Orlando & Florida - Questions & Answers (Part 1) *CLOSED*

Liverbird

Anybody know of any good deals for the end of September.....from Gatwick or Manchester......2 weeks with villa. TIA!

theedge_3

I have been looking around the net for good deals for orlando, for the cheapest i can find, at any time of year. So far the best i have found is £1548 for four people, this gets you flights there and back, one room (so we have to share a room) and car hire for two weeks. For this price i will have to fly out on the 11th of Jan, 2007.

This was on travecitydirect.com.

Does this sound like a good deal? If not does anybody else know a good website to check out, or and other tips for getting the price down e.g going at another time of year.

Thank for any comments

kingl_2

Went to Orlando Easter last year. Daughter had just finished treatment for cancer so this was to keep promise that she could "swim with dolphins", and so she did. No expense was spared with basic holiday costing about £4.5k for family of 4 with Airtours, and about £8k in total with tickets and spending money etc. Stayed in a Universal hotel which was brilliant, and with Easter being so busy showing the hotel keys for express queues was worth the extra money. Thinking this was the first and last time we would go meant that we did all the parks and we came home knackered. But it was the best time we have had as a family.

We loved the hotel, The Royal Pacific Resort, and over time we began to wish that we could go back and be a bit more chilled and spend more time by the hotel and pool. We loved the fact that we could walk into City Walk within 10 mins, and cannot recommend this and the express keys enough.

Sure enough this idea knawed away at us until finally, two weeks ago our resistance fell, let's do it!

Because we don't believe in taking our kids out of school, and we feel that Summer would be too hot, we are left with Easter. It was busy, but the express tickets will help, and the climate is lovely. BUT IT IS SOOOO EXPENSIVE. This time our daughter has not just finished chemotherapy and radiotherapy, how can we justify the £6k+ being quoted by the tour operators. Futhermore, most of the tour operators have no availability left, including Virgin who we wanted to go with.

Looking at the websites it would seem that although Virgin Holidays have no availability, Virgin Atlantic do have the flights. I ring Virgin Holidays direct and ask if some availability may be freed up later. I am told that my only option is to book the fights and hotel seperately. But the flights are £4k, and the hotel cannot be booked direct in the US because they haven't published price lists for next year yet, but ebookers are quoting £3.5k. That's £7.5k!!!!

But the bug has bitten, and we must go. Daily visits to all the web sites and eventually we manage to get Virgin Atlantic flights for £2.7k, and book the hotel direct with Virgin for £2k. Even adding a car we are talking £1k cheaper than Virgin Holidays for booking seperately what is in effect a ... Virgin Holiday.

I note that the flights are being quoted back up at £4k again. This is like trading on the stockmarket!

Amys

You can book at http://www.loweshotels.com/ but as you said the 2007 rates are not out yet. If you are a member fo the AA and have an AA card put AAA into the discount code box and you will get a discount, If you don't and a discount comes out later then you can call them and they will apply it. AAA gets about 15% - 20% discount, so if it is a while you want to stay there it may be worth buying AA memberhsip.

We have usually find that it is much cheaper to book seperately, it also gives you more flexabilty. If you book a fly drive then you still get the ABTA protectiosn for a package holiday and that can often be the best way. It can be even less to book flights seperatly if it is a peak time, using some of the American airline companies. There are several tips on these earlier on this thread.

poppy17_2

Hi everyone

I am organising a family trip (10 -14 people) and Im considering florida as the villas are a much cheaper option than hotel rooms for everyone.

Only problem is I have been told that you need a car if you are in a villa and with 14 of us going - Im reluctant to hire a car for the two weeks.

Iv'e never been to orlando myself, is it possible to see everything using public transport?

Also, as its mainly adults we will probably be out at night too - can anyone recommend a villa in an area thats close to the bars and restaurants?

Poppy9

kingl wrote:

,
Looking at the websites it would seem that although Virgin Holidays have no availability, Virgin Atlantic do have the flights. I ring Virgin Holidays direct and ask if some availability may be freed up later. I am told that my only option is to book the fights and hotel seperately. But the flights are £4k, and the hotel cannot be booked direct in the US because they haven't published price lists for next year yet, but ebookers are quoting £3.5k. That's £7.5k!!!!

If you look at one of my earlier posts you will see I booked Virgin Atlantic flights through www.airline-network.co.uk to Orlando for February half term. The price of flights kept varying for the 3 of us by hundreds of pounds. Eventually had 3 flights for under £900. A week later they were £820!! I also booked the accommodation through airline-network as it was the cheapest I could find.

jordylass

Virgin have a price promise guarantee, so if the flights were cheaper on airline-network than with them you should have taken a screen shot of the airline netwrok prices, booked them with virgin then applied and got all your money back. I've searched and seached and I can't see them come up anywhere cheaper than virgins own site.

Also anyone who spends a fair amount of time that side of the pond you can now get 2 years pass for the price of one at Universal Studios. $179.00 +tax these are excellent value even for one year if you like Universal and Islands
there are no black out dates,
self parking is free,
valet parking you only pay for the first two hours
20% discount on all merchandise
15% or might be 20 off all food (not the stands around the park)

You can ring to buy them or buy online using credit card at the ticket machine when you get there, you have to go into guest services after that and they give you a pass with your photo on, (not transferable).
Universal Annual pass sales enter the Bealls promotion.

The code is Bealls06.

If you have any problems online, call them and purchase over the phone, the code was on your Bealls receipt. Until September 30th

debjay

Hi
Planning a trip in 2008 (saving to make it a trip of a lifetime). When is the best time of year to go? Want to go for 3 weeks but only take kids out of school for 2 so would need to add it on to a school holiday ie half term, Easter or summer. Children will be 11 and 14 so need also to check with schools re SATS etc.
Can anyone advise please? Thinking about weather and peak season??? Thanks

Amys

The best time to go may be the end of August into SEptember. This is one fo the quiestest times, it makes the costs lower for hotels and flights, and the parks have less queues as the US children are mostly back at school. The parks go much quiet after labour day, which is the first monday in Sept.

The weather can be hot, but not as hot as July etc, there are often showers or short storms in the afternoons, about 3 pm, but thay pass quickly.

Some people do not like going at this time as it is hurricane season, but in Orlando you are unlikey to be hit, and if you are all the hotels etc are well set up to deal with it. However, this is also a reason why this period is cheaper.

We usually go Sept

terrierlady

Poppy 17 yes you will need a car as most villas are on estates and local to disney,( 5-15 mins) lots of links to villas on other orlando threads and they have maps on to show position of villas etc I am doing a trip with 12 grand children this sept and looking myself, I have found not to go with the price shown on the sites as the villa owners are happy to discount if you ask for it.