Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

Lil_Me_2

You'll be there for the International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot which was amazing last year!! Make sure you find time to wander round and sample the food does cost money though. As far as Illuminations (Epcot fireworks) goes, we've booked twice to eat at the Rose and Crown and neither time did we get out on the patio. We were able to leave our table and go to a private viewing area, but it's not worth the effort really. Main Street is the best place to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from. We hover around the top of main street by the partners statue, the cast members keep the road clear from people right up until the start of the fireworks and then they will let you stand in the road, it's a great position and much less crowded.

I'm a real planning freak, I consider it part of the holiday! So whenever we go I have a spreadsheet going. I note down which parks have Extra Magic Hours in the morning and evening. Since you're not staying on site you want to avoid the park with EMH as they will be busy.

blue_monkey_2

Lil_Me wrote: »

I'm a real planning freak, I consider it part of the holiday! So whenever we go I have a spreadsheet going. I note down which parks have Extra Magic Hours in the morning and evening. Since you're not staying on site you want to avoid the park with EMH as they will be busy.

LOL. That's me as well - I plan everything I can. Hubby thinks I am nuts..... but never complains when we fit so much in.

Lil_Me_2

blue_monkey wrote: »

LOL. That's me as well - I plan everything I can. Hubby thinks I am nuts..... but never complains when we fit so much in.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!!! Our last holiday (Nov just gone) we went for 3 weeks. I planned everything and as we were on the free dining plan I booked my restaurants in May. Quite sad that I could tell you what I'd probably be eating in 6 months in advance hehe. It's just 2 of us, so we try and fit in a couple of tours whilst we're there but they can be costly if you add kids in too. We did the EPCOT 3D dessert discovery party last time, which was great! Lots of freshly made desserts and wine followed by fireworks.

KarenG

LadyfromVenice wrote: »

Thanks for that. I'm going to diary that date. We don't fly till 27th Oct so we don't really have much choice for the Halloween dates!

We've booked a villa in Kissimmee. TBH hadn't really thought too long and hard about what we are going to do, just going abroad is daunting enough for us . I think we need to sit down with the children and see what they actually want to do and then get back on this thread.

Personally for me I want to see the fireworks over the castle & I hear the Epcot ones are good but it's better to book somewhere to watch them over the lake so tips on this would help. We love animals so Animal Kingdom is a must. We have tickets booked for the parks already. Otherwise I think the word 'everything' really sums it up :eek:

As for budget, obviously I don't want to go silly, but I probably have about £700-£800 for 'extras' ie halloween/christmas/other encounters which won't go far between five of us.

Looking forward to coming back on the thread again. I think my countdown has now started........6 months to go :rotfl:

Hello

I'm going to put forward what may be an unpopular view here!

If it is your first trip, I'd give the Xmas and Hallowe'en Parties at Magic Kingdom a miss.

Not that that aren't great fun - they really are - but you are going to have so much to see and to do I don't think you need to spend extra on the parties (personally). OK, you get free candy, and small queues for the lines (but you're likely to have reasonably short ones anyway at the time of year you are going), and a different parade. But all the parades will be new and exciting to you - do you need another one?

The parties are not cheap and the money you'll spend doing them could possibly be better appreciated on something different?

Just a thought

Lil_Me_2

Not a bad point Karen! We did MVMCP last year and it rained. The stage show was cancelled and the fireworks were almost cancelled. The cookies and hot chocolate were nice, but not worth the cost. I'd possibly say to book MNSSHP tickets (I think the free candy aspect is worth it when you have kids!) and you can always buy MVMCP tickets whilst you're there if you decide you want to. The Nov parties will be fine to get tickets for close to the day.

StuieUK34

Morning all
Would you say its possible to do Busch Gardens and Seaworld in the same day in June ?
My plan is this, get there early and queue to get in for 9am at Busch Gardens.. I'll have the Quick Queue (Fastpass tickets), so we get on the rides 1 after the other hopefully......
Plan would be to leave BG at say 15:30, and then hopefully be parking at 5pm at Seaworld, in the park (with fastpass tickets) and then hang around ready for the 6pm Shamu show.........
And then using the fastpass tickets, get on the 4 main rides they have.... as the park is open until 9pm..

Is that doo-able ?

My other plan is similar, got fastpass tickets for Universal (both parks same day)....
So idea is to get to Universal Studios ready to get in for 9am...... using whatever the fastpass gets u onto, do this that and the other, then leave there say around 1 or 2pm, and then walk across into Islands of Adventure, and using the fastpass, get on all the rides as the park is open until 9pm......

Apart from legache from walking lots! Is it possible to do this ? Were trying to cram in as much as we can in a few days! My drive from Tampa to Orlando would be fast, but not to the point of jail time!
Views please ?

blue_monkey_2

Stuie - Seaworld and BG in a day. Hmmm, I'd say not a chance really unless you only wanted to go on rides. We was at BG and it was quiet, walk on the rides but there is a lot to do. Plus you'll want to eat and let dinner go down. Thinking about it, not all the rides were open at 9am, we waited til 10.30 for some of them to open.

Don't you want to see anything else while you are there? Just go on rides? That would be just 4 hours at SW and we've never seen everything in less than a day. Plus again, you'd have to eat too.

Universal/IOA, yes, we have before.

maemaesmummy

Am thinking about doing the SW Beluga interaction this trip..has anyone done it?

StuieUK34

cheers
re-looking at what i said, i think universal is best for doing in 1 day, then do BG for the day, then do Seaworld on a day, and try and fit in Wet'n'Wild straight after given its open until 9pm
sounds better i guess!

blue_monkey_2

StuieUK34 wrote: »

cheers
re-looking at what i said, i think universal is best for doing in 1 day, then do BG for the day, then do Seaworld on a day, and try and fit in Wet'n'Wild straight after given its open until 9pm
sounds better i guess!

Or you could go to Wet & Wild for the morning, have lunch and then SW in the afternoon, it is just around the corner. It'll be cooler in the morning too. I did not rate W&W as a water park to be honest, we only went once and we'll never go back there.