Disney World

[Fairwinds]

Headed to Disney and Sabal Palms on Sunday. Driving straight through so (adult???) daughter and friend can attend "not so scary Halloween party". The hazard of late planning and Disney events selling out. Wife and I will go to Electric Parade and fireworks one day but otherwise plan To relax by the pool and since it is fantasy land pretend to be golfers.

I haven't been to Orlando for a long time. Any activity recommendations other than parks? As much as I remember enjoying it I don't think we'll drive out to the space center this time.

 

[silentg]

Hopefully your daughter has tickets for the Halloween Party already? We were at Epcot and the California Grill at the Contemparary last Tuesday and saw a sign at the entrance that the Halloween Party was sold out for that night! The weather is getting nicer,cooler evenings, bearable temperature for golfing. Have a great time, safe travels!
Silentg

 

[capjak]

Headed to Disney and Sabal Palms on Sunday. Driving straight through so (adult???) daughter and friend can attend "not so scary Halloween party". The hazard of late planning and Disney events selling out. Wife and I will go to Electric Parade and fireworks one day but otherwise plan To relax by the pool and since it is fantasy land pretend to be golfers.

I haven't been to Orlando for a long time. Any activity recommendations other than parks? As much as I remember enjoying it I don't think we'll drive out to the space center this time.

I assume you already know about the Food and Wine Festival? There are several events that can be reserved for additional cost. On Saturdays there is the Party for the Senses which is wonderful but extremely expensive.

For food: Recommend Roccos Tacos and Café Tu Tu Tango, Thai Thani, Season's 52 (chain but good), High Tide Harry's, in Winter Park Bhosphorus, the wine bar for wine tasting, Prado for Italian.

 

[Fairwinds]

Silentg, Thank you. She did get tickets for the party but only Sunday was available by the time we called so they will have to go after a long day in the car. I'm not complaining just saying it's better to plan way in advance because special events sell out. I'm probably the only person on earth that didn't know that.

Thanks Capjak, I didn't know about the food/wine festival. Are you referring to Epcot? It looks like fun even if it spoils my plan to avoid multiple days in the parks.

 

[rthib]

We were recently at Food & Wine, definitely worth the trip.

One tip is there is not a lot of places to site down.

What we did is bought the souvenir trays they sold, loaded up with two or three counties meals each - then head to the craft bear building.

Lots of Air-Conditioned, comfy seating and you can order a beer flight and eat and share.

 

[capjak]

Silentg, Thank you. She did get tickets for the party but only Sunday was available by the time we called so they will have to go after a long day in the car. I'm not complaining just saying it's better to plan way in advance because special events sell out. I'm probably the only person on earth that didn't know that.

Thanks Capjak, I didn't know about the food/wine festival. Are you referring to Epcot? It looks like fun even if it spoils my plan to avoid multiple days in the parks.

Yep Epcot, also if you have a chase credit card go to the american pavilion they have a lounge where if you get there early enough you will get wrist bands for reserved seating at the concert as well as for the fireworks, plus they have free soda....

 

[JimC]

See if the Orlando Eye is open (www.officialorlandoeye.com).

If you do have the time, the Atlantis exhibit at the Space Center is very worthwhile. They recently opened a remembrance tribute in the Atlantis exhibit for the astronauts lost on two shuttles. Both Atlantis and the Remembrance are very well done.

 

[Superchief]

A nice thing about Sabal Palms is its proximity to all of the facilities at the Marriott World Center resort. Your family should really enjoy the extensive pool facilities. There is a well equipped fitness facility and Spa within easy walking distance. Although I find the restaurants at MWC to be overpriced, the food court offers a wide selection at more reasonable prices.

When we visit Royal Palms, we now spend more time at the resort than at Disney.

 

[VegasBella]

Headed to Disney and Sabal Palms on Sunday. Driving straight through so (adult???) daughter and friend can attend "not so scary Halloween party". The hazard of late planning and Disney events selling out. Wife and I will go to Electric Parade and fireworks one day but otherwise plan To relax by the pool and since it is fantasy land pretend to be golfers.

I haven't been to Orlando for a long time. Any activity recommendations other than parks? As much as I remember enjoying it I don't think we'll drive out to the space center this time.

We're going to Orlando next year so I'm planning out a list of possible things for us to do. Our interests probably vary from yours but here's what we've got so far in case any of our interests overlap.

NBA Orlando Magic: http://www.nba.com/magic/
Fun to go see a game!

Go kayaking on one of the many lakes

Primate sanctuary! 2 hours drive
We can visit Jungle Friends if we become sponsors and make an appointment
http://www.junglefriends.org/contact/visit.html
accredited and well known, NOT a zoo
many animals were rescued/retired from labs

Free things to do in Orlando: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/free-orlando-traveler/
of note: largest flea market in the world

children's museums: http://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/a...-articles-2013/childrens-museums-ketcham.html
note: plural

Skeleton museum perhaps: http://skeletonmuseum.com/

 

[Big Matt]

There is a lot to see and do in downtown Orlando and there are many great restaurants. Nobody every goes there and they think that Disney is Orlando. There are beautiful parks, lakes, etc.

 

[capjak]

Matt,

We like Winter Park downtown great dining and outside dining.

for those into the food and wine fest, as we are here is a good blog:

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com

 

[Luckybee]

Silentg, Thank you. She did get tickets for the party but only Sunday was available by the time we called so they will have to go after a long day in the car. I'm not complaining just saying it's better to plan way in advance because special events sell out. I'm probably the only person on earth that didn't know that.

Thanks Capjak, I didn't know about the food/wine festival. Are you referring to Epcot? It looks like fun even if it spoils my plan to avoid multiple days in the parks.

You've already received some great tips re: F&w festival. We tried it last year for the first time and we loved it. A couple of things that we found helpful. Check out one of the planning sites (such as touringplans.com or easywdw.com) and find the least busiest day you'll be there to enjoy the booths. We had a few days and the 2 things that made a huge difference in our level of enjoyment were the crowds and the weather. We had one of our days that was torrential rains, and although that was great for keeping the crowds down it wasn't so great when the food was floating in the dish.
On another note, if you have time check out the menus in advance on the various sites that offer them such as the dis, the Disney food blog etc. You cannot try everything if you only have one day and our first day we were not very efficient because we tried to do just that and ended up passing on many things we definitely wanted to try because we were already too stuffed. We fortunately had more time going back but we were much more careful the 2nd day