Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

vivatifosi

blue_monkey wrote: »

Thanks V, I will. Will you be there in Feb 2012 or is it too early to say??

We'll probably go in January as points at OKW much lower for the sake of a week's difference, but too early to say. We'll book about Easter time when our window opens.

blue_monkey wrote: »

Then we thought we would hire a small car from Disney car hire place (where is it please - and Viv I remember you gave me a tip about that place, can you remind me), we will not need the space to transport luggage as the ME does that, and then can just have a small car for going out for the day. The last week we'll just 'do' Disney anyway.

A tip with regard to hire cars. As Karen says, you have a choice of car hire facilities on Disney property. Disney's partners are Dollar/National, which has facilities at the car care centre, Buena Vista Palace and Dolphin. We almost always get ours from the Dolphin because you can arrange a late afternoon (c 3.30 pick up), spend day in Epcot, get a boat over about 3pm and not take too much time out of other activities.

If you go to the car care centre then it's a PITA to get to and they need to pick you up.

Another couple of things to think of:
1) If you pick up from the hotel rather than airport, you do not have to pay airport tax on the hire car.
2) If you pick up from one of the hotels through Dollar/National, they do not stock "economy" cars as standard, so 95% of the time you can book the lowest grade (economy) and get a free upgrade to the next size up as standard. They can't give you what they haven't got, so just decline any upgrades offered and wait for bigger car to be delivered. In fact we've never got an economy car and have always booked one.
3) If you want to pick up outside of the narrow opening hours you'll need to go to the car care centre, which is a much bigger facility and has all sizes of cars .
4) Always take a copy of the documentation from the car hire company with you. We've had a few occasions (more so at airport than at hotel) where the paperwork we had from the UK car hire website did not tally with the US car hire firm's system and they tried to charge us extra. Having it there in black and white avoids confusion.

vivatifosi

maemaesmummy wrote: »

With 2 trips again this year I am going to go for annual passes which then means the parking will be free!

There are two grades of pass at Universal. The Power pass is a basic AP with some black out dates, no parking rights, no discounts on shops/restaurants, etc.

The other pass (called something like the Preferred) had all the benefits. So providing you don't need to use pass during black-out dates, its worth buying power passes for most of the party and one ultimate pass in order to qualify for free parking, concessions etc. The difference is about $50-60 per adult. There's also another pass where you go to the head of line, but if I had that much money I wouldn't be hanging out on here all the time, I'd get my butler to do it for me;).

blue_monkey_2

Perfect, thanks V, I've printed these notes out, I do remember you talking to us about car hire but I have forgotten and I do remmeber you saying about no economy cars but did not know if it was a secret, LOL. I think a small car should be fine for getting around and doing some shopping, we don't need a huge 4 x 4 or anything.

Would be nice if our paths crossed again.

jackieblack

izzitme wrote: »

Hi everyone.

Does anybody know whether, when using Tesco vouchers with Virgin, does the name on the voucher have to be the lead name on the holiday booking?

Thanks for your help.

Doesn't have to be the lead name, but does have to be named on the booking.

http://www.tesco.com/CLUBCARD/DEALS/PRODUCTINFOSHEETS/S6038.PDF

Rewards tokens may only be used by the Clubcard Holder (whose name is printed on the tokens) however there can be more than one named token per booking as long as that person(s) is travelling too. Tokens cannot be given as gifts.

disney_cjd

blue_monkey wrote: »

How do we apply for a disabled parking Permit in case we need it.

I covered this on a recent show. Please be very careful with advice that says you can use your European blue badge over in the USA no problems. That is not true. Whilst the logo is the same the scheme is not and it is actually not recognised over there!

However, speaking with the media and PR teams for both Universal and Disney they have said that they do not mind people using a UK permit in their parks BUT they would prefer you not too. Also the state troopers etc will book you if you park in say a Target or Walmart disabled space with a UK blue badge. Dont get me started on the wrongs of this, sometimes our American friends like their rules books and closed minds!

All that being said its pretty painless to get a USA badge. You have to pay $15 and you take a copy of BOTH sides of your UK badge with you. YOu then go to any of the licencing centres in the County you are staying so Polk, Orange, Lake etc and they will give you a "permitt" there and then. They are easy to find on the web and its painless but worth doing if you need one.

Thanks
Craig

blue_monkey_2

Thanks Craig, I did know that we could not use the BB and there was a charge which is why I asked, I will print this out ready.

disney_cjd

No problem. If you know where you are staying I can locate the licence office for you.

chaosweddings

Hi,

we got back from a wonderful 2 weeks in florida in november.

I have a few tips for people if you dont mind

1. in universal they have offers on their huge refillable cups $7.99 each or 3 for $14. we bought 3 but i ended up carrying them around all day while ds and dh went on the rides, so buy only 1 as they are only 79c to refill and are large, also we were told you cant take them back in another day but we did

2. Disney charge taxis $14 to get into the disney drop off areas and the taxi drivers charge you the $14 even though they keep the ticket and get get in to the drop off area for free the rest f the day on your ticket so if you do want a taxi to disney ring checker cabs as they have a deal with disney and dont have to pay the $14. a taxi from our hotel on i drive cost $38 dollars to disney in a town car but $22 with checker cabs.

3. pack your suitcase and then half it, we took only 10 days worth of clothes for 14 nights and half of it was never worn

4. lockers in some of the parks are free for 30 minutes, which sounds good, but most of the queues were more than 30 minutes so you get charge $5 and my dh put his wallet in the locker and needed to pay $5 to get our stuff out, and spent 20 minutes trying to find someone to open it lol

5. if flying to/from sanford, buy tickets for their vip lounge , we paid $60 for 3 of us and it was huge, they had a movie room, lots of computers, little kids room, console room and quiet room with unlimited free soft drinks, hot drinks and snacks plus cheapish meals and wifi. if we booked this through the airport it would of cost us $120 and with our flight home being delayed by 2 hours we definitely got our moneys worth of drinks and snacks


hope this helps someone

blue_monkey_2

disney_cjd wrote: »

No problem. If you know where you are staying I can locate the licence office for you.

Thanks, will bear that in mind. Will not know until around June time though when units are released to RCI.

blue_monkey_2

We didn't buy the drinks cups in Universal but did in Seaworld and Busch and just refilled when we needed them.

For the Disney parks we just asked at a drinks stall for a cup of ice and refilled the huge sports top bottle we bought with an insulated cover around it (around $10), then put the flavoured granules in it that you buy from the supermarket. The Lemonade and Strawberry were quite nice, we was on DP though so often has free drinks and used snack credits. Can imagine it gets pricey without it.

And Butterbeer, we had a few cups of frozen butterbeer.