Itinerary help needed

[Amion68]

Hi all, my last post seemed to fly under the radar so I will try again.

We are first timers, family of 4 flying out to MIA on 5th April for 2 weeks. Car hire is booked, as is a villa on mission park Orlando from 7th to 15th.

Our loose plan either side of the Orlando is

5th Miami (probably an airport hotel as we don’t land until 6.15pm)
6th Drive up to Cocoa beach area for a 1 nighter
7th Day at Kennedy
7th PM drive to Orlando
7th -15th Orlando for WDW & US
15th - Clearwater (suggestions on where to stay welcome)
16th - 18th Naples area and a day at Everglades
18th - 1 night South Beach Miami
19th - home

I am trying to balance the parks with a road trip.
How does this look?
Is 8 nights in Orlando enough for the parks?
Also any suggestions on locations and where to stay also very much appreciated

Thanks in advance fellow DIBBERS :-)

[7SeasSailor]

In 8 days you will scratch the surface enough to start planning your second trip when you get home. For a first trip I would only do Disney and Universal.

[Smilesonfaces]

Hi !

To me it sounds like a lot of travelling about. I am not really in to road trips but if that is what you are interested in. How old are the children ? For me for a first time visit I would stick to Orlando and get your moneys worth out of those very expensive park tickets.
The 6th seems a wasted day to me. On your first day you will be up at silly o’clock. I think you could get up really early and be at Kennedy Space Centre before it opens. Have all day there and move to Orlando on the 7th.

Personally I think you are doing too much. I couldn’t be bothered keep moving around. I really don’t think 8 days is enough in Orlando. If you are only wanting Orlando for 8 days I would stick to either WDW or US but not both. A lot also depends on the ages of your children too.
Hope I have set the ball rolling and you get some more replies ! Don’t forget though it’s your holiday !

[Vinniecat]

Sounds like a good plan to me. You could spend longer at the parks but I would prefer to do what you are doing and have a bit more variety. As the previous poster said it will help you plan your next trip.

[Susu]

Originally Posted by Smilesonfaces

Hi !

To me it sounds like a lot of travelling about. I am not really in to road trips but if that is what you are interested in. How old are the children ? For me for a first time visit I would stick to Orlando and get your moneys worth out of those very expensive park tickets.
The 6th seems a wasted day to me. On your first day you will be up at silly o’clock. I think you could get up really early and be at Kennedy Space Centre before it opens. Have all day there and move to Orlando on the 7th.

Personally I think you are doing too much. I couldn’t be bothered keep moving around. I really don’t think 8 days is enough in Orlando. If you are only wanting Orlando for 8 days I would stick to either WDW or US but not both. A lot also depends on the ages of your children too.
Hope I have set the ball rolling and you get some more replies ! Don’t forget though it’s your holiday !

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I’m with Smilesonfaces. It’s seems like a lot of driving and there is a lot in the plan. The driving can be very tiring, not just for the driver but for passengers of any age. I’d recommend sticking around Orlando for longer and making sure you all have plenty of rest time planned in so that you have the energy to enjoy all the new experiences. Hope you all have a great holiday

[sha9]

8 days is not much time for both Disney and Universal unless you just want a flying visit.
It entirely depends what you want from this trip. Not everyone goes to exclusively do the parks and some people are happy just to pop into Magic Kingdom for a day. None of your itinerary would suit me so the best thing to do is for you to consider what you want from this holiday and plan accordingly. No one else can tell you how to do your holiday but we can advise on things like how long it takes to do Disney properly. I don’t even think anyone else can advise on how tired you’ll be as that’s such an individual thing.

[Amion68]

Thankyou all for your advice and feedback. Just to clarify, the kids ages are 7 & 13 and they are both more excited about universal than Disney. Therefore I was thinking 2/3 days should be sufficient to experience WDW and magic kingdom with some downtime in the middle (not fussed about Epcot, animal kingdom etc). That coupled with 3 days at universal was what we were thinking.

However you have got me thinking that perhaps we need to extend Orlando out to 10 days and scale back on the driving. That said, a couple of days either side to do the east and west coast fits with the itinerary given that we fly to/from MIA.

Just to mention also we have done EuroDisney which, whilst may not be on the same level as WDW has given the kids some of the experience.

Now I need to see if I can extend our villa booking by 2 more nights ;-)

[Smilesonfaces]

Would you consider a couple of nights at a universal hotel rather than extending the villa stay ? You will get everything done in 2 days if you have an express pass for the rides which comes free with a stay at certain hotels.
Bear in mind your 7 year old may not be big enough for many of the rides at Universal.

[Amion68]

Originally Posted by Smilesonfaces

Would you consider a couple of nights at a universal hotel rather than extending the villa stay ? You will get everything done in 2 days if you have an express pass for the rides which comes free with a stay at certain hotels.
Bear in mind your 7 year old may not be big enough for many of the rides at Universal.

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Hi yes that is a good option to consider. My daughter isn’t a big fan of rides and certainly isn’t an adrenaline junkie (unlike her 13 year old bruv!). So I don’t think that will be a problem. Any recommendations on a good hotel for universal?

[cornishfrogboy]

I have driven most if not all of both coasts from Mobile Alabama, down to Key West then up to Daytona.

I would cut out the East Coast and follow your plan for the west. I would cut out the night in Miami and drive straight for Orlando, looking for a cheap hotel such as the Ramada, close to Universal for the first night. (we have booked our family of 4 in there for a night and breafast next morning for £60 on 27 July). Get the driving done.
The following morning at 0700 , I would check into one of Portofino, R Pacific or the Hardrock for a single night in order to take advantage of Express passes in the Universal parks. After the 2 days of Universal, I would then carry out the rest of the vacation according to plan.
KSC is little more than an hours drive each way and could be carried out as a day trip. Your children might also like the very nearby Valiant Air Command museum on that day as a time filler. It is very hands on and great fun.

Hope it helps.