Disney & Florida

[JillA 2]

You can definitely find places to eat, but just fast food type places. Without reservations, you likely won't get into a sit down place, you'd have to go off disney for that.

[Sprailenes 47]

Oh but I suggest doing ONE day at Epcot for a nice dinner and to eat at the Japan pavilion. It is SO good!

[DeadPoolX 9]

Oh but I suggest doing ONE day at Epcot for a nice dinner and to eat at the Japan pavilion. It is SO good!

I'd stay away from the Canadian Pavilion though. It's somewhat cheesy.

[Sprailenes 47]

Oh but I suggest doing ONE day at Epcot for a nice dinner and to eat at the Japan pavilion. It is SO good!

I'd stay away from the Canadian Pavilion though. It's somewhat cheesy.

It is pretty bad, though when I went down I enjoyed buying a ####### load of aero bars.

[SapphireDreams 71]

With your 3-day passes you can go to one park each day - but if you want to go to a different park on the same day, you have to get a park hopper option, which costs a bit more. We personally found that 1 park per day was more than enough!

Also, the 4 day or 5 day passes are not very much more than a 3 day and are worth getting if you are going to be there for a week.

A lot of the off-disney hotels have shuttles to Disney, but keep in mind a lot of them cost extra and are not free... so it might be worthwhile to drive if you are bringing your car. Might end up being cheaper for the 3 of you to just pay for parking than pay for 3 people on the shuttle bus.

[MapleLeafBaby 1]

With your 3-day passes you can go to one park each day - but if you want to go to a different park on the same day, you have to get a park hopper option, which costs a bit more. We personally found that 1 park per day was more than enough!

Also, the 4 day or 5 day passes are not very much more than a 3 day and are worth getting if you are going to be there for a week.

A lot of the off-disney hotels have shuttles to Disney, but keep in mind a lot of them cost extra and are not free... so it might be worthwhile to drive if you are bringing your car. Might end up being cheaper for the 3 of you to just pay for parking than pay for 3 people on the shuttle bus.

Good call, I never thought about the shuttle cost vs. Parking.

I wonder if the water park there is better than staying at Nick Hotel? May end up being same money if we stay there for 5 days or go to the other hotel.

I figure after 3 days maybe my son and mom will be pooped, we can then stay on the beach for 4-5 days to recoup.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Great thread! Bill and I are headed to Florida August 7th for our honeymoon. I love It... but I am and always will be a kid at heart! The heat won't be the best... But Disney has a lot more indoor attractions then you find at a lot of other amusement parks. Get one of those mister water bottles to spray around, it helps! I don't think it will be that bad in June... I went a couple years ago in May and the weather was perfect.

We're staying here: http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/ORLI...CVBP4CSGBIY2VCQ

Bill's parents have a timeshare, and the honeymoon is a gift from them. But for a kid, there is nothing like staying in Disney! My sister took her two kids in March and they stayed in the animal kingdom resort and loved it! It all depends on what your son is into, and how much you'd like to spend on a room. Disney also makes it very easy for you to travel between parks, and between resorts and parks, so it is quite convenient. However if you're driving down you'll have your car anyways, so maybe staying outside the park would be more economical.

Speaking of Disney and Florida, what are some nice beaches in the area? I wanted to spend at least 1 day at the beach relaxing.

[CBR 0]

You can find excellent info from Disney veterans at www.intercot.com. If you have any weird specific question about anything Disney related you're sure to get a speedy accurate response on their message boards. Check out their "info central" tab for tips on traveling with children, what to pack, how to survive the heat, etc... Excellent tips are to be found here!! Oh they also have tips for non-disney stuff too.

I'm admittedly a Disney freak. I always stay onsite and if you're going for at least 4 days I'd highly recommend it. It's not expensive if you stay at a value or moderate. I would not consider anything else ever (just my opinion). They have free dining offers going right now (not sure how far into summer it's currently running) and it's a great value, but as others have stated...if you don't reserve seating at the table service restaurants ahead of time it's nearly impossible once you're there (not impossible though). There are plenty of counter service eateries too, but the lines can be long at some in the summer.

By the way I went during July 4th week one year, took advantage or early entry and late extra magic hours (have to be an onsite guest to participate, but it's free), and the fast-passes and really never waited longer than 30 minutes for any ride. If plan ahead and know what you're doing, you don't spend much time in lines. When you stay onsite, you can easily take a midday break at your hotel, nap or swim and come back refreshed. We never noticed the heat during our July trip.

If you or anyone in your group is celebrating a birthday, anniversary, recently married ... stop at City Hall in Magic Kingdom and get them a free pin. The results can be awesome. Haunted mansion & Pirates of the Caribbean are my favorites...good places to cool off in summer too!

Get fast passes for Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios FIRST THING. They run out of them during the morning and then the lines are uber long. This ride is so much fun!!

Wait until later in the day to check out Spaceship Earth (the big ball) at Epcot. Lines will be non-existent later. Don't miss Soarin'.

I'm just gonna stop here because I could go on and on!

(PS: CBR stands for Caribbean Beach Resort...where hubby proposed and where we also spent our honeymoon...the pic is us at Animal Kingdom and I'm wearing a Disney tshirt...yes I'm a Disney geek!)

Edited May 19, 2009 by CBR

[CBR 0]

Great thread! Bill and I are headed to Florida August 7th for our honeymoon. I love It... but I am and always will be a kid at heart! The heat won't be the best... But Disney has a lot more indoor attractions then you find at a lot of other amusement parks. Get one of those mister water bottles to spray around, it helps! I don't think it will be that bad in June... I went a couple years ago in May and the weather was perfect.

We're staying here: http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/ORLI...CVBP4CSGBIY2VCQ

Bill's parents have a timeshare, and the honeymoon is a gift from them. But for a kid, there is nothing like staying in Disney! My sister took her two kids in March and they stayed in the animal kingdom resort and loved it! It all depends on what your son is into, and how much you'd like to spend on a room. Disney also makes it very easy for you to travel between parks, and between resorts and parks, so it is quite convenient. However if you're driving down you'll have your car anyways, so maybe staying outside the park would be more economical.

Speaking of Disney and Florida, what are some nice beaches in the area? I wanted to spend at least 1 day at the beach relaxing.

Here's some beach info to start with:

Florida Beaches

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Thanks CBR!

[FormelyCA 0]

Not to hijack your thread Poprocks But, what exactly ARE timeshares? Are there different "types"? I don't get it.

We went to a meeting for one and I didn't understand why one would want to do it? But they seem quite popular!! Aren't you essentially paying for future vacations? So, say, $20,000 upfront for vacations in the coming years? And you can use them in multiple destinations as long as it is the same company? How much does the avg timeshare cost?? Do you own the land??

So many q's!! If anyone can spend a few mins giving me the gist I would love to know the enticement towards them!

Edited May 19, 2009 by FormelyCA

[RYCK 0]

TIME SHARES

It's usually a place owned by a group of people and you are alloted a certain amount of time to go use it .. some have a week per year some are more depending on what you get into .... it's almost like paying for a hotel for life ... but can only go there when it's your timeframe .. otherwise another family will be in there .. theres some more to it than that but thats the jist of it

Edited May 19, 2009 by RYCK

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Time share with like the Hilton and the Sheraton are a little different, or so it seems. I didn't get it either but Bill and his mother tried to explain it to me! Basically they pay x amount of dollars a year for a certain amount of years, and with that they get a certain number of "points" they can use to go on vacations every year. There are select Hilton resorts around the world that they can redeem their points at, and each resort costs a certain amount of points depending on its location/popularity/size etc. The good thing, is that they only have to pay on it for so many years, and they are members for life... or for a long time anyways. If you travel a lot, or plan to travel a lot in the future, it seems worth it, otherwise probably not.

[MapleLeafBaby 1]

So I booked....

We are staying at the Disney Movie theme hotel for 4 nights, 3 days in Disney. Then we are going to the Nickelodeon Hotel for 3 nights (my son is obsessed with anything Sponge Bob or Fairly Odd Parents...don't ask lol), so he really wants to go there. Because my mom is coming, I was able to take advantage of a 'Grandparents' theme package lol! Then from there we are headed to Clearwater and staying at the Hilton on the beach...it is across from the Pier and has a huge playground... so i'm hoping with all that, my son will be kept busy lol!

When we get back, he goes for schooling assessment to see if they will fast track him...as he finished the grade, but in the US, he does not meet the age cut off... i'll be bummed if he has to do K again.... hoping Disney does not fry his brain too much! HAHA!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, it really helped

i've yet to book any meals etc....

where can I do that? I think we will do the 'hopper' pass, as we will do Magical K and Epcot for sure...any other recommendations for little kids?

[OBX 51]

So I booked....

We are staying at the Disney Movie theme hotel for 4 nights, 3 days in Disney. Then we are going to the Nickelodeon Hotel for 3 nights (my son is obsessed with anything Sponge Bob or Fairly Odd Parents...don't ask lol), so he really wants to go there. Because my mom is coming, I was able to take advantage of a 'Grandparents' theme package lol! Then from there we are headed to Clearwater and staying at the Hilton on the beach...it is across from the Pier and has a huge playground... so i'm hoping with all that, my son will be kept busy lol!

When we get back, he goes for schooling assessment to see if they will fast track him...as he finished the grade, but in the US, he does not meet the age cut off... i'll be bummed if he has to do K again.... hoping Disney does not fry his brain too much! HAHA!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, it really helped

i've yet to book any meals etc....

where can I do that? I think we will do the 'hopper' pass, as we will do Magical K and Epcot for sure...any other recommendations for little kids?

A word of advice about the Hilton. We have stayed there three times over the past four years. Great hotel, beautiful beach but beware when choosing your rooms. You definitely want to be on the side facing the parking lot. Sounds odd but you will still be able to see the gulf and the bay. The other side of the building overlooks very loud air-conditioning units. In fact if you are not above the at least the third level of rooms you will look out onto these units. Not pleasant as we found out our first year there! So check your room location first and if you are not satisfied they are generally willing to relocate you. Have a great trip!

Edited May 20, 2009 by OBX