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

Poppy9

Orlando car hire. Does anyone have experience of either of these companies:

www.holidaysorlando.eu.com

www.usrentacar.co.uk

usrentacar seem really cheap just £310 for 7minivan for 2 weeks. Its with Budget car hire - are they any good, especially re insurance. £354 if with Dollar with plus insurance. They price match any other company too.

tech

I've so far found a villa for £620 for a fortnight. Is this a good bargain or does anyone know where it's possibly cheaper for a fortnight from October 06 to November 06.

Does cheaper always mean better? I've had hundreds of emails from people wanting me to rent their villa and some at say £700 look no worse than those at £1200. Is location the key?

tech

For those who've been to Universal Studios, and haven't had a deal with free transport, are the buses in the area good or bad? I'm loathed to rent a car for travelling no more than 10 minutes at a time unless I can argue with myself a need to drive out of the area for a day out.

Cardew

tech wrote:

I've so far found a villa for £620 for a fortnight. Is this a good bargain or does anyone know where it's possibly cheaper for a fortnight from October 06 to November 06.

Does cheaper always mean better? I've had hundreds of emails from people wanting me to rent their villa and some at say £700 look no worse than those at £1200. Is location the key?

The standard Orlando villas varies tremendously. Some are run down and in poor locations etc. Some are real luxury.

Price however is not an indication of value for money and you can find some real bargains; although it is not always possible to determine this from the adverts.

With regard to your other post about a car. I cannot imagine how you could possibly have a holiday in a Villa without a car. It would be difficult enough staying in an hotel with its own buses; in a Villa virtually impossible.

There just isn't public transport as we know it in UK. It can be miles to the nearest supermarket and you really don't want to be walking miles in the heat and frequent thunderstorms.

With the cost of flights, a villa, attraction tickets you are going to spend a lot of money anyway. To not spend £230 or so on a car would be crazy IMO.

funky-footprints

we have an expensive week in miami before we drive to orlando for a week and so to comprimise the fact we are going to see as much as possible have thought rather than Villa it (cheapest quote i have is 3 bed £500 for week in kissimmee it does look lovely) we will motel it.
Have been looking on line and found i-drive inn in orlando - has anyone stayed there ? (it is opposite wet & wild) i have read so many alarming reports about these motels, i have looked on so many websites, my head is fried. we are fine with one family sized room, kiddies are 5 & 3. if it means we can save a further £200 then the kids get thier personal dvd players for all our driving !!

thanks for reading, all help, and advise is sooo appreciated !!!

Finishrich

Poppy9 wrote:

Orlando car hire. Does anyone have experience of either of these companies:

www.holidaysorlando.eu.com

www.usrentacar.co.uk

usrentacar seem really cheap just £310 for 7minivan for 2 weeks. Its with Budget car hire - are they any good, especially re insurance. £354 if with Dollar with plus insurance. They price match any other company too.

http://www.uscarhire.co.uk/#rates a 7 minivan is £340 for 2 weeks it's with dollar and includes all the taxes. I've used this company to book the last 2 years.

gizmos

funky-footprints wrote:

we have an expensive week in miami before we drive to orlando for a week and so to comprimise the fact we are going to see as much as possible have thought rather than Villa it (cheapest quote i have is 3 bed £500 for week in kissimmee it does look lovely) we will motel it.
Have been looking on line and found i-drive inn in orlando - has anyone stayed there ? (it is opposite wet & wild) i have read so many alarming reports about these motels, i have looked on so many websites, my head is fried. we are fine with one family sized room, kiddies are 5 & 3. if it means we can save a further £200 then the kids get thier personal dvd players for all our driving !!

thanks for reading, all help, and advise is sooo appreciated !!!

What is the hotel/inn name in Orlando - I have tended to avoid places with names such as Days inn, Quality Inn etc

Most of these the room layout is exactly the same and rhw bathrooms are tiny - not easy if you have to assist with bathing of the little ones

jonnno

We want to go to Florida Easter 2007 - yes I know it's peak time but we're bound to the school holidays as I work in a school. The kids will be aged 10 and 8 when we go and we'll probably only go once so we want to make sure we do it right. I've been on the net and phoned round some places and got some prices for flights. One of the cheapest quotes I've got is from [URL=http://]www.ocean-florida.com[/URL]. Has anybody ever used them and if so are they any good? They are not ABTA or ATOL bonded but are bonded with the TTA - Travel Trust Association - is this reliable? We were thinking of flying indirect as this is cheaper - is it more or less of a hassle (ie customs are cleared sooner but it is a longer journey). I know this is a lot of questions but I'm confused!!!!

Poppy9

Finishrich wrote:

http://www.uscarhire.co.uk/#rates a 7 minivan is £340 for 2 weeks it's with dollar and includes all the taxes. I've used this company to book the last 2 years.

Re silver and gold insurance. Both of us want to be insured to drive which with dollar we are on silver it appears. What about the tank of fuel though? If we upgrade to gold insurance we get a full tank of petrol. The extra cost is £30 - would it cost this to fill the car up anyway? Do they give you a full car anyway and you just take it back full. If I remember correctly this is how it worked last time.

Edited to add:
Booked the car with Gold insurance as if you take silver you have to pay for a full tank of fuel upon collection. The charge for this is $80 so it was cheaper to pay the £30 extra here. The base price is a bit of a con really but all these companies get you one way or another. Airline-network were £372 for same car/fuel so I saved £2

Poppy9

jonnno wrote:

We want to go to Florida Easter 2007 - yes I know it's peak time but we're bound to the school holidays as I work in a school. The kids will be aged 10 and 8 when we go and we'll probably only go once so we want to make sure we do it right. I've been on the net and phoned round some places and got some prices for flights. One of the cheapest quotes I've got is from [url="http:///"]www.ocean-florida.com[/url]. Has anybody ever used them and if so are they any good? They are not ABTA or ATOL bonded but are bonded with the TTA - Travel Trust Association - is this reliable? We were thinking of flying indirect as this is cheaper - is it more or less of a hassle (ie customs are cleared sooner but it is a longer journey). I know this is a lot of questions but I'm confused!!!!

Its a long flight so I would either try to go direct or have a couple of days stop over with 2 children. My DD was 8/9 when we first went and was shattered by the travelling.