Please help us book our Summer Holiday in Florida/Disney with a difference.

Wuwyambard

Hi all


This is gonna be a long one, so PLEASE bear with me.


I have never been to U.S.A before so again, bear with me if some of the things I say are Rubbish or off the mark. However, I figured that asking people who had been to Florida/Disney before would fill me with invaluable information, so I proceeded to ask these people (My Sister who has been 3 times, my colleague, a customer at work, 2 blokes down the Pub etc). But.... the problem is that I have received a hell of a lot of information, some of which has been contradicted by others!!


It may help if I tell you a little bit about our family, what we individually enjoy out of our Holidays and why we want to visit Disney


Dad: I am 42 years old. My kind of Holiday is a relaxing Beach holiday while the Kids go wild in the Pool.


Wife is 37 years old. She has been to Disney before (7 years ago with her Son & Daughter) and loved it and wants to return. Her kind of Holiday is anything, and she will go with the flow as long as kids are happy.


My son is a typical 15 year old lad. His reason for wanting to go is purely & simply the death defying rides. He has done Blackpool Pleasure Beach etc, etc..a million times and now wants to go further and experience the rides in the parks.


Wifes Daughter is 11 and will go with the flow. She LOVES splashing around in Pool etc but will be equally at home on the rides etc.


Wifes Son is 9. Again, will go with the flow and again, loves Swimming Pools etc and smaller rides.


Now, along side the verbal information I have received, I have trawled the internet, got brochures from the Travel agents and as I said have asked many people, but think that quite frankly I have overdosed on information. I am hoping you guys n gals on here will be able to answer some of my questions and suggest what we should do and where we should go. Once I have received your comments I will set about booking something.


So...after speaking with the people I have mentioned I have gained some comments that quite frankly have been contradicted by others. Please would you have a look at my points below and give me your opinions. I am guessing that because this post is long that others will gain a lot of information from this too.


Here is what I have been told by various people. What is true what is False???

1. If you book your Holiday with Disney, the theme parks open up an hour early in the morning just for Disney customers.

1. If you book with Disney you'll be confined to eating with them for the duration of your stay, which may not be to your liking.

1. You wanna stay on International drive and hire a car to go to the parks. This way is cheaper.

1. Don't stay on International drive and hire a car. It may be cheaper in the beginning but it is very expensive to park your car at the Parks.

1. If you stay at Disney you get free transport to all the parks.

1. You don't have to stay at a Disney Hotel to get free transport to the parks. Most of the Major Hotels have free buses to the parks.

1. The benefits of staying on International drive are: Free transport to the parks. You can wander about at night and choose where you want to eat as you are not confined to eating within your Disney reservation.

1. Be prepared to be stood in queues all day in sweltering heat.

1. Book your tickets and passes with Disney and you get fast tracked to the front of the queue at parks.

10. You can save A LOT of money by booking your accomodation, flights and transfers seperately. Disney packages are way over the top.


There are may other anecdotes but I have listed the main ones here. Basically I just want your advice on the points I have mentioned here as I have no idea what is true or false.


Now the important bits....


Because I (Dad) don't really enjoy Parks and rides etc we have come to an agreement on our Holiday.


We want to spend the first week going round the Theme Parks etc and then spend the second week in a Hotel or apartment where we can Lazy round the Pool and go on the odd day trip etc. Any suggestions please people??


We are confined to going around end of July first two weeks in August. We are travelling from Manchester but if the price is right we are flexible.


I have no problem booking flights, car hire, accomodation etc seperate. So, to recap...


Week 1. Theme parks etc. Where should we stay?
Week 2. Hotel/apartment where we can chill etc. Must be access to swimming Pool.


Here's hoping for some great advice.

Incapuppy

Plenty of info here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1820085

tori.k

Wuwyambard wrote: »

Hi all


This is gonna be a long one, so PLEASE bear with me.





Here is what I have been told by various people. What is true what is False???

1. If you book your Holiday with Disney, the theme parks open up an hour early in the morning just for Disney customers.
2. this will give you the dates of the EMH
   http://www.wdwmagic.com/calendar.htm

1. If you book with Disney you'll be confined to eating with them for the duration of your stay, which may not be to your liking.
2. The Disney dining plan is run on a points system these you can use these's at any of the different Disney hotels, Parks and Down town disney how how varied food is depends on which plan you opt for but often they offer free dining as part of a disney package food availible range's everything from fine dining to burger & fries

1. You wanna stay on International drive and hire a car to go to the parks. This way is cheaper.
2. Parks charge around $15 a day parking some hotels have a daily charge for parking as well so something to check, hotels may come cheap but you are usually 4 to a room, thats my kind of nightmare so we would always opt for a villa stay so there is plenty of space

1. Don't stay on International drive and hire a car. It may be cheaper in the beginning but it is very expensive to park your car at the Parks.
2. see above... we always budget £10 a day for parking as part of our trip cost's

1. If you stay at Disney you get free transport to all the parks.
2. shuttles are availible from most hotels to the parks and there is always buses and taxi's

1. You don't have to stay at a Disney Hotel to get free transport to the parks. Most of the Major Hotels have free buses to the parks.

1. The benefits of staying on International drive are: Free transport to the parks. You can wander about at night and choose where you want to eat as you are not confined to eating within your Disney reservation.
2. You can Stay in a Disney Hotel and go self catering

1. Be prepared to be stood in queues all day in sweltering heat.
2. It will be busy and will be hot and humid as you are going during the busiest time of year

1. Book your tickets and passes with Disney and you get fast tracked to the front of the queue at parks.
2. You can get fass track passes but even with these you could still find quite a wait

10. You can save A LOT of money by booking your accomodation, flights and transfers seperately. Disney packages are way over the top.

Depends of a lot of factors everyone wants different things out of a florida holiday price a package and a DIY trip to compare




Week 1. Theme parks etc. Where should we stay?
Week 2. Hotel/apartment where we can chill etc. Must be access to swimming Pool.


Here's hoping for some great advice.

Have you considered a villa rather then a hotel most come with private pools and games rooms have a look at the http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/ there is wealth of information about all the different options to help plan your dream holiday

Have a great trip

claire16c

Wuwyambard wrote: »

You don't have to stay at a Disney Hotel to get free transport to the parks. Most of the Major Hotels have free buses to the parks.

I stayed at a Hampton Inn and we had a free bus to Animal Kingdom, Sea world, Universal, and Disney. From Disney we used the disney tranport to get to other places. Plenty of hotels on I Drive and other places have free shuttles.

1. The benefits of staying on International drive are: Free transport to the parks. You can wander about at night and choose where you want to eat as you are not confined to eating within your Disney reservation.

True. But you dont HAVE to eat at Disney if you stay at disney. Its not like you are locked in

1. Be prepared to be stood in queues all day in sweltering heat.

Not all year round. At the time of year you are going though, yes. its probably the worst time to go because it will be hot and humid and awful queues, but as you are restricted to school hols you obviously dont have a choice. Unless of course you wait to go next Easter hols or something.



Because I (Dad) don't really enjoy Parks and rides etc we have come to an agreement on our Holiday.


We want to spend the first week going round the Theme Parks etc and then spend the second week in a Hotel or apartment where we can Lazy round the Pool and go on the odd day trip etc. Any suggestions please people??

what about staying in a disney or Idrive hotel for 1 week, and the a villa for the 2nd week? Or do the villa for both weeks, but space out doing parks every couple of days rather than a full on week because it will involve a lot of queuing at that time of year.
When I was young wed sometimes go to the park for a few hours, then come back to the villa to go to the pool etc. If you have a ticket that lets you in for x days, then you dont have to stay there the entire day.

Visit some other places like kennedy space centre, oh and busch gardens for your 15yr old, so youre not too disneyfied all week.

Or you could go to a completely different area near a beach, or florida keys etc.

Hope that helps

xfive71

Hi, I don't blame you! I am planning a similar trip and am fairly concussed with all the information out there. Here's what I could figure out from the lot of information out there.

I find it simpler to draw up some sort of spreadsheet to pull all the information together. It might be useful if you want to make sense of all the wonderful tips people are giving to you (both in person and online!)

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If you book your Holiday with Disney, the theme parks open up an hour early in the morning just for Disney customers.

This would be the Early Magic Hours (EMH for short). It varies from park to park and date to date so check which dates would coincide with your trip. The suggestions are go for early EMH if possible. Disney also offers late EMH. (Disney guests can get on rides from 9pm - 12am) on some nights but the general consensus is the parks get very busy during these times.

1. If you book with Disney you'll be confined to eating with them for the duration of your stay, which may not be to your liking.

Not necessarily. THis is only if you opt for the Dining Plan, where you are given a set of credits to spend all over Disney. It is not confined to the resort where you are staying. You can redeem these credits at other resorts, in the parks as well as Downtown Disney.

The current offer is for free Quick Service Dining Plan if you book a stay at a Moderate resort but you can upgrade this for an extra costs.

1. You wanna stay on International drive and hire a car to go to the parks. This way is cheaper.

You need to work this out unfortunately. Hotels at the I-drive tend to be cheaper but you would have to pay for carpark at Disney resorts which is around $15 a day. The kids are quite big and perhaps you don't really need a car if you are happy to commute via bus, I-trolley etc.

1. Don't stay on International drive and hire a car. It may be cheaper in the beginning but it is very expensive to park your car at the Parks.

Again, something you have to pull a calculator out for

1. If you stay at Disney you get free transport to all the parks.

Yes, transport is free within the resort.

1. You don't have to stay at a Disney Hotel to get free transport to the parks. Most of the Major Hotels have free buses to the parks.

Yes, again. They do have free buses to the parks but these are not as frequent as the ones at Disney plus there might be only one going in the morning, and only one in the evening and you are beholden to these times. In the perchance that you want to go back earlier to the hotel, you would have to cough up for taxis.

Again something to think about. I opt not to do this because my kids are still really teeny and it would be better just to scoop them all up in a car for afternoon breaks but your kids are older and maybe able to cope better with the bus timings.

1. The benefits of staying on International drive are: Free transport to the parks. You can wander about at night and choose where you want to eat as you are not confined to eating within your Disney reservation.

Yes to free transport but think about the above point regarding timings. A lot of choices to eat at I-drive and perhaps cheaper to eat than Disney. A lot of it depends on whether you opt for the DIning Plan. Reservations at disney dining can be cancelled too, you know.

1. Be prepared to be stood in queues all day in sweltering heat.

Yes, I heard it is quite something in summer so best make a battle pan of sorts! Early EMH if possible and Fast Passes.

1. Book your tickets and passes with Disney and you get fast tracked to the front of the queue at parks.

Yes and no. From what I can tell, you still need to get Fast Passes (which are free) at the rides you want to get on and these need to be secured early as they run out.

I am not sure whether you want to go to Universal Studios. A stay at their onsite hotel (Hard Rock Hotel and Loewe Portofino) gives you early entry to Harry Potter + front of the line queues passes (worth $87 each). I think it would be ideal for your ride-mad sons.


10. You can save A LOT of money by booking your accomodation, flights and transfers seperately. Disney packages are way over the top.

Get a quote for a combined package and priced them separately. You can save booking separately, of course but I think only if you are sure of what you want. You can ask the travel agencies to price match as well.



Now the important bits....


Because I (Dad) don't really enjoy Parks and rides etc we have come to an agreement on our Holiday.


We want to spend the first week going round the Theme Parks etc and then spend the second week in a Hotel or apartment where we can Lazy round the Pool and go on the odd day trip etc. Any suggestions please people??


We are confined to going around end of July first two weeks in August. We are travelling from Manchester but if the price is right we are flexible.


I have no problem booking flights, car hire, accomodation etc seperate. So, to recap...


Week 1. Theme parks etc. Where should we stay?

If theme parks/rides are important on the first week, perhaps an onsite stay would be the better choice; purely due to perks such as early access and front of the line queues. That way, the kids can go crazy on the rides at the shortest possible time.

Week 2. Hotel/apartment where we can chill etc. Must be access to swimming Pool.

A villa or an apartment stay for week 2 perhaps. Somewhere with a good pool and car hire for this week.

dazzer68

Wow alot of questions! What ever you choose you will have a great time!
Weve been three times, always stayed at a disney resort ( all stars) the rooms pools and food courts are fantastic. By staying with disney, you do get extra hours in the parks, sometimes morning sometimes late at night. And these alone are why we stay. Before the park opens to everyone, you can get the big rides done without wasting time in qeues for hours. Its different parks on different days so can can get most things done early then enjoy the park at your leisure!
We havent had the food pakages before , but cant see how you not like it, theres a huge style and choice of foods, even the different themed hotels have different foods.
Weve never bothered with getting a car, as staying with disney means all transportation is included, from shuttle buses to the parks, to downtown disney and to the water parks, they run very well though at closing times can get busy, but you just need to plan ahead.the monorails can be used as well, we always haveca day out of the parks and visit other disney hotels, have dinner there, enjoy the theming relax.
You can get buses or taxis to other non disney parks very easily and resonably.
I think sometimes disney run offers on tickets like 14 days for price of 7, get the one thats covers all water parks and theme parks, well worth it. The water parks are great, typhoon lagoon with its huge wave machines, blizzard beach, snow themed ski resort, great fun. These also open early for disney guests!
You have to pay to park your cars at the parks, and its not cheap, so over a two week holiday that soon mounts up! Disney transportation is included!
Another thing you can get your purchases from the theme parks shipped back to your hotel, so you dont need to carry it around with you all day, if your leaving one park to go to another.
Go to camp wilderness fir breakfast or dinner, its buffet style and you eat as much as you can! All in western style . Id stay in disney every time, just fir the sheer ease of it all, but others like to leave disney once they have left the parks. Where as at the resort its disney all the way! If you stay at theall stars, you can use any of the nine pools!!

terriandaaron

go to the disboards (have uk board)or the dibb,(dibbis uk one ) both are dedicated disney forums and will answer a lot of questions for you (google them)

terriandaaron

I will say though August is hot espically for a first timer....but is doable if you plan well and take breaks.:-)

Wuwyambard

WOW, WOW, WOW

Thank you VERY much to you folks who have taken the time to comment. It is VERY much appreciated!

Still stuck between Disney & I Drive though! lol

Incapuppy

Wuwyambard wrote: »

Still stuck between Disney & I Drive though! lol

You aren't just restricted to those two areas though; it is a long time since I went but we stayed in Lake Buena Vista which was lovely

http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/brochures/florida/holidays/orlando/resorts.aspx#hd

duchy

Most hotels won't sleep five to a room and it'd be very cramped (I think the cheapest Disney hotel would be Port Orleans which is two double beds and a pull out trundle bed that lives under one of the doubles-you'd be really cramped) -A villa would give you loads of space, a pool and the option to eat in or out (a lot of places will deliver too -"proper resturants" as well as takeaway type food).

As you are going at the hottest time of the year I'd suggest rather than kill yourselves doing a week of parks and a week of chilling-spread the parks out across the two weeks and also consider breaking your days up. Get up early hit the parks ahead of the worst of the crowds and heat-retire back to the villa for pool, and relaxing-and then go back late afternoon or evening til close (The coasters have entirely differant feeling at night too). The way the passes work you can visit more than one park in a day on most multi-day passes-just remember to get hand stamped.

You could look at apartment style hotels -we stayed at the Homewood Suites a few years ago in Lake Buena Vista, One bedroom apartment with huge full kitchen -it was 5 mins to Disney taking the backroads, had a pool, free breakfast and room to spread. Other companies that do similar style are Embassy Suites (there's one just by Downtown Disney) or my favourite for this style is Marriott's Resience Inn.