Celebrating an 18th birthday! Recommendations for “surprise” event needed.

ABO

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 20, 2018
I will be traveling in November 2018 with my son who will be turning 18 and a friend. We are staying on site at Universal (probably Saphire Falls) but plan on getting 3 day tickets to Disney World as well. I am looking for recommendations on how to make this trip ultra special for my son. I expect this is the last time him and I will be traveling to the parks together and I want to make it special for both of us. Would prefer to keep budget to $150/person but willing to spend more for the right event.
Thank you
 
Make him pay for his own ticket!!! He'll never forget that and I bet nothing else would surprise him more! :joker:
 
|I personally would put that $150 towards staying at a hotel that gives express pass. That would be a nice "surprise" not having to wait in line for everything.

I have thought about this a long time today and I just can't think of any wow over the top thing you could spend your money on to make it a life shaking event.

18 would probably enjoy the blue man group out side of that, nothing comes to mind, except sky diving and that is probably out.
 
I’d put the money towards a hotel that offers express pass as well. Hard Rock would be a great choice for an 18 year old. No lines, you really can’t beat that. He can ride the coasters nonstop! The parks have awesome birthday hats that can really make him stand out and receive a lot of happy birthdays from the tms. Hard Rock has a program where you can rent special guitars for the day if there is any interest there. My son would have loved that. My kids both wanted to ski dive at 18 but I wouldn’t pay for it and it was way out of budget for them so they are still waiting.
 


I’d put the money towards a hotel that offers express pass as well. Hard Rock would be a great choice for an 18 year old. No lines, you really can’t beat that. He can ride the coasters nonstop! The parks have awesome birthday hats that can really make him stand out and receive a lot of happy birthdays from the tms. Hard Rock has a program where you can rent special guitars for the day if there is any interest there. My son would have loved that. My kids both wanted to ski dive at 18 but I wouldn’t pay for it and it was way out of budget for them so they are still waiting.

You need to save up your pennies, or have kids do it, and do sky diving.

I only did it once, but glad I did. Over way too soon. Love the falling feeling, just not real up on the jumping out of the plane part. Or really the landing. It was a soft landing, but still, the land coming up like that was an experience I would rather not have at this stage in my life.

Son now does it almost everytime he is around a place that offers it. He is 36 now, so it is on his dime now.

I think hard rock would be a good place for an 18 yr old also.
 
A few options I’m coming up with:

As previously suggested, spend the money on staying at one of the deluxe hotels and getting EP, so you can skip the lines. I’d also suggest staying at Hard Rock. The theming would be the most appropriate, and it is the closest to the parks. Portifino is more romantic, Royal is more girly to me with a Hawaiian / Polynesian feel.

Look at tickets to the Blueman Group. This would be fun, but I don’t think it is anything all that over the top.

Check out the Universal VIP tours. The website lists them starting at $189, so I’m not sure if they would come in too far above your budget, but worth at least looking at. I think a VIP tour would definitely make this a one of kind memorable trip.

Is there a different park or attraction he’d like to do? Kennedy Space Center? All the coasters at Busch Gardens? Busch Gardens also has a VIP tour that costs much less than Universal’s. Indoor Skydiving, maybe? A concert or something else that might be going on during your dates? I’d check an Orlando event calendar to see what might be happening while you are here. Is he into Star Wars or virtual reality? You could check out the Void at DTD. What about an escape room, airboat ride, or a race car / exotic car driving experience. There are a few different ones of those available at different price points.
 
For my son's sixteenth birthday last year we ordered a cake from the hotel (we stayed at Royal Pacific)and had it waiting in the room when we got back from the parks...I know they have other packages (with balloons, etc) but we just got the cake. I can't remember pricing, but it was around $50. Someone on here also suggested we go by the Mystic Fountain in IOA and tell it about the birthday, so we did. It was hilarious! The Fountain sang to him and spent several minutes interacting with him and I got it all on video...wonderful memories!
 



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