230: Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Florida
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
Release Date: 10/22/2024
Tips for Fantastic Mother-Daughter Trips (Plus Destination Ideas!)
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
A mother-daughter trip is an incredible way to bond in ways that you can't recreate in your home environment. This week, Kim and Tamara share their tips for mother-daughter trips and provide ideas for some of their favorite mother-daughter trip destinations (these can also be used for mother-son or father-daughter/son trips too.) Episode Highlights When kids are younger, it is fun to find a theme to base the trip around or pick a destination that is tied to their interests Get your kids involved in the planning or allow them to choose a destination. At a minimum, let them choose activities....
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A Mother-Daughter Bucket List Trip to Peru and Machu Picchu
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
Tamara is just back from a bucket list trip to Peru with her daughter and she shares all about her lodge-to-lodge trek with and tips for visiting Cusco and Machu Picchu. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: Tamara “won” this trip as part of an auction that benefits the that takes place each fall When visiting Cusco and the Sacred Valley, it is best to give yourself 3-4 days to get used to the elevation prior to hiking (Cusco is at about 11,000 feet) You can take Diamox or acetazolamide (prescription) to help prevent altitude sickness Coca tea and coca candies help you with altitude but it also has...
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Group Tours for Women: Solo Travel Doesn't Have to Mean Traveling Alone!
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
On this episode, we are joined by Susan Heinrich from . Susan is a Canadian writer living in Denver, Colorado. She is passionate about travel and supporting women in tourism. In 2020, she created Midlife Globetrotter, a website and platform that helps women over 40 follow their travel dreams to new places, with destination guides, practical tips and stories of her own adventures. Susan is passionate about reframing midlife as an opportunity, and explores themes of reinvention and self-discovery in her work. You can follow Susan on and . In this episode, we talk about group tours and...
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When Should You Work with a Travel Advisor?
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
Vacation Mavens recently celebrated nine years of podcasting!! For all of you who have been with us for this journey, we thank you for your support! For those that joined us recently, welcome and we look forward to many more years of sharing our travel experiences. Tamara recently launched a new business as a travel advisor! You can learn more about her custom . Even if you aren't looking for full itinerary planning services, you can support Tamara's business by researching and booking hotels (and getting perks with preferred partner hotels) on this . Episode Highlights A travel agent and a...
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Tips for Traveling with Dogs (And For Leaving Them Home Too!)
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
On this episode, we are joined by Jessica Williams. Jessica is the author of the award-winning Dachshund educational blog, . She's been traveling, hiking, and camping with her dogs for over 20 years. She's taken her dogs on many extended road trips, covering up to 5,000 miles, and she's flown with them many times. Her two biggest dog-focused travel aspirations are living in Switzerland for a month to hike in the Alps and spending a year road-tripping around the US with her dogs to hike and camp. You can follow Jessica on Instagram , , or . Episode Highlights: Most airlines have pet...
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Tips for Visiting Izmir and Ephesus, Turkey
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
This week, we are wrapping up our Turkey trip recaps and Tamara fills us in on her visit to Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the lesser-known city of Izmir. Episode Highlights Izmir sits on the Aegean Sea and Ephesus is a popular cruise port for cruises visiting Greece and Turkey. There are also a number of religious sites that attract religious travelers and pilgrimages. One site near Ephesus you can visit what is believed to be the last house that Mary, mother of Jesus, lived in before she died. Bodrum is more of a beach resort but Izmir is a city based on the...
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241: Spring Break Destination Ideas for 2025
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
On this episode, we are joined by Nedra McDaniel from , who is passionate about having attainable adventures at every stage of life. We are sharing some of our favorite places to go for Spring Break in the USA. You can follow Nedra on her blog, and on social media as @adventuremom on , , and others. Expedia recently shared some travel trends for 2024 showing that March is the most expensive month to fly, so if your spring break is in March, you may want to consider a road trip! If you are looking for a cheap airfare, use Google Flights from your airport and put "anywhere" as the...
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240: Tips for Visiting Cappadocia, Turkey
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
In November, Kim and Tamara took a trip to Turkey for a travel writer's conference. After their time in Istanbul, they jetted off to different parts of the country to see more of Turkiye. This week, Kim shares her experience in Cappadocia and offers up tips for anyone that wants to experience this magical world of fairy chimneys and sunrise hot air balloon rides. Episode Highlights Plan to stay in Cappadocia at least four days It pairs well with three to four days in Istanbul (it is about a 2 hour flight from Istanbul) Kayseri Erkilet Airport (ASR) is the main airport for the region...
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239: How to Choose the Best Seats (for you) on an Airplane
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
Airplanes are not known for their comfort or service. So if you want to have the best experience that you can while cramped inside with a bunch of strangers, here is some advice on how to choose the best seats on an airplane. We share our pros and cons of the bulkhead seats and areas of the plane to avoid. Episode Highlights Tamara doesn't like row 1 or the bulkhead row because you can't keep your personal item at your feet and often the overhead bins above that row are full you end up needing to store your valuables and even your carry on bag a few rows back. Often the first couple of rows...
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238: Mystery Weekend on Whidbey Island (A Perfect Getaway from Seattle)
Vacation Mavens Travel Podcast
Anyone looking for a weekend getaway from Seattle, or a small-town add-on to a trip to the Pacific Northwest, Whidbey Island is a great choice. Learn all about where to stay and things to do on Whidbey Island and hear about a fun time to visit during Mystery Weekend in February! Episode Highlights: Whidbey Island is one of the northern islands off of Seattle At the end of February each year the town of Langley hosts a Mystery Weekend You can get there via the Whidbey-Clinton ferry route or you can drive and take the bridge Learn more about Mystery Weekend: Kim's article on 5 Things to Know...
info_outlineKim recently took her two girls to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando for a mother-daughter getaway. Hear more about her trip, learn some strategies for using Lightning Lane, new rides, new theme parks coming, and comparisons between the parks.
It was hot, humid, and rainy in the afternoons, but they still had a fun time exploring all the parks. Luckily, Universal Orlando has more indoor rides that help on rainy days.
Updates from Walt Disney World
- Tron in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom - it is like riding a motorcycle but on a roller coaster track. The ride is fabulous but really short.
- Splash Mountain is now Tiana's Bayou Adventure - this is a two-by-two flume-like ride that has been redesigned.
- Disney now has Lightning Lane Multi Experience and Lightning Lane Single Experience. With the Multi Experience, it works on multiple rides and as soon as you tap into one ride, you can request the next Lightning Lane. You want to purchase and prebook your first ride in advance. Single Experience is where you can buy a Lightning Lane time slot for individual rides like Tron or Rise of the Resistance.
- Disney's Lightning Lane experience is better than Universal's Express Pass because they load people from that lane faster.
- Disney has also changed their rules around their Disability Access service and made it much harder to obtain a pass. Keep this in mind if you have children with special needs and have used that service in the past.
- Tip: If you want to stay at one of the Deluxe hotels on property, you can stay by renting Disney Vacation Club points. (Riviera has Skyliner access) See Kim's article on renting and using DVC points.
- Disney is building a new ride in the Avengers Campus and they are getting rid of the Tom Sawyer Island and Riverboat in Magic Kingdom to create Cars Land.
Updates from Universal Orlando
Note: Universal Orlando hosted Kim's family for this part of the trip.
- Kim stayed at the Loews Sapphire Falls, which is a Moderate property and does not include the Express Passes. The Sapphire Falls is within walking distance to the parks and guests get one hour early entry.
- Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure still has very long lines.
- The nice thing about the Universal Express Passes don't require you to book any times online, so it is less stressful to manage. However, many people have these passes because they are staying at the premium hotels and the lanes load slowly so sometimes you don't save a lot of time (sometimes only about 10 minutes of time savings).
- There is a Universal Express Unlimited Pass that lets you ride a ride in the Express pass lane as much as you would like, without limits.
- Universal Orlando is building a whole new theme park in 2025 called Epic Universe. It is going to be further away from CityWalk and the other parks or hotels. It will also have another portion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Ministry of Magic. There will also be two premium hotels and a How to Train Your Dragon land.