Travel Tales

Disney made easy for adults

   How to enjoy Orlando and the theme parks with comfort and sanity
A backdrop at Disney's Animal Kingdom and a nine-year old boy's first ride on Kraken at Sea World should get you in the mood for the rest of this story about visiting Orlando with kids.

The option of a beautiful, new house is a reality and a great improvement

By Walter & Patricia Books 

Everyone with kids  goes to Orlando and visits the theme parks, but some people stumble on to a way to go there and still have a relaxing and carefree time.

We've been visiting this area for decades, first with our two sons and now with two grandchildren.  Author and wit Robert Benchley once said that there were two ways to travel; First Class, or With Children.

We'd like to amend that to First Class with your own private house to come back to every night with children at the house shown on the right. 

My wife is a vacation planner of rare talent.  She routinely finds exotic and far away places for us to have adventures, even though sometimes that means we get hijacked at gunpoint or be forced to take alarming amounts of drugs to ward off the vapors of these climes.

But Orlando is still civilized (we once owned a tourist magazine there ourselves), and while the area motels and resorts are among the best, my wife searched out a rental or new vacation homes called All Star.

The result was we returned each evening to a lovely, comfortable house only a couple miles from the Disney gate, and relaxed as we never have before in this exciting but exhausting vacation destination. 

The kids' bedroom had huge stuffed animals, the theater room and billiard room kept them busy every minute that they weren't jumping in the giant, screened-in pool just outside the spacious living room.

You'll have no problem getting them to leave the parks when they have their own private pool and hot tub at home. 

These stunning Acadia Estates vacation homes feature between five and seven bedrooms, and can sleep anywhere from 12 to 16 guests, and the attention to detail was simply amazing.  In the eight nights we spent in this one there was not a single thing we needed which wasn't there.

It even had Wi-Fi throughout and an office area with a new PC which was always online.

With the rising cost of airfare, attraction tickets and gas prices on the minds of many travelers, luxurious accommodations while traveling to popular Central Florida can seem out of reach, but families can expand their options without stretching their budget when they consider a vacation home rental like these.

With a vacation home, families can gather under one roof, saving the costs associated with renting multiple hotel rooms. All Star's  two- and three- bedroom condos and town homes and private, seven-bedroom pool homes start at just $119 per night, these homes  features a wide variety of affordable vacation home options. Sara Moore, vice president of marketing of All Star Vacation Homes, says "parents and grandparents can make kid-friendly snacks and meals, providing a healthier and more cost effective alternative to eating out."

And this spring, staying with ALL STAR Vacation Homes becomes an even greater value with the ALL STAR Spring Travel package, featuring free Disney ticket upgrades; a complimentary heated pool and spa, a $300 value. With a seven night or greater reservation, families can enjoy a free mid-size rental car, further easing the hassle of trekking kids back and forth from park to park. If a car is not needed, guests are eligible for a $100 gas or grocery gift card that can be substituted for the rental vehicle.

In addition to their tremendous value, all ALL STAR homes are located within four miles of Walt Disney World and near Central Florida's other attractions such as Universal Studios and Sea World, making it easy for visitors to take a break and return to their vacation home throughout the day if they wish to.  I often went home and took a nap and returned for the fireworks or other events rather than spend the whole day in the parks. 

World's Best Kid's Food

We saved so much making kid-friendly meals at home, that we splurged a couple night at two great restaurants in two different Rosen Resort properties on International Drive - the "upside-down" mall on the right in I-Drive across from this first restaurant. 

We're a little embarrassed to be touting the Chicken Fingers at the Rosen Center Hotel's Everglades Restaurant which is one of Central Florida's most respected dining rooms. 

But as frequent travelers, often with children, we have come to really appreciate a resort whose restaurants offer this very high level of fun-food for the children while we adults can still dine on, in the case of the Everglades,

The montage on the right shows a little of what we enjoyed there;  a great appetizer combination,very good Alligator Stew,  and two of their steak choices, one smothered in Vidalia onions and the other in Bearnaise sauce.

We also sampled the Escargot baked in puff pastry, Chilean Sea Bass, Grouper, Snapper or Halibut and the steaks were chosen from the superb selection of five different Black Angus steaks. See the menu here.

Another choice spot

Another night we took the kids out to the Rosen Plaza's' great steak house Jack's Place where my beef-expert grandson informed us he had the best hamburger in his entire 9 years, shown on the right - and yes, he puts French Fries on top of the meat.  A quick look at Jack's menu will show you why this famous bistro is so popular.

We're not kidding about this stuff.  We take our grandkids out every week here on the Cape and spend several one and two week vacations with them every year, so we know when they're impressed as only a 9-year old boy and a 7-year old girl can be impressed.

Our granddaughter always orders Chicken Fingers, and she's had them from Maine to Mexico hundreds of times, and she claimed the ones she had at the Rosen Resort's other hotel were the best ever.

That's them on the right with equally great fries.

Oh, yes, the Theme Parks

We assumed we don't have to tell you much about Central Florida's theme parks other than to suggest you always get to them when the gates open and go left after you enter since most people turn right.

We've done them all over a dozen times, and  and the best tip is to use the Fast Pass system at Walt Disney World.  You will be able to double the number of rides you get to take every day.

Roller Coaster heaven 

And the area must have more great roller coasters than anywhere else on earth. Don't miss the ones at Universal and Sea World either.  

My grandson considers himself an expert here as well, and after multi-rides on every one in every park (he doesn't consider ones like the Runaway Railroad or Splash Mountain at The Magic Kingdom real roller coasters), he came up with the following list of the best in all the parks with the number of rides he took on this one trip;

1.  Kraken (Sea World, shown below) 4x (see YouTube)
   
2. The Incredible Hulk (Universal) 2x (see YouTube)
   
3. Dueling Dragons (Universal) 2x (see Youtube)
4. Rock 'n Roller Coaster (MGM) 3x
5. Mount Everest (Animal Kingdom) 8x