Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

vivatifosi

AnnaLMLH wrote: »

the new way for dealing with disabled guests is getting alot of complaint we used it with our autistic son at xmas and it was hard work, walking u to a ride to get a time to walk away was extremely hard for him
we go again at halloween and its one of the reasons we are only doing four days at disney

At least Halloween is a lot less busy at Christmas. Hopefully you will have fewer queues to start with. Do you get there before the park opens? That helps too if you are able to do it as the first hour of the day is always lighter.

The Disney forums are full of complaints about the new system... all because a few people abused the old one. It's a shame.

Moogles44

vivatifosi wrote: »

Hi Moogles, sorry to take a while to answer. They have changed the way they do it. Here's some info:

https://wdpromedia.disney.go.com/media/wdpro-assets/dlr/help/guest-services/guests-with-disabilities/Disney-Parks-Disability-Access-Service-Card-2014-04-10.pdf

Thanks for replying. So it's the same as fast pass really which I already have got with the tickets. Is that correct? Such a shame as it made it so easy before and we only ever last half a day as it's too much for him . Sounds like we won't get much in anymore at disney with this new method

mintster

OK - very quick post and hoping just for a little advice. We were due to fly to majorca next week (flights booked) and have been amazed at the cost of accomodation. We have decided to ditch Majorca (and change flights to somewhere else) to book a last minute trip to Orlando (we were planning to go next year so have brought it forward). My son will be so excited - when we went a few years ago he got a bought of bad tonsillitus followed by a gum infection which ruined most of the trip for him. He has no tonsils anymore so no danger of that happening!

I have a quote for 16 nights for £1807 inc direct flights which seems pretty good. Accommodation is Magnusson Grand Hotel Maingate West - has anyone any experience of this hotel? I realise it will not be the best but is obviously very cheap.

Park tickets - last time we went I spent ages looking at the cheapest method to purchase park tickets and in the end just bought one of the passports which gave us 14 day access everywhere. I am just going to do the same again as I don't have the time to spend time searching!!! Has anyone any recommendation of a particularly cheap site?

I thank everyone for their help - it is appreciated so much!

meer53

Try Undercovertourist for park tickets, although you'll need to choose soon if you're travelling next week. I think some companies will allow you to collect the tickets once you're there.

Don't forget your Estas too.

mintster

Luckily we have ESTA's as went to Vegas earlier in the year. I know this makes us sound like real big heads but we went for my partners 40th birthday and had been saving for a few years!

Will check undercovertourist - thank you.

mintster

All booked up - unbelievably excited!!!

I have a question about car hire. We can book for around £200 for the 16 days but I remember additional charges when we went a few years ago - just can't remember what the charges were or how much they were. Is there any chance anyone could let me know?

Last time we paid extra so that we did not have to pay at the tolls but it was not worth it as we only went through one in our entire stay. This time we are arriving at Sanford - does anyone know how many tolls we pass through and whether it would be worth paying the extra so that we did not have to pay at the toll roads?

Lastly - has anyone flown with Monarch to the US before? What are the flights like?

cazmcf

I cant help you totally re car hire expenses, but I do know alamo took dh's credit card details and charged him for any tolls we went through, I think it worked out about £7 in the end,it took the stress out of having to find change to get though.

John259

Here's a list of some potential US car rental additional charges, some optional, some not, and some not applicable in individual circumstances of course:
CDW/LDW.
Additional insurance (against third-party damage claims, and if you suffer as a result of an accident with an uninsured driver).
One-way rental drop-off fee.
Additional driver charge.
Young driver charge.
Child car seat rental.
GPS/SatNav rental.
Toll transponder rental and toll charges.
Ski rack rental (not exactly relevant in Florida in summer!)
Fuel refill charge.
Sales tax.

cazmcf

Moogles sorry that disney cant help you further. I just wanted to let you know how we did it. Although my child have no problems, I felt half a day was long enough for all of us. Any longer and we just got cranky and tired. Try to be there early, rope drop if possible. Have 3 fp booked for 9-10, 10-11, 11-12. Try to keep them within 2 lands or relitively close together, to save on walking. Here's an example of our first morning in magic kingdom
Got there for rope drop
stiches great escape- no wait
monsters inc laugh floor - 10 min wait in pre show
barnstormer - fp 9-10
peter pans flight - fo 10-11
its a small world - 10 min wait
tea cups - 5 min wait
meet repunzel and cinderella - fp 11-12
Had lunch and left, went back to the villa to chill and sleep and then hit magic kingdom again in the evening where we got another 6 attractions done.

In my opinion if you can mange to get 7/8 attractions done in a 4-5 hour visit then your doing well. The secret is planning, book fp before you go, bring you phone into the parks so you can rearrange or book more if you change days or do extra days.

Hope this helps

steve1500

Just returned from 3 Weeks in Orlando. We booked our hire car through Thrifty via TCB. All I paid for was a full tank of petrol. They offered me a Sat Nav & Toll thing I just said no.


If they offer you the option of returning with a full tank of petrol I would do that. You have to produce the receipt showing you filled up within 10 miles of the return point, but the petrol will be about 30 cents a gallon cheaper. Plenty of stations within a few miles of the airport.