Planning our first holiday...

zagfles

John259 wrote: »

Sorry to be a pedantic pain, but...
Disneyland is in Anaheim which is a suburb/satellite city of Los Angeles, California.
Walt Disney World is in the Orlando area of Florida.

Personally, I'd prefer the reassurance of NOT involving a travel agent. They charge extra and make mistakes. Booking yourself involves doing some research but provided you've got the time that's all part of the holiday.

Yes it really can be more hassle using a travel agent - if they get something wrong instead of dealing with it with the hotel etc you might have to call your agent in the UK 4,000 miles away in a different time zone to sort it!

The US is really easy to book independantly - there's no language barrier (normally!), customer service is usually excellent, I find it easier to sort accomodation, travel, car hire etc in the US than in the UK!

OP check the weather - late July is likely to hot and humid, possible thunder, even hurricanes etc. It is also likely to be very busy, especially theme parks where you're likely to spend the majority of the day stood in queues in the heat and humidity. Personally I'd never go at that time of year, but lots of people do!

Sorry don't mean to put you off, Florida is a brilliant holiday destination, and there so so much more to it than theme parks. Been discussed here loads, have a search.

marcsshell

sew_what wrote: »

Last day of term is 27th July here.....

Last day is 21st July here hence why I was originally thinking last couple of weeks in July. I am not normally someone to keep the kids off school for nothing but this would be a once in a lifetime holiday so the last few days of the summer term wouldn't do any harm especially as they don't do anything anyway.
I think I am possibly swaying more towards October half term now.

zagfles

marcsshell wrote: »

Last day is 21st July here hence why I was originally thinking last couple of weeks in July. I am not normally someone to keep the kids off school for nothing but this would be a once in a lifetime holiday so the last few days of the summer term wouldn't do any harm especially as they don't do anything anyway.
I think I am possibly swaying more towards October half term now.

That would be a much nicer time of year to be there - less humid/thundery, and less packed, and accomodation would likely be much cheaper.

Downside might be that flights are expensive - with half terms everyone goes and comes back at the same time, also obviously you'll only get a week unless you take them out of school.

melanzana

Is Disneyland Paris an option for you OP?

Then you could hire a car and take a break somewhere on the coast.

I reckon you would save loadsa dough, and no ESTA, no dollar exchange, nice short enough journey, and the euro is weak against Sterling too.

Just thought I'd throw that out, as it wasn't clear from OP that it was Anaheim you were talking about!

I was in Anaheim Disney about 30 odd years ago, eeek! but we were staying in LA and just took the local bus there... it was interesting, but obv for children really.

I doubt D. Paris is any less exciting really, as it is a closed fantasy world, could be anywhere on the planet really.

Unless of course you wish to drive around California, which is great, if that's what you want.

I hope, no matter what you decide that you have a great time.

John259

OP is talking about Disney World in Florida.

According to most reports, Disneyland Paris bears about as much resemblance to any of the Disney Parks in the USA as Great Yarmouth does to Las Vegas.

Not that it's really relevant to the discussion but FWIW a road trip in California would be superb alternative to Orlando.

marcsshell

John is correct it is Florida that we are talking about.
Other option is the two weeks Easter holidays they have. What is it like then?
We are prepared to pay the fines that school will more than likely hit us with if we keep them off the 2 weeks in October. I would tell the truth and not get someone to phone the schools telling then they are both ill.

melanzana

John259 wrote: »

OP is talking about Disney World in Florida.

According to most reports, Disneyland Paris bears about as much resemblance to any of the Disney Parks in the USA as Great Yarmouth does to Las Vegas.

Not that it's really relevant to the discussion but FWIW a road trip in California would be superb alternative to Orlando.

Yes of course it would be, and a great adventure for everyone. Florida would leave me cold TBH, but it's an individual thing.

I was only mentioning Paris as an alternative. Kids are kids, and the West Coast of France is stunning after that.

Sorry that I don't have the lingo to interpret the various Disney optical illusions around the globe and identify them by their little add on names, lol.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse look the same to me no matter where they are:T

I wasn't trying to be a smartass either BTW.

Just throwing out a few options.

John259

OP, have you discovered the Phil, Emma and Ben channel on YouTube? They've visited Disneyland Paris, the various theme parks including Disney World in Orlando, various theme parks including Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in the Los Angeles area, and they've also done a US West Coast road trip (Los Angeles > San Francisco > Yosemite > Las Vegas > Los Angeles). There's a vast amount of good quality footage there and you might to sample some of it to see how all these options compare with each other.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChgpwXzFRV3PG8g81aJF1ew

duchy

melanzana wrote: »

Yes of course it would be, and a great adventure for everyone. Florida would leave me cold TBH, but it's an individual thing.

I was only mentioning Paris as an alternative. Kids are kids, and the West Coast of France is stunning after that.
Sorry that I don't have the lingo to interpret the various Disney optical illusions around the globe and identify them by their little add on names, lol.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse look the same to me no matter where they are:T

I wasn't trying to be a smartass either BTW.

Just throwing out a few options.

I found Disneyland Paris to be a very poor "alternative" to Florida -and thought your suggestion was extraordinary. (Of course I've actually visited all three of the areas rather than based my "advice" on what I've read or imagined.

Florida is a huge state Florida Keys, places like Melbourne beach where you can watch turtles hatching on the beaches, historical St Augustine, fantastic beaches , the Everglades ....and Oh yeah some of the best theme parks in he world. too.......and far cheaper than France , the people are friendlier and there's no language barrier....and the air traffic controllers and docks operators don't go on strike at the drop of a hat either.

Walt Disney World is a resort -with multiple parks on a variety of themes , hotels, waterparks, golf courses, nature reserves etc. You could spend three weeks there and not see everything. In fact you could spend three weeks at Walt Disney World and not set foot in any of the parks and still be fully occupied for two or three weeks. Disneyland Paris is a short break destination with maybe 3/4 days of stuff to do.

Each to their own but I do think your post was completely uncalled for. Florida may not be YOUR cup of tea but it has a lot offer for many and why try and burst the OP's bubble in the way you did.




I'm a bit tired of certain posters putting down people's choices because THEY wouldn't like it (and often haven't even visited themselves.........we are seeing far too many posts "I want to go to Vegas/Florida etc" getting little short of lectures about how they should do something entirely different like a tour of national parks ......or an entirely different continent. It's ridiculous.

melanzana

duchy wrote: »

I found Disneyland Paris to be a very poor "alternative" to Florida -and thought your suggestion was extraordinary. (Of course I've actually visited all three of the areas rather than based my "advice" on what I've read or imagined.

Florida is a huge state Florida Keys, places like Melbourne beach where you can watch turtles hatching on the beaches, historical St Augustine, fantastic beaches , the Everglades ....and Oh yeah some of the best theme parks in he world. too.......and far cheaper than France , the people are friendlier and there's no language barrier....and the air traffic controllers and docks operators don't go on strike at the drop of a hat either.

Walt Disney World is a resort -with multiple parks on a variety of themes , hotels, waterparks, golf courses, nature reserves etc. You could spend three weeks there and not see everything. In fact you could spend three weeks at Walt Disney World and not set foot in any of the parks and still be fully occupied for two or three weeks. Disneyland Paris is a short break destination with maybe 3/4 days of stuff to do.

Each to their own but I do think your post was completely uncalled for. Florida may not be YOUR cup of tea but it has a lot offer for many and why try and burst the OP's bubble in the way you did.




I'm a bit tired of certain posters putting down people's choices because THEY wouldn't like it (and often haven't even visited themselves.........we are seeing far too many posts "I want to go to Vegas/Florida etc" getting little short of lectures about how they should do something entirely different like a tour of national parks ......or an entirely different continent. It's ridiculous.

OK, I am so sorry for having a view that does not concur with your own lol.

I get that you have been everywhere Disney is, good for you. That is amazing.

I will never post anything here again in case I upset you. (Well never say never!) :rotfl::rotfl: