CoachZ
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2003
Here's my pre-trip report for May/June 2018. I don't have exact dates yet. That is contingent on when my nephews & I get out of school for the summer. I'm Z-48 and my nephews are B-14 & T-12. I'm a high school teacher in a suburb of St Louis. My nephews are students in the same school district, so we will start summer break at the same time.
I originally had planned this trip for June 2017, however the boys changed the dates once they discovered Fast & Furious wouldn't open until Spring 2018. I'm okay with waiting a year. It just gives me more time to read and gather information necessary to plan an awesome trip for the boys & I!
The plan was to just go to the 3 Universal parks for 5 days. We will stay onsite at RPR. The plan is to fly into MCO and use Tony Hinds service to/from the airport. Then about a month ago my parents offered to pay the costs for a few more days in Orlando. So now our trip includes Discovery Cove, Aquatica, and Kennedy Space Center.
The new plan is still 5 days/4 nights at RPR and 4-5 nights at a hotel near Seaworld. Haven't decided which one yet, but I think I have it narrowed down to either Springhill Suites @ Seaworld, Fairfield Inn @ Seaworld, or Best Western Orlando Convention Center.
A little back story. This will be the boys first vacation with me without their parents. We've been to WDW in 2011, Seaworld, Legoland, & Clearwater beach in 2013, & Destin in 2016 as whole family. I've been to UO, SW, DC, & KSC back in 2003, so I know a lot has changed. I'm the trip planner and deal hunter of the family!
I'm leaning toward flying out of St Louis on a Sunday or Monday morning as soon as we get out of school. If I follow this plan we'll be in Orlando over Memorial Day weekend. This option concerns me about an increase in crowd levels. My other option would be to start our trip on the first Sunday/Monday in June.
I'm not planning on renting a car until we head to KSC. So we will Uber/Lyft from RPR to our SW hotel, and do the same to/from the SW parks.
The boys have already told me they want their first ride to be The Hulk, so day 1 will be IOA. The rest of the tentative itinerary is day 2 US, day 3 VB, days 4 & 5 we will park hop. We'll take afternoon breaks for lunch and pool time, then head back into the parks for the evening. I'm hoping to have time to pool hop to other hotels as well.
Once we move toward SW, I think DC will be on Saturday, AQ on Sunday, an KSC on Monday. We may go to SW one evening to ride the coasters. I think we'll stay an extra day just in case we encounter a day of bad weather.
Possible trip dates May 20 or 21 - 29 or 30 or June 3 or 4 - 12 or 13.
Restaurants we want to try: NBC Grill, Bubba Gump, Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritavile, and Bula Bar. We'll probably have breakfast in the room, the boys aren't big breakfast eaters. We'll stop for groceries on our way from the airport. Eat table service for lunch and then back to RPR to swim. Then have a quick service dinner in the parks. Our quick service choices are: Springfield food court, Mel’s, Thunder Falls, Confisco, and maybe Richters.
After being at WDW in 2011 on the free dining plan I learned we are better off to eat table service at lunch and quick service at dinner due to the amount of food. In the SW area we'll eat breakfast at the hotel and lunch in the parks. DC thankfully includes both breakfast and lunch. Still looking at our dinner options. I'm sure one night we'll have pizza delivered, either Giordanos or Uno. We won't have a car most of this time but we can always Uber/Lyft to and from dinner.
For tickets my plan is buy an AP to UO for myself, probably the preferred so I get discounts on food and merchandise plus hopefully an APH hotel discount. I figure the food discount will come in handing feeding 2 growing boys! The boys tickets I'll buy from UT. I'll get them 5 day park to park tickets plus VB. I'd prefer to buy them the 14 day explorer tickets just in case we want to come back while we're still in Orlando. Just concerned that UO will start enforcing the only for U.K. rule. I'll also purchase our DC and KSC tickets from UT as well.
So now onto the rides. I know some won't believe this, but my nephews aren't into Harry Potter. I asked them if they wanted to watch the movies so they understand the rides, but they weren't interested. We'll ride the HP rides but may not understand it all. We will ride all the coasters for sure! Plus all the simulators look awesome! We've watched many YouTube videos of the rides thanks to The Tim Tracker and Midway Mayhem. Between the videos and this site I feel more than prepared for this trip. Thanks everyone!
So what do you all think? Any suggestions or comments are appreciated!
I originally had planned this trip for June 2017, however the boys changed the dates once they discovered Fast & Furious wouldn't open until Spring 2018. I'm okay with waiting a year. It just gives me more time to read and gather information necessary to plan an awesome trip for the boys & I!
The plan was to just go to the 3 Universal parks for 5 days. We will stay onsite at RPR. The plan is to fly into MCO and use Tony Hinds service to/from the airport. Then about a month ago my parents offered to pay the costs for a few more days in Orlando. So now our trip includes Discovery Cove, Aquatica, and Kennedy Space Center.
The new plan is still 5 days/4 nights at RPR and 4-5 nights at a hotel near Seaworld. Haven't decided which one yet, but I think I have it narrowed down to either Springhill Suites @ Seaworld, Fairfield Inn @ Seaworld, or Best Western Orlando Convention Center.
A little back story. This will be the boys first vacation with me without their parents. We've been to WDW in 2011, Seaworld, Legoland, & Clearwater beach in 2013, & Destin in 2016 as whole family. I've been to UO, SW, DC, & KSC back in 2003, so I know a lot has changed. I'm the trip planner and deal hunter of the family!
I'm leaning toward flying out of St Louis on a Sunday or Monday morning as soon as we get out of school. If I follow this plan we'll be in Orlando over Memorial Day weekend. This option concerns me about an increase in crowd levels. My other option would be to start our trip on the first Sunday/Monday in June.
I'm not planning on renting a car until we head to KSC. So we will Uber/Lyft from RPR to our SW hotel, and do the same to/from the SW parks.
The boys have already told me they want their first ride to be The Hulk, so day 1 will be IOA. The rest of the tentative itinerary is day 2 US, day 3 VB, days 4 & 5 we will park hop. We'll take afternoon breaks for lunch and pool time, then head back into the parks for the evening. I'm hoping to have time to pool hop to other hotels as well.
Once we move toward SW, I think DC will be on Saturday, AQ on Sunday, an KSC on Monday. We may go to SW one evening to ride the coasters. I think we'll stay an extra day just in case we encounter a day of bad weather.
Possible trip dates May 20 or 21 - 29 or 30 or June 3 or 4 - 12 or 13.
Restaurants we want to try: NBC Grill, Bubba Gump, Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritavile, and Bula Bar. We'll probably have breakfast in the room, the boys aren't big breakfast eaters. We'll stop for groceries on our way from the airport. Eat table service for lunch and then back to RPR to swim. Then have a quick service dinner in the parks. Our quick service choices are: Springfield food court, Mel’s, Thunder Falls, Confisco, and maybe Richters.
After being at WDW in 2011 on the free dining plan I learned we are better off to eat table service at lunch and quick service at dinner due to the amount of food. In the SW area we'll eat breakfast at the hotel and lunch in the parks. DC thankfully includes both breakfast and lunch. Still looking at our dinner options. I'm sure one night we'll have pizza delivered, either Giordanos or Uno. We won't have a car most of this time but we can always Uber/Lyft to and from dinner.
For tickets my plan is buy an AP to UO for myself, probably the preferred so I get discounts on food and merchandise plus hopefully an APH hotel discount. I figure the food discount will come in handing feeding 2 growing boys! The boys tickets I'll buy from UT. I'll get them 5 day park to park tickets plus VB. I'd prefer to buy them the 14 day explorer tickets just in case we want to come back while we're still in Orlando. Just concerned that UO will start enforcing the only for U.K. rule. I'll also purchase our DC and KSC tickets from UT as well.
So now onto the rides. I know some won't believe this, but my nephews aren't into Harry Potter. I asked them if they wanted to watch the movies so they understand the rides, but they weren't interested. We'll ride the HP rides but may not understand it all. We will ride all the coasters for sure! Plus all the simulators look awesome! We've watched many YouTube videos of the rides thanks to The Tim Tracker and Midway Mayhem. Between the videos and this site I feel more than prepared for this trip. Thanks everyone!
So what do you all think? Any suggestions or comments are appreciated!
Last edited: