Orlando is known for its finest theme parks that offer a variety of options for families to explore the fun through different settings. Be it the magical land of fairy princesses or the coolest rides of your favorite marvel stars, it is one of the exciting places to spend a cheerful vacation with friends/family. 

Like any other kid, I too have always wondered to visit this fantasy land and my dream finally came true as we planned our first trip to Orlando with our friends. The thrill that place offers is literally class-apart which is why it’s no wonder that it is one of the most visited places by tourists as well as locals in the US. 

While to fully grasp Orlando’s charm, you really need quite a bit more days than usual, but again, nobody needs to go just once, right? Hence, with several more visits in the future in our mind, we decided to take the plunge accommodating both thrill and relaxation in our trip. We planned it by including both leisure and adventurous activities so we can enjoy the best of both worlds. 

To keep it a balanced fun vacation, we outlined our itinerary in a way to include a visit to 2 theme parks, leaving us plenty of leisure time to spend with our friends doing other fun activities around the city. 

Itinerary- 6 Days (June 29th-4th)

Day 1

Reach, Chill & Power-Saving 

We took an early morning flight from Austin and reached Orlando, Florida in around 2.5 hours. (Must consider the difference in time zones). We caught up with our friends at the airport itself as we had planned it accordingly so as to have maximum time in our hands to spend it together. 

The first and foremost rule to roam around the city at your own convenience is to rent a car. Therefore, we picked up our ride from the airport and left for a quick lunch before heading to the hotel. After our meal, we wanted to get ourselves prepared for the upcoming hectic schedules which is why we straight up headed to Walmart to stock up with plenty of snack delights. 

We reached the hotel just in time and checked ourselves in followed by an instant nap which was long due because of our early morning travels after which we quickly changed into our swimsuits and dipped in without further ado. For the rest of the evening, we enjoyed our time by the pool chilling, relaxing, having fun with our chit-chats went out for a quick dinner, and came back to hit the sack for an exciting day ahead.

Day 2 

Universal Studios 

Orlando is bright and hot for almost the whole of the year hence we come a bit prepared for a sunny day to make most of the thrilling rides of the one of most extravagant theme parks in the world-the Universal Studios. 

Universal Studios is known for the coolest rides based on different themes of the universal studio characters. Since we were on vacation close to the long weekend, we found ourselves in the pool of a super excited crowd which was almost up to the full capacity of the park. Putting it simply-plenty of people! 

For every ride, there was a long queue waiting ahead of us to get into the ride. We quickly started with my personal favorite the “Jimmy Fallon ride”, and my goodness the fun we had! It was basically a warm-up session for our next one which was the most adventurous roller coaster! It was crazy anticipation as it had a queue time of almost 60 minutes and with every minute our excitement was just shooting up to tremendous heights ( definitely not as higher as the ride). 

Coming down we thought to ourselves now that we are alive let’s make the most of it and thereafter we spend our time covering most of the fun rides around including the transformers ride, ET ride, Harry Potter, and others with a few lunches, restroom and power breaks in between. 

The day was quite a sunny one hence we got tired quickly and came back to the hotel earlier than expected and again drenched our feet in the hot pool for a fun evening time.

Day 3

Kelly Park /Rock Springs

Theme Parks can be sometimes demanding in terms of your physical stamina. Juggling from one ride to another, standing in long queues, and harsh weather could consume a bit of your fun energy, which is why we planned in a way to take a day’s break from the hectic schedule by making Kelly Park our next stop. 

The natural springs are preserved and made available for people to have leisure time with the beautiful aquatic life around. We rented tubes from outside the springs because we weren’t carrying our own. You can also bring your own tubes which honestly can be a little more appealing in looks and which clearly do not give the flat-tire vibe from them. 

The flow of the springs will take you around the park which is conserved in its natural version giving a beautiful forest view and experience. You can just chill and enjoy in the wilderness doing nothing which proves to be a great day out. 

We spent our daytime around the springs, with lots of sunbathing, and came back to our hotels by evening for a pleasant time hanging around. 

Day 4 

Magic Kingdom

It was clearly a much-awaited day for me as I personally am fond of all things Disney. As the name suggests, it truly is a magical land with fairy details spread all over the place. 

There’s so much to do that the fascination just keeps on increasing as you move forward and further. There are a plethora of options for theme-based rides that give an exhilarating thrill and wrap you in its charm completely. The year we visited is coincidentally when Disney is celebrating 50 years of its establishment hence we get to see extra beauty all around with more character parades than usual. 

From our bit tiring experience at Universal Studios, we learned our lesson the hard way and decided to take the “Genie+ Passes”. These passes give you express entry to most of the rides except the most crucial ones, for which you of course have to give your due time and effort, but trust me, they are so worth it!

While we were hunting for our next ride, I was suddenly stopped by a loud crowd cheering right behind me and I was lost to wondering what was happening when I turned back I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was my husband on his knees proposing to me. The entire thing was so fascinating to me as my heart just melted seeing the love of my husband who was so thoughtful to propose to me in one of the most magical set-ups.

He really did make my dream come true!

At around 8 pm you will see the crowd suddenly moving towards the Main lane where the castle is. It is not a coincidence that everyone suddenly decides to gather at the same place. They are there for a reason and the reason is one to wait for. It is the much-awaited and beautiful light show at the Disney castle. 

There is no light show more captivating and magical than the Disney light show. The crowd from all over the place just assembles near the castle to wait for the night show that starts at 9 pm and continues for around half an hour leaving a breathtaking view in your mind forever. 

After the show, some depart from the kingdom while some stay back to resume their rides which continue for an hour more after the show. We were the ones who waited to complete our leftover rides and the fun it was!

Day 5 

Lakefront Beach

With beautiful memories still surfacing in our minds from the last night, we slept a little late the next morning to enjoy the rest of the day hanging around and chilling with our friends at another place of leisure. 

We did our brunch and headed next to a beautiful beach named “Lakefront”. It was a dazzling beach with white sand that was quiet with a lesser crowd and a vast space for ourselves to enjoy to the fullest. We spent our entire evening by the beach relaxing, playing, and doing simply nothing but enjoying. 

It made us realize how simple places & moments are so underrated because we had so much fun looking at the magnificent sunset, the beauty of which was simply breathtaking. 

From there on we were enough for our dinner place and came back hotel post a delicious meal. 

Day 6 

Adios

Our friends were on their flight already even before our day started as the fun-filled long weekend was over. After a few hours, we packed up as well and left a little early to return our rented car. After which we took a shuttle to the airport and with a bucket full of memories, we headed on our flights for a noon come-back to our home sweet home!

Quick Tips

• Get a “genie pass” if you want to cover most of the rides without waiting in the long queues. (Genie pass is an express pass to get ahead of the waiting line for the rides).  
• Wear comfy clothes (theme parks can be really hectic & you don’t want to burden yourself with handling difficult outfits).
• Carry a raincoat, poncho, or whatever you want to carry for covering up yourself during the drizzling rain. Orlando has really unpredictable weather). 

Have a fun getaway, and let me know how it went!