Which Florida theme park with kids? review

We were in Florida with our children and visited 3 theme parks. Which park is suitable for children? Experience report and tips for Disney World, Seaworld and Busch Gardens.

Magic Kingdom Disney World Castle

During our Florida tour with children, we visited a total of 3 theme parks.

We were in the following amusement parks:

Busch Gardens in Tampa
Seaworld in Orlando
Disney World in Orlando

Amusement park for children?

Each of these parks has its advantages and is special in its own way. At this point we want to describe our impressions of the parks.

Disney World Magic Kingdom

The Disney Park is of course the classic and the absolute highlight. In my opinion, this is more due to the well-known characters than to the action in the park.

Minnie Mouse at Disney World Orlando

Because apparently Disney World in Orlando is always packed. As with us on a Monday in the low season in May. We don’t even want to know how busy it is at the weekend or during the main season. In any case, very long waiting times are standard. Even with small carousel rides you can easily stand for more than 30 minutes. The park and the rides can be great – the long queues make the visit very tiring and are a clear disadvantage.

However, there is the Fastpass app, with which you can get faster access at certain times. Use is free of charge – use is essential. However, the Fastpass access data are also limited and not always available everywhere. Sure, otherwise the system would be made absurd. Through the app, however, you can still use some attractions.

Another disadvantage is the cost of entry. For our family – 2 adults + 2 children (3 and 6) the entry cost around 450 euros. For a day. Access to the park only, without hotel or meals. And of course, parking costs an extra $ 20.

Alice in Wonderland at Disney World

In addition to the individual characters from the well-known films, the Disney Parade is of course a unique highlight, of which we once made a complete video:

If you spend the day with smaller children in the Magic Kingdom you will definitely not be able to see everything (nobody can speak of everything here). According to the map, we only saw about half of the park. Through our offspring (3 and 6) we have focused on Fantasyland where all the well-known characters appear. We simply didn’t make it in some areas. The park is open for a long time and there is also a firework display around 9 p.m., but if you are in the park shortly before 10 a.m. and it is very warm and sunny (like almost every day in Florida) then most children keep it didn’t last that long.

Seaworld Orlando

Animal shows are of course a hit at Seaworld. The highlights are the dolphin and orca shows.

But for adults there are some really blatant and fast-paced attractions.

Roller coaster at Seaworld Orlando

Overall, we spent a great day here. However, we would not classify this as a must-see. Since we had combination tickets it was ok and we took it with us.

Busch Gardens in Tampa

Busch Gardens in Tampa is a mix of a zoo and an amusement park. When we visited in May, the park was comparatively empty. You had to queue at some attractions like the family waterway, but you could just go through others. So that we could use a lot of rides that day. Both the really blatant adrenaline-boosting for adults, as well as the attractions for children.

Freefall Tower in Busch Garden Tampa

Many think that Busch Gardens is not suitable for children, we cannot confirm this. Our kids loved it and by far used the most rides here. There is also an extra children’s area here – Sesame Street – with many well-known characters from the TV show and attractions suitable for children.

Show and dance at Sesame Street Busch Garden Tampa

Alone we drove the great children’s roller coaster 10 times (in comparison, the children‘s roller coaster at Disney was great too, but we were there for 30 minutes and therefore only drove once)

Which amusement park is suitable for children?

Of course, many are attached to the classic Disney World. If the entry is too expensive for you, who wants to drive a lot of attractions, whose children are still very small or who have been to Disneyland Paris, there are plenty of alternatives.

If you don’t want to travel to Orlando, we recommend Bush Gardens in Tampa Bay. At least in May in the off-season, the park was relatively empty and we were able to use a lot of attractions very often. The highlight: we bought a combination ticket consisting of Busch Gardens and Seaworld. A park would have cost around € 80 per person, both together € 100 entry. So it wasn’t really a question that we were still going to Seaworld.

If we could only have used one day for an amusement park, we would have gone to Disney, because it was a great experience for our children (3 and 6) just because of their favorite characters.
If we had smaller children who couldn’t do so much with the characters yet, or if we had ever been to Disneyland Paris (or would it be foreseeable that we would still go there) or if we wanted to use a lot of rides, then we would have Busch Gardens in Tampa chosen.

Another tip: It is worth taking food and drinks to the parks. We were able to take sandwich, fruit and water + juice (chilled with ice cubes in our small cooler bag) in all parks. Here you can not only save something, you also don’t have to do the usual fast food in the park again.

Here you can find more information about our Florida tour with children.

Read more: Travel report Florida with children

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