Heading to Florida for a dream holiday is all well and good but when you actually stop and think about everything you will want to do and try and work out how you will fit it in things start to go wrong.
In our house I am definitely the planner, every time I mention the holiday to hubby or ask for his opinion he just shrugs and lets me get on with it but that means that it is up to me to ensure that our two weeks are the best two weeks that they can possibly be.
We are really lucky as I don’t need to worry about theme park access tickets as our holiday is being facilitated by Kids Cancer Charity who are working with Give Kids the World in Florida. This means that we get one weeks stay in the Give kids the world village and the use of the charity villa for the second week. Give Kids The World are able to provide us with park tickets to most of the major tourist attractions. I also decided to try and tie in some fantastic media experiences so I can share with you some of the amazing places to visit in Florida so I will also be working with DisneyWorld, Universal, Discovery Cove and Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
When you look at all the amazing places to visit in Florida it really does become an exercise in choosing what you really want to do. For example, I am not a lover of waterparks but Hubby and the kids are but then which one should we go too?We would love to go to Busch gardens but the kids are a bit short for most of the rides so is it really worth the driving time? Is Legoland Florida any better than Legoland Windsor which we can visit anytime we want? Should we go and experience the everglades or stay in the theme parks? How many quiet days should be scheduled and does this mean do nothing or go to a quieter attraction?
So far I know that we will want to visit the four Disney parks although I am not sure that each park needs a full day, I suppose that all depends on queue times really. There are not that many rides that the girls will be too interested in actually going on but its more the experiences and the shows that they enjoy. We will be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for four nights so we can take advantage of the Magic Hours too.
We are also all looking forward to going to Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure. As huge Harry Potter fans this is on our must see list and spending the time wandering around the streets of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley may need a day just to itself. Although I am disappointed to see that the girls are not big enough for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey or Harry Potter Flight of the Hippogriff.
The highlight of the holiday for me will be our trip to Discovery Cove where I will be fulfilling a life long dream to swim with dolphins and I am dragging the rest of the family with me too.
Finally we couldn’t head to Florida without driving across to Clearwater to go and visit Winter the Dolphin. Alison has not stopped talking about Winter since we met her last year and Elizabeth is desperate to get to meet her too so we will be taking a day out of our schedule to do that.
The problem is even if we just do one day in each place we have already got 4 days at Disney, 2 days at Universal, 1 day at Discovery Cove and 1 day at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. That is 8 days out of 14 already accounted for and so many other amazing places to visit, shopping to do and days relaxing in the pool that we really do have to choose what we want to do and that means I need your help.
Have you been to Florida before?
Where do you recommend we go?