Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

delwynshd

Monarch can be pretty cramped so the upgrade would be worth paying

Have you compared the prices with other carriers?

Del

ruear wrote: »

I'm planning a holiday to Orlando in May (me, wife & 2 kids) and was considering booking flights with Monach.
Have any body had any experience of flying with them?

I was considering upgrading to Premium to give extra legroom. more comfort, etc.
First time to Florida so any advice would be appreciated.

skr80

If you upgrade to Premium you may be better of going with a scheduled carrier (eg BA) rather than a charter flight - you can then vary the time you are there for if you wanted to rather than the standard 2 weeks.

guitarman001

Wow - a LOT of pages. Thinking of going next summer - quick summary to help an indebted graduate to save some money? If not will trawl through the rest of the links on the 1st page

blue_monkey_2

guitarman001 wrote: »

Wow - a LOT of pages. Thinking of going next summer - quick summary to help an indebted graduate to save some money? If not will trawl through the rest of the links on the 1st page

We need more info if you want a summary:

How many are going?
Where are you flying from?
Where do you want to stay?
What do you want to do?
How long you want to go for?
What time of year (early summer is hot and busy)
Do you want car hire?
Etc.....

traveller

Hi I'm going next August after a 6 year break. I booked a package with Thomas cook for 2 adults and 3 kids (well 4 really 2nd adult is 18 year old son). The others are aged 14,12 and 3 years. The hotel booked is the clarion lake Buena vista. If I change the accommodation to an apartment-likely for the space and cooking facilities, will i still have the protection a package offers in case of ash cloud ect. IYSWIM. I will be booking the accommodation myself as i can see it would be a lot cheaper than changing through Thomas cook. For anyone that has booked a package and not taken the accommodation -did you stay in the package accommodation at all or just not use it? Also as a non driver, I think we would be better placed at i-drive.We usually book DIY, but with the shocking flight prices of late, it was cheaper to book this package for 19th of August for a fortnight, than flights on their own by far, lol. Thanks

blue_monkey_2

Traveller, have you looked at staying onsite at Disney, either Old Key West or Saratoga Springs? In August you can get free dining.

Then you can have a week on I-drive to do things like Seaworld/Universal and then a week at disney and use Disney transportation. This is what we did.

In fact, if you only need 5 days on ID then do this and spend the rest of the time at Disney because of the free transport. You need to look at 'Deluxe Villa Resorts' on the Disney website. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ as they offer full apartments.

The 1 bed apartment we had in Kidani and Old Key West actually slept 5 as there was a double and a single sofa bed so althought it says it sleeps 1-4 they do sleep 5. I have put the dates into Disney for 2 weeks and it is letting me book 5 into a 1 bed apartment and it is £2385 for 2 weeks and includes FULL dining plan so you'd not have to buy anything except breakfast for 2 weeks.

On the dining plan you can get character breakfasts/dinners as well as table service meals, you just have to leave a tip. You get (each day) 1 counter service meal each, one table service meals each (you can use this at your resort too) and one snack each day.

And the kids meals are huge, we used to get one adult and 2 kids meals and a salad and I would finish off what the kids left. It was a waste of money to buy 4 meals no-one (except DH) could finish and then you can save the credits to use for breakfast on the last day at O'Hanas

You do need to book your tickets with Disney though so if doing this you can onyl get your ticets when you check in so you either need to book your Disney accomodation for day1 or be sure that you will not be wanting to use your Disney tickets during the time you are on I Drive. HTH.

Taxis to and from Universal from disney is expensive, we paid a fortune, so worth bearing this in mind as going back and forth from Universal is a faff (IMO) so for us, we prefer the split stay.

Also, if staying in Apartments you only need to take clothes to last 3-4 days and wash and wear, you'll save on loads of luggage space and you just wash then before you leave in the morning and tumble dry at night when you get in. This was a huge mistake for us and we did not wear 90% of the clothes we took. Worth bearing in mind.

traveller

Thank you so much Blue Monkey for your detailed response:)I will look into disney as we used to do a couple of days onsite then spend the other 12 on i-drive.

The thing is we are more into universal (but not particularly their hotels), so was thinking to just stay on i-drive.But, i really do like the look of Kidani! Did u book a package then do your own thing accomadation wise?

Thanks.

blue_monkey_2

Hi Traveller, it does depend on how much money you have. We got Kidani though our timeshare exchange but it is do-able if are getting free meals.

To be honest, we found Universal a little dismal - have you been recently?? Probably a morning and then done - maybe that is just me though. We got round IOA in a day too.

We booked a Virgin Fly-Drive & Universal/SW tickets and for the extras you get with VH (V-Room and DTD Checkout) then booked the accomodation seperately because we used our timeshare exchange for 2 of the weeks and then paid for the last week. We stayed at Hilton Grand Vacation Club at Seaworld which was an excellent resort tbh, then Kidani and then paid for OKW. You do have to stay for 5 days to get free dining though so bear this in mind.

Weeks at Saratoga and OKW are heavily reduced at the moment so you get a great deal by staying there but we booked direct with Disney (UK number).

The only thing about Kidani is that is a long way from anything, especially if you do not have a car, so getting elsewhere other than Disney is an absolute pain. I'll be honest about that. I am glad we did not stay there for 2 weeks, lovely as it was you are quite isolated but we used our Kidani base for doing Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios, MK was just that bit further and seemed to take forever on a packed bus!

ruear

skr80 wrote: »

If you upgrade to Premium you may be better of going with a scheduled carrier (eg BA) rather than a charter flight - you can then vary the time you are there for if you wanted to rather than the standard 2 weeks.

Booked it with Monarch and upgraded to Premium class.
The deal I got with Monarch was about £900 cheaper than BA or Virgin.
Flying out of Manchester & the two week stay suits us fine.

Thanks to everyone for the help/ advice etc.

blue_monkey_2

Something to be aware of. I logged into the Virgin Flying Club bit of the site and chose special offers from the side and then 'the Virgin Holidays' link.

On there I have found a 14 night break at Wyndham Orlando for 2 ad, 2 ch, for £2833 in Oct 11, 14 nights, running over the half term break - just the flights on the Virgin Atlantic website are £3049 - so cheaper to get the holiday. Might be worth checking the special offers page of the virgin website before booking as you might find a better deal.