1st Time Walt Disney Trip in June with the Kids and In-law (Miami: extended stay, spring break)

[dtran12882]

Need help, advice, tip this coming June. Family of 6: 4 adults 2 children (age 5 & 9). Flying in from Houston to Miami (visiting some relatives) then hit the road to Orlando. Since we are renting a vehicle what is the best scenic route from Orlando to Miami? We are planning to do the 5 day Walt Disney pass. Spending 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 day at each Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studio. Where can I get discount WDW ticket. I can get 5 day with hopper at TicketsAtWork currently for $369 for adult and $349 for child through my company. Was wondering if I am missing out on any other deals. Should we stay inside Walt Disney resort and used the monorail system? (Budget $125-$250 per night) Any hotel recommendation? We were looking into Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista across from Disney Marketplace but the reviews on TripAdvisor is giving us second thought. How does the monorail work? Is it free? Does it connect to all the hotel resorts? Our other option is staying outside the park at Sheraton Vistana Villages Resort Villas comes (kitchen, washer and dryer) and driving to the park and paying the $20 parking fee. How is the weather in June? Where to eat? Inside or Outside the park? Any good Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant nearby? Any help if greatly appreciate. TIA!

[brinkofsunshine]

Regarding the monorail: It only connects to three Disney resorts, all of which are considered "deluxe" and are at the top tier of what they offer- The Contemporary Resort, Grand Floridian Resort and Polynesian Village Resort. The cheapest of these rooms start at $350+/night. It also connects to the Ticket and Transportation Center (adjacent to Magic Kingdom's parking lot). There's another monorail that connects from there to Epcot. The monorail is free for anyone to use, even if you're not staying at one of those hotels. There are plenty of other hotels on Disney property that are less expensive. Look at their "moderate" and "value" options. You can take advantage of other free transportation they offer: buses and water taxis.

Weather in June is unbelievably hot and humid. Strong chance it will thunderstorm in the afternoons, but the rain never lasts long.

The best restaurants in the area are located around Sand Lake Rd. in Dr. Phillips.

I'd highly recommend checking out the DisBoards which are dedicated to WDW vacation planning. Tons of seasoned veterans there who have visited the World so often it's like their second home. Since most of us here are locals we're probably not too keen on where the best places to stay would be.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by dtran12882

Need help, advice, tip this coming June. Family of 6: 4 adults 2 children (age 5 & 9). Flying in from Houston to Miami (visiting some relatives) then hit the road to Orlando. Since we are renting a vehicle what is the best scenic route from Orlando to Miami? We are planning to do the 5 day Walt Disney pass. Spending 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 day at each Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studio. Where can I get discount WDW ticket. I can get 5 day with hopper at TicketsAtWork currently for $369 for adult and $349 for child through my company. Was wondering if I am missing out on any other deals. Should we stay inside Walt Disney resort and used the monorail system? (Budget $125-$250 per night) Any hotel recommendation? We were looking into Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista across from Disney Marketplace but the reviews on TripAdvisor is giving us second thought. How does the monorail work? Is it free? Does it connect to all the hotel resorts? Our other option is staying outside the park at Sheraton Vistana Villages Resort Villas comes (kitchen, washer and dryer) and driving to the park and paying the $20 parking fee. How is the weather in June? Where to eat? Inside or Outside the park? Any good Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant nearby? Any help if greatly appreciate. TIA!

1) There aren't many "scenic" drives because the ocean usually has buildings, which block the view. You could go to Delray Beach, drive down E. Atlantic Ave to HWY A1A (S. Ocean Blvd) and drive down to Boca Raton, this part is pretty scenic and E. Atlantic Ave is a fun street. In Miami Beach, check out Lincoln Road and Ocean Drive.

2) I would book a hotel through www.hotwire.com, you can get a 4 star hotel for a very cheap price most dates, you just don't know which one, but you can choose the area. Be aware most hotels in the tourist corridor have resort fees similar to Las Vegas.

3) The monorail is free, but it isn't really used unless you're going from Epcot to Magic Kingdom. Disney has a lot of shuttle buses that are free and go to all Disney properties.

4) The weather in June will be warm/hot with decent weather. You might get rainstorms, but they pass fast. It's worth checking out a water park.

5) Food inside the theme parks suck and are way over-priced, so I would try to limit eating in the parks to once a day. Orlando has an Little Vietnam called Mills 50. It's a bit North of Downtown Orlando, but there are some really good Vietnamese restaurants and milk tea in this area. The closest, while still being good Vietnamese restaurant near Disney would be Viet Thai Cafe, which is on Sand Lake Road near the Florida Mall.

[jwolfer]

Weather is similar to Houston in summer. Many people don't realize that Miami to Orlando is 4 hour trip. Turnpike is quickest but not a very scenic drive. It also has the longest distance between exits on a limited access highway, like 50 miles.

You can see the Everglades, which is a unique experience, perhaps take an airboat ride, but that could be miserable in summer. There is a place near Ft Lauderdale on US 27 that has airboat tours, you could take US 27 all the way up to I-4 just SW of Disney World, a bit more interesting than Turnpike, but you will have some traffic lights around Winter Haven and some other towns. US 27 is a four lane highway much of it with 65MPH speed limit

[jwolfer]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

1) There aren't many "scenic" drives because the ocean usually has buildings, which block the view. You could go to Delray Beach, drive down E. Atlantic Ave to HWY A1A (S. Ocean Blvd) and drive down to Boca Raton, this part is pretty scenic and E. Atlantic Ave is a fun street. In Miami Beach, check out Lincoln Road and Ocean Drive.

2) I would book a hotel through www.hotwire.com, you can get a 4 star hotel for a very cheap price most dates, you just don't know which one, but you can choose the area. Be aware most hotels in the tourist corridor have resort fees similar to Las Vegas.

3) The monorail is free, but it isn't really used unless you're going from Epcot to Magic Kingdom. Disney has a lot of shuttle buses that are free and go to all Disney properties.

4) The weather in June will be warm/hot with decent weather. You might get rainstorms, but they pass fast. It's worth checking out a water park.

5) Food inside the theme parks suck and are way over-priced, so I would try to limit eating in the parks to once a day. Orlando has an Little Vietnam called Mills 50. It's a bit North of Downtown Orlando, but there are some really good Vietnamese restaurants and milk tea in this area. The closest, while still being good Vietnamese restaurant near Disney would be Viet Thai Cafe, which is on Sand Lake Road near the Florida Mall.

So true... I took my daughter and her friend to a concert at House of Blues in what used to be called Downtown Disney now its called Disney Springs, last night... Everything is expensive, I went outside the Disney resort area to get something to eat. The restaurants are not theme park food but everything is expensive, a small beer at the Irish Pub was not cheap 8-13 depending on kind... i would have expected at least a pint!

If you are spending multiple days and you have a car, go out on US192 or SR 535 and eat some of your meals... go to Subway or Wawa for lunch... When kids were little we would go back to room at let kids nap for a bit and eat lunch at subway.

If you get a extended stay type resort you can have one with a full kitchen, that will save on food costs.

[jamary1]

One piece of advice about buying tickets: if the price seems too good to be true, it usually *IS* too good to be true. Safer to pay a few dollars more for tickets from a reputable source than find out at the gate your tickets are bogus.

[bmartinez76]

One thing I've noticed is that you're not really going to find cheaper prices for Disney. Easier to just pony up the cash and buy direct to avoid scams and ruining your vacation.

[Bellamouse]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

5) Food inside the theme parks suck and are way over-priced, so I would try to limit eating in the parks to once a day.

I totally disagree that the food sucks (although it is overpriced). You just have to know where to look for the good stuff. Certainly not everything there is good, but it's not all bad either.

We enjoy Be Our Guest in the Magic Kingdom as well as the lobster rolls and salmon at Columbia Harbor House.

In Epcot there's a ton of good food - the bakery in France, the Biergarten in Germany and the Tangierine Cafe in Morocco. There's a lot more but those are just a few.

In Animal Kingdom we love Y-a-k and Yeti (great lettuce wraps) (I had to put dashes in the first word because this forum thinks the word y-a-k is a swear word and substituted asterisks?? ) and the Flame Tree BBQ is good too. Yes, you pay more in the parks for food but there's no way in H-E-double hockey sticks we are leaving the parks and driving 15-30 min away for food and then coming back. To us that's just crazy.

I haven't even mentioned the resort restaurants. We LOVE Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club resort, among others.

You can go to the disney food blog | food IS a theme park for more information about all the food, and as someone else already suggested, you can get more information than you will ever be able to read at the DisBoards

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If you're really budget conscious get a Townhose or Condo (www.vrbo.com) instead of a hotel room. We have stayed in places like Emerald Island and gotten a 3 BR/2BA townhouse for $500-$600/week (total - no tax or resort fees). We eat breakfast in the condo and you can always bring food/snacks in with you as well. We split the weekly rental with another couple and that left us a lot of extra money to splurge on food. Our favorite.

[dtran12882]

Thanks for all the tip. My co-worker also purchase the WDW 5 day ticket with hopper thruticketsatwork.com and went during spring break so I'm not to worry. Will check out some of the restaurants mention above. I have also heard story about people bringing in a small cooler without any issue, is that true? What would be the normal cost to eat inside the park for party of 6 for 5 straight day at 1 meal a day? Should we get there before it open to beat the traffic? How does the fast pass work? If I buy the ticket in advance can I arrange the time slot for the ride? Which ride usually have the longest wait time at each theme park? Is there a height restriction on the ride? Don't want to stay in line for hour or two and come to find out the kids can't ride on them. That would really suck!

[Bellamouse]

Those questions are all answered over and over and over again on the DisBoards. I really would check that out and pose your questions there.

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