Going to Florida and theme parks

For several weeks prior to our departure, 12/01/07, I frequently asked myself, “What were you thinking? How could traveling to Florida with 4 adults and 5 children be a good idea? What if___________________ (fill in the blank with any number of disastrous possibilities, chief among which were kids getting hurt or lost while on “our watch”!” 18 months earlier we had used one of our timeshare deposits to secure a week for our daughter, husband and (then) 4 children at Orange Lake Country Club in Kissimmee. We stayed there before without children and noted the many amenities for families, and the fact that the villas were independent buildings, so others were not above or below you, thus mitigating the noise factor. Then I had the brilliant idea to check out the “last call” section of our timeshare website, and discovered in 2006 that the inventory was highest in the early part of Dec.. This was the genesis of my questionable decision to accompany them if we could get a place there or nearby. Of course, when the inventory first appeared in mid-October, we were in traveling through Slovenia and Croatia, and thus it fell to our daughter to book it for us. Anyhow, we ended up in a lovely two-bedroom resort, Bryan’s Spanish Cove, across the street from the Sheraton Vistana in Orlando, about 12 miles/15 minutes from Orange Lake. It did not have the pools and spraygrounds and other amenities that Orange Lake did, but the two older children stayed with us four of the nights, and that worked out quite well. I see that I have already sublimated the fact that at midnight of their first night sleeping over, Noah, 9, woke me to say he wasn’t feeling very well. He then threw up all over the kitchen floor in his failed attempt to reach their bathroom, and both of us, barefooted, proceeded to slip and slide in the mess until we could reach sponge and paper towels. As it was coming up Noah turned to me and said, “There goes Grampa’s delicious dinner!” Always be grateful for an appreciative audience when cooking!

Just checking in and getting to the gate were sufficiently challenging to make me glad we had decided to help. Did you know that if you have a lap child (no ticket, under two), you must provide identification? (birth certificate or other id). Somehow Maribeth missed that detail which the counter person assured us was on their website. Anyhow, because he was obviously an infant (five months at the time), they let us continue. The agent said that if his age had been questionable, they would have been required to purchase a seat, submit the birth certificate, and get a refund after the trip was completed. We’d printed out our boarding passes 24 hours earlier, but it doesn’t matter if you have a lap child. You go in a different line, one that takes much longer than the ordinary line for people already holding boarding passes. In Manchester, NH, it was not a problem, but in Orlando, at 6 a.m. on a Sat. morning, it was a total zoo, and an experience none of us ever wants to repeat. Although we continue to seek the lower fares and direct flights offered by Southwest, this experience has soured us on using this airline in the future.
Once we landed in Orlando we trekked to the car rental area. Fortunately, we were able to process ours quickly at a kiosk, while they ran into a long line and then intensive pressure to purchase all kinds of additional things at theirs. We took the children away from the counter area so that Sean and Maribeth could deal sanely with the rental. Then we had to get from there to the actual cars, which did not require a shuttle but was quite a distance to cover with luggage and kids. Sean got out the GPS he’d brought with him, and off we went to Orange Lake. Chuck and I registered, deposited them at their villa, took their GPS and headed to ours. The next morning we met in the parking lot outside Animal Kingdom. Had we purchased our tickets through AAA we could have had the parking pass which allows you to park close to the gate (but still pay the $11 per day charge) and not need to get on a shuttle, which may seem like a minor thing, but already we were looking for ways to facilitate transporting all of us together anywhere. We did purchase our park tickets ahead of time through Mousesavers.com, realizing a small savings. If you decide to go, you need to start significantly ahead of time to research the best passes for your needs as there are many, many options. We bought 3 day, one park/day passes, and I think it was the best move. If you do the park hopper, you are then going between at least two parks, adding to the stress and using precious time. If you have children under 8, even, the stamina required is immense, and they get tired and cranky. After the first day they decided to rent a double stroller for the twins, age 4, whose little legs struggled to keep pace. However, the rentals are $18/day, so you can see how quickly things add up. We brought water and juice and snack packs, hard candy, and gum with us in our backpacks, along with hats, sun block, sweatshirts and wipes (very important for sticky faces and fingers). You have to go through security as you enter, but no one questioned the contents of our backpacks. Food and drink inside the parks are very expensive: Gramp bought 8 ice cream bars to the tune of $20 the first day, and we were astonished. Hot dogs were $3.99 each! Jack had his own stroller and food and one of us hung out with him while we divided up for the others. Noah and Molly, at ages 9 and 7, wanted very different rides than the Ian and Ryan did at age 4. We did find some things we could do together, such as It’s Tough to be a Bug and Safari and Lion King at Animal Kingdom, and most of the shows in the other parks. No one does 4D like Disney (4D because you get a tactile experience as well…..wind, water, mice crawling over your feet, etc.). Be sure you understand how the Fast Pass works so you do not spend unnecessary time in lines. Not all rides have this option, and you can only use it for one ride at a time, but we never waited more than ten minutes in any line.

Bring cell phones. We had walkie talkies, but so did a lot of other people, and we had a hard time finding a clear channel, so we used the cells most often to regroup. We took breaks, insisted on the children using the bathrooms fairly often, and planned our paths to not be retracing our steps too often. Sometimes characters would suddenly appear, and we would seize the opportunity and recalculate our plans. When you enter the park you are given the day’s schedule of shows and special events, so usually we planned around them. The kids loved the Extreme Stunt Show at MGM, and the incredible night time show there as well, though it got quite cool. We did not go to the Christmas Show at Magic Kingdom because it would have been an extra $40-50; you have to buy a separate ticket which admits you after 4 or 5 p.m. on that day. We met a woman at the resort pool who said she always does it because you still have the run of the park, and it is less expensive than the day time ticket ($60-70 for adults) and you get the special Christmas show too. Hadn’t thought about making the late day entrance the whole day thing, and would try that should we return, as long as the kids were older. The little ones just do not have the staying power to do more than 6-8 hours/day.

One of the best decisions we made was to spend the first full day after we arrived at the Orange Lake Resort. Warm weather helped, and some of the adults went and got groceries while others got the children into suits and lathered up with sun block. We all went to the pools, slides and sprayground (see pictures) and spent a lovely day recovering from travel and resting up for the marathon to come. Since the children had not yet been to the parks, they were not yearning for rides and amusements and were totally content with the water activities. There were plenty of places to sit and eat our picnic lunch, and we saved a lot of money by eating breakfast and dinner at the villa almost every day.

Another thing to consider is the Disney dining experience. Go to http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/pscalc/dispscalc.html to explore the options and make a reservation. Many of the more popular ones sell out very soon after they open in advance, up to 180 days before. Why do this? Mainly because you get some up close and personal time with the characters without waiting in long lines and getting rushed through. It is expensive, but worth it, at least the ones we did. The first time we attended one it was with our other daughter, her husband and two children, and it was Cinderella’s Feast at the Grand Floridian, 1900 Park Faire. You do not get an actual reservation, nor do you have to pay in advance. You get a “priority seating” reservation, which means you are on the list, and when you actually arrive you are then put on the active list to be seated. The first time we waited about 15 minutes; for the breakfast at the same location w/Winnie and Mary Poppins, Alice and the MadHatter and the Fairy Godmother and Tigger, we did not wait at all. The dinner with Cinderella, the Prince, the Fairy Godmother, and two of the mice, was magnificent. Our buffet was outstanding, varied and plentiful, and included carving and pasta stations. Our breakfast there included an omelets/egg station and ice cream buffet! (yes, we all had ice cream at 9 in the morning!). When you drive in they direct you to valet parking at $10/car, but we said no, we wanted to self park. The woman informed us that we would have quite a walk (about 5 minutes), and since you have to go back out and through the Magic Kingdom gate and pay to park there, we were not eager to spend $21 just to park that day.

At Universal you also pay $11 to park, though a sign offered preferred parking for $16. Obviously we did not opt for that. It irritates me no end that if you have an endless source of money you can buy special treatment. At Disney you can pay for an all day guide who somehow gets you to the front of the line, just because you can pay more. Watching handicapped people and little kids wait in line while perfectly healthy adults forged ahead frosted me. Oh, well. I have no problem with people, old, young or middle-aged, who have special needs of any kind being allowed to go ahead, but I don’t think how much money you have should be the deciding factor (sorry, couldn’t resist the editorializing!). Universal has two parks, the original Universal Studios and the Islands of Adventure. We only went to the original one, and so don’t know what the other has to offer. We were there on the first day of their Christmas parade, which was magnificent. It showcased many of the floats from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in NYC. We sat along the curb and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.

Despite my initial trepidations, I am so very glad we went both times, and would go again in a heartbeat. We know that we made the whole experience much more pleasant for our children and their spouses. One night we babysat and gave our daughter and son-in-law a chance to go out a bit on their own (the one with two children, not five!). Also, we got to be a part of the whole memorable experience, and have talked about it with them often since our return.. We have pictures (I took the digital card to Walgreens, edited on the machine there, and had them printed there) which I made into an album for them, and they used some of the pictures for the photo journals required by their teachers. Their excitement and enjoyment were contagious, and even our “down” times were fun. Bring a couple of decks of cards because you can always play Go Fish or War or SlapJack to pass the time, and they don’t take up much room.
I will write later on some other vacation options, but this one is one I strongly encourage you to consider. You can rent timeshare or other accommodations even if you don’t own any, and the use of resort amenities gives you such a restful alternative to the parks, and some respite from always eating out.

Tip #8: Preplanning is the key to a successful, enjoyable journey to Florida with your grandchildren.