Canadian Mom with four adult kids

[5Adults]

Hi there; I'm excited to join this forum. I've already learned things from reading some posts. I'm 55 and taking my 28 year old twin sons and their girlfriends to Disney World in February 18 - 25, 2017. I know President's Day week is then, but we have a teacher in our group and it's the only time she can go. We will make it work. We booked a condo in Kissimmee through airbnb and paid for flights. Next is car rental. We're there for 6 full days, one of which will be a beach day. Thinking Clearwater because we may kayak the Hillsborough River in John B Sargeant Park (near Tampa).

The biggest reason I joined this site is to seek help in booking Disney tickets for park entrance, making decisions around whether to buy park hopper or not, and figuring out Fast Pass+ tickets. The five of us will have to sit down and talk about what we all want to see. I've researched the best adult rides in each of the four theme parks so that will be easy enough, however there are also attractions (which I know nothing about) and I want to make sure we see the main things in the not-to-be-missed category. Not sure if we spend 3 full days in the theme parks to leave time for Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure (which I've learned has good adult rides).

Thanks for reading my post

 

[NiarrNDisney]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Monty]

Welcome fellow Canuck!

For tickets, you can hold off on adding Hopper until you need it. That way, if you don't, it isn't an unnecessary cost. It costs the same whether you add it the first day or the last day [the cost does change based on the total number of days on your tickets, but if the number of days stays the same it doesn't matter when you add]. If you choose to go to Universal as well, both Disney and Universal front-load their ticket prices to make it more expensive to only do two or three days, so your costs will be a lot higher. The first three days at Disney and two days at Universal are the highest prices, then they drop precipitously to encourage you to stay with one or the other. If you don't intend to visit Orlando again, then the cost is unavoidable if you want to visit both.

 

[5Adults]

Welcome fellow Canuck!

For tickets, you can hold off on adding Hopper until you need it. That way, if you don't, it isn't an unnecessary cost. It costs the same whether you add it the first day or the last day [the cost does change based on the total number of days on your tickets, but if the number of days stays the same it doesn't matter when you add]. If you choose to go to Universal as well, both Disney and Universal front-load their ticket prices to make it more expensive to only do two or three days, so your costs will be a lot higher. The first three days at Disney and two days at Universal are the highest prices, then they drop precipitously to encourage you to stay with one or the other. If you don't intend to visit Orlando again, then the cost is unavoidable if you want to visit both.

Well, thank you very much for this information, Monty. That is very helpful. I didn't know that about having the choice to add park hopper at any point. We will definitely do that. Based on them making it more expensive to only do 2-3 days, I think we won't do Universal. We only have 6 full days and I honestly think most of us will feel 3 full days/nights at Disney will be enough. Especially because two of us are introverts and might get overloaded LOL. If we go to the beach one day, we might like a down day for relaxation and a day for Hillsoborough River or the outlet malls and our condo pool.

Do you have any suggestions for good adult rides in the four theme parks? Or should I ask that in another thread?
MK: I think Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mtn Railroad. AK: Expedition Everest.
Epcot: The Sum of All Thrills, Soarin' and Test Track. HS: Rock & Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.

Do people know exactly what attractions they'll do before their trip? Or do you pick 3 Fast Pass rides and figure the attractions out when you're there? ... do you just walk around while there and say hmm that looks good? We're a pretty laid back group, we won't be frenetically trying to get on as many rides/attractions as we can. Fireworks at night will be nice.

 

[Monty]

I usually pick parks based on where I'm planning to eat. LOL

Pick your FP+ selections as early in the day as you can. Once you've used the three, you can try to get another one at a time. In February it's a little quieter, so I wouldn't stress about crowds, even near Presidents' Day. We wander the park and do whatever we see with a short line. If you have a smart phone, the DME app lets you see wait times, get new FP+ and has maps so you can find the nearest washroom or whatever else you need.

Once you have tickets for everybody, set up [or have them each set up] DME accounts and you can link everybody and get the same FP+ for the group if you want. You can also book Table Service dinners 180 days in advance.

 

[5Adults]

Wow Monty thank you - all of this is really helpful. I'm so excited.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Howdy!