Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

blue_monkey_2

You can use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to exchange for Avios and you can use your Avios to get cheap/free tickets. At the moment they are giving 400 bonus Avios on top of the usual 600 so it might be worth looking at if you have spare CC vouchers knocking around.

toddy2226

Idiophreak wrote: »

There's no difference in the sense that it disrupts the child's formal education, you're right. But one's entirely avoidable and one is not.

Anyway, as tori pointed out, this isn't the place for this discussion. I was simply trying to encourage people to think about the reasons you're asked to take holidays out of term time in the first place.

I see day after day the amount of extra work my wife has to do to try and get children caught up following illness and unauthorised absenses. The idea that, whilst she spends her evening ploughing through planning and paperwork, people are sat enjoying time with their children going "well, it didn't hurt little Jonny at all to take him out of school" is just a little galling.

Take your children out of school.
Be creative in your reasons, make sure your child/children are in advance with their education (if possible),ask for extra homework to get your child infront.
Ask how you can reduce any impact on their return to school( for them and their teachers)
This is IMHI an extremely educational holiday and 1 they will never forget.
Idiophreak thank your wife for her hard work, as parents we apprecaite her understanding not all families are the same and sometimes we need to do things slightly different from the status quo.

vivatifosi

blue_monkey wrote: »

Going on a Disney Cruise for 2013.... :dance: :dance: :dance:

Just have to decide on a date now... July/August, October or Xmas. Xmas sounds perfect but I am told it'll be cold. Decisions, decisions!! Have bought cruise credits from RCI, price was too good to pass up!!

Me too!!! We had a bunch of spare points to use that we would have lost because we hadn't had a chance to use them and they would have needed banking for a second year (not feasible) we have put them on a 4 day cruise out of the Cape. Sadly at a different time to you though BM.

The sea may be a little cold in December but the weather as a whole would probably still be nice. We were in Castaway Cay last September and the sea was like a bath. Sadly, so was the rain! I got more wet going back to the ship than I did in the sea, or it certainly felt that way. Still, that was near the end of the day so we got plenty of sunshine prior to that.

blue_monkey_2

Hi Viv, Oooh, nice. I did look at the 4 days one. When are you going?

I've looked and looked and cannot find the right time to go - Xmas sounds amazing but it would be too cold so I am told. I am thinking Easter would be a good choice but we are going away on 4 weeks to The Sunshine State and this would mean either going away within a year or having to wait 2 years - however, since posting this we have also checked out Royal Carribean or NCL and all seem such good choices. There is one that sails out of out of New York and goes to the Bahamas. The kids have been asking to go to New York funnily enough.

We can go whenever we want but are tied to school holidays really unless there is a wedding or a once in a lifetime opportunity available.

Is a cruise considered as a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' if the kids have already been to Florida 3 times.....?? I could tell them I have won a cruise I suppose. Anyone getting married in Feb or September and want to invite us??!!

blue_monkey_2

Viv, can you bank your points with RCI? Whwn we bank they last for 3 years and can be combined/extended to prolong the life of them. We will bank next years and combine and we'll extend the points by another 2 years this way. Was not sure if this was feasible for you.

Also, you can sell them, we bought some off someone on The Dibb and it enabled us to go to Bay Lake Tower for 2 nights.

4 weeks today and we'll be waiting for Twilight Check In to open. Where has the time gone....??

vivatifosi

blue_monkey wrote: »

I've looked and looked and cannot find the right time to go - Xmas sounds amazing but it would be too cold so I am told. I am thinking Easter would be a good choice but we are going away on 4 weeks to The Sunshine State and this would mean either going away within a year or having to wait 2 years - however, since posting this we have also checked out Royal Carribean or NCL and all seem such good choices. There is one that sails out of out of New York and goes to the Bahamas. The kids have been asking to go to New York funnily enough.

BM, are you looking at the Bahamas? Here's a graph. Honestly, it doesn't look that cold, though I understand your specific circumstances and that you need to find something that works for you. It shows you the sea temp too.

http://www.bahamas.climatetemp.info/

I've also been on both Royal Caribbean and NCL if you want to ask any questions about those, though in both cases in Europe. Like Disney they have private islands in the Bahamas/Caribbean, but unlike Disney you don't dock at them, you would have to tender, so you could have accessibility issues that you may want to think about as getting in and out of a tender in a choppy sea may be a bit scary for R.

vivatifosi

blue_monkey wrote: »

Viv, can you bank your points with RCI? Whwn we bank they last for 3 years and can be combined/extended to prolong the life of them. We will bank next years and combine and we'll extend the points by another 2 years this way. Was not sure if this was feasible for you.

Also, you can sell them, we bought some off someone on The Dibb and it enabled us to go to Bay Lake Tower for 2 nights.

4 weeks today and we'll be waiting for Twilight Check In to open. Where has the time gone....??

In terms of the first bit I'm answering this carefully as this is the first time we've done it so unlike everything else DVC that we're old hands at the whole cruise thing we're a bit green:o. AIUI once they are changed to cruise points we do have flexibility to change, but we picked the trip for when we did as we would then be able to use our annual passes for 3 trips and max them out so it all fell in place. If anyone is reading this though and thinks "I could do that with my points" please get chapter and verse from Disney as I don't want to say the wrong thing.

Using the points for anything other than Disney is a strange one really. Because DH works for an airline, we tend to get travel industry rates for everything else, so for the most part things like the Concierge Collection don't work for us. However we would never sell points, there's always going to be something to use them for:rotfl:. Even our family doesn't get a look in. You very rarely see the Disney Bahama cruises travel industry discounted so its a good place to use points.

I can't believe its four weeks today. About this time in the tifosi household we start the excel spreadsheets as to what to take. Sad but true...

jeanniebeanie_2

blue_monkey wrote: »

I've looked and looked and cannot find the right time to go - Xmas sounds amazing but it would be too cold so I am told.

This may not be much help, but Christmas weather there varies wildly. We have friends who spend 4-6 weeks there including Christmas every year and we have photos of them scraping ice off their car and others where they are happily sunbathing (they reported 26 degrees on one day this past trip) and in the pool, within the same trip.

chocolateteddy

I was at Disney from 27th Dec to 11th Jan just gone, and yes the temperatures varied we had temperatures warm enough to go to Blizzard Beach twice. We mostly wore shorts, tshirts with a thin fleece first thing in the mornings and when we returned in the evening we swapped shorts for long trousers. But on 3rd January we were in Universal and it was very cold We wore 3 or 4 layers and ski jackets hats and scarves!!!! On the 4th Jan we went out at 8am to find ice on the car. It nearly hit the all time low since 1938!! but then it warmed up again, I know someone who went 14th to 28th December and they had above average temperatures the entire time. You just never know, we just went prepared for all eventualities and had a great time. It was magical being there with all the christmas decorations but also strange that it was sunny and mostly warm. Be warned though it is very very busy especially the week between christmas and new year on the 28th Dec all parks except Epcot were closed due to capacity for a few hours and on several other days some of the parks closed again due to capacity, it was heaving so arrive early then get out around lunch time to escape the crowds. Having said that we would definately return at Christmas time again.

tece

I'm visiting Orlando in July but only for 7 days as New York and Chicago are also on the itinerary.
I'm at the stage of thinking about purchasing my Universal tickets but at first glance the multi park tickets (inc Seaworld, w&w etc) are only available for 14 days. Can anyone advise is this is correct or point me in the direction of tickets for 7 days only?
I am hiring a car for this leg of the holiday so also advice on which websites to visit for a car with inclusive insurances would be appreciated. The previous times we've had a car as part of a package including all the add ons which I know are very expensive. If anyone can let me know what the insurances should include as this is a diy trip I'd be very grateful.