Orlando Florida/Disneyworld (Part 2) *CLOSED*

Col_in_LB

trickytrolleys wrote: »

Hi, we are considering going to Florida late next year and would prefer to book things seperately (hopefully makes it cheaper ) does anybody know of any reputable websites where we could look at booking a house / villa for a fortnight ?

First time Ive ever done it so bit nervous of messing up and getting conned.

Many thanks

I know where I'd look to book a villa......but not sure I can say lol

cheers
col

M-People

£222 to orlando via Toronto: aircanada.com
£199 to orlando via chicago: travelbag

Going in April

u109230

Hi all,

The OH & I are hoping to take the kids (4 & 7) to Florida next summer for their first experience of a holiday in the US.

The plan is to go for 2 weeks, with car hire & to be conveniently situated for the beach, Universal, Disney, Busch Gardens & water parks (not much of a wish list I know! :rotfl: ).

Questions are, where is the best location to be based from & should we book through someone like Virgin Holidays? (we have about £200 of Tesco clubcard vouchers). As a rough guide we're looking to spend approx £4000 on the whole holiday.

Thanks in advance.

zolablue25

u109230 wrote: »

Hi all,

The OH & I are hoping to take the kids (4 & 7) to Florida next summer for their first experience of a holiday in the US.

The plan is to go for 2 weeks, with car hire & to be conveniently situated for the beach, Universal, Disney, Busch Gardens & water parks (not much of a wish list I know! :rotfl: ).

Questions are, where is the best location to be based from & should we book through someone like Virgin Holidays? (we have about £200 of Tesco clubcard vouchers). As a rough guide we're looking to spend approx £4000 on the whole holiday.

Thanks in advance.

I would suggest a 2 centre holiday as the Busch Gardens is (relatively) close to the beach, but Orlando (Disney, Universal and water parks) is about 80 miles from one!

zolablue25

trickytrolleys wrote: »

Hi, we are considering going to Florida late next year and would prefer to book things seperately (hopefully makes it cheaper ) does anybody know of any reputable websites where we could look at booking a house / villa for a fortnight ?

First time Ive ever done it so bit nervous of messing up and getting conned.

Many thanks

I used Ebay.com (not the UK site) for accomodation and had no problems (cheap too)

kitchen_buff

u109230 wrote: »

Hi all,

The OH & I are hoping to take the kids (4 & 7) to Florida next summer for their first experience of a holiday in the US.

The plan is to go for 2 weeks, with car hire & to be conveniently situated for the beach, Universal, Disney, Busch Gardens & water parks (not much of a wish list I know! :rotfl: ).

Questions are, where is the best location to be based from & should we book through someone like Virgin Holidays? (we have about £200 of Tesco clubcard vouchers). As a rough guide we're looking to spend approx £4000 on the whole holiday.

Thanks in advance.

My fam and I have been to Florida on hols 6 times, love it to bits. Can offer loads of real useful advice from where to stay where to eat where to have fun what time to go the parades and who to fly with, when etc.. send private message and I will reply.

KarenG

u109230 wrote: »

Hi all,

The OH & I are hoping to take the kids (4 & 7) to Florida next summer for their first experience of a holiday in the US.

The plan is to go for 2 weeks, with car hire & to be conveniently situated for the beach, Universal, Disney, Busch Gardens & water parks (not much of a wish list I know! :rotfl: ).

Questions are, where is the best location to be based from & should we book through someone like Virgin Holidays? (we have about £200 of Tesco clubcard vouchers). As a rough guide we're looking to spend approx £4000 on the whole holiday.

Thanks in advance.

Hi there

My first trip to Florida as a family we did a 2 centre holiday with a week in Orlando and then a week on the beach at Clearwater. In retrospect we would have been better off splitting it 10 nights Orlando/ 4 nights beach. We much prefer the West Coast of Florida which has superb beaches. Clearwater Beach & St Pete Beach are under 2 hours' drive from Orlando, with Sarasota a little further. All have wonderful talcuum powder beaches with very blue sea They would be my first choice for the beach portion which I would do at the end of your holiday as you will need time to recover from the parks!

If your budget of £4,000 needs to include park tickets and spending money as well as the holiday itself I think you'll be pushing it if you are aiming to travel in the summer holidays (when it will be HOT! Not the best time to go to Florida really).

My DDs were not interested in fast rides at the age yours are and for that reason I would probably give Busch Gardens a miss. If you're a big coaster fan then you'll want to go anyway

You won't be able to do it all in a fortnight if you want to include the beach and have little ones, so plan wisely and don't buy too many tickets before you go in case you don't use them!

As you are planning to hire a car (which I recommend for the extra freedom you get, though it can be done without one) then I would aim to stay in Lake Buena Vista, Kissimmee or International Drive (in that order). If you decide not to have a car then I would say International Drive will be the best bet due to the transport facilities - check your hotel runs a shuttle to Disney if you do that - many do.
It's very cheap to eat out there and the shopping is excellent :T

We love going to Florida and can't imagine a better place to holiday

vivatifosi

I've just got back from Florida and found out that when driving there's something called the "Move Over Law" that was introduced in 2002. This states that when there is an emergency vehicle on the side of the road with its emergency lights on you should move over to leave a gap of at least one lane. If there is no additional lane, you should drive 20 miles below the speed limit, or at 5 miles per hour if the speed limit is 20.

I've been to Florida 30 times and had never heard this before (it wasn't even on the driving websites that I'd checked). I saw it on the news while there and had to use it the following week.

See http://www.fhp.state.fl.us/misc/MoveOver.htm

Also, we noticed that there were lots of speed checks in and around Disney (as in every day).

BJB1

I am going to Florida on 19th January, first time I have been brave enough to take my 2 lo's on holiday!

I only have park tickets left to organise - would be grateful of advice on where to get them.

Also if anyone has any pearls of wisdom on how to make the holiday with a 2 yr old and a 3 year old easier???

Thank you!

vivatifosi

Hi BJB1,

I don't have children, but I've been around them enough at Disney to have some ideas on this. Hopefully everyone else will pitch in too. Here are my thoughts.

1. Make sure you take a double pushchair. The parks are huge for little feet (huge for adult feet too, so wear comfy trainers).
2. I've noticed that children's body clocks may not adjust in the way adults do. Often they are awake at 4am and ready to go to the parks! This is good news in a way, because you can get there early and get the big rides out of the way first.
3. On Magic Kingdom day, go to Fantasyland first and ride Dumbo, then Winnie The Pooh and Peter Pan. These are the "little people" rides that get busy quickest.
4. Make sure you take time to find out where the "characters" are so your little ones can meet their favourites. If you aren't sure which character is going to be where, cast members should be able to help. If they are old enough to understand, they may want a pen and an autograph book so they can fill them with Tigger, Pooh, Mickey et al's autographs. I've seen little kids cherish these for years.
5. I'm going to be there for a few days the same time as you. It can be surprisingly cold during the day, so make sure you've got fleeces and hats for first thing in the morning and cold evenings.
6. In Disney, look out for the "Year of A Million Dreams" people. They will give your little ones (and you too if appropriate) special badges that say "My First Visit".

Can't help on tickets I'm afraid as I have an annual pass.

Have a magical time!!!!!