My family recently used our points to go to Disneyworld for 17 days just prior to Christmas. We are new owners and this was our first time staying at a resort that was not Aviawest. I spoke with an RCI agent and she recommended staying at Silver Lake Resort. This resort exceeded our expectations. Silver Lake Resort is very close to Disneyworld. In fact, it borders Disney’s property and from some of the units you can see Expedition Everest in the Animal Park, nightly fireworks, and other Disney Icons. The resort boasts three pools, hot tub, movie theatre that serves popcorn, golf simulator, games room, exercise room, and daily activities. My only regret was that we didn’t leave enough down time just to enjoy the amenities. Our unit was in the 800 block and we stayed in a one bedroom. The Jacuzzi tub was perfect for tired legs and feet after walking all day in the parks and the king sized mattress was heavenly. I slept like a baby.
We purchased a 7 day park hopper pass for the Disney parks which included entry to the water park and entry to Disney Quest in Downtown Disney. We visited the parks during low season and in retrospect I think 7 days was more than enough and we could have gotten away with 5 days. However, I still found the parks crowded for their supposed downtime so I would have hated to see their busy period. I’ve visited Disneyland 6 times and most of those times have been during peak season and I would say the crowds were no different between the two. I’m also not sure if I would purchase a park hopper pass as the parks are SO far apart that you really don’t have the energy (or want to waste the time) to travel to another park. If you’re trying to save money then I would say skip this option. Blizzard Beach the water park was great fun for everyone. They have a lazy river that encompasses the entire park, group slides, extreme height slides, wave pool and a kiddie pool area. The summit plummet is the highest slide and it clocks your speed. My sister in law apparently broke a record while we were there by hitting 65mph going down the slide. Can you say atomic wedgie? Too bad she didn’t win anything like a free pair of mouse ears. Lastly, we visited Disney Quest in Downtown Disney. My 14 yr old son, his two cousins who are 8 and 10 were in gamer heaven. Disney Quest is FULL of arcade games that are free once you pay admission. There are also simulator rides like Pirates of the Caribbean where you wear special glasses and ride on a pirate ship shooting cannons at other pirate ships. They also have the Jungle Ride where you ride in an inflatable river raft down rapids while paddling your way through this wild ride. You will actually get wet. Kids will love this place but make sure you give yourself the whole day to enjoy. The shops in Downtown Disney are fun to walk through and visiting Ghirardelli is a must. So save room for one of their famous sundaes.
In addition to visiting the four Disney parks (Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot) we also visited Sea World and Universal Studios two parks (Universal & Islands of Adventure). Sea World was great to visit when you are tired of all the crowds at Disney and want a slower pace. We traveled with an infant so it was nice to visit a park where you could sit for a good 30 minutes and enjoy a show while the baby slept. The animal shows are quite entertaining and the crowds were non existent. Universal Studios Florida is nothing like the Hollywood version. This park is mainly rides and shops. There is no back lot tour since it is not a working studio. Again, it was less crowded than Disney which made it a nice change of pace but if you have little ones there isn’t much for them to do because of the height restriction. Universals second park Islands of Adventure is even more of an extreme park as it is chalk full of roller coasters and simulator rides. It does have a small kid friendly area called “Seuss Land” but the rides are few. Lastly, we had dinner tickets to Arabian Nights. The meal was excellent but the show was substandard. The particular show we saw was their Christmas show and it felt like it was thrown together last minute. The performers made many mistakes and the microphones were cutting in and out along with the music. What I thought was pretty nice at the end was the performers brought the horses to the edge of the arena and the kids could pet the horses and ask questions. It was a nice touch. However, the pre-show was the best as they had a magician who was very talented. My nephew was in awe as he wants to become a magician. Overall, the show was entertaining (even the mistakes) and the meal was good so I think I would give it another chance if I knew it wasn’t going to be a Christmas production.
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