Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

poet123

blue_monkey wrote: »

They have 150 points on albums at the moment if you need to get any presents.

Everyone gets stuff from Tesco for us. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2645555

They had a great offer on that finished on 1st, I got loads of half price toys and an offer code as well with 1500 points

So do you book your holiday and then pay the balance (up to the max amount) in CC vouchers? how does it work?

blue_monkey_2

natters wrote: »

Thanks for the links - have now booked the disney halloween event - I already have all the tickets mentioned above (except the disney used tickets), I got the kids eat free as my son can eat like a horse - me on the other hand doesn't so I am imagining he will be eating the adult meals & me the kids portions!

Did you book on the phone natters? Are you going on the 31st?

To be honest I used to eat the kids portions, adult portions are HUGE even my husband never finished them. I just used to get kids meals from the counter.

If you pick up a booklet outside any shop/supermarket/hotel lobby it has loads of kids eat free vouchers in it. We never paid for kids to eat except in disney - and it is free so really, do save the money and get the vouchers.

blue_monkey_2

poet123 wrote: »

So do you book your holiday and then pay the balance (up to the max amount) in CC vouchers? how does it work?

We use them every year for Butlins but the same will apply to Virgin.

You order the vouchers then when you have them call the number on the literature they send you, you call Virgin, not Tesco, and tell them you have CC vouchers and you want to book a holiday. They give you a price and then you send the vouchers off - you usually have a week to get the vouchers to them so this is why you need to have the vouchers first - and this comes off the amount.

You cannot book a fly drive, you can only book a package. You can only use £700 of vouchers per person (which would still get most of it paid to be honest) and you cannot use it to pay for taxes and duty.

If you have less than £250 per person I'd not bother using them, you would get a better price online and you would be using them for the sake of it, you'd get a better deal doubling up and paying for food. You do not get ANY discounts so the brochure price is what you will pay, however, if you can save a good amount then it'll be worth using them.

We will book another couple of timeshare weeks for accomodation so if I get enough we will use them for flights and the cheapest accomodation - and not use the accomodation, we'll go off elsewhere when we get there but if it means I save some ££ on my flights it has to be worth it.

Goldust

I would like to know which of the following I am best off booking beforehand and if so, where:

Car Hire (I saw some good prices with CarHire3000)
Discovery Cove
Busch Gardens
Universal
Everglades safari

Thanks!

natters_2

blue_monkey wrote: »

Did you book on the phone natters? Are you going on the 31st?

To be honest I used to eat the kids portions, adult portions are HUGE even my husband never finished them. I just used to get kids meals from the counter.

If you pick up a booklet outside any shop/supermarket/hotel lobby it has loads of kids eat free vouchers in it. We never paid for kids to eat except in disney - and it is free so really, do save the money and get the vouchers.

I booked online and got etickets and yes I did book for the 31st - I booked the mickey's halloween party ticket though

atro1

mattarmy wrote: »

I would like to know which of the following I am best off booking beforehand and if so, where:

Car Hire (I saw some good prices with CarHire3000)
Discovery Cove
Busch Gardens
Universal
Everglades safari

Thanks!

All of them if you can!
Certainly car hire and Discovery Cove!! DC you have to book in advance,:beer:

blue_monkey_2

natters wrote: »

I booked online and got etickets and yes I did book for the 31st - I booked the mickey's halloween party ticket though

Cool, I found it. That link was not there when I last looked, it said to call, so I guess they have only just started offering them online. I have read they only sell limited tickets online.

We bought online for the Princess & Pirate Party but thought they must have stopped it.

See you there then.....!! I'll be looking out for your birthday badge now!! How exciting, LOL.

holly2310

LadyfromVenice wrote: »

Which hotel did you mean? Johnnyroper was replying to my query about the Orlando Continental Plaza but also mentions the Quality Inn International and another hotel.

Oh, how I wish I'd seen this thread before I booked. I had a look at OKW Blue_Monkey. It would have cost us £8800 for when we are going (27 Oct 11 - 15 Nov 11). Our hol is costing us £5800 ish but then we don't have meals included and are booked into a 2 star plus hotel :eek:(which I am going to change). Gutted, yes I really am.

I didn't know we would be there for the xmas parade as well as halloween so we will definitely be checking that out.

Never having been on holiday before we just didn't have a clue...........well, you live and learn. I've now subscribed to this thread for further tips..........too late to change our hol now but at least I can work out what I will be doing when I get there!

Don't know if you have already changed your hotel or not, but just thought I would let you know that I stayed at the Orlando Continental Plaza for a week last year and it was fine. It was a very basic hotel, but it was clean and tidy and walking distance to lots of restaurants. We didn't eat at the hotel, so couldn't tell you what that's like, but there was a Pondarosa 5 mins down the road which we went to for breakfast everyday. Don't let the trip adviser reviews put you off completely, as it's definitley not the worst hotel I've ever stayed at.

Goldust

atro1 wrote: »

All of them if you can!
Certainly car hire and Discovery Cove!! DC you have to book in advance,:beer:

Thanks!

Can you recommend which sites are best to get the lowest possible prices for these?

LouiseJ

Well we are back from our trip, had a fantastic time. We did:
Universal - very quiet with queue times of no more than 15 mins
Aquatica - enjoyed this very much but the queues to the slides were huge so stuck to bobbing around in the rapids and lazy river.
Bush Gardens - Again, very quiet and new building work going on - loved the animals here
Seaworld - Enjoyed this, nice relaxing day
Islands of Adventure - Total nightmare!!!! Packed out with almost every ride we managed to get on (with over a hour wait at least) breaking down either when waiting or actually on the ride!!! Spiderman broke down twice! Harry Potter land was completely amazing but the crowds did spoil it (queues of up to 1 hour to get in the shops even).

For anyone planning to go to IOA soon the only chance that you have for HP is either go for 8.30am (you are still herded around the longest route to get to HP but at least you can get into the area without a 1-2 hour wait) or go at around 8pm at night. We did both an early and a late visit and managed to get on the main HP ride after around an hour wait (which is good, believe me).

Overall..........totally amazing holiday as usual!:j