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

Poppy9

I have been with TCD. Standard seats are not too bad on leg room. The first row of seats in each section has oodles of leg room.

jnd

Dawn_Hosker wrote:

Do banks make charges for using ATM's?

Dawn

Most of the atm's not located at a bank will charge you for the privilege of using them.

Placing enough funds for your holiday into a N'wide flexaccount is the cheapest way to withdraw cash overseas. The problem is knowing how much you'll need. I usually put every spend I can get away with onto my N'wide CC to get away with using as little cash as possible. There is a cut-off though. I've found that the 8th or 9th transaction on the card in the same day will be be refused. You have to wait until the next day for the card to reset. I've asked them to up it every time I call to tell them to place a note on the account to say that I'm in the US, but they said they can't.

posty_3

scrouge wrote:

Hi there.. just need some knowledge really. We are travelling with Travel City Direct to Orlando. We have gone for PREMIUM seats on the flight due to my huby being 6'5' !!!
Am concerned as alot of websites are saying that its not worth paying the extra for these seats!!! HELP..... Has anyone used T C D and travelled in the PREMIUM Seats, we have also requested the PREMIUM seats with the most legroom.
Any hlp please????????

https://www.thedibb.co.uk.

read the forum tcd have good and bad reviews :cool:

divadee

scrouge wrote:

Hi there.. just need some knowledge really. We are travelling with Travel City Direct to Orlando. We have gone for PREMIUM seats on the flight due to my huby being 6'5' !!!
Am concerned as alot of websites are saying that its not worth paying the extra for these seats!!! HELP..... Has anyone used T C D and travelled in the PREMIUM Seats, we have also requested the PREMIUM seats with the most legroom.
Any hlp please????????

i have been in economy and its not to bad. But we have booked with TCD in February and have upgraded to the sunshine first cabin. 50 inch seat pitch what bliss!!!!!!

AirCooledHeaven

Hi just a word of warning about https://www.discount-tickets.us

We booked tickets on-line while staying in Orlando, the site promises a "same day pickup guarantee". We ordered at 6am (due to jetlag!) and went to collect at 7pm from their small office in kissimmee. There were no tickets for us, they said "they hadn't had time to go to disney to buy them".

I asked about their same day pickup guarantee and was told " it only says that on the website, it doesn't really apply, you'll have to take it up with the owner if you want to complain"

It appears they only hold standard day passes at their office, we wanted the Disney Plus tickets that include Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard, any 'non-standard' tickets they go and buy at disney once a day.

Just goes to show that behind many impressive corporate websites lies a small disorganised trader.

Now to a recommendation, we finally bought our tickets over the counter at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on HWY 192, they had all tickets in stock, they gave good friendly advice, and best of all they were cheaper than any website we'd previously looked at!

tweetie_2

just a quickie about tickets!

we bought ours through the company we booked our whole holiday with https://www.travelox.co.uk (they were fab, cheaper flights and the Radisson Barcelo on Int Dr £26 a night for the nicer side). The tickets were not only cheaper than those we had seen advertised (and we looked everywhere) but they actually sent someone to our hotel to give us the tickets (we arrived at 11pm and there was someone at reception at 9am the next day waiting for us).

You need to call up to book everything, but I couldn't fault them, they were fab from start to finish and saved us a fortune.

Spendless

We're just back from Florida with TCD.

We pre-booked seats at a cost of £69 and had the front row all 4 of us together, plenty of leg-room. Someone we know (2 adults, 2 kids like us) was on same flight had pre-booked the seats also before we did but were sat on 2 different rows 3 together, 1 in front. Some friends of ours came out a week later also with TCD, they didn't pay for pre-booked seats and got the 3/1 combination.

On the flight home our tv screen wasn't working and neither was a sections lights. When we landed we were told it had been the planes last commercial flight. The knowledge beforehand wouldn't have bothered me but probably would Mr Spendless who dislikes flying.

Disney charges $8 a day for parking. You can take food/drink into the parks but not alcohol or glass containers. Fast-pass is free and worth using. We made a mistake on last day thinking we'd go in afternoon and see fireworks for last time. However the park was closing at 6pm due to mickeys not so scarey halloween party, which hadn't been heavily advertised the previous week when we'd been in. For this there was a seperate charge and the guests wore a wristband, so after 6pm you needed a wristband to get on rides. If you're going at a holiday celebration time, check to see if the park will be closing early due to another celebration they are having.

Universal charges $9 a day parking but you can have preferred parking which means parking in a nearer car park for $13 (i'd estimate it cuts 5-10 mins off journey). You are not allowed to take food/drink into park. The express pass costs $15 per person per day per park (ie you can't use it at islands of adventure on same day-you have to purchase another pass). With their pass you joined the queue further forward, but not completely at the front. A lot of people didn't have them so the queues were longer. Universals height restrictions were higher than Disneys, so my 2.5 year old daughter could barely go on anything. Fair enough I didn't pay for a ticket for her as she's under 3 but worth considering if anyone has a small over 3 year old.

We ate at the Ponderosa restaurant a couple of times. Children 5 and under eat free from the buffet there, meaning we got a free meal for both our 2 kids.

Check out the discount vouchers left in your room and take booklet in your bag with you. 1st night we paid a fortune for a meal, only to discover we could have used a voucher to deduct 15%. Read the t & cs on them as some are only valid if handed in when ordering. There were also a lot of kid eats free with 1 adult entree (main meal) purchased.

On International Drive we went to an outlet that used to be called Bells now called Prime. There is a shop in there called the 'character warehouse' this sells Disney items cheaper, including t-shirts that say 'walt disney world ' on them (couldn't find these in the oprdinary touristy gift shops) and are put in a disney carrier(so my pressies look a lot dearer than they were-lol).

At the end of the hols my kids clothes that won't fit them next summer I bagged up and took them to the re-cycling at Wal-mart leaving plenty of space in my case for the things we fetched home.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

We always take bottles of iced water and a small cool box/backpack (everyone has these) for sarnies/pizza/crisps. biscuits etc etc. There are picnic areas. Your not alowed sharp objects though and bags will be checked at entrance of parks. Saying that, we have always found the food within Disneyworld and Universal to be of good quality and fairly priced for themeparks. Theme parks in the UK are total rip off compared to USA.

We eat mainly at BlackAngus (wicked steaks), TGI's, few other steak places, IHOP, Sizzler (sometimes-very cheap but eat all yuo can buffet for £4), chinesse-yummy and Golden Coral-buffet-slightly dearer but much better quality food than Sizzler and Ponderosa.

We always stay in a villa with pool as it works out at about £275 a week and its all ours and has everything you need with 4 bedrooms and heated pool.

Always fly with Virgin and go premium economy and last time we were bumped to business class :eek: You also get double weight allowance with virgin than most other flights to the USA, so we go out with little and come back with tons. We go for the parks, visiting friends but mainly the shopping. Premium shopping outlets, Nike, Louis Vuiton, Channel, perfume, trainers etc etc....spend a fortune but well worth it.

PP
xx

Chris25

When we were at Universal last year, they were quite strict about not bringing in any food or drink , even bottled water.

But not all of the bag checkers were consistant - we got in with water not realising, but overheard many complaints & saw instances where people had to take stuff back to their car or dump it at the gates!

We did read their policy on food & drink somewhere afterwards - on the tickets perhaps - I can't remember now. But they may have changed it now .:)

Col_in_LB

I always stay in a villa in Orlando area coz it is so much more convenient and relaxing.......oh and it's MINE!!!!

cheers ;-)
Col