Hi all, We want to take a shorter trip this summer, sort of a family vacation before our oldest heads off to college. ; My wife and I were thinking of driving somewhere around home, but as soon as we posed the question to the kids, they shouted "Harry Potter!" ; So, it looks like we are going to try and do a 4-5 day trip, flying in and out of MCO, staying for 2-3 nights at Universal (ugh, but I'll do it once), perhaps at Universal's Portofino, and then we'd like to head over to the beach for 2 days. What I need a recommendation on is where to go for a nice beach spot. ; We don't like monster beach hotels, but prefer smaller places with easy, direct beach access. ; I don't have enough points to go to Vero Beach, so it will be on cash. I was looking at the map, and it looks like I can head straight East on 528 and get to the coast, but I don't know what the coast is like at that location. ; I've been to KSC many years ago, and have no interest is going there again, but do remember the island having tons of hotels. Any thoughts? Thanks, Boris
ok i'm not a floridian, but i just happen to have some experience along these lines, having done this similar trip a couple of times 1. portofino bay, while it's been 2 years since we stayed there, we have been there 5 times, each stay 2-3 days in length, incl a couple of concierge level visits, very nice place, we liked it a lot, lot of good photos to be had there 2. all our coast visits were to the ormond beach/flagler area, just staying in chain units, ie: days inn, econolodge, and if you get north of daytona proper, there are a surprising amount of budget motels right on the hard sand, and i do mean hard sand, you know, the drive on type, caveat, we are not beach people, one day in the sun on the sand is about all i can handle, and given the bout with basal cell on my right arm, from too much youth misspent on boats, with no shoes, no shirt, no problems, i can't do too much beach time anymore anyway, so it was enjoyable for that short type of time frame for us.
Thanks Gary! That's the kind of feedback I am looking for. ; I was just on TripAdvisor, and was going through Cocoa Beach, and found a nicer small place called the Beach Island Resort. I'm going to check on the area you mentioned as well. Did you think the Portofino was worth it? ; My son is pushing for the onsite fastpass option they give onsite guests. ; He really wants to do the HP park, and he's never been to Universal, and would probably hit the other major attractions. ; His sister is up for that too. ; I got the opportunity to go to US once when I was attending a conference in Orlando, and the group rented out US for the evening for just the attendees and their families. ; I was there by myself, so I headed over early, and pretty much walked on all the major attractions. ; By the time the place was filling up, I had developed a mild case of motion sickness. ; My wife doesn't do thrill rides, so she and I may skip US except for the HP portion. Your comment about the hard sand made me think of Daytona Beach on spring break back in college -- that was far from what I would now consider a relaxing beach vacation! Regards, Boris
I moved to Ormond Beach last year and it's a pretty nice place. The beaches are quieter here than Daytona (the next town to the south) so that's a plus. There's not a whole lot to do other than the beach, but Daytona has the speedway, fair-to-decent shopping and some good restaurants. From Disney it's about an 80 minute drive to the beach, so it might be around 70 from Universal. I'm not sure how that compares to places like Cocoa Beach. You may also want to investigate New Smyrna Beach, a few towns south of Daytona. I've not spent much time there, but some colleagues live there and really love it. If you decide to stay in Ormond, let me know and I can give you suggestions of restaurants, etc. in the area.
new smyrna beach. ; LOVE that place! ; the beach near the Moontide Hotel (~24th ave.) is a really nice place to go.
Re: Question for you Floridians--I want to go to t We have stayed at both the Portofino and the Hard Rock and like both places. ; Not only are the resorts nice, but the front of the line privileges were great, better than any fastpass. I say it is worth it.
Don't forget that Florida has beaches on the other side of the state too! Clearwater Beach is also big, has nice sand, and the water's warmer than the Atlantic. Honeymoon Island, also near there, is a state park that's very nice if you like a beach that's not surrounded by buildings. Erich
Thanks Erich. ; We usually utilize the Gulf coast on our March trip. ; In fact, my mom has a place on Long Boat Key that we could probably stay at for free. ; The problem is drive time. ; I want to fly in and out of Orlando for cost savings, and I think the drive to the coast is faster if I go East. My favorite gulf resort is a place called the Edison Beach House on Fort Myers Beach. Regards, Boris
Of course, the sad thing is that the Florida beaches may be over-run with oil by the time you get down there. ; I've heard reports that many Florida beaches are already getting mass cancellations and people are moving their vacations to Central Florida for the summer. ; So, I wonder if we are going to see some record numbers in the Theme Parks this year (WDW and Universal).
People feel better about the economy so they're beginning to spend again. ; But Harry Potter seems to be a home run, so I think someone else is going to have a record year.
Universal is going to be crazy crowded when the Harry Potter section opens. My brother is bringing his daughter here at the beginning of July to go there. I think I may be too tired to go along that day. Erich
From my understanding only resort guests can get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and won't be open to the general public until later this month. ; So, it will most likely get even more crowded so if it's already crazy crowded, I don't know what word to use to describe it if it gets even more crowded. As far as my opinion goes, based on what I've read, seen and heard, there is really only one attraction worth spending any time on and it is a good hour of your time when the park is at light capacities so it could easily be the only thing you do on a crowded day. ; Other than that attraction, I don't really see anything else that would draw me there other than maybe the ambiance, but I'm not that big of a Harry Potter fan to want to spend the money to go to Universal for one or two days to just walk around and "soak it all in" as I would at Disneyland or Walt Disney World
Ahh, an update was just posted elsewhere. ; It's soft opened for all guests a few hours a day. ; Resort guests get first am dibs.... Here's a quote about the one attraction: "I’m going to go out on a limb hereâ€â€
Beach recommendations have been pretty good so far - Ormond is a lovely quiet town, Daytona more nightlife, New Smyrna nice, Vero very nice. ; Can't go too wrong whereever you go on the east coast. ; If you didn't mind the slightly longer drive, I'd suggest still considering the Vero Beach area - it's nice there, the beaches are lovely, the original grasses and dunes still there, you've got the Indian River natural area with great wildlife, and there are a few hotels there with on-the-sand access and ocean views like Holiday Inn that can run around $160 night or less with sales or discounts. Re: the oil - so far, only the panhandle in the gulf has been affected in Florida - so far, it's stayed away from the rest of our state. ; Likely the lower gulf coast will be affected at some point, as will the keys. ; The sweep currents may bring the oil around the state and up the east coast, but the effect will likely be very low - first, much of the oil will be stranded in the lower west corner of the state and through the keys and marshes...second, the gulf stream carries a few miles off shore, and will keep most if any oil flowing right past the Florida east coast - the worst-case scenario likely being some tar balls getting carried out of the gulf stream and heading for shore along Florida's east coast. ; The gulf stream makes the closest pass to shore down here in the Boca Raton/Delray beach area, then starts to drift out further by the time you get up to Vero and beyond. ; If anyone's got the worst risk on the Florida east coast of being hit with oil, it's us down here! I can't wait for Harry Potter land to open fully, and hope it's a raging success! ; I have no interest in Universal or Harry Potter, but it's success might mean a little more elbow room during some of the Disney seasons like it used to be back in the good old days. ; All of this effort to pack the parks in has been far too successful for me, as there seems to be no more truly 'dead' season at Disney, which was when I usually planned most of my trips! It wasn't too bad the past 5 days...some parks slightly more crowded than others, but tolerable throughout the whole trip...but boy were the crowds there for that first Electrical Parade at MK Sunday night!
As long as attendance numbers don't slip, I don't think we'll see any increase in R & D for imagineering. ; It's that lack of forward thinking that can paralyze a corporation like this. ; After things start to slip, then you see some heads roll, and money pumped back into the parks. ; I think it's a cyclical thing. On the other hand, there should be a pride thing that forces Dis to up the ante again. ; I think the last attraction that did that was Mission:Space. Regards, Boris PS -- I reserved a room at Portofino for 8/13 and 8/14. ; Any TMIPer's who'll be around that weekend who want to meet up, let me know and I'll see if we can work something out.
Well I hope so.... Of course, they should have done something when the contract was announced, not a year before it opens.... ; here's to hoping that they have some really good ideas for the Imagination pavilion....I don't see EO making it past 2011; it's obviously going to have to be there because I don't think they have anything concrete yet. ; DL's has a good possibility, and it will have to close in order to rebuild anyway. (this reminds me of what was actually 'playing' inside the Tomorrowland Duke Nukem level....heheheh)
That might have been true during the old regime, but I think the upper level reorganization is improving things. ; Lasseter is more hands on, and TDLBV has been overruled on more than one occasion lately. ; Last example: Star Tours 2.0. ; While DL and TDA have been getting all the TLC from the folks in Burbank lately, it's only a matter of time until their attention focuses on Orlando. ;
