Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

jackieblack

stationairy wrote: »

a bit of help please as all the information is a bit overwhelming

i am looking to go to wrestlemania next year which is in Miami
but am wanting to also do Orlando

now i am wanting go for 3 weeks and was wondering will it be cheaper to do Orlando first then go down to Miami or the other way around
i am thinking probably 5 days in Miami and the rest in Orlando

second question looking at flights is there really a best time to buy depending what answer to question 1 is we will either be going middle of march or beginning of April, is it best to buy now or maybe wait till its closer maybe nearer November

and third and final question we are not wanting to drive so i read if you stay on i-drive thats probably the best location without a car but can anyone recommend a nice but real cheap hotel which offers shuttles to the parks

big thanks in advance

stationairy wrote: »

anyone help

I wouldn't have thought it would matter which way around you do it pricewise, but I've heard that immigration/customs can be more of a headache at Miami than Orlando.

Prices are likely to be higher from the end of March as Easter is 8th April 2012 and prices will shoot up around/just before the school holidays (usually the week before + week after) so I would go mid-March rather than early April.

As to when to buy....... when you find a price you're happy with (then stop looking ).
If you leave it until November you risk maybe not being able to find the flights you want at the price you want (bear in mind Virgin Holidays started selling for Easter 2012 in November 2010 and flights for school holiday dates will be rammed).

You have two choices:
Book sooner rather than later - worst case scenario you could have saved a few £
Leave it until November - worst case scenario you end up paying £££££ or not getting the flights you want

only you know which of those two you're more comfortable with

stationairy

jackieblack wrote: »

I wouldn't have thought it would matter which way around you do it pricewise, but I've heard that immigration/customs can be more of a headache at Miami than Orlando.

Prices are likely to be higher from the end of March as Easter is 8th April 2012 and prices will shoot up around/just before the school holidays (usually the week before + week after) so I would go mid-March rather than early April.

As to when to buy....... when you find a price you're happy with (then stop looking ).
If you leave it until November you risk maybe not being able to find the flights you want at the price you want (bear in mind Virgin Holidays started selling for Easter 2012 in November 2010 and flights for school holiday dates will be rammed).

You have two choices:
Book sooner rather than later - worst case scenario you could have saved a few £
Leave it until November - worst case scenario you end up paying £££££ or not getting the flights you want

only you know which of those two you're more comfortable with

big thanks for your reply

stationairy

stationairy wrote: »

a bit of help please as all the information is a bit overwhelming

i am looking to go to wrestlemania next year which is in Miami
but am wanting to also do Orlando

we are not wanting to drive so i read if you stay on i-drive thats probably the best location without a car but can anyone recommend a nice but real cheap hotel which offers shuttles to the parks

big thanks in advance

ammended as already had some real helpful stuff

Paddywack41

cheesypuff wrote: »

Hi

Hoping someone on here might be able to help, we are trying to plan our seconf trip for Oct 2012, the first time we went we stayed in a hotel in Int Drive, but this time we would prefer a villa. We have priced flights coming in around £2700 for 4 adults and 2 kids. The trouble is I dont know where to start finding a villa can anyone recommend any sites etc.... What areas are best to stay in villa accomodation Kissimee, LBV?? Anyone any ideas how much we could get a decent villa for, for 2 wks.

Many Thanks

We have been to Florida many times now and until the kids reached that certain age we have always stayed in Hotels. This year however with the kids 17 and 11 we decided for privacy sake it would be better to hire a villa. Now up to this point i had always figured villas where expensive and more suited for when there was a large family going. On searching the net however i have now found out that there are some seriously good bargains to be had.

Personally i have used the HomeAway site. Yes there have been complaints about it if you search the web but the majority seem to be from villa owners and with a company of their size you are always going to get a number of complaints.

My method of grabbing a bargain was simply to decide roughly where i wanted to go and what i needed/wanted in the villa. In our case we wanted 3 bedrooms and a pool. I looked up prices and availability and if within the availability was there and the prices werent to extreme I emailed the owners. It might take a bit of time but it is worth doing a wide range of emails as when they come back you will find that some are no longer available but you may find out others are cheaper than you thought or if you book within a few days they will knock some money off. We managed to get our 3 bed with pool in kissimme area in April for 10 days for the £500 and to be honest there was no hassle at all and the villa was excellent value for money. We have now decided to go back in July and have gone for a 4 bedroom villa with pool which we have gotten for 14 days for 750 which i think is an excellent price. I probably had around 30 emails from owners with prices ranging from 900 - 1800 quid but i persevered and in the end a bargain came up.

Paddywack41

Going back to Orlando in July and normally we take a set of the cheap two way radios that can be purchased in Walmart when we go to the parks.

Now while the are ok there is that many people using them that they are almost impossible to get through to your party using them. This time I am thinking of buying a couple of mobile phones in Walmart and was wondering if anyone has any idea as to the best offers and what is the best sim to buy to use out there.

gemnjordsnjades

Hi everyone! Ive read quite a lot of this thread and learnt that there are loads of Disneyworld experts on here so Im hoping for a bit of advice please for our 1st Disneyworld holiday.

We have no fixed date so would welcome suggestions on the best months to go. We would prefer to go during term time as I imagine this would be cheaper and the queues for the rides would be shorter. We would prefer to go during warm weather really to get a few days relaxing by the pool inbetween the theme parks.

There will be myself (adult), DD age10 and DD age2. I am hoping to persuade a friend to come with us but if she cant come does anyone have experience going as a group of 3? Would my 10yo DD still enjoy the rides if she had to go on alone? (obviously DD2 would be too small for them) Are there rides for both ages to enjoy together?

Thanks for reading and TIA for any advice.
Gemma

jackieblack

Paddywack41 wrote: »

Going back to Orlando in July and normally we take a set of the cheap two way radios that can be purchased in Walmart when we go to the parks.

Now while the are ok there is that many people using them that they are almost impossible to get through to your party using them. This time I am thinking of buying a couple of mobile phones in Walmart and was wondering if anyone has any idea as to the best offers and what is the best sim to buy to use out there.

We've bought these before

Dollymixture

Hi. I'm after a little help and advice please! Lots of Q's!

I'm looking into the best way to take our family to Florida/Disney World. It'll be my husband and I and our 4 kids, who'll be around 10,7,6 and 2. Our eldest child is autistic. Obviously we want to make it as magical and exciting as possible, but as stress free as we can. We have not taken them away further than Dublin before!

We're looking at either October 2012 or possible the February after that. Is one of these months better than the other in terms of crowds, weather and prices? We'll be going for three weeks, including the half term week and then two weeks out of term time.

After a bit of research, i am thinking that possibly a private rented villa and car rental would be our best option as we really need more space than a hotel room. However i am worried that staying off site might make the experience less magical for the kids. Any opinions on this?

Our other option is possibly a week or two weeks staying in Disney accommodation and then the remainder in a villa, maybe by the coast. Does anyone know how long it takes to get to the beaches from the Disney area by car?
Could anyone recommend which disney accom will be big and spacious enough for us all?

Also, i know that booking everything separately works out cheaper than a package, but i'm worried about if part of it falls through, and are you protected in the same way as booking a package holiday with an atol? Is it risky booking a private villa? (i hope what i'm saying makes sense as i haven't had a holiday abroad for many years!)

Re: flights - am i right in thinking Virgin atlantic are the best? How about British airways? How far in advance can you book?

We have a budget of around £8k although could stretch to £10k.. but of course the moneysaver in me wants to get the best deal possible for the lowest amount of money! This is to cover accom, flights, car rental, insurance and tickets. Is this doable?

Many thanks!

blue_monkey_2

Hiya Dolly. My son is autistic too, I have to say that there is SO much to do we tend not to have so many meltdowns - as long as the day goes how he wants it. We plan, plan, plan everything and let him know where we are going. it's a bit easier now as we have been before and so he knows what to expect but you can now find everything - even 'sit' on the rides - on youtube so your son will know what is coming and this is so helpful for us.

We always fly with Virgin as they let you sit in quiet areas of the plane - you book the tickets then call special assistance and tell them and you'll get the seating. I've not flown with anyone else.

We only ever stay in apartments and onsite we choose apartments (they call them Deluxe Villas) because it gis us more space. If you time it right you'll get free dining so that will help with the cost of the stay. You would need a 2 bed though and they are pricey. I am not sure there are onsite rooms for 6 people, generally it tends to be 4. It depends on how you would feel having a pool too as most villas havepools, ther eis no way I could ever relax knowing there was a pool in the property as my son would want to be in it all the time and has no fear so it would be a worry for me.

I guess you have a blue badge, it does not make parking free in the parks, that is $16 a day, so staying insite means we have the transportation there. We take my son's Elite Major too which is a great help when it all gets a bit much for him and he sits in that.

There is another way of getting a cheaper apartment and that is to buy people's DVC points, they will book a holiday for you. As with anything, there is risk though as you cannot put this on your credit card. Have a look here and look an on the all you need to know thread: http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166 but this is a great way of getting DVC properties cheap - however, no free dining.

You'll not be able to get special offer prices for October '12 yet, the properties will not be released til Jan-Mar 12. I've looked for next April and they are not showing so it'll be a few more months yet. However, Old Key West and Saratoga Springs usually have 40% off and free dining so it is a really good deal. IIRC it's around £1700 for a 2 bed, sleeps 4-8, and this also get's you free food in Disney the times you want to go - easily worth £1200 a week for the 6 of you. You*may* be able to get the 5 of you into a one bed - which is cheaper - as they have a double and single seater sleeper in the lounge area as well as he one bedroom - because your little one could go into a pack up crib but this is not something you could book on their website, you need to speak to them about this.

Hope that helps somewhat.

SnowBelle_2

Dollymixture,
Hi hopefully I can help you with a few things...
First of all as you probably know Disney consists of a number of parks all with different themes and some water parks also there is universal studios,islands of adventure,Seaworld,discovery cove and Busch gardens.
Have a look at some of their websites and think about which you think maybe suitable for your children i:e some have smaller rides,some are geared towards teenagers some have more sensory experiances eg;Feeding dolphins at seaworld.
Ticket prices vary greatly you can do a couple of days or buy a pack,such as ultimate which covers most of the parks.
Some people go mad and rush around trying to do it all,I appreciate that your eldest child may be sensitive to rushing about too much, and it's important to fit in rest days.
We have been five times and sometimes some children you see are just so worn out they can get quite distressed and it's sad that they just seem to be over pushed by their parents.

October is a really nice time to go as it's not too hot and the humidity is lower,also the parks will be decorated for Halloween which is pretty spectacular or spooktacular as they say!

I have not been February but I think it still maybe chilly then.

DIY v Travel agent= DIY can be time consuming but you can get decent deals
Lots of people rave about Virgin Atlantic..but I have read on another forum that their prices for next year are coming out pretty high and they definately are not at the standard they used to be a few years ago.
We have travelled with Thomsons,British airways,Monarch and indirect via Canada..but Im sure that's not really for you,(Indirect I mean)
In my opinion BA were about the best..we flew in to Tampa with them as well you can go onto www.seatguru.com or www.airlinequality.net to find out reviews on planes and the best seating arrangements.
hertz and Dollar a very good for car rentals..check out their websites for car types and prices
Many people recommend villas and as there are six of you it would possibly be a very good idea as you can all feel relaxed,most of them also have pools or clubhouses for your children and you can come and go and cook as you please.
Brits guide to Florida is very helpful for referance also www.thedibb.co.uk is handy for answers to your questions.
I have used www.orlandoattractions.com for tickets they are very good and come highly recommended.
The beaches on the Gulf coast...clearwater and st'petes are lovely but a three or four days should be plenty especially later in the year...you could probably find an apartment to stay in some of the motels have 'effincencies' which are fridge,cooker and small dining areas.
You could then go to Busch gardens for a day on the way back up to Orlando...it takes about 2hours to get to the coast driving steadily and depending on traffic.
8k should be plenty to cover your holiday,Im sure you know travelling during half term will push it up a bit.
Using a travel agent can give you the option to pay bits off at a time..wheras DIY can mean you have to pay all upfront.
pop into some of your local Travel agents and get some quotes...don't let them give you the old 'book now or it will be gone story though' as there are usually plenty to choose from.
Also price up Thomsons, and Thomas Cook online to get some ideas.
Don't forget to budget for ESTA( online visa applications for the US,Now compulsory for all travellers) it costs $14 per traveller and you need to apply for this before you book anywhere as it gives you the right to enter the USA as a visitor.
Also get the best travel insurance you can afford..knowing how expensive the US is for any healthcare.
Booking a holiday to Florida can be a bit of legwork...but when you and your kids get their first glimpse of the castle at Magic Kingdom it will all be worth it!
Happy Planning,
Clare x