| Universal |
The American guest eating breakfast at the table next to ours had
come up with the ideal plan to fool those pesky park rangers and
their height restrictions.
“My husband has put little wooden lifts in our daughter’s
trainers so she can go on all the rides.”
Dreams still come true at Disneyland Florida – as long as
you’re dad’s a dab hand with a chisel.
Attractions with height restrictions can be a curse if your kids
aren’t tall enough, but our problem was that while our
eight-year-old son Donovan is tall, he isn’t very brave,
whereas four-year-old daughter Marnie will give anything a go. At
41 inches, would some rides be off-limits without the aid of
carpentry–enhanced Reeboks?
We needn’t have worried. Disney’s four Orlando theme
parks cater for all ages, heights and degrees of courage. And once
you’ve had enough of Mickey Mouse there are two Universal
parks, plus SeaWorld and swimming with the dolphins at Discovery
Cove, to keep the whole family entertained.
However, different parks do cater for different age groups.
Disney’s Animal and Magic Kingdoms are aimed at younger
children, with most rides suitable for Marnie and plenty of
character greetings and daily parades. MGM Studios stays open later
so it’s a good place to go if you want to continue the fun
once the other parks have closed.
As the name suggests, it takes its inspiration from the silver
screen and is more sophisticated than the Kingdoms, with rides and
shows themed around classic films. Highlights include the Indiana
Jones stunt show and the Tower of Terror – a lift that goes
into freefall and which proved to be our four-year-old’s
favourite.
Epcot is the most educational of the parks, with rides which aim
to inform as well as entertain, and are more suitable for older
kids.
Donovan loved Mission:Space, which simulates a mission to Mars,
although it’s one to avoid if you suffer from travel
sickness. The World Showcase recreates nations around the world
– perfect for those stay-at-home Americans but also a good
place for lunch if you’re sick of burgers.
For the most part, food at Disney is fast and fattening –
but thanks to the weak dollar, daily costs aren’t as high as
they might be.
We spent an average of $20 on breakfast, $30 on a light lunch
and $50 on an evening meal. Throw in
ice-creams and pushchair rental and incidentals like autograph
books (essential for those character greetings) and our average
daily spend was $130 – about £70 at the current exchange
rate.
If you do decide to venture out of Disney, Universal has two
theme parks, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Highlights
at the former include the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, a
3-D ride in which you leap from skyscrapers Peter Parker-style,
and the Incredible Hulk Coaster – guaranteed to leave
participants as green as the Marvel character himself.
But with most rides carrying height restrictions of 42 inches or
above and a banging soundtrack accompaniment, this wasn’t
really the place for Marnie so we popped next door to Universal
Studios to meet ET and Barney (for the uninitiated, he’s a
purple dinosaur popular with under-fives).
If clients want to get close to real nature, a day at Discovery
Cove is a must.
Situated opposite sister attraction SeaWorld, visitors can
snorkel a coral reef, wade safely with stingrays and – the
highlight – swim with dolphins. During the 30-minute dolphin
encounter, visitors get to learn all about, stroke and ride on the
dorsal fin of these fascinating creatures.
Visitor numbers are limited to about 1,000 a day; it’s
expensive and needs to be booked well in advance – all of
which makes it an ideal upsell.
But after a week in the parks, even the kids were showing signs
of fatigue, and as December wasn’t quite the weather for the
beach, we headed two hours south down Florida’s Turnpike to
Club Med’s Sandpiper resort.
Sandpiper features a circus tent and flying trapeze and when we
signed Marnie and Donovan into the kids’ club we were told
they would be encouraged to give it a go.
Having spent a week convincing Donovan he was not about to die
on the Tower of Terror, I couldn’t see it myself. But by the
end of our stay, not only had he flown the trapeze, he’d
performed an urban dance routine in the hip-hop show – and he
wasn’t bad for a kid from Bromley.
