Orlando Thrills to Key West Sunsets: 9 Days of Theme Parks

Florida rewards travelers who treat it as two trips welded together: the manufactured fun of Orlando’s theme parks, then the very different pleasures of Miami and the island chain to its south. This itinerary gives the parks three full days (one at Disney, one at Universal’s new Epic Universe, one flex), moves to Miami for beaches and neighborhoods, then drives the Overseas Highway, 113 miles of bridges over turquoise water, to Key West. Traveling with children changes the pacing, not the route (our family travel guide has the extras). Book park tickets and the Orlando hotel before anything else: they are the trip’s biggest costs and its biggest queues.

Day 1: Arrive in Orlando

Orlando’s airport sits 20-30 minutes from the theme park strip; a rental car is the practical choice for the whole trip, so pick it up today and learn the toll roads around town, which are cashless. Settle into the hotel, then do tonight’s homework at the kitchen table: buy park tickets on the official sites (disneyworld.disney.go.com and universalorlando.com), because online prices undercut the gate and the parks now price single-day tickets by date; download the official park apps and link the tickets.

Practical tip: Set up a toll payment option before you drive anywhere in Florida: either the rental company’s toll program or your own transponder account at sunpass.com. Unpaid tolls turn into rental-firm administrative fees that dwarf the toll itself.

Day 2: Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom is the classic: the castle, the parades, the tiered queue systems. Disney replaced its old Genie+ skip-the-line service with Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass in July 2024; the Multi Pass lets you pre-book return windows for a bundle of rides, priced per day and per park. Reserve the most demanded rides in the app as early as your booking window allows, arrive for the park’s opening rope drop, and plan the afternoon around the big parades. Disney has relaxed its separate park reservation rules in recent years, but confirm current policy on its FAQ pages before you go.

Practical tip: Book any table-service restaurant the moment your reservation window opens on the My Disney Experience app; walk-up availability at the popular in-park restaurants is close to zero on peak dates.

Day 3: Epcot or Hollywood Studios

Pick the second Disney day to match the household: Epcot’s World Showcase and food festivals suit adults and food-motivated travelers, while Hollywood Studios carries the Star Wars rides and the park’s most competitive Lightning Lane demand. Either way, use the same rhythm: rope drop, pre-booked Lightning Lane returns, afternoon pool break, and an evening return for the fireworks, which are the day’s best free spectacle. If the group wants both parks, the Park Hopper ticket add-on allows it, but with three theme park days total for this trip, one park per day is the calmer arithmetic.

Practical tip: Keep today deliberately flexible until you see day 2’s crowd levels; swapping Epcot and Hollywood Studios inside the app takes a minute, and food festival days at Epcot are worth checking on the Disney site before you choose.

Day 4: Universal’s Epic Universe

Epic Universe opened on May 22, 2025 as Universal Orlando’s fourth theme park, with five lands: Celestial Park, Dark Universe, the How to Train Your Dragon Isle of Berk, Super Nintendo World, and a Wizarding World of Harry Potter land built around the Ministry of Magic. It is the newest headline park in America, so treat it like a headline: buy date-based tickets in advance at universalorlando.com, arrive before opening, and ride the marquee attractions either first thing or during the evening hours. Universal’s separate Express Pass system is its paid queue shortcut, priced dynamically; check whether the day’s price justifies it in the app.

Practical tip: Single-park Epic Universe tickets and the multi-park bundles price differently; run both through your ticket cart before paying, and note that Super Nintendo World’s Power-Up Bands are an optional in-ride purchase, not a requirement.

Day 5: Orlando to Miami

About 235 miles and three and a half to four hours south, mostly on Florida’s Turnpike, with toll plazas reading your transponder as you pass. Leave after breakfast, stop once around Fort Pierce or West Palm Beach for lunch, and reach Miami Beach by mid-afternoon. Check in, then walk Ocean Drive as the sun drops: the pastel Art Deco hotels lining the street make up the country’s most photographed deco district, and the beach in front of them is the evening’s main event. Miami Beach hotels charge heavily for valet parking and add resort fees, so price both before booking.

Practical tip: Run your Miami Beach hotel quote through our Real Price Calculator before you commit, because mandatory resort fees and parking sit outside the headline rate; street parking south of Fifth is scarce.

Day 6: Miami’s Neighborhoods

Spend the day in three neighborhoods. Morning in Wynwood for the murals (the Wynwood Walls outdoor museum uses timed-entry tickets). Midday in Little Havana on Calle Ocho for Cuban lunch counters: order a media noche or ropa vieja, finish with a cortadito at a ventanita window, and expect restaurant tips of 18 to 22 percent (our tipping and sales tax guide explains US norms). Then South Beach sand in late afternoon. If the household prefers alligators to murals, swap in a half-day Everglades run: the park entrance is US$35 per vehicle, cashless, and note that non-US residents aged 16 and over pay an additional US$100 per-person surcharge unless the vehicle holds an America the Beautiful annual pass.

Practical tip: Buy Wynwood Walls timed tickets at the official site in the morning and aim for Little Havana before 1 p.m.; the best counters run out of the roast pork by mid-afternoon.

Day 7: The Overseas Highway to Key West

The trip’s signature drive: about 160 miles from Miami to Key West, but budget the whole day. Leave early, and stop first in Key Largo at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, designated in 1963 and protecting tens of thousands of offshore acres (Florida state parks open 8 a.m. to sundown; expect a modest per-vehicle entry fee). Continue through Islamorada for a fish sandwich, then cross the Seven Mile Bridge, the 6.79-mile span that is the highway’s showpiece. Reach Key West by late afternoon and walk to the sunset celebration at Mallory Square, where buskers perform as the sun drops into the Gulf.

Practical tip: Check Pennekamp’s glass-bottom boat and snorkel trip times at floridastateparks.org before the drive, because the good departures fill first; and fuel up in Florida City, the last cheap gas before the islands.

Day 8: Key West, Mile Marker Zero

Key West compresses into a walkable square mile. Start at the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum: open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., tickets at the gate only (US$19 adult, US$7 for children 6-12), with guided tours starting every quarter hour past the six-toed cats. Wander Duval Street to the southernmost point marker, eat conch fritters, and spend the afternoon at Fort Zachary Taylor’s beach, the island’s best swimming. At sunset, return to Mallory Square. Ambitious groups can swap the afternoon for the Dry Tortugas: the ferry from Key West (about US$200 or more per adult, including the park’s US$15 entrance) reaches the Civil War fortress of Fort Jefferson 70 miles out at sea.

Practical tip: The Dry Tortugas ferry sells out days to weeks ahead; check availability at yankeefreedom.com before you leave home and decide then, because the Mallory Square fallback costs nothing.

Day 9: Homeward

Two exits. Key West has its own airport (EYW) with short-hop connections through Miami, Atlanta and other hubs; flying out from here saves the drive and lets you keep the morning. Otherwise drive north: about four hours to Miami International, and budget more for a morning rush hour, so leave by 8 a.m. for midday flights. Refuel near the airport before returning the car; island gas prices run the state’s highest. If your flight home leaves in the evening, spend the morning at Bahia Honda State Park 40 minutes up the keys, one of Florida’s finest beaches, on the way out.

Practical tip: For international departures from Miami, pad three hours before the flight for the rental return and immigration queues; for domestic US connections, two hours is the practical minimum at MIA.

Practical Notes

Intercity transport (all by rental car; there is no useful intercity train, and the Keys’ buses are slow)

Leg	Distance	Drive time	Notes
Orlando airport to theme park strip	~20 mi	~30min	Cashless toll roads (FL-417/528)
Orlando to Miami Beach	~235 mi	~3.5-4h	Florida’s Turnpike, transponder tolls
Miami Beach to Key West	~160 mi	~4h straight	Full day with Pennekamp and lunch stops
Key West to Miami airport	~160 mi	~4h	Leave by 8 a.m. for midday flights

Distances and times are map-based approximations; the whole route is about 450 miles of paved highway.

Money and reservations, the honest list (as of October 2026)

Disney tickets price by date; buy online at disneyworld.disney.go.com, link them in the My Disney Experience app, and budget for Lightning Lane Multi Pass on the two busiest days; Disney has been easing its separate park reservation requirement, but verify current policy on the official FAQ before booking
Universal’s Epic Universe (opened May 22, 2025) sells date-based tickets at universalorlando.com; Express Pass is dynamic-priced and worth it only on peak days
Everglades National Park: US$35 per vehicle, cashless, and non-US residents 16+ currently pay an extra US$100 per person unless the car holds an America the Beautiful pass; Dry Tortugas adds US$15 per person
Florida state parks (Pennekamp, Bahia Honda) open 8 a.m. to sundown daily with modest per-vehicle entry fees; floridastateparks.org lists current charges
Hemingway Home: US$19 adult, US$7 child, gate tickets only; Dry Tortugas ferry from about US$200 per adult, book ahead at yankeefreedom.com
Every toll road in the corridor is cashless: arrange the rental company’s toll program or a SunPass account at sunpass.com before day 1

Budget estimate (per person, 9 days, excluding flights to and from Florida, assuming two people share car and fuel)

Backpacker: US$1,600-2,400. Value hotels away from the park gates, supermarket breakfasts, base park tickets without paid queue passes, one Keys snorkel trip
Mid-range: US$3,000-4,500. Three-star hotels in Orlando and Miami Beach, Lightning Lane and Express Pass on the busiest days, Hemingway Home and the Dry Tortugas ferry, sit-down dinners
Comfort: US$5,500-9,000. On-property Disney or Universal resorts, park hopper tickets, oceanfront Miami Beach rooms with the resort fee priced in, private snorkel charters

Orlando hotel taxes and resort fees are among the highest in the country, so run quotes through our Real Price Calculator, and read our tipping and sales tax guide before the first restaurant check.

Car vs train vs plane verdict

Drive. Orlando, Miami and the Keys sit at the corners of a triangle that trains barely touch, and the Overseas Highway is the trip’s best attraction, not just its connection. Rent at Orlando airport and drop either at Key West (EYW) or Miami (MIA) depending on your flight home; a standard sedan handles every mile. Two honest cautions: south Florida sun is fierce, so use sunscreen hourly at the parks and beaches; and if you rent an airboat or swim off the reef in the Keys, remember that medical care in the islands means an American hospital bill without insurance, so carry real travel medical cover (our health and safety guide tells you what to check).