Tag Florida

This post will compete with thousands of other similar posts on the web. What makes it different? Well, to be honest– nothing. But I will be upfront about what we did, how we did it, what worked, and what didn’t and how to go about using that mysterious FastPass+.

Disney World — Magic Kingdom

We traveled to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom with three kids ages 8, 5 and 3, and four adults.

We purchased out tickets on site at 8:30am after parking in the middle of the Simba lot and then taking a (fun!) trolly to the gate. Everything at Disney is set up to be efficient. If we ever wanted to streamline the military/government, etc– we should hire Disney to do it. Folks called “cast members” greet you and direct you to the ticket counter where someone else lightens your wallet for you and hands back a few credit-card sized plastic tickets with a barcode on the back. You can scan this with a smartphone and, after you download the MyDisneyExperience app, you can program your three free, complimentary FastPasses (see below for more on that).

Having never been to Disney World (or any of their affiliates, like Disney Land, Disney Hong Kong, etc) I was shocked to see that they didn’t skimp on anything. Everything was lovely, clean, organized and fun. The rides were fun, well organized and every attempt was made to make waiting in line fun. They have some interactive stuff to do while you wait, and in the little kid’s attractions there are even little playgrounds. I liked, also, that they kept some of the staple attractions (Small World) and combined in new stuff, like Tangled in the parade, along with Frog Princess and Frozen. What I didn’t like was that you couldn’t see the characters. For whatever reason I was under the impression you could walk around the park and meet and greet with stuffed characters like Mickey and Donald. Instead, you had to wait in long lines, which was kind of lame. I thought part of the magic was that you walked around and it seemed like the characters actually lived there. To piggyback on that, we were sad to find out that there was a 90 minute wait to meet Ana and Elsa, so we couldn’t do it. 90 minutes with a preschooler is just too long. It would be cool if they opened a few more Frozen meet and greets so every little girl’s dream could come true (and so parents didn’t have to deal with grumpy kids in lines!). But that minimal, small complaint is about all we had to complain about. The rest was so amazing, the rides so fun, even the park food was decent. I expected a cheesy, overpriced, under delivered experience and I was wowed. Hard to do, so I applaud you, Disney. No wonder you are the magic makers.

Disney World — Animal Kingdom

With tots in tow we only wanted to do two parks, and Animal Kingdom was an easy second choice for us. Kids love animals, adults love the global aspect and the artwork, so it was a win for everyone.

I’ll admit that I didn’t think it could be as cool as Magic Kingdom– but for me I ended up liking the park better! The safari ride was a blast, all of the architecture and art and amazing details throughout the “continent” regions of the park made it feel like you were on an around-the-world journey but instead of TSA and visa hassles there were rides and caramel nuts. Sweet!

We loved the Everest ride. Sadly, the Kali River Rapids were closed (after waiting in line 40 minutes they evacuated the ride, us along with it. It never reopened). The Big’s Life show was short, but awesome and great for all ages, while the Finding Nemo musical was probably once of the most amazing performances I’ve seen as an adult. Again, I was shocked at how nothing was skimped on. There were no shortcuts taken. Someone put a lot of time, money and creativity into every single aspect of the park. Every tile was a tiny work of art, every piece of stucco was just perfectly placed to replicate a region of the world, down to the tiniest details (squat toilets in Asia!). One of my daughter’s top delights was the live music in Africa, complete with a dance area. Those kinds of touches make the day brighter.

Disney World — DownTown Disney

Downtown Disney is a cute experience, but we went before any adventures at other attractions, so the kids were a bit disappointed by the fact that it wasn’t “DisneyWorld.” Fair enough!

They have a fun Legoland experience, where I beat a bunch of kids at building Lego rally cars. They have statues of Mickey Mouse and his posse and  Winnie the Pooh. We dined at the Rainforest Cafe, a first for me and a lot of fun for the kids. With snacks, treats, loads of shopping and a fun candy store, there was no shortage of stuff to do, but with a 3 and 5-year-old the fun was a bit pedestrian. With younger kids, probably skipping this or bringing a stroller would be best.

How to Use the Disney FastPass+

Here are a few tips for Magic Kingdom FastPass+. First off, people around you at will have purchased their tickets well in advance, meaning they already inserted their top ride and attraction picks. So, if you buy your tickets at the gate you’ll be hard pressed to get a FastPass to the more coveted attractions, like the Seven Dwarfs Ride, Meet Anna Else, etc. For us, we put in what we wanted and managed to get decent time slots. Most open slots will be in the evening, when the park is less busy. Especially in peak season.

The thing to remember is that the system, although efficient and well designed, isn’t totally stable. Of our three FastPasses, only one worked. One ride we were told our daughter was too short for even though she bumped her head against the measuring bar. The other ride was down when we showed up for our FastPass time– a shame since we had run across the park in 90-degree weather to use our cards. The third ride worked well, though when we got to the attraction we found that the normal standby wait time was only 10 minutes– a bit of a waste of a FastPass. So, for us, the whole system was more of a hassle than it was worth.

Here are a few tips for Animal Kingdom FastPass+: We arrived at 8:30, bought our tickets and then discovered the park wasn’t that packed so we went to the most coveted rides (Everest, Dinoland, etc) and rode those a few times since the wait was less than ten minutes. Because we had a preschooler with us we did the ride swap option, which Disney kindly does to allow parents of small children the chance to do the rides one at a time. It worked well for us. Ask about it at the gate, or with one of the hundreds of attendants or kiosk gurus if you’re curious how it works.

As with our visit to Magic Kingdom, the FastPasses were more of a hassle than they were worth. Kali River Rapids was closed down and the other coveted rides didn’t have much of a wait at all, so for us we ended up only using one FastPass again. I think if you go on an off-peak day you can’t scrap them if you don’t need them. For us, the parks were rated a 4 out of 10 for business (week one in May, 2015). We can’t imagine how the parks would be possible to enjoy at a 10 day as they were plenty crowded.

What to Bring to Disney World with a Preschooler and Elementary School Kids

If you bring a bag, you have to go through a somewhat long security line, FYI. I had one bag (see pic above) with a poncho for each kid, a bunch of energy bars, snacks, and water bottles. I brought sunscreen, Band-Aids, a hat and change of clothes (there is a water park to run through at Magic Kingdom, and River Rapids at Animal Kingdom could soak the tots). We ended up using everything in the bag. One major fail was we forgot the stroller. You can rent them on site for $13 for a single or $16 for a double and they have stroller-parking areas by each attraction. We didn’t do it right away, and by the time my arms were sore from carrying the kid the rental area was too far away to get back to without sacrificing an hour or more. Bring a small camera with a video recorder (record the parade, it’s awesome!) that is (preferably) waterproof. So many rides have water, and even the shows have little splashes.

Where to Stay in Orlando for Disney World Access

We stayed for a week at the Marriott Harbor Lake Resort, Orlando. The place is amazing. It has two kid-friendly pools. One has a pirate ship sunk into the water with slides and climbing stuff, water shooting out of alligator mouths, etc. The other pool has two tall towers that dump huge vats of water on kids below as well as a wading pool and huge water slide. There are hot tubs nearby for the adults, and fun activities were going on all the time.

Marriot Harbor Lake Resort, Orlando

Our room was a great, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment with kitchen, balcony, and all the normal comforts of home. I would stay here again! The only down side (if it is one at all?) is that they don’t clean the room every day. This was great for us because we had kid stuff everywhere but I imagine if you were a party animal you’d want someone to mop up after you a bit more.

Marriott Harbor Lake Resort, Orlando Lake View Room

Many people think of Florida as the place to go if you want to escape to theme parks in the blazing hot sun. While the Sunshine State is the kind of place that you take a holiday with kids and grown-ups alike to enjoy Disneyworld, SeaWorld, Universal Studios and others, people may rather enjoy the other sights and sounds of the area when they book a villa on the Florida4Less website.

The Everglades

Daytona Beach

Florida boasts some of the most phenomenal natural areas of the world. The Everglades describes all areas affected by subtropical wetlands, covering everything from Orlando at the northernmost tip to the base of Florida Bay, right at the southern tip of the state. The Everglades National Park protects the site in the southernmost 25 per cent of the area and has been declared a World Heritage Site. Consider getting a fanboat and seeing the wildlife, or just taking in the beautiful scenery.

Key West

As the southernmost point of the continental US, the island of Key West is a wonderful getaway that gives you a true escape from the hustle and bustle of life. In the late 1950s, the area boomed after its salt lakes were filled in, doubling the size of the island and bringing in all kinds of houses, bars, restaurants and interesting sights. Serving as the one-time home to Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, it is rich in heritage and has a remarkable Cuban influence on its food and drink, giving it a whole different vibe from much of the mainland.

Cape Canaveral

Shuttle Launch at Cape Canaveral

On the east coast is Cape Canaveral, home to NASA and the huge John F Kennedy Space Center. While it made its final launch this year, the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building – still the fourth-biggest building in the world, and the largest with one floor – is a sight to behold, as are the wide range of museums. These include the Space Center’s visitor complex as well as the Air Force Space & Missile Museum, which cannot be missed by any travellers to the state.

Daytona Beach

As the self-styled “most famous beach in the world”, Daytona Beach is a mecca of motorsports and hosts a remarkable number of racing events and is home to NASCAR, Grand-Am, the International Speedway Corporation, the LPGA and the United States Tennis Association. On top of this, it’s a beautiful location to kick back and relax.

Visiting these places will give you the perfect chance to take in plenty that the state has to offer – you won’t regret investing in that perfect villa experience.

This is a guest post.  The content above does not reflect the ideas or opinions of www.AbandontheCube.com

Our ship docked in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA and we hightailed it to the closest Amtrak station. From there we bought tickets on the next north-bound train and then waited at the station for five hours until it left. What we thought might be a scary experience turned out to be a good time, people came up simply to chat with us and ask where we were from.

Amtrak is a special kind of transportation. It takes great patience to navigate the isles of any Amtrak train; you’ll saunter past drunks, felons, children, people so large their bodies cascade over the arm rests, and hill-billies. We encountered all of these on our 15 hour ride to South Carolina. The most noteworthy incident being the act of purchasing two $6 dollar sandwiches with rotten salad and fermented cheese and then listening to a group of hill-rods discuss politics as they stuffed handfuls of chips into their mouths.

We arrived in Columbia, South Carolina at 4am. Now, for people not from America, 4am is not the best time to be walking around near train tracks. Nevertheless, we forewent the ridiculous cab costs and decided to walk to a hotel. Little did we know, Hurricane Ida was swooping towards Columbia in full fury. We were about a mile from the train station, loaded down with our backpacks (which, funny enough, we had weighed in at over 60 lbs each) and additional bags for our carry-on luggage. In short, we were carrying about 80lbs each. It started to drizzle, so we got out our umbrellas and thought nothing of it. Then the rain came in harder. Then the rain came in sideways. Then the rain came up from the ground, and circled around us, whipping our hair into our eyes (well, mine, not Mike’s!) and drenching us. We ducked into a bus stop to wait it out. It was 4:30am.

We sat in the bus stop, frustrated, soaking wet, and shivering. I had just finished reading a Bill Bryson book that detailed how people die from hypothermia. This wasn’t looking good, and to top it off we were waiting in a bus stop in the middle of town with no hotels in sight.

At 5:00am a lone bus rushed past us and then slammed on its breaks and backed up to the bus stop. Two drowning rats looked back at him with saucer-like eyes. He urged us quickly in the bus and then navigated to a place in town where we could wait before jumping on a connecting bus at 5:30 to reach the hotel area. He was so friendly and chatty that we warmed up simply from being around him. The connecting stop came all too soon and we were back out in the rain (which was coming now, it seemed, from all directions as if targeting only us).

One umbrella was totaled, having been turned inside-out by a gust of wind. The other was being peeled from the frame by the sideways rain. As ridiculous as it was, it became funny. We waited under the overhang of a Exxon gas station until a rather unfriendly lady told us to leave, “we have a no loitering policy.”

The bus was late, but once it finally arrived we were so happy we didn’t care. We jumped on board only to discover we were the only people of European decent riding that early. The driver, a friendly and talkative lady, began to sing religious hymns, and the bus was her congregation, they followed along until the whole bus was singing. Each time the driver came to a new stop she said goodbye to everyone by name, and picking up new people she tried to learn as much about them as possible. I wont say she was an angel, but as ridiculous and drenched as we were she swooped in on her bus and saved the day, then cheered us up with a sing-along to boot.

She dropped us off at the front door of our hotel and even pointed out a few places we might want to shop or eat along the way. At the hotel, a friendly receptionist allowed us to check into our room, which we had reserved for later that day, at no charge. Not ONE other place we have traveled would have allowed us to do that!

So, what do you need to survive the East Coast alone, over burdened and drenched at 4:00am? Columbia City bus drivers and hotel staff so friendly and caring they bend the rules to help people in need. It is so good to be back in America, by far it is the best place we have traveled thanks to how much locals help out.