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

devonpilgrim

jinkssick wrote:

We are staying in Miami. How many hours drive is it to reach Disney?

Hello, leave yourself a good 4 to 4.5 hours from Miami.

It is much better to try and get the tickets in advance if you are thinking about doing more than one day. I would recommend attractionticketsdirect.com.

£49.00 to Sea World and Busch is quite good but there is also a four park ticket that combines these with Universal - also good value.

Hope this helps

Bokken_2

Just for you Lackingwedge,
it had moved down to page three.


We have been to Florida several times and have used Virgin each time although there are cheaper options depending which time of the year you plan to go.
The most relaxing holiday I have every had was in Orlando without having to drive it was great.
We had a coach transfer from the airport to our hotel took about 30minutes it was inclusive of the price.If you are staying at the Disney hotels there are large Disney coaches at the airport that will transfer you to your hotel.
We stayed at the Village Premier at the bottom (South) end of the I Drive.
Staying at the top or the bottom of the I Drive makes it easier to remember where you are and how to get back to your hotel,although it is a long straight road and the I Drive trolly buses are frequent and travel the whole lenght of the road for $2 a day you can get on and off as and when you like.You can get the tickets from the local store or from the front desk at your hotel.
We have stayed at the Sherton at the bottom of the I Drive and both hotels are adaquate after all the room is only for sleeping in.
Both hotels do transfers to all the parks,the down side is you have to be up early to get on the coaches/minibus with the heat and all the walking this makes for a long tiring day.
The hotels transport(free) to Disney will drop you off for say 830-900 and come back for you at say 6pm.Once at the Disney coach park you have to use the Disney coaches(free) to get to the different Disney parks.This does take up to two hours to get to the park of your choice and the same coming back.
Going up and down the I Drive to Wet and Wild and to Universal is straight forward on the Trolly buses.You have to walk the last 500m to Universal as the buses don't go that far.Hotel transport will take you there and to Busch gardens at Tampa (another very long day).
Seaworld is excellant and is at the bottom of the I Drive.We walked from the Sheraton/Premier it takes about 15minutes and your not walking on any main roads so it is safe and quick.If Seaworld is your thing you should stay at the bottom of the I Drive.We went there most days either during the day or for the evening shows.
If Wet and Wild and Universal is your thing stay at the top of the I Drive.
There are dozens of hotels to choose from all have pools and all the things you need.
To get to the parks you will not need to walk to them except the last bit to Universal,as hotels do transfers to the parks for you.
Food is as you would expect fairly cheap and plenty of it.
There are plenty of food chains to choose from,Sizzlers on the I Drive is the ideal cheap place to have breakfast dinner and tea.but you will soon see something else that you will want try.
The Malls are similar to ours in that they have places to eat and drink so you are unlikey to be far from refreshments.
Some of the parks sell large drinks in a themed plastic cup if you buy the cup you can get free refills otherwise you just get a drink in a normal beaker.
Look out for the extras when you book your holiday,Virgin keep it low key but they have a Virgin reps meeting on your arrival day and if you attend you get free meals at the Hard Rock Cafe and seated straight away no queing.They also do excursions you pay in $ (cash or credit card)so with the exchange rate being so good it may be better to pay for those extras once you are there.
Hope that helps.
Have a great time.

Bokken_2

brook_son wrote:

I have been to Florida before but it was many years ago, i actually stayed in a youth hostel but then moved on to IDrive. Hubbie and I would like to take my 7 year old. Next year 2008.

My main problem is i now have a new job working in a college so i can only go in school Holidays. Any advice from people who have been in various school holidays also when can you start booking for 2008.

with only three of us is it better to get a room rather than villa?

Any advice gratefully recieved

We have to book during school holidays as well,don't bother with a villa save the extra cash and use it towards park tickets and car hire ,days out etc
The rooms are big enough to sleep four and you will only be in the room long enough to sleep most of your day you will be out and about or eating or by the pool.All rooms are reasonably well equiped and much the same unless you are at the top end of the market when you get more but you pay more.
Virgin are not taking bookings yet beyond feb 2008 online,via travel agents that maybe different.
Watch out for July in the States it is scorchingly HOT and all the American kids are on school holidays as well I wouldn't go again in July.September and April are okay and the weather is at the beginning and the near end of the hurricane season,hot enough to go in the pools and cool enough to walk around the parks. enjoy.

koru

Just got back. Had heard walkie talkies have interference problems, so for a similar price we bought two PAYG mobiles from Walmart. This gave easy communication when the family split up in the parks. And we got cheap calls to and from the UK too.

We got one really cheap Tracfone (£8), just for park communication. This had 20 minutes call credits, which was just enough for all our "where are you?" calls.

The other one was a Net 10 phone which cost less than £25 and included call credits that would pay for 5 hours of calls to or from other US phones or more than 3 hours of calls to UK landlines (but not mobiles). That's 15 cents per minute for calls to the UK (about 8 pence). You can buy top up cards at the same rate, but I didn't need it. Way cheaper than our villa phone, which was 50 cents a minute to the UK, or my UK mobile which would have been 90p a minute.


I plan to sell these on eBay, so they will get recycled and I might make a few quid (especially the Net 10 phone, which still has 3 hours of credits).

SCOTTEX

We love going to Orlando, having been to Florida 7 times and are going again this August, for us we stay in the same house/villa and having visited friends in Wyndam Palms ( on the I-Drive), I would definately NOT stay in a hotel. If you book direct with a villa owner you can pay the same as a hotel room and the one we say was pokey for 3 people. I don't like hotels anyway and enjoy the freedom of a house/villa and will willing pay extra for it.

The I-drive area can be a bit like Blackpool and the green trolley buses can be a bit like waiting for Christmas.:rolleyes:

One tip if your are booking a carhire with Dollar is to register as a Dollar Express member, as they have their own check-in line at Orlando airport, which never has anybody in it and as your details are with them it only takes 2 mins with them and your on your way, whilst they may be 10-20 people in the normal Dollar queue.

We fly with Virgin, yes they are more expensive but we have been on the receiving end of 2 major delays in returning from Florida in recent years. The first one was a 2 day delay, Virgin told us when we went to check in at Downtown Disney, that we wouldn't be going home for at least 2 days. They told us to check into a large named hotel and they would contact us when it was OK to depart. Our rooms, food and transport were payed for by Virgin and didn't cost us anything to stay for the extra 2 days. The great thing was when it was time to leave, as we boarded the plane they gave us a letter, as compensation for our 2 day delay, we were entitled to a free return flight each to any Virgin destination in the world to be taken in the next 12 months, yipee:j . So we booked again to go in 12 months.

Now, 12 months later after enjoying our holiday ( with free flights) we checked in again at Downtown Disney at the Virgin desk and jokingly said it would be a shame if we were delayed again, guess what, yes, a 1 day delay. We had to go to the airport hotel, where our rooms, food and vouchers were provided. On board the 12 plane 24 hours later, we were given a letter, where for a 1 day delay as compensation, we were entitled to 50% off a return flight with Virgin Atlantic to be taken in the next 12 months.:j

Last year, we weren't delayed and departed ontime, much to our dismay.
So we went to Florida 3 times for the price for 1.5. Each flight was added to my Virgin Atlantic Frequent Flyers card. This year when we booked we saved £ 500 by redeeming these points. Our experience shows that Virgin Atlantic look more expensive but they look after you really well when things go wrong and couldn't be more helpful.

This year we are hoping for a major delay again, fingers crossed.;)

We take walkie-takies with us for the parks, but as most are multi-channel, when we do get interference we changed to pre-set channel, we say to each other any problems change to channel 3. Its never been a problem and will be taking them again this year.

One thing that supprised me, was that usually we hire a Mini-van because there's normally a few of us and most other vehicles over there are large but when you drive a normal size car you can easily feel intimidated with all the large vehicles around you. It bothered me enough to go back to a mini-van again this year.

Hope you enjoy your holiday and see you there.:beer:

craig777

SCOTTEX wrote:

The I-drive area can be a bit like Blackpool

You mean every 20 metres there's a take-away selling chips and gravy?

Is there a secret area of International Drive that I haven't seen?

Amys

LOL, I Drive is touristy, but its not like Blackpool, its much clenaers, and in between the cheap t-shirt shops there are some good and some very good resturants (Texas de Brazil, Bahama Breeze).


There are also some very nice hotels as wel as villas, it depends what you want, I like to go out and come back to a clean room and a bed made, and Ihave no intention of cooking while on holiday, so I prefer hotels. However, there are hotels of all grades and as long as it is 4* or above it will be quite good. Villas can give you more room and a personal swimming pool, so more flexablity and are great for larger parties.

zigmonkey

Hi there, I was wondering if any of you could hepl me out

I'm starting a new job on March 12th so naturally i need a quick holiday. I've noticed a fair few "bargain" deals to Florida and just wanted some advice about them. THere are so many hidden extras i'm not sure what the best way forward is.

Airtours & Thompson seem to have packages which work out about £350 for seven nights staying either at the International Drive Travelodge (which has very poor reviews) or an allocated on arrival deal (which i guess will be of a similar standard). They include BASIC car hire...

Now i'm under 25 so assume i'll have to pay a supplement so i'm wondering if this deal will work out worthwhile when such factors are included. Do you think we're better off trying to find a cheap flight and sorting out a better car hire/accom deal ourselves?

Given i love my theme parks, the more money i can save on this the more i can "invest" in thrillseeking!

Thanks for any help!

koru

zigmonkey wrote:

Hi there, I was wondering if any of you could hepl me out

I'm starting a new job on March 12th so naturally i need a quick holiday. I've noticed a fair few "bargain" deals to Florida and just wanted some advice about them. THere are so many hidden extras i'm not sure what the best way forward is.

Airtours & Thompson seem to have packages which work out about £350 for seven nights staying either at the International Drive Travelodge (which has very poor reviews) or an allocated on arrival deal (which i guess will be of a similar standard). They include BASIC car hire...

Now i'm under 25 so assume i'll have to pay a supplement so i'm wondering if this deal will work out worthwhile when such factors are included. Do you think we're better off trying to find a cheap flight and sorting out a better car hire/accom deal ourselves?

Given i love my theme parks, the more money i can save on this the more i can "invest" in thrillseeking!

Thanks for any help!

Go for more than 7 days if you can. Knocking off arrival day, recovery from jetlag and departure day, you've got 6 full days at best. But there are 4 Disney parks, Sea World and 2 Universal parks, and they all need at least a day, and many need more. That's not to mention Busch Gardens, swamp tours, Kennedy, shopping....

That's a very cheap price. I would be surprised if you could get much lower, but look out for extras, like insurance for the car. Seems too cheap, to me.

We just got back, but you are moving into slightly higher season so costs should be going up. We paid £400 each just for flights (with Virgin, though that was cheaper than charters when I looked). Plus £400 per week for a villa (a cheaper, smaller, further away one might have been £300), and £125 per week for a fully insured car.

xtratime

zigmonkey wrote:

Now i'm under 25 so assume i'll have to pay a supplement so i'm wondering if this deal will work out worthwhile when such factors are included. Do you think we're better off trying to find a cheap flight and sorting out a better car hire/accom deal ourselves?

Given i love my theme parks, the more money i can save on this the more i can "invest" in thrillseeking!

Thanks for any help!

You may find that the extra insurance on the "free" car is more expensive than actually horing a car all inclusive separately