orlando firstimer

[HARRISPAUL]

my family are going to orlando in february,can anyone give us any tips or itinerary suggestions?.thankyou.

[xanderma]

There's so much to say - too much to type here! I can recommend 2 books - 'Birmbaum's Walt Disney World' and 'Brit's Guide to Orlando and Walt Disney World' by Simon Veness, both available on Amazon. In particular, the Brit's Guide gives great advice and itineraries for all of Orlando, I can't put it down!!

Hope this helps, and have a great time

[vehelpfulguy]

My tips is to not automatically go to the Disney parks but consider the Universal Studios parks.

Universal Studios tickets are much cheaper than Disney, and they have same great parks.

Universal have two parks, next to each other, called Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Both are great parks.

They also have a deal with two other nearby parks, Sea World and Wet and wild (water park).

You can buy a joint ticket for these 4 parks that is MUCH cheaper than the Disney equivalent.

See here, you can buy a 4 park ticket that covers you for 14 days for less than 200 dollars (adult).

http://www.universalorlando.com/uk/tickets.htm l

You can buy a 5 park ticket that covers Busch Gardens as well but this park is in Tampa, quite a long way away.

[vehelpfulguy]

Follow on from append above.

Here are the Disney tickets, note a 14 day ticket is �173 for an adult. So it is almost as much in pounds for a Disney ticket as it is in Dollars for a 14 day Universal ticket.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdwi/en_GB/ti ckets/ticketsUKTickets?id=UKTicketsPage

[vehelpfulguy]

One tip, it can get very tiring going from park to park each day so plan your days carefully.

We alternated from a ride based theme park one day to a more restful park the next.

We had a 1 week Universal Ticket and did as follows:

Day 1 - Universal Studios
Day 2 - Sea World (more restful)
Day 3 - Islands of Adventure (great park)
Day 4 - Wet and Wild (restful again)
Day 5 - Universal Studios (second tme)
Day 6 - Sea World (second time)
Day 7 - Island of Adventure (second time)

For our second week we did a couple of the Disney parks:- Epcot and Animal Kingdom.

You dont say if your holiday is a week or two weeks, but whatever it is, you will not see it all so dont try to cram it all in.

[vehelpfulguy]

As you drive round you may see some amazing Crazy Golf sites.

They are nothing like the crap ones you get in the UK and they can be great fun if there is a group of you.

They stay open to well into the evening, I remember playing one about 10:30 at night.

Some of them are like film sets, here are two examples

http://www.sevenpleasures.org/albums/Tiki-Isla nd-Volcano/IMG_5331.sized.jpg

http://www.goorlandocard.com/attractions/image s/congo_river_orlando.jpg

[vehelpfulguy]

One great place is Old Town in Kissimmee.

It is like a 1950s high street and there are shops and fairground rides. You also get bands playing and so on. It is like being in the film Grease.

It is nothing to get in, here is the web site (seems to take a time to load)
http://www.old-town.com/

Some nights they have a parade of old 1950s cars, and there are HUNDREDS of them.

It is not every night so check carefully.

It can get crowded there so get there early.

More about car show
http://www.old-town.com/classic.html

[vehelpfulguy]

BEWARE of FREE DISNEY Ticket offers.

They have loads of free giveaway tourist magazines giving you money off vouchers for meals and shows.

In these magazines, and stuck on lamp posts, are offers of free Disney tickets.

These are only given out if you go and visit a timeshare.

They take you to the middle of nowhere and keep you there for hours trying to sell you a timeshare.

There is no such thing as free Disney tickets so dont fall for them.

[The Mack]

With regard to vehelpfulguy comments. The point of going to Orlando is not really to save money. Its about having fun! If you have say, a five year old your not going to do much in both of the Universal parks or Busch. How much money have you saved over disney then?

[parkers]

Hi,

We went in October for just a week this time, which isn't really long enough as it is very tiring..
We have a 7 yr old daughter who by 2pm most days had had enough and just wanted to be in the pool.
We went to -
Discovery Cove - pricey, but SO worth it... once in a lifetime experience. Plus you get a free day at Seaworld..
Magic Kingdom - the night time fireworks display is amazing if you can deal with the crowds
MGM - ok, but not too much to do
Typhoon Lagoon - twice, as we loved it so much
Blizzard Beach - good, but no where near as good as the above.
Depending on where you are staying and if you have a car or not the i-ride is useful, which runs along International drive and costs next to nothing, and runs all evening.
If you are going for more than a week, I would suggest you have a couple of days 'by the pool' to relax... You are up and out very early to make the most of it, so inevitably you are very tired.. The crazy golf is a nice way to spend the evenings, and they are much better than anything I have seen in the UK. Food wise - our fav was Tony Roma's..
Have fun

[handygran]

I would say Discovery Cove is a must. �150 per person, lunch included and soft drinks as well. Swim with the dolphins, go in a pool with the Rays and many other species. A fantastic day.