Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

41123a

Hello,

I'm after some tips/help/guidance!

I'm planning a family holiday to DisneyWorld and want to travel between 16th April and 3rd May for a 2 week stay.

There will be 2 adults and 3 kids (two aged 7 and one 3 year old). As the kids are small my preference is to stay in an apartment/suite/villa rather than a hotel room.

I'm from the midlands so would prefer a close by airport but this is not essential.

This will be the 1st time I will have travelled to Orlando so would prefer an all-in-one solution but don't mind breaking a few things up if it safes a reasonable amount.

Not on a huge budget so looking for a reasonable but decent acoomodation etc?

Any tips/ideas/links to good sites etc appreciated.

Thanks

atro1

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=orlando+attractions+magazine+the+show&aq=0
Thought i had already posted this.
Rather a good show lots of pointers to ponder!

kevandkeira

Hi, I won a holiday to Florida, Thankyou toysrus. :beer:
Just really wanted some info on recommended spending money per day, which parks to visit, best time of year to go (later in year the better), so we can set up a saving plan.
I don't have much info at the moment other than holiday for 4 (there's 5 of us so hoping we can add extra person), flights, hotel & bus ticket to park included.
Thanks

tonymc

41123a wrote: »

Hello,

I'm after some tips/help/guidance!

I'm planning a family holiday to DisneyWorld and want to travel between 16th April and 3rd May for a 2 week stay.

Hi,

Just to confirm you are going this year? If so, these dates will be over the Easter Holidays, and package prices will be at a premium level, as will flights. May be worth calling into a few travel agents to get a rough idea of package prices, then price up diy.

If you look into booking things separately, a quick check on http://matrix.itasoftware.com has come up with flights from Birmingham to Orlando on Sunday 17th April 2011 for 14 nights, out with Continental via Newark returning with Lufthansa via Frankfurt at £583 each.

Departing the same date, non-stop flights from Gatwick to Tampa (about an hours drive) showing as £662 (BA) or one-stop via Charlotte with US Airways for £498.

Also worth checking other flight sites such as opodo.co.uk, expedia.co.uk and kayak.co.uk. Expedia will let you book a flight/hotel package at discount, so may be worth trying this.

Are you looking at visiting parks other than Disney? If not, you could save on hire car costs by looking at booking a suite at the Doubletree Guest Suites (see http://www.downtowndisneyhotels.com/) which have a regular bus service to the Disney parks, and are in walking distance of Downtown Disney and the Crossroads dining/shopping area. Cost around $197/night, so say $3,000 (£2k) including taxes for a fortnight.

Also worth checking Hotels.com as they often have special offers on accommodations (e.g. 40-50% discount) plus 9% cashback on Quidco (e.g. for your dates, Blue Heron Beach Resort family suite sleeping 6 (which would probably need a car rental) at 40% discount at £1,324 for the suite).

Finally, don't forget park tickets. To keep costs down, may be worth just visiting Disney Theme and Water Parks, and allow around £250A/£220C for a 14 day Ultimate Ticket giving unlimited access to the 4 Theme Parks, 2 Water Parks and Disneyquest.

To sum up, based on the above, you would be looking at very roughly:

Flights - 5 x £583 = £2,915
Accommodation = £1,500
Tickets (2A,3C) = £1,160

Total = £5,575

Also may need to add on car rental (around £350-ish) and parking ($14/day at the Theme Parks.

Hope te above is of use!!

blue_monkey_2

kevandkeira wrote: »

Hi, I won a holiday to Florida, Thankyou toysrus. :beer:
Just really wanted some info on recommended spending money per day, which parks to visit, best time of year to go (later in year the better), so we can set up a saving plan.
I don't have much info at the moment other than holiday for 4 (there's 5 of us so hoping we can add extra person), flights, hotel & bus ticket to park included.
Thanks

Wow, congratulations you lucky thing!!

Can I ask if it includes park tickets - because if not you are going to need to save a good £3k. 14 day park tickets are around £240 each for Disney (kids over 9 pay adult price for all parks) and £150 for Universal/Seaworld, You'll need at least £100 a day for food for 5 of you. Maybe a little more if you need to buy breakfast too.

We went October half term just gone and then a week after, it was lovely and quiet and it is Halloween and there are lots of places to go Trick or Treating and all the hotels have Halloween events on. Take costumes!! It was also quite hot (in the 90's) so the weather was good too.

kevandkeira

blue_monkey wrote: »

Can I ask if it includes park tickets

Thanks for the info, I don't think park tickets are included, but won't no for definate until the travel agents contact me, should be within next few days. Would be amazing if they were though, then if they chucked in a few grand spending money I would be overjoyed.

hillcats

For anyone concerned about taking young children on long haul flights, we initially decided to go somewhere local for the kids first holiday abroad back in April 2010 when they were 9 and 5+1/2 but I then started looking at Orlando and that is exactly where we went, (Direct Flights both ways, would not do split journeys) we all loved it and they were both as good as gold on the plane journeys, we are now planning our next trip in 2012...

Cant wait....

johnnyroper

hillcats wrote: »

For anyone concerned about taking young children on long haul flights, we initially decided to go somewhere local for the kids first holiday abroad back in April 2010 when they were 9 and 5+1/2 but I then started looking at Orlando and that is exactly where we went, (Direct Flights both ways, would not do split journeys) we all loved it and they were both as good as gold on the plane journeys, we are now planning our next trip in 2012...

Cant wait....

i think the key is taking stuff to occupy them and also allow them to release some energy in airport prior to flying,the vroom in gatwick is ideal with the play area.
my daughter went to austria first when 8 months and no problems,she has since been to majorca,orlando,miami and new york all without issue.
i think it is as easy or as hard as you make it like i say waste some energy and plenty to occupy and all is ok in my experience.

lisalasvegas

Hi folks I have been to florida before but it was 20 years ago! We stayed on international drive.

We have booked to go this year for the 1st two weeks in June, as we now have 3 kids we decided to go for a villa. This will give us the space we need etc.

Having never done a villa before I wonder if some of u guys can give me a little info.

Will we need to heat the pool at the villa or should it be warm enough in June.

Are towels provided? Don't want to take them with us if there will be a supply there.

Any other hints or tips would be also be appreciated.

toniq

Hi, We are definitely doing disney florida this August, just need to see if this sounds right, we are being quoted by James villas Approx £6,000 for a 3/4 bed villa, with private pool in kissemee , car hire and flights for a fortnight, does that sound about right?

Being based in kissemee is right asuming we are only 20/25 mins away from everything? Thanks x