Visiting Orlando Florida, visiting orlando florida with my family, family travel, travel tips, where to go in orlando florida, orlando, disney, universal studios, top canadian blogger, top mommy blogger, mommy blogger, influencer
|

Everything you need to know when visiting Orlando Florida with your family #familytravel

There is so much to see and do when visiting Orlando Florida. My family and I recently took a much needed vacation after an eventful year. It was our first family vacation outside of Canada. I did a ton of research for my trip, asked around, searched for deals then searched for even better deals. The best place to buy tickets according to my research was Undercover TouristI also loved their crowd calendar feature if you’re planning on checking out Disney World, Universal Studios  or SeaWorld while you’re down there. There are some awesome apps that allow you to track wait times in the theme parks. They saved us a lot of time and allowed us to best plan out our day.

Discount Disney Tickets

  
The general rule of thumb when booking a flight is to book 54 days in advance. Many people recommend bundling flight, hotel and car rentals but that does not always work out to be the cheapest. In fact, in our experience, we had better luck checking out the specials/deals portion of hotels we were interested in staying at. We wound up getting a great package that included a gift card, coupon book to nearby outlets and a steal on our nightly rate. There are a few things you should ask yourself when booking a family vacation. What do you plan on doing while you’re away? If you’re visiting Florida and plan on sticking to theme parks for the duration of your stay, then you may not need to spend as much on accommodations. If you’re planning on alternating theme park days and relaxation days (which we opted to do) then you’d be well suited to select a hotel or resort with some great features.
Visiting Orlando Florida, visiting orlando florida with my family, family travel, travel tips, where to go in orlando florida, orlando, disney, universal studios, top canadian blogger, top mommy blogger, mommy blogger, influencer
  
The hotel we stayed at had a ginormous pool, splash pad for the kids and was very family friendly. The kids loved making friends from different countries. It also had an amazing coffee shop/diner located in the main building. This was a HUGE bonus for obvious reasons (java jolt anyone?!) and helped us save a ton of money when out at the theme parks.
 
Visiting Orlando florida, visiting orlando florida with my family, family travel, travel tips, where to go in orlando florida, orlando, disney, universal studios, top canadian blogger, top mommy blogger, mommy blogger, influencer
Often times hotels are happy to offer special perks. In my experience, those tend to be more likely when booking a longer stay. In our experience I requested a higher floor, which helps reduce noise levels while increasing your chance of getting a room with a great view. Fortunately our hotel was able to oblige. We loved being able to sleep in after what felt like a REALLY REALLY long time!
 
While I was interested in booking a vacation for a long time, I hadn’t really done a ton of research in advance. At least not as much as was needed. We booked everything, packed, and planned everything out in FIVE days…it’s totally doable. 
 
When it came to the parks we used Undercover Tourist to secure amazing deals on our tickets. They offer a great option of being able to ship the tickets to you ahead of time at NO extra cost! We would have loved to have done that but due to limited notice had them shipped to a local Florida post office not too far from our hotel and we simply picked them up when we got there (always aim to have them shipped a day in advance). It also felt great having our tickets in hand and not have to wait in lengthy lines when we arrived.
Visiting Orlando florida, Animal Kingdom, rafiki, lion king,  visiting orlando florida with my family, family travel, travel tips, where to go in orlando florida, orlando, disney, universal studios, top canadian blogger, top mommy blogger, mommy blogger, influencer
  
FOOD
I personally love to cook and when vacationing for a lengthier stay prefer the option of having a fully equipped kitchen in my hotel room. Some might think I’m crazy but with dietary restrictions and growing kids food costs really add up FAST. We opted to make breakfast in the hotel, pack sandwiches/wraps and snacks for lunch then eat supper out. This worked great for our family, it all depends on what’s important to you. Personally, if I’m on a shorter vacation I prefer to have my meals out, but it’s not always the healthier or most cost efficient option when on a longer stay. We stopped off at a local grocer when we arrived in Orlando and picked up fresh fruit (bananas and oranges work great as their peel is a natural protection), nuts, and crackers along with a box of sandwich bags. These doubled great if you go on any wet rides. They’re the perfect size to accommodate your cellphone/keys and some wallets so they don’t get wet. They also fit my small portable point and shoot camera. We also heard some great things about the Kids Eat Free Orlando card and would highly recommend you check it out.
 
Visiting Orlando florida, visiting orlando florida with my family, family travel, travel tips, where to go in orlando florida, orlando, disney, universal studios, top canadian blogger, top mommy blogger, mommy blogger, influencer
PREPARE
We picked up ponchos from the dollar store for our visit and were glad we did! The weather is Orlando is moody to say the least and despite checking the forecast each morning before heading out, we were caught off guard by major rain when the forecast was calling for overcast. We simply pulled out our ponchos which were wrapped in freezer sized resealable bags. Once we were indoors, we put them back, flattened them out and placed them back in the bag. We carried a large BPA free water bottle with us for our travels and simply refilled it at water fountains and restaurants along the way. It was a free and healthy way to stay hydrated during our trip. The kids had orange juice most days with breakfast and got to splurge on a drink of their choice with supper. 
 
 Undercover Tourist
BAGS
We were able to fit our thermal lunch bags full of sandwiches, water bottles, hand sanitizer, bandaids, pain killer (NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the benefit of a painkiller), snacks and ponchos all in one large backpack which we carried around with us. The kids wore hats which when they removed could easily be strapped onto our backpacks. 
 
We picked up lanyards from the local dollar store that we were able to attach the kids sunglasses to. This allowed them to keep them secure and easily accessible. We had such a wonderful family vacation. Travelling with kids is not always easy but with a little bit of planning and a few creative twists you can be sure to have a fantastic time.

Visiting Orlando Florida, visiting orlando florida with my family, family travel, travel tips, where to go in orlando florida, orlando, disney, universal studios, top canadian blogger, top mommy blogger, mommy blogger, influencer

 

Similar Posts

38 Comments

  1. Great suggestions and tips! Thanks so much for sharing. It looks like you all had a great time! I will have to check out Undercover Tourist as we’re thinking of planning a Disney trip soon.

  2. It looks like you had a great time! We used to go to Orlando when I was a kid, we now live on the West coast so Hawaii and California are our go-to vacation spots. I’d love to take the kids to WDW one day.

  3. I have an aunt and uncle who live an hour from Orlando. I’ll keep these tips and tricks in mind next time I’m down to visit them.

  4. We ate breakfast at the hotel (donuts and muffins we bought at Walmart), packed our lunch, then dined out as well. That easily saved us a few hundred dollars on our trip!

  5. Such a smart tip to pick up ponchos before getting going. We went to Disney World and within the first 10 minutes, it started pouring. All of the visitors hit the store to buy ponchos at $20 a piece! I looked at the price and decided that we’d just wait it out. We have 5 members of our family!

    1. So glad to hear! Be sure to use the links to buy your tickets Sarah. You can have them delivered to your home before you leave and save a ton of money.

  6. Excellent tips on here, and I will have to check out that Undercover Tourist site! I am dying to go to Orlando – especially for Harry Potter!

  7. I have been to Orlando about 4 times I think. The last time we travelled we stayed outside Orlando and we drove a rental car. I actually preferred Orlando though to the last trip we took in Florida. Anyways, great tips. We haven’t yet been to the Harry Potter themes park rides and such. Can’t wait to get back there soon.

    1. I told the kids they had Disney and I had Harry Potter 🙂 If you’re a fan of the books you will definitely appreciate all the attention to detail.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *