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

lig

friends just back from Florida say if you have a costco card hold off getting universal tickets until you get there as costco have ones valid for 3 months every day ( if you wish) use for $84.99

http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx?whse=BC&Ne=4000000&N=4012511&ViewAll=37&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=29676&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&topnav=

Poppy9

calx wrote: »

Hi,
I am planning a trip to Orlando with my husband and 2 kids aged 4 and 18 months aiming to travel in November 2007.
I've a budget of £2500 inclusive of spending money (may be able to save alittle more spending money before then). I've got all the brochures from the travel agents and I am completely lost. I have never booked a holiday in my life let alone trying to do it with 2 kids!!
We want to do some of the theme parks like Seaworld and epcot, not all (no point as they are too little). Can anyone help me with money saving tips and travelling with kids tips?
I think I want a 2 bedroom hotel so we can put the kids to sleep and not have to tiptoe around in the dark from 7pm onwards!

I am really feeling out of my depth and would love some help please....

thanks

Calx

I managed to get 3 Virgin flights for Feb 2006 for under £900 by checking prices every couple of days. The flight prices ranged from £1300 to £848 different weeks. Watch the luggage allowance as it's been reduced. Remember you can buy all your toiletries, baby stuff in the Supermarket over there just as cheap so you don't need to carry them.

I booked accommodation - a 1 bed apartment - Liki Tiki for about £450 for 2 weeks. You won't be home by 7pm if you are out parking. :rolleyes:

The park tickets are the most expensive items but under 3 go free.

Car hire about £350 for mini van (people carrier) for 2 weeks - you can get a Mondeo size car for about £250.

You won't need much spending money as it is very cheap to eat out over there and if you have an apartment you can do a supermarket shop and eat as cheaply as at home. You can take food and drink with you into the Parks with you. Not glass bottles but water bottles are fine. A typical lunch of chicken breast pieces, fries and drink is about $7 per adult in the park. There are more expensive places to eat though. You can buy a cheap cool box in the supermarket $3 for polysterene box which you can fill with ice free from ice machine either in your apartment or hotel looby. This will keep all drinks etc cool in your car all day.

Don't buy souveniors in the park, buy them in Walmart or the Malls.

Parking in the parks is $10 per day but you only have to buy once so you can leave the park in the afternoon and go back for the evening and not have to repay for parking.

Don't aim to park everyday as it's exhausting. If you are going for 2 weeks then 7 days parking will be enough so only buy the tickets you need.

Disney - the younger ones will like Magic Kingdom best. Epcot more for older children and adults. If you don't book somewhere with a nice pool then the Disney water parks will be worth a visit for your older child.

Seaworld is lovely and worth a visit.

lig

calx wrote: »

Hi,
I am planning a trip to Orlando with my husband and 2 kids aged 4 and 18 months aiming to travel in November 2007.
I've a budget of £2500 inclusive of spending money (may be able to save alittle more spending money before then). I've got all the brochures from the travel agents and I am completely lost. I have never booked a holiday in my life let alone trying to do it with 2 kids!!
We want to do some of the theme parks like Seaworld and epcot, not all (no point as they are too little). Can anyone help me with money saving tips and travelling with kids tips?
I think I want a 2 bedroom hotel so we can put the kids to sleep and not have to tiptoe around in the dark from 7pm onwards!

I am really feeling out of my depth and would love some help please....

thanks

Calx

hi
the kids will love it sea world is fantastic for wee people if you get the 2 park ticket with Busch gardens they are valid for 21 days continious use from the 1st time you use them so we found paid parking but rest of day very cheap my daughter loved the play area in seaworld and all the shows she was there at 2 and 3 it was her favorite park. When we went down to Busch 1-2 hrs drive had a screaming fit because she didn't want to leave the dragons play area so be warned. You have to buy this ticket inthe UK approx £55-£60 for adults but well worth it found it great to go to the park in the morning then bribery complete could do a bit of retail therapy in the afternoon.ie go to the parks 5 times and it's £12 a visit instead of the £30 for individuals.
Universal is really good for small ones too the curious george playground is rarely crowded as it dosn't seem to rate in any of the books but many a fun hour was spent there then nip along to Islands of Adventure and have fun in seuss landing (if you follow the signs to hard rock cafe inside universal and leave out that gate you're half way to Islands and you dont get stuck in a long queue to get your hand stamped at the main gate you can do the 2 parks easily in 1 day)

izzitme

Our accommodation in Orlando is AOA when we report to the operator's office. What do we put on the forms during the flight with regard to the address for the first night?
Is the office address OK or should we put a motel address or similar?

Thanks.

Amys

The operators US address is the usual thing. If in doubt ask when you check in at the airport, as they haver to put it into the computer there as well and they can tell you what they are putting.

calx

thanks for all the advice.
can anyone recommend who to book with? Virgin Thomas cook or Coop are three I have read about.
Would I be better waiting out for a last minute deal or book ahead? We want to go November (it seems to be the cheapest month)
Thanks again

Poppy9

calx wrote: »

thanks for all the advice.
can anyone recommend who to book with? Virgin Thomas cook or Coop are three I have read about.
Would I be better waiting out for a last minute deal or book ahead? We want to go November (it seems to be the cheapest month)
Thanks again

The cheapest package will probably be Travel City Direct but it's worth trying Virgin Atlantic and BA for just the flights or even http://www.airline-network.co.uk for flights and accommodation. Search through the thread for other accommodation, car hire and flights only sites. Also check out the weather in November. I've been last week of Feb and first week of March. Not as cheap as early Feb but the weather is so much better - short and t-shirts and sunbathing too.

spentafortune

Can anyone come up with any ideas on how to spend my 40th in July?
:bdaycake:

I will be in Orlando with my DH, DS (15) and DD (12).

As we have never been to Orlando before, I haven't got a clue what to do! Could maybe stay in bed all day and pretend I was still 39! :rotfl:

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

satan666wayne

nelly wrote: »

.



However before you go, getting on google maps or similar and printing out the zip codes is probably a good idea.

This for instance is the correct address for universal studios

1000 Universal Studios Plz
Orlando, FL 32819

I bet no one knew that

Zip codes are not the same as our postcodes, the zip is basicly the same as the first part of a postcode, our hotel was about 2miles from universal and the zip was 32819.
You need to work on street name and number, the zip can be ok to narrow down the the area rather than state wide.

Edinburghlass_2

spentafortune wrote: »

Can anyone come up with any ideas on how to spend my 40th in July?
:bdaycake:

I will be in Orlando with my DH, DS (15) and DD (12).

As we have never been to Orlando before, I haven't got a clue what to do! Could maybe stay in bed all day and pretend I was still 39! :rotfl:

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

If you feel like splashing out you could go to Discovery Cove and swim with the dolphins, they do a birthday package where the dolphin swims to you with a special buoy and you get a t-shirt and birthday cake, nothing cheap about DC however

http://www.discoverycove.com/vi_dcpackages_special.aspx

You could hire a limo for a couple of hours or an early morning balloon flight, try Google for those.