2020 Huge Vacation....Peaked Excitement

[planfred]

Long time viewer, but first time poster here.

My wife and I are British expats who live and work in Asia, and Orlando is our usual destination choice.

However with the distance and the price, we usually do a big blow out with it every 2 years, and last year we spent 5 weeks from May 1st to June 9th.

My excitement levels and that of my children have just peaked though because literally a couple of weeks ago I booked a week long Carribbean cruise at the end of April 2020, that docks in Port Canaveral. Followed by May 1st to June 19th in Orlando. We are effectively taking a vacation for 8 weeks!

Its a great time to go because our children's summer holidays starts in April over here, so we dont face the huge end of June and July crowds.

Obviously the theme parks will be our natural hangout, and last time we purchased Disney annual passes for the 4 of us, we will do the same next year.

What I am looking for advice for is other great things to do with children outside of the usual themeparks? My son is will be 10 and my daughter will be 6 (she will be having her 7th birthday over there......we usually arrange character dining for her).

So any top tips please from Orlando veterans who know the ropes outside of the usual theme park tourist traps.

Over 400 days to go still.....but wow.....its something to look forward to.

 

[Bullseye1967]

Air boat rides in the Orlando area are a lot of fun. My kids always loved them, and we still go now that our kids are grown.

 

[nickys]

Take a few days to go down to the Florida Keys, then stop in Miami and do a day in the Everglades.

Definitely go to Kennedy Space Centre, you could go for a couple of days for only a little bit extra. There could even be a rocket launch if you can be a little flexible on days, often they are confirmed (weather permitting) a week to 10 days ahead, and you can subscribe to emails which will give you launch alerts.

 

[Gaston's gal]

Do you have any golfers in the family? They may enjoy golfing at Disney or any of the golf resorts around the area. Enjoy your long vacation! I'm so jealous!!!

 

[Weather_Lady]

This may seen sort of random, but there are some great escape rooms in Orlando! If your family enjoys riddles and puzzle-solving activities, it's a fun way to spend an hour, and some of the escape rooms in Orlando - because it's a bigger city with more competition - are world class, at least compared with the ones we've done in smaller cities nearer home (e.g., Rochester and Syracuse, NY).

Last time we visited Florida, we went to "Escape Game Orlando" (https://theescapegame.com/orlando/) on International Drive because it had the highest Yelp reviews. We had such a ball that after the first room, we booked a second one, back-to-back. There are dozens of other well-rated escape room places around, as well. I recommend checking their reviews on Yelp, and also doing a Google search for discount codes. (Thanks to an online promo code, we were able to do Escape Game Orlando for 20% off, and then got a 30% off discount on our second room.)

 

[Janir]

Take a few days to go down to the Florida Keys, then stop in Miami and do a day in the Everglades.

Definitely go to Kennedy Space Centre, you could go for a couple of days for only a little bit extra. There could even be a rocket launch if you can be a little flexible on days, often they are confirmed (weather permitting) a week to 10 days ahead, and you can subscribe to emails which will give you launch alerts.

I'll second the Kennedy Space Center. Definlty get the tour that gets you out to the Saturn V rocket hanger area. Really cool to see it hanging above you at full length.