Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

KarenG

diddyangel wrote: »

Thats not exactly what I wanted to hear, but thank you so much becuase I would rather find out now rather than when I'm there -miserable because it's cold and packed... and because I'd have just wasted a few grand

If it's your first visit, try and go at a different time. There are lots of nice things about visiting at Xmas, but I wouldn't recommend it (unless you have no other option).

Late September / early October would be my first choice. Low crowds, great weather, Food and Wine Festival at Epcot, Hallowe'en Party at Magic Kingdom, Scary Hallowe'en Party at Universal....

jeanniebeanie_2

Sorry, reading back the post sounded a bit abrupt. I was in a bit of a rush.

To be fair, at Christmas the weather can vary hugely, our friends went for four weeks this year Mid Dec to Mid Jan and some days were so cold they had to de-ice the car, but others were nice enough to use the pool.

If you look at this,

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=Kissimmee%2C+Florida

as I posted just above, you can scroll down to Trip Planner, put your dates in in it will give you historical records.

There is no easy way round the park crowds though, it is VERY busy.

If you are happy not to go to the parks over Christmas Eve, (there is a lovely event at Celebration with fake snow and ice rink Christmas Eve)
to after Boxing day, then the surrounding days will not be as bad.

Also, if you don't mind meticulous planning, you could join

http://touringplans.com/ or

http://www.tourguidemike.com/

For a small fee they come up with personalised plans to help beat the crowds which do work, I tried them one year at a busy time, although it isn't my favourite way to holiday.

Don't forget that the parks are open longer hours with extra parades and fireworks too. If you can pace your day, with a rest at your hotel when the parks are at their busiest in the afternoon, the later parades etc are much quieter.

Hope that is a bit more helpful.

After saying all that, if I could go a different time, I would.

PROUDMUMMYTOTHREE

thanks jeannie

does anyone know how to go about hiring carseats we plan on hiring a car

jeanniebeanie_2

We usually use USrentacar http://www.usrentacar.co.uk/

This is cut and pasted from their website

Child Seats are available from our suplpiers locally at a cost of approx. $7.00 to $9.00 per day per seat and must be requested at the time of booking.
Childseats prices and availability are subject to change without notice.
A lot of our customers take their own seats.

Those prices would be plus tax.

Seems pricy when you can by them from Walmart there:

http://www.walmart.com/browse/Car-Seats/_/N-2rqvZ1yzpkzmZapsxZaqg9?ic=48_0&ref=129271+500001+500841+4292612482&catNavId=91365

How you would get to them from the airport though..........Hmmmmmm!

No chance of taking yours?

PROUDMUMMYTOTHREE

wow cant believe the price of the carseats in walmart :eek: so cheap
we wouldnt have a problem finding it as we went there in 2005
we plan on booking with thomson so the car will be in with the price
as they are the only ones that do a flight from newcastle and with a 3 and 4yold we dont want to travel to manchester i wonder if we will be able to hire them when we pickup the car

i dont really want to take mine as there would be just too much to carry are carseats including in your bagage allowance

also i wonder if we could just take 2 basic booster seats until we get to walmart the girls will be 3 and 4 do you know the ages and things about carseat restrictions

thanks jeannie you have been very helpful

also just noticed on the walmart site you can buy online then pickup in store would i be able to buy them online in england and arrange
to pickup instore in florida would that work

Flash_G_2

Hi all,

Thinking of going to Orlando again for 2 weeks at the end of September / start of October 2012 to coincide with the Scottish Half term (have to take the kids out of school for 1 week).

There seems to be a lack of airlines from Scotland these days as I last went with flyglobespan (now bust).... Thomas Cook seem to fly direct but it looks like they might be very expensive as they are around £700+ for October this year.

How do most people from Scotland get to Florida for a reasonable price? Drive to Manchester? Connecting flight in London?

How much is a reasonable price now adays? the tax seems to be through the roof!

I assume flights for October 2012 won't be available for a considerable time? I just want to start getting organised

Thanks

jackieblack

heleng27 wrote: »

Hi there,

I wonder if any of you can help me. Never been to orlando before. I have been doing a bit of research into how we would like to spend our holiday and hubby and I have agreed to stay in the I-Drive area but we won't get a hire car (neither of us like to drive when on holiday). So as to save costs on transfers in the day can anyone recomend a hotel in the area that provides complimentary transfers to disney as well as the other parks?? If not what are the best/cheapest way to make your way to Disney?

Many thanks in advance.

How about splitting your time and spend half in a Disney hotel to make use of free Disney transport and the other half on I-Drive to do the non-Disney stuff.

jeanniebeanie_2

i wonder if we could just take 2 basic booster seats until we get to walmart

Ah yes. I was wondering how you you could get the girls safely to Walmart without seats.

Link to Florida Car Seat Laws: http://www.infant-car-seats.com/states/car-seats-laws-Florida.html

You may know this having been before, but Walmart sell polystyrene (styrafoam if you need to ask out there) cool boxes for about $8. We buy one as we arrive and keep it in the boot of the car. We buy packs of bottled water or juice pouches and freeze some. When we go out, we pack a few frozen and unfrozen in the box, the frozen ones keep the others cool all day.

The boxes are so efficient, the frozen ones are still partly frozen at the end of a full day at the parks. Lovely to come back to while you are hot, tired and standing with all the car doors open letting the heat out! :T

We just break the boxes up and bin them at the airport on the way home.
Saves a fortune having cool drinks always to hand. Good for popping ice cream etc after a grocery shop too.

also just noticed on the walmart site you can buy online then pickup in store would i be able to buy them online in england and arrange
to pickup instore in florida would that work

Not sure about that, but as a rule Walmart are pretty well stocked and there is more than one in the area. Places like Target would sell them too.

we plan on booking with thomson so the car will be in with the price

Just edited to say I would check what Thompson are charging you for insurances, taxes etc for your "free" car. Sometimes this comes to more than booking your car independently would

Feel free to PM if you want to ask anything.

jeanniebeanie_2

I don't have too much information at the moment, but a heads up to anyone who has a villa rented on the Villa Sorrento Community. Please double check that all is ok.

A friend has just come back from staying at Calabay Park at Tower Lakes, which is right next to Villa Sorrento and has said that the whole community is closed. They say there is no street lighting and there are foreclosure notices on the gated entrance. We stayed at Villa Sorrento last April and many of the homes did have foreclosure notices on them then, even though there were homes still under construction.

The friend seemed certain that NONE of the villas were accessible, but I haven't been able to find anything on a Google search.

I must stress I can't confirm this information at this stage.

If you are meant to be staying there I would just check with whoever your booking is with.

I may find out more later this evening as I am having dinner with the owner of a company that handles property in the area.

jeanniebeanie_2

The details are a bit sketchy, but there IS a problem at Villa Sorrento it seems.
The residents on gated communities pay to have communal services such as street lighting etc. provided and it seems there is a problem with that provider.

My understanding is that until the problem is sorted there will be no short term lets allowed.

A I said previously, I would check the situation with whoever your reservation was made if you are due to stay there.