"A wonderful weekend with two wonderful... " a Orlando Travel Page by Dabs

I spent a long weekend in Orlando in November 2006 with two of the finest ladies on VT, Kat (keida84) and Patty (hexepatty). Friday Kat and I visited the Mouse at the Magic Kingdom where we spun and spun and spun and spun on the Teacups (BEFORE we ate lunch thankfully), tried unsuccessfully to lure Johnny Depp out of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, hurled our way towards the giant Chips Ahoy cookie on Space Mountain and got spat on by a camel (damn camel!). Patty joined us on Saturday as we ate our way through the globe at the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT where they tricked me into eating cauliflower and Sunday we piled into the car for a road trip out to Cocoa Beach and a wonderful dinner at the Animal Kingdom Lodge before I had to head back to 40 degree temps in Chicago BOOHOO

The Happiest Place on Earth?
This is what you are likely to see when you visit Disney World-tired children screaming, parents running through the park screaming at the screaming tired children trying to get their money's worth and your wallet is likely screaming too, this is the happiest place on earth? Visiting DisneyWorld can be an expensive trip and some people save for years to take their families here. It can be a magical experience for some but it can certainly be a nightmare for others and an expensive one at that.

This was my third trip to the Orlando area, my husband and I visited twice back in the late 80s early 90s so this trip to Orlando was not to visit Disney World (although we did go), it was to hang out with Kat (keida84) and Patty (hexepatty) who was a terrific guide to her hometown of Orlando.

One of the reasons Kat wanted to visit Disney World, specifically the Magic Kingdom, was to compare it to Disneyland in California. Both places have their pluses and minuses but on the whole I actually like Disneyland better for the convenience factor. You can find affordable hotels within walking distance of the park for when the little ones have their meltdowns and need a little nap, Downtown Disney is within walking distance of both Disneyland and California Adventure so you can get something to eat besides Disney food.

But I imagine I'm in the minority on this, most families would rather have the myriad of entertainment options that Orlando offers in addition to the Magic Kingdom-EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, MGM, Sea World, Universal Studios, Disney Quest and much much more. Los Angeles/Anaheim may have similar attractions but not in such close proximity.

Disneyland in California is limited in size, most of the surrounding area is developed and just imagine what the owners would charge Disney for their land, so when they were developing DisneyWorld they bought up roughly 30,000+ acres of mostly swampland in central Florida using dummy corporations to avoid having the price of the land skyrocket. Walt Disney died in 1966 and never got to see his dream realized, the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971.

If you are planning an Orlando vacation, I'd highly recommend visiting some of the excellent websites such as MouseSavers and All Ears Net that I have listed in my tips on ways to save money and plan your vacation wisely. Guidebooks can be helpful but are practically out of date when they are published.

Choose your hotel wisely based on what you are looking for, does it need to be close by, are you on a budget, what amenities you need. Find out what you need to have reservations for, many of the resort's restaurant book up well in advance as do some of the special activities in the parks. Try to have a game plan for what you want to see at the parks, what rides you and your family will want to go on, what shows you want to see or else you'll be spending a lot of time criss crossing the park.

And if you're going for multiple days, maybe budget one for a chill out day where you can spend time at the resort by the pool or else you might find that all of the dwarves are Grumpy and Sleepy and none of them Happy.