Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

jackieblack

blue_monkey wrote: »

This is our 4th trip and we still do everything we can. We've been to DLP loads of times too, I mean, A Small World, it is pretty crap we still go on it every time.

I love It's A Small World!
:rotfl: :rotfl:

one2escape

jackieblack wrote: »

I understand completely
We've had the same dilemma, but we always think that your children, when they grow up, are never gong to say "do you remember that new kitchen/bathroom we had when I was 8/9/10?" whereas they will remember that trip to Florida for the rest of their lives.....
You never know what life will throw at you, sometimes you only get one shot - do things when you have the chance, it might never come again....:)

I'm sure if you shop around, maybe book some things independently you could save a few £/$ here and there.

I did a quick quote on VH and it came out just over £4000 (with a 3 bed villa) I don't think that included the car though.

Your holiday to: Florida


Leaving on 29 Jan 2011

• Staying for 14 nights
• 2 adults
• 4 children (ages 10, 8, 6 & 4) (I just guessed)

Your hotel: Standard Orlando Villas - 3 Bedroom Villas

Your flight: A return flight from Gatwick is included.

Total price for 2 adults and 4 children
Holiday price:£4183.00
Online discount:- £144.05
TOTAL:£4038.95

Travelling on a Monday would be cheaper than a Saturday (£20 extra per person each way to travel at weekends)



Your holiday to: FloridaLeaving on 31 Jan 2011

• Staying for 14 nights
• 2 adults
• 4 children (ages 10, 8, 6 & 4)

Your hotel: Standard Orlando Villas - 3 Bedroom Villas

Your flight: A return flight from Gatwick is included.

Total price for 2 adults and 4 children
Holiday price:£3943.00
Online discount:- £132.05
TOTAL:£3810.95

Thanks. Its the tickets which is the killer which is the extra £2k on top. I know its advisable not trying to do all the parks but if we decide to go which is doubtful we are nearly forced into going to all as we wont be able to do this again

blue_monkey_2

one2escape wrote: »

Thanks. Its the tickets which is the killer which is the extra £2k on top. I know its advisable not trying to do all the parks but if we decide to go which is doubtful we are nearly forced into going to all as we wont be able to do this again

You could get there and go to a ticket booth and get tickets here and there, or you could get a magic your way base ticket and add extra days when there which are $3 BUT it will not give you as much flexibility as the Ultimate tickets. Someone else will advise on this though. It will be cheaper and it would enable to see at least one park a day. You could do the same with Seaworld and Uinversal, the day before go to a booth and see if you can get tickets. You'll have to plan your days to ensure you all see and do what you want to do though.

The food in Disney is also expensive so you also need to bear this in mind. Counter food is not that expensive and you could live on kids portions, but the restaurants do cost a lot. You do have a fridge in your room so you could buy the $3 subs in walmart - that are HUGE - and 1 would easily feed an adult and 2 kids and take those with you for the day.

There is a hotel called Radisson at Celebration that we stayed at, the kids had disposable bowls and we gave them cereal as there is a frige in the room for milk.

It is on the 192 so you can get bus tickets at $12 for a week for adults and it is free for kids, and it takes you right into Disney so there would be no parking fees so you would save money on not needing a car. We did get a cab to Universal and Seaworld but the hotel does have a free shuttle, or you could stay at one hotel near Disney for week 1 and then move to International Drive a week later and use the I-ride instead. This would save on petrol, insurance, etc.... You would also only need 1 weeks tickets for Disney and 1 week tickets to Universal and Seaworld - which you can get from the booths.

Virgin do free transfers from the airport and on the last day you can check your luggage in Downtown disney, do another day out and then Virgin take you back to the airport. You can do Orlando without a car. There is also Walmart whatever way you go down the 192 from that bus stop. Just get on the bus and ask the dirver to tell you when you get there.

Maybe someone can advise on how much they have bought tickets for from the booths.

Or maybe you could buy the 14 days seworld/Universal tickets for week 2 and sell them before you leave and get some money back on them.

I have to admit, I am with 'holiday of a lifetime'. The house is something you can build around you as you go, the kids will only be this age once. I remmeber sharing a shuttle with some people back to the airport a few years back and the lady was telling me she wished she had taken her teens earlier as they did not appreciate it for what it was and just wanted to do rides.

snit_girl

xjennax wrote: »

I think we are just going to do all of them - will be a lot to fit into 14 days - will need a holiday to get over the holiday haha

14 days - no problem. We go every other year, been 6 times now and next time we figure we can fit it into a week (or 6 full days there)

1. Animal Kingdom & Magic Kingdom
2. MGM & Epcot
3. Univeral Studios & Islands of Adventure
4. Shopping - Florida Mall
5. Shopping - Festival Bay, Prime & Premium outlets
6. Catch up on things missed in Disney or waterpark

The above is dependent on not going in the school holidays. We went in September last year and there we no queues, we went on every ride 3 or 4 (or more times for some), managed to get around 2 parks no bother if we got there when they opened and stayed until the fireworks.

Nights after shopping days can be spent on international drive.

The only thing we are missing out that we always do is Seaworld, it is good the first time but it doesn't have that same magic of Disney and Universal

Sounds like a bit of a rush but if we only get a week off then it's miles better than lying by a pool in Spain somewhere.

blue_monkey_2

snit_girl wrote: »

14 days - no problem. We go every other year, been 6 times now and next time we figure we can fit it into a week (or 6 full days there)

1. Animal Kingdom & Magic Kingdom
2. MGM & Epcot
3. Univeral Studios & Islands of Adventure
4. Shopping - Florida Mall
5. Shopping - Festival Bay, Prime & Premium outlets
6. Catch up on things missed in Disney or waterpark

The above is dependent on not going in the school holidays. We went in September last year and there we no queues, we went on every ride 3 or 4 (or more times for some), managed to get around 2 parks no bother if we got there when they opened and stayed until the fireworks.

Nights after shopping days can be spent on international drive.

The only thing we are missing out that we always do is Seaworld, it is good the first time but it doesn't have that same magic of Disney and Universal

Sounds like a bit of a rush but if we only get a week off then it's miles better than lying by a pool in Spain somewhere.

Are you telling people they can do AK and MK in ONE day??? That is assuming they do not want to see any shows or parades or go on many rides.

And you cannot see Epcot Fireworks at 9pm if you have been to see Fantasmic which is at 7.30pm so you can't do both of them in a day either.

Surely the point of going is to see the special bits like the fireworks. Fair enough if you have been before, we have been before but still like to go and watch them again.

Why would you go all that way and spend all that money to rush round and not see it all properly?

scotbean

Hi hope someone can help!

We haven't been to Florida before and are going in 5 weeks (25th Sept.)

The holiday we booked with Thomas Cook has a car 'included' but we were told it had no insurance and were quoted £386 for the insurance. I have now pressed them for more deatils and got this email response from Thomas Cook

"The insurance included with the free car hire is a basic 3rd Party liability cover. This is recommended to be upgraded. Dollar do not allow 3rd party company insurances to be used for their cars. "

However I feel this cannot be right - surely we can arrange insurance here if we want and as long as we are covered they can't refuse it? Also I'm not sure what they mean by 'basic 3rd party cover' - I feel they are being deliberatley evasive and I asked some pretty specific questions which have not been answered!

I'm going to go back tothem (by phone) and be more forceful but just want to have my facts straight before I do so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Janet
xx

FloFlo

blue_monkey wrote: »

Are you telling people they can do AK and MK in ONE day??? That is assuming they do not want to see any shows or parades or go on many rides.

And you cannot see Epcot Fireworks at 9pm if you have been to see Fantasmic which is at 7.30pm so you can't do both of them in a day either.

Surely the point of going is to see the special bits like the fireworks. Fair enough if you have been before, we have been before but still like to go and watch them again.

Why would you go all that way and spend all that money to rush round and not see it all properly?

I agree, our daughter is still young enough to want to spend most of her time in the Disney/Universal parks and water parks. As she gets older I expect we will spend more time doing other things around Florida but right now we spend probably 2 days at each Disney park - 1st day we usually try to get any must do rides and shows done then the 2nd day is more of a leisurely pace and we stay to see any fireworks etc. I also plan 2 days at each park so that if the weather or something else comes up we have a back up day.

Everyone has a difference preference for Disney parks, hubby and I love Epcot and Disney studios.

LouiseJ

scotbean wrote: »

Hi hope someone can help!

We haven't been to Florida before and are going in 5 weeks (25th Sept.)

The holiday we booked with Thomas Cook has a car 'included' but we were told it had no insurance and were quoted £386 for the insurance. I have now pressed them for more deatils and got this email response from Thomas Cook

"The insurance included with the free car hire is a basic 3rd Party liability cover. This is recommended to be upgraded. Dollar do not allow 3rd party company insurances to be used for their cars. "

However I feel this cannot be right - surely we can arrange insurance here if we want and as long as we are covered they can't refuse it? Also I'm not sure what they mean by 'basic 3rd party cover' - I feel they are being deliberatley evasive and I asked some pretty specific questions which have not been answered!

I'm going to go back tothem (by phone) and be more forceful but just want to have my facts straight before I do so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Janet
xx

As far as I am aware the basic 3rd party cover is the equivelant to our 3rd party fire and theft in the UK. The extra £386 is to buy the equivelant of fully comp insurance.

I had a nightmare with TC as they booked the car to be picked up from the wrong airport initially (see earlier ranting posts:o)

In hindsight, I would have told them no thankyou and booked the car directly with dollar/alamo or whoever and saved over £100 for the same car (I checked this out and was kicking myself)

Hope this helps

atro1

blue_monkey wrote: »

Are you telling people they can do AK and MK in ONE day??? That is assuming they do not want to see any shows or parades or go on many rides.

And you cannot see Epcot Fireworks at 9pm if you have been to see Fantasmic which is at 7.30pm so you can't do both of them in a day either.

Surely the point of going is to see the special bits like the fireworks. Fair enough if you have been before, we have been before but still like to go and watch them again.

Why would you go all that way and spend all that money to rush round and not see it all properly?

Believe it or not you can! After 'Fantasmic' walk around to pick up the launch which takes you straight to Epcot just by the Rose and Crown you then walk up get yourself a pint and watch 'Illuminations'.We leave the car at the Studios as its an easy walk, its along walk from the other side of the lagoon to get out of Epcot and the launch save a very long walk.. So its then the launch back to the studios, its quite unhurried.

TurnaroundSue

whamfanuk wrote: »

booked!! i know none of you will care but i am soooo excited, only 425 sleeps to go!

My OH has put our holiday onto our pc so when we log on the screensave shows how many days til we go to Florida - only 64 days!!!

Am really nervous tho as the more I read about it all, the more confused I get; like which parks to visit, we have booked car hire and wondering whether we have the right insurance. Where else to visit apart from the parks and because of this, I have put my head in the sand and am scared of making any decisions of any great magnitude :eek:.

So where I should be excited about going, I am really, really apprehensive as I am worried that without enough planning beforehand we will end up walking around, missing loads and not getting the most of the once in a lifetime holiday!:eek::eek::eek: