Travel Advice: Orlando, Florida - June 2-9

[wooohooo]

Hey everyone,

We (Myself, wife and 1 year old baby) + another couple are going to Orlando for a week. We plan to hit up Disney, Universal, Space Center, and possibly SeaWorld and Busch Gardens in Tampa.

The flights we're looking are at midnight going to Toronto and arriving in the afternoon. Is this a brutal flight or would it be more advisable to go later in the day and get in really late?

How many days at each park? Is it a bad idea for a 1 year old to go? Any other ideas of where to live and eat?

Thanks!

[mrkajz44]

Flights: I never take the red-eye - I always feel awful for the first few days of the trip. I would recommend just spending a day on travel there, with a flight in the morning, and arriving in the evening. You won't notice a big difference between arriving at 2pm (via red eye) and 10pm (via 8am flight)

Disney: Full experience should be at least one day for each park. You can probably hit one waterpark and miss the other. However, with a 1 year old, it might not be worth your time to do that. Stick with the Magic Kingdom which has a large kids area - the 1 year old will not really benefit much from the other parks IMO

[Bigtime]

There is the non-stop WestJet option. Departs YYC 9:55am and arrives into MCO at 4:54pm. Flight 1416.

[Fuzz]

Yup, nothing good ever comes out of flying through Toronto.

[jeffporfirio]

As mentioned, the WestJet flight is your best option, we have also taken United through IAH.

Where to stay:
In Orlando. We tend to avoid the Kissimmee hotels, as its hectic and loud. There are some really nice hotels in Lake Mary (abt 30 mins NW of Orlando).

Where to go with Young kids (ages 2 -6):

Parks:
Universal: Islands of Adventure instead of Universal Studios
Disney: Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

1 day at each park should suffice with young kids and it's better to not do them consecutively, as its a long (hot and extremely humid) day.

Other places to go:

Orlando: The Children's science center is awesome for young kids (also very cheap)

Tampa: Skip Busch Gardens if traveling with young kids as most of the attractions are roller coaster types.
Go to Lowry Park Zoo instead, besides San Diego, it's probably the best Zoo I have ever been to, and it has tons of areas suitable for toddlers.
The Florida Aquarium in Tampa is also really good for young kids.

When driving to Tampa on I-4 there is also a really neat and small Dinosaur park halfway there (in Plant City me thinks)


Last resort for an off day.
The Chuck'E Cheese in Altamonte (20 mins NW of Orlando) is dead on weekdays, and there are some outlet stores close to UCF that are too far for the tourist crowd that the wives can go to.

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

Hey everyone,

We (Myself, wife and 1 year old baby) + another couple are going to Orlando for a week. We plan to hit up Disney, Universal, Space Center, and possibly SeaWorld and Busch Gardens in Tampa.

The flights we're looking are at midnight going to Toronto and arriving in the afternoon. Is this a brutal flight or would it be more advisable to go later in the day and get in really late?

How many days at each park? Is it a bad idea for a 1 year old to go? Any other ideas of where to live and eat?

Thanks!

One week is not enough time for all that. We have been 3 times in the last 7 years and there is still stuff we want to see.

Disney has 4 parks alone

Space Center is about an hour away and we have never been.

Universal has 2 parks but with the hopper pass you can do both in one day.

I have never been to Seaworld.

With a 1 year old you are also at the mercy of their nap schedule which limits your time.

I would plan what you really want to see and don't try to cram it all in. There is too much and you will be too exhausted to see it all.

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

There is the non-stop WestJet option. Departs YYC 9:55am and arrives into MCO at 4:54pm. Flight 1416.

Unfortunately I think that non-stop option ends on April 30th. I couldn't find it anywhere and on the westjet site it said it was until April 30th.

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by Mccree

One week is not enough time for all that. We have been 3 times in the last 7 years and there is still stuff we want to see.

Disney has 4 parks alone

Space Center is about an hour away and we have never been.

Universal has 2 parks but with the hopper pass you can do both in one day.

I have never been to Seaworld.

With a 1 year old you are also at the mercy of their nap schedule which limits your time.

I would plan what you really want to see and don't try to cram it all in. There is too much and you will be too exhausted to see it all.

Yeah, I think maybe we're being too ambitious. Our original plan was
Day 1 - Disney
Day 2 - Space Center
Day 3 - Disney
Day 4 - Universal
Day 5 - Beach/Outlet malls
Day 6 - Sea World
Day 7 - Busch Gardens

Side note: We did Universal and Disney in LA last year - are both of these completely different that skipping out on them would be fine?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

Unfortunately I think that non-stop option ends on April 30th. I couldn't find it anywhere and on the westjet site it said it was until April 30th.

Ah nuts, google flights was lying to me.

[spetch]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

Unfortunately I think that non-stop option ends on April 30th. I couldn't find it anywhere and on the westjet site it said it was until April 30th.

The non-stop option is still there we are leaving on Saturday direct. I've noticed its only offered on Saturday’s. I checked you dates and it works as well. The red-eye sucks so try an avoid it. We do it every year for our golf trip and it sucks everytime, I couldn't imagine it with kids.

[CliffFletcher]

We recently booked a vacation in Orlando. The on-resort Disney hotels weren't in our budget, but there are several nearby hotels with Official Walt Disney World hotel status. That means they get most of the same perks as a Disney resort hotel (FastPass access, transportation, extended hours) at a much lower cost. We found a good deal on a hotel with big suites just a 5-min walk from Disney Springs. Worth looking into.

There are an insane number of online resources for planning a trip to Disney. Youtube channels, websites, blogs, etc. I found these especially useful:

https://touringplans.com

http://www.disneytouristblog.com

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

Unfortunately I think that non-stop option ends on April 30th. I couldn't find it anywhere and on the westjet site it said it was until April 30th.

We booked a direct flight for November. Maybe call WestJet.

[Amethyst]

I often take the red-eye to Toronto and a connecting flight in the morning to various Caribbean islands. Every year I do it, I hate it and think "Never again." Then I do other things for a few years and when I start thinking about it again, I think it's not that bad. But every time it is. If you can avoid that flight, especially with a child, do not take the red eye.

[marsplasticeraser]

OK, I'm gonna be a negative nelly. Sorry in advance, but from experience your plan to go to inland Florida in summer is suboptimal.

First of all, the red-eye will be horrible. Your little one may get the best rest ironically, but on the lap she/he may be awake all night. you will all be cranky and sleep deprived when you finally get there. It will suck!

Secondly, Inland Florida can be hot and wet and generally unpleasant...in September or October. I can't imagine what the heat and humidity in June would be like, though I've heard it's punishment. We've been twice with 35C+ with 95% humidity. We lasted about 90 minutes at Disney, and were thankful it wasn't busy so we were almost always on a ride for those 90 minutes. You're signing on for unbearable heat that will make you not want to go outside.

The final issue is that you'll be swarmed with the crowds when you want to go. Here's a crowd calendar (https://www.undercovertourist.com/or...dar/June-2018/). We have found a level 4 or 5 to be about the longest waits we can tolerate. You'll spend all your time waiting in line.

Ultimately, it will be scorching hot, unpleasantly humid, expensive and you'll be outside in lines each day, lucky to get on a half-dozen rides a day.

Suggestion 1 - If you're going to florida in June skip the parks and go to the beach, where the heat is manageable and you aren't standing in line at a theme park all day.

Suggestion 2 - Go somewhere else entirely. Basically June is one of the best times of the year to travel. Almost any place is exceptional in US and Canada except for a band from inland Florida / Louisiana across the south to Joshua Tree in California, where it's entered inferno-summertime. .

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by marsplasticeraser

Ultimately, it will be scorching hot, unpleasantly humid

That's actually the state motto.

[getbak]

I've done the Toronto red-eye connecting to Barbados, and I wouldn't recommend it if you have the choice.

The last time I went to Orlando, WestJet hadn't started their direct flights yet. My sister and her family have a Disney Vacation Club timeshare at Disney World, so they go almost every year and they always take the direct flight. They wouldn't go any other way.

I have connected through Denver, Chicago, and Houston going to Orlando. Chicago was the worst because it was O'Hare in January. I've flown out of O'Hare four or five times and never left on time. I would choose to connect through Denver or Houston ahead of Toronto. Another advantage is that if you connect through the US, you'll go through US Customs in Calgary, but if you connect in YYZ, you'll have to go through that hassle there.



As for Orlando itself, I'd ditch SeaWorld and Busch Gardens from the plan if you only have a week.

The SeaWorld in San Diego is better than Orlando, and it gives you a reason to go to San Diego if you haven't been. Busch Gardens is a weird mix of zoo and roller coaster park. If anyone in your group are coaster junkies, it might be worth the trip, but otherwise, not so much. Now that they're no longer owned by Anheuser-Busch, I don't think they even have the free beer anymore.

Kennedy is interesting if you're at all interested in the space program. They have both an old Saturn V rocket (MASSIVE!) and one of the retired Space Shuttles on display. It's not really a full day's worth of stuff. I'd think about combining it with your beach/outlet mall trip.

I would spend the bulk of the time at Disney and Universal. They are very different from what they have in California.

Unfortunately, many of the Southern States will already be on their school vacations at the beginning of June, so it will be summer crowd levels, which means spending a lot of time in line. Look into how the Fastpass system at WDW and Express Pass system at Universal work. That will help cut down on time spent in line. Since you have an infant who won't be able to go on a lot of rides, also look into parent-swap where the adults wait in line together, one parent waits with the child while the other rides, then once the first parent is done, they swap the kid and the other parent rides.


For your hotel, stay at one of the Disney resorts if you can. They come in all price levels, and factor in the cost of parking when comparing the hotel price with off-property hotels. If you stay on-property, there is free transportation all around the Disney World property (which is the size of a large city) and free parking at the parks if you want. If you stay on-property, they also offer "Extra Magic Hours" where each day one of the parks either opens early or closes later just for people staying on-property. I liked the late opening nights because as a Calgarian, my clock was 2 hours behind Orlando, so a 9:00pm closing time felt like 7:00.


If you do one day each at the 4 Disney parks and 2 Universal Parks, and one day for Kennedy/Beaches/Shopping, you've filled up your week.

[Fuzz]

My worst flight through Toronto was Cuba to Toronto on the time change day, where I got to spend my extra hour stuck in the terminal with nothing open waiting an extra hour for my 6am flight. Worst bonus hour day ever.

[#-3]

We did 5 days at Disney a couple years ago with Grandma and 2 young kids,

2 at MK and 1 at all the other parks. Stayed in one of their hotels, didn't pay to rent a car, didn't pay to park (it made up for the cost of the hotel).

I'd say with entering the parks an hour early every day we did about 70% of all the rides/shows at Disney and met about 3 characters / day.

If you are going to skip the character visits and the slow rides that are basically repeats of California, they you can probably get a pretty complete Disney experience out of Orlando in 3 days, but we didn't stop for minute or repeat anything in the 5 days, not sure how you could even attempt it all in two days. (Their fast pass system is pretty important, you should register tickets and fast pass 3 rides, 30 days before your first day in the park.)

For a 1 year old, the evening parade and light show would be pretty good, if you do it on the first day its only 7/8pm our time. Animal Kingdom was the best park, Raft Ride/Safari/Lion King show were all very good, we missed out on Avatar by a little over a year I think.

[Calgary14]

The worst flight experiences I've had always involve a connection in Toronto.

[Northendzone]

When we went to Disney, my daughter was about 6 months old. We scrapped nap time and she just slept in the stroller. It was just awkward to leave the park to let her nap.