Dim questions from a first-timer

[Guest]

This site looks great, with so much fantastic information. You're all so knowledgeable I feel a bit dim even asking these basic questions , but here goes.

We're going to Florida last 2 weeks in Aug, 8 days around Orlando, plus 8 days on Gulf Coast. I'm happy with my plans for the Gulf Coast, but have no idea how to prioritise what we do in Orlando, I haven't booked that accommodation yet either. Yep, I'm a real novice.

Here's the info:
2 adults[LIST][*]and 2 kids - 11 and 12 yo.[*]Want to do WDW, Universal, water park/s & Kennedy Space center[*]don't think Seaworld will work for us, 11 yo very into animal rights/cruelty etc [*]we have a car

Where do I buy my tickets from?
Is fastpass+ at disney free? (we've been to Legoland in uk and spent a fortune on qbot)
Is there an equivalent at Universal?
How many days at WDW? eg can we do Magic Kingdom and Epcot in one day?
How many days at Universal?
Is Busch gardens worth a trip?, especially if we're near Tampa.


thanks in advance for you help, and patience. really looking forward to the trip!

[Sweets]

Hello and welcome to the dibb!

I'd look at various online ticket sellers - check the ones advertised by the dibb - and look for the best price/deal/combo.
Fast pass is free. You can book 60 days out if staying onsite and 30 days if offsite.
Universal do have something similar. It usually works out cheaper to stay a night at one of the 3 deluxe hotels, and you'd get unlimited front of the line passes for check in and check out days.
I'd say 2 days at universal but as you only have 8 days and want to squeeze a lot in, a day may do you.
I've not been to BG yet, but we're going this year. If you're already in the area then go for it
You could do half days at Disney parks and park hop as long as your tickets allow it.

Happy planning!

[JoJo88]

Hi, and welcome to the Dibb

I have to be honest, I think you are trying to cram a lot into your 8 Orlando days. You said you wanted to do WDW and water parks, so that's 6 days if you take a day for each Disney park (including water parks), which I really think you should with it being your first visit. Then each Universal park is worthy of a day each if you want to feel like you have done the parks properly without feeling rushed. That's 8 days, without KSC.

You could combine park days, we've never spent a full day at Animal Kingdom, and a lot of things at Hollywood Studio have closed since our last visit, so perhaps you could combine those two parks?

I definitely think Magic Kingdom deserves a day to itself, and Epcot too if you were to take your time strolling around the World Showcase.

You'd have to decide on exactly what you plan to do before buying your tickets as there are a few options, and if you decide to do more than one park on one day, you'll need to add park hopping as an option.

As you haven't booked your Orlando accommodation yet, it's most definitely worth you looking into a night at one of the Universal hotels. This is the best value way of getting Universal's Fast Pass equivalent. Stay at either Hard Rock, Portofino Bay or Royal Pacific and you get free, unlimited express passes for your entire stay, so if you stay for one night you get them on the day you check in, and they remain valid for the entire day that you check out too (and any in between! )

Are you looking for a villa or a hotel? Perhaps you could spend a week in a villa, for example, where you would focus on Disney, and then move to Universal for the night whilst doing the Universal Parks before heading to the coast. Or perhaps you'd prefer to stay onsite at Disney? If you do, you need to book very soon so that you can get your Fast Passes booked. Staying onsite means you can book your FPs 60 days in advance. If you're not onsite you can book them from 30 days out. It's well worth getting them booked in advance.

Busch Gardens is worth visiting during your time on the Gulf Coast, we've done it from Clearwater, where we spent a week

I'm rambling now, my apologies, but hopefully there might be a tiny little nugget of advice in amongst all the drivvle

[whlparkstone]

Hi.

I will try my best with some of your questions. There are plenty of places to buy tickets from, take s look at the ticket forum and follow the links..you may find a bundle that will cover all the parks that you want. Fp+ will be included in your tickets, if you are staying off site you can book 30 days out, onsite is 60 days. I would say that MK will be a couple of days, maybe one day each at Epcot and also HS. Universal I would say you would need 2 days... Consider staying onsite to get the front of line passes.

[little tink]

Hi,

You will definitely want at least one day in each of the Disney parks. Although many say that AK and HS are only half day parks we easily fill a couple of days at both. Maybe you could save a day by just doing one of the Disney Waterparks, perhaps look to see which one you like the look of best. We always find that we spend the morning till mid afternoon at a waterpark then go into one of the other main Disney parks later in the day.

We're just doing Universal and Islands of Adventure for one day this time but we've booked a hotel room to get early entry and front of the line passes so this is something you may want to do to get the most out of your time.

BG is really good but as you are short on time, I would just concentrate on Disney and Universal.

[Karl01]

I think you're really pushing it trying to do all that in 8 days. I can't believe the parks will be much, if any, quieter in late August than they were in mid April this year when we went. We did 3 full days at Universal followed by 6.5 days at Disney and that was tight, we could have done with maybe 2 more days at Disney to make it less rushed. I would definitely get the Universal fast passes and then you will only have to spend 2 days there.

[Guest]

Thanks all. Great intel, thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

We're going to stay at Universal and maximise our 2 days there. And get hopper tickets for WDW so we can dip in and out. Might have to miss KSC this time.

Thanks again!

[Guest]

Hello Welcome to the Dibb!

1) Check a variety of ticket sellers, you can get them for decent prices if you look around (make sure they're reliable though )

2) Yes Fastpass+ at Disney is free and you get 3 per day/park I think

3) The equivalent to it at Universal is Front of Line Passes (FOLP)/Express passes, these are bought (and can be pricey) but as others have said staying a nice at a Universal hotel (Loews Royal Pacific, Portofino Bay or Hard Rock Hotel - Cabana Bay and Sapphire Falls do not have FOLP only early entry) will get you early entry and FOLP and works out cheaper, I would recommend the Royal Pacific as it tends to be cheaper and is a great family hotel With this you get a complimentary boat ride from your hotel to the parks, priority seating in a lot of the restaurants on City Walk (which I recommend spending your night at), the early entry, the FOLP, and so much more, you can also pool hop between hotels the HRH's pool plays rock music under water

4) We could spend 1 day at Magic Kingdom and Epcot and then Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (loads of construction at the moment) are half days, Usually AK in morning and HS in the night to see the Fantasmic show - If your daughter is into animal rights you may want to talk to her about Animal Kingdom being a zoo type of environment just to make sure she's comfortable going there and the same with Busch Gardens (which is a part of the Sea World franchinse), although BG is mainly do to with big rollercoasters

5) We spend 2 whole weeks at Universal and IOA (make sure to get park to park tickets) with express passes but 2-3 days should be plenty with your FOLP and with so much to see elsewhere Our favourite parks.

6) If you can fit it in I would personally recommend Kennedy Space Centre, and maybe consider leaving the car and booking with Grayline Tours, they were incredible and the experience was different to a normal visitor to KSC, we got to meet an astronaut, have special tours and then were left to explore

If you have any other questions ask away

*Also to note: Before we stopped going to SW similar reasons to you, we managed to fit in US, IOA, MK, AK, HS, Epcot,TL, SW, Aquatica (which my family still recommends as a waterpark), BG, DTD, KSC all in 2 weeks with somehow doing multiple days at US and IOA with grandparents, parents, kids and partners so don't be put off by the short time you have, it can be done, it just takes some planning *

Now we spend our days at US & IOA and maybe venture out if we feel like we want to go somewhere else

[DIBBadmin]

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