Orlando Plans (2)

We reserved Thursday, July 21 (4PM) through Sunday, July 24th (10AM) in a 3-bedroom unit at http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/ORLSWGV-Hilton-Grand-Vacations-Sui...

Officially, it sleeps 8. I can reserve extra days or another room, depending how many people confirm. For any family members who want to come, please let me know the dates and your park preferences ASAP.

We're definitely planning to do Disney, and a couple people have requested Universal too.

Disney

Disney Florida Resident (1-park/day) Tickets:
1-day Adult: 73.80 Child: 66.60
3-day Adult: 135.00 Child 122.00
4-day Adult: 168.00 Child 151.00

The 3-day Florida Resident pass expires 6 months after the first use, so I'd recommend it for anyone coming just for the weekend. You can always come back for your "free day" later. The 4-day ticket may have 6-month expiration too, but they're running a $119 "Wild 4 Disney" 4-day pass that expires in May, so it's hard to find information on the "regular" 4-day promotion right now.

Multipark or water park options are an additional $25 each. The water park admissions don't have to be on the same day(s) as the park admission(s), so a 3-day ticket is actually 3 days at any of the 4 parks, plus 3 days at the water parks, disneyquest (a giant free-to-play arcade), and ESPN Wide World of Sports.

Disney Florida Resident Passes:
Annual Adult: 379.00 Child 342.00

Unfortunately, we're going during the Seasonal Pass black-out period, which would otherwise be a good deal for anyone planning to come back. Annual passes include parking, otherwise $14/day per vehicle, and a 10% in-park discount for dining and "stuff". It might be worth having one passholder for each car. They also have a montly payment program.

Disney Military Ticket (multipark or water parks):
4-day Adult/Child: 138.00

Each active-duty military member or their spouse can get up to 6 of these tickets, which is a good deal even at resident rates. And a 2-day non-resident ticket is 168.00.

We may be able to get a 10% discount and/or a couple free admissions. If I can get free admissions, out-of-towners get precendence. Non-resident tickets are really expensive.

Universal

We're going during the summer black-out dates for all Florida Resident pricing.

1-day Adult: 82.00 Child: 74.00
2-day Adult: 114.00 Child: 101.99

Room Descriptions

3-bedroom
Spacious 3 bedroom/3 bathroom suite with screened balcony or patio features master bedroom with king bed and bathroom with free-standing shower & separate whirlpool jet tub. Second bedroom is furnished with 2 full beds and bathroom with standard shower/tub combination. Third bedroom is furnished with queen bed, bathroom with standard shower/tub combination, full-size sleeper sofa, convenient kitchenette and can be easily locked off from the main living area to create a relaxing element of privacy. Generous living room includes separate dining area, cable TV with DVD player and queen-size sleeper sofa. Suite also features full kitchen, as well as high-speed wired & wireless Internet access, in-room safe, washer and dryer. Maximum occupancy: 8.
2 Bedroom
Spacious 2 bedroom/2 bathroom suite with screened balcony or patio features master bedroom with king bed and bathroom with free-standing shower & separate whirlpool jet tub. Second bedroom is furnished with queen bed, bathroom with standard shower/tub combination, full-size sleeper sofa bed, convenient kitchenette and can be easily locked off from the main living area to create a relaxing element of privacy. Generous living room includes separate dining area, large TV with cable and DVD player, and queen-size sleeper sofa. Suite also features full kitchen, as well as wired & wireless Internet access, washer and dryer. Maximum occupancy: 6.

Comments

We still are not sure if John will be coming with us or not but we are pretty sure we will go with the 4 day park hopper military deal. Obviously, we have to take Jacob and Rohan to Magic Kingdom! Maybe the Animal Kingdom, is it any good? But if we go to Epcot or Hollywood Studios we will leave him with his Grandma Diane if she comes.
Lisa and her crew may do a 2 day Disney (Hollywood, Epcot, or Disney Quest) and 1- day Universal Islands of Adventure thing.

Apparently children just have to be accompanied by a Florida resident at ticket purchase to get the FL discount, so the military tickets need to cover all the out-of-state adults. It's $162 for a 2-day 1-park non-resident ticket otherwise, plus $50 for PH or WP&M. Please get all 6 because it's still cheaper than the equivalent FL resident child ticket, but it's not as huge a difference.

I'm not sure everyone would want to pay extra for Park Hopper, so at least for the weekend I was thinking 1 park/day anyway. If you're planning that option just because we only have 4 days, I can add an extra night or two at the hotel for your group, and we can hit the water parks and/or DisneyQuest with the WP&M option instead of PH. But if you really want to visit two parks in one day, that's fine too.

I actually haven't seen Animal Kingdom yet, so I definitely want to go there. Not sure about standing in line for Harry Potter at IoA, but we'll stay with the group if everyone's going.