No Disney/US this trip

[Nsaudra]

At first I felt bad we go every year, my kids look forward to it. So we are going to orlando.. I got the kids all excited telling them about seaworld and bush gardens. They are not bad at all I dont want it to seem that way. But driving 1200 miles and not going to our favorite place is hard.
I just cant swing the 2000 park tickets for our family of 5 when for 150/110 we get 2 parks with all you can dine passes. Is it hard to see the signs and not go there. Next year we are going to go all out in a starwars themed vacation staying on property I just keep reminding myself.
And the beach is 10$ parking all day I'm hoping for nice weather.

 

[Random Ninja]

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are a lot of fun. There's so much to do in Central Florida besides Disney. There's also so much to do at Disney besides the parks too. If it's too hard to go to Orlando without visiting Disney, maybe do something outside the parks that you might not have done before.

Fort Wilderness has a free sing-a-long with Chip & Dale and they have a campfire with snacks for purchase. If you time it right, you can even see the fireworks from the beach. It's really easy to spend an afternoon/evening there.

Disney Springs has lots to do like Splitsville and AMC. You can still take the boat to POR/POFQ even if you aren't staying there.

As for outside Disney, the weather has a mind of its own. You might have great weather or you could have rain depending on when you go. There's a really cool little Greek fishing village about 45 minutes north of Tampa called Tarpon Springs that's a lot of fun. Orlando has a lot of interesting things too like Ripley's, Wonderworks, Crayola Experience, American Girl Store, Gatorland.

 

[Shughart]

We are a 1250 mile drive. Honestly if I was driving that far and couldn't do Dis/US I would go 1250 in literally any other direction. To drive all that way and be there and not go would break my heart. We're making the drive in December. I'm sorry you can't make it work

 

[starry_solo]

We are a 1250 mile drive. Honestly if I was driving that far and couldn't do Dis/US I would go 1250 in literally any other direction. To drive all that way and be there and not go would break my heart. We're making the drive in December. I'm sorry you can't make it work

+1.

 

[wendow]

At first I felt bad we go every year, my kids look forward to it. So we are going to orlando.. I got the kids all excited telling them about seaworld and bush gardens. They are not bad at all I dont want it to seem that way. But driving 1200 miles and not going to our favorite place is hard.
I just cant swing the 2000 park tickets for our family of 5 when for 150/110 we get 2 parks with all you can dine passes. Is it hard to see the signs and not go there. Next year we are going to go all out in a starwars themed vacation staying on property I just keep reminding myself.
And the beach is 10$ parking all day I'm hoping for nice weather.

I do think it's hard to be in Orlando and not see the Mouse but it's doable. We've done it a few times. We're a large fam of 6 and seeing the Mouse has just gotten so expensive that it doesn't always work out financially. There are so many other things to do in Orlando, like Sea World and Busch Gardens. We've also gone over to Disney just for meals and then watched the fireworks from the Poly or FW beach, like another poster mentioned. It's been awhile but FW used to let you ride the horses for a 30-min fee. Much cheaper than a park ticket. Eat at their CS and then do the chip and dale sing-a-long. You can play minigolf in the Epcot area, eat on the boardwalk, and enjoy hanging out there for an afternoon taking the boat ride from Epcot to DHS and back. Visit Disney Spring and ride the boat to those resorts for a meal or just hanging out. I love the parks but there is more to Disney than the parks and much of the other is free or a lot less money!

 

[Nsaudra]

Thankyou I never thought about disney springs, I didnt know about the chip and sale the kids would love that. I love the ideas. Glad I'm not alone with the park tickets so high we dont have a choice. But here in kansas city it's cold and yet snowing again. If it wasn't for that I want sun and warmth I would be going somewhere else.

 

[Shughart]

Thankyou I never thought about disney springs, I didnt know about the chip and sale the kids would love that. I love the ideas. Glad I'm not alone with the park tickets so high we dont have a choice. But here in kansas city it's cold and yet snowing again. If it wasn't for that I want sun and warmth I would be going somewhere else.

That's very true. I'm in NoIL and all the snow is starting to make me go crazy. I am literally counting down the days till Florida.

 

[kirstenb1]

Think about Sea World's water park Aquatica too. It is super fun, probably my favorite water park. You may get a deal if you bundle the tix with Sea World/BG. I think you'll really enjoy vacation outside of the mouse.

 

[Nsaudra]

Think about Sea World's water park Aquatica too. It is super fun, probably my favorite water park. You may get a deal if you bundle the tix with Sea World/BG. I think you'll really enjoy vacation outside of the mouse.

Its $20 more I have never been there I here good things

 

[Music City Mama]

We're not going to WDW or US this summer either, but will spend 4 days in the Tampa area and 4 days int the Orlando area. We're only driving about 700 miles, though, and I have family to see on the Tampa side. We're not doing Busch Gardens because I can't fit it in our schedule.

In Orlando, we're going to do SeaWorld, Disney Springs (which we normally don't go to), and the some other area attractions.

I like nice accommodations, so this trip won't be that much cheaper than a WDW trip for us, but I just want to do some other stuff and, like you, we'll be going back next year after SW land opens. It's weird because we've been going to WDW or US or both for the past 9 years at least once a year, but surprisingly, I'm more okay with it than I thought I'd be.

 

[wed100105]

How old are your kids? Legoland has great ticket deals as well.

Our kids have begged to go to Legoland for years. We've never squeezed it in during our Disney trips. This year for Christmas we gifted the kids a quick spring break trip for Legoland, but we're staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek, our home resort.

We love dining, so we're dining at WCC our first night and plan to head over to Fort Wilderness and see Chip and Dale's sing-a-long. My kids love the playground over at FW, so I'm sure they'll want to spend a little bit of time there. We're also going to Ohana for dinner one night.

We have Seaworld planned (military tickets), Tampa Zoo (also military discount), and some general relaxation around the resort.

Will it be weird not going to the parks? Yes. I've seriously considered one day tickets. We're headed back down for summer though, so we'll get our Disney fix this year. If not, I'd have a seriously hard time not visiting the parks.


There are really awesome places with about the same travel distance. Is your heart set on Orlando?

 

[wishuponastar1984]

There are tons of places one could go in the country. I would plan to go someplace other than Orlando.

 

[Jaime4004]

At first I felt bad we go every year, my kids look forward to it. So we are going to orlando.. I got the kids all excited telling them about seaworld and bush gardens. They are not bad at all I dont want it to seem that way. But driving 1200 miles and not going to our favorite place is hard.
I just cant swing the 2000 park tickets for our family of 5 when for 150/110 we get 2 parks with all you can dine passes. Is it hard to see the signs and not go there. Next year we are going to go all out in a starwars themed vacation staying on property I just keep reminding myself.
And the beach is 10$ parking all day I'm hoping for nice weather.

We drive the same distance 1-2 x/ year and only go to Disney every couple years out of that. There's plenty to do in FL, we're never bored. I get my disney fix by visiting/eating at the resorts or disney springs.

 

[kandb]

Think about Sea World's water park Aquatica too. It is super fun, probably my favorite water park. You may get a deal if you bundle the tix with Sea World/BG. I think you'll really enjoy vacation outside of the mouse.

I agree 100%. Aquatica water park is much better then the Disney water parks. If you go, make sure you go on the fast moving "lazy river". Our family had a blast on that ride.

 

[kandb]

I would not drive over 1,000 to go to Orlando. There are a lot of other places to see in the US, that are probably closer to you. That is a very long ride. I would do it if it was around 6 hours or less, but not as far as you are going to have to travel.

 

[Monykalyn]

At first I felt bad we go every year, my kids look forward to it. So we are going to orlando.. I got the kids all excited telling them about seaworld and bush gardens. They are not bad at all I dont want it to seem that way. But driving 1200 miles and not going to our favorite place is hard.
I just cant swing the 2000 park tickets for our family of 5 when for 150/110 we get 2 parks with all you can dine passes. Is it hard to see the signs and not go there. Next year we are going to go all out in a starwars themed vacation staying on property I just keep reminding myself.
And the beach is 10$ parking all day I'm hoping for nice weather.

Check out staying on the beach too-we rented a cottage for 2 nights last summer on Cocoa beach-surprisingly cheap (in June!) and we were steps from the beach. The cottage had all the beach toys, chairs, towels-even a cooler with wheels to take with us. We did both Disney and Universal, + beach (we were in Florida 2 weeks) as we had Disney AP's (oldest kid was doing DCP) and bought Universal AP's, but I think my kids would have preferred more beach time.
This past Christmas we didn't do Disney at all, but did shop at Disney springs, and we went to Kennedy Space center for a day. My Husband ended up with an AP to KSC at is worked out to be a bit cheaper that way-the AP gets free parking, food/merch discounts, and discounted tickets. You may want to look at something similar for Seaworld (one AP)

Also-check into getting tickets quick-right now Sea world is offering free Aquatica tickets with a SW ticket. I actually was looking at their AP offerings and currently they are offering Aquatica AP free with a Seaworld AP-some levels have free guest tickets (with black out dates though)

I would not drive over 1,000 to go to Orlando. There are a lot of other places to see in the US, that are probably closer to you. That is a very long ride. I would do it if it was around 6 hours or less, but not as far as you are going to have to travel.

Eh-we've made the RT drive (>1000 miles each way) more times than we've flown now. Flight tickets for a family of 4 or 5 can get expensive pretty quick. But with multiple drivers in our family it's not a bad drive.

 

[artesian]

We stopped flying about 4 years ago now. The kids know if we were to fly that it cuts down on stuff we do in the parks. There's about $1000 we save by making the drive. We've haven't done the non Disney trip to Orlando but there's a ton of stuff i've always wanted to do but never have the time. To echo other posts I think you can fill up with alternates easily and still have a fun trip

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Because we are military we can go to Busch Gardens and Sea World free once per year. Plus we have hotel points from stays from our work trip! So, we did a Busch Garden/Sea World trip one year and it was fun!!!

I think Disney needs competition! It keeps them on their toes!

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

You will have a great time at the parks you do visit. Really, when it comes down to it, this is about experiencing things together as a family, moreso than riding Splash Mountain.

That said, on our first Universal-only trip, I was worried that we would really miss the mouse, so we attended a Christmas party to give us just a taste of the Magic Kingdom. If you think you will really miss it, look and see if there are opportunities like a party or an after hours event that would give you just that little taste. None of those events are cheap, but they also aren't nearly as much as tickets for several days.

 

[Shughart]

We stopped flying about 4 years ago now. The kids know if we were to fly that it cuts down on stuff we do in the parks. There's about $1000 we save by making the drive. We've haven't done the non Disney trip to Orlando but there's a ton of stuff i've always wanted to do but never have the time. To echo other posts I think you can fill up with alternates easily and still have a fun trip

Can I ask how far you drive?

It's 1250 miles for us. We're splitting each way up into 2 days (per my husband, who insists on driving). So for hotels, food, gas, and paying for parking we'll save maybe $500 by not flying. Some might be excited for $500 in savings, but I would rather spend the extra $500 and cut 2 travel days from my trip :/