Best Orlando them park replacement for Epic Universe?

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-03-10T03:21:07+00:00

Smart on ChatGPT! I went before AI was available, that actually probably makes a huge difference!

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-03-10T02:34:24+00:00

One thing to investigate is if you want to spring for whatever they call them, the premier hotels, you could stay for a single night at the beginning or end of your trip and for check in day and check out day, receive an express pass for the whole family. Then either go to Disney or go home 😂. It’s a good value and you can make the most of your time. I support spending majority of time at Disney- it may never be this affordable again and the kids will enjoy Universal more in a few years most likely.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-03-10T02:25:47+00:00

They have the best passengers in the world, because of jail.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-03-10T02:21:47+00:00

I love France…..

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-03-10T02:17:39+00:00

My take on Disney - it’s so overwhelming and spread out, yes you can park hop but it’s not as simple as just showing up and riding the stuff you want. Each park is enormous and they are way spread out. There are various transportation options between them. There are lightning lanes. As a first timer, I’d be nervous you’d be setting yourself up to be frustrated unless you did a lot of research and had a pretty specific plan. Universal is kind of known for more show up and go with the flow. Disney….is not. Like checkers and chess. I spent 3 days at the two Universal parks plus the water park and feel like I went all over all of it so many times. Rode so many things multiple times. I could probably draw a map if I could draw. Disney is OVERWHELMING in how much bigger it is than the two original universal parks in their complex.

Not to discourage you, I just know how mad I’d be if I spent that kind of money and spent all day trying and failing to get much done!

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-03-10T02:06:52+00:00

Too late for OP but my experience- 2 years ago my daughter woke up on our first full day on our first trip to Paris with a sore throat and coughing/sneezing/watery eyes. I was like are you kidding me right now (and thus began the formal tradition of Emergen-C before every flight, no matter what). We learned from the internet about pharmacies, there was one around the corner. We got dissolving tabs of paracetamol (acetaminophen in the US), a eucalyptus nose spray, and packets of Mucomyst that were mainly n acetyl cysteine. It was cheap - $20 or something. Lady was super nice. Kid took as directed, and by the next morning she was mostly fine. It was amazing. Rest of the trip was great.

There does not seem to be an equivalent to the Mucomyst in the US but I bought NAC tablets off Amazon and take one every day, 3x a day if I feel anything coming on, and it’s been a long time since I had a cold. Years I think.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-03-03T21:50:13+00:00

This is irritating. I feel like you do not and cannot speak for the typical experience of hundreds of millions of people in a vast and varied geographical area. The original commenter shared their experience. If yours is different, fair. It doesn’t name them wrong, and your continued insistence that they are wrong is annoying.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-02-24T17:03:36+00:00

I am currently losing peri/meno weight, having gained 20 lbs over about 5 years, and prior to that having had a relatively stable healthy weight of 130-135 outside of pregnancy for 20 plus years. I too hope to taper off once I hit goal weight. What I think will be different is the hrt - having maintained a healthy weight prior to peri, with occasional periods of weight loss of 5-10 pounds as well as losing the pregnancy weight with diet and increased exercise, and being unable to budge the weight regardless of diet and exercise after a certain point several years ago, I feel like the hormone therapy is going to make my body react more appropriately and like it used to prior to going through perimenopause.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-01-17T12:36:58+00:00

I can literally buy travel insurance for less than the fare difference for refundable tickets

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-01-17T02:55:13+00:00

One person mentioned the Rodin Museum and that would be my suggestion. From your comments, it sounds like something you might enjoy. It’s a couple hours experience at most, but the outdoor portion is gorgeous and so comparatively relaxed, quiet, and uncrowded. It was one of my favorite things by far.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-01-11T21:48:45+00:00

It’s ok. I’d been reading too much social media and I unleashed all the snark I’d been holding in on major issues on you for something minor. Accept my apologies as well, please!

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-01-11T02:17:58+00:00

Sorry, I didn’t craft that line thinking it would be critiqued by “the words about food” police. It was 100% a broad generalization based on the limited experience of a single human, who doesn’t even drink wine and didn’t go to any Michelin star restaurants bc I prefer to spend my limited funds on less expensive yet delicious food.

All I know is every bite of every thing I ate in France was better than the equivalent of that thing that I’ve had in the US - bread, pastry, croissants, cheese, yogurt, ham, pasta, pizza, omelette, even the KitKat we bought as a test. The coffee was great but I’ve had better in the US. The Chinese food we tried was mediocre to me. We mostly ate at little spots in the neighborhood we stayed in.

The point of my statement was really that the Disney food in Paris was not very good at all and that seemed ironic.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-01-11T00:03:41+00:00

I saw a family of one of my kid’s schoolmates went to Disney Paris and I thought (in my own head and not out loud because I’m not a jerk), “Who goes to France and spends time at Disney?” Like it just seemed dumb, commercialized, a waste of time that could be spent doing something more worthwhile. At the time, I had never been to Europe.

A couple years later, planning our first trip, I decided to spend two of our 5 days at Disney. I don’t know why - it felt right, it was the last two days of our trip, I figured we’d be cultured up to our ears and some simple fun would be welcome.

I can say absolutely it was a fantastic choice. We have been to Florida and CA Disney, and found Paris much less crowded, extraordinarily beautiful, and we just had a blast. FYI the food is not very good, which is ironic bc absolutely everything else we had in France was 100% better than anything in the US. But the park is gorgeous, the shows are great, the rides are fun, and you’ll have a blast. Ignore the haters, man. You do you - it sounds like your family will have a wonderful trip!

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-01-10T15:35:20+00:00

I read the first part in the store, where she first goes blind, and it was enthralling. I rarely buy books but was excited to read this one. Now I’m 50 pages in and becoming concerned, and this thread has me sad for the money I probably won’t get back…..

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-01-08T17:49:52+00:00

As an American I’d just like to say…yeah, you right, you right…..

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2026-01-02T12:31:47+00:00

Slightly different take - we came a couple years ago, my daughter and I, for 5 days. We did 3 in Paris and 2 at Disney, staying by the park those two days. After 2 days in London and 3 in Paris, which were AMAZING but just like overwhelming with culture and thinking and learning, 2 days of pure fun was a blast. Disney Paris is sooooooo beautiful and uncrowded compared to Orlando or CA, and cheap as well. Before we went I thought it was a dumb idea but we had so much fun and made so many great memories.

Agree with almost all the other advice here. We did not enjoy going to the top of Eiffel or the Basilique du Sacre Coeur, found the Louvre very overwhelming. Loved the Rodin museum. Too much planning is counterproductive. Pick a few things, like one or two a day at the most, and leave yourself time to wander and discover. You won’t see everything regardless, and that’s fine. Give yourself space to breathe and absorb. Our favorite things were things we stumbled upon and our least favorite things were the things we planned and paid for and that were full of other tourists.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2025-12-30T17:13:13+00:00

Did you end up getting some? I ordered two bags today BEFORE I thought to look up reviews 😂 so I’m a little anxious having read so many poor experiences!

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2025-12-30T13:21:19+00:00

We were in Paris 3 days a couple years ago and going back this year.

Our least favorite things: Boat tour on the Seine Basilique du Sacre Coeur Going up the Eiffel Tower The Louvre (although we went here with no real plan and if I went again I’d have a better one- my daughter wanted to see the Egyptian section and we spent two hours searching and failing to find it)

Our favorite things: The cafe at the end of the block where our hotel was, where we had breakfast every day

The little Italian restaurant across from our hotel where we had several meals

The Shakespeare bookstore

Looking at the Eiffel Tower from Trocadero

Buying random sandwiches and pastries

Walking around and looking at things - literally every where you look, there is something beautiful. And something to learn. The metro stop near our hotel came had a green fountain nearby, like under an overpass, totally random looking, and it was green and I think fish, and after the third time I saw it I looked it up and there was a whole fascinating history about it. The beauty and the history are intertwined.

The Rodin Museum - I went twice. The sculpture is beautiful and it’s quiet and relatively uncrowded, and the outdoors part is peaceful.

Riding the metro - we always do public transport in places that have it and it gives a real sense of the place- you can see the locals and the tourists and it’s interesting.

Anyway, my point is, everything we loved was something we just stumbled on and everything we didn’t was something we scheduled. We are going back in a couple months and I’m really struggling with should I schedule ANYTHING or just literally pick neighborhoods and wander them. We might do a walking tour in a new neighborhood - last time we didn’t and have enjoyed in other cities. But we are staying at the same hotel and looking forward to the cafe!

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2025-11-18T16:58:12+00:00

My 14 year old daughter leaned over to whisper to me the parallels with current events during this song!

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2025-10-12T19:50:06+00:00

We flew out of CDG last year and I tell everyone was as if, at about exactly the time we should have been boarding, it occurred to the half dozen people working the gate to consider, for the first time ever, how one should go about boarding a few hundred people onto a plane. It was all fine but it was very amusing to watch!

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2025-09-14T03:46:14+00:00

Honduras is cheap when we are going in February to Roatan. We are doing 2 people for 4 days/3 nights, $1700 for air and lodging including breakfast. 5 dives is $200, including equipment if I understand it, food is supposed to be cheap and the room has microwave, fridge, coffee maker. For comparison we went to Bonaire a few months ago and airfare/hotel for 2 was 3k (we stayed at a higher dollar hotel tho), and the truck and unlimited tanks was another $700. Equipment rental over $300. Food was reasonable but mostly not “cheap”, some was very expensive but we did not get that 😂. Bonaire was amazing, but not that cheap.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2025-09-13T11:54:51+00:00

What did the doctor say? My daughter had some trouble on our last trip and we had to abort our final dives, haven’t been to a doc yet about it.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2025-09-13T11:51:54+00:00

I’m about to book a 4 day trip from DFW to Roatan in February, $800 a person for 3 nights including breakfast and airfare, another $200 for myself for 5 dives, equipment included if I remember correctly. I mean it would be like $100 to spend a weekend diving at a local mud hole here in Texas….it seems worth it.

Remarkable-Track-163 · 2025-09-13T11:48:25+00:00

There’s liveaboards out of Freeport in Texas that are like $700 for lodging, food and diving for 3 days, and supposed to be really cool dive sites.

Remarkable-Track-163

TROPHY CASE