Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

GemJar_2

sar050680 wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm looking to book Florida for Feb 2013 and have tried a few of the popular online travel companies Thompson, Thomas Cook etc but I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of other travel agents that I can try before I buy, so to speak.

We will be taking our 6yr old DD, so Disney is a must.

I have a million questions but I'll start slow. Thanks.

Hi we went in Feb this year (was a fantastic time to go, barely waited to go on a single ride but the weather was still much much better than England), we booked our flights and hotel with lowcostholidays.com who, it has to be said besides a few initial booking problems which they sorted quite quickly, were good and very cheap (we booked for the best western international drive, they booked us for econolodge international drive- as it goes econolodge looked better than best western when we went for a nosey around *doh!*), it cost £1125 including tax for both of us flying 21st feb-6th march with Virgin Atlantic direct from Manchester airport- Orlando international and two weeks bed and breakfast at Best Western Int Drive. We found our park tickets on park-tickets.com and bought a package deal which included 5 days at disney, 2 days at universal and 2 days at seaworld(one free bonus day when you see guest services on your way out) for around £300 each, think it was about £270 for children. The tickets arrived quickly and all worked fine although I wouldn't really reccomend 5 days at disney as it does get very tedious.

However, have you considered a villa? A friend of ours was there while we was and he paid £600 for 10 days in a villa (there were 6 of them and a baby there) in Kissemee, it was beautiful complete with a tv and gaming system, the biggest oven i've ever seen, lovely bedrooms two bathrooms a hot tub and a swimming pool, although you would have to be able to drive to do this option really as it was a bit in the middle of nowhere!

KevMaw

Hi
Virgin is great as a direct option from Gatwick, Manchester or Glasgow in the summer> They offer great service, but best of all, seem to be more resilient to strike action, weather and general delays. Perfect if you've got kids!

Villas are a great option for money saving. At first you think that the headline rate is steep at about $600 per week, but the rate per night per person can drop significant;y for a decent party size. Also, you save a fortune on takeouts and fast food bills. The hidden costs of hotels are sometimes huge!

KevMaw

When I walk around the Magic Kingdom, (with my Kids), I'd say that only about a quarter of adults there have kids with them!
If my guess is a little out, it's not by much!
The MK is a little special, it's hard to explain! See for yourself, I'd be shocked if you didn't love the place!

KevMaw

Nothing to lose!
Well worth entering!

KevMaw

We've been looking at some of the less mainstream attractions in the last few years.
has anyone had any success with the Go Orlando card?
It seems good value on the face of it, but I can't get my head around whether there's enough time to mix in the main stuff and the Go Orlando stuff in a fortnight?

blakes999

lewt wrote: »

Car hire..

I'm looking to hire a nice car in Orlando. I fancy either a Dodge Charger or Ford mustang. On the sites that say 'Or similar' Is there anyway to drastically improve the chance of actually getting the car I want rather than some 'similar' heap?

Some car hire firms let you pick the actual car at the parking lot. Alamo is one of the best for this.

blakes999

caz07 wrote: »

hi everyone , I'm after some advice , Thinking of booking for Orlando next March ,staying at Doubletree @Seaworld has anyone stayed there? was also wandering which airline they prefered and what were the differencies if any.

kind regards Carol.

I've been to Orlando 3 times in the last 3 year, each with different airlines. I've flowen with Virgin, BA and Thomas Cook. I have to say the worst was by far BA, cabin crew were not friendly at all, the plane was a mess.
Thomas Cook were the second best, cabin crew were very friendly and the food wasnt to bad either.
Virgin have to be the best, everything they did was perfect. Going with them again this year.

blue_monkey_2

Well, I have been looking at the prices of flights as we are cruising next year so will need to pay for flights and you can now fly by Aer Lingus out of Dublin and as you go through immigration there, when you get to the USA you go straight through so it will save you some time.

A BMI return flight from LHR to Dublin is £75 or £90.

Go to the Aer Lingus website, choose to fly from Dublin (where we fly from drop down) and book in Euros. A return flight from Dublin to NY with Aer Lingus is around £412 (depending on the exchange rate of the Euro). This is an absolute steal to fly to NY on 21st Dec and come back in the New Year 3rd/4th Jan!!

The same dates from Dublin to Orlando are £590 flying on 21st December, add on your £75/£90 return from LHR to DUB and that is less than £700 for a Xmas return flight. VA want £1200pp economy for the same dates. So for having a few hours overlay you can save £500 per person by flying via Dublin. Amazing.

Oh, almost forgot to add.... 3 days. Whoop whoop. :j:j:j

fd1972uk

They are great savings, right enough they are absolute useless pricing for summer, they are about £600+ more expensive than Virgin or BA.

We're going next year end of June/July for 11 nights. Got a decent price from Charter Travel, just awaiting a final little change to the accommodation and may just book straight away. Intending to do 5 nights at Art of Animation, then 3 days each at Animal Kingdom Lodge and Caribbean Beach Resort (Pirate Themed Room).


FD

blue_monkey_2

We are staying in the new Royal Guest Rooms fd, it was either that or the pirate rooms...... hope we have made the right choice. Then we are staying 2 nights at Bay Lake Tower.