first timer without a clue's draft itinerary!!!!!

[mini-mum]

Here's my first go at an itinerary and I would be grateful for any comments. There will be me, DH, DS (18), DS (16) and DD (13).

Thursday 20th March
Arrive around 1720 MCO
Collect car - Alamo
Drive to villa - Southern Dunes
Go to Walmart for essentials

Friday 21st
Seaworld - hoping that shamu rocks will be on but no info yet on seaworld website

Saturday 22nd
Universal Studios
Mardi Gras parade in evening
Does anyone know if 360 cinesphere is on?

Sunday 23rd
Shopping/Rest Day

Monday 24th
Islands of Adventure

Tuesday 25th
Wet and Wild

Wednesday 26th
Busch Gardens
stop at IHOP for breakfast on way down - pinched this from someone else's itinerary (!!!) does anyone know where it is?

Thursday 27th
Boggy Creek in the morning
Rest/Shopping

Friday 28th
Kennedy Space Centre

Saturday 29th
Flight of Fantasy
Old Town in the evening

Sunday 30th
Aquatica

Monday 31st
Clearwater - perhaps go to John's Pass Village. Has anyone been and is it any good?

Tuesday 1st April
Revisit favourites

Wednesday 2nd
Revisit favourites

Thursday 3rd
Packing,last minute shopping
PM - go to Airport for flight home.

Any suggestions for good places to eat would be very welcome.

[purple myra]

looks good to me, SeaWorld is always a good choice for your first day.
i don't think i could go all the way to Florida and not see the mouse at least once thought.
enjoy the rest of your planning

[Nikki'Andrew]

Looks good and I think leaving a couple of days to re visit your favourites is a good idea.Looks like you have made a concious decision to stay away from Disney, but maybe a visit to DTD one night maybe nice to do

[Enright78]

I think that the Disney water parks are far superior to Wet n wild so I would swap that, otherwise looks like a fun trip!

[_tinkerbell_]

Hi

On the day you arrive i would go to Walmart or Publix before heading to the villa. Even though you arrive at 5.20pm it could take you up to an hour to get out of there. Immigration can be busy at MCO never mind getting the car. You will be tired so thats why i recommend doing it that way, of course you will need to watch what you buy for space in the car. We dont always do it this way but its just an option.


I dont think the 360 show is on in March i have only seen it in July, think its only on during the summer months.


IHOP is everywhere lol. Well is seem to think it is. Do a search on the web for it and get directions to your nearest one.

The intinerary seems good considering its your first time but i agree i couldnt go without a visit to the mouse. My kids are the same ages as your and they still enjoy the Disney Parks, what about Disneys Hollywood Studios ? There are some great shows to see and some rides the kids would enjoy and you could finish the night off with Fantasmic ?

AS for places to eat. If you like buffets then a lot of people enjoy the Golden Corral, cheap and plenty of food on offer.

I personally like Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, The Outback and nothing beats a wee visit to Dennys too. :grin: Applebees is also very good.

[English Tim]

I would avoid the water parks, especially Aquatica, on weekend days. Many locals visit then.

[claireh]

Your plans look great. You'll have to do a trip report with photo's of Aquatica! :thumbs-up
:dale_boun :dale_boun :dale_boun

[Cyclospora]

Hi

On the day you arrive i would go to Walmart or Publix before heading to the villa. Even though you arrive at 5.20pm it could take you up to an hour to get out of there. Immigration can be busy at MCO never mind getting the car. You will be tired so thats why i recommend doing it that way, of course you will need to watch what you buy for space in the car. We dont always do it this way but its just an option.


I dont think the 360 show is on in March i have only seen it in July, think its only on during the summer months.


IHOP is everywhere lol. Well is seem to think it is. Do a search on the web for it and get directions to your nearest one.

The intinerary seems good considering its your first time but i agree i couldnt go without a visit to the mouse. My kids are the same ages as your and they still enjoy the Disney Parks, what about Disneys Hollywood Studios ? There are some great shows to see and some rides the kids would enjoy and you could finish the night off with Fantasmic ?

AS for places to eat. If you like buffets then a lot of people enjoy the Golden Corral, cheap and plenty of food on offer.

I personally like Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, The Outback and nothing beats a wee visit to Dennys too. :grin: Applebees is also very good.


As the OP is going to Southern Dunes - a Walmart is on her doorstep practically! We just dumped our bags, left the kids and grandparents in villa and just got essentials - and a PopEyes Chicken and Biscuits takeaway from across the road.

Apart from the distance from the parks, there didn't seem to be much in the way of breakfasts locally so we mostly had toast etc in the villa on park days and big brekkies when we were just mooching around places like Kissimmee etc - or if we went up to IDrive.

Two big plusses for Southern Dunes though - Walmart on your doorstep and Manny's ChopHouse across the road....and down a bit!

[_tinkerbell_]

As the OP is going to Southern Dunes - a Walmart is on her doorstep practically! We just dumped our bags, left the kids and grandparents in villa and just got essentials - and a PopEyes Chicken and Biscuits takeaway from across the road.

Two big plusses for Southern Dunes though - Walmart on your doorstep and Manny's ChopHouse across the road....and down a bit!

This is good then, you could dump your bags as said and then nip put for food and essentials. It depends on where we are staying the way we do it. We were at Lake Berkley at beginning of Feb and Walmart is right there too, so we dropped bags, nipped to Applebees along the road and then a quick Walmart stop.

Hope you have a great holiday hun :wavey:

[welshwiz]

I'd maybe suggest buying a map from Steve (mapman) which shows the locations of IHOP along with loads of other restaurants, shops and so on.

www.orlandomaps.co.uk

Walmart is right on your doorstep which is a real bonus and Manny's chophouse is great!

I presume you didn't want to go to the expense of Disney tix along with Universal but maybe take a trip to DTD & Boardwalk?

I'd maybe rethink the water parks on the weekend too.

Have fun!

[School_Bully]

Saturday 22nd
Universal Studios
Mardi Gras parade in evening
Does anyone know if 360 cinesphere is on?


I don't know about cinesphere, but Kool & The Gang are in concert that evening at Universal.

[mini-mum]

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I will change Aquatica to a weekday to avoid the crowds!

We had a family conflab to decide which parks to visit and the kids were unanimous that they didn't want to do Disney (we went to Eurodisney a couple of years ago) so we haven't bought any tickets. I thought that if they decided they wanted to do one park whilst we are there, then we could always buy them on the gate.