We are going to orlando later this month as a last minute trip before the schools go back.
My child is an adventurous 8 year old boy that loves rides and waterparks.
We have 10 days in Orlando.
Can you please advise how many days you would recommend in each park.
I was thinking of:
Both universal parks
Wet n Wild
Epcot
Magic Kingdom
Animal Kingdom
Legoland
I was going to skip the Disney water parks and Sea world, Busch gardens.
Looking forward to getting some advise
Regards
Maria
If this is your first time to Orlando, I would highly recommend the following strategy...
You will most likely need 3 days to properly visit and enjoy the two (2) Universal parks. In August, you can expect lines for most of the major attractions to exceed 60 minutes (Transformers has been running well over 2 hours most days since it opened). There's just a lot of things to see and do in the Universal parks, and there will undoubtedly be things you'll want to do again, so having that 3rd day is almost a must.
You didn't list Disney Hollywood Studios, but I assume you would plan on visiting all 4 Disney parks. I would plan at least 5 days for those. Animal Kingdom is probably the only one that can be done comfortably in a single day, while EPCOT (with an 8-year old) may also be accomplished in a single, albeit long, day depending on your interests. However, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are going to need a little more time, particularly with an 8-year old.
That leaves 2 days...Personally, I prefer Disney's waterparks to Wet 'N Wild (in fact I prefer Aquatica to Wet 'N Wild also), but you could probably combine a rest day with a waterpark day, leaving one day for Legoland. I've not yet been to Legoland (my son was not yet 3 when we last visited, so he wasn't big enough to warrant a visit), but from what I know of the park, it's pretty reasonable to be complete the park in a day.
So, in short, I would plan 3 days at Universal, 5 days at Disney, 1 day at Legoland, and 1 day at a waterpark and resting. Make sure you pay extra for park hoppers at Disney and get the 3-day 2-park pass for Universal. I'm not sure if Universal is still bundling Wet 'N Wild with their theme park tickets, so it may actually be more economical to go to one of the Disney waterparks, because it will be cheaper to add the waterpark and more option to your Disney tickets than buying a single day admission to Wet 'N Wild.
You should also consider staying on Universal property (Hard Rock, Portofino, or Royal Pacific) so you can get early entry and Universal Express. If you already have hotels booked, you might want to examine the financial ramifications of purchasing Universal Express as an add on to your tickets to make sure you see everything in those parks that you want.
At Disney, staying on property does not have the same perks, but the Extra Magic Hours can be helpful, assuming you can tolerate extremely long days (MK late Magic Hours can last past midnight in the summer). Again, it will depend if you have already booked hotels and what your financial situation is (Disney hotels generally cost 20-30% more than comperable off-site hotels, while Universal hotels cost 30-50% more, but have FOTL access that Disney hotels lack).
Islands of Adventure - 1 Day
Wet n Wild - Skip It. Typhoon Lagoon is better. I'd spend the day at Typhoon Lagoon until around 2 PM. Go back to the hotel, clean up and spend the evening at EPCOT (Outside of Soaring, Test Track and Mission: Space not much for an 8-year old [except the fireworks]) - Total 1 Day
Disney Hollywood Studios - 1 Day
Magic Kingdom - 1 Day
Animal Kingdom - Half Day. Spend second half at then Magic Kingdom - Total 1 Day
Legoland - 1 Say (because of the distance).
