So what will you be doing on your non-Disney or just partial Disney trip?

[kathy884]

My next mini trip to Orlando is Nov. 10-14 and is a little strange/different than normal. I usually go down with DS 22, but he will be traveling with a friend (Their Sept. trip got canceled due to Hurricane Irma), and DH who doesn't like Disney and isn't that overly fond of Orlando will be coming down with me. He usually stays home if DS and I go down. My parents have a two bedroom condo at the Sunshine resort for two weeks, and DH and I will be staying with them most of the time.

Here's what our trip will look like. How about yours?

Nov. 10th late arrival - DS and friend to studio at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club by SeaWorld. DH and me to two bedroom condo at the Sunshine Resort -- I drive, staying with my parents. Either my mom will pick us up or we will do uber or a combination of both with two different drop off destination. Overnight for us sunshine resort.

Nov. 11 // DS and friend will uber/lift or I trolly and do Madame Tussauds, Orlando Eye, and Titanic, // Cousin from Tampa will come visit for the day and overnight (He gets the second bedroom at the Sunshine resort condo. As he snores and DH always wants his own bedroom/bathroom with just immediate family for the night we will stay at La Quinta which is walking distance from the Sunshine resort.) It will for us be a family visiting / resort day. I will also get to see my nephew and his new home. He lives in Orlando. I in addition will pick up DS and friend after they are done with other activities to join for family visiting. We will all have dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, walking distance from where we are staying (I drive), a moderately priced chain restaurant that we really like that used to be in our area, but has now closed both of their location in our home town.

Nov. 12 // The whole gang will spend the whole day at SeaWorld. DS and friend will walk over to the park; the rest of us will go in my parent's rental car. This in our experience is the park in Orlando that works best for our extended family group because everyone likes it. My parents, active 80 and 81 year olds like it that it is show/exhibit based and has such lovely landscaping. Mom will still do the coasters, but not dad. Also my nephew and his partner have season passes to SeaWorld too. My cousin will head back to Tampa after our SeaWorld day. DH and I are back in the condo, checking out of La Quinta in the morning.

Nov. 13 / DS and friend will go to the Magic Kingdom. Good for them (Life long dream for DS's friend who has never been). The rest of us will cater to DH whose perfect Orlando day will start out with lunch at the Hash House walking distance from the condo. This is a moderately priced chain we have never tired before, and the menu with Indiana Pork Tenderloins (We used to live in Indiana) is exciting to DH. This will be followed by three hours or so at Gatorland which DH loves because he sees it as the antithesis of a world class theme park and alligators are native to the area. He like the vibe, more of an ole time Florida attraction. The evening will be family visiting (not DS and friend though as they will close out the MK).

Nov. 14th // We all fly back.

Anyway, this is not exactly the kind or Orlando trip I usually do, but I think it will be fun. What will you be doing on your trip? I go often enough, that I won't have a problem with all the things I'm not doing -- been there, done that, bought the T-shirt for all the major parks really.

Oh and I should say that the reason the trip is so short is that I have already used us all my vacation time for the year (which is quite generous actually) for other trips. But mom and dad with the condo and asking if we could come for a few days sounded like lots of fun. I actually postphoned a Colonoscopy (routine) I was going to have done till 2018 to grab those PTO days for a mini trip to Orlando lol. For DS and friend the trip is short because that's what fits their vacation budget and even with that we are kicking in some.

 

[alan68]

We're going the first week of June 2018, and we've been sort of planning it for almost 2 years. We did an all-Disney trip in 2015, staying on site and soaking up the "Disney bubble." I thought we might do that again, trying a different resort, then come back in 2019 and do a Universal vacation. But DW talked me into considering an offsite resort to save money. I found a cheap VRBO listing and ran the numbers. I discovered that if we sacrifice the "bubble," we can afford to stay longer and do all the Disney parks and both Universal parks in one trip. We can even rent a car so we won't be at the mercy of shuttle buses, which I have heard are of questionable reliability at best. So we're doing Disney parks for 5 days and Universal for 2. We may even run out to Legoland for a day midweek. We're gonna try to do it all, because this will most likely be the last Florida trip all 4 of us make together.

 

[kathy884]

Sounds awesome alan68. All of the parks are really impressive. I'm a big offsite fan due to the value (quality of accommodations and amenities for price).

 

[2Gma]

I discovered that if we sacrifice the "bubble," we can afford to stay longer and do all the Disney parks and both Universal parks in one trip. We can even rent a car so we won't be at the mercy of shuttle buses, which I have heard are of questionable reliability at best. So we're doing Disney parks for 5 days and Universal for 2. We may even run out to Legoland for a day midweek. We're gonna try to do it all, because this will most likely be the last Florida trip all 4 of us make together.

This was our exact trip a year ago, offsite definitely has its benefits. A husband of a good friend asked what we pay for our 3bd/2 bath/full kitchen condo and his mouth dropped when I told him the price and said he wondered why his wife made him stay onsite in a glorified hotel room for "the Disney experience."

 

[mhf]

We head down in 13 days (not that I"m counting or anything) which is a re-booked Irma-delayed-us trip. Doing Kennedy Space Center Launch Control Center and Disney Springs. No parks! Just a quick visit with the relatives. Staying at Marriott Lakeshore.

 

[kathy884]

Sounds wonderful. Kennedy Space Center is wonderful, so well done. Enjoy visiting family and your wonderful resort.

 

[eyeblaura]

We are going for 6 days in April. My husband is going to a conference for a couple of days so we are flying in and driving to Kennedy Space Center for the day (which my 10 year old daughter is so excited for) and then heading back to Disney. Girls and I are hitting the parks for a couple of days alone and then DH will join us for a couple of park days. We are staying on property so we can use the buses while DH takes the rental to his conference but I am looking forward to some shorter park days and then meeting up for a dinner outside the parks and some evening resort time.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Sounds like a great trip. Hash House is AMAZING. We tried it for the first time in 2016, we each had something different (party of 7) and everyone loved their meals. Enjoy!