Please help me plan our Florida vacation

[nicoleflynn]

Hi, DD (9) is a huge fan of Harry Potter and we are planning a Florida trip this April (last week). There are so many parks and so many things to do in Florida, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. We'll stay there 9-10 days. Assuming that we'll skip Disney parks (we have been to Disneyland so I am not sure if they are worth it) and just do 3-day Universal park, what else can we do? I have read an old thread from last year but it was mainly focused on Orlando area. Someone suggested Discovery Cove but it seems a bit expensive. Is it worth it? We could rent a car and drive down the coast. What do you think is best to visit / best to do in Florida in April? Thank you so much.

[hellokitty]

I can't believe you'll skip wdw. It is so much bigger than wdl, youve got epcot, dhs and ak, three lands that wdl doesnt have. If you do universal, I'd stay on resort to get the perks of early admission hours for Harry potter.

[123LuckyMom]

The first few times we went to Disney when I was little, we did Disney, Universal, and Sea World. We went back to Universal and Sea World a couple of times after that, but eventually dropped them for Disney only trips. I would love to go to Universal now for Harry Potter, but I'm going to wait until the kids are older and can appreciate it, too. I've never been to Discovery Cove.

[KLD313]

Universal is SO fun. Idk that I would skip Disney, though. You can head to Tampa for a day and go to Busch Gardens. I think you can buy combo tickets to Busch Gardens and Seaworld. If you want something a little different you can try Gatorland Zoo if you like like Alligators. They have a zip line there as well. It's not a must see by any means but it kills a few hours. You can always head to the beach. There's tons of stuff to do on I-Drive.

We drove down the coast last May and then across to Naples. I can't reccomend the West Coast enough. The Gulf is so beautiful.

On the East coast we drove down to Deerfield Beach and stayed at the Embassy Suites, gorgeous hotel. You can head to Palm Beach and see the mansions on the water and window shop on Worth Avenue, really high end stores. I will say driving down the coast wasn't fun or pretty. It was all hwy.

I'll see if I can think of anything else.