Over there in a year

[hallamdisneyfan]

We are a family of four - DS will be 12 when we go. DD will celebrate her 17th birthday on our 3rd day. We went to DLP in 2010 and 2012 but never been to Florida before.

The plan (nothing booked so very subject to change)
Day1 17/7 Wed - arrive ?food shopping ?disney springs, sleep OKW
Day 2 18/7 Th MK in am, pm back to OKW to chill, eat DS evening
Day 3 19/7 Fr- b’fst BV@boardwalk, DHS for most of day,
?FrozenDessert Party in eve (EPCOT) as birthday treat for DD
Day 4 20/7 Sa – AK all day
Day 5 21/7 – Su - Trails End brunch – airboat trip and/or resort day
Day 6 22/7– Mo - EPCOT
Day 7 23/7–Tu – Discovery cove, eve eat at Disney Springs
Day 8 24/7– We – MK all day - sleep OKW
Day 9 25/7– Th – check out of OKW do AK – drive to Tampa in eve, sleep Hyatt Place Busch Gardens
Day 10 26/7– Fr - BG while late (Summer Nights)– sleep HPBG
Day 11 27/7- Sa – ClearWater Beach – sleep HPBG
Day 12 28/7 – Su –check out of HPBG, back to central Florida, idrive attractions+ Outta Control Comedy Magic show, sleep Cabana Bay Beach Resort,
Day 13 29/7– Mo – WWHP sleep CBBR
Day 14 30/7– Tu – Seaworld sleep CBBR
Day 15 31/7– We – USO sleep CBBR
Day 16 1/8– Th – VB - sleep CBBR
Day 17 2/8 –Fr - IOA - sleep CBBR
Day 18 3/8– Sa – Funspot amusement park, evening flight home

Cramming too much in or fairly balanced? I have tried to put in less busy days, like DC, beach day, VB but the kids are pretty active and will complain or boredom if I put in too many chill out days
HDF

[TheRobsters]

You have quite hectic days in weather which is hot and humid and this can be tiring.
We tend to have 2 park days followed by a water park day, TL or B.B. are our favourites. This gives everyone chance to recharge their batteries.
I also didn’t see any evenings in the parks watching shows/fireworks i would definitely recommend seeing some/all of those.
Some of the Disney parks are worth visiting on more than 1 day. It can be difficult to do it all in a day.
Personally I would drop Seaworld, Universal and Disney tickets would give you plenty to do.
Only you can decide how much your family can keep going but I find it’s a bit of a balancing act to feel like you have done it all, when at the end of the day it is a holiday and not a military operation!

[Guest]

The itinerary has an awful lot in, but you are the better judge of whether your family have high enough energy levels.

I would cut out quite a lot if it were me, I probably wouldn’t bother with the Tampa / Busch Gardens / Clearwater side trip. Or I would drop Seaworld, DC and Funspot Amusement. I agree with previous poster, Disney and Universal have plenty to keep the days busy.

[hallamdisneyfan]

Thanks for your input. I think I will drop SeaWorld and have a relaxing day at Cabana bay instead. Dropping Busch Gardens would seriously disappoint the kids as they are massive roller coaster fans and the trip to the beach is a treat for me (if we're going to drive all the way to BG I think we can have another day, go a bit further and let me chill on a beach - the thrill seekers can go off on a speedboat if the beach is too boring but I want a bit of sea and sand on a holiday
We all want to have a day at DC and I'm hoping that that will be relaxing too, but we may not do Funspot and do something more relaxing before the evening flight home.

I haven't really thought too much about shows/parades/fireworks yet - more thinking about the right split for the hotels, I don't really want more than a week at Universal and was thinking of the 3 park 5 day tickets - wheras at Disney there are the four parks to see.

[7SeasSailor]

You really want to include the evening fireworks and light shows. Check them out on you tube. You wouldn't believe how fantastic the castle looks when it us all lit up.

[Merryweather]

Hi I agree, missing the Disney eveningshows/fireworks would be a shame - they are amazing! Also agree that you might be trying to cram too much in - I know kids dislike to be on the go but I reckon yoy’ll need another holiday by the time you finish this one! If

[hallamdisneyfan]

I have absolutely no intention of missing the shows and fireworks - really enjoyed them at DLP, but simply that I don't really need to decide that for another 9 or 10 months. What I do need to think about soon is whether to have 7 nights in a Disney Hotel, 3 in a Tampa hotel and 6 in a Universal hotel as in my itinerary above or have 10 nights Disney and seven Universal, or something else, and my way of deciding is to write down the parks, attractions that we want to visit and see how it pans out. My result is my itinerary but there are no rides, not much dining, few shows on there as I can decide that later.

[TheRobsters]

This is a tricky one to decide because I feel that you need to work out where your priorities lie. Personally I think that 10 nights at Disney is not enough and 6 at Universal is too much. The Disney parks could easily fill 2 weeks without rushing around and taking the time to absorb it all. Universal for us doesnt have the same appeal and 3/4 days for us is plenty.
Our very first visit was Disney only we felt that as the tickets were expensive we didn’t want to come away feeling like there’s was lots we had missed because we were trying to cram too much in.
It was only on our 3rd visit that we went to Universal as well as Disney, we stayed for 19 nights and felt that we had the time to do it.
This year 6 nights on the coast and 8 in Orlando doing just universal.
We thought we would only go once to Florida, but loved it and have been back again and again!