Am I going to burn out the family

[bchbetha]

My dh can't and won't do more than 3 days in a row at a park, 2 is his ideal. He'd bail on your schedule. The kids wouldn't last either. Just have a back up plan!

 

[keishashadow]

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

Pretty much how we roll, can rest at home lol Once you factor in the airfare, why not extend the trip if able?

Unless you are SW APH holder, Discovery Cove tix include SW/A. Believe BG is still offered as an add-on, you'd have to check.

JMHO since those parks would be 'paid for', I'd stick with them.

PS check into purchasing 1 SW APH for discounted rate to DC, but it won't include the other parks in those tickets.

Aquatica is nice, laid back vs what i assume will be a very crowded VB for sometime.

 

[Disxuni]

Get rid of Busch Gardens, bump up Discovery Cove in it's place, and have day five be a "CHILL" day. You'll need it.

 

[FrankDIS72]

How about spending 1/2 day at Fun Spot?

 

[nighttowll]

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

Is this your first time scheduling like this?

This would not burn out our commando family, but we vacation hard. Morning to night, it is go, go, go. We also stay fairly busy at home, and travel frequently, so the kids are used to the frantic pace. If your family isn't so use to it, it may be a bit of a shock.



Is your family / daughter use to taking day trips or road trips?

It's a good drive to Tampa, probably looking at over an hour, maybe even 2, depending on how many pickups are scheduled on the shuttle route. We go to nearby cities all the time that are 1.5 to 2.5 hrs away, so for us, the kids don't think anything about hopping in the car to go to another city for the day, but for many, it would be a long ride.



What is going to tire you out more, walking or swimming?

I'd make sure to switch out "hard" days with less physically exhausting ones. So if you plan a park one day, maybe a water park the next. As long as you can alternate between slower more relaxed days and busier days, you should be fine.



How late will you get in the first night?

If it is late, I wouldn't plan any parks that require getting up early if you are worried about burn out. Maybe use that first day as a resort day or only plan to do a half day starting at lunch at Sea World and then plan a second day for Sea World later in the trip. This would work well if you do decide to remove BG. We have always needed about 1.5 days there. This would also allow you to relax more and not rush around so much trying to make show times if you have two days at SW. I believe it is still included with your DB ticket, so it shouldn't cost any extra if you 2 days instead of 1. The last thing you want to do is start off the trip tired.



Have you researched VB?

The only other thing I'd think about is VB. The reviews seem very mixed. Personally, unless there are some major changes, I don't see our family enjoying it at this time. I don't think Tapu-Tapu is for us. Not making reservations is one of the reasons we moved from Disney to Uni in the first place. If I was looking for something to cut-out, VB would be it for us, replaced with Aquatica, a resort day, or a second Sea World day. Just my personal preference. Definitely, read up on it yourself and the ride reservation system before going, so you know what you are getting. You guys may love it.

 

[maverik85]

Overall I don't think it is too grueling of a trip. It depends a little on when you go for how busy the parks are, but with having 3 days at Universal theme parks you will have plenty of time to do everything (multiple times likely) at a leisurely pace. Could use a day to focus on each park and the third to to hit up whatever you want to redo before leaving. This would leave you plenty of time to relax int eh evenings as well after the parks and hit the pool or go around City Walk.
Agree with others about skipping Aquatica since you're hitting Volcano Bay anyway, and maybe Busch Gardens as well with the long drive, but with having another fll free day built in might not be too bad, but probably make for a long day with the added drive time.

A couple years ago went down for a week and did 4 days at the Disney parks (one day for each) and then 2 at Universal and still had plenty of downtime during the trip. So it's defintiely doable.