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

furrypig

We used one once and it was a nightmare!! We had an old rubbishy plane that started off at Manchester so when we got on at Gatwick (Ithink) there was no room in overhead lockers (didn't have very many). We were meant to stop ovff in Canada briefly but on the way back (from Orlando) we were there for over 3 hours. The plane went to Manchester first then we were told it wasn't going anywhere else!! In the end the company organised a coach to take people to Gatwick but lots of people had got cabs etc by that stage. Needless to say have never done it again but we may have been very unlucky!!

skr80ab

expedia doing direct flights with delta in October 05 for £260 pp. Its going to Atlanta - about an easy days drive from Orlando.

jnd

I checked out the site that FinishRich recommended against the one I normally buy park tickets through. I use http://www.floridaorlandotickets.net who are based in Orlando just off I-drive. You can pick the tickets up ( I always do this) or have them posted home.

The uk site offers the 7 days of magic ticket, expiring after 14 days for the price of 5 days. £144/adult £124/child. For a family of 5 (2a/3c) thats £660 at an average of £94/day for the whole family. That is an excellent price for a 7 day premium.

Some people may not want or use all the options a premium ticket gives though. To give you an example the ticket agency I mentioned above is doing a 6 days of magic ticket, same expiration for the price of a 4 day. At the current exchange rate the cost is £108/adult £86/child. For the same family that's £474. Ok it's one day less and not the premium ticket so you can't park hop etc. but the average per day comes out at £79 for the whole family and I'm sure not everyone who goes to Florida for 2 weeks wants to spend half that time in Disney plus 3 more days in the Disney waterparks. There's more to Florida than the mouse! Also imho you don't really need to park hop if you have 6 or 7 full days in Disney. It's all about looking at all of the ticket options available and deciding which is better for you. The problem is very few (if any) UK outlets will offer you much in the way of choice for Disney tickets.

The UK sites SeaWorld prices are also excellent value.

There is a saving for Universal if you need to buy 5 adult tickets. Bear in mind that many children are now classed as adults when they are over 9. The UK site tickets are £51/each for a 2day/2park ticket. Universal are doing the same ticket for 5 for the price of 4. Comes out at £46/each if you collect the tickets at the gate. Still a saving of about £25. https://tickets.universalstudios.com/USRG/us_store_secure2.jsp?merchant=mastercard

Elljay, how old is your neice? Would she be too old for dining at Cinderella's Royal Table on her birthday?

Busybee_2

This is my first post so please bear with me.

We are lucky enough to be going to Florida this summer. We have seen many suggestions here for places to buy Disney tickets before we leave the UK. The problem is they all seem to sell only the Premium or Ultimate tickets which include entry to the water parks too. We would not use this option and can not see the point in paying extra for it to be included on our tickets. Please can anyone suggest where, apart from at the Disney gates, we can buy the new basic entrance tickets with/without the park hopping option?

My second question is for my young daughter: Does anyone know if the PS2 games bought in Florida will work on a PS2 in the UK?

Last but not least: A very big 'THANK YOU' to everyone to do with this site for all the help and advice you give.

jnd

Busybee,

Did you not check out the florida website I posted directly above yours? They sell base tickets without the magic plus option pack.

PS2 games won't work in the UK. They are NTSC and we are PAL.

Poppy9

There was an article in Saturdays Mail saying that Brits are being ripped off for their disney tickets and that its cheaper to buy on the gate.

Last year I bought mine from www.ticketmania.com I sent an email and someone rang me. Prices were in Dollars and I paid by my debit card as it was cheaper than using credit card. Tickets with loads of moneyoff brochures arrived less than a week later. Paid about £720 for 2 adults and 1 child 5 day disney ticket, including 2 days water park (these were geniune disney tickets and never expire. Also kids tickets can be used by 10+ for no extra cost if partially used by child) and 5 park flexi ticket giving 14 days unlimited access to both Universal parks, Seaworld, busch gardens and the two water parks. When speaking to operator quote Mousesavers.com and you get an extra $10 per ticket or free extra days depending on the current offer.

Car hire. We booked car through travel agent (Travelcity direct) and the car hire was with Dollar. They didn't offer a free upgrade and the man in front of us tried to get a freebie but was refused. We did however upgrade from an intermediate to Grand Dodge Caravan (Chrysler Voyager) for $11 per day + tax (6%) we just asked nicely for there best price. Apparently they love english chocolate! We had arranged platinum insurance which meant that anyone over 25 could drive through the Travel agent. This cost us an extra £45 but it also meant we had a full tank on collection and could return the car empty usually you have to return the car full.

Sanford Airport the 'official route' to Orlando is over the toll roads which is a lot of changing. Much easier to go on the Interstate 4 (I4) I did navigate so I know that the Airport is junction 98 and for International Drive (and Universal & Seaworld) it's junction 74A beware of being in the right hand lane as they usually become exit only lanes. Junction numbers are often missing i.e. no 73. Disney junction 64B to 67 and follow the signs (dead easy!).

For info on anything to do with Florida look at this forum. There might also be a review of your hotel:

holiday-truth.com Holiday Truths, Reviews & Discussion @ www.ezboard.com

Busybee_2

Please accept my apologies jnd. I had read the previous posts and could not find anything applicable up to the time I registered yesterday evening. As I am the worlds worst computer user it took me quite a while to sort out registering so I left adding my post till this morning. I then did this today without stopping to read new posts hence I didn't actually read yours till it was too late. I apologise again and count it as my first lesson learnt...

I must read ALL previous posts before I write a new post.....
I must read ALL previous posts before I write a new post.....

Many thanks for also confirming what I thought about the PS2 games.

jnd

Hi Busybee,

No need to apologise. Sorry if my post appeared to be "telling you off". No intention implied.

Cheers,

jnd

I agree Poppy9. I have used ticketmania as well but found that floridaorlandotickets was slightly cheaper and as they are onroute to Universal via the Turkey Lake Road entrance, slightly more convenient to drive to.

For car rental I have used http://www.yescarhire.com the past few times. Despite the .com address they are based in the UK and at the time I booked I couldn't find cheaper.

I try to avoid Sanford these days. Bad experience when the Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast flights were all checking in together. It was like a cattle market and at the time they didn't have much in the way of airport food. It was one cafe to serve all in the departure hall. Maybe someone can enlighten me if it's changed much?

bj-sailaway

Poppy9 wrote:

There was an article in Saturdays Mail saying that Brits are being ripped off for their disney tickets and that its cheaper to buy on the gate.

Last year I bought mine from www.ticketmania.com I sent an email and someone rang me. Prices were in Dollars and I paid by my debit card as it was cheaper than using credit card. Tickets with loads of moneyoff brochures arrived less than a week later. Paid about £720 for 2 adults and 1 child 5 day disney ticket, including 2 days water park (these were geniune disney tickets and never expire. Also kids tickets can be used by 10+ for no extra cost if partially used by child) and 5 park flexi ticket giving 14 days unlimited access to both Universal parks, Seaworld, busch gardens and the two water parks. When speaking to operator quote Mousesavers.com and you get an extra $10 per ticket or free extra days depending on the current offer.

Car hire. We booked car through travel agent (Travelcity direct) and the car hire was with Dollar. They didn't offer a free upgrade and the man in front of us tried to get a freebie but was refused. We did however upgrade from an intermediate to Grand Dodge Caravan (Chrysler Voyager) for $11 per day + tax (6%) we just asked nicely for there best price. Apparently they love english chocolate! We had arranged platinum insurance which meant that anyone over 25 could drive through the Travel agent. This cost us an extra £45 but it also meant we had a full tank on collection and could return the car empty usually you have to return the car full.

Sanford Airport the 'official route' to Orlando is over the toll roads which is a lot of changing. Much easier to go on the Interstate 4 (I4) I did navigate so I know that the Airport is junction 98 and for International Drive (and Universal & Seaworld) it's junction 74A beware of being in the right hand lane as they usually become exit only lanes. Junction numbers are often missing i.e. no 73. Disney junction 64B to 67 and follow the signs (dead easy!).

For info on anything to do with Florida look at this forum. There might also be a review of your hotel:

holiday-truth.com Holiday Truths, Reviews & Discussion @ www.ezboard.com

Hmm, so, are you saying that you think it might be cheaper to just pay at the gate? Does anyone know the gate prices, so we can do some comparisons. I think I'll try to put a little spreadsheet together with each supplier, ticket type and their prices, seems a good time of year to do it. I may need some help in setting up a link so that anyone can look at it though. Least I can do for all the advise I've had from this site.