Florida without Disney..

[tonyspurs81]

We've been fortunate enough to do purely WDW the last two years including eating at all the restaurants we wanted and dinner shows etc. We've also had the odd trip to DLP also.

We love Disney, but this year we just fancied something different and were perhaps feeling Disney fatigue.

With our daughter nearly 7 we've decided that this summer we will do Orlando, but not go to Disney (Bar a meal at Disney Springs and a meal the Polynesian).

We've booked a Villa in Indian Wells and will be doing two days at Universal (with express via a night in a hotel), Discovery Cove, Sea World etc..., Legoland, KSS and Wild Florida.

We also plan to visit some Idrive attraction like the Pirate Golf and Wonderworks, plus eating at some restaurants we've always wanted to try.

This will also include pool / rest days, so a much slower pace than the other years.

I am apprehensive about being so close to WDW and not going there, but am looking forward to trying new things.

We may pop in to Hollywood Studios for Galaxy's Edge, IF they do an After Hours event, but if not I can wait another year or two (currently thinking ahead to a Disneyland, Anheim trip!).

[Cara040]

Originally Posted by tonyspurs81

I am apprehensive about being so close to WDW and not going there, but am looking forward to trying new things.

(currently thinking ahead to a Disneyland, Anheim trip!).

See more...

This is exactly how I feel, we were fortunate enough to do Galaxys edge in October, so I think some time at Disney Springs and a boat trip to POR will scratch the Disney itch.

Next years a definite no as we’re skiing in Lapland but 20222

[cornishfrogboy]

We haven’t done Disney on any of our last 5 Orlando visits. Admittedly the Florida or Orlando bit is now just a ‘phase’, part of a greater, multi city vacation. It generally lasts around 9-11 days.

Every time, we as a family consider 3 options and vote on it with the intention of taking 2 of the 3. The options are...
1. A Disney 14 day with park hopping etc.
2. A 14 day Universal with 1 night in a premium Universal hotel.
3. A Discovery Cove Ultimate non swim ticket. ( none of us rate the Dolphins).

Every time, Disney comes 3rd in the placement of all 4 of us and is thus a non starter. We simply don’t like the crowds, the hassle, the fast pass stuff and to be perfectly honest, the gouging. The rides are tame. I was in any case a fan of Tom and Jerry with its fantastic, gratuitous violence, rather than Mickey and Minnie.

On arrival in Orlando, we taxi to a cheap IDrive hotel for an overnight before moving to Universal next morning. We don’t pick up a hire car until the end of our second day in Universal, when we move to our Villa, thus avoiding car park fees. We only then return after 1800, once again avoiding car park fees.
Discovery Cove ultimates come with free parking in any case. In this way, our carparking comes to zero throughout our Orlando visit!
I would bitterly resent paying Disney’s parking fees. Whilst it was Disney that took us to Orlando in the first place, we have totally disengaged from the company with the passing of time.

[memphis69]

Not been on our last 2 visits to be honest can't see us going again doing New york this year then orlando and will do universal this year as have not been there for 5 years, just love being out there! oh and a beach day.

[Lynda__Loo]

We are the same as previous posters, didn’t do Disney last year and have no plans to do it this year.

Felt like we had more time to do other things without feeling rushed and cramming everything in. Made more of a relaxing holiday than previous and took some pressure of us for sure.

We will go back but to be honest we really didn’t miss it last year.

[Bozza]

We've had mixed results of doing non-Disney holidays.

Two or three years ago we flew out for a three-week visit with the intention of doing a house-with-pool in a new area (Port St Lucie), 4-5 nights at Universal (as we'd not been for a few years) and then a house somewhere on the Gulf coast. Only the first house was booked as we set off. We were NOT going to WDW.

We booked Royal Pacific for our Universal stint and enjoyed our time there. On the last night, I was in the bar with my partner and we both pretty much came out with the same thing at the same time: we wanted to go to WDW!

I got on my phone there and then and booked the Beach Club to check in the next day. We didn't tell the kids - they only figured it out when we arrived at the Beach Club. We picked up tickets from the hotel and made what FPs and ADRs we could. Needless to say we had a great week!

Last year we booked a last-minute week for the Feb half-term. It was a "cheapie" week away in the sun so spending close to £400pp for park tickets was out of the question. We managed to resist but we did...

- Visit Disney Springs a few times, eating there.
- Play mini golf at Fantasia Gardens. (Somewhat ironic that we've had a free round of golf included on numerous trips that we'd never used, and we then paid to play!) followed by dinner on the Boardwalk.
- Walk-upped to the Cali Grill, our favourite, eating dinner in the 'lounge' area, and watching the MK fireworks.
- Popped over to the Poly for a Dole Whip.

It felt great to get little tastes of Disney.

I've just booked to fly out on Saturday for this half-term and we'll probably do the same as the above, although bypassing the Cali Grill this time. It probably wouldn't cost much more to get 3 * 1 day tickets than have dinner at the Cali Grill. Now there's a thought!

[duchy]

I do it differently , if we are skipping Disney we don’t torture ourselves with small fixes. It’s like putting a cream cake in front of someone and then only allowing them one bite
We are either doing Disney or we aren’t (helped by the fact I’m not over keen on DS anyway) .
There’s so much else to do we’ve honestly not missed it when we’ve skipped it (and skipping is getting more frequent)

[braby]

We did the same sort of thing last year, 10 nights but we stayed in LBV, it was a real last minute thing, booked on a Monday, flew on Wednesday. Was a bit worried that we’d miss Disney but it was probably the best holiday we’ve had in years. No planning to worry about, not regimented by fast passes.
We went the last two weeks in August, we didn’t have express pass and I think the longest we queued was 40 minutes for gringott’s. The only ride we didn’t do was Hagrid’s.

[duchy]

I think you forget just how much fun it is not to have to plan and decide months out when you are going to ride what ...

[Flower2603]

I don't think I could do 10 days in Orlando without Disney. By day 3 we've done with Universal and I Drive hasn't got enough to keep our attention.

However, other parts of Florida make for a wonderful holiday, Clearwater, St Pete, all down that coast. Miami is wonderful, the keys.

I could easily do 4 days Universal 6 days at the coast.