Anyone been to Orlando, please if you can let me know good places to go other than Disney World, places to eat…etc. Esp. since we may be going with the baby. Although my mom is telling us she will watch the baby for the week, but not sure if I am comfy leaving Baby S that long. Any good beaches. Me & hubby are going to Orlando for 3 nights & Daytona Beach for 2 nights.
I hear Epcot Center & Universal is good to visit wth baby. Anything else? Anyone know whether its cheap for car rental there? Is it easy to get from the airport?
Disney world is really baby friendly…meaning the baby centers there usually close to the entrance gates have been one of the bests I have ever experienced. We went when my baby was 6 months old and I stayed in the baby centers most of the times:cb:…they are really comfortable.How old is your baby so depending on that there are a lot of places you can visit. One thing I may add is if you are olanning to go to disney world like the animal kingdom etc the fast pass option really helps as you dont have to stand in lines etc. Also most restaraunts are in the downtown Disney area.
And oh yes …depending on the baby’s age baby bjorn’s baby carrier is so good to take when you are travelling. I absolutely loved it. Hope you guys have tons of fun:)
i didnt like epcot very much... but universal studio's island of adventure is super awesome. do not miss the 3D spider man ride, its worth a million bucks.
disney has like 4 parks over there... i have been to 2 of them but honestly none of them impressed me.
try the "Up side down" restaurent.
All the theme parks are very family freindly. If you can stay on International drive, its lot of fun and lot of things to do, right on Interntaional drive. Very close to Universal and Sea world, disney is 4-5 miles maybe, and pretty decent hotel rates. Just dont expect too much of service from Mid-range hotels (like Qulaity Inn etc) Anyway, you would only be spending night in the room.
Go to Bismillah Restaurant or Apna Restaurant, both on Orange Blosom Drive. They are not very far from Interntaional drive area. Not expensive and good authentic pakistani food.
Universal is fun, no problem with the baby, although to go on rides and simulators, you and your hubby need to take turns. Not too much of fun doing that
Its quite cheap car rental. Try Advantage Rent A Car (go to website). Airport is maybe 12 miles from universal/Interntaional drive area
Dont eat in any indian restaurant on or off Interntaional drive. They lie about Halal food and are ridiculously expensive.
Restaurant in Disney main park serves Veggie Burgars. We even asked and offer Duhr prayer in their medical center. Very clean. Extremely courteous staff. Baby Center is just a blessing (as ASK99 said). Disney is, no doubt, as they claim, the happiest place on earth
Well baby is only 8 months old so getting on rides would be difficult and going seperately would be no fun at all. So was looking for things to do together with baby in stroller/carrier. We already got a hotel, cheezy place that I got jipped off for, but whatever gonna spend the night just to sleep. NEVER EVER be gullible like me and get convinced by someone to get a timeshare...that's another story!
. NEVER EVER be gullible like me and get convinced by someone to get a timeshare...that's another story!
Hahaha... I want to hear that story. I attended a timeshare seminar just to get discounted Universal tickets. We got the tickets, not timeshare. Those guys are master of pressure sale.
Go to Bismillah Restaurant or Apna Restaurant, both on Orange Blosom Drive. They are not very far from Interntaional drive area. Not expensive and good authentic pakistani food.
You just made me teary eyed with Nostalgia
Didnt know Apna Restuarant is still operating, the last I went there was with a prospective Risthas family around 14 years ago.
Disney has seperate Q lines for people with strollers and prams so you dont have to wait in long Qs like other people.
I knew of this guy who would hire a wheelchair and make his younger brother sit in it and pretend he was sick to avoid the long Qs.
Wonder if he is still living there.
If you are visiting Orlando and just doing the theme parks stay in Kissimmee, the hotels are pretty cheap and its just half an hour drive to the major theme parks.
And just for me, go to this place, its called Old Town.
Tariq,
Well in school there was this flyer for FL vacations, so I picked up a flyer. I think i was hungover from studying for my exams, that i decided to call them (My mistake!!!).....and boy are they good sales agents that pressure & trick you to buy! But i purchased a 7 day hotel package in orlando at a resort...but they told me if i get that then i also get 3 days/2 nights in daytona...then i also get a cruise and i also get something later on in las vegas....umm
my brain told me Too GOOD to be true...BUT silly me....got caught up and went ahead n made the purchase! Only to find out later when i looked online, that they have horrible service...they lied!yeah i have to go for the 90 minute tour of the resort and will get free tixx as well. Haha. Let's see how it goes. My husband said if it really sucks, we'll just get another hotel then. I hope its decent enuff to stay at since we already paid for it.
And i realized later that its pretty cheap to take a vacation in FL, excluding cost of theme park tixx.
Didnt know Apna Restuarant is still operating, the last I went there was with a prospective Risthas family around 14 years ago.
Yes Apna Restaurant is still there (at least till 02/2006, they were there). What about your prospect Rishta Family. It looke like you did not marry into them, otheriwse you would be calling "my in laws , before I got married" or something like that
Tariq,
Well in school there was this flyer for FL vacations, so I picked up a flyer. I think i was hungover from studying for my exams, that i decided to call them (My mistake!!!).....and boy are they good sales agents that pressure & trick you to buy! But i purchased a 7 day hotel package in orlando at a resort...but they told me if i get that then i also get 3 days/2 nights in daytona...then i also get a cruise and i also get something later on in las vegas....umm
my brain told me Too GOOD to be true...BUT silly me....got caught up and went ahead n made the purchase! Only to find out later when i looked online, that they have horrible service...they lied!yeah i have to go for the 90 minute tour of the resort and will get free tixx as well. Haha. Let's see how it goes. My husband said if it really sucks, we'll just get another hotel then. I hope its decent enuff to stay at since we already paid for it.
And i realized later that its pretty cheap to take a vacation in FL, excluding cost of theme park tixx.
Tell us your experience about 90 minutes tour of resort, after you come back. Also post some picture.
P.S. Take a picture of Apna Restaurant and post it for more nostalgic experience for adrasteia
We visited Orlando with our 15 month old son, back in March. Everyone recommended that we visit the SeaWorld and that is the best place for infants. Needless to say, it was a disappointment. Our son only enjoyed the Shamu and Pet show to some extent. Everything else was not that exciting. I should also mention that at that age, kids have a very short attention span and can't enjoy as much. In October we are planning to visit disney and if my son has better time, I will let you know.
My recommendation is to leave the little one behind if you can. He/She is too young to enjoy the theme parks and it is far easier to leave them behind at that age. If you do take your kiddy aling, you are going to be too busy taking care of him/her and will not be able to enjoy as much as you should.
Well I have no option to leave kid behind. Before my mom could take care of him, but she got carpel tunnel and tendonitis so she cant carry him and hence wont be able to take care of him. So its fine, plus id probably worry if I left him behind anyways. Well Inshallah it will still be fun. I talked to a few people at work, and they said it wont be so bad, and neither me nor husband are that crazy about the rides, but we do hope to enjoy the other things...like the shows....parade...fireworks at disney. Maybe go to Epcot Center, i heard its easy to walk around there, and if we really want to ride, we'll just take turns I guess. I cant wait till he's older and able to take it all in and enjoy, for now he is just a hYPER 8 month old.
oh one final question before i leave tomorrow....we are getting a rental and picking it up at the airport.....
now question is, is it easy/difficult to find parking by the theme parks/tourist attractions in Orlando and nearby?
I think our hotel/timeshare offers a shuttle to some of the parks, but i was thinking since we have the baby, it'd be nice to have the rental with us to store extra stuff just in case we need it for baby...instead of lugging around a big diaper bag
Every theme park has huge lots and the parking is very organized. There are bunch of parking lot employees who will guide you (through hand signals) into the right parking spot. From there, for instance in disney, their monorail or ferry will take you to the main park
Do keep a stroller, although you can rent one inside any park for about 9 dollars. You dont need to lug around the diaper bag as you can rent that
u will have to park at the parks, and the parking ticket will cost u arnd 8 bucks, i believe.
i have been to the 90 min resort presentation thingie... at first it was a nice way to get discount tix... and also a good way to shop around coz i knew that eventually i'd want to buy a timeshare. after doing my homework i ended up buying one 2 yrs after my first presentation. i wouldn't vacation any other way now... hotel rooms now seem so cramped and small to me.
as far as parks, since ur baby is too little to enjoy the experience, go for the ones you'd like. Animal Kingdom is really nice. I think Epcot's the best, but go there only if you're into "world culture" thing or science. Magic Kingdom is for the babies. Universal Studios is also nice, but the rides/shows/loud noises might scare ur baby.
I got back yesterday from orlando, it was a lot of fun. Actually we ended up leaving our son with grandma for the week as he wasnt feeling good and is teething..3 teeth at the same time...anyways we ended up getting the Flex Ticket and doing Universal Studio/Islands of Adventure, Sea World and the water park Wet n Wild. W ehad a good time, even got a chance to see Wonderworks, their dinner n show was pretty decent as well. We didnt find Apna...however we ate at Shalimar on International Drive....it kinda SUCKED for the amount you pay.
I wanted to see the Dinner Show Arabian Knights, but the menu sucked, mainly meat items :( And they had option of pasta with sauce...grr
id rather eat at a good restaurant with yummy food then...hehe.
Now the 1st place we stayed at near Orlando, was Summer Bay Resort....the accomodations were good including kitchen/microwave/fridge etc....and the resort facilities were nice including their pool, water activities...and volleyball/tennis courts. Didnt get to utilize everything as we spent most time in parks. But the timeshare presentation can truly kill you! What was supposed to be a 90 minute presentation turned into an almost 4 1/2 hour fiasco in which the lady did nothing short of practically turning psycho on us cuz we refused to buy. WOW! Never again will I get caught up in any of these phone scams...grrrr! Then on Sat we went to daytona Beach and ended up having to sit thru another stupid presentation, but this time it was 1 1/2 hours and no pressure...but still a waste of time. The hotel was not up to any standard...but it WAS right on the beach, which was very very nice. As for the boardwalk nearby it was horrible!!!!! I mean I felt like I was in some pind, seriously....even Seaside Heights in NJ puts it to major shame!! But we did enjoy "Swimming/wading in the ocean, plus the pool was nice again.
I must say I really liked Spider Man psychological thriller thingy, as well as terminator 3d thingy...mummy was awesome!!! The earthquake was a neat little surprise...hmm jaws was cornyyy....jurassic park ride was fun..hmm hulk was cool...
ooh and the 2 shows at seaworld were great...Believe with Shamu was nice and I think it was called Discovery...the acrobatics + Dolphins show..i loved their stage. It was a good deal. :)