Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

Smashbutt

Hillcats and Karen

Thank you for your replies, looks like I'm in the right ball park for money.

Karen looking at Virgin Flights they seem to have jumped moneywise for next year from £1600 approx up to £2000 approx. Using 8000 miles it seems to bring it down to about £1800, but I guess you don't then accumulate more miles for buying them?

Thanks again

Steve

JoKay_2

Hello all

We're off to Orlando for a 6 day stay, and wish to visit Busch Gardens, Seaworld, Aquatica, Universal Studios & IoA, which fits the bill perfectly for a Combo or Flex ticket - but I can't tell the difference between them, other than cost...

Is there a difference? And which one would be best? We're only planning on doing one park per day, if that's of any help..?

TIA!

jamie85_2

Hi All
im Off to Orlando in about 4 weeks and i have been checking about the best way to get around without a car and checking the I-Ride system does it go to Disneyworld as i checked the site it doesnt look like it does.
Im staying at the Quality Inn on International Drive so how would be the best way via public transport?

also another one thing that has dawned on me is whats the best way to Get to Busch Gardens,

Any help greatly appreciated

merlinormartin

Hey Jamie

We stayed 14 nights at Quality Inn and had a great holiday! (7600 International Drive, facing point orlando) .. we had a car for 7 nights and used public transport for 7.. so i can help ..

Disney
I-Trolly does not go to Disney .. you will need to take 2 buses..dont worry it's very straight forward and we never had to wait very long.. see here

Busch Gardens
A free shuttle bus from i-drive is available for people who purchase The Orlando Flex Card. People who dont purchase the Flex Card can pay $10 .. info here .. your hotel is between 2 pick up points; Seaworld & The Crabhouse .. i'd choose the location with the earliest pick up .. i can highly recommend the Serengeti Safari ..spaces go fast so book when you first arrive.

Universal
The hotel offered a free shuttle but we never used it .. we used the free Fun Spot Bus you can flag it down on the Idrive or you can take the drivers number and call him! .. he collected us directly from our hotel each time and dropped us off see here

Sea World
Walk/i-Trolley/lynx bus

Things i recommend ..
Printing coupons from the I-Trolley website .. see here
Visiting The tourist infomation office on I-drive and getting free tickets for Howl At The Moon .. 5 minutes from hotel and guarenteed to have a good night!
Eating here at least once.

Have a great holiday!

KarenG

Smashbutt wrote: »

Hillcats and Karen

Thank you for your replies, looks like I'm in the right ball park for money.

Karen looking at Virgin Flights they seem to have jumped moneywise for next year from £1600 approx up to £2000 approx. Using 8000 miles it seems to bring it down to about £1800, but I guess you don't then accumulate more miles for buying them?

Thanks again

Steve

Yes, flights have got properly scary! The tax has increased somewhat, and the price of oil isn't helping....

In theory, quite right that you could not accrue miles on a flight when you use them. I have heard though that if you use the "claim missing miles" link on the VA website after the flight, they do tend to appear anyway

jamie85_2

merlinormartin wrote: »

Hey Jamie

We stayed 14 nights at Quality Inn and had a great holiday! (7600 International Drive, facing point orlando) .. we had a car for 7 nights and used public transport for 7.. so i can help ..

Disney
I-Trolly does not go to Disney .. you will need to take 2 buses..dont worry it's very straight forward and we never had to wait very long.. see here

Busch Gardens
A free shuttle bus from i-drive is available for people who purchase The Orlando Flex Card. People who dont purchase the Flex Card can pay $10 .. info here .. your hotel is between 2 pick up points; Seaworld & The Crabhouse .. i'd choose the location with the earliest pick up .. i can highly recommend the Serengeti Safari ..spaces go fast so book when you first arrive.

Universal
The hotel offered a free shuttle but we never used it .. we used the free Fun Spot Bus you can flag it down on the Idrive or you can take the drivers number and call him! .. he collected us directly from our hotel each time and dropped us off see here

Sea World
Walk/i-Trolley/lynx bus

Things i recommend ..
Printing coupons from the I-Trolley website .. see here
Visiting The tourist infomation office on I-drive and getting free tickets for Howl At The Moon .. 5 minutes from hotel and guarenteed to have a good night!
Eating here at least once.

Have a great holiday!

That has basically answered a few small issues that i was worried about. Thanks merlinormartin and thanks for the recommendations
:j

cjmumto2

Smashbutt wrote: »

Hi All

Was looking to pick some brains on here on my holiday for next year.

2 ad 2 children (5 & 2) going to Orlando next March (out of school holidays).

My plan was to fly Virgin as I have 50,000 virgin airmiles, using them to either buy the tickets or get the upgrades.

Hire a car through a website and then book a villa on owners-direct.co.uk or similar and finally book my tickets through one of the firms mentioned on here to get us into the Disney parks and Universal parks.


My ball park figures are thus:

Flight Tickets £2000
Villa £1000
Car hire £300
Tickets £1000



So I reckon I'm looking at approx £4k - £4.5k.

How does this sound, I'm happy to take on ideas, suggestions or constructive criticisms

Thanks in advance


Steve B

Thats the exact figures I came up with, have booked flights with BA for £2000 for Dec, found a villa on owners direct for 15 nights £675 and car hire with Dollar is £300, We are going in Dec, the prices for park entries will change in April I think as the 14 days for the price of 7 is ending, I am hoping a better deal will come along

MileySmiley_2

LouiseJ wrote: »

Hi again everyone, after an amazing holiday in Orlando last year I am planning a family trip again next year for my big birthday (40):eek:

I have seen the villa I want to book and will be using car on the drive.

Just need to sort out flights, we will be going on 19th July 2012 so when can I expect the flights to be available to buy? Both my previous trips I have booked with a travel agent (Thomas Cook never again) and also have used a flight broker but cant remember who it was

Hi, I booked my flights and carhire with Kenwood Travel in London before Virgin had released their flights. As soon as they had released those dates I priced it up and it was about £1000 cheaper with Kenwood.
I think they have X amount of seats allocated, something like that.
Try them for a quote

LouiseJ

MileySmiley wrote: »

Hi, I booked my flights and carhire with Kenwood Travel in London before Virgin had released their flights. As soon as they had released those dates I priced it up and it was about £1000 cheaper with Kenwood.
I think they have X amount of seats allocated, something like that.
Try them for a quote

Thanks I will Miley:)

Has anyone used a flight broker for Thomas Cook flights that they would recommend?

herminator

Last month we went on Holiday to Disney with family of 5 (3 kids 2-15yo). We wanted a home rental for 2 weeks, rather than a hotel.

I am not sure how many others have a USA mailing address for online shopping, but ours has a concierge service based in Florida, thanks usaforwarding.com ! I emailed our's what we needed and they put us in contact with a realtor in the Orlando area with a list of home rentals for the Disney area.

If you have a USA address rental for your USA shopping, check their site, they may have a service to help you on questions about Disney or the USA in general.

Villa Direct is located around Disney World and they got us a nice place in Orlando for our holiday, their number is 001-877-704-1198.

I hope I helped with my first post!
Herm