Downtown Disney provides a great place for families to eat, walk, and shop outside of one of the parks. It's a fun, upbeat environment with all of the excitement that is Disney World. I recommend eating at the T-Rex restaurant. We had a wonderful experience there. There are usually performances going on throughout that area as well. It's worth a visit while you are in Orlando.

I grew up going to Mote Marine and it is always on our list of things to do when we go back to visit. Mote doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of a large aquarium but that is what I love about it. They are passionate about educating the community about marine life and that mission is evident throughout the museum. The touch tanks are a wonderful way to teach children about sealife. The volunteers are often retirees who really enjoy striking up a conversation about the various exhibits. I highly recommend taking a trip to this museum!

I don't recommend this museum for toddler. I had to try hard to find things for my son to do to keep him stimulated while we were there. It is probably much more interesting for kids who are older. It is a bit dated as well. From time to time they have special exhibits that sound interesting but we will wait until our son is school aged to take him back.

We LOVE the Jacksonville Zoo. I can not say enough good about it. I have a 22 mth. old and we have been taking him to this zoo since he was born. It has been fun to see him interacting with his surroundings more and more as he gets older. The train offers a wonderful, cool ride around the zoo and I highly recommend it. Our favorites exhibit is the giraffes. You get close up and personal with them. You can even feed them! I think my son would sit for hours watching them (and he rarely sits for anything!). It gets busier on weekends and when school is off but if you can go during the week, it is a typically very quiet and relaxing.

We booked this hotel through book-it.com. It was within walking distance to Downtown Disney which was nice on the evenings when we were not at a park. We had requested a king sized bed and called ahead to confirm that was what would get but ended up with 2 doubles and were told they couldn't not move us. There were two frustrating this about this hotel stay. 1) We requested a crib be in our room and asked about it at the desk when we arrived. Our son was overdue for a nap and we were hoping he'd get one before dinner. We were told it would be brought to our room quickly. It took several hours and multiple calls before a crib actually arrived. We ended up waiting around in the room and finally going to dinner without him taking a nap. This in itself wouldn't keep us from going back but it's something to be aware of if you are traveling with babies/toddlers and need a crib upon arrival. 2) We had horrible experiences with the shuttles to and from the parks. The shuttles travel to several hotels and were extremely crowded the 4 days we were there. Most of the drivers were not friendly and acted as though bringing a stroller on board was an inconvenience although I am certain it happens all the time. Waiting on the shuttles to pick us up and riding the shuttles to the hotel were difficult with a tired 1 yr. old and we found ourselves wishing we had just paid to park our car each day. One of the shuttles broke down while we were on it and we had to sit for 20-30 minutes while waiting for a new one to arrive. Simply based on this I would say if you can afford to do it, pay to stay at a Disney hotel. Their shuttle service is run much more professionally and their employees are much more friendly and accommodating. The hotel experience in itself was just ok but the overall experience (including the shuttle service) leaves a lot to be desired.