Number one bit of advice: Make sure you have good, comfortable shoes and are okay with lots of walking. If at all possible, alternate park days with "hang out at the hotel pool" days.
If you're thinking Disney, plan on spending a day per park unless you want to splurge and get the tickets that let you move from park to park at will. If you need to eliminate something, skip Disney Hollywood Studios -- it's the smallest of the parks and since animation went all-computer it's not a live studio anymore, which used to be part of its draw. The remains of the "studio tour" are not worth doing. (Then again, the Indiana Jones and Muppets shows are good, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the "history of movies" ride are lots of fun. And they've got some fun restaurants.) Depending on whether or not you like animals, you may want also to skip Animal Kingdom or whatever they call it -- we did.
Oh, important point for Disney -- pick your big meal of the day, lunch or dinner, and make reservations ahead of time -- as in, before you leave. Pick your restaurants and times and call Disney's 800 line to set everything up. Otherwise you'll wait forever for a proper sit-down meal. "Fast food" style restaurants in the Disney parks are usually speedy and good, though -- there's a taco place across from Pirates of the Caribbean that knocked our socks off when we went there in 2008 and 2009. And amazingly, the prices are on the high end of reasonable -- a huge difference from Disney in the 80s and 90s, when they would gouge you shamelessly on food.
In EPCOT, I recommend the big restaurants in the Moroccan and Mexican pavilions. Also the Japanese pavilion -- I've never eaten in the big restaurant there, but I hear it's good; if it's at least as good as the little noodle place they have across the pavilion from it, it'll be worth it. I haven't tried any of the other restaurants at EPCOT' that I can recall, other than the little Mexican place on the lake, so I can't tell you anything about them. Oh, and EPCOT might take two days -- one for the "science fair" part in the front, and one for the showcase of nations around the lake in the back. Depends on how fast you walk and what you're interested in.
Plan your path around the park ahead of time and get to your special target rides early -- the lines for things like Space Mountain fill up fast and stay full for the whole day. Disney offers a "fastpass" system, where you can book an entrance time to a ride through a kiosk -- use it, and use it early because it, too fills up. But be warned -- it only lets you hold an "appointment" for one ride at a time. Again, hit your target rides as early as possible.
Rides have clocks at their line entrances now, telling you how long the wait is, and what fastpass slot is being accepted.
Stuff in the back of most of the parks takes longer to fill up. We were able to do the Haunted Mansion twice in a row with no wait either time first thing one morning in the Magic Kingdom. You might want to consider heading straight to the back and working your way to the front for some places.
Oh, and this will save you some time: Take the "Hotel" (Resorts? I can't remember now) monorail from the Magic Kingdom parking lot. It goes to the Kingdom, but makes stops at the hotels first. The thing is, no one seems to realize that it goes to the Kingdom, and they all take the "park" monorail. That monorail will fill up and you'll have a long wait. But there's almost never a wait at the other. Oh, and if you have kids with you, ask the monorail gate attendant if you can ride in the front with the driver. If the line is light or nonexistent (as it usually is on the hotels line), you'll be able to -- the driver's cab has seats for four (besides the driver, that is).
Outside of Disney... Hm. I haven't been to Universal since the 90s, so I can't really advise you there. But if you go and you hit Marvel Manhattan and the Harry Potter subpark, I'd love to hear about both. Oh, and if they sell bottled butterbeer at the Potterpark, I'll reimburse you for a few bottles/sixpack/case. I wanna try that stuff.
Haven't been to Seaworld there since I was kid, so again, no advice.
There's a Medieval Times in Orlando, which can be a lot of fun and is a damned good meal as well. Nice way to spend an evening.
If I remember anything else, I'll add it later.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
If you're thinking Disney, plan on spending a day per park unless you want to splurge and get the tickets that let you move from park to park at will. If you need to eliminate something, skip Disney Hollywood Studios -- it's the smallest of the parks and since animation went all-computer it's not a live studio anymore, which used to be part of its draw. The remains of the "studio tour" are not worth doing. (Then again, the Indiana Jones and Muppets shows are good, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the "history of movies" ride are lots of fun. And they've got some fun restaurants.) Depending on whether or not you like animals, you may want also to skip Animal Kingdom or whatever they call it -- we did.
Oh, important point for Disney -- pick your big meal of the day, lunch or dinner, and make reservations ahead of time -- as in, before you leave. Pick your restaurants and times and call Disney's 800 line to set everything up. Otherwise you'll wait forever for a proper sit-down meal. "Fast food" style restaurants in the Disney parks are usually speedy and good, though -- there's a taco place across from Pirates of the Caribbean that knocked our socks off when we went there in 2008 and 2009. And amazingly, the prices are on the high end of reasonable -- a huge difference from Disney in the 80s and 90s, when they would gouge you shamelessly on food.
In EPCOT, I recommend the big restaurants in the Moroccan and Mexican pavilions. Also the Japanese pavilion -- I've never eaten in the big restaurant there, but I hear it's good; if it's at least as good as the little noodle place they have across the pavilion from it, it'll be worth it. I haven't tried any of the other restaurants at EPCOT' that I can recall, other than the little Mexican place on the lake, so I can't tell you anything about them. Oh, and EPCOT might take two days -- one for the "science fair" part in the front, and one for the showcase of nations around the lake in the back. Depends on how fast you walk and what you're interested in.
Plan your path around the park ahead of time and get to your special target rides early -- the lines for things like Space Mountain fill up fast and stay full for the whole day. Disney offers a "fastpass" system, where you can book an entrance time to a ride through a kiosk -- use it, and use it early because it, too fills up. But be warned -- it only lets you hold an "appointment" for one ride at a time. Again, hit your target rides as early as possible.
Rides have clocks at their line entrances now, telling you how long the wait is, and what fastpass slot is being accepted.
Stuff in the back of most of the parks takes longer to fill up. We were able to do the Haunted Mansion twice in a row with no wait either time first thing one morning in the Magic Kingdom. You might want to consider heading straight to the back and working your way to the front for some places.
Oh, and this will save you some time: Take the "Hotel" (Resorts? I can't remember now) monorail from the Magic Kingdom parking lot. It goes to the Kingdom, but makes stops at the hotels first. The thing is, no one seems to realize that it goes to the Kingdom, and they all take the "park" monorail. That monorail will fill up and you'll have a long wait. But there's almost never a wait at the other. Oh, and if you have kids with you, ask the monorail gate attendant if you can ride in the front with the driver. If the line is light or nonexistent (as it usually is on the hotels line), you'll be able to -- the driver's cab has seats for four (besides the driver, that is).
Outside of Disney... Hm. I haven't been to Universal since the 90s, so I can't really advise you there. But if you go and you hit Marvel Manhattan and the Harry Potter subpark, I'd love to hear about both. Oh, and if they sell bottled butterbeer at the Potterpark, I'll reimburse you for a few bottles/sixpack/case. I wanna try that stuff.
Haven't been to Seaworld there since I was kid, so again, no advice.
There's a Medieval Times in Orlando, which can be a lot of fun and is a damned good meal as well. Nice way to spend an evening.
If I remember anything else, I'll add it later.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.