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

angela110660

Spendalot wrote:

We stayed in a Villa last year, and found it cut costs considerably we were able to prepare some of our own food.(trust me, Im no keen cook - by this I mean breakfasts and snacks for the kids that we took to the parks in a cooler bag!!) We also had all our own drinks, and therefore did not have to pay hotel prices for drinks and snacks.

For an apartment (like a villa but not...) it was 1200. I am sure I would have found a villa if I kept searching.

So there are some huge savings there. These prices exclude car hire - but there is a website villas4all.com that has a link to a car hire site - this was much cheaper than any of the tour operator prices for car hire. I would recommend the car for getting around.

Our family has just returned from a villa in Florida and we could not fault it. We were two adults, teens aged 18 and 16 and child of 9. When we sourced private villas they were very reasonable but the scheduled flights eg Virgin were astronomical for this time of year. We booked a complete villa package, flights and hire car - less insurance for almost the same price with Airtours as the scheduled flights !! We paid for the car insurance before we went which was good and we bought our Disney tickets - 14 days Ultimate for the price of 7 from Keith Prowse. We felt that we have had good value for our money and we ended up with a 4 bed and not 3 bed villa in a super gated community about 20 mins west of Disney. FANTASTIC!!

pavlovs_dog

can anyone please advise on how much we can expect to pay going through toll roads in florida/orlando, and parking at places like disney?

just debating whether to change over some extra currency to cover it all.

thankies

Edinburghlass_2

Don't know about the tolls but I did hear that the parking charges in Disney were $8/9 a day.

HTH

Col_in_LB

I've yet to go through a toll which charges more than $1.50 a go - most are 75c.

That's except when driving down the toll road from Orlando to Miami - then it was a few bucks, but that's a 4 hour drive so was fair enough ;-)

cheers
Col

Col_in_LB

Don't know if it's been said before on this thread (as it's so bloomin' long and I got bored reading it!!) that if you're going to shop in Macy's then make sure you get their foreigners discount card thingy.

Yeah OK not a great description of what I mean, but just go to customer service (or ask any of their staff as they all know about it) and ask for a discount card as you're a foreigner. Think it saves something like 10% or 11%. Can't use it on cosmetics (was buying Clarins at the time, so she chucked in a load of samples instead!!) and perhaps some other bits of the store. But all in all a worthwhile thing valid for 30 days. You may need your passport on you to prove your foreign-ness!!

cheers
Col

izzy_flint

scottishf wrote:

Yup this will be my first time going to orlando...so i need your help i was going to book flights through iceland air for 1tth April 2006-26th April cost £1716 and then book accomodation through Alpha rooms at the comfort hotel at a cost of £455 i was wondering if anyone had booked this way.....and if they had found a cheaper better way...im also looking for info on the best deals on park tickets, and also if its better to book a hire car or not. Just pm me with any good tips thanks

Hi if you have never been before check out this site

Travel City

They specialise in family holidays to Florida and are very competitive on prices for everything,hotels,park tickets the lot.I have done Florida both ways,through these and searching seperate flights,hotel car hire etc and even after searching the web etc only managed to save a little but was a lot of hassle swapping at Atlanta etc.

One thing i would advise anyone is ALWAYS buy your attraction tickets HERE before you go.Saves ages of messing about trying different places to save a few pence and the kids hate it LOL.Also when you get there go to any of the shopping malls and look for the VOUCHER books which most have and you save lots on anything and everything.They are usually near the entrances in the malls.

abwsco

If you're thinking of Travel City just be aware of all the dreaful delays they've been having. Most flights delayed by a day last week.

Col_in_LB

.......and that sort of delay seems to have been the norm for this summer....and last.....so do beware

Poppy9

pavlovs_dog wrote:

can anyone please advise on how much we can expect to pay going through toll roads in florida/orlando, and parking at places like disney?

just debating whether to change over some extra currency to cover it all.

thankies

You don't need to go on toll roads for Disney, Universal etc. Which airport are you flying to? We were Sanford and 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) sorry don't know whether we went East or West I never know! 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!).

Parking is about 7$ per day but you can go and come back same day on this ticket.

lordy_2

Hi,

I have found a website https://www.mercurytravel.net who seem to be doing some really good deals at the moment (saving about £250 for a family of 4 to disney and universal). Has anyone used the company at all?