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Florida/Orlando: General

S

SLC

TS Member
Here's a thread for all theme parks and water parks in the Orlando area, as well as parks just outside such as Busch Gardens Tampa.

I visited back in April and I'm only just starting to miss it. All of the theme parks there are amazing and I seriously recommend taking a visit at some point in your life.
 
I can't deny - I had the time of my lif when I visited Orlando in 2010.

I can, however, pick up a few negative points along with the plus.

Animal Kingdom, Y U NO OPEN PAST 5?? I was gutted when I realised the latest the park closed was 6pm on peak days! I understand its for the welfare of the animals, but I'll bet it has a beautiful atmophere after dark (albeit with a spooky atmosphere created by the noises of the residents :p).

Seaworld was a *huge* disappointment for me! I didn't like Manta, Kraken was forceless, the park was dirty and the staff were incredibly unprofessional. My only enjoyment in the place was from Journey to Atlantis and even then I got ABSOLUTELY drenched!

My plus points cover everything from Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom (WOW), to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (WOW). I have very few negatives in comparison to the thousands of positives that I could reel off:
+ IOA being absolutely mind blowing
+ Magic Kingdom being the epitomy of escapism
+ Epcot and its SWEEEEEET choice of global foods in the World Showcase :D (bratwurst from Germany!)
+ Busch Gardens Tampa being wonderful - I really enjoyed it despite being warned off it!
+ Typhoon Lagoon being the single most impressive waterpark I've ever visited (despite nearly drowning)
+ Aquatica being the cleanest, most professional waterpark I've ever visited

Oh, and the small matter of discovering my favourite coaster ever - Kumba :D
 
I didn't enjoy Animal Kingdom, and left early to visit Magic Kingdom at night, and get a few rides done before our main visit. I found SeaWorld alright, decent rides including my personal favourite, Manta. It's amazing :p

Busch Gardens was a highlight - walk on queues all day other than Cheetah Hunt which was a little let down in terms of ride experience. I found Montu awesome, though. Great theming all around the park.

Two of my days at Universal were my two favourite days at a theme park ever. Got 6 rides done in Universal before leaving at lunch and getting 11 at IoA, which altogether is a new record for me. Another day where we did both parks, there were trying desperately to get as many people through as possible. Multiple times, including on Hulk, Harry Potter and HRRR, where I managed to sit next to my brother while we were both single riders because there wasn't a party of two for about 5 or 6 people and they wanted to fill every train.
 
Couldn't agree, it really is a dream to visit, and somewhere you can't get bored of!

This summer is going to be hard thinking back to what I was doing last year! Words don't describe some of the rides, parks and attractions, IOA certainly is mind blowing! (In particular Forbidden Journey) :)

Also, I thought Cheetah Hunt was absolutely awesome, especially sat at the back at night! :D Didn't find Seaworld all that either though.

Not a huge fan of Epcot or Animal Kingdom, both have the odd stand-out attraction (Everest/Dinosaur and Test-Track) but apart from that I found both a bit "lacking"
 
I'm going this year with my family, who decided they wanted to go at... Gulp... Christmas. I'm looking forward to it, but those crowds, those queues, they scare me!

Still, animal kingdom is open until 8pm when we go so that should be good.
 
With Animal Kingdom's new later openings, hopefully they could be testing the water a bit to see who does stick around later. I would love an evening show like World of Colour there (although fireworks are not permitted due to the animals).

On a different note, does anybody know whether Test Track's refurbishment is having an effect on other queues in the park?
 
Coolbeans14 said:
I'm going this year with my family, who decided they wanted to go at... Gulp... Christmas. I'm looking forward to it, but those crowds, those queues, they scare me!
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Don't worry the queues aren't *that* bad, I went Christmas 2010 and most of the parks were actually rather quiet considering. Just don't make the mistake I did of going Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day, it's mad!

Sort-of back on topic, I can't wait to go back! Is Cheetah Run really as good as it's made out?
 
Disney Parks

Magic Kingdom: I didn't enjoy this park what so ever, the biggest let down of the entire trip for me, it was mind numbingly boring. Florida's worst park in my opinion.

Epcot: Similarly, I found this boring, although I could appreciate it's aesthetic qualities :)

Animal Kingdom: I loved this park. Notable rides were Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition and the Rapids.

Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon water parks: Great fun, I really enjoyed them, both outshining 'Wet n' Wild' and 'Aquatica' by a considerable margin.

Sea World Group

Sea World: I really enjoyed this park, I thought the shows were brilliant and Manta is definitely my number one coaster.

Busch Gardens: By far and away my favorite park in Florida. A great selection of rides. Monta is arguably my favorite Invert. :eek:

Aquatica and Discovery Cove: Meh.

Universal Parks
Universal Studios: Alright, nothing special.

Islands of Adventure: Something special. A brilliant selection of rides and the best themed selection of water rides I have ever seen. However, It could have done with a bit less Harry Potter.
 
Magic Kingdom actually blew me away. A surprisingly good line up of rides and the general feel of the park is incomparable with any other place I've been. Fantasyland was my favourite area, the atmosphere in the evening with the live DJ, the lights and the shops make it one of my favourite themed areas worldwide.
 
This thread has been an interesting read. I'm going to Orlando for Christmas for my first time, so I'm excited about planning all the parks.
 
My top tip.
Don't visit Magic Kingdom on Saturday. Biggest mistake of my holiday. My lasting memory of Magic Kingdom is hordes of people pushing and shoving, strollers and lots of queues (or very long wait times for Fastpass).
 
EuroSatch said:
This thread has been an interesting read. I'm going to Orlando for Christmas for my first time, so I'm excited about planning all the parks.
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Make sure you do Busch on a weekday, we went on a Friday and it was dead ;)

If you need any more help with planning you can ask me or any other forum member who's been, and make sure to read my TR /plug
 
I love Orlando, been there twice and loved both trips but I have never been to a disney park. Just could not justify the rather large one day entrance price.

Seaworld: I like the park, the dolphin show is very impressive, love the birds flying over the crowd :) The Clyde and Seamore show is very good, very funny and the mime guy at the start is brilliant, (if you want to spoil the enjoyment youtube seaworld mime guy.)
Manta is one of my favourite rides in Orlando, but last time we visited they staff were being very slow....

Busch Gardens: Loved this park, bit annoying to get to, needs to be closer to Orlando :)
Some awesome rides, the park is nicely kept and most of the animals look like they have a lot of space. Annoyingly they will still building cheetah hunt when we visited.

IOA: I love this park a lot, this is probably my favourite park in Orlando. The themeing is wonderful, the rides and amazing and the whole feel of the park is great. Spiderman cannot be missed neither can forbidden journey. They are both amazing dark rides.
Its a bit sad that dragons challenge does not duel any more but they are still both really good rides.

Universal: I enjoy this park, the themeing is amazing, I love the feeling of walking down hollywood outside the T2 3D show. Revenge of the Mummy has to be my favourite ride in Orlando, its just so much fun. The queue is amazing I love being able to scare people in the queue with the help of that button.
The ride itself is brilliant, starts nice and slowly with some stuff to see then it just goes mad and just is great fun!
I enjoy the T2 show, its great fun and never really gets boring. Also its inside and has aircon so thats always a big draw ;)

Aquatica: A lovely newish water park, really clean and has some awesome slides but dont bother with the Dolphin plunge its just a rubbish gimmick.
Roas rapids are great fun, much more fun than a lazy river.
Its a great park, could easily spend a few days at that park.

Discovery Cove:
Well what can I say about this place? A lot of people consider this place expensive. It depends how you work it with tickets. If you go for the ultimate tickets that include 14 days Busch, Seaword and Aquatica it does not work out that expensive I think.
The Dolphin interaction is good, and the tow to shore is cool, amazing how powerful the Dolphins are. They are also very playful.
The rest of the park is beautiful, lots of staff to help you with anything. Free food and snacks all day. The aviary is amazing, the birds are so friendly and its great fun feeding them.
The lazy river is very lazy, just drifts slowly round the park but its lovely and warm after being in the cooler ray pool/ tropical reef.

The ray pool is amazing, they avoid people so easily. Its best just to find somewhere to stand or sit on a rock and the rays will come and see you after a while.
They have added some new parts since I last visited and they look just as good :)


Edit: I forgot about Kennedy Space centre!

Go there! Now do it! stop sitting here reading and get your flights booked!

If you like space its an amazing place, lots of stuff to see, lots of stuff to learn about and there are some amazing bits of history there.

The Saturn V building is awesome. You see a little film about the start of the American attempt to launch rockets which ended in them just blowing a lot of them up on the launch pad.
Then you move into mission control for one of the Apollo launches. Each station lights up as they talk about the launch and then do the countdown.

You then move on to the actual building that the Saturn V rocket is. Its massive is an understatement!
Amazing that we could build something like that in the 60s, the technology is mind blowing. Its the most reliable rocket that Nasa ever used, they never lost one in all the launches it did.

Its also a nice scenic drive out there and back, also watch out for wild life at Kennedy, there are all sort that live there!
 
Animal Kingdom may not have the ride quantity, but it has the most stunning beauty and landscaping of any park I have ever been to.

A photo round every corner.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
AstroDan said:
Animal Kingdom may not have the ride quantity, but it has the most stunning beauty and landscaping of any park I have ever been to.

A photo round every corner.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
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That's interesting. I (regrettably) didn't give Animal Kingdom nor Epcot a chance, purely going for the rides. I'd love to give them another visit when I'm not trying to cram in as many rides as possible, as it seems I made a mistake.

I think part of the reason for me leaving Animal Kingdom early was partly due to the heat - it was the hottest day we were on-park and my legs hadn't adjusted to the huge distances we were to be walking. Would definitely give it another go, though.
 
AK and Epcot, much like many parks in Europe are really about for more than just the rides.

AK is my favourite Disney park!

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
Any advice from anyone as to where the best location is to stay? We're considering going very soon, however it's difficult choosing whether to stay in one of the many villas near Disney but miles from everywhere else; or staying more centrally to Orlando however being miles away from Disney?
 
What parks are you planning to do?

Are you going to rent a car? or use public transport?

I have stayed in a hotel right near Idrive and I have also stayed in a villa. So I can tell you what its like staying in a hotel or villa but it will depend on what parks you are going to and if you are driving.
 
Jem8472 said:
What parks are you planning to do?

Are you going to rent a car? or use public transport?

I have stayed in a hotel right near Idrive and I have also stayed in a villa. So I can tell you what its like staying in a hotel or villa but it will depend on what parks you are going to and if you are driving.
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We're planning to do all of the major parks, the entirety of Disney, IOA, Busch, SeaWorld etc. We'll probably be hiring a car as well - so we won't be limited by distance really. :)
 
Well staying in a Villa was nice, we enjoyed the freedom that we had there. It was nice to be able to cook your own meals and also make up a packed lunch to take into the park.

It had loads of room for us and it was nice to have our own pool. Sadly it was a bit cool during our stay to use it.

Having a car was handy, we could get out to Kennedy space centre easily enough. It was easy to get around to the parks but it was expensive to park at the parks. Was $15 a day at any of the parks! That works out to a lot of cash over 2 weeks!

We found staying in a hotel just off Idrive great. We used mainly the Lynx buses to get to seaworld, Aquatica and our hotel ran a shuttle bus (one in the morning and a couple in the evening) to Universal. We did not go to Disney but I know you can get there on the buses. I can link the site when I get home. The only real benefit of the car was being able to get to Busch for opening time rather than when the shuttle buses gets there and leaves before closing.

I would say that having a car is ok but we got on just fine without one first time round.

If I went again I would not be bothered about having a car, I might hire one for a week as it was handy to get to shopping malls, shooting ranges and Busch gardens.
 
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