Orlando help please

I'll be going to Orlando for my third time in July. I first went in the late 80s and most recently in 1993. So as you can see, I haven't been for a very long time!
I have very vague memories of my last visits and wonder whether you could recommend places to visit this time please?
I remember visiting the Magic Kingdom, Sea world, Epcot, MGM and Universal studios, Wet n Wild and the Kennedy space center.
Are all these available to visit now still?
Which water park would you recommend? And is it better to purchase tickets from Virgin Holidays (as a kind of package type) or are there other genuine, reliable places to get them please?
Thanks

Hi ChelseaGirl, and if nobody else has said it, welcome to the forum. Yes all of the theme parks you mention are still around, with the addition of Animal Kingdom, where there is a less frenzied pace of life than at the other parks. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal IOA is certainly worth a visit.

I think you will find a lot of things have changed since you last went to Orlando in 1993! Me and the present Mrs Treelo have been to that area every couple of years or so since 1992 and the place seems to have change every visit.

As for water parks, over the past few years we have preferred Aquatica (owned by and almost opposite Sea World) but have also had some great times at Disney's Blizzard Beach. Diff'rent strokes etc.

We have most recently got tickets through this website. https://www.park-tickets.com/. They are a really friendly and reliable company and tickets are picked up from their office in Celebration (Disney - constructed town in Kissimmee). Enjoy

Thanks for the welcome Treelo and for the information.

Hi ChelseaGirl, a trip to discovery cove is well worth it, with or without the dolphin swim. You can get a combination ticket that gives you unlimited visits to sea world, aquatica and Busch gardens. We get our tickets from attraction tickets direct, a uk company, never let us down. Both of the universal parks are good fun and if you want to do the Harry potter train journeys you have to get a park to park ticket. We got a 2 park ticket with unlimited access for 14 days cheaper than two one day tickets, again attraction tickets direct. Have a great time.

Hi ChelseaGirl
I would thoroughly recommend you get a copy of The Brit Guide - covers all the parks and much, much more besides. About a tenner from Amazon.

Enjoy
MrsB

Without wanting to push you away,I would recommend a read of The Dibb website.

I agree with Marshy, The Dibb is an excellent resource. I do like reading the Trip Reports as it makes me feel like I'm on holiday with them as they are super-detailed.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/

Animal Kingdom for reference is one of my/wifes favorite parks - so much so we ended up buying into DVC at the "lodge" to see the animals from the window when waking up. We can go on the "safari" over 4 times in a day, along with the nature trails. Best tip there is arrive early and do the safari a couple of times at beginning of day, and same at end - animals more active at beginning/end of day. Leave the rides/shows for the hotter times of day.

My view with Florida is always buy Disney tickets - when we first went 10 ish years ago I wondered why the rave reviews, I now totally get it - personally we find the theming and overall experience at Disney beats Universal and Citywalk hands down - even if the actual rides are not as thrilling. Some people prefer Universal, but as a rule we'd do 2 days at Univesal, compared to 7-10 at disney activities on a 14 day trip. We often go into Disney just for start/end of day now to do what we like.

Harry Potter @ Universal is superb (both bits, though we not visited Diagon Alley... yet). A tip would be if still available (check offer), and you booked via Virgin Holidays to buy this ticket from them - slightly more expensive - but when we went last time they had early morning access vouchers granted to harry potter for 2 days of the 14 on the pass, but only if purchased from them. Made for a very relaxing start of day, and in fact one of the days, we were leaving the parks at noon as others still arriving as we'd done all we wanted by then due to the nice early start, and riding on rides with no queue in the islands of adventure!.

For other tickets we usually use a decent third party as it saves a few quid. Personally have used orlando ticket deals a couple of times - as the real tickets they send allow pre-booking at Disney.

Kennedy Space centre is also still good, and a great great (reasonably cheap) day out if you have a car. We plan to go again in October this year as we enjoyed it so much last time (first trip was Feb 14). The basic "cheap" ticket for us was enough for a long, full day of fun - without ever seeming like we missed anythnig with an upgrade.

Best tip of all though - start early every day - the locals seem to not get that the parks are less busy at opening times, so will arrive 10-12am. By which time in some parks you'll have hopefully done *lot* of rides. Late at night however, personally I'd look to avoid - we've never had a good experience pre-midnight on late opening (though I'm sure others here can contradict).

Thats my littel views anyhow

As the others have said the theme parks have changed a lot over the past few years. Fantasy land in the Magic Kingdom has recently doubled in size for example.

I would reccomend getting to all of the parks early to take advantage of short liners and make full use of 'my disney experience' and fast pass plus.

And welcome to V-flyer.

Best water park is Aquatica.

WDW is undergoing a lot of construction at the moment (Animal Kingdom being the worst), the best way to keep tabs on what's going on try WDW Magic, it's a theme park forum which has all the latest goings on at WDW and Universal.

Universal is a must at the moment. They don't have the ridiculous FastPass+ to negotiate and they have spent a lot on new rides and attractions, WDW is now trying to match the spending but after years of underinvestment it does mean a lot of work going on.

Www.orlandoattractions.com are an authorised Disney Ticket Seller based in US but have office in Ascot amd offer very prompt service and I found them by far the cheapest. The good thing is that as well as the usual UK tickets (Disney Ultimate tickets etc) they also sell the US "Magic Your Way" tickets so if you only want a few days at Disney it's cheaper to do it that way.

I'll be going to Orlando for my third time in July. I first went in the late 80s and most recently in 1993. So as you can see, I haven't been for a very long time!
I have very vague memories of my last visits and wonder whether you could recommend places to visit this time please?
I remember visiting the Magic Kingdom, Sea world, Epcot, MGM and Universal studios, Wet n Wild and the Kennedy space center.
Are all these available to visit now still?
Which water park would you recommend? And is it better to purchase tickets from Virgin Holidays (as a kind of package type) or are there other genuine, reliable places to get them please?
Thanks

All of the parks are still there along with new additions such as Animal Kingdon and Islands of Adventure. A lot has changed in 22 years so you may find some of the places have changed beyond recognition.

In terms of water parks, I can't speak for most of them but enjoyed Wet n Wild many years ago, though I didn't go when I was in Orlando last year.

As for buying tickets, there are a plethora of authorised options in addition to VH. I would personally recommend Undercover Tourist having bought my Universal tickets from them last year. They have an office in the UK and can either pay to post the tickets to you or you can collect from The UPS Store when you're out there.

Welcome to v-flyer ChelseaGirl. I'm actually off to Orlando in the morning for a week of Winter sunshine & some theme park action.

Have been a regular Orlando visitor for close on 15yrs now. A lot has changed in that time for sure. I will admit that I am more of a Universal fan than Disney, but all the parks are good.

Best waterpark is Aquatica - followed by Wet'n'Wild - the latter may be showing it's age, but does have some good rides. You have to do Typhoon Lagoon just for that surf wave too, but be warned, it will knock you back a good 10metres even if you brace yourself well in the breaking zone.

Both Universal Parks are a must - what they have done with Harry Potter is amazing - and I am no real Harry Potter fan.

As stated above, I prefer Universal over Disney, but we will be visiting Disney in May when back in Florida. My favourite Disney park is Hollywood Studios, followed by Epcot & Animal Kingdom. Sorry, but Magic Kingdom does not do it for me - it always seems way too ram-packed full for my liking, with 100's of pushchairs / strollers parked up everywhere.

Ticket-wise, we normally buy from American Attractions Direct, who are based in London. Have used them for years & never had a problem with their service / the tickets they sell. I have on occasion shopped around for tickets and there is normally very little difference between all the various resellers.

The absolute "must do" in Orlando - In our opinion - is Discovery Cove. It's just such a relaxing all-inclusive day that is completely different from any of your theme park days. We did the Dolphin Swim, but appreciate that this may not be for everyone. Sure, it's not a cheap day (even without the dolphin swim) but is well worth doing.

Right, time to head off to bed - early start in the morning to get up to Manchester.

Agree with those who have recommended Discovery Cove. We had an amazing day there last April. It was my granddaughters birthday and wow was she made to feel special by the staff. It's not cheap but the 'add-on' of unlimited access to Seaworld, Acquatica and Busch Gardens made it absolute value for money.

I still get goose bumps with the Magic Kingdom but my family are "Disneyned Out" after soooo many visits. Orlando is going to be a different place for you, even the drive from the airport getting onto the Greenaway highway route to DisneyWorld is now a multi lane highway, whereas when we first used it when it was just a single two lane road. . Sometimes many people think it has got all too big and commercialised but I'd go back anytime

There are lots of good companies to buy your tickets from and certainly join the Dibb forum as suggested as plenty of good advice is on there. Enjoy

Hey there Chelsea Girl - I too am off to Orlando in a few months so cant wait..!

Whilst most of the parks you talk of are still there, the additions and 'upgrades' will make it a very new experience.

The only point I would make is that you give SeaWorld a wide berth - perhaps watch a movie called Black Fish before hand as its a real eye opener. If you want to go, don't watch this - but times have changed and this place is, in my opinion the only real blight on a great place!

Sorry for being an opinion pusher...

Dan

Thanks very much for your help and advice everyone. I'll look in to your suggestions regarding which parks to visit and where to get tickets.
Dan, I have heard varying opinions regarding SeaWorld and I'm rather dubious about going. Best to give it a miss I think.

Hey there Chelsea Girl - I too am off to Orlando in a few months so cant wait..!

Whilst most of the parks you talk of are still there, the additions and 'upgrades' will make it a very new experience.

The only point I would make is that you give SeaWorld a wide berth - perhaps watch a movie called Black Fish before hand as its a real eye opener. If you want to go, don't watch this - but times have changed and this place is, in my opinion the only real blight on a great place!

Sorry for being an opinion pusher...

Dan

Whilst I don't agree with everything Seawos does it is worth noting that the Film "Blackfish" is a very very one sided portrayal of the situation at Seaworld and in many cases is factually incorrect, certain interviews have been edited very cleverly to make the interview far more controversial! That being said I would prefer that Orcas were no longer kept at Seaworld, but it's not quite as simple as that as they cannot just release the orcas to the wild now, I think ending the breeding process and allowing the orca program to come to a natural end would be the best option.

Finally it is very easy to overlook all the good work Seaworld does with regards to rescue rehabilitation and release of animals in and around Florida and I'm sure at the other sites.

I myself will visit seaworld on my trip this year, though you won't find me in the Shamu stadium.

Chelsea Girl hope you have a great trip.