Are you planning on visiting Orlando, Florida this summer? We went to Orlando a few years ago and I instantly fell in love. There was so many things to do for the entire family from the popular theme parks, going to the beach, fishing, shopping, and so much more. It seems like yesterday that we were busy planning our vacation and there were so many choices/options that it was a bit overwhelming. Today, I wanted to share with you some tips on how to plan your worry free family vacation in Orlando, Florida.
Find a Theme Park Package
If you are planning on visiting any of the theme parks in the area, we found that it was best to buy a package deal because it was cheaper than purchasing individual days at each park. For example, we purchased a 5 day pass and we could use the tickets at any park. Once you use the first days ticket, you have to use the rest of them within a certain time frame. Also, consider booking all of your travel arrangements at once, including hotel, airfare, park tickets, and rental car, etc.
If you are looking for themed resorts in Orlando that offer a memorable stay experience, go now and explore some very interesting options to pick from.
Don’t Hesitate to Use a Travel Agency
You can purchase Orlando park tickets for the family either from the park directly or you can use a travel agent. Sometimes the travel agencies can book entire vacation packages cheaper than if you were to individually purchase everything separately. The travel agent will go out and search for all the deals available even after you book your vacation. If they find a cheaper deal, they will let you know and depending on the terms they will even refund you the difference.
Staying On or Off Property
If you are planning on visiting Disney, many people often debate on whether they should stay on or off property. The greatest benefit of staying on property is convenience. There are a wide variety of properties on site for every budget and some of the properties even offer additional perks. Plus, you don’t have to deal with transportation costs unless you go off site seeing. Even if you fly into Orlando airport, you can use the shuttle service to get to your hotel so that you don’t have to rent a car. They have buses, monorails, and boats that give you access to all the parks and Downtown Disney. They do operate on a schedule so you do have to pay attention to that.
If you do decided to stay off property, you will have to pay to park unless you rely on the hotel’s shuttle services to get back and forth the parks. When we went to Disney we ended up staying with a family friend and we drove back and forth to the parks every single day. When looking at hotel options off property, you will need to factor in these additional costs:
- parking at each theme park
- gas
- wear and tear on your car (if you drove your personal vehicle)
- toll roads
- traffic
Should I Purchase the Dining Plan?
Since we stayed off property when we went to Disney, we didn’t purchase the meal plan. Eating at the park was fairly expensive. We always at breakfast right outside the park at McDonalds just shortly before the park opened. Then depending on our day, we would eat one or two meals at the park. If you are staying on property, you can even go back to your room to eat. Here are a few ways to save money when eating food:
- buy kid’s meals for your entire family
- split entrees
- ask for water(it is free) or take a water bottle to refill at any soda machine
- look for travel deals with free meal plan (just make sure that you read the fine print before booking)
Plan Ahead for the Weather
Florida is known for its afternoon showers and for the most part they don’t last very long. When we were in the parks, we always found indoor activities to do when the showers would roll through. Most of the parks had plenty of shows or other types of indoor activities for you to enjoy. The rollers coasters and some of the rides do have to shut down for rain. It is wise to bring a poncho with you if possible. You don’t want to buy them inside the park (we didn’t take ponchos or an umbrella).
Purchase Souvenirs Off Site
If you want to purchase souvenirs, I highly recommend that you buy them off site to avoid the huge mark ups inside of the parks. There are a bunch of stores just outside of the parks that offer the same exact toys and merchandise that are inside of the parks for a fraction of the cost.
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
I highly recommend that you purchase travel insurance when you book your family vacation. You never know if your trip will rained out due to a hurricane, you experience travel delays, last minute cancellations, or if someone gets sick or hurt during your trip. The travel insurance usually doesn’t cost an arm and a leg and covers the what ifs.
Take the guess work out of planning your Orlando Family vacation with these travel tips. I hope that you found this article helpful and that you enjoy your family vacation.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Comments
21 responses to “7 Tips to Have a Worry Free Vacation in Orlando, Florida”
These are awesome tips. I will keep this in mind when we go. Souvenirs are always cheaper off site.
We go to Disney every year and stay on property I wouldn’t consider NOT getting the dining plan – it makes life so easy.
I’ve been going to Orlando/Disney since I was a girl. We took our kids when they were growing up and now we take the grandkids every year. We’ve made so many awesome memories there! These are all great tips. We love Orlando – so much to see and do.
If you’re staying onsite, I definitely recommend getting the dining plan…especially if you don’t have a car with you! But otherwise, I wouldn’t get it and would eat breakfast at like Perkins and dinner outside of the park. Thanks for all of the tips! We’ve been twice and it is the best place ever 🙂
These are great tips. We always stay on-site when we visit Disney or any theme park. When you factor in gas and parking, it costs just as much to stay off-site, and on-site always has great perks.
Great tips! It’s so much easier to get ideas and advice like this from families that have been and already learned the easiest/best ways to do things when visiting someplace new.
We are planing our next vacation, thank you so much for the great tips and useful post, I’m going to look for a theme park package, sounds great! 🙂
It always pays to stay on-site. You’ll end up spending close to the same amount on parking and gas, and it definitely saves on hassle.
We love Disney. We will be going next month for the second year in a row. We use our timeshare and we love it.
Totally agree with all this, I used to got to Orlando every year and have a ton of fun! I love the theme parks with a passion, they are adding so many new things; I’ll have to go again next year.
I have never enlisted upon the help on a travel agency before. However, I’ll be sure to keep this in mind if I ever visit Orlando, as I’m sure it would be quite overwhelming (and expensive) if I didn’t hire one.
I’ve never been to Florida but I so want to! And since it’s on the list, this post is just full of helpful info for me. My husband and I are talking about sneaking away there soon 🙂
So much to think about when planning a trip to Disney. My husband and I recently relocated to the USA, and we’re excited to check out Disney within the next few years 🙂
We just got back from Disney and had a wonderful time, everything went smoothly and I owe it all to my daughters dance studio! They handled everything right down to scheduling our buses for Sea World and Universal
I love this and I think that it can apply to more than just visiting Orlando. These are great tips and I would definitely use them in assisting with future vacations!
We’ve never been to Orlando, but visiting the place is definitely on our bucket list. We certainly want to visit the happiest place on earth. Soon, I hope. 🙂
These are very great tips. We’ve never been to Orlando before but we really want to go with the kiddos. I would love to go fishing there.
These are great tips!! I have been wanting to to go Disney forever and will definitely keep your tips in mind!!
These are wonderful tips. We’re thinking of going there next year. I will keep this in mind.
travel insurance is often neglected but it is actually very important!
I had a great vacation at Disney World. It was my first time visiting there. I stayed at the Disney All-Star Sports Resort. I went to the Universal Studios and the Island of Adventure and I saw a few shows and I went on a few rides not the dramatic ones. I would say it was a really great vacation ever.