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

pompeyrich

vanilla8 wrote: »

Well we have booked our flights.... a flydrive wih virgin, but are going to rent a seperate car.

We are looking at villas for the first week in orland, to do the theme parks, and then maybe spend the second week around clearwater/tampa.

Does anyone recommend, that seeing as it is our first visit to orlando, that a week is not long enough for the theme parks?

I personally think you would be better off sticking with Orlando for the 2 weeks, it will be far more relaxing. Of course you don't have to do all the parks this visit but 4x Disney, 2x Universal and Seaworld is 6 days minimum, the parks are huge and by the time they close and you stop for dinner it could be mid-night before you get "home", a good sleep, then start all over again !! Far better to spread the days out over 2 weeks, maybe a trip out to Busch, Kennedy Space Centre, the coast, some shopping, or just some plain old relaxing by the pool. This is our 3rd visit with the kids and I would have preferred to stay around Orlando but Mrs Pompey was keen to do the coast and is the boss round here .

Pink_Piglet

Hello

My OH and I are hoping to go to Florida in Sept/Oct this year (avoiding school holidays) and wanted to get Virgin flights from Gatwick.

Does anyone know if there are ever any late deals on Virgin flights, and if so where would I find them?

Also how late is the best time to book?

moob_2

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Does anyone on this thread visit anywhere in Florida (its about the size of England BTW) other than the theme parks, and spend money anywhere else, other than with Uncle Walt ?

Me!

I'm arriving Orlando, getting car, leaving asap, going to Fort Lauderdale for a romantic hotel by the waterway coupla days, down to Key West 5 days, Naples 3 days, Clearwater 3 days - last 2-3 days - undecided.:beer:

analyst_2

vanilla8 wrote: »

Does anyone recommend, that seeing as it is our first visit to orlando, that a week is not long enough for the theme parks?

There is a LOT to do in Orlando. And if you try doing it hard day after day it gets exhausting. What we did, many years ago, was get a seven day pass to disney parks, which includes access to their water parks, and then alternated Theme Park/Water Park (relaxing) day by day.

The clock starts ticking from your first visit to any Disney park so you are best taking in "other" parks, e.g. Universal Studios or Sea World (both must-dos imho) outside of your running seven days to get best value-for-money.

Hope this makes sense -doh!

and outside of that, you may want time to do a bit shopping in or around Orlando - so 1 week???

vanilla8

Thanks everyone, taken your advice and have booked a villa in orlando for two weeks!

Just have to sort hire car and theme park tickets. Some friends have recommended buying theme park tickets when we get there. Is it cheaper to do it this way or should i buy online here first?

apcorbett

Definitely buy online before you go... There are many ticket agencies on the web that are very cheap - When you get there, you either pay through the nose on the gate, buy other peoples unused days from touts or put yourself a holiday sales talk just to get some cheap tickets!

Have a look on

https://www.thedibb.co.uk

for reputable firms, or PM me, and I can confirm those that I have had the pleasure of dealing with!

Barcode

Any ideas on the best business class to Orlando? Girlfriend and I now seriously thinking about going in April/May, and are now in information gathering stage. My preference is for BA club world, since I *think*, Virgin don't have the upper class on some flights to Orlando, at least not from Manchester.

We would consider the premium classes on the various charter airlines, has anybody had good experiences with them?

I know this is not really an MSE attitude; but after a nightmare eleven hour flight to San Francisco one year, we have been going business class whenever we go outside Europe. The cost is worth it for the preservation of our sanity.

Hotel or villa? We think we'd be happy driving to everything if it was within 30 mins or so. We have looked at the Regal Palms resort, are there any others that people can recommend?

alliyo

Pink_Piglet wrote: »

Hello

My OH and I are hoping to go to Florida in Sept/Oct this year (avoiding school holidays) and wanted to get Virgin flights from Gatwick.

Does anyone know if there are ever any late deals on Virgin flights, and if so where would I find them?

Also how late is the best time to book?

Look out for the Virgin Megadeals,
The first time i used them was about 3yrs ago. 2 adults 1 child aged 6, flight, hotel (Fairfield Inn & Suites I-Drive area) & transfers and ins for 11th Sept for 2 weeks came to a total of £1200. It was a fantastic deal. Not used it since as we always go earlier now because of school dates.
Not exactly sure when these come out but i`m sure they are due out soon!

miss_edith

moob wrote: »

Me!

I'm arriving Orlando, getting car, leaving asap, going to Fort Lauderdale for a romantic hotel by the waterway coupla days, down to Key West 5 days, Naples 3 days, Clearwater 3 days - last 2-3 days - undecided.:beer:

That sounds a lovely holiday. I spent as little time as poss in Orlando too. Apart from the parks I dont know whay anyone would want to spend time there. But beware of Clearwater at the moment, I was there last week and Clearwater Beach is one big building site at the moment. Better to go at bit further south maybe.

Col_in_LB

Barcode wrote: »

Any ideas on the best business class to Orlando? Girlfriend and I now seriously thinking about going in April/May, and are now in information gathering stage. My preference is for BA club world, since I *think*, Virgin don't have the upper class on some flights to Orlando, at least not from Manchester.

We would consider the premium classes on the various charter airlines, has anybody had good experiences with them?

I know this is not really an MSE attitude; but after a nightmare eleven hour flight to San Francisco one year, we have been going business class whenever we go outside Europe. The cost is worth it for the preservation of our sanity.

Hotel or villa? We think we'd be happy driving to everything if it was within 30 mins or so. We have looked at the Regal Palms resort, are there any others that people can recommend?

Hmmmm what to comment on first - oh I know As a villa owner (within 15 mins of Disney) I'd def recommend staying in one (mine?!! :rotfl: )....is sooooooo much better than a hotel, honest! :A

As for flights...well Virgin have got Upper Class across their fleet, what you might be thinking is that they don't have the Upper Class Suite on some a/c - I think that is still the situation. But as the a/c are LGW based they rotate through there, so would be pot-luck if you got the Suite or the old UC.

I've flown Virgin in economy, premium & upper. Like you won't do economy long haul again I just can't cope (unless Qatar Airways)....the premium & upper were the last renditions so am not up to speed on the current offerings, but I was more than satisfied with both.

With BA again I'm not sure if they have the upgraded Club on the LGW fleet, as they only just got NCW there last year. I wouldn't spend the extra on world trav plus with BA.....I really didn't feel it was worth the extra the few times I've used it (most recently 8 months ago).

Have flown First Choice Star Class Premier....v impressed, good value & I slept both ways which I rarely do.

Just remember if you're thinking of BA Club then you'll have to fly via London, at least Virgin & FCA are direct nonstop from your (local?) airport :T

cheers
Col