Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

blue_monkey_2

KarenG wrote: »

The obvious ones are Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, and Old Key West. The reason for this is because these tend to be on offer for massive discounts, and may also offer free dining at certain times of year - which is a great saving, but NOT for everyone. My friend just got back and was deeply unhappy she had wasted (her words not mine) her once in a lifetime trip, in restaurants when she would have been happy with quick, on the hoof meals, maximing her time enjoying the rides.

Saying that, staying onsite at Disney is not for everyone, either..... I love it, but not everyone does!

I agree on the resorts, because of the discounts.

It's a shame your friend was disappointed but there are buffets. Spoonk, your son might well be happier with the buffets, this was what we did for all but one meal and he does find it difficult to wait and I am so concious of upsetting other families waiting to eat, but buffets you can be in and out in in 30 minutes if not waiting to get the characters pictures and autographs.

Thing is, I just cannot go on the rides after eating, i am so worried about being sick we do not eat until we have done the 'best' rides.

blue_monkey_2

spoonk1 wrote: »

I am now officially googled out.Have been looking at all the pages suggested and have got a base price for flights and hotel (b&b) for july 2012 the hotel, The Champions World Resort is situated just three and a half miles from the Walt Disney World Resort and offers free scheduled transportation to the Disney theme parks, Sea World and Universal Studios...Has anyone stayed here before that can offer any advice?
Flights are coming in at £1636 for the 4 of us for 2 weeks and hotel is £378.
Is this a good price or should i keep googling and maybe catch a bargain.

Spoonk, you would be able to get the flights and book Disney seperately, always the best wya to go, the price of flights is very good!!

The one thing I would suggest - when they say 'only 3 miles from Disney' it actually means the entrance and then it is another 5 minutes drive until you actually get to the Magic Kingdom!!

Have a look at the area on Google Maps and you will get an idea of just how VAST everything is. Put in Disney Ticket & Transportation Centre (T&TC) and choose directions, then choose the hotel you want to stay in and you'll get times and distances. Research a lot as some resorts would be impossible to get to and from without a car.

If you can find a resort on the 192 (south of WDW) there are buses every 30 minutes into WDW T&TC - this is where you get all the buses and monorails to all the parks. Unless you are a Disney guest you have to get a boat or monorail to the Magic Kingdom.

Again, the thing about shuttles is the limits. We stayed at the Radision and there was one shuttle a day there and one back. We decided to get Lynx buses in the end as we did not want to be watching the clock and worrying about getting back for the bus all the time.

It is very confusing, you are going to give up a month of your life looking for the right place to stay, sometimes life was better without the internet as you just picked it from a brochure and hoped for the best!!

PROUDMUMMYTOTHREE

thanks karen & blue yes i did remember someone mentioning the gay week
anyway im 40 in may :eek: so it would be fab to spend it there so i might change my dates again
ive been looking at villas and my head is battered i think we are going with the lindfields area dont quote me on that though
is this at gated off area ive never stopped in a villa just a bit wary about them being in the middle of nowhere

just checked the gay days are 29th may to 4th june 2012 so that works out fine for us

spoonk1

clairey1208 wrote: »

Hi just being cheeky & wondering which flight operator those flights are with - I'm struggling to price anything anywhere near that for 5 flights in February? thanks

Hi claire the flights where through a company called Low cost holidays.
Hope you get what your looking for. :j

clairey1208

Thanks for that I'll have a look :T

p4girl

spoonk1, I was in Orlando over Easter and, having stayed at the Champions Resort when it was the HoJo hotel six or seven years ago, I took a drive out to it.

Having had a look around I would say it's looking tired, for all it's had work done. Amenities are extremely basic, it's really quite far out and it's an 'outside door' motel type of place. Small rectangular pool. Not where I'd choose to stay.

What it did have which we liked back in 2004, was a tennis court - which has now gone - and a huge playing field at the back, where the boys (11 and 14 when we stayed there) could play football. Sadly at Easter there was a big padlock on the gate to it - looked neglected. I wouldn't recommend it.

At Easter, I stayed in the Fairfield Inn, Marriott Village at Lake Buena Vista. We got a really good price through Thomas Cook. Worth looking at - very clean, nice pool, breakfast to save the dollars and a wee eating market.

My top tip would be to check Trip Advisor before booking, as I find it to be really quite accurate if you discount the very best and very worst posts! You'd be better at the bottom of International Drive than out on the 192.

Good luck - you'll love Orlando!

ffotogirl

blue_monkey wrote: »

It is very confusing, you are going to give up a month of your life looking for the right place to stay, sometimes life was better without the internet as you just picked it from a brochure and hoped for the best!!

Blue_Monkey, you are so right! When I went with my family as a kid my Aunty arranged the whole thing over the phone! Twelve years later and thanks to the internet I have researched myself into a state of panic :eek: There are just so many hotel options and opinions differ vastly on tripadvisor. I think I trust the advice on this message board a lot more but am wary of being annoying and asking too many questions.

My boyfriend and I have decided to go in the last week of September/start of October for a fortnight and it looks like we will book flights & hotels separately. We know we want to spend 2/3 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel as a treat, either in the middle of the trip (my idea) or at the end (his more sensible idea!). I'd quite like to stay in the middle of the trip as I'll go crazy waiting to go to the Harry Potter park! Also, I'd like to mix it up throughout the trip with Disney and Universal Parks rather than Disney Disney Disney for an entire week which I think might eventually drive us insane, despite how much I love it.

To save money we only want to hire a car for a day or two (to do Kennedy Space Center) so will be relying on hotel transport. We're not sure whether Lake Buena Vista or International Drive will be the best base for us as even though lots of the hotels say they have shuttles/Lynx bus links, some of the reviews say they aren't very regular and none of the reviews mention how long the journeys are. I don't fancy a half hour bus ride every day but maybe this is inevitable? We're happy driving in America and maybe it would be more relaxing for us to drive every day but I'd like to save a few pennies somewhere! Is it stressful relying on shuttles & public transport and making it back to them in time?

I guess ideally we need a clean, modern hotel with good transport links to both parks. It needs to be near enough to Disney to be able to get a taxi back affordably should we miss the bus or want to stay longer (around $10). It also needs free breakfast with a decent-ish variety for vegetarians (sounds like a minor quibble but when we toured California in January so many hotel breakfasts had bacon bits hidden in the most unlikely places!) and be within walking distance of a few bars/restaurants/supermarkets/fun things for nightlife.

Stress!

Currently in the lead is the Hawthorne Suites at Lake Buena Vista but it looks like it might be a bit tatty... anyone stayed there?

SirAlfonso

ffotogirl wrote: »

To save money we only want to hire a car for a day or two (to do Kennedy Space Center) so will be relying on hotel transport. We're not sure whether Lake Buena Vista or International Drive will be the best base for us as even though lots of the hotels say they have shuttles/Lynx bus links, some of the reviews say they aren't very regular and none of the reviews mention how long the journeys are. I don't fancy a half hour bus ride every day but maybe this is inevitable? We're happy driving in America and maybe it would be more relaxing for us to drive every day but I'd like to save a few pennies somewhere! Is it stressful relying on shuttles & public transport and making it back to them in time?

Sorry i can't help with your hotel choice but just wondered how much you will save by only hiring a car for a couple of days rather than the whole time?
The issue with car hire is normally that people don't want to drive out there. If you guys will be hotel hopping you'd need a taxi for the moving days, on top of the cost of the buses for 2 weeks. Standard car hire can be had for around £200 insured for 2 weeks. I'm not sure it's worth saving literally a couple of pennies to lose out on the freedom the car brings.

spoonk1

Just checking again...Does all the wdw resort hotels offer the free airport transfer?
A lot of sites say its for all disney hotels but quite a few dont mention transfer on the disney bus from and to the airport.
do you generally book a year in advance or do you save the money and book closer to the time?
Asking this because to fly out on 1 june 2011 for four of us and staying at the disney's all star sports resort for 2 weeks is costing a total of £2084,if the free disney bus is not included in this hotel it's only an extra £112 for the 4 of us return.
What is the best park tickets to buy? we would like to do as many parks as possible during our 2 week stay shopping is NOT an essential,im more excited about getting to the parks than the kids so we will probably be in the parks every day maybe keep one day/evening for the shopping.
AAAAARRRGGGHH i should have started my wdw research 2 years ago.

jackieblack

ffotogirl wrote: »

Currently in the lead is the Hawthorne Suites at Lake Buena Vista but it looks like it might be a bit tatty... anyone stayed there?

My brother and his family stayed there a couple of weeks ago (Easter), I'll check with him.