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Selecting the amount of time to spend in Orlando is a question that has a different answer for everyone. There are many people who are not travelling to Orlando for a vacation, but rather for business. The area is a top destination for conventions for a variety of industries. Usually the amount of time such a person can spend in the city is predetermined. However, the same is not true for families and individuals visiting Disney World and the other theme parks purely for fun. As a starting point, it is suggested to make a list of the different areas and attractions that you want to see while on your trip. Then estimate the time it will take to visit and enjoy each of these attractions. Many people end up underestimating the amount of time it takes to truly explore a particular theme park. Do not try to cram your schedule! Those that do end up with a vacation that is much less relaxing than anticipated. The majority of families and individuals prefer to take a full week off of work and then decide whether or not to spend the leading and trailing weekends in Orlando Florida. Seven days is often the right amount of time to view the major tourist attractions. Add a day or two to reach here and it works out perfectly for most people. It is not uncommon for people to take another Orlando vacation. There is just such a large amount to do here that it is hard to squeeze everything in within seven days.
Orlando Florida is a great place to vacation and a trip to Disney World is a must, but if during your visit, you are looking for a little crowd control and some tropical island down time, be sure to visit Discovery Cove Orlando Discovery Cove Orlando is comparable to taking a trip to the Caribbean and a fantastic way to experience the tropics and all that a tropical resort has to offer. Swim in the winding crystal clear freshwater Tropical River and explore the underwater cave. Snorkel in the Coral Reef where thousands of tropical fish swim around you. Explore shipwreck remains and underwater grottos. Catch a glimpse of sharks and barracudas as they swim behind protective glass. Visit Ray Lagoon where you can snorkel, wade and play with dozens of southern and cow-nose rays. These gentle creatures can grow up to 4 feet. If that isn’t enough sea life for you, be sure to visit the dolphins. This chance of a life time gives you the opportunity to swim and interactive with a dolphin, one of natures most graceful and beautiful creatures. Later on, relax on a white sand beach in a cabana or at the resort pool and soak up some sun. The best part about Discovery Cove Orlando is that it has a 1000 person limit so it is never over crowded. The all-inclusive admission includes your food throughout the day and all day parking. It also includes snorkeling, a 30 min dolphin swim less, wading with the rays and a hand feeding of the birds in the Aviary. Sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation and Discovery Cove Orland is the perfect spot for just that! Enjoy a tropical get away with your family during your next vacation to Orlando Florida.
Orlando Florida is a great place to vacation and a trip to Disney World is a must, but if during your visit, you are looking for a little crowd control and some tropical island down time, be sure to visit Discovery Cove Orlando Discovery Cove Orlando is comparable to taking a trip to the Caribbean and a fantastic way to experience the tropics and all that a tropical resort has to offer. Swim in the winding crystal clear freshwater Tropical River and explore the underwater cave. Snorkel in the Coral Reef where thousands of tropical fish swim around you. Explore shipwreck remains and underwater grottos. Catch a glimpse of sharks and barracudas as they swim behind protective glass. Visit Ray Lagoon where you can snorkel, wade and play with dozens of southern and cow-nose rays. These gentle creatures can grow up to 4 feet. If that isn’t enough sea life for you, be sure to visit the dolphins. This chance of a life time gives you the opportunity to swim and interactive with a dolphin, one of natures most graceful and beautiful creatures. Later on, relax on a white sand beach in a cabana or at the resort pool and soak up some sun. The best part about Discovery Cove Orlando is that it has a 1000 person limit so it is never over crowded. The all-inclusive admission includes your food throughout the day and all day parking. It also includes snorkeling, a 30 min dolphin swim less, wading with the rays and a hand feeding of the birds in the Aviary. Sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation and Discovery Cove Orland is the perfect spot for just that! Enjoy a tropical get away with your family during your next vacation to Orlando Florida.
I had the opportunity to counsel a friend on his family vacation to Disney World. He said he wanted to come and bring his family. He thought about staying three nights and enjoy the parks for two days. He had two children ages 3 and 5. He asked for my advice. Since we have been advising folks for over 15 years, I feel somewhat capable of showing them the seven keys to a successful family outing to Walt Disney World. 1. Do not look to come down for two or three days unless you are in the area. The cost of gas or airfare will make the trip far too costly. If you are going to do Disney World this year, plan to stay at least five or more nights. 2. If this is your first visit to the parks and you have young children, you don’t need to consider Hopper Passes. You won’t be able to use them and for a family of four, this option will add $120 to the vacation total. Keep in mind that a young child can only absorb so much of the parks in a day…when he reaches that breaking point the vacation for everyone is put on hold. 3. Keep in mind, the more days you purchase the less the cost. You learned this in Economics 101. If you buy five apples, you will get a better price than if you purchase just one. The same holds true with Disney World tickets, the more days you purchase the better the price. A one day adult ticket at the gate costs $71. If you purchase a 7 day base ticket from orlandovacation.com (one park per day), you get entrance to the park of your choice for only $29.57 per day. Note: to get these discounts, you must book your lodging through this site. 4. If you are plans call for a visit to Orlando for five or more days, you would be wise to consider a vacation pool home close to all the “magic”. Not only will you have far more space, but you will have the ability to have a full kitchen which will permit the preparing of meals. Now, I know….the wife is not coming on vacation to slave behind the stove. OK…what about breakfast? You can save upwards to $250 a week in purchasing cereal, coffee, juice, fruit and sweet rolls. 5. Speaking of space….the average three bedroom two bath Orlando Vacation Home has some five to six times the amount of space as a normal hotel room. And the nightly rates are identical to an average three-star resort close to Disney World 6. What about laundry. Why pack all of that stuff. Shorts will be the dress for day as well as evening. Whether you stay in a vacation pool home or a hotel, all feature guest laundry facilities which will make packing much simpler. 7. The best time to vacation is….when the kids are in school. If you can vacation in the fall, you will find the crowds will be far less both at restaurants and the lines at Disney World will be far smaller. Further, since this is known as value season, the nightly rates for hotels and vacation homes are stupendous. These tips have been very helpful to many traveling to Orlando. We hope that the logic and wisdom passed on here will be helpful to you.
Just the other day Disney World announced that they are expecting attendance to grow by 1.5 million visitors this year. Many of these visitors are staying on Disney World’s property; however, many hotels right outside the main entrance to Disney World are offering amazing deals. For example, the Radission Worldgate Resort is offering rates around the $69 range for the first part of June…folks this is a 4 star hotel selling for $69 during high season. If you have young children and you have not taken them to Disney World yet or it has been a few years since you have seen the mouse, now is a great time to come. Yes, gas prices are high but lodging prices are down and theme park ticket prices have not changed much in a little over a year.
One of the best values when coming on a trip to Orlando is to go to a Dinner Show…for around $30 per adult you will be entertained for 2.5 to 3 hours plus most dinner shows serve excellent food. In this weeks “Best of Orlando” we are going to rank the best dinner shows for you and your family. 1. Pirates Dinner Show- This show is by far my favorite. The place is clean, they provide a lot of parking, the food is excellent, and the show is very entertaining. If you are looking to go to a dinner show this is the one I strongly recommend. Obviously with pirates boys of all ages are going to love it; however, my daughter also really likes this show as well. 2. Medieval Times- This is probably the most well known dinner show in Orlando since it has been in many movies. Have you ever seen the movie Cable Guy with Matthew Broderick? Well if you have this is the dinner show he goes to with his friend the cable guy and they have a jousting tournament. I’m sorry to say that audience members are not allowed to participate in the jousting tournaments; however, this is an excellent show. The outward appearance of the building is a little scary, but the show and food are both really good. 3. Makahiki Luau Dinner Show at Sea World- If the weather is nice this is a great Dinner show. You will enjoy dinner out on the beach, complete with Hawaiian dancers with their hula dresses flying. The Hawaiian Chicken is great. 4. Arabian Nights- I think the management must have changed at the Arabian Nights, for this dinner show was ranked as the “Best Dinner Show in Orlando” for the past 7 years. The last time I went I was extremely disappointed. The show was still great (nothing has changed there); however, the steak with small and fatty. Arabian Nights is still a good dinner show…I just think there are betters ones in Orlando. These are the top dinner shows in Orlando, and if you are looking to visit one while you are in town…I would pick from one on this list.
In the coming weeks we are going to start a new series…Orlando’s 10 Best! We are going look into everything that vacationers to Orlando are interested in and then rank them. Please keep in mind these rankings are not done by a fancy polling or scientific study, they are our personal opinion as to which one we think is the best. Here is a list of industries we are going to rank for our readers: 1. Dinner Shows 2. Budget Attractions in Orlando 3. Golf Courses 4. Vacation Home Sub-divisions 5. Hotels not on Disney Property 6. Hotels on Disney World Property 7. Best Shops 8. Best Restaurants near the Attractions 9. Best Restaurants located inside the Attractions 10. Best Car Rental Companies We hope you enjoy our upcoming events, and we look forward to hearing comments and suggestions from our readers. Please feel free to contact us at info@orlandovacation.com.
Even though the theme parks have not come out thier predicitions for 2008 yet. It is our belief that families taking vacations to Orlando is going to be similiar to the numbers in 2007. However, we need to remember 2007 was a great year for travel in Orlando. It is our belief that the discounted Orlando hotels might suffer a little, but the vacations pool homes in Orlando will see a bump in bookings at least for the first quarter. The increase in bookings to the vacation homes is primarily due to Osceola County and the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau doing a lot of marketing to promote it.
If you are looking for great Orlando hotel deals or Orlando vacation homes specials then you need to book now. It is no secret that your best deals are going to be found during the low season when bookings are few and far between. If I might also mention... Orlando is a great time to visit during the off season. The lines are low and the prices are cheap.
The original 1982 film O Canada has just recently been replaced with a new version. The new film dispatches some of the myths about Canadian culture, and showcases Canadian talents and artists. The host of the new film is Canadian Martin Short, and other celebrities also make appearances including Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila who sings the theme song, Canada (You're a Lifetime Journey). The change is much needed, as many visitors found the old film quite dated and showcased Canada as more old-fashioned than reality. Hopefully the new film will find a new audience and entertain future Epcot visitors to come.
There is a rumor currently circulating that Space Mountain might undergo a dramatic renovation early next year to bring it up to date with modern technoloy. The 1975 attraction has received some minor changes over the years, but with improvements in theme park special effects the ride does seem a little dated. Quite possibly the change may also create a different queue, which would further seperate the FASTPASS line from the Standby line. It's also possible that much of the theming might become more like the modern Disneyland version, which just recently reopened in 2005. Some of the improvements in the new version included translucent station gates which created an eerie glow and dramatic effects on the final tunnel at the climax of the attraction. Disney has not made any official announcements regarding a lengthy refurbishment, so those planning in vacations in 2008 shouldn't worry just yet. We'll post more information as soon as it becomes available.
On September 9, the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique opened inside of Cinderella Castle, replacing the King's Gallery. The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique allows young girls to become a fairy tale princess through the help of a "fairy godmother in training" who gives them a complete makeover including hair and makeup. Guests can also pick packages that include a complete princess gown as well. The King's Gallery art and merchandise is rumored to be moving to the Main Street Cinema, which currently houses Virtual Magic Kingdom Central and teen oriented merchandise.
The new improved Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World is scheduled to open on Thursday, September 13th.
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