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Dr The Singh

Going Orlando for a holiday with Family, any advice........

By Dr The Singh, in General Chat

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Ozwin

Ozwin

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We were planning on going a while back and went to the travel agents and they offer shit loads of weekly/daily passes for all the theme parks, Apparently one of them is the size of Nottingham or something so they are massive and probably take a day per theme park to get the most enjoyment out of them.

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Webbo

Webbo

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Depending how old your kids are, disney is good for under 10s Universal studio is better if they are older.

If you're not a vegetarian then the best place to eat is somewhere like the Golden Coral or Sizzlers, steak and all the trimming you can eat for around $10.Eat your fill for for breakfast and you won't need to eat again until late at night.

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Webbo

Webbo

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We were planning on going a while back and went to the travel agents and they offer shit loads of weekly/daily passes for all the theme parks, Apparently one of them is the size of Nottingham or something so they are massive and probably take a day per theme park to get the most enjoyment out of them.

You usually buy them to allow so many visits in 2 weeks or something along those lines.1 lot of tickets for all theDisney parks, 1 lot for Universal,Seaworld, Wet and Wild.

PS Busch Gardens is owned by a brewery so you get free sample beer.

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Apnoea

Apnoea

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As already mentioned, Golden Corral is bang on for eating out. It's an all you can eat place, standard American fare but plenty of choice. Dirt cheap as well.

The theme parks are all worth doing, maybe pass up on Epcot (it hasn't aged well!) and Blizzard Beach (Typhoon Lagoon is much better). Busch Gardens is good but it's a hell of a drive. Universal Studios and the Islands of Adventure is very good as well.

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Fox92

Fox92

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Been twice, loved it. Ended up being a big kid again as soon as I hit the theme parks... Not sure which one is my favourite if I'm honest, they are all quality. Just loved the experience and being on holiday in America, a great Country from my experience. You'll love it, no doubt about that.

And as above, like Webbo said, Golden Coral is very impressive. I liked the Pondoroza Steakhouse's as well. Quality, all of it.

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Kitchandro

Kitchandro

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How long are you going for?

I'm guessing you'll want to go to all the parks, and from experience you'll need at least 10 days, probably 2 weeks to get your fill.

If you're not into fish I wouldn't bother with seaworld, there are very few rides. I'd highly recommend all the Disney Parks and the Universal ones. The Space Station is half a day really, unless you're a complete space nerd :P

The people are usually very helpful and I'm sure you'll find info easily when you're there. In terms of rides, there's a lot of big queues, I'd imagine worse so if you're going in May. Both Disney and Universal have a fastpass system, Disney's is better, I think the Universal one costs money whereas at Disney you just have to put your ticket in a machine and an hour or so later you can use one fastpass per member for the ride, but only one ride at a time. I strongly advise you to do this as some queues can get ridiculous (though I've always thought the queues are part of the charm as long as you're not in them for too long, you'll see what I mean). If you plan things you should be able to avoid the chaos most of the time.

Don't take too many things with you to Universal. They make you stuff bags and shtuff in a locker and that can be a hassle from memory. Oh and if they say 'you may get wet' on a ride, they mean it. Sometimes you get lucky but if you get unlucky you'll need a shield or a change of clothes. They sell rain macks at the parks so get some of them. Especially if you go on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge rat barges, easily the best water ride I've ever been on.

As for places to eat, I agree with Jon the Hat about International Drive, I stayed on there at least once and I think there's a Red Lobster, IHOP (pancakes for brekkie of course), Chilis, and TGI Fridays among others. There's some nice places in the parks too - EPCOT has a lovely Italian restaurant but it's really popular so you'd have to book. I think that's the only park where you can get alcoholic drinks as well! Don't listen to people bashing Epcot, it's not like the other parks in terms of rides but it's got a lovely atmosphere about it, especially in the evening with the spectacular fireworks display as the finale (a must see).

Animal Kingdom has the Rainforest Cafe, which has your bogstandard American food (which is as usual huge in taste and portions) but if the kids are youngish they'll enjoy the layout with the robotic animals etc as well. Nice experience. That is also like most places in terms of the insane power of the air conditioning. It will be sweltering outside but everytime you go inside you'll cool down pretty quick.

That's all I can think of at the moment, if I remember anything else useful I'll let you know. I wish I was going now.

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ossieclap

ossieclap

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4 of us touched back down in blightly on Wednesday after spending 2 weeks in Orlando. I'm still on Florida time hence the time of this post:

Definitely eat as often as you can away from the parks, especially Disney. The amount that you will save will easily pay for a hire car and fuel. We had a Mazda 3 saloon and you could fill it from empty for about 40/50 dollars. If you are planning on driving, be wary of the I-4 highway. Frequent accidents and heavy traffic at all hours of the day....I will never complain about the M1 again.

If you don't mind the buffet experience then I concur with the others and recommend Golden Corral. If the kids like pizza then def give Cici's a go: The adjacent mini golf establishments were offering all you can eat at Cici's and 18 holes for $12.95 which was insane.

If you prefer table service, try the following at least once: Olive Garden, Houlihans, The Captial Grille and.....THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY!!! It's very busy there but if there's one thing that the yanks do best, it's turning over a large volume of clientele quickly. Avoid eating at the World Showcase at Epcot unless being overcharged is agreeable with you.

If you are planning on visiting the theme parks, get a good touring plan/guide that maps out the best possible route for you and get there as early as possible. Disney parks are pretty good these days with free Fastpasses, single user lines, and free wi-fi...so make use of smartphone apps if you have one. When we left it was just starting to get busy what with Spring break. Even with all these precautions and careful planning we were only getting about half as much done as the previous week.

I'd recommend seeing Blue Man Group if you haven't done so before: The electro rock music will be a welcome relief from the endless string orchestra ambiance that you'll be subjected to over the course of your holiday. Cirque de Soleil was very good too.

If you are going to Kennedy Space Centre NASA: Try and co-ordinate your visit when an actual launch is scheduled. They are more frequent than you think...at least twice per month at this time of year. They are currently constructing there homage to the Atlantis space shuttle there in preparation for opening on June 29th

....that's all for now. If you have any further questions just shout

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Kitchandro

Kitchandro

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Another thing I remember, I don't know if this is the case for the whole of America but road signs are quite poor, it's hard to find your way around and often you only find out where you're going after you've already picked an exit.

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Webbo

Webbo

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Another thing I remember, I don't know if this is the case for the whole of America but road signs are quite poor, it's hard to find your way around and often you only find out where you're going after you've already picked an exit.

This is true.

Also schedule a day off in the middle of the holiday. Most people try to plan every day so that you can see everything but the amount of walking you have to do around the theme parks in the heat and humidity means you'll be absolutely knackered by about day 5. Take a day off around the pool.

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Fox92

Fox92

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Kennedy Space Centre was my favourite. I did love it there, and there was a scheduled launch (which eventually got called off due to 'poor weather' - they want to try living in England!).

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Bettsj2

Bettsj2

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Guys, any advice on theme park tickets, eating, drinking out etc, your experiences, would be appreciated!!!!!!!!

When you're driving on the highway at around 4pm, look out for ticket booths on the side of the road. If you stop at that time, they often have tickets for stuff the day after they need to get rid of so will flog them cheap!

Taaaa!!

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