Orlando - better to book early or late??

JulieH

Hi all, We're looking to book a holiday for next April (easter hols) to Florida - spending a few days at Disney. We are looking to get a fly drive and then rent a villa seperately - is this a good way??

Also, would we get a better deal by booking now or leaving it until later? It scares me leaving it late incase we can't get what we want?

Can anyone recommend good airlines too? We have 2 young children so would like it to be good and as entertaining as possible for them, so we are thinking Virgin, but they are pretty expensive too!

Any suggestions appreciated!

Incapuppy

Have you seen the Orlando sticky up there ^^^^^?

JulieH

Oops, I have now! I'll look through..

Kez100

Orlando at Easter is terribly difficult to book, expensive for that reason, and very busy when you are there - many Americans holiday at that time too. I have a feeling it is the most busy time of year.

2kidsonedog

Hi hate to worry you but a friend went to book a virgin holiday for next easter & the travel agent couldn't find one left phoned virgin to check & was told they had sold out for next easter!!!!!!!!

JulieH

god really?? i've been on the virgin website and it's going all the way through to booking point so it's look like there is availability on the flydrive. we were quoted £3139 for 4 of us, so we're trying to see if we can make that any cheaper, although I guess not!

with regards to easter, we really wanted to go for 2 weeks as we want to see the rest of florida, not just disney - we plan on going to disney for 2 or 3 days out of the 14. aside from the summer hols (which i guess will be madness) that's the only 2 week holiday.

lily_the_pink

Hi,

We are going at Christmas so I was in the same dilema. In the end we have managed to get some AA flights into Miami on the 21st for 408 return, and the accomodation has worked out very cheap - I think including car hire (and it is a very large car as my mother in law is not only large but also intending to fit the whole of a shopping mall into her suitcases) it has come in at around £2800 for all of us (5).

Accomodation wont be a problem but get the flights sorted if you are really desperate to go. (Though this year I saw some reasonably priced flights only a few weeks before Christmas). Dont forget to use quidco - and there are sometimes other discount vouchers for Hotelopia and Alpharooms knocking around (google is good at finding them) which can give you a healthy discount.

There are a few other flydrive companies so it might be worth checking their prices out. I would avoid indirect flights (with a USA stop anyway) as I believe you have to claim all your luggage and go through customs at the first point of touch down in the states - which personally I would find a real drag.

lily_the_pink

nb

Regards airlines, I think BA and Virgin are a lot more geared up to small children - but if the difference is £200 per person, personally I can take along a few treats, books (and earplugs for neighbouring passangers) and live with the extra £1000 it will save the whole family.

Also, if you are wanting to see more than just Orlando, flying into Miami could be more economical (though I have heard it described as a hell hole - guess 3 days before Christmas is a good time to find out if this is true). Then you could go up one coast on the way to Orlando and back down on the other side.

If you only intend to do 3 days in Orlando, I suspect it might be easier to stay in a hotel (and perhaps even one on disney property if you can stretch to that).

Kez100

We have been with Virgin twice, once as a family. They were very good. I hear mumbles and grumbles but one does about any airline. I can only speak as I find and, for long haul, the seat back TVs and family friendliness seal the deal for me!

I'd choose on-site and see if the hotel does guaranteed entry as over Easter - as over Christmas - they do close the parks when full. In fact, if I were there for such a short time I'd stay in the Polynesian or Contemporary - right on the monorail.

3 nights in Orlando is nothing, although perhaps if it's really busy it might feel like enough! I couldn't go there without at least visiting Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, MGM studios, a character meal and Blizzard Beach! That's four days already. We did two weeks with a 5 and 7 year old - just about minimum time required!

JulieH

our plan (and please give suggestions as we've never done it before!) was to rent a villa in orlando, spend a few days at disney and then see a few other things. we don't really want to be driving around for long periods as we have the 2 young kids who don't do cars well! i've looked online at villas and they don't seem too bad really, it's the fly drive that does it!

still, part of thinks if you're going to do it then do it properly - it just scared me spending over £3000 on flights!

lily_the_pink

I think you need to work out your priorities - then work the holiday round them.

We are doing 3 nights on the beach on the way up from Miami, and 11 nights in an apartment complex (cheaper than a villa in this case). I reckon we will do at least 4 days of Disney stuff - then there is Seaworld, and the Universal Complexes- add to that all the shopping malls my mother in law is planning to visit I am not sure we will have any time for sitting down let alone getting out of Orlando.

TBH I would have liked to have gone up to North Florida or down to the south or over to Tampa or to Daytona but I guess that will have to be another holiday. (And I have promised myself that we will spend 3 nights on-site in a good hotel next time, and spend the rest of the time touring ).

however there is loads of other non-disney/non-universal stuff too - gatorland, the pirates miniature golf, Holy Land (lol in my case but it might be fun for some), Ripley's believe it or not, the list could go on and on. Plus all the water parks and discovery cove. So driving wont be that necessary