Orlando Vacation - Traveling with Children

Traveling with Children

Chances are if you are coming to Orlando then you are probably traveling with children. Here are a few articles which will help you plan your days at the theme park of your choice:

Traveling to Disney World with Children

Traveling to Universal Studios with Children

Visiting SeaWorld with Children

Planning a fun filled day with children at SeaWorld

Babysitting Services In Orlando

Orlando can be a very romantic place for you and your spouse to go out. If you desire to have a night or two alone on the town here is a great article about baby sitting services near the theme parks.

Tips for visiting the theme parks with young Children

One of the best things about living in Orlando is being able to visit the area theme parks with my three children. Now my children ages range from 3 years old to 8 years old and here are a few tips which my wife and I have picked up over the years of visiting the theme parks.

Take a Rest- If my family and I are going to be visiting the parks for 2 or more days straight we also take the afternoon off. We typically go to the parks from 9am until 1pm, and then we head back to our hotel room to let the kids rest. We usually head back to the parks around 4:30 or 5. By doing this we allow our kids to get out of the hot Florida sun and we make sure our 3 year takes a good nap. The older kids typically watch TV or swim in the hotel pool.

You will want to be back in the parks by 5pm because 5 to 7 is when the parks are the least busy. I don’t know if it is our internal clock (with 5pm being quitting time for most workers) but there are definitely more people leaving the parks than entering the parks late in the afternoon. The other guests who stayed at the parks are usually eating dinner between these times so the rides typically have a much smaller wait time. Usually if a ride has a wait time of 40 minutes in the early afternoon between the hours of 5 and 7 that wait time might only be 20 minutes long.

By splitting our days up like this we find that our kids are well rested, and more fun to be around later in the evening as compared to the days when we spend all day at the parks. If you think about it we still spend around 8 ½ hours in the park which is still plenty of time to see everything.

Souvenirs- One of our long time clients who comes to Orlando 3 or 4 times a year sent us this tip…buy your kids 1 souvenir at the end of your vacation. One of the great things about Disney World is seeing how excited kids get over souvenirs and the executives at Disney World do a masterful job of placing a different “gotta have” souvenir in every shop. By allowing your kids one souvenir at the end of the vacation they are still excited to go into every shop and see what this store has to offer. However, when your kids know up front that they will get one big souvenir at the end of the vacation this will save you money and the aggravation of not having your children throw a fit in a store to get this item or that item.

Strollers- We always rent a double stroller for our kids, they typically run $14 to $16 a day. We do it also for the safety factor. Having kids as young as ours, it is not uncommon to turn around and find that one of them has wondered off somewhere and with as many people that are in the theme parks this is not a good thing. We make all three children share a double stroller, and we push them to the next attraction or ride, by doing this we ensure that we don’t lose anybody.

Autograph Book- One of the best souvenirs to buy is an autograph book where your children can get autographs from their favorite characters. Next to the autograph is also a place where you can place a picture of your child and the character…this is a great keepsake.

Hidden Mickey’s- There are literally hundreds of Hidden Mickey’s hidden throughout Disney World. A Hidden Mickey looks like this ^oO^o. It is a great way to pass time when you are waiting in line for a ride to see who can find the most hidden Mickeys.

Start Planning yourOrlando Vacation