Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

blue_monkey_2

avonstar wrote: »

Hiya, does anyone have any experiences of buying park tickets from the ticket booths located in the front of the restaurants?
Ive aways been wary but they are static sites so dont see how they could be dodgy and if there was a problem they are always there to go back to surely.

My husband has his OWN ticket and he could not get into Islands of Adventure the 2nd time we went as it would not recognise his fingerprint, they wanted to know the dates and times we had entered the parks previously - how do you do that if the ticket is not yours? I'd never risk it now.

blue_monkey_2

MsConfused wrote: »

Hi all,

Thank you for all the useful info! My husband, brother and I are thinking about going to Disneyworld this year! We're all big kids at heart. Was thinking early April, but after finding out about the free dining package, maybe May. I've never 'bought' a holiday before (only been abroad to Italy and that was all sorted by the travel agent) so am a little nervous. However, think I've got it sussed.

Hoping to stay at the French Quartet Disney Resort (did love the sound of Animal Lodge but can't really justify the extra expense), which has a discount and as I say the free quick dining package (although will upgrade to the standard package). Also the 14 day Disney ticket is the same price as a 7 day ticket when bought direct. I worked out that buying my own flight will be slightly cheaper than buying it with the hotel from Disney so think I will do that. For the three of us, I've worked it out as £4050ish. Will then buy Orlando tickets separately, and need to account for transport costs. Does all this sound about right? So excited!

Forgive me if this has been asked (I've read so much I have information overload), but how do the dining packages work? Can you eat anywhere at Disney or only at the resort? Sorry if all this sounds really naive - I'm a real travel newbie!

First off the dining plan you will get at Port Orleans French Quarter is just the counter service meals, where the plan you will get at Animal Kingdom is a counter meal and a table meal - so you'll get a better dining plan. Disney will also get you to and from the hotel and you get free transport around Disney (the place is huge).

Your 'meals' are loaded onto your room key and then you use this to pay and the meals are deducted, Yes, you can only use them in Disney resorts or parks. There are some at Downtown Disney but not many.

You say you'll be staying with your brother, you realise in these rooms you'll all be sharing a room?

Go Mid May because at the end of May the kids are off school for a week and it'll get more expensive.

Yes it is cheaper to separate your holiday and buy flights separate.

You will need to buy your hotel stay and ticket together to get the free dining package. Lots of places can book this but I have found Disney themselves the cheapest.

If you go onto Virgin Atlantic website you can play around with dates and find the cheapest dates to fly out - usually Tues, Weds or Thurs although the last time we went, and this time, Sundays were cheap too.

It is the easiest place to go to IMO, if you are nervous about driving get taxi's for this holiday - or split your stay and go stay somewhere on International drive for week 2 (still buy the 14 day ticket even if you are not staying there) so you are near to places like Universal and Seaworld.

HTH.

blue_monkey_2

Beatrice8 wrote: »

Information about the dining plan is on the Disney World website (sorry, can't post a link 'cos I'm new so MSE won't let me!) and on the same page the pdfs to the right are leaflets listing the restaurants covered. You can eat in restaurants throughout the parks and also in the other resort hotels. I suggest that you study them in detail because there are Terms and Conditions, particularly regarding how many 'credits' you need for the nicer restaurants. Also strongly suggest that if there is a particular restaurant you would like to go to you ring in advance from the UK to make the reservation as they get booked up - the reservations staff are very helpful, and when you arrive at your Disney hotel the reception staff will print off a schedule of all the reservations you've made.

Everyone has their own favourites but we loved Le Cellier in Epcot and Boma in Animal Kingdom Lodge. By the end of the holiday my son had decided that his favourite words were 'snack credit':D

Btw we stayed in French Quarter and loved it. It's very pretty. Port Orleans Resort is divided into Riverside and French Quarter, connected by a river. FQ is smaller, in fact probably the smallest of the Disney hotels. The advantages of this are that it doesn't take conventions (so no 100-strong groups of cheerleaders racing round the corridors at 3am) and it only has one bus stop, which the Disney buses go to before they go to Riverside i.e. you always get on!

I'd also recommend the Disney forums e.g. DIS Discussion Forums for lots of up-to-date info.

You cannot use Quick Service Dining credits in sit down restaurants - this is what you get at POFQ (Port Orleans French Quarter), it is counter meals only.

You can pay to upgrade your plan to the Disney Dining Plan for around £100 per person, per week, and this gives you a table service meal each day. This is why I said Animal Kingdom might be cheaper because you get a better leal plan.

Generally, Signature Restaurants (signified by an S on the restaurant details) and the Dinner Shows require 2 table service credit as payment.

Tips are still payable on your table service meals though.

tonymc

rd350lc wrote: »

hi all, real newbie florida daft question but does anybody know what airports in the midlands/ luton/ stansted fly to orlando ? what is the main airport you fly to for the theme park type holidays ? is there usually a premium on flight charges from smaller airports in the uk? thanks in advance

Birmingham would give you a few options, flying scheduled either with Continental via New York Newark, Lufthansa via Frankfurt, or Aer Lingus via Dublin. Note that you can sometimes be offered flights using a combination of Continental and Lufthansa routings as they are both part of Star Alliance i.e. out via Newark, return via Frankfurt.

You could also check for direct charter flights operated by the likes of Monarch, Thomson and Thomas Cook from Birmingham.

For direct scheduled flights, you will probably have to travel to either Manchester (flying with Virgin Atlantic) or Gatwick (VA or BA). You also have a wider variety of one-stop flights from these airports, as well as Heathrow.

It is also sometimes cheaper to fly into/out of Tampa, which is around an hours drive from Disney.

To keep tabs on flight prices, you can set up flight price alerts at www.kayak.co.uk and opt to get daily e-mails with the latest prices for any number of routes and dates.

MsConfused

Thank you blue_monkey, Beatrice8 and Del for the tips! Will revisit the dining plan a bit more closely!

blue_monkey_2

MsConfused wrote: »

Thank you blue_monkey, Beatrice8 and Del for the tips! Will revisit the dining plan a bit more closely!

It is definitely worth doing the dining plan, it is expensive to eat in Disney but it can be restrictive - I have usually had enough after a week if I am honest - and it is cheaper to eat outside of Disney. This is why we do a split stay.

If you are going to book character meals you MUST book these, they are called Advance Dining Reservations (you'll see them written as ADR's) and these can be done online 190 days before your reservation if staying at a Disney Resort. It used to be the same with all table meals but they have started to implement a $10 no show fee (you now leave card details when you book but the card is not charged unless you do not show up) and this seems to have made more bookings available. We booked 1900 Park Fayre last week for April and there were loads of slots still available.

I have heard that the food court is good at Port Orleans Riverside - it had better be as we are staying there in a few months time!!

charleion

Hi

Really in need of some advice ........

Never been to Florida but looking to take our 2 girls, 8 & 6, not sure when maybe next year. There are soooooo many choices though, Disney hotel or not, car hire or not and dining package or not lol.

We are looking at going for 2 weeks and we would like to try and get around all the parks with the odd day relaxing by the pool etc but my husband isn't keen on driving, he feels he shouldn't on his hols lol, so need to know where is best to be situated?? Also not keen on eating junkie food for 2 weeks so could do with some advise on that also.

I know it's a lot to ask but I would be really greatful if anyone could advise me

blue_monkey_2

The question is what do you want from your holiday?

For us we go to Disney for a week, get free use of the transportation and see the parks - they'll even give you a free transfer from the airport - and them we move on to somewhere around the International Drive area so we can go to Universal, Islands of Adventure, Seaworld, Busch Gardens (free bus from Seaworld), Aquatica and the shops as these are quite a way from Disney if you have no car and we paid $100 for a return taxi from our Disney hotel to Universal. If you stay in international Drive it is easier to get around and you could even walk to Universal, there is the i-ride trolley which goes up and down International Drive and then the Lynx buses too. Most of the hotels have shuttle buses (but they could take a long time if you are not the last pick up, sometimes a cab is just easier if you can afford it)

You can still stay in Disney and get free dining as long as you stay there for 5 nights or more and you buy your tickets from them. I would suggest the 14 day ultimates either way, they are just great value for money. For your 2nd week look for an apartment with a washer drier if you can (with girls, check out Holiday Inn, The Castle) http://www.thecastleorlando.com/ But this means you can get your washing done and you can travel lighter, their driers are huge and everything comes out crease free. I love it and go home with most of my washing already done with little effort. Fold and put in the case, LOL. Last time just the clothes we were standing up in were dirty!!

This time we are doing 5 nights in Disney - moving elsewhere for a week - and then going back to Disney for 2 nights, this is so we can get free transportation to and from the airport but we are not on the dining plan. A taxi from international Drive to the airport costs around $50 so not a huge amount to budget for.

We have never had a car and have managed very well, we get the i-ride, buses and taxi's - we have never spent more than £250 on transport costs either.

Start with working out your budget and going from there I'd say. It's the best time to go and the age your girls are at. The minimum height for some rides is 48" so maybe look at going when your youngest is that height else a lot of things you'll not be able to go on like the Harry Potter forbidden journey ride (yes, you can go on a lot of other things, but for the sake of a few months I would wait if I am being honest). The next level is 54" so quite a difference. We are going back this year cos DS is 48". He would have just turned and average height 8 if that helps and DD turned 9 while we was there and was tall enough.

Who needs a reason anyway, it's Florida!!

charleion

Hi Bluemonkey,

Thank you for that, just one other question ......

Do you book independently or a package?

blue_monkey_2

Now, independantly. Separate flights, hotels etc... It is really easy so do not be scared about doing it. It gives you more choices. For example (and you might want to look at these as you have girls) we are staying in the Royal Guest Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside - but they are not in the Virgin brochure and they had to come back with a price on these and it took 3 weeks just for a price and we still have not been able to pay the for water view room upgrade we want. With Disney you can.

We used Virgin because we booked an initial Fly Drive (because we was so eager to get booked and as we have a timeshare and was staying there needed no accomodation) but a few months ago I found flights that were £1600 cheaper - the exact same flights!! We was going to just cancel and lose the £700 deposit because it still would have meant we was better off but I sent a cheeky email asking if we could book a hotel/ticket/dining package instead using the £700 deposit, they said yes by mistake and still offered us dicount - and they had to honour what they had offered - so that is why we booked our hotel with VH. Otherwise it was cheaper with Disney, better room choices with Disney and more extras for booking tickets with Disney too.

You can get tickets cheaper elsewhere but the Disney ones have to be bought at the same time as your room for getting free dining.

Decide where you want to go and where you want to stay and we can give you more advice on everything else then.