2 nights, 1 full day in Orlando with no kids, which park....

[Freddie328]

......and where would you stay?

We will have a car but will not want to use it in the evenings.

[Original Poster]

Islands of Adventure or Universal in my opinion.

Can't help on accommodation though as we always get villas.

[LuS1fer]

Universal and Islands of Adventure are next to one another so you can do both. I prefer the latter as there are more rides as opposed to simulators.
Overall, however, Disney's Magic Kingdom has probably the best variety but can suffer from bigger queues.

[Matt Harper]

Despite the Blackfish controversy - I'd pick Sea World.
I don't stay at hotels in Orlando, because I live here, but The Portofino Bay at Universal is good.

[Freddie328]

Should have said that we are not into thrill rides!

Am now leaning toward Epcot as the Int'l Food & Wine Festival will have just started.

[pherlopolus]

Discovery cove, take the optional swimming with dolphins too.

[Muzzer79]

Drive out to Cape Canaveral for the day.

If you must stay in Orlando; SeaWorld. It's the best theme park there.

[Freddie328]

We land in Orlando late afternoon/early evening after 3 days in New Orleans. We have rented a Corvette convertible and are driving down to Miami for a couple of nights followed by the Keys, Naples and Anna Maria Island before we fly back form Tampa. Having never been to Florida before, we thought we couldn't really go there without seeing something of either Disney or Universal! Hence the 2 nights, gives us 1 full day there.

[aka_kerrly]

Muzzer79 said:

Drive out to Cape Canaveral for the day.

If you must stay in Orlando; SeaWorld. It's the best theme park there.

Now that the OP has said that he has no intention of doing the thrill rides that does make Universal's Island of Adventure somewhat less attractive, Universal Studios is still an interesting day out without the rides.

Sea world offers a purely animal related experience but Disneys Animal Kingdom is more impressive with a larger variety (more than just fish)

But I have to agree with Muzzer the Kenedy Space centre and if that isn't enough to fill a day you can always go for a blast around the Everglades on a hoover boat to see some aligaitors & manatees

[Freddie328]

Muzzer79 said:

Drive out to Cape Canaveral for the day.

If you must stay in Orlando; SeaWorld. It's the best theme park there.

I was thinking we could maybe do KSC on our way to Miami.

SeaWorld was my choice originally but then changed it to Epcot.

I have trawled through countless posts on Tripadvisor, and appear to be going round in circles - Discovery Cove looks good too!!

[Matt Harper]

Freddie328 said:

Should have said that we are not into thrill rides!

Am now leaning toward Epcot as the Int'l Food & Wine Festival will have just started.

Costs a LOT of money for a pretty mediocre experience - if you are a 'foodie' you will be horribly disappointed. Epcot is looking a bit long-in-the-tooth these days.

KSC is tech interesting and the Saturn V hall is a mind-melter, but it's all a bit static for the less engineering enthused - you can only stare at a 50 year-old rocket motor for so long.

Discovery Cove is hugely popular, has limited access and so is very expensive - but worth it for most folks.

Boggy Creek Airboats on Lake Toho, is 'hokey', but surprisingly entertaining.

Animal Kingdom is a good call, but very child-centric - and very, very busy.

[hornetrider]

Islands of Adventure.

[aka_kerrly]

hornetrider said:

Islands of Adventure.

To spend a day watching everyone else enjoying the thrill rides??

[pherlopolus]

Added benefit of Discovery cove is you get free Sea world passes so you could do that as well + all food is provided on the day

[LuS1fer]

Discovery Cove is OK but very fake and way, way, way too expensive for what it is.

[Freddie328]

pherlopolus said:

Added benefit of Discovery cove is you get free Sea world passes so you could do that as well + all food is provided on the day

But as we only have 1 day would we be able to fit both in?

Have been looking at swimming with Dolphins in the Keys so probably wouldn't do it here as well.

[pherlopolus]

LuS1fer said:

Discovery Cove is OK but very fake and way, way, way too expensive for what it is.

We added it up and for what you get, and in our case we made huge use of the 2 week seaworld passes, it was fairly good value, and would definately do it again. Agreed it's not everyones cup of tea though.

Mind you over the time we were in orlando we probably spent half a day in Walmart, and another other half in gift shops.

[LuS1fer]

pherlopolus said:

We added it up and for what you get, and in our case we made huge use of the 2 week seaworld passes, it was fairly good value, and would definately do it again. Agreed it's not everyones cup of tea though.

Mind you over the time we were in orlando we probably spent half a day in Walmart, and another other half in gift shops.

Ah, when we went, we didn't get the Seaworld passes.

I spent just as much time in Old Town in Kissimmee and in Autozone and in Ford dealers....

He could always wim with alligators in Gatorland...

[danzltiu]

Pick a disney hotel and do magic kingdom. if you haven`t been before you will love it. Staying at a disney hotel you can use their transport to the parks etc free, you also I believe get into parks earlier in which you could do a few rides/attractions before general public appear. MK is a full day easy if you haven`t been before and the rides are not for fast thrill seekers except maybe space mountain but that isnt that bad.

[Freddie328]

Is Magic Kingdom not more for kids?