Florida is a large state with a lot of things to see and do, so I’ve created this Florida 1 Week Itinerary Disney and the Everglades! For this trip, we focused on the Everglades and Biscayne National Parks, Disney World and Kennedy Space Center. However, if you are looking for more northern Florida, be sure to check out Destin, St Augustine and the rest of the Southeast Region.
*Last updated January 20, 2025
Florida 1 Week Itinerary Disney and the Everglades
Table of Contents (activities by day)
Day 1 – Drive to Atlanta, Georgia
I listed this as a 1 week itinerary, but since we were driving from Cincinnati, there was a bit of driving to make it all the way to the southern side of the Florida peninsula. Additionally, we were towing a travel trailer, so I scheduled a max of 450 miles per day as I wanted to be able to keep our speed around 65 and get in by dinner.
Our kids are great passengers, but it is nice to keep things manageable. Also, weather conditions in Ohio can be questionable in December (more details on our return drive), so I did not want to schedule long days.
Day 2 – Drive to Orlando, FL
We stayed the second night in Bill Frederick State Park for the night. Additionally, this is the same park we’d stay on the drive home. Again, it was nice to have a little extra time as my middle daughter was complaining about ear pain during the night. We stopped at an urgent care and she had an ear infection. However, it was nice to be able to get some medicine and enjoy the vacation.
Day 3 – Drive to Flamingo, FL
3 days driving is a lot, but at least this day was only 300 miles. That allowed us to get into our campground a little earlier to set up. Additionally, this was the start of our 3 nights in the Everglades, so I’ve included a Google map of some of the main sights of the Everglades (9336 from Homestead to Flamingo) below.
There are two main visitor centers here. First, Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center is located near Homestead, just before the gate to enter the park. Second, Guy Bradley Visitor Center is near the Flamingo Campground and Flamingo Marina at the very southern terminus of the main road. You will see a lot of wildlife on your drive, including alligators and numerous birds. We even saw manatees and a crocodile by the marina.
Day 4 – Everglades National Park
Everglades is a big park, which is split into the Flamingo side to the south and the Shark Valley and Everglades City to the north. We were looking to camp and chose the Flamingo Campground area.
Additionally, we were able to do an good number of hikes on our first day, including the Guy Bradley Trail (near the visitor center) and the Nike Missile Base, which was a cold war defense site.
Also, we did some Everglades hikes on our second day, before heading to Biscayne National Park. Combined, we did the following Everglades hikes:
- Guy Bradley Trail
- Eco Pond Trail (cut short due to mosquitoes)
- Mahogany Hammock Trail
- Nike Missile area
- Anhinga Trail
Additionally, Flamingo Adventures offers two scenic boat tours out of Flamingo Marina, so we had to decide between the Florida Bay Tour and the Backcountry Boat Tour. We decided finish our day with the Florida Bay tour at 4pm, which finished in the sunset. It was a pretty tour of the bay and we saw a lot of birds!
Day 5 – Everglades and Biscayne National Park
On our second day, we scheduled an afternoon 1pm Biscayne National Park Eco-tour of Jones Lagoon. Be sure to read all about that adventure and visit Biscayne National Park Institute to see the tours they offer.
That gave us some time in the morning during our drive to stop at some of the hikes we missed the previous day and we hiked Mahogany Hammock and the Anhinga Trail in the morning.
The Biscayne National Park and Jones Lagoon Eco-tour were a lot of fun! We didn’t see as much wildlife as we expected, but it was really cool to kayak through the mangroves in the keys.
Day 6 – Drive to Orlando, FL
After passing it a few times going in and out of the park, we finally decided to make a stop at the “Robert Is Here” market. However, I’m glad we decided to stop as they have a lot of fun things, including an animal area in the back. After a short stop, we continued with our drive back up to Orlando.
Day 7 – Disney World – Magic Kingdom
Most people are aware of Disney World and most people either love it or hate it. However, you must admit that most kids love Disney! Also, our kids are no different so we couldn’t drive by Disney and not make a stop.
We had considered Universal Studios, which I’m sure they would have enjoyed as well. However, Universal is building a third theme park, including a Super Mario area, so we decided to save it for next time. Our first day in Disney, we decided to go to Magic Kingdom. Also, it was fun to ride the newer coaster “Tron”.
Day 8 – Kennedy Space Center
We had never been to the Kennedy Space Center, so I scheduled it in between our two Disney days as a break from the walking that you inevitably do at Disney World. However, there is so much to do at the Kennedy Space Center! We started with the bus tour to the missile site, saw the Atlantis area and visited the Gateway and Spaceport.
Day 9 – Disney World – EPCOT
On our second day at Disney, we went to Epcot. We had been to Disney are few years earlier in 2021 and wanted to go back to ride the new Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster. It did not disappoint!
We had dinner at the Hacienda restaurant in the “Mexico” area of the World Showcase and lunch in “Japan”.
Day 10 / Day 11 – Drive to Atlanta and Drive to Cincinnati
Our drive up to Atlanta was uneventful. However, we knew that bad weather was a possibility. Due to 14″ of snow that hit the Cincinnati area, we drove to Knoxville and had to wait an extra day for the roads to clear before driving home. Sometimes things happen and you just have to adjust your plans and make the best of it!