Afternoon all,  Waaaaaay off topic here…  The Mrs is looking at Disneyland Florida next Easter for us and the kids, anyone know how much the tickets are per day to Disneyland?  Also, any advice / tips / recommendatrions on where to stay / how you booked etc appreciated…

Thanks and happy riding, (blo@dy muddy in the Chilterns at the moment!!)

The DIBB is what you need here.

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/

Thank god! – I thought this was going to be a Joe Cocker post

Thanks Cougar, I wasn’t aware of that site, nice one!

Thank god! – I thought this was going to be a Joe Cocker post

He’s not dead, is he? 😳

Be aware (and very, very afraid) that Easter is spring break in Florida. I know this only too well, as we were there about four or five weeks back. It’s an absolute nightmare, average of 3 hour queues for most rides, and on a couple of days while we were there, entry to some of the parks was closed late morning due to them reaching maximum capacity. To make things worse, we had prepaid for our park tickets, which left me feeling even more ripped off. Oh, the weather wasn’t great either. If you’re travelling with kids, I’d recommend going in October, obviously depending on term times, etc. The weather’s much better, and the parks are a lot less crowded.

on a couple of days while we were there, entry to some of the parks was closed late morning

That’s your first mistake.  Get there at rope drop, go anticlockwise through the park, get moving and ignore the first few attractions at the front.  No queues (though perhaps not at Easter!)

This was our fourth visit Cougar, and despite being aware of all the usual ‘beat the queues’ methods, it was ridiculous. At Universal, they even sold out of fast pass tickets, which for a family of four, were an extra four hundred dollars per day on top of the standard admission price. I’m kinda glad that our two kids seem to be getting a bit bored of Disney / universal, looking forward to going somewhere different next time! Also noticed a bit of a change in attitude from some of the people we met, particularly those wearing red maga caps…

Just about to head to Florida. I feel like I know the place inside out despite having never been there.

As well as The Dibb check out Undercover Tourist in particular (for the planning) the crowd calendar at https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar

(year view for 2019 at https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/2019/)

You can get 2019 park tickets and various offers and bundles. For a good idea of what’s available to UK buyers check out http://www.floridatix.com/ and bear in mind they and their competitors (as listed on The Dibb) will have both their own promotions and those coming from the park owners themselves. I saved around 10% on Disney tickets by buying in Easter Sales

Whatever you chose to do it’s $$$$.

EDIT – looking at the crowd calendar Easter clashed with Spring Break this year (bad luck Mitch) but apparently won’t next year as it’s three weeks later so Easter might be fine (IANATA)

While I’m here,

If it’s something you might be aven vaguely interested in, get yourself over to KSC.  It’s a bit of a trek but IMHO one of the best attractions in Florida.

KSC was my one** condition for going to Florida but the whole family are chomping at the bit. The Lego Saturn V over there >> in the study helps. We’ve got our tickets (no launch scheduled) and even free entry for my daughter as fifth and sixth graders go free via some STEM promotion.

**Oh and time on the Gulf Coast / Anna Maria Island.

Worth doing at KSC: the extended tour.

Not worth doing at KSC: the ATX experience.

Surprisingly far more interesting than I expected at KSC: lunch with an astronaut.  (We met Story Musgrave, flown on six Shuttle flights.  Incredible and fascinating guy.)

The scheduled astronaut for our proposed date is a bit meh. I know that’s rich coming from an IT consultant but I’ve deferred lunch to give us more flexibility (would bust down walls to listen to Storey Musgrave). I wondered about the extended tour but there’s three kids in tow and the general consensus is there’s tons of wow factor in the standard exhibits and tour. Plus we can mob the astronaut in the morning Meet the Astronaut Q+A so the kids can get that tick.

would bust down walls to listen to Storey Musgrave

He was brilliant.  If you ever get chance, bust those walls.  He’s a “public speaker” these days and very good at it; eloquent, interesting and humble.  One thing that always stuck with me, as a hobby he became a qualified brain surgeon.  That’s a special sort of guy.

KSC would be my stipulation for going to Florida and certainly hope and plan to go.

Going back to the title of the thread and it is a related thread hijack,  I am off to DLP next week.  I have reservations for Café Mickey and despite being on a half-board plan, I have to pay a supplement.  I did not quite realise that supplement would be about 100 euros!  Is it worth it?  I suspect the food is not great shakes, but is it worth the extra for my girls to meet some characters and it is time saved on trying to meet them elsewhere in the park?

I see the Dibb is a great source for DLP too, thanks.

I was in Florida a few weeks back and was lucky enough to see a Space X rocket launch at KSC, Well worth experiencing if you ever get the chance.

We mostly spent our time at Universal (which we had pre-booked tickets for) and had 4 nights in Clearwater.

We did have one day in Epcot, where we turned up on the day, and the ticket for a family of 4 was £368!