seekerfamily

Travel to Tampa (actually Ybor City for Gwavaween - ok during the day for families and kids, large party at night definately not for the kids.

Great idea on the Florida Finders Fest - If we ever get a weekend off we will make it there and not have to travel halfway around the globe only about 3 hours for us. On the west coast of Florida you can visit Tarpon Springs and the sponge docks. A huge Greek community in the area - Gatoulis would like it.

Going farther north from Crystal Springs is the Florida museum of natural history and the butterfly rainforest in Gainesville.

Go to a sporting event. Three professional football (american football) teams play within a few hours of Orlando, 2 hockey teams and 2 basketball teams (unsure exact dates that season start). Many college teams in the area.

Definately go trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Find a good neighborhood with lots of houses.

Leave Orlando November 2nd 6:55 am Suggestion - Don't forget the sunscreen everyday, multiple times daily. This is Florida and it is hot and sunny.

How about May 19th

leave Orlando November 6th 6:55 am Idea - Visit the Florida keys. Key West is the southernmost point in the continental US.

Leave NZ October 20 7 am

Leaving Orlando November 5th at 6:55 am

Leave Orlando FL Novemeber 3rd 6:55 am

Leaving NZ October 5th - 6:55 am Idea Enjoy a day of fishing. Lots of freshwater fishing lakes in central Florida or travel 1 hour east or west to fish in the Atlantic ocean or the Gulf of Mexico

Guess #2 4/15 Leave New Zealand December 14 10:15 am Idea - Visit the Gingerbread house at the Disney Grand Floridian hotel. We visited it this year. It is a 2 story house made of gingerbread and decorations - completely edible. They also have a staff member that makes small houses each day at 11:00 am (unsure exact time) and they have free gingerbread samples at that time.

Guess #1 - 4/15 Leave NZ December 13 at 7 am Idea - Enjoy the Christmas holiday decorations at the different amusement parks. Disney does an excellent job with their christmas decorations. A lot of the characters have holiday outfits for great pictures. Epcot emphasizes how different countries celebrate christmas.

April 30th

Guess #4 - Leaving NZ Sept 28th at 7 am Idea - Caching - if you want to pick up a lot of caches in one day there are a lot of power runs within 1-2 hours of Orlando - these runs have 50-100 plus caches along a single road. They are park & grabs but can increase your numbers quickly.

Guess #3 4/14 Leaving NZ - Sept 29th 7 am Idea - If staying at a Disney hotel recommend take advantage of extended hours at parks - one of the Disney parks will open one hour early or close one hour later for guests of Disney hotels but not available to general public - get extra time when not quite as crowded. Also use Disney transportation to get to parks.

Guess #2 April 14th Leaving NZ October 25 at 7 am Idea - If you will be here during halloweeen check activities at amusement parks. Disney has Mickey's not so scary halloween with special theme not scary. Universal has Halloween Horror Nights - multiple area done up as haunted houses - not so good for younger kids.

First guess for 4/14 - Leaving NZ on June 28th at 7 am Idea - visit the the lego store at Downtown Disney. This is by no means the same as legoland but a large lego store. Has blocks to build lego different things outside. Lots of lego made characters outside on the sidewalk and in the water. A great cache here is a Wherigo (if you have a garmin that can do Wherigo cartridges) - M&M Melteds Wherigo where I Can't Downtown disney which takes you on a tour of the downtown disney area the final in is Celebration a planned community by disney. FYI - There are no physical caches allowed on Disney properties but there are some virtual caches - 2 at EPCOT and one at each of the other parks. They only take a minute and can get a smiley while in the parks.

I see a storm brewing on May 5th, cinco de mayo

Inbound June 29th - 6 am Suggestion - Use the disney transportation system. The monorails travel between the different parks and some hotels. The buses travel to all parks and hotels. Parking at most parks will run an extra $10-15 or more daily.

Leave New Zealand on June 30th 6am Idea - If you want an american experience - visit Daytona Speedway NASCAR - east on I-4 from Orlando. Usually can take a tour of the track - a lot of the tracks have museums with stock cars. If you happen to be in Florida the first week of July there is a race - The Coca Cola 400 at the track. Loud, fast cars racing in circles for hours and one of the drivers is Autralian - Marcos Ambrose #9. Edited for spelling

Guess #2 - Leaving New Zealand July 2 - 7 am Idea - Visit MOSI (museum of science and industry) in Tampa, about a 1 to 1-1/2 hour drive from Orlando. Great place for kids with lots of hands on displays, science related. They have recently added a ropes course for kids outside. Very close to Busch Gardens amusement park in Tampa.

Leaving New Zealand July 1 8 am Idea - visit downtown disney. Great place - lots of restaurants and clubs. Strongly recommend visit DisneyQuest - believe it is included if you have a park hopper pass. Great place for interactive games. Our kids love it. Air-conditioned which is very important if visiting Florida in the middle of the summer.

We enjoy caching anytime but springtime is the best in Florida. The weather is warm but not hot so it is great for longer hikes. It is not yet rainy or hurricane season so we are not trekking through swamps and we see a lot more wildlife at this time of year. In fact it is so good that we are off to get some caches right now. Thanks for the cointest. Seekerfamily