Florida park tickets and advice

dory10

Hi,

We are travelling to Orlando in June with 5 and 3 yr old.:j Any advice re where to get cheap park tickets and any info on any parks that may not be as suitable...i.e rides with height restrictions, too scary etc would be very welcome. Any must do's/sees? Soooo excited and want to make the most of our time there so trying to plan ahead from this end.
Many thanks in advance.

whiskymincher

Try the following link, should help with info on rides and suitability for the kids. Also lots of information on the Dibb board.
http://www.totalorlando.com/supersearch.html

Crispy_Ambulance

The Dibb is a great resource: https://www.thedibb.co.uk - lots of info about parks, rides etc and the forums can be very helpful.

There is a lot of walking involved - it may be a good idea to take/hire pushchairs for the kids, or at least the little one. I don't have a lot of experience, having only been once, but I would say don't try to do too much and take lots of breaks. We saw lots of families with small kids having meltdowns, possible because everyone was exhausted and hot. Some of the shows are pretty scary for little ones - you know your children better and what kinds of things will scare them. Don't go on the Stitch ride at Magic Kingdom as it is scary for little ones and it sucks!

Have a lovely time!

heavensbug

Hi,

First off you will have a great time.

We have been the last couple of years with our twins who are now 5 and they loved it.

Couple of tips.

Get your tickets for Disney from the UK site before you go. It is cheaper with the usual 14 for 7 price and you get the park hopper and water parks thrown in.

Not sure if you will use them but they are there if you want them.

When you are there the biggest tip I have been given and used is on your first day go to a Walmart and buy a cooler bag. Disney do not worry about size of them.

Then while you are there buy bottled water and can's of drink etc that you want in the park. Store them in your hotel room and load up the cooler at the start of the day.

24 bottles of water is $5 ish
24 cans of pepsi for instance is something like $10
1 Drink in disney of Pepsi is $4.
1 bottle of water was $3.

Prices may of changed but you get the idea.

It is a huge saving and you get all drink and not 3/4 cup ice.

We usually spend the first day aclimatising and picking up drinks and snacks to take into the parks with you.

We will then have Breakfast at the hotel, then head to the park for most of the day. Usually grabbing a quick outlet food chicken nuggets etc for lunch and then snack rest of the day until we leave the park.

We then head to Buena Vista on the way home for food as it is soo much cheaper and nicer.

But that is our own personal preference. You may be on a dining plan etc dependant on who and where you are staying.

But we have found the most expensive is the food and drink.

When you get into the park go to customer services (Town hall on the left in Magic Kingdom) and get a map from there. They used to do one for under 5's which showed all the best rides without height restrictions.

As you leave the town hall also go to the door in the middle as there is a cart where you can get free badges.

Thinks like 1st visit, Birthday etc. We always pick up Birthday badges as our twins birthday is usually within a few weeks and its great fun walking around the park as every cast member wishes you a happy birthday etc.

All good fun.

A lot has changed this year with the opening of the new fantasy land bit so I can't really suggest best thing with character meets as they have all moved around.

Fast pass is really useful though and you can get those for Mickey Mouse and the Princesses.

Surprisingly the standby line to see the princesses is usually bigger than the line for Mickey Mouse but the princesses are now in fantasy land.

Not sure who is in place of them at the beginning of main street.

Also a little known one is if you are there in the morning walk from the castle front to adventure land. As you are walking over the bridge keep your eye out as Peter Pan is usually "Flying" around there.

If you need a rest the steam train that goes around the park is great and can be really good fun to just sit on. Think it takes about 30 minutes to do a loop.

Kids will love it and you can rest your weary feet.

You will do lot of walking. We estimate that we walk about 10 miles in a day. But you will not notice it.

If hubby is into star wars the star wars weekends are taking part start of June at Hollywood studios.

This is really cool to see as they have things like the storm trooper parade and some of the actores like chewbacca etc in the park.

If you are not that into star wars avoid hollywood studios at the weekend as it is jam packed.

The weekdays are much quieter.

When in hollywood studios try and do the character meet in the art of animation area in the hottest part of the day. The characters are all in a big air conditioned room and that can be great for getting you out of the sun.

Epcot is great fun. We usually spend a lot of time over at the living seas and go and talk to crash a few times.

Its a big interactive thing and gets a bit repetitive to the parents but the kids don't notice and love it.

Again all inside so nicely air conditioned.

The land is also quite cool. Most people go for soarin but don't realise on the other side is a boat ride which can take you through the green houses where you can see everything being grown for te restaurant above you.

Also in epcot when you walk in walk past the golf ball as we call it. As you are getting to the golf ball look to your right. Daisy duck and Stich are usually there.

When you then pass through the golf ball there is a fountain in front of you.

Just to the right is a glass double door and in there are all the main characters.

Usually about a 30 minute wait but you get to see Mickey, Minnie, goofy, pluto, and donald.

Also don't forget there is a gentle ride in the golfball at epcot. Usually huge queues during the day but as you walk out about an hour to 2 hours before closing it is usually empty so we make this our last stop rather than our first stop like most people do.

That is all I can think off the top of my head. I am sure I will think of more but each family has there own way of doing things.

Martin's article from last year is an interesting read here. A few place to check cheap ticket prices for. If you are going to universal then Maple leaf tickets looks quite good for those but I have never used them before.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-disney-florida-theme-parks

Enjoy!