Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

KarenG

poet123 wrote: »

MMmm think I might be too;) previously I have done all the component parts indivdually, but as it is a while since we went to Florida, I am am wondering if that is still the cheapest way to do things.

How do you (obviously an expert:D) plan a trip?

DIY all the way. Almost always some form of glitch or good deal presents itself, you just have to have the nerve to wait for it

I've done it through VHols four times and you do pay a premium. Luckily fir two of those four times we had Tesco vouchers which paid the majority of it, but I cant justify the extra cost for no extra benefit otherwise (there are some, V Room, DTD check in etc). Whenever I price up VHols is comes in about 25-35% more, on average, than I can get booking DIY. That said you can sometimes grab a deal with them, but not in the July school holidays

I wouldn't say I was an expert, far from it, but we've done all sorts of stays, onsite, offsite, villa, condo, cheapo hotels, with car, without car etc etc. All have pros and cons and I try not to influence with my own likes / dislikes as what suits me might not suit you but I try to point out the good the bad and the ugly :cool:

blue_monkey_2

poet, drop an email over to del (he had the first post at the top of this page), he booked mine for June 2012 but we had to change the date. I am sure he'll be able to give you a price.

If you want to see how much it wil cost, look at the Fly Drive prices on page 6/7 (I think) of the download Summer 2012 brochure on their website. Then look for a holiday of the same date and you'll see if there are any added supplements per person (such as a weekend supplement). It'll give you an idea of the cost.

robsonru

Hi all we went to Disney last year when we originally booked we booked to stay in pofq we booked a year in advance with Disney and booked flights separately before we went we had a letter off Disney asking if we would like a upgrade to either Saratoga springs or old key west we jumped at the chance and had a lovely time at ss I noticed when we received the letter another lady posted on here with the same upgrade sorry about my long post but I was wondering if this happens a lot you know Disney giving away upgrades want to book again were on a tight budget and if this happened again I would be over the moon thanks all who reply in advance

KarenG

robsonru wrote: »

Hi all we went to Disney last year when we originally booked we booked to stay in pofq we booked a year in advance with Disney and booked flights separately before we went we had a letter off Disney asking if we would like a upgrade to either Saratoga springs or old key west we jumped at the chance and had a lovely time at ss I noticed when we received the letter another lady posted on here with the same upgrade sorry about my long post but I was wondering if this happens a lot you know Disney giving away upgrades want to book again were on a tight budget and if this happened again I would be over the moon thanks all who reply in advance

Theres been no reports of it yet this year. It doesn't happen a lot, and tends to happen because Disney want it to, for some reason we may not know, rather than just a way of delighting their guests

KarenG

Sorry.... To clarify, upgrades within resorts do happen often, say you book a standard view room, you might get into a water view room reasonably often. What is extremely rare though is to be upgraded from ne resort to another.

The only other time I can remember it happened on a large scale was roughly 2002 when they closed one of the Moderates (possibly Caribbean Beach, can't remember) and shifted people across to Deluxes for very little extra money. A lot of people ended up at the Poly which is a tremendous upgrade

I definitely wouldn't count on last year being repeated, but who knows?

HedgeHunter

blue_monkey wrote: »

Does this budget include all food and tickets?

Flights and accomodation easily, but parks tickets as well? I am not sure personally. Depends on where you want to go and what you want to do really.

Think you could be right tbh. My rough estimate...

Flights £2,100
Tickets £1,100
Villa £330
car hire £200
spending money including food £2000 ?

pendle68

Hi all
just got back from my local travel agents, USAtours work out the cheapest deals for 2012.
Jan-March

Manchester to Orlando with virgin
staying at the international star
14 nights
Starts at £906 per person:beer:

for info use DIBB website:j
hope this is helpful
We got our attraction tickets from Virgin, works out cheaper.

yours pendle:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

HedgeHunter

Its a shame there a so few 10 day deals on the web.

ffotogirl

Hi everyone!

I’ve posted this in the main forum too as I have a couple of different questions that people who don’t frequent this thread might be able to help with. Hope that’s ok.

So, my boyfriend and I are thinking about going to Florida this September/October. Well, I say we’re both thinking about it… he’s not quite so keen as me as he doesn’t really like rides. I took him to Disneyland Paris last July for the first time ever in his life – he’s 30 – thinking he would love it and he screamed and swore all the way round Thunder Mountain (there were two little boys riding in the car behind us who were laughing at him!), almost had a panic attack in the queue for Indiana Jones and I’m not sure how I got him on Space Mountain but let’s just say when he eventually stopped swearing he refused point blank to go on any of the other rides with me which I was pretty disappointed with

I last went to Orlando 12 years ago when I was 14 and ever since the Harry Potter park was announced I’ve been eager to visit again. After our Paris fiasco I thought all hope was lost but then a couple of months ago I found out about the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal and despite my boyfriend’s lack of adventurous spirit he is quite keen to go. I also think that if I could just get him there he would enjoy some of the older film themed rides at Universal, Epcot and some of the family rides at Disney. It's probably out of our price range but I think he'd also love to spend a couple of days at the Hard Rock Hotel.

So… first question: Has anyone been to Halloween Horror Nights? Would you recommend it?

Second question: Has anyone been to the Orlando parks with someone who hates rides?! Did you manage to get them to loosen up and enjoy themselves or did you ride alone?

If I could go with friends I would as I do worry that we’ll go, he will hate everything and I’ll be super frustrated! But none of my friends or family can afford to go or are interested and besides, I think he’s being silly! I used to be terrified of big rides and would never go on any of them. I’ve always hated to think I was missing out on things but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Then one day in Disneyland Paris when there was absolutely no-one queuing for Indiana Jones (one of the rides I’d been most scared of for years!) I made an impulsive decision and ran on, knowing that I’d have no time to change my mind standing around in line. And I loved it! It wasn’t even half as scary as I expected and I spent the rest of the day on a mad adrenalin trip racing around between all the rides I’d previously thought I couldn’t do. If he would just give himself the same chance I reckon he’d have such an amazing time. I wouldn't be bothered if he didn't want to go on rides like the Hulk or the Rip Rocket thingamy... but I don't want him working himself up over family rides like Thunder Mountain, Jurassic Park etc.

Thirdly, and this is probably where the money saving bit comes it, because we’re thinking about going all this way to do something he’s not 100% thrilled about he thinks that spending a fortnight at theme parks in Orlando is going to be a waste of time (!) and wants to combine it with a road trip to Key West at the bottom of the Florida Keys. We love road tripping in America and are happy to drive and camp but I think it’ll be too expensive and we wont have enough time to do both in a fortnight. I reckon that even as adults you need at least 10 days in Orlando to do the Disney Parks, Universal and we’d probably want to drive out to the Kennedy Space Centre too. What do you think? It seems like two different holidays to me.

Sorry so long but any help greatly appreciated. Thank you!

poet123

As a non rider I still loved Florida, but would not have gone had we not done other things as well. I think it would be wise to go with the expectation that he will not ride with you, and also to include a week in the south, maybe on one of the barrier islands. That should suit you both.