Orlando Florida/Disneyworld (Part 2) *CLOSED*

disney_cjd

Louisa_Jane wrote: »

For all info about Disney and Florida, I would visit www.thedibb.co.uk - it was my bible when I went this year and the forums are excellent.

The dibb is OK but not a patch on the allears.net site I mention. That has EVERY pice of information written by experts from Florida. So its 100 percent accurate

As for your questions, US holidays in May is memorial day only which is a Monday see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_of_the_United_States
As for booking seats, BA release them sooner than Virgin but Virgin do it 11 months in advance.

As for Villas, better deals if yo ugo direct but I can understand why you want ATOL however note that if you pay by credit card you are protected and its the flights that are the real cost. ALso Villas so not tend to charge until a few days before you arrive. Check out the Virtin brochure as they do villas or try sites such as last min villas which have the best area such as emerald Island on them.

Hope this helps

C

ceebeeby

1 day, 19 hours and 14 minutes until the plane takes off .....

Am sooooooooooo excited!

Cannot thank everyone enough on this thread - have got the planner completely sorted, all the tickets are bought and paid for, got a decent rate on the hire car, got a pants rate on the dollar exchange, but then I think everyone has this week (!), have even saved on toiletries from the Boots thread.

MSE is fab!!!!!

Orlando here I come!

Malski

chocolatetiger wrote: »

Hi Florida experts.

I'm planning our first family holiday to Florida in 2010 I've been a few times as a kid but this time I will be taking our four year old. Can anyone help me with a few questions?

1) Is there any time (US holidays etc.) that I should avoid in May 2010?

2) When will I be able to book 2010 flights? Does Virgin/BA have a date for flight sales?

3) I want a 4/5 bed villa in Orlando somewhere near I drive is there an area/community someone can recommend? Any agents etc. recommended? (I want to book ABTA/ATOL etc. not just owner direct).

Thanks very much in advance to everyone.

Helen

From our experience this year we went last weekedn in April & First in May, it was good, we didn't need any fastpasses at Unversal as we got on stuff within 15 minutes, did alot of stuff twice, Disney also was OK, you could get a fastpass on 1 ride go on another and when you were out it was straight on the one you just fast passed.

I've currently checked for 2010 to go again, but on last checking it was only up until the end of 2009, give it a few more months.

We stayed on Highlands reserve about 10/15 mins drive from Disney, good location as its on the highway 27, so you can go on eitehr the 192 or the interstate 4 for everything. Villa was also very good, own pool etc.

disney_cjd

Just a woprd of caution for people looking at Villas and what the owners claim is the distance from Disney..... You will see that lots of owners use the magical terms..."15 mins from Disney" but be warned, this is not 15 mins from your villa's driveway to the queue for Space Mountain, or even the ticket gate. It means 15 mins to Disney "property".

Let me explain some more. Disney owens 47 square miles or land in Orlando. It has its own council, water supply, generators, fire brigade even. its huge. It employs over 60,000 people in the Orlando area alone. Now its true that from the US27/192 area or "four corners" as its known to locals, you can get to Disney property (i.e. the road system in about 10 to 15 mins. But getting into the parts from their may well take another 15-20 mins.

Also as those of you have been will know, when you drive to the MK or Epcot you actually part in the Transportation and Ticket center (long story as to why that was built) and then you have to transfer to the parks via monorail etc. I love that but it takes time.

However, parks like Hollywood Studios, you can park in the parking lot and then walk into the park.

So all I am saying is check the map of where your villa is and where the parks are. The nearest villas to Disney are on Emerald Island which is also an awesome place to rent. The ones on the 27 are in a great location but a little further out.

Cheers
CJD

vallster

:beer: Hi all, first time post here but ive been reading for ages. Im off to florida in Nov for 2 weeks, so excited.
Myself and my better half decided to gamble and bought our 14day unlimited disney ticket off of ebay. Got a bargin at £230 for the pair. I made sure i used a member with decent feedback and i asked for photos before bidding. got the tickets and they all seem ok, paid with paypal so covered if anything is wrong anyway, i would defo recommend doing it this way.

As for the other parks, we bought "orlando fexiticket plus" tickets off Virgin, as a frequent flyer card holder (ive only flown twice with them, but anyone can apply) you get 10% off just about everything they sell ( also got actuall holiday flights and hotel from them and saved just over £250 with the discount.

So if you havent booked yet, get a virgin frequent flyer card then get the 10% off your holiday!!!
We booked 5 nights in the universal studios hotel "portifino bay" and 9 nights in the Disney hotel "Port orleans Riverside" along with transfers and flights its costs us £1150 each (after discount).

Although we are staying on-site at disney we are still going to hire a car, perhaps for only a week. As we are both under 25yrs, we have to pay Ridiculous amounts in surcharges :mad: but "Budget" offer an under 25yrs insurance which ends up around 15$ a day cheaper.

Have booked some meals in Disney restaurants as from research we did found out we might not get into some of the posher ones. This is true!!! we called 2 months ago (so a good 4 months before our holiday) and still could not get a table at any time over our holiday for lunch or dinner at Albert and Victoria (Grand Floridian), Le Celleir Steakhouse (epcot), Bistro de Paris (epcot) or Cinderellas Table (Cinderellas Castle in MK). Oh well, another time maybe.

Hope some of this info proves helpful to others.
:rotfl: Have Fun!!!:rotfl:

lisaloo1977

You need to be careful with ebay for the reason that people can travel and use the tickets and use maybe 3 days or even 1 but it has still been used and the finger scan taken. That ticket is then only good for the person with the finger that was used to start with. So poor person turns up to disney and finds that yes there is days left but not for use by anyone else.

ALOT of people have been scammed on the UK and American Ebay sites this way.

Not wanting to scare people but it is much better to go through the proper channels when it comes to tickets. I am not sure the tickets even show you that the ticket has been activated or not, i remember them scanning it but not marking it when i was there in june.

Just beware is all i am saying.

furrypig

Hi for those who saw La Nouba did you book your tickets in advance or wait until the night??

i think I want to get them in advance as gonna buy them for my parents as a special present but if it works out a lot cheaper might buy when we're there.

Also if you booked in advance what website did you use??

Thanks

dazzer68

nic-pink wrote: »

Hi, I am trying to get quotes for november 2009 but after a whole afternoon trawling the sites I `ve only managed to get one, they all come up with a message that says it is too far into the future to check prices.
We would like to go when it is in christmas mode anytime between Nov & dec 2009 and it is for 2 families myself, husband & 2 kids (4 & 6) & my sister & brother in law & 4 kids (8,6,4 & 1).
I rang virgin and was on the phone for ages they came back with what I thought were expensive quotes (nearly ten grand for wilderness lodge!!!!! OMG) the other more realistic quote (which I got from website) was for my family not in laws & was for £2497.10 for 2 weeks in sheraton vistana villages on I - Drive in 1 bed apt.
Has anybody else attempted a big family hol like this what did you do hotel, apartments or Villa, the only thing that puts me off a villa is that in the current financial climate we could book something then the other members of the group (there may be more coming) may drop out and we could be left with a massive expensive villa to cough up for at least with hotel it`s separate bookings
Can any body please help or offer advice as at the moment I`ve really only got one proper quote and it`s a bit difficult to do comparisons when you`ve got nothing to compare!

you need to think about what you all want from the accomodation.if its just some where to sleep, how about disney all star resorts? you can get interconnecting rooms so the larger family could get 2 rooms, and another room for your selves.or try a family suite at all stars music which has a doulble bed, a sofa double bed, two chair single beds, these are only available at all star music tho.you dont need to worry about driving as all transport is providied by disney, the all satrs have great childrens poola nd play areas.the food halls for kids is great, and its convienant for you all to be near the parks.
we just booked six of us (4 adults 2 children) into two stanadrd rooms at all stars, i have been before plenty of room, great fun.booked with jetsave holidays flying with virgin 6 of us next may for £4200 (all classed as adults)
you need to think whether you want to cook? drive? all stay in one apartment? if you have a few rooms at leats you all get your own space!

dazzer68

furrypig wrote: »

Hi for those who saw La Nouba did you book your tickets in advance or wait until the night??

i think I want to get them in advance as gonna buy them for my parents as a special present but if it works out a lot cheaper might buy when we're there.

Also if you booked in advance what website did you use??

Thanks

booked ours in advance, through attraction tickets direct, but shop around as these now arent always the cheapest. |Great show

Ali660

Hi, we are off to Florida in Oct - booked through Thomas Cook Signature but we are flying with Virgin - does anyone know if this qualifies to apply for a Frequent Flyer Card?

Thanks,
Ali