Orlando Theme Park Guide

Planning your Disney Theme Parks:

Following up to my previous blog post about Disney, I want to share with you our favourite rides and let you know which ones are worth the wait and which ones are not.

So we decided to do 3 Disney parks and 1 Universal park. We went to Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot. We did a 3 day pass without the park hopper option. Then we did the Universal Theme Park just a one day ticket.

Hollywood Studios:

Loved the way this park was designed with the old Hollywood charm, cute streets and old school diners. However even though it is a fabulous park (Disney never disappoints) I would have to say out of all the Disney parks this one was my least favourite. I found that they didn’t have as many exciting things to do as some of the other parks.

However if you do go below are some cool things you can do:

1. If you have kids under 12 they will enjoy the Jedi training. However make sure to sign up for it as soon as you get to the park because this fills up very quickly.

2. In Toy Story Land the Slinky Dog ride is a must. I am not a fan of rollercoasters because I do not enjoy the rattling and the jerking of the roller coasters. However, this one was very smooth and also long enough to enjoy it.

3. For a little more thrill the Haunted Mansion with the drop elevator was pretty awesome. At first they build up a story and then they lift you up in this “elevator” and drop you. It wasn’t too scary but still very thrilling.

4. There is also a nice Starwars 3D ride which simulates intra planetary travel.

For dinner we went to Brown Derby restaurant and even though the food was ok the service was terrible so definitely do not recommend it.

Animal Kingdom:

One of the smaller parks however it is packed with some cool stuff:

1. Dinosaur Ride was definitely one of our favourite when you travel into pre historic time to bring back a dino. It all takes place in the dark so all the dinosaurs coming at you and the jerking of your “time machine” make it seem very real.

2.The Safari is also pretty nice especially if the animals come out and you can see them.

3. Now we were excited to see the land of Pandora and go on the Avatar rides. The wait for the two rides was around 2 hours each. One of the rides is the Na’vi river ride which is where you sit on a boat and it takes you down the river. There are some really amazing effects but it was definitely not worth the 2 hour wait. Would not wait more than 20-30 minutes for this ride. However the other simulated ride which is the Flight of Passage was absolutely exhilarating and definitely worth the wait.

For dinner that day we went to Disney Springs as we didn’t find any nice restaurants in the park.

Epcot:

This is by far my most favourite park. Not only does it have some cool rides, it also has a lot of culture as there are different places in the park which resemble different countries. And they did not omit any details. Even the employees working at those parks are from those countries.

For the rides there really aren’t too many but the two that we absolutely loved are:

1.Soaring, the ride that lifts you up in these chairs and immerses you into a 3D experience to imitate flying. It is absolutely amazing.

2. Another really great ride is Mission to Mars. Now this simulated ride is not for anyone who gets dizzy or queasy easily as it spins and lifts you around. In this ride you go into a pod (there are 4 riders in total) and it literally imitates you taking off in a spaceship. You actually feel the G forces in that ride. An absolute must ride. They also have a more tame version of this ride and that is Mission to Earth which doesn’t spin you as much.

And if you are in Epcot you must go to Chefs de France restaurant. The food, the service and the ambience is quite amazing. You really feel like you are in France, especially with all the waiters and staff speaking French.

Universal Studios:

This park has some really great simulator rides which are very entertaining without the crazy thrill of rollercoasters. It also has a really cool Harry Potter village. We decided to do just one park as the Islands of Adventure is more focused on roller coasters and thrilling rides. I also didn’t find the park hopper option worth it because we wouldn’t have time to do all the rides we wanted in every park. One full day was just enough for one park.

I found the wait times in Universal were way better than at Disney. We didn’t wait longer than about 30 mins for a ride. The longest we waited was about 45 minutes. Universal does offer the express pass option but that doubles the price of each ticket and one day admission for a family of four would end up being over a $1000 CAD and I cannot justify that. Plus we ended up being able to do everything we wanted to in one day.

Below are some of the great rides I recommend:

1. Jimmy Fallon 3D ride where you race through the streets of New York.

2. Transformers 3D ride. Make sure to ask for a seat in the front to get the best effects.

3. The Minion 3D ride. Lot’s of jokes and a fun ride.

4. Fast and Furious 3D ride. Did not enjoy it. The setup was not good and the 3D glasses were poor quality so didn’t feel real.

5. Harry Potter rollercoaster 3D ride. It was about a 45 minute wait but was worth it. The pre show was great and the ride was exciting because you get the thrill of a roller coaster while being immersed in the experience.

6. If you have grown up with Simpsons then you will enjoy this simulator ride. However compared to some other ones I found it to be a little more jerky and it left me a little dizzy at the end.

7. ET ride was also one of those “old school” rides. However they did a good job with simulating the flying through the woods on a bicycle complete with all the smells of the forest.

8. Shrek 4D movie was pretty bad. If you have to wait in line, definitely not worth it.

They do not have any restaurants on property except for fast food ones however as soon as you leave the park they have a hustling and bustling area with all the entertainment and restaurants.

We went to NBC Bar and Grill and the food was good and so were the prices.

So this is my recap of the parks and the rides that we did. Feel free to comment with any questions and please share with anyone who is planning a trip to Disney.