like DTD, Quest and Cirque De Sole. Once you have determined that then you will know how many days you can plan other things for. Near Orlando you will find Seaworld and Universal Studio's Theme Park. If you want to hit the beach you are actually closer to those on the east coast then the west. While I am a HUGE fan of St Pete's Beach, you are closer to Daytona and Vero, so I guess it depends on how far you want to drive. Going in April will also afford you the opportunity to experience the great American pass time, Baseball. At that time of year most of the teams are in spring training in Florida and have games regularly. I don't know where they all are so you would probably need to go to the Major League Baseball (MLB) website for help on that, or perhaps someone here will know where the closest teams are. I know there are several in Fort Myers (like our awesome Minnesota Twins), but I don't know where else they go.

I hope you have an awesome time visiting our country, I know I have loved yours on the numerous occasions I have been there, especially Brighton. I have no doubt you will love, love, love Disney, assuming you have never been there of course.

 

[Elmo888]

There are so many things to do and see. I would agree that you need to narrow down your choices. Decide what parks you really want to do and how many days for each, as well as any other disney attractions you want to do like DTD, Quest and Cirque De Sole. Once you have determined that then you will know how many days you can plan other things for. Near Orlando you will find Seaworld and Universal Studio's Theme Park. If you want to hit the beach you are actually closer to those on the east coast then the west. While I am a HUGE fan of St Pete's Beach, you are closer to Daytona and Vero, so I guess it depends on how far you want to drive. Going in April will also afford you the opportunity to experience the great American pass time, Baseball. At that time of year most of the teams are in spring training in Florida and have games regularly. I don't know where they all are so you would probably need to go to the Major League Baseball (MLB) website for help on that, or perhaps someone here will know where the closest teams are. I know there are several in Fort Myers (like our awesome Minnesota Twins), but I don't know where else they go.

I hope you have an awesome time visiting our country, I know I have loved yours on the numerous occasions I have been there, especially Brighton. I have no doubt you will love, love, love Disney, assuming you have never been there of course.

MLB spring training is in March, not April. The regular season starts in April, so MLB teams have left Florida by then. There are minor league teams in Florida that have games in April.

 

[TheDizMom]

MLB spring training is in March, not April. The regular season starts in April, so MLB teams have left Florida by then. There are minor league teams in Florida that have games in April.

OOPS!! Sorry about that, I thought it went into April. My now 40 year old brain ain't what it used to be .