Tom J
Organiser: South Wales
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Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
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Looking at going to Florida, initially looked at April time but now considering October instead so we've got longer to save up. Prices at the moment in October are £270 each more, someone said the prices usually come down just before Christmas, anyone know the cheapest time to book for October?
Don't really want to do disney/universal etc, most of them seem to be mainly children orientated, are there any decent adult them parks? got a few things we want to do
Cocoa Beach
Kennedy Centre
Daytona
Florida Keys
Miami
Shopping Malls
Decent theme parks (mainly adult rides)
Any other recommendations on places to go ? Been once but was so long ago cant remember
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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Disney and Universal are both awesome. Universal moreso for adult rides.
I'd check the weather before you book 
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Dave
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Registered: 26th Feb 01
Location: Lancs
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Busch Gardens has some great rides, I'd probably do Universal Studios and the water parks too.
Sea World is good as well, especially at night.
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Tom J
Organiser: South Wales
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Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
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quote:
Originally posted by Hammer
Disney and Universal are both awesome. Universal moreso for adult rides.
I'd check the weather before you book
i know august to october is hurricane season. but i've looked at the stats and orlando is usually pretty safe in october, the only real times that its been effected is late august/early september.
tickets for disney parks are coming out at 250 each which i can't justify as could probably do them all in three days. looking at their websites there don't seem to be many "adult" rides, correct me if im wrong though
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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october has more chance of getting hit by hurricanes compared to april.
you won't do all the parks in 3 days  not a chance in hell.
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gazza808
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Registered: 30th Jun 08
Location: Peterborough
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Earlier in the year I hit all the theme parks,
Took two solid weeks really, some of the Disney park are down right crap tbh,
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Tom J
Organiser: South Wales
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Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
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quote:
Originally posted by gazza808
Took two solid weeks really, some of the Disney park are down right crap tbh,
this is what i'm thinking, is there actually anything decent in the disney parks? i think i'd rather spend the money somewhere else going different places
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BeetleGav
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Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
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Universal and islands of adventure are mainly adult orientated. There quality! But no chance in hell can you do them in 3 days. I had a two week pass
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Tom J
Organiser: South Wales
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Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
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how many rides etc are in each of them then? what is there to do in them that will take two weeks? its hard to picture it just looking at their websites. if i was to do any it probably would be universal
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Ben G
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Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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they are just huge. you can't really describe them apart from being on a completely different level to alton towers/thorpe park.
universal studio's/blizzard beach/typhoon lagoon/epcot/bush gardens were the ones i enjoyed most.
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gazza808
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Registered: 30th Jun 08
Location: Peterborough
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I'll have a look later but one or two of the Disney parks were good, the water parks were as well if that's your thing, most of it has merged into a big blur now lol,
Universal parks are good,
Busch gardens was good as well,
We liked animal kingdom (Disney park)
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DC90
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Registered: 14th Nov 07
Location: Bedfordshire
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Loads of rides in each and you've gotta remember each ride is gonna have a big queue, especially the likes of harry potter in islands of adventure! Also, in october, they do halloween horror nights in universal parks. They basically make over the parks at night for halloween, its really good and would suggest checking it out!
Edit - busch gardens is good, some big rides there. Water parks will take most of a day each as well.
[Edited on 27-08-2012 by DC90]
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Tom J
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Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
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could get this one for £95 each
What’s included in this ticket…
This ticket allows you to enjoy 14 consecutive days of unlimited admission to the following parks.
Universal Studios Florida
Universal’s Island of Adventure
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™
It also includes unlimited access to:
Universal’s CityWalk
This ticket is a real ticket and will be posted to you, so you can avoid the queues and enter the park straight away.
also can get this for £82 each
This ticket allows you to enjoy 14 consecutive days of unlimited admission to the following parks.
Aquatica
SeaWorld Orlando
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
It also includes free bus transportation to Busch Gardens on the Busch Gardens Shuttle Express. This service departs from various locations in the International Drive and Kissimmee areas (subject to change).
those ones any good?.
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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You're better buying fast passes as well for the parks, saves you wasting your entire day standing in a queue.
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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I disagree the Disney parks being only children orientated, I loved them when we went this year - more I think than I did as a kid years ago! Universal almost seems scruffy compared to Disney when it comes to the efforts made with the theming and atmosphere - it's not all about the rides but it's hard to describe that to another Adult without them going first! Whatever combination of parks you do you'll have a blast, but I really think you're missing out without trying Disney.
Busch Gardens is THE ride park, so make a trip over there. 6 rollercoasters here I think and we only had to really queue for the newest one. It's far enough "out of the way" that not as many people visit compared to the Orlando parks.
Expect to queue up to an hour for most rides unless you can get to the parks in time for rope drop and rush around the headliners.
Each park has 3 or 4 headline rides, a few live shows (which are well worth watching) and then millions of shops/resteraunts/bars etc. Realistically if you get to a park early you could probably get round it by 2-3pm but then you'll be knackered and in no fit state to go to another park when they'll be busier. We found our most enjoyable days to be:
Park at Rope Drop
Headline rides with minimal queue (we walked onto the new harry potter ride, the queue was over two hours by the time we got off the ride)
Have lunch
Have a chilled out few hours exploring the theming/seeing some shows
Back to Hotel, wash/change, chill
Go out for evening meal, few drinks then early night ready for tomorrow. International Drive is a great place to stay for nighttime entertainment and incredible dining.
On some parks (Disney Hollywood Studios is a great one) we went back in the evening after our meal, did the rides in the dark and saw the evening shows.
I'd say you should save Miami and the Florida keys for a seperate holiday if you're aiming for Orlando. You'll use the best part of two days driving if you want to visit the south of the state. You also need more than a night there to justify going, IMO.
We found Cocoa Beach not all that, but if you're going over to Busch Gardens you could stay a night at Clearwater and see the beach there on the Gulf Coast.
I'd rank the parks as follows:
1) Disney Animal Kingdom (It's better than most Zoo's/Safari's I've been on - AND they've got thrill rides )
2) Disney Hollywood Studios (Tower of Terror is still awesome, we went on it 5 times I think)
3) Busch Gardens (Best Rollercoasters bar none)
4) Universal Islands of Adventure (Harry Potter World is pretty cool if you're into that sort of stuff, if you like wet rides you'll love it here - we got SOAKED)
5) SeaWorld (Great shows and two pretty awesome rollercoasters)
6) Disney Magic Kingdom (Best log flume here IMO, and two pretty decent 'coasters. Probably a half day if you don't have kids - but some awesome theming here)
7) Disney EPCOT (The place to go if you're hungry or want to try some new beers)
8) Universal Studios (they're doing loads of construction work there atm, it's a shell of its former self)
The water parks are also well worth a visit, the Disney ones being the best over Wet n' Wild or Aquatica IMO.
Kennedy is excellent if you're a space geek like me, but it's not a full day - so get there early and get back to Orlando so you can make an afternoon/evening of it.
We did two weeks, just me and biatch so no kids. We had a night in clearwater and went to Busch Gardens on the way back to Orlando. We ate out every meal so that takes up some of your time, and we revisited a couple of the parks. I think we had three days with no parks planned, but to be honest we could have easily revisited other parks to see more rides/shows etc - there's so much to do it's insane.
Shopping is excellent, and I don't even like shopping/brands most of the time. We spent a small fortune at the Millenia Mall but got loads to show for it.
You'll love it, if you're bored and want to see some photographs I've uploaded a selection to a public photobucket album:
KJFlorida2012
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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When were you there? Family are back a couple of weeks ago and there was nothing being done at Universal other than celebrating their 100th anniversary.
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gazza808
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Registered: 30th Jun 08
Location: Peterborough
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Tbh IMO I never really waited longer than 20mins to get on a ride,
On some of the big rides I could Literly get off and get back on,
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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quote:
Originally posted by Hammer
When were you there? Family are back a couple of weeks ago and there was nothing being done at Universal other than celebrating their 100th anniversary.
10th July - 24th.
Where Jaws used to be is all closed and fenced off. If you walk around the park in a clockwise direction you pass the New York bit then you enter a "tunnel" of boarded off walkway which you stay in until you get to Men in Black bit. The San Fran/Amity bit is just totally unaccessible.
Apparently they're turning it all into a Harry Potter area, then linking this area with the other HP area in IoA with a train.
This suggests the work is still ongoing, and I'm sure I saw signs suggesting 2013 completion dates.
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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quote:
Originally posted by gazza808
Tbh IMO I never really waited longer than 20mins to get on a ride,
On some of the big rides I could Literly get off and get back on,
Depends on time of year, but we found even in one of the busiest times that simply getting up early avoided most of the queues.
Disney's fastpass system is excellent, as you can chill out more - and it doesn't cost extra!
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Dan
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Registered: 22nd Apr 02
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I'm off in November/December. Visiting family for a week then travelling the 100 miles to Orlando and having a week there.
Weve booked disney/universal/sea world/discovery cove.
We can only spare one day per park so not going to see it all, but we plan to be going every year now.
So excited. Little one will nearly be 2 and he is proper into Disney/toy story etc.
Adult GiftsClick here to vist us
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IvIarkgraham
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Registered: 27th Mar 04
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going next year, cant wait
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Andrew
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Registered: 5th May 04
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Got back from Tenerife Monday, booked this for next August this morning:
http://www.thomson.co.uk/thomson/page/byo/accomdetails/accomdetails.page?packageNumber=0445451376295300000137631090000015613775277000001377575700000157&locationName=International Drive&tuiCtryCode=000207&tuiDestCode=&tuiResortCode=000208&tuiAccomCode=044545&numAdults=2&numChildren=0&childInfantAges=&searchPageName=HomeSch&searchFlag=FHPISearch&maxPartySize=9&moreDestinations=false&moreResorts=false&holiday_type=×tamp=1346097310737&day=12&monthYear=8%2F2013&displayDay=12&displayMonth=Aug&displayYear=13&departureDate=2013-8-12&departureMargin=7&duration=14&dayTripSearch=false&checkOutDay=26&checkOutMonthYear=8%2F2013&checkOutDisplayDay=26&checkOutDisplayMonth=Aug&checkOutDisplayYear=13&departureAirportCode=*NW&countryDestCode=455&resortAccomCode=2466%7C117&countryCode=455&destinationCode=&resortCode=2466&accommodationCode=117&departure=&accommFeaturesBitValue=2&accommodationType=0&rating=0&numberOfRooms=1&roomConfigurationFormBean.room%5B0%5D.adult=2&roomConfigurationFormBean.room%5B0%5D.children=0&numRemSearch=8
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Siberia
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Registered: 9th Oct 03
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went in 2008. universal islands of adventure in orlando and busch gardens in tampa were the places with the big rides particualarly busch gardens.
we rented a car for the 2 weeks drove down the west side of florida, stoped in naples for 1 night, key west for 3 nights, miami for 2 nights, hollywood beach for 2 nights then back to orlando..
dont forget to get out on an airboat.. frighened the crap outta me as i cant swim
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cunningham
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Registered: 25th May 05
Location: Lochore, Fife
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TBH if your not doing as many parks as you can fit in i wouldnt waste your time going to Florida theres plenty of other hot places in America. Florida is all about the parks imo
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Daniel_Corsa
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Registered: 21st Apr 04
Location: Wigton, Cumbria
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October and do Halloween Horror nights at Universal it's excellent.
Loads to do other than Disney, I usually go Universal / Islands of Adventure / Sea World / Busch Gardens / water park (take your pick all pretty good)
Shopping malls everywhere, Florida Mall, Millenia Mall, Factory Outlets.
Got beaches north and south, I like Coco and Daytona, just because it's near Space centre and Daytona speedway.
Old Town car cruise Fri and Sat nights.
CSi experience, crazy golf, wonder works, ripleys believe it or not.
Endless amounts to do if you want to do it, or can just laze about too!
Been 10 times, would go again tomorrow if I could.
April '06' Corsasport Feature Car  | Aug '08' Total Vauxhall Feature Car | Spring '09' Fast Car Feature Car
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