Booked Florida but NOT Disney?!

[RedFox]

We did Universal and Busch only last time with teenage boys and had a fab time. They'd grown out of the disney stuff, but my wife and I have now booked to go next May on our own and will do Disney as it will have been 11 years since we've been there, so quite looking forward to it to be honest. Am I allowed to say that as a 50 year old male? :-)

But yeah, go for it, if nothing else it's a perfect excuse to do a Disney trip next time!

[Florida White]

Nobody does it like Disney though and if it’s your first time you really don’t want to miss out.

[Guest]

We didn’t go to Disney on our first trip to Florida and didn’t feel we missed out. We went to Universal as we are big HP fans but never been interested in anything Disney.

Now however, I love Disney and I am disappointed that we are not going on our next trip, but we are due another Universal trip and DH won’t let me do both as the tickets are too expensive.

[Kate]

Pretty much every year we go to Florida and don't go to Disney! Occasionally we will go to universal for HHN.

We don't have kids but find plenty to do!

[Squidgyness]

Originally Posted by Florida White

Nobody does it like Disney though and if it’s your first time you really don’t want to miss out.

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Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's not though.

We did a trip last year with only 2 days at Disney and we had a great time filling the rest of the trip with Universal and SeaWorld. Could easily have cut the Disney aspect of the trip altogether. I would say go for it tbh, a lot of people these days do one non-Disney trip and one focused on Disney later on, or the other way round.

This year we are doing both Disney and Universal to a more equal extent and the ticket costs were, lets say painful. Not to mention the planning is going to be bonkers compared to last year when I only had to book 2 days of Fastpasses. Much prefer the laid back style of Universal, especially at an onsite express pass hotel. Saying that we won't have any problems with downtime, but I am definitely considering a non-disney more budget trip next year (star wars opening makes me leery of going to WDW that year.)

Be nice to have more time at SeaWorld, saying that my family didn't think too much of it last year so that might be out. Parks come and go for everyone I think, some drop WDW, some Universal and others SeaWorld.

I'd never worry about not having enough to do though. Trust me, you'll need a rest anyway after a week into the holiday if you are anything like us...

[k100dmk]

There is so much more to do in florida than parks so i suppose its why you're going to florida? a lot of people there holiday is for visiting parks so they may feel a bit lost going all that way and not doing it, but i know people who do the parks one trip then dont do any. I have done florida with just universal and a few others things, went to the everglades, clearwater, etc and it was a much slower pace and it was just as good, if it's a once in a lifetime trip you'd probably regret it, if it's not and you've been before i dont think you will.

[Segdude]

I think there's a lot of sense being spoken (written?) on here regarding your dilemma. Personal taste and what you expect or require from a vacation will vary wildly. For me, I absolutely must have the freedom to go wherever I want, and over the past 7 visits we've only done Disney parks on three occasions. These were when our girls were smaller and into the princesses etc. Now, at 21 and twins of 17 if I ask what their priorities are they will say KSC, BG and Universal followed by Old Town Kissimmee for the Saturday night cruise (that's the penalty of having a dad who's a Petrol Head).
I used to have a guy work for me who really could not get his head around not staying at Disney for 2 weeks. To him Florida/Orlando IS Disney. I just think doing different things apart from the parks makes it more enjoyable.

[rach19]

We go next month and for the first time are not doing Disney. We have a week at universal and then 9 days on the gulf coast. We hope to go back to Disney in 2020 when Star Wars land is open.

[Magics]

I’ve done it lots of times you will miss Disney but there is so much more to do and the next time you go to Disney it will be extra special I’ve not been to Disney since 2015 but went to Florida 2017 hoping to do to Disney next year and really looking forward to it because there are lots of new things.