Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

Bonnie_dog

sogs wrote: »

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.

hi sogs we are going in June and are staying at the Floridays resort, it has transfers to all the Parks and an itrolley stop outside

[Deleted User]

jjp666 wrote: »

Hi, my wife and I are going to Orlando in June for about ten days.
After searching for flights it would appear that BA and Virgin are the same basic price (£1080). We have flown to the states with BA before but never with Virgin. Is there any significant difference between them ?
Also my wife is not a good flier so we usually book our seats early with BA so that we are in a pair at the back of the plane. Can I do the same With Virgin as I can only see information about extra leg room seats (though this is welcome as I am 6'4".

I've only ever flown with Virgin to USA and will do again in November. I don't trust BA after all the strikes and uncertainty for passengers. We've always requested our seats at booking and have generally got the ones we want.

blue_monkey_2

jjp666 wrote: »

Hi, my wife and I are going to Orlando in June for about ten days.
After searching for flights it would appear that BA and Virgin are the same basic price (£1080). We have flown to the states with BA before but never with Virgin. Is there any significant difference between them ?
Also my wife is not a good flier so we usually book our seats early with BA so that we are in a pair at the back of the plane. Can I do the same With Virgin as I can only see information about extra leg room seats (though this is welcome as I am 6'4".

Those are extra legroom seats on Virgin but you have to pay £20 each way for them, you cannot choose them online, you have to call.

nuttyp

to avoid any problems with taxi's we only use mear's taxi. We personally dont drive OH is a courier driver so wants to relax....... never had any major problems, and tbh its a bit of fun catching buses and possibly goin the wrong way lol. It is entirely up to each person, but its not a total must to have a car.

We also try and use dining coupons found in the local shops in booklets. Altho we are lucky to be able to go, i still try and be cautious with money - and that isnt a bad thing.

Stoffy

lucie707 wrote: »

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?

Personally we have never hired a car. We have never found the need and the cost does certainly cost more than we've ever spent on transport. We always book a hotel which offers free shuttles to & from all the theme parks. This way you don't have the hassle of driving, petrol prices (although this is very cheap compared to here), parking costs which do add up to be quite expensive and also you don't have to worry about any extra's i.e. car seat, sat-nav ect. If your going to Orlando solely for the Theme parks, this is the way I'd always advise to go. Not everyone will agree but hiring a car is really unnecessary IMO.

Plus as Orlando is known for its tourism, getting around really is easy. There are regular lynx buses which only cost $2 per adult per trip but you can also get day tickets (not sure how much these are). If you stay anywhere near International drive there is also the Iride trolley which is fast, cheap and takes you to all the places up & down International drive.

The last time we went (2010) we priced a car and came to the conclusion that it was simply uneconomical. We looked at paying approx £380 for a 3 week trip, plus petrol, plus the hired Sat Nav plus approx $15 per day to park at each theme park. I think we judged the car to be around about the £650 mark. As I said, for us, it really wasn't worth it!


:beer:

blue_monkey_2

Yes, we only use Mears too, we carry their card around and someone will usually give them a call for free for us.

mum_to_a_pip_and_a_squeak

hi all, have booked a family holiday at the Caribbean beach club for may this year and i have just downloaded a great app for my phone that shows you waiting times for the rides but i was wondering if i was going to be able to use it in florida. Does anyone know if there is free wifi at the Caribbean beach club or in the main park itself. Cheers x

ps i have found this forum really helpful for all the tips about disney

northwest1965

mum_to_a_pip_and_a_squeak wrote: »

hi all, have booked a family holiday at the Caribbean beach club for may this year and i have just downloaded a great app for my phone that shows you waiting times for the rides but i was wondering if i was going to be able to use it in florida. Does anyone know if there is free wifi at the Caribbean beach club or in the main park itself. Cheers x

ps i have found this forum really helpful for all the tips about disney

http://exploringwdw.com/free-wifi/:)

lucie707

oh okay, so it seems taxi's and buses may be the way to go!

Another question, are the buses easily accessible with pushchairs do you think? I'll get one of those easy folding stroller type things so i mean we could even fold & hold.

Stoffy - definately not worth it for that price! It adds so much money onto an already expensive trip!

blue_monkey_2

You'll be fine, we had the phil & teds double with us but we folded it down for getting on the bus - even the Disney buses do not allow you to get on with them up so quick fold is much easier all round. If wheelchairs are getting on they have a electric fold out ramps so this is why they do not do it for buggies and prams - they take a while. We had 2 kids under 3 and I took both kids while hubby took the P&T double. Now we have a larger disability buggy for DS and just do the same, fold it down and hold it and him.

We have decided to hire a car for just over a week while we are there as we are on a gated community (first time we have not stayed in a hotel complex) and a Group 4 is $400 plus we have petrol, parking, tolls etc.. We thought we would do it for a change but we have never spent that much on taxi's so it has been an eye opener. It is going to be weird but we we had paid for this years timeshare and have 2 weeks floating, we decided we might as well use it.