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Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)
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hi,
I am looking to book florida for late sept/oct for 2 adults and 1 child (13) however my son has autism so we dont want to be cooked up in one bedroom, we dont want to hire a car so we have been advised by travel agents that Internation drive would be more suitable not having ever been there before I dont know, I have asked the travel agent for an apartment style accomodation with separate bedroom/kitchen mainly because my son doesnt really sleep well at night so sometimes one of us needs to sit up with him, the travel agents have offered westgate palace, but reviews are not that great and wifi is extra, cleaning extra which increases the budget when you get there.
Any ideas on decent accomodation
thanks0 -
hi,
I am looking to book florida for late sept/oct for 2 adults and 1 child (13) however my son has autism so we dont want to be cooked up in one bedroom, we dont want to hire a car so we have been advised by travel agents that Internation drive would be more suitable not having ever been there before I dont know, I have asked the travel agent for an apartment style accomodation with separate bedroom/kitchen mainly because my son doesnt really sleep well at night so sometimes one of us needs to sit up with him, the travel agents have offered westgate palace, but reviews are not that great and wifi is extra, cleaning extra which increases the budget when you get there.
Any ideas on decent accomodation
thanks
I would possibly look at lake Buena Vista. You have Staybridge suites and Homewood and Embassy. You wont need a car there, I'm sure all have shuttles. I wouldnt stay on I Drive, its too far away for meLoved our trip to the West Coast USA. Death Valley is the place to go!0 -
northwest1965 wrote: »I would possibly look at lake Buena Vista. You have Staybridge suites and Homewood and Embassy. You wont need a car there, I'm sure all have shuttles. I wouldnt stay on I Drive, its too far away for me0
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Hi this was the accomodation I looked but thomas cook said they couldnt do this accomodation and offered westgate but I must say I was impressed with lake eve it ticked all the boxes for us, does it have free wi fi.
ps thanks for taking the time to reply, my head is spinning it is such alot of money to spend and you want to get it right.0 -
Thanks everyone for you're help. I think I've got lots of you tubing to do.
I did think of a villa but really don't feel confident about driving there with it being our first time in the USA.
If anyone knows of an area where there are villas but near bus routes that would be great.
Thanks again0 -
Princess30 wrote: »Thanks everyone for you're help. I think I've got lots of you tubing to do.
I did think of a villa but really don't feel confident about driving there with it being our first time in the USA.
If anyone knows of an area where there are villas but near bus routes that would be great.
Thanks again
Driving over there is a doddle ! You won't have any problems, it's a pain using buses over there, the bus service doesn't run quite the same way as here ! The villas that are further out from Disney (the ones off H27 for example) aren't on bus routes, if you're looking at using buses, i'd go for the hotels on I Drive, but personally, i would never stay on I Drive.
There will be some villa communities nearer bus routes, someone will be along shortly with info if there are. But a lot of the villa communities are HUGE, you may end up with a very long walk just to reach the bus stop.0 -
Right everything booked and ready to go!
We have, Flights, Hotel (bed & breakfast), Insurance, Visa thingys, Disney/Universal/Seaworld tix, $800 cash, around $2800 on mastercard plus a backup mastercard (pre-paid) and we're getting transfers at the airport. Have I forgotten anything? Do we have enough money?
We're spending two weeks there and theres two of us (adults) going. We are big children though, and we will be shopping.0 -
Meer we have this discussion a lot and it has to be personal choice and if you are not a confident driver there is no need to let it spoil your holiday, not everyone is a confident driver and personally, it would add stress to my holiday worrying about driving so we prefer to let others drive for us.
Likewise with a villa, I do not go on holiday to cook and do housework because I do enough of that here - because inevitably a 4 bedroom villa is going to need tidying. I like going to the parks and coming back and finding someone has made my bed, cleaned the toothpaste from the sink and emptied the bin!! If you get a villa you NEED a car.
Princess30 - we have never driven and it's never been an issue, shopping, days out, you can get around easily enough. We are going again at Easter, will be our 5th trip, and this is the first time ever we have had a car. We thought we would give it a try but we have also booked a coach trip to the Crystal River. The best resort we stayed at was the Radisson at Parkway - it is on the 192 and there were buses that came along every 15 mins and it was the last stop before Disney Transportation Centre which is the Disney Car Park. They run late too, and if you need a cab there is always a cab around to take you somewhere. The other bus also goes to the huge Walmart and there are restaurants all the way along. A weekly ticket costs $16 and kids under 12 travel free.
We are getting a car this time because we are staying in our timeshare resort but we have spent as much on a car for 9 days, than we ever did on cabs and bus fares for 2 weeks.
Driving is not for everyone, if someone does not want to drive they should not be made to feel that it is difficult to get around.
We have stayed at Hilton GrandVacation Club at Seaworld, not on I-drive but a $10 taxi ride to get wherever we wanted, and they have their own taxi co on site too. Also the i-ride and lynx buses are outside, Seaworld/Aquatica is walking distance and the Busch Gardens bus runs from Seaworld (free if you have a 3 day park ticket).
We stay in Disney a lot but we have stayed elsewhere, 4 Points - was not overwhelmed with that.
If you want to stay in Disney cheaper you can buy points off DVC members who have spare points and you get to stay in the Disney Deluxe Accomodation cheap but there is no dining plan. If you go in January you can stay in Bay Lake Tower Studio overlooking the MK fireworks which is a 3 minute walk to the gates of the Magic Kingdom, for £60 a night. We have paid a little more than that, but not much more, and we are going peak season, and they take us back to the airport for free as well for that price. It means on our last day we just walk over the MK and back again, get our luggage and get on the bus and go home. Simples. PM me if you want the info on where we got ours from.
I don't like the way that on these forums posters are made to feel like inferior if they do not want to drive on holiday and more or less being pushed to take a car - this could be for a whole host of reasons, including the person going already driving for living and wanting a break from it. They might not even be able to drive. Driving is a doddle but only if you are a confident driver and some people are not. My husband is a confident driver but he has never been interested in driving either. I won't even drive in France when we go. A taxi will cost the same as driving for the day (maybe less), there are no parking charges to pay at $15 a time and no road tolls either, there are also plenty of coach trips available if you want to go out for the day elsewhere too.0 -
Right everything booked and ready to go!
We have, Flights, Hotel (bed & breakfast), Insurance, Visa thingys, Disney/Universal/Seaworld tix, $800 cash, around $2800 on mastercard plus a backup mastercard (pre-paid) and we're getting transfers at the airport. Have I forgotten anything? Do we have enough money?
We're spending two weeks there and theres two of us (adults) going. We are big children though, and we will be shopping.
When are you going?? That's plenty enough money - we have never spent that much with 4 of us but it depends if you really want to shop.
How are you getting to the airport, do you need overnight accomodation and parking? Holiday Inn do a package for £119 plus 11% cashback on Quidco - cheapest we found for 15 nights and I did a lot of looking!! Airport lounge? We are not having breakfast there but going into the V-room and they do breakfast there. The nervous excitement means I do not eat much anyway.0 -
Im still ummming and arrring over wether to hire a car or not. It would be OH driving not me, im definately not brave enough for that. This holiday was just a last minute thing (going feb 14th) and it keeps adding up and up and car hire over there seems quite steep - plus we would need to hire a baby seat per day too. I would need to also either hire a satnav or update mine to the us version - more money spent. Or is it completely unreasonable to expect to taxi everywhere instead of drive ourselves? The hotel has a shuttle to the disney parks so we would be taxi-ing to hotel from airport, and vise versa. Sea world, Aquatica and then the malls and supermarkets. Does anyone know if i'd need a baby's car seat in a us taxi? I know they're quite strict out here but not sure about the US. Really cant think of anyway we could lug around a huge car seat around with us.
blue_money just saw you have stayed in the Radisson before, thats where we have booked! Is it near to any good malls or food shopping places do you know?0
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