OK, I struggled with which board to put this under. Our plan was to go to LEGOLAND (my son won tickets woo hoo) and we thought maybe we'd go to Universal (but we didn't and more on that later) but we DID go to HS and TL so I decided this was the most accurate board.
About us -- DH & 9 yr old Lego fanatic ds who won the LEGOLAND tickets in a building contest.
I've used these boards for both this last trip and our previous and way more planned WDW trip in 2012 when we stayed onsite at AOA and did not stray from the parks or hotel one bit. This trip was very different. First off, we did not stay at a WDW park but stayed nearby. Also, we rented a car and explored a bit more. This was a last minute trip with less than 4 weeks from buying plane and hotel tickets.
THE HOTEL -- Westgate Towers on Irlo Bronson.
I got a screaming deal on Expedia ya'll. We paid $79 a night plus $71 in taxes and we booked this less than 4 weeks before the trip. I hate last minute planning, but price-wise it worked out in our favor. I am not a seasoned Expedia user. I've read the horror stories and was nervous to put down the deposit, yet still, I did it and when we arrived there were no issues at all.
The hotel is basically on the main drag it would seem. We flew into TPA and had a nice 90 minute fairly uneventful drive to Kissimmee. We chose TPA because those were the cheapest last minute tickets available on SWA or any other airline.
Check in was easy peasy. It's a time share place, so you go to the front desk, then to another desk and then on to a third desk. All of these desks are within 10 feet of each other. Really though, it was not a big deal. We paid at the first desk, received our welcome package at the second (tons of coupons and flyers) and then some bottled water, coffee and a box of cookies at the last desk. I had read some complaints about the hard sell here. Never at any point during this initial process did anyone even mention or invite us to any presentation. This was quite a relief. we had steeled ourselves up for the hard sell and nothing happened. Actually, never once during our stay did this come up!!
If I were to describe the décor of the room, it would be this: 1980's Barry Manilow. It was a suite with a kitchen, living room, master bath (complete with shower and Jacuzzi tub) and 2 bathrooms. I would say that's a deal for $79 a night plus tax. Oh and free parking. We really didn't care about the dated décor. It was clean enough and no bedbugs to be seen. I would say that is a success. There are about 3 pools, a small video arcade and a small playground on site. You can take a shuttle to the sister resort which is just kitty corner from this one. There you can rent swan boats, play mini golf, watch movies and there are also some restaurants as well. We only went there on our last day and played a round of mini golf. It is definitely the more lux resort of the two.
NEARBY FOOD / RESTAURANTS
The hotel is near countless chain restaurants. if you loved / hated it at home, you'll love / hate it there. Because we were so late in planning and everything was so up in the air, I didn't make reservations anywhere. What we discovered is that unless you made reservations, prepare to wait a long time. If you need a quick meal as in my 5 foot tall 9 yr old in the middle of a nasty growth spurt needs to eat NOW, head to one of the many buffet places. I'm not saying they're good necessarily but we found we got in rather quickly when we needed to and nobody got sick. There are also a number of near by fast food chains as well.
LEGOLAND
Ahhh LEGOLAND. I know, everyone compares it to WDW but that's just not fair. It's its own park and I think you just have to enjoy it for what it is. We visited on 2 days -- Sunday and Friday. Sunday we arrived around opening time. Parking was easy, even at $14. We of course high tailed it straight to the coastersaurus but truth be told, we probably didn't have to. The park was so easy to manage and not that crowded surprisingly. Friday was far more crowded with a few big busloads of kids. Still, I think our longest wait time was about 20 minutes tops.
Miniland was a definite highlight. The WeDo/Minestorms classes are a definite must do. You can sign up when you enter the park or in the imagination area. They last 45 minutes and are a blast for any aspiring robot engineers. You have a choice of 3 different classes. One is a WeDo class and you program a cute crocodile (or is he a gator??). There are 2 Minestorm classes. One involves a robot that performs 3 surgical tasks (think of the game Operation) and the other class involves an Indiana Jones type explorer that has to navigate a maze, discover treasure and knock out an idol/god. DS did this last class and really enjoyed it.
The rides are definitely tamer than at Six Flags or Busch gardens, but they're not that lame. My personal favorite is the dragon ride. The Lego builds inside the ride are really amazing. The Coastersaurus is fun too. Basically any of the roller coaster rides are fun. I can't say my son was disappointed by any of them.
All in all, LEGOLAND is not WDW but it does have a lot to offer imo. The hours are much shorter (10-5) and so are the crowds. We thought it was a good time and would go again. Plus, it's super easy to get discount tickets which is always a plus in my book.
LEGOLAND food --- well i'll just say that it leaves a lot to be desired. Looking back, I wish I had brought ours in. It would have saved us some money. On Sunday we ate at a sandwich place near the Pirate show. it's next door to a discount shop which is worth a visit imo. This place had premade sandwiches. They were just ok. The Panini place near the imagination area smelled really good, but I can't vouch for the taste. Friday we ate at the Market Place. Yeah, that wasn't very good. It's around the corner from Granny's fried apples.
About the apples. We had these in CA when we visited LEGOLAND CA 4 yrs ago. They're fried apples. Either you love them or you hate em. You have to try them I think.
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
Because DH doesn't like to research, he talks DS into visiting HS on a MH day. I'm just along for the ride. Literally. We skipped the hotel shuttles and opted to drive and park. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't LEGOLAND. We were able to immediately hop into a parking lot shuttle and whiz on down. The only problem we encountered was the bag line of eternal waiting. Oh my goodness. If only DS could go without snacks. Did I mention he was having a growth spurt?? That was the only major hold up. Thankfully, DS purchased tickets at the hotel so we were able to avoid that line. The man can do some planning after all.
FP+
OK this is new. I had heard more than one rumbling regarding this new feature. Let me say, and imo, it's not enough to cancel a trip over. It's just new and different. We can work through this. I had DS & DH leave me with their tickets and run off to Star Tours. There was no sense in their waiting even longer. By the time I got to the FP+ person, and it wasn't a huge wait mind you, RnRRC & ToT were unavailable. I picked Star Tours, Little Mermaid and Fantasmic instead. Looking back, I should have grabbed Toy Story instead of Star Tours. I think the longest wait we had for ST was maybe, MAYBE, 30 minutes. TS was 90-150 minutes throughout the day so we never did that one. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE PEOPLE!
It was a crowded day no doubt as a result of the extended mh later that night. I think the longest wait time was about 60 minutes for RnRRC. Thank goodness I still had a little battery left on my phone. That was the one and only time I had to resort to Angry Birds with my ds. We also rode ToT and that was not as long a wait. We headed straight there after Fantasmic. The sign and the lady outside said it would be a 60 minute wait. I think it was more like 20-30. Still, it was our last ride of the night and well worth the wait.
HS FOOD
Again, we had no reservations but I was just dying to eat at the Sci-Fi dine in place. We put our name in and were given a 45 minute wait for a back table. I got DH some coffee (at the writer's shop next door) and set him down with the pager. DS and I explored the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area. How did we miss this before? DS, even at his advanced age of 9, had a ton of fun. When the buzzer went off we went in. What a great place! It's cool, dark and relatively quiet inside. It was a much needed break. The lunch was pretty good too -- probably one of the better meals we had in FL believe it or not. I had the veggie burger, DH had something (food??) and DS had a kids meal with a milk shake. I was shocked at the amount of food in the kids meal. It was more than enough to feed my growing boy and included dessert.
TYPHOON LAGOON
So when we booked our first WDW trip, my son's one and only request was to go here to swim with the sharks. He really couldn't have cared less about the other parks at the time. He just wanted to swim with the rays. Well mom & dad messed up and waited until the last full day only to have a morning thunderstorm roll in and ruin our plans. In hindsight, we should have gone midweek while the weather was better. Again, LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES PEOPLE!!
Day 3, a Tuesday, was set aside just so we could right this one wrong. Since parking is free for the water parks (and DTD), we drove. Parking was a breeze at 10:15 ish. What did we forget? Oh yeah, to purchase tickets at the hotel. We ended up waiting in line for a good 20 minutes for tickets. We'll do better next time i'm sure.
We brought our own beach towels and were able to find a shady spot near a lighthouse type structure. When you cross the bridge, turn left and there you are. DH took care of renting a locker for the day -- a must in my book. We draped our towels on the chairs, left our beach bag w/snacks and hit the water.
About the wave pool -- this is by far the strongest wave pool I have ever experienced. Let's just say that, for me, it was like the worlds biggest and strongest netipot. The bottom is indeed rough. My husband and I were ok with that, but I put ds in water socks. The wave pool was my son's favorite by far. The lazy river is good. You'll have to wait for a tube, but it's nice. I was told an entire trip around takes about 20 minutes. We rode several slides and inner tube rides and had a great time.
Now about those sharks & rays -- we hit this first off to avoid any lines or delays. First you have to pick out your scuba gear and shower off. Now that is cold, but manageable. Next you're off to the pool. A good 10 feet or so you can stand on, but after that you must swim on your own. There's a little island area in the middle as well. DS did not like the one size fits all mask and snorkel. He kept getting saltwater in his eyes and mouth. He ditched the snorkel and swam holding his breath. The attendant did say he could use his own mask or goggles if he preferred. That's good to know.
TL FOOD
We had some sandwiches. Meh. My island burger had the world's slimmest piece of pineapple in it. Maybe 1/5 the thickness of normal canned slices. I didn't get around to trying those little donuts. Next time.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
This was about an hours drive from our hotel and well worth the trip imo. I read somewhere here that some congress people will provide you with tickets, ours did not. Tickets are a bit pricey, but well worth it imo. I know some have posted that they spent maybe a half day, we spent the whole day there and easily could have come back again. There's just so much to see and do! The tour bus is well worth it. We rode on bus 43 and our tour guide was EXCELLENT! Not only did he provide us with the history of the KSC & NASA, but he also pointed out the local wild life including -- drum roll please -- local birds, alligators, and a bald eagle all in the wild! This was a highlight for me.
The Atlantis exhibit is not to be missed. It's breath taking and so well done. There are lots of interactive exhibits as well. You can even touch a real moon rock. My son enjoyed the robot exhibit as well as, you guessed it, the Angry Birds in Space. It's well worth the drive to visit here. One piece of advice for your trip here, or just about anywhere in the area, TAKE LOTS OF CHANGE. We had to stop for quite a number of tolls ranging anywhere from .50 to $1.50
GATORLAND
It's like stepping back in time. We were surprised by how much we enjoyed this place! There are coupons on their web site so use these. The staff were so nice too. We purchased the "Grunt Package" which included the chance to sit on a gator. You are not obligated to buy their photo and can take your own. They're very up front about that which is nice. The breeding marsh is beautiful and has 100s of alligators and wild birds. Feeding the gators is interesting. Granted, I will never look at hotdogs the same way after that. The trick with feeding gators we found was to rip the hotdogs into 1 inch pieces and throw them just to the side of the gator's mouth. If you miss, that's ok. The egrets riding on the gators, fish, and/or other birds will get the uneaten pieces. You can feed the flamingos or other birds for $.25. Another hit was the aviary where, during feeding times, you can feed a flock of budgies and one sun conure. Another hit.
GATORLAND FOOD
Yes, you can eat fried gator here. We didn't. You can though. The food is your basic theme park/carnival food with hotdogs, burgers, pulled pork sandwiches and turkey legs.
So that's my run down on our most recent not completely, but partially, WDW vacation. As you can tell there are some lessons we have hopefully learned here.
Just a few last notes...
souvenirs -- these are plenty and available in the gift shops on Irlo Bronson. Walgreens also had a limited selection of the same t-shirts and towels. Walgreens also sells discount tickets to Fun Spot. Target had a good selection as well. I know a lot of people like to save money this way and it makes perfect sense. I bought ds a cute Mickey tshirt for $10 at Walgreens. The various "gift shops" (oh you cannot miss them), have all sorts of stuff.
miniature golf & US -- the course behind the CiCis is about $ 7-8 more than the Safari golf just down the road. Safari golf is a lot nicer imo and the staff were really nice as well. We even won a free game. Woo hoo! We originally wanted to go to the one at Universal but the sticker shock of US parking at $16 and the crazy crowds made us turn around. Ultimately, we decided against US in favor of another day at LEGOLAND. For one, the price was right with the buy one adult get a free child coupon. Also, my guy isn't into super heros. I think once he gets into Harry Potter more, IOA will be an option, but for now we just couldn't justify the expense plus I think we just wanted another low key LEGOLAND day to end our trip.
About us -- DH & 9 yr old Lego fanatic ds who won the LEGOLAND tickets in a building contest.
I've used these boards for both this last trip and our previous and way more planned WDW trip in 2012 when we stayed onsite at AOA and did not stray from the parks or hotel one bit. This trip was very different. First off, we did not stay at a WDW park but stayed nearby. Also, we rented a car and explored a bit more. This was a last minute trip with less than 4 weeks from buying plane and hotel tickets.
THE HOTEL -- Westgate Towers on Irlo Bronson.
I got a screaming deal on Expedia ya'll. We paid $79 a night plus $71 in taxes and we booked this less than 4 weeks before the trip. I hate last minute planning, but price-wise it worked out in our favor. I am not a seasoned Expedia user. I've read the horror stories and was nervous to put down the deposit, yet still, I did it and when we arrived there were no issues at all.
The hotel is basically on the main drag it would seem. We flew into TPA and had a nice 90 minute fairly uneventful drive to Kissimmee. We chose TPA because those were the cheapest last minute tickets available on SWA or any other airline.
Check in was easy peasy. It's a time share place, so you go to the front desk, then to another desk and then on to a third desk. All of these desks are within 10 feet of each other. Really though, it was not a big deal. We paid at the first desk, received our welcome package at the second (tons of coupons and flyers) and then some bottled water, coffee and a box of cookies at the last desk. I had read some complaints about the hard sell here. Never at any point during this initial process did anyone even mention or invite us to any presentation. This was quite a relief. we had steeled ourselves up for the hard sell and nothing happened. Actually, never once during our stay did this come up!!
If I were to describe the décor of the room, it would be this: 1980's Barry Manilow. It was a suite with a kitchen, living room, master bath (complete with shower and Jacuzzi tub) and 2 bathrooms. I would say that's a deal for $79 a night plus tax. Oh and free parking. We really didn't care about the dated décor. It was clean enough and no bedbugs to be seen. I would say that is a success. There are about 3 pools, a small video arcade and a small playground on site. You can take a shuttle to the sister resort which is just kitty corner from this one. There you can rent swan boats, play mini golf, watch movies and there are also some restaurants as well. We only went there on our last day and played a round of mini golf. It is definitely the more lux resort of the two.
NEARBY FOOD / RESTAURANTS
The hotel is near countless chain restaurants. if you loved / hated it at home, you'll love / hate it there. Because we were so late in planning and everything was so up in the air, I didn't make reservations anywhere. What we discovered is that unless you made reservations, prepare to wait a long time. If you need a quick meal as in my 5 foot tall 9 yr old in the middle of a nasty growth spurt needs to eat NOW, head to one of the many buffet places. I'm not saying they're good necessarily but we found we got in rather quickly when we needed to and nobody got sick. There are also a number of near by fast food chains as well.
LEGOLAND
Ahhh LEGOLAND. I know, everyone compares it to WDW but that's just not fair. It's its own park and I think you just have to enjoy it for what it is. We visited on 2 days -- Sunday and Friday. Sunday we arrived around opening time. Parking was easy, even at $14. We of course high tailed it straight to the coastersaurus but truth be told, we probably didn't have to. The park was so easy to manage and not that crowded surprisingly. Friday was far more crowded with a few big busloads of kids. Still, I think our longest wait time was about 20 minutes tops.
Miniland was a definite highlight. The WeDo/Minestorms classes are a definite must do. You can sign up when you enter the park or in the imagination area. They last 45 minutes and are a blast for any aspiring robot engineers. You have a choice of 3 different classes. One is a WeDo class and you program a cute crocodile (or is he a gator??). There are 2 Minestorm classes. One involves a robot that performs 3 surgical tasks (think of the game Operation) and the other class involves an Indiana Jones type explorer that has to navigate a maze, discover treasure and knock out an idol/god. DS did this last class and really enjoyed it.
The rides are definitely tamer than at Six Flags or Busch gardens, but they're not that lame. My personal favorite is the dragon ride. The Lego builds inside the ride are really amazing. The Coastersaurus is fun too. Basically any of the roller coaster rides are fun. I can't say my son was disappointed by any of them.
All in all, LEGOLAND is not WDW but it does have a lot to offer imo. The hours are much shorter (10-5) and so are the crowds. We thought it was a good time and would go again. Plus, it's super easy to get discount tickets which is always a plus in my book.
LEGOLAND food --- well i'll just say that it leaves a lot to be desired. Looking back, I wish I had brought ours in. It would have saved us some money. On Sunday we ate at a sandwich place near the Pirate show. it's next door to a discount shop which is worth a visit imo. This place had premade sandwiches. They were just ok. The Panini place near the imagination area smelled really good, but I can't vouch for the taste. Friday we ate at the Market Place. Yeah, that wasn't very good. It's around the corner from Granny's fried apples.
About the apples. We had these in CA when we visited LEGOLAND CA 4 yrs ago. They're fried apples. Either you love them or you hate em. You have to try them I think.
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
Because DH doesn't like to research, he talks DS into visiting HS on a MH day. I'm just along for the ride. Literally. We skipped the hotel shuttles and opted to drive and park. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't LEGOLAND. We were able to immediately hop into a parking lot shuttle and whiz on down. The only problem we encountered was the bag line of eternal waiting. Oh my goodness. If only DS could go without snacks. Did I mention he was having a growth spurt?? That was the only major hold up. Thankfully, DS purchased tickets at the hotel so we were able to avoid that line. The man can do some planning after all.
FP+
OK this is new. I had heard more than one rumbling regarding this new feature. Let me say, and imo, it's not enough to cancel a trip over. It's just new and different. We can work through this. I had DS & DH leave me with their tickets and run off to Star Tours. There was no sense in their waiting even longer. By the time I got to the FP+ person, and it wasn't a huge wait mind you, RnRRC & ToT were unavailable. I picked Star Tours, Little Mermaid and Fantasmic instead. Looking back, I should have grabbed Toy Story instead of Star Tours. I think the longest wait we had for ST was maybe, MAYBE, 30 minutes. TS was 90-150 minutes throughout the day so we never did that one. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE PEOPLE!
It was a crowded day no doubt as a result of the extended mh later that night. I think the longest wait time was about 60 minutes for RnRRC. Thank goodness I still had a little battery left on my phone. That was the one and only time I had to resort to Angry Birds with my ds. We also rode ToT and that was not as long a wait. We headed straight there after Fantasmic. The sign and the lady outside said it would be a 60 minute wait. I think it was more like 20-30. Still, it was our last ride of the night and well worth the wait.
HS FOOD
Again, we had no reservations but I was just dying to eat at the Sci-Fi dine in place. We put our name in and were given a 45 minute wait for a back table. I got DH some coffee (at the writer's shop next door) and set him down with the pager. DS and I explored the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area. How did we miss this before? DS, even at his advanced age of 9, had a ton of fun. When the buzzer went off we went in. What a great place! It's cool, dark and relatively quiet inside. It was a much needed break. The lunch was pretty good too -- probably one of the better meals we had in FL believe it or not. I had the veggie burger, DH had something (food??) and DS had a kids meal with a milk shake. I was shocked at the amount of food in the kids meal. It was more than enough to feed my growing boy and included dessert.
TYPHOON LAGOON
So when we booked our first WDW trip, my son's one and only request was to go here to swim with the sharks. He really couldn't have cared less about the other parks at the time. He just wanted to swim with the rays. Well mom & dad messed up and waited until the last full day only to have a morning thunderstorm roll in and ruin our plans. In hindsight, we should have gone midweek while the weather was better. Again, LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES PEOPLE!!
Day 3, a Tuesday, was set aside just so we could right this one wrong. Since parking is free for the water parks (and DTD), we drove. Parking was a breeze at 10:15 ish. What did we forget? Oh yeah, to purchase tickets at the hotel. We ended up waiting in line for a good 20 minutes for tickets. We'll do better next time i'm sure.
We brought our own beach towels and were able to find a shady spot near a lighthouse type structure. When you cross the bridge, turn left and there you are. DH took care of renting a locker for the day -- a must in my book. We draped our towels on the chairs, left our beach bag w/snacks and hit the water.
About the wave pool -- this is by far the strongest wave pool I have ever experienced. Let's just say that, for me, it was like the worlds biggest and strongest netipot. The bottom is indeed rough. My husband and I were ok with that, but I put ds in water socks. The wave pool was my son's favorite by far. The lazy river is good. You'll have to wait for a tube, but it's nice. I was told an entire trip around takes about 20 minutes. We rode several slides and inner tube rides and had a great time.
Now about those sharks & rays -- we hit this first off to avoid any lines or delays. First you have to pick out your scuba gear and shower off. Now that is cold, but manageable. Next you're off to the pool. A good 10 feet or so you can stand on, but after that you must swim on your own. There's a little island area in the middle as well. DS did not like the one size fits all mask and snorkel. He kept getting saltwater in his eyes and mouth. He ditched the snorkel and swam holding his breath. The attendant did say he could use his own mask or goggles if he preferred. That's good to know.
TL FOOD
We had some sandwiches. Meh. My island burger had the world's slimmest piece of pineapple in it. Maybe 1/5 the thickness of normal canned slices. I didn't get around to trying those little donuts. Next time.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
This was about an hours drive from our hotel and well worth the trip imo. I read somewhere here that some congress people will provide you with tickets, ours did not. Tickets are a bit pricey, but well worth it imo. I know some have posted that they spent maybe a half day, we spent the whole day there and easily could have come back again. There's just so much to see and do! The tour bus is well worth it. We rode on bus 43 and our tour guide was EXCELLENT! Not only did he provide us with the history of the KSC & NASA, but he also pointed out the local wild life including -- drum roll please -- local birds, alligators, and a bald eagle all in the wild! This was a highlight for me.
The Atlantis exhibit is not to be missed. It's breath taking and so well done. There are lots of interactive exhibits as well. You can even touch a real moon rock. My son enjoyed the robot exhibit as well as, you guessed it, the Angry Birds in Space. It's well worth the drive to visit here. One piece of advice for your trip here, or just about anywhere in the area, TAKE LOTS OF CHANGE. We had to stop for quite a number of tolls ranging anywhere from .50 to $1.50
GATORLAND
It's like stepping back in time. We were surprised by how much we enjoyed this place! There are coupons on their web site so use these. The staff were so nice too. We purchased the "Grunt Package" which included the chance to sit on a gator. You are not obligated to buy their photo and can take your own. They're very up front about that which is nice. The breeding marsh is beautiful and has 100s of alligators and wild birds. Feeding the gators is interesting. Granted, I will never look at hotdogs the same way after that. The trick with feeding gators we found was to rip the hotdogs into 1 inch pieces and throw them just to the side of the gator's mouth. If you miss, that's ok. The egrets riding on the gators, fish, and/or other birds will get the uneaten pieces. You can feed the flamingos or other birds for $.25. Another hit was the aviary where, during feeding times, you can feed a flock of budgies and one sun conure. Another hit.
GATORLAND FOOD
Yes, you can eat fried gator here. We didn't. You can though. The food is your basic theme park/carnival food with hotdogs, burgers, pulled pork sandwiches and turkey legs.
So that's my run down on our most recent not completely, but partially, WDW vacation. As you can tell there are some lessons we have hopefully learned here.
Just a few last notes...
souvenirs -- these are plenty and available in the gift shops on Irlo Bronson. Walgreens also had a limited selection of the same t-shirts and towels. Walgreens also sells discount tickets to Fun Spot. Target had a good selection as well. I know a lot of people like to save money this way and it makes perfect sense. I bought ds a cute Mickey tshirt for $10 at Walgreens. The various "gift shops" (oh you cannot miss them), have all sorts of stuff.
miniature golf & US -- the course behind the CiCis is about $ 7-8 more than the Safari golf just down the road. Safari golf is a lot nicer imo and the staff were really nice as well. We even won a free game. Woo hoo! We originally wanted to go to the one at Universal but the sticker shock of US parking at $16 and the crazy crowds made us turn around. Ultimately, we decided against US in favor of another day at LEGOLAND. For one, the price was right with the buy one adult get a free child coupon. Also, my guy isn't into super heros. I think once he gets into Harry Potter more, IOA will be an option, but for now we just couldn't justify the expense plus I think we just wanted another low key LEGOLAND day to end our trip.
