First time in florida

[K Walshe]

Hi all, this will be our first time in florida so any help will be great.
9 in total goin two familys and 2 friends We have flights and villa booked so only need to get tickets and car hire booked.

1 Is it easy to drive in florida if its your first time, We are from ireland so we do no its the other side of the road. Any tips with driving.

2. Villa location , is in highlands reserve so any info on the area and whats the driving distance to universal as will spend most of our time there with the youngest being 16 and thinking about buying the flexticket also will do seaworld etc.Might give disney a miss but may do one day to say we were there.

3 Bars, noing the legal age is 21 will any bars let kids age 16-18 in with parents. Any names on the bars that would let them in would help

4. Restraunts, any info on nice restraunts.

5. Tipping, herd that most places taxis etc expect tips, what would you normally tip in a restraunt etc

Any other info will help so much.

Thanks for your time.

Keith

[Sean_and_Sue]

Can't help with them all hun, but can say...........

with regard to driving - I haven't the nerve - but DH claims it takes only a short time to get use to the differences, and is easy once you have the hang of it:D

Restaurants ............I have 3 kids, a DH and a Mil I travel with - two of the kids, and Mil are very fussy - the rest of us are more adventurous regarding food - good value meals off site - for breakfast, Sizzlers - an all you can eat buffet, for 6 of us, around $40, including extra drinks and newspaper. We also really enjoyed and found Cracker Barrel good value:D For Dinner (after the brekkies you get there, don't worry about more than a snack for lunch! ) the following gave both good value and great food, with a good selection for old and young, fussy eaters and those that are more adventurous - price wise - $90 to $130 for 6, including 2 rounds of drinks, for a minimum of a two course meal..................Bennigans, Red Lobster, Chillis, The Outback Steakhouse, and Bahama Breeze. Also read fab reports on Sweet Tomatoes, Tony Ramero's, Olive Garden............Bubba Gumps also has great reports, but may be slightly dearer. On site - opinions varied - but for breakfast, The Princess breakfast in Akershouse, Epcot, was really enjoyed, and other than that, The Sci fi Dine in was the most popular with my bunch - expect to pay more for the food on site - in terms of quality, for the money, not as good as off site, but that is usually balanced by the atmosphere and experience, especially with the character meals.

Tip wise - expect high standards of service - after the first visit, I was disgusted with the standards here at home, and remain that way! Usual tipping is 15 to 20% When you consider how reasonable the cost of the meals are, I think this is more than fair.........we often tipped more than 20% because the service was often really fabulous.

HTH

Love Suexx

[speedwayfan]

Your nearest restaurant to Highlands Reserve will be the new Applebees at Berry Town Centre. There is also a Publix supermarket, a chinese takeaway and a Pizza house. Travelling north on the 27 past the 192 turn off, there is a 24 hour Walmart, and lots of other places due to open shortly, inlcuding a Lowes store and some more restaurants and take aways.

Generally if you have no complaints with the service in restaurants you are expected to tip a minimum of 10%, the average is 15%. Watch out for some restaurants as tables over 6 persons will include a service charge already.

The drive to Universal will take between 20 and 30 minutes depending on traffic, Seaworld around 15 to 20 minutes and Disney parks around 15 minutes.

As for drinking, some restaurants are licensed and some or not, if you choose the ones that are be prepared to always show ID. There is a Beef O Bradys bar on the 27 again south around 2 miles on the left at the lights.

There are lots of restaurants as Sue has mentioned and just have fun trying different ones. We like Cracker Barrel too, and your nearest one is travelling south for around 3 miles on the 27 and it's on your left hand side.

I drive all the time and don't find it a problem, main things to remember other than being on the right hand side of the road is that there are no roundabouts, lots of lights and unless otherwise stated you can turn right on a red light. You'll get used to it pretty quick and if you are worried hire a Sat Nav along with the car hire.

HTH

[Delboyuk]

Hi Keith, you will find driving a breeze, though directions can sometimes be frustrating, be prepared to get lost at least once. you could of course rent sat nav, gut I find getting around part of the fun :grin: Loads of great places to eat, for economy I would use the golden coral buffets,who serve a very good variety at a very good price around £6-£9 (less for breakfast) eat as much as you like with a large choice. As already pointed out the parks are witihin easy reach. You really can't be serious about going to Florida for the first time and not visiting Magic Kingdom. I would highly reccomend the flexiticket for universal & seaworld etc,floridatix.co.uk do the 4park for £97,

Again be aware that service charge as not been put on the bill, some resataurants do this, first time we went we didn't realise and we tipped on top at once place, turns out we tipped about £30. The service is good (but not that good) tips at buffets as elswhere are not compulsary but dependant on your server $2-5 is plenty.



Have a great time as I am sure you will, want to return



:cool2:


John

[wombat]

Hi,

I can only agree with the previous posts.

Don't worry, there are millions of things to do and millions of places to eat. It is very rare that you are disappointed in Orlando. Fine the ones that suit your tastes and go for it.

Have a Fantastic holiday.:wavey:

[tracyh]

Keith,

You will find that you'll get more replies if you put your questions on seperately. ;) Also with eg restaurants, bars, if you name a specific area that you'd like to eat.

[tracyh]

:blush: Oops sorry Keith, just noticed that this threads on twice and you do have replies! :blush:

[ORLANDOPAUL]

We Went To Highland Reserve It Was Nice Your Have A Good Time There As For Pubs There Is A Nice One On I Drve Most Restraunts Are Good Your Love Them All Tip Is About 10% Were Your Eat Most Of The Time Is On The 192 Try Tgi Fridays Grate And Just Have A Good Time Your Get The Bug The Orlando Bug

[vaunlou]

your ll have a great time...The first time to florida is always the best...
Theres so my restaurants to choose from,you wont have a problem there...

have a great time....

[freedomathome]

try this link for driving tips. (scroll down and there are plenty of driving tips to click on + photo and video guides from the airport to your destination)
http://kissimmee-us192.com/british/getting_car_sfb.htm
here is a link for WDW restaurants http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm
As far as non Disney restaurants goes, it really depends on your budget. There are masses of budget restaurants (dennys, ponderosa, golden coral shoneys) also some excellent moderate restaurants are Olive Garden (Italian), Outback Steakhouse, Cheesecake Factory and many more
Tipping in restaurants is usually around 15-18%
I'm not sure which bars allow under 21's, but i'm sure someone will be along shortly to help :spin:

[BONZO]

Just merged the two threads together.

[Brightonboy]

We were 9 last year and all resturants added a service charge I think they do with large parties , driving is easy once you get going most roads are quite wide hope you all have a great holiday, say hi to Mickey for me . :cry:


Tony

[Disney Dude]

Golden corral is a great buffet!

[FLGirl-UKNow]

I did want to suggest that you look at your bill closely when you are ready to pay. If you are all together when out to eat there is a very strong chance that the tip/gratuity will be included. Most restaurants note that (typically in fine print) within their menu. If in doubt, just ask. Just save yourself from tipping twice simply because you didn't know.

They generally do it for groups 8 and up as a rule of thumb.

Also, the age limits at Pleasure Island are changing so club entry will not be like it was before (18 and up).

[debs1505]

Can only repeat all of the above!!

But why go all that way and miss Disney? You say you might go for a day to say you've been there? Do you realise that there are 4 Disney aprks - Magic Kingdom, MGM, Animal Kingdom and EPCOT? As well as 2 Disney water parks - Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach? Sorry if I have stated the obvious! :wavey: