Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

123budget

We are going to orlando for 2 weeks in august. We have been before but it was a long time ago.

Our children are now older and not too fussed about the 'disney experience' but do want to do Busch gardens, IofA and Great Universal,prob Sea World, but also Blizzard Beach as thats their fave water park. Any suggestions for the best way to buy tickets?
My other half says leave it till we're there and buy tickets at the gate for the parks so we are free-er to choose what we do each day and can include fast track if we want it, however I think this is a more expensive this way and thought of the Orlando flex ticket then just getting disney parks if we fancy it while we are there. Can we get 1 day tickets before we go or has anyone else got any advice?

vivatifosi

guitarman001 wrote: »

What's the cheapest/best way of getting to and from the Kennedy Space Centre from International Drive? Tickets seem to be ~£20+, but with transportation included, £54+?
Perhaps an independent coach there?

http://www.orlando-ticket-deals.co.uk/kennedy-space-center/kennedy-space-center-transportation

At that price if the party is big enough it may be cheaper just to hire a car for the day. That way you also get to go there when you want and come back when you fancy.

If you get there soon, they currently have both the Atlantis and Endeavour shuttles on display in the Vehicle Assembly Building (additional cost tour, not the standard one). This is very rare and Idon't know how much longer it will be for.

Stoffy

123budget wrote: »

We are going to orlando for 2 weeks in august. We have been before but it was a long time ago.

Our children are now older and not too fussed about the 'disney experience' but do want to do Busch gardens, IofA and Great Universal,prob Sea World, but also Blizzard Beach as thats their fave water park. Any suggestions for the best way to buy tickets?
My other half says leave it till we're there and buy tickets at the gate for the parks so we are free-er to choose what we do each day and can include fast track if we want it, however I think this is a more expensive this way and thought of the Orlando flex ticket then just getting disney parks if we fancy it while we are there. Can we get 1 day tickets before we go or has anyone else got any advice?

I'd advise to get the flexticket. Don't forget, you're going at possibly the busiest time of year and may wish to (or need to) visit the same park more than once if you don't get a chance to do what you want. Plus, you have the peace of mind of having it all paid for in advance if you book over here.

tori.k

123budget wrote: »

We are going to orlando for 2 weeks in august. We have been before but it was a long time ago.

Our children are now older and not too fussed about the 'disney experience' but do want to do Busch gardens, IofA and Great Universal,prob Sea World, but also Blizzard Beach as thats their fave water park. Any suggestions for the best way to buy tickets?
My other half says leave it till we're there and buy tickets at the gate for the parks so we are free-er to choose what we do each day and can include fast track if we want it, however I think this is a more expensive this way and thought of the Orlando flex ticket then just getting disney parks if we fancy it while we are there. Can we get 1 day tickets before we go or has anyone else got any advice?

Flex tickets plus are £188 if your not planning on going to wet& wild and Aquatica it would be slightly cheaper to do a couple of 14 day 2 park passes Universal& IOA and Seaworld & busch at £173 ( £94 & £79) Blizzard beach will cost you $90 on the gate for the day.
To pay on the gate for one day at each of the above you will be looking at £290 PP

blue_monkey_2

We paid $180 for 2 ad 2 kids to get into BB about a year ago. We forgot our tickets so we bought them on the gate and Disney refunded them on production of our Ultimates back at the hotel.

tori.k

Your right Blue-monkey BB is $52 & $41 not $90 & $84 like MK, The price of park tickets is the stuff of nightmares. im so glad my teenagers love busch gardens and dont want to do WDW saves about 1K off the price of our holiday

blue_monkey_2

I am not sure if this interest anyone who might be in the throws of planning.

We are fitting 2 nights in at St Petes beach now - driving to BG for the day - getting there early so we can get the all day meal deal inc breakfast, yum!! Might go on a couple of rides first though - barf, LOL. Will fill up on foods and sneak some cake back to the hotel for the night.

After leaving BG at closing time we are going onto St Petes Beach for 2 nights. We are spending the next day going on a snorkelling/shelling trip, it goes from right behind our chosen hotel (Dolphin Beach) so no driving, then in the afternoon going Dolphin watching or on the Sea Life Nature Cruise, going to see Winter and then watching the sun go down in the evening.

The next day we check out and drive back to Kissimmee going via to Legoland and having the day there.

Feels like all the plans are finally coming together and I am so excited about heading down to the beach. Having heard it is like a warm bath I have expectations though, LOL. Feels weird to be going away from Orlando area as we have never done that before, but the trips look amazing so we are excited about going on those. We are looking at chartering our own little boat and captain for the snorkelling trip at the moment and am waiting for a reply from one company, the difference in prices are minimal and he will go where we want so if there are dolphins around, we can just sit and watch them swim around. Sounds idyllic!! 2 weeks is not going to be enough now. Am definitely doing a week at the beach next time.

blue_monkey_2

tori.k wrote: »

Your right Blue-monkey BB is $52 & $41 not $90 & $84 like MK, The price of park tickets is the stuff of nightmares. im so glad my teenagers love busch gardens and dont want to do WDW saves about 1K off the price of our holiday

I do not think I could even consider playing that price if we did not have the Ultimates to be honest. It was only because they said we could have our money back when we got back. It was a lot of money for a water park and you could do so much more with $200.

To the person who wanted BB - if you have the SW or IOA tickets, why not add the extra park on and go to Aquatica or Wet & Wild in, instead?

Kaz2904

I think Bluemonkey's right here.
We ordered our tickets yesterday from attraction tickets direct (no credit card fees, 10% deposit with balance due 4 weeks before travel, discounts for larger groups etc) and they will price match. There are 9 of us going but for our family of 4 we got the 5 park combo ticket which is Universal studios and IoA, Busch gardens, Sea World and Aquatica; we also got admission badges to Kennedy space center (adults at kids prices) and ADR for Pirates adventure show and meal. We got the full ticket insurance package and the whole lot cost £895. DD is 10 so adult price for the 5 park combo but child price for all of the others.
We will buy our boggy creek airboat tickets when we're out there and do the same for our Daytona beach nascar whatsit when we're there.

Very very excited now, it's all becoming more real (especially the having to pay for it all malarky :eek:!).
Now need to get my extras booked in at work to pay for some spending money

blue_monkey_2

When are you going Kaz?

Another thing, Virgin Holidays Concierge service have Blue Man Group tickets up for $59 ad and £26.50 for kids. Apparently we are going to be 4 rows from the front. It is on their concierge site - collect them from the airport and you *should* be able to get your early entry Harry Potter tickets at the same time.