Orlando vacation ideas.

James:  My wife and I just spent a week in Orlando...more specifically, at Disneyworld.  We stayed at a Disney resort and were content to spend our entire trip at the Disney theme parks and such.  We did the same thing back in 2005 and had an amazing time, so we did a repeat this year over our anniversary.  Again, it was a very enjoyable trip.

If you get the chance to eat at Disneyworld, I can recommend the following:

EPCOT World Showcase:

- Germany:  Oktoberfest Beer Hall (I think it's called).  This was our favorite meal in 2005 and our favorite meal this year.  It's an all-you-can-eat buffet of awesome German food.  The atmosphere is a German beer hall with a great band that plays 30 minute sets.  If you like German food, you'll love this.  4 beers to choose from, all of which are excellent.  10/10

- Morocco: Restaurant Marrakesh.  This was our second favorite meal this year.  Not too many people go there, which is a shame.  We loved it and we asked our resort concierge about it...apparently, it was the ONLY restaurant that he was aware of that he'd never heard a complaint about.  Excellent lamb.  10/10

- France: the Patisserie.  This is the little lunch shop.  If you're looking for a sandwich, get the smoked turkey with brie on a baguette.  CHOW.  We ate this meal 3 times while we were there.  10/10

- Italy:  Tutta Italia.  Really good but not great.  We had a better experience here back in 2005.  7/10

Downtown Disney:

- Raglan Road.  This is an Irish restaurant in the heart of the Downtown Disney area.  Fantastic food and one of the best live Irish bands that I've ever seen.  10/10

AVOID the following:

EPCOT:

- France: The Chefs of France.  This is the main, fancy restaurant there.  Very disappointing.  Slow service, meh food.  The place looks/feels like it needs to be cleaned/refurbished.  Unfortunately, we went there for our actual anniversary.  4/10

Downtown Disney:

- Bongo's.  This is a Cuban restaurant owned by Gloria Estefan.  Flat out SUCKED.  Easily our worst meal of the trip.  2/10

From prior experience back in 2005, I can recommend the following:

EPCOT:

- Japan: Teppan Edo.  This is a Benihana type place where they cook the food in front of you.  We loved it when we went, but we didn't have time to go there again.  Get reservations, it's hard to get into.

- Canada: Le Cellier.  This is considered one of the best restaurants in all of Disneyworld, especially if you want steak.  We tried to get into it again this year but couldn't...they were fully booked with reservations and we couldn't slide in.  Our loss.

As for the theme parks:

Animal Kingdom: Our least favorite park.  Get there early and do Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, and It's Tough to Be a Bug.  Those are the only rides.  Walk around, see what you want to see, and leave.  It's worth the visit for Expedition Everest, though...VERY cool rollercoaster.

Hollywood Studios:  You can spend a day here easily.  Many great things to do here, including Star Tours, the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  All three of those are highly repeatable.  There's also cool attractions here and there, all with a movie theme to it.  The Backstage Tour is pretty cool.  Make sure that you see Fantasmic, the 9pm fireworks show.  It's amazing.

Magic Kingdom:  When you think of Disneyworld, this is what you think of: Space Mountain, It's a Small World, all that stuff.  You can spend a day here easily.  Wishes, the 10pm fireworks show, is excellent.

EPCOT Center: Our favorite park.  It consists of Futureworld and the World Showcase.

- Futureworld: Many awesome rides to do: Soarin', Test Track, and Mission Space are the highlights.  You'll want to do all of them multiple times.  Also, make a point of doing Turtle Talk with Krush over at the Seas.  The only truly skippable thing is Ellen's Energy Adventure.

- World Showcase: Various country pavilions around a lake.  GREAT restaurants and shopping.

The 9pm fireworks show at EPCOT can't be beat.  

I hope that helps!

Ate at Bongo's the other day with my mother and it was awful. It used to be decent, but it has greatly gone down in quality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElCapitanAmerica 

Ate at Bongo's the other day with my mother and it was awful. It used to be decent, but it has greatly gone down in quality.

Good, so it wasn't just us.  Seriously, it was one of the worst meals that I've had in a while.  In retrospect, we should have sent it all back, paid for our drinks, and left.

For the love of God go to Islands of Adventure. The Amazing Spider-Man is the best ride in Orlando hands down, Also, what they've done with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is pretty incredible.

Also, in terms of eating, Planet Hollywood is a lot of fun (if you like the idea of eating next to Danny DeVito's Penguin prothestics) and their LA Lasagna is gorgeous.

EDIT I second the Raglan Road endorsement, incredible atmosphere.

I'll second the endorsement of the Everest ride in Animal Kingdom.  A reboot of the old Matterhorn ride, the new version puts an almost painful amount of G's on you, more than the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror does.  Be sure to get a photo in the gift shop afterward, if only to have objective proof of whether you handled it like a man.

As an admitted hot weather pansy, I strongly recommend heading back to the hotel after lunch and napping through the enervating midday Orlando heat.  If you get the all-day pass at whatever parks you go to, you can just head right back when it begins to cool down.  You'll be much better equipped for the evening's entertainments for it.

Let me chime in here...

Depending on when in March you get here, you could be hitting part of spring break for a lot of colleges and northern public schools.  It won't be summer or Christmas bad, but it won't be a cakewalk either.  Be prepared for some crowds, and they'll likely be young and obnoxious.  The weather should be warm; not quite the cauldron we turn into from June to August, but enough that you'll want to make sure to drink a lot of water.  Probably won't be hot enough for the late afternoon thunderstorms yet though.

Also depending on when in March you come, Universal Studios has their Mardi Gras celebration going on.  Every Saturday and select Fridays there's a big parade, special food and drink offerings, and a concert that's included as part of park admission.  The floats are actually built by one of the actual New Orleans krewes, and while it can be an absolute madhouse as far as crowds go, it's usually a fun time. Here's the concert schedule for March, if there's anything you want to particularly see/avoid:

• Mar. 3 - Goo Goo Dolls
• Mar. 10 - Big Time Rush
• Mar. 16 - J Cole
• Mar. 17 - Sugar Ray
• Mar. 23 - Hot Chelle Rae
• Mar. 24 - B.o.B.
• Mar. 30 - Plain White T's
• Mar. 31 - Prince Royce

And yeah, I don't know who half of those are either.

Judas did a good job of running down the EPCOT restaurants, although I've enjoyed Chefs of France a lot more than he did.  Probably didn't hurt that the server we had both times was drop-dead gorgeous.  Also, if you're looking for purely liquid nourishment, the Rose and Crown in the UK section is always a good time (and always pretty busy because of it).  As for the parks, do Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning and head straight for the safari ride and the jungle walk.  The growing heat of the day sends most of the animals into hiding, but if you can manage to get on the safari in the first hour or so, you'll see some spectacular stuff.  Then go hit the rides and shows; they're not going anywhere.

As for Universal, they don't really have the signature dining experiences that Disney does aside from Mythos as Islands of Adventure.  It's consistently won awards for Best Theme Park Restaurant pretty much since it opened, and it's a go-to spot for back-of-house types for lunch meetings, so you know if the employees will eat there, it's worth it.  Finnegan's at the Studios is a fun pub-like setting with lots of deep fried food and potatoes that's more recommended by the atmosphere than by the dining (the food is fine, but not for theme park prices).  And CityWalk has Emeril's (which I have not been to but hear good things about), Pastamore (pretty decent Italian food), Bubba Gump's (good fried chicken) and Margaritaville (good burgers and atmosphere).

Getting to the rides, try to get to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter as early as possible.  It's a beautiful area, but it's a cramped area that sometimes becomes so crowded they have to close it off to traffic.  But whatever you do, do not leave without riding Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  It's simply spectacular, both as an experience and as a technical innovation.  And as odd as it may seem, I'd even say wait until it has a bit of a line -- the queue is so jam-packed with details and bits of storytelling, it would be a shame to rush through it.  Definitely try some butter beer as well, both the regular and the frozen varieties.  I prefer the regular myself, but you can't go without trying it.

Also, the Spider-Man ride is undergoing a major digital upgrade that should be done by March.  Upgraded 3D process, digital HD ride film, all kinds of tweaks.  Should make an already amazing ride that much better.

Sadly, you won't be able to ride the Jaws ride, as it closed in January to make way for something new.  In fact, the entire Amity area of the Studios is now walled off for construction, with only the big hanging shark out in front of the ride still remaining.  As for other rides in the park, Men in Black is a fun shooting gallery ride that stands up to repeat trips, and while I haven't been on it, the Simpsons ride that replaced Back to the Future is supposed to be first-six-seasons-of-the-show good.  And Revenge of the Mummy is also a fun indoor coaster.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions.

We're going to Orlando in April.  One place we always hit, regardless if we're going to Disney or Universal, is The Flying Fish restaurant in Downtown Disney.  If you're interested, definitely call ahead.  Great food every time we've gone.  And since we have a kid with us (and even though he's 10 now), he orders this special dessert--it's a white chocolate 4-piece "puzzle" of Mickey Mouse, and it comes with a painter's pallet of black, red, and yellow "paint", which is really just sugar paint along with a brush.  So you put together the puzzle, then paint it, then eat it.

Last time we were there, they had a cheese assortment appetizer that was really good.  And I've also had this potato-wrapped white fish (I can't remember the fish), that is cooked by wrapping it in a potato skin and cook it in an oven, so it comes out all crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.  I'm drooling while typing this.  We're already making our reservation this week for April.

Oh, and when we were at Universal last year, we ate at Mythos and it was surprisingly good for a "theme park restaurant".  And not badly priced.