Am I going to burn out the family

Rob_b

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 6, 2000
I was originally was planing for a 5 night vacation just at Universal. I decided to add some additional parks. We are now staying at Royal Pacific for 9 nights this Aug. Am I going to burn out my family (dw, dd(8), me) or should I scale back the number of parks?

Day 1 - Fly in at night
Day 2 - Seaworld
Day 3 - Aquatica
Day 4 - Busch Gardens Tampa (Thinking about removing due to shuttle bus, turn into A resort hopping day)
Day 5 - Discovery Cove
Day 6 - US/IOA
Day 7 - Volcano Bay
Day 8 - US/IOA
Day 9 - US/IOA
Day 10 - Home
 
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For me, you've taken a lovely relaxing onsite Uni stay and turned it into madness. We had an 8 night stay once with only Uni planned and we were happy with that plan.
 


It totally depends on your family. We recently returned from an 11 day trip. We did 7 Disney park days, one day off in Disney, then 3 universal days. We weren't burned out until half way through the last day. We ended up leaving early for the airport.
 


Or maybe move Busch Gardens to the end of the week and see how things go...since it's a long ride to Tampa and back...just something to think about.
Agree with that. Although I want to get back to BG one day the ride / drive on I4 can be brutal.
 
I would drop Aquatica, because you will go to Volcano Bay, all water parks are similar, Bush Garden will be a maybe for me
 
I would agree with dropping Aquatica, we did it with Sea World/DC last Sept and were not impressed with Aquatica. Since you will have free admission to Sea World with your DC ticket, you may consider doing a couple of partial days there for a more relaxing vacation and more time to hang out at RPR. Seaworld has some awesome thrill rides although your DD may not be up to that yet.

We love Discovery Cove.
 
Your "burn out" plan is how I'd plan my family trip. We did DC/SeaWorld/Aquatica a few years ago in early November when my girls were 10 and 8, and we thoroughly enjoyed Aquatica. We could have spent half a day on Roa's Rapids, which is the not-so-lazy river (by about the 3rd time around, I needed a life jacket). If I were going in August, I'd skip Busch Gardens, make that my down day, and keep the rest of your plan.
 
@Rob_b You're the only one that knows your family and knows if they'll suffer burn out. As for my troop, there'd be mutiny if I tried that schedule on them. We're at HRH for 6 nights over Thanksgiving and other than one trip to Disney Springs, we won't leave Universal. We'll have park time galore and plenty of time to unwind and come back home feeling like we've had a vacation.
 
@Rob_b You're the only one that knows your family and knows if they'll suffer burn out. As for my troop, there'd be mutiny if I tried that schedule on them. We're at HRH for 6 nights over Thanksgiving and other than one trip to Disney Springs, we won't leave Universal. We'll have park time galore and plenty of time to unwind and come back home feeling like we've had a vacation.

This - unless your tribe consists of commandos. There is nothing like 5 - 7 days at Universal for a relaxing, fun vacation.
 
I haven't been to Busch Gardens in well over 20 years, haven't been to Discovery Cove nor Aquatica and no to Volcano Bay so I'm really no help on those.

But I'm wondering was there a reason to have USO/IOA start on your 6th day versus at least a day towards the front?

Truly only you know your family but if your main reason was Universal I'm not sure it would end up working the best to push that so far into the trip. Only reason I'm thinking is what if by that time you're too tired, cranky or wishing you had gone earlier in the trip. Even with taking out Busch Gardens for a resort day that still means the meat and bones of the trip (Universal) is in the back end which in a 5 day trip isn't the same as a 9 day trip.
 
It depends how you do water parks. We used to do commando for the theme parks and it worked great - but three days in a row was our limit we learned. However, water parks don't take full days for many people. If you make your water park days partial days, then I think it's quite do-able.
 
I agree with the others. I would get rid of Busch Gardens (I went with my family several years ago and was not impressed and can't imagine anything has changed THAT much) since it isn't in Orlando. I also would get rid of a waterpark. Most of the Universal hotels have pretty awesome pools anyway, from what I've seen.
 
I would schedule one day in the near the middle of your stay as a park day or a rest day. You might need it! That way, if your family is too tired, then you can do something relaxing like resort hop, float around in the resort pools, or go shopping. If they are ready for another park, then go for it! Then again, if you take it easy during your vacation by taking breaks during the day and not trying to stay at the parks from open to close, you should be able to do all the fun things as you planned.
 
It really depends on your family... for me, I did 7 days of parks on the West Coast last year and didn't bat an eye. I did 9 days at WDW a few years back and that was just about enough. You might want to schedule a 'down day' around day 5 or 6 just to chill and re-energize. Also, since you're staying onsite, during your UO days you can go back to the hotel and crash for a little while without killing your whole day.
 
I agree with the others about leaving out Busch Gardens, it's just too far of a drive, not sure it's worth it. If you're looking for something else to do, maybe Kennedy Space Center?
 
Agree, I'd take Tampa out, and do it when you are staying longer. Unless you are the family that stays in a water park all day, I'd do both water parks and plan on relaxing the rest of the day. A down day is always good to have too. Sleeping in, nice breakfast, then pool hopping and checking out CityWalk and then be ready to hit the parks the next days. My kids liked Aquadica, and want to go to Volcano Bay too.
 

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