Any experience with Gatorland, Fishing, Kennedy Space Center, Manatees..??? - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Any experience with Gatorland, Fishing, Kennedy Space Center, Manatees..???
Looking for ideas or experiences and opinions on the following attractions or any other options besides these that I'm not thinking of. We will be spending a week in Orlando over Spring Break and not going to the major theme parks, but want a few things to do that are overly pricey! We're taking 3-4 teens, ages 15, 17, 17 and possibly an 18yr old as well.
Swimming or Kayaking with Manatees at Crystal River?
Air boat Rides? Boggy Creek seems like a close option or Orlando, but appeared to be $30pp for 30 minutes?! Seems crazy for 5-6 people! It's not even the Everglades!
Gatorland?
Kennedy Space Center - Also seems a high per person cost but I've never been so not sure on the value
Fishing on a charter at Cape Canaveral or Clearwater or???
Also considered doing Legoland, but think the kids are too old and we've been there once before..
Also considering doing Discovery Cove (non-dolphin swim, we've done that before), and getting the free admission to Aquatica and Seaworld that comes along with it...
Anything else? other good water parks? There has to be things I'm not thinking of?
Years ago we did the Manatee swim at Chrystal. That is my ex and one of the boys did. DD and other son decided that it was unfair to the manatees and would not go. Kids were 12, 15 and 17 or maybe a year younger.
My ex loved it. Thought it was the best experience.
We did an airboat ride many years ago. The kids and my ex really enjoyed it. Kids were real nature lovers so I am not sure if they were "average". I tend to be pretty thrifty and did not feel it was an outrageous price. I think we did it on the St. John River and then headed over to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, a family favorite and a place we always saw quite a few manatees in the wild.
I think if you look at the per person cost compared with Disney, many of these activities are pretty reasonable priced.
I don't know what the cost is or what interest you and your family might have but one of the YouTube Channels I watch went to the Orlando Eye and the wax musuem (Madame Toussad I think it's called). I don't remember what it is (and am too tired to go find it) but there is a third thing there as well and I'm pretty sure you can buy a combo ticket for everything online to bring the cost down.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
We swam with the manatees many years ago and it's one of my fondest memories. We did it with a small company, which alas has since closed down - a great shame, as you could book private excursions with them and it was literally the two of us. There was another operator with 30 odd people and when they got in the water, the manatees all headed for us!
We've done the Boggy Creek Airboat Rides and you're right, it's quite close to Orlando, although it took longer to get out there than we expected, given how many miles it was. We enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I'd rush to do it again, as it was pricey and we didn't see that much wildlife.
We were thinking of doing Gatorland this trip, but I've just had to nix that in favour of other things.
Kennedy Space Center is amazing now they have Space Shuttle Atlantis. I think we spent three hours just there the last time we visited! Honestly, I think it's a real struggle to do it all in one day now, with everything they have there, and it's more like a two day visit. They've invested a lot of money there, and it's well worth a visit.
We're doing the non-dolphin swim at Discovery Cove at the start of March and will then be taking advantage of the admission to Aquatica, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. If I remember right, Busch Gardens (and free parking at the other parks) was something like $25/person, which was a no-brainer for me.
Kennedy Space Centre is a great way to spend a few days. We have been four times and each time purchased the tickets with the Astronaut's Hall of Fame as well. The "Up Close and Personal tour" is a must do! Food options are not so great but the exhibits are tops.
I think the new Universal water park - Volcano Bay? is opening in May. It might be worth a day...
Discovery Cove is amazing and if you can do that I would definitely schedule that especially since it gives you the bonus of free tickets to Sea world etc. Clearwater is always a nice stay. There are some cool mini golf courses - extreme ones that has partnered of 4 & 5+. It is so much fun as you literally climb a huge man made hill to find the gorilla inhabiting the top.
How far are you willing to drive - I know there is tons of free/cheap things near Sanibel Island/Cape Coral area. One of my favorite things we have done was Ding Darling Nature preserve and the sunset cruise from the local park - I believe if was only a few dollars/person to cover the gas for the pontoon boat. It was a 2 hour cruise and was awesome. Many state parks have similar things if you just look into the ones within the area you wish to remain in. You could probably either Google cheap/free things to do in the area or look into ordering tourist magazines - always ads & free coupons in there as well as at the tourist center as you enter the state.
Like others have said Kennedy Space Center is so worthwhile and could easily spend 2 days there just exploring. How about an interactive meal - Renaissance, Medieval, Mystery Dinner. Things can also be loads if fun especially when you have a small group.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Last edited by cattailmarsh; 02-13-2017 at 02:03 PM..
We swam with the manatees many years ago and it's one of my fondest memories. We did it with a small company, which alas has since closed down - a great shame, as you could book private excursions with them and it was literally the two of us. There was another operator with 30 odd people and when they got in the water, the manatees all headed for us!
Thanks! I've found some other options that appear to have a smaller occupancy, so I may try one of those. The kids are all swimmers - like competitively, and college recruits so this would be within their element for sure! We've wanted to do this for a while, the only thing that I was unsure of, was whether or not the manatees would be around in April, or if they headed out of Crystal River, etc.
We've done the Boggy Creek Airboat Rides and you're right, it's quite close to Orlando, although it took longer to get out there than we expected, given how many miles it was. We enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I'd rush to do it again, as it was pricey and we didn't see that much wildlife.
We were thinking of doing Gatorland this trip, but I've just had to nix that in favour of other things.
I'll let you know if we do it, whether or not it's worth it!
Kennedy Space Center is amazing now they have Space Shuttle Atlantis. I think we spent three hours just there the last time we visited! Honestly, I think it's a real struggle to do it all in one day now, with everything they have there, and it's more like a two day visit. They've invested a lot of money there, and it's well worth a visit.
I'm glad to hear many say Kennedy is worth it; I've just never been sure it would be for us. But it makes me consider it more now!
We're doing the non-dolphin swim at Discovery Cove at the start of March and will then be taking advantage of the admission to Aquatica, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. If I remember right, Busch Gardens (and free parking at the other parks) was something like $25/person, which was a no-brainer for me.
This is pretty much exactly what we planned to do. We've swam with dolphins twice. The two other kids that are also going with us may not have, so I figure if they wanted to do the dolphin swim they can. I'm most interested due to the other free admissions. We did Busch Gardens last spring break though, so we may pass on that option. Thanks again!
I did not think about Sanibel, I'll have to see how far of a drive that is. I've heard it's beautiful! Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cattailmarsh
Discovery Cove is amazing and if you can do that I would definitely schedule that especially since it gives you the bonus of free tickets to Sea world etc. Clearwater is always a nice stay. There are some cool mini golf courses - extreme ones that has partnered of 4 & 5+. It is so much fun as you literally climb a huge man made hill to find the gorilla inhabiting the top.
How far are you willing to drive - I know there is tons of free/cheap things near Sanibel Island/Cape Coral area. One of my favorite things we have done was Ding Darling Nature preserve and the sunset cruise from the local park - I believe if was only a few dollars/person to cover the gas for the pontoon boat. It was a 2 hour cruise and was awesome. Many state parks have similar things if you just look into the ones within the area you wish to remain in. You could probably either Google cheap/free things to do in the area or look into ordering tourist magazines - always ads & free coupons in there as well as at the tourist center as you enter the state.
Like others have said Kennedy Space Center is so worthwhile and could easily spend 2 days there just exploring. How about an interactive meal - Renaissance, Medieval, Mystery Dinner. Things can also be loads if fun especially when you have a small group.
We enjoyed Ding Darling and Sanibel but I remember it as along. If you are looking for less expensive options checkout the National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks in Florida. Most have a minimal charge and IIRC the last time we did a tour it was under $1.00 per person. Merritt Island is right by the Space Center. We also did our airboat ride out that way and it wasn't particularly pricey. I suspect they get fewer people than something a stone's throw from Disney.
We have also done Florida state parks, again they have a pretty inexpensive fee.
Take a minute to explore the Florida tourism website, there's a lot to Florida outside of Orlando.
We enjoyed Ding Darling and Sanibel but I remember it as along. If you are looking for less expensive options checkout the National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks in Florida. Most have a minimal charge and IIRC the last time we did a tour it was under $1.00 per person. Merritt Island is right by the Space Center. We also did our airboat ride out that way and it wasn't particularly pricey. I suspect they get fewer people than something a stone's throw from Disney.
We have also done Florida state parks, again they have a pretty inexpensive fee.
Take a minute to explore the Florida tourism website, there's a lot to Florida outside of Orlando.
I checked with my Aunt who lived in Cape Coral for 20+ years - it is approximately 3 1/2 hours to Sanibel. It would be a long drive but definitely worth it & doable.
Location: Panhandle of Florida - The Emerald Coast
Concierge Level: 4
Posts: 894
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 0
Likes (Received): 13
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 7
Pixie Dust (Given): 0
Pixie Dust (Received): 1
We really enjoyed Kennedy Space Center. There are different kinds of tickets you can buy. We did the one that gave us the bus tour and we spent the entire day there.
Crystal River's going to be quite a drive from Orlando, about 2 hrs. if I remember correctly. If it's still fairly chilly when you go, you could head to the power plant in Tampa and see 100s of them. They come up there in the cold of winter to be warm.
And the teens are really too old for Lego Land. Ours had pretty much outgrown it by the age of 10. But, he did enjoy the class in Mindstorm, which is robotics.
Deep sea fishing is a great idea, but can be pricey. I'd suggest you take the first boat out in the morning. The afternoon runs can get really HOT!! Depending where you charter from, you can usually find a local restaurant that will clean and cook your fish for you.
We always do Discovery Cove non dolphin swim. The dolphin swim takes up so much of the time for relaxing. We do always splurge on a cabana though. If you do get the Busch gardens ticket, there is a free shuttle service from seaworld parking lot to Busch gardens and back. You just need to sign up on line and have a valid admission tickets. If you have a platinum pass to Busch gardens or seaworld, then you get a special admission price for non dolphin swim. Right now, if you have a Busch gardens Williamsburg annual pass, you can get a special price to discovery cove.
I was also wondering about the manatees at crystal river.
Thanks so much for information on Crystal River and the power plant! Great tip!
We have been to Legoland, and I definitely figured that they were too old, but it is really cool, so I wouldn't have objected if they had wanted to go! Good tip on the fishing too, I worry about my daughter's friend getting sunburnt!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamasann
We really enjoyed Kennedy Space Center. There are different kinds of tickets you can buy. We did the one that gave us the bus tour and we spent the entire day there.
Crystal River's going to be quite a drive from Orlando, about 2 hrs. if I remember correctly. If it's still fairly chilly when you go, you could head to the power plant in Tampa and see 100s of them. They come up there in the cold of winter to be warm.
And the teens are really too old for Lego Land. Ours had pretty much outgrown it by the age of 10. But, he did enjoy the class in Mindstorm, which is robotics.
Deep sea fishing is a great idea, but can be pricey. I'd suggest you take the first boat out in the morning. The afternoon runs can get really HOT!! Depending where you charter from, you can usually find a local restaurant that will clean and cook your fish for you.
About This Page: 
DIlBrooksmom
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Good tip on the fishing too, I worry about my daughter's friend getting sunburnt!
Linear Mode
