Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

charleion

Have just looked at the hotels you suggested and they look lovely, also love the idea of staying 1 week at 1 hotel then moving on to another. Can I ask who do you fly with?

PROUDMUMMYTOTHREE

hi guys back again im planning on booking out flights tonight with thomson weve booked a villa through the dibb :j
but im not sure what insurance i need and how much i should be spending for good cover can i get insurance to cover the flights and villa on top of the normal stuff

blue_monkey_2

charleion wrote: »

Have just looked at the hotels you suggested and they look lovely, also love the idea of staying 1 week at 1 hotel then moving on to another. Can I ask who do you fly with?

Of course. Always Virgin to date, however, it has got to the point where it will come down to price for the future.

We always fly direct though because we have a child with autism and it would be difficult to cope with the changes over there. Some people do it, so do not. We was speaking to one guy last time who strangely, came from just down the road from us, and he had flown via Chicago and there was bad weather and so no internal flights for 2 days and he lost 2 days of his holiday.

I have got a Virgin Atlantic Credit Card now and they have loads of ways of getting bonus miles - we saved £800 on 4 flights using miles and money and now I have enough miles for another miles and money flight for us. So while I can get those we'll be flying with Virgin.

Princess30

Hi,

Hope it's ok to ask a few questions.

i'm hoping to go to Disney World in Oct this year but haven't booked anything yet. i've been looking at staying at Port Orleans French Quarters and just wondered if anyone had stayed here and would recommend it.

Does anyone know if we upgrade the dinning plan to the medium one with 1 table service, 1 quick service and 1 snack per day if we can exchange the table service for a quick counter meal if we decided that we only wanted to have a meal out once or twice a week. We're hoping to just do as much parks and things as we can and just have a few nice meals rather than having a decent meal everynight. (hope this makes sense as i'm prone to waffling).

One last question (for now anyway) do you think it would be ok to just do Disney on this trip as we're planning on going back in 2014 or do you think we'll regret not doing things like Universal. There will be me, dh, ds (9), dd (5) and hopefully my niece and mum and dad going.

Thanks in advance.

Stoffy

Princess30 wrote: »

Hi,

Hope it's ok to ask a few questions.

i'm hoping to go to Disney World in Oct this year but haven't booked anything yet. i've been looking at staying at Port Orleans French Quarters and just wondered if anyone had stayed here and would recommend it.

Does anyone know if we upgrade the dinning plan to the medium one with 1 table service, 1 quick service and 1 snack per day if we can exchange the table service for a quick counter meal if we decided that we only wanted to have a meal out once or twice a week. We're hoping to just do as much parks and things as we can and just have a few nice meals rather than having a decent meal everynight. (hope this makes sense as i'm prone to waffling).

One last question (for now anyway) do you think it would be ok to just do Disney on this trip as we're planning on going back in 2014 or do you think we'll regret not doing things like Universal. There will be me, dh, ds (9), dd (5) and hopefully my niece and mum and dad going.

Thanks in advance.

I have been to Orlando 3 times in the past 9 years and have never stayed in a Disney hotel as there is so much more to Orlando than Disneyworld. Personally I couldn't go to Florida and not go to either of the 2 Universal Parks but this depends entirely what you want from your visit. For example, The Harry Potter world is in Islands of Adventure in the Universal Resort. If your kids like Harry Potter (like most do) I would highly recommend visiting. Other attractions such as The Simpsons ride, spiderman ride, Jurassic Park & the hulk ride to me are truely unmissable. The best thing I could advise is to look at what Universal offers you and your family, visit the websites, look around the park maps and see if theres anything that you wouldn't want to miss out on.

And if you're going in October you must attend a night at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. It was the highlight of my last visit but is not really suitable for young children. If you and your OH fancy a night out and your parents are willing to look after the children I guarantee this is an excellent night out. There are plenty of youtube videos and their official website will give you more info as to what to expect.

In regards to hotels, I stayed in this one on my last visit:

http://www.clarionlbv.com/

The location is superb and offers free regular, scheduled shuttle buses to all parks. It wasn't 5 star luxury but if you're like me, hotels in Orlando are just somewhere to dump your stuff and sleep. This hotel was clean, had cable TV, pool, bar, excellent bathroom facilities and only a short walk away from numerous restaurants. Loads of Orlando hotels offer this service however I couldn't fault this hotels time schedules. Plus, parking in theme parks is approx $15 per day so will eat into your spending money if you're driving.

Hopefully this gives you a bit more info and advise. If you want to know anything else in particular please feel free to comment back. As I said, I have pretty much done everything Orlando has to offer and will help the best I can.

blue_monkey_2

To be fair, she has a 5 year old and there is not much a 5yo can do in IOA/Universal that are out of this world and all the rides you have mentioned are for over 42", the OP's daughter is too small for. In fact we were done round both parks in less than a day when we went when they were that age, some people prefer what Disney has to offer because there is more for little ones to see and do.

However, it gets very expensive to be stuck in Disney and, unless getting a free dining plan - it is expensive to eat there. The foods is pretty 'samey' as well and we are usually bored after a wee.. It is hard to get out without a car, but we get cabs when we stay there. I nearly fell over at almost $8 for ST's in OKW though and it was not worth going out to get them as we had no car, so I paid it, but they were expensive and needs must and all that. I'd always recommend a split stay and stay in Disney for a week (make this the first week), if you can get free dining all the better - and International Drive for week 2 so you can do everything that end.

Seaworld is a must for little ones. Busch Gardens there are lots of big rides too, nothing there you cannot see at Animal Kingdom so we never bothered whwne we had small kids.

We don't do crappy hotels to be fair, we have to have a decent standard even though we are just sleeping there.

Halloween Horror Nights is absolutely not for the faint hearted so it is not a must do for everyone, we would never go as we do not like horror (and someone on here said they were chased with a chainsaw in the dark!!) so it is not a must do and people should be aware of what it is all about, some people (like us) prefer Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party as it is something for all the family to attend and the kids can dress up.

Stoffy

Seaworld is a must for little ones. Busch Gardens there are lots of big rides too, nothing there you cannot see at Animal Kingdom so we never bothered whwne we had small kids..

We went to Busch gardens for the 1st time this year. I agree, not much to it if I'm being honest. Definately not worth the 5 hour round trip to get there and back either and not really "kid friendly". Seaworld is tremendous though!

We don't do crappy hotels to be fair, we have to have a decent standard even though we are just sleeping there.

The hotel I mentioned above was far from crappy. I mentioned it as I had a great stay there with absolutely no complaints. It was classed as a "low budget" hotel & I too generally choose to pay a bit more for my hotel but when I initially booked this one the offer was too good to turn down so I thought I'd give it a whirl. If you are on a budget I couldn't fault this one however there are many, many more like it. Funnily enough when we booked this hotel it was called Comfort Inn as it was when we arrived. Halfway through our holiday we went out for the day only to come back and all the signs had changed to Clarion Inn. Bit wierd but the standard seemed to be better even though it was just the name that changed.

I find that because there are so many hotels to pick and choose from in Orlando you would struggle to find a really bad one (although I'm not saying there aren't any) as they are all in competition for your business. Obviously the Disney ones are a lot more taylored to kids and add to the whole Disney experience.

Halloween Horror Nights is absolutely not for the faint hearted so it is not a must do for everyone, we would never go as we do not like horror (and someone on here said they were chased with a chainsaw in the dark!!) so it is not a must do and people should be aware of what it is all about, some people (like us) prefer Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party as it is something for all the family to attend and the kids can dress up.

Yes, we also had people chasing us with fake chainsaws. The atmosphere is amazing to be honest but as I said, definately not for small children. Universal City walks is only round the corner as well if your are on a night out to go for a few drinks. I agree with the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party though. While I preferred Universals halloween night the Disney one was also fantastic and a must do for families if you travel in October.

blue_monkey_2

Is the Clarion the one where people can walk from the street around your rooms as they are not fencing in or anything? The shuttle bus Virgin put us on went into the Comfort Inn I think it was, and it was like that - it seemed a bit odd for me.

I'll be honest, we are hotel snobs now but you can get somewhere decent for £100 a night - but to be honest we look for apartments where we can so we do not have to creep around and I am usually washing/drying clothes when the kids are in bed. I found The Castle on ID when looking - which looks amazing but more for girls I'd guess. We have a timeshare that we bank and pull weeks out of the bank, last time we got Animal Kingdom Villas, but we only stay in 5* resorts and pay about £150 a week for that, best thing we ever bought. And we are staying our last 2 nights in Bay Lake Tower this time. I cannot see the point of paying all that money on parks and tickets to slum it in a cheap and nasty hotel but I know I am not in the majority. I am a snob, I'll admit that, I'll make do but I would rather not if I can help it. We will pay more money to have better accomodation. The other one someone stayed in was The Point Orlando, we looked at that too but have a townhouse instead now, pay for a timeshare, might as well use it, it's a new one so that'll be interesting.

The bus went to Busch and it only took an hour from Seaworld there and an hour back and they put a DVD on for the kids. Memory of this was the couple at the front moaning all the way home about there being cartoons on the TV when the bloke wanted to watch the news, then his wife started rubbing his back cos he had the hump. LMFAO. But, if you have the 3 park ticket, the bus is free, otherwise it is $10 return and it collects from Seaworld - you can book it online before you go. It was very quiet the day we went, they do have the sesame street area but it's a long way to go just for that.

I have to say though, Animal Kingdom, Old Key West and Saratoga Springs are not really resorts that are 'Disneyfied' so are not really just for kids. We are staying in the new Royal Guest Rooms - now that IS what Disney is all about, LOL, and we are soooooo looking forward to it. It's not as 'posh' as we are used to but it would not be the same without staying at Disney and the rooms look amazing, otherwise it would be Bay Lake Tower, Beach Club or Boardwalk Villas - just the little things like Extra Magic Hours and bring able to get the buses round the resorts and from the airport.

northwest1965

Princess30 wrote: »

There will be me, dh, ds (9), dd (5) and hopefully my niece and mum and dad going.

Thanks in advance.

Have you given any thought to a villa as there are quite a few of you?

meer53

northwest1965 wrote: »

Have you given any thought to a villa as there are quite a few of you?

This is a good recommendation. Personally, i wouldn't want to be in a hotel there if i had young(ish) children with me. A villa gives you far more flexibility than a hotel room, especially in the evenings. I also wouldn't want to not hire a car, there is so much to do outside the parks and having a car means your time is your own.
We've had fabulous villas every time we've been and now, i wouldn't be interested in staying in a hotel, not even a Disney one. I'd rather spend the money i save on hiring a villa and car.

With small children (we started going when my daughter was 3) in a villa, it's lovely to be able to chill out in the mornings, have a swim, having a late breakfast, then going to the parks, you're not restricted to meal times and can cook if you like, or not ! At night, coming back absolutely shattered, you can relax, order a takeaway (or cook !) and the kids can play in the pool whilst you sip your G & T in the jacuzzi ! You can even sit there in you PJ's if you like, not recommended in a Hotel bar !

There are lots of cheap places to eat everywhere but we found that after a big brunch, we were ok with a snack to take us through until we got back to the villa. We did eat out some evenings, The Cheesecake Factory was our favourite, but Outbacks and Cracker Barrell were good value too (cheaper than CF)

My daughter loves Universal and IOA as much as Disney, (she's 11 now) if you can fit them both in, it's worth it. We did Busch Gardens but we weren't impressed really, the rides are very big and i feel Animal Kingdom is much better.

My own personal opinion of the International Drive area is that it's fine if you're just looking for a bed in a room (parts of it are very dodgy) and if you have a tight budget then choose your accomodation wisely, but i would avoid it if i could. There are so many cheap villas available to book that if there are more than 4 of you going, i wouldn't hesitate in choosing a villa over a hotel. The Disney hotels are fabulous, thats not in dispute but they're just not for me. Disney can be a bit overwhelming, it's like being brainwashed when you're there, going back to your own fabulous house each evening gives you a bit of normality every day !