Orlando - better to book early or late??

hubblebubble

JulieH

I have just got back from a fortnights holiday to Florida. We (DH, DD12 and DS9) flew into Miami and drove up to Orlando. The flights were significantly cheaper than ones to Orlando. The drive up was about 4hrs long, but easy and straight forward. I think is was worth the hassle to have saved £800 on the flight costs. Miami airport was a breeze too, despite warnings to the contrary!
We hired a villa and did 2 Universal parks, seaworld, Aquatica, and Kennedy Space centre and a show (cirque du soleil) in the first week.
For our second week we drove down the west coast to Naples. We stayed in a villa again. The area surrounding Naples was lovely and the beaches were fantastic. We spent the second week chilling by the pool, shopping (great outlet mall nearby), and had a great airboat ride on the Everglades and saw lots of gators, racoons, and pelicans. Plenty to do in the area if you wished, but equally nice to just chill after the busy first week in Orlando.
The drive back to Miami was approx 2hrs.
I reccommend a split hol, with a few days/week of Orlando and the parks followed by a change of scene to one of the coast resorts. Our previous holiday to Florida we did something similar with a week doing Disney and then a week in Sarasota near Tampa. Again, a great hol.

We booked the flydrive with Virgin exactly a year before we went (ie April last year). They had NO flights available to Orlando even a year in advance, which is why we went to Miami instead (plus it was cheaper).
You get a better deal if you book the villas seperately direct with the owners, rather than going with Virgin holidays,. There are plenty on the internet to choose from.
Virgin Atlantic flights are very child friendly. The seat back entertainment systems keep my kids happy for the 8-10hr flights. They handed out rucksacs to all kids full of stuff when we boarded the flight. The kids meals were always served first before the adults which they liked too. The ice-cream trolley was also appreciated!

I would book as soon as possible if you can, to ensure you get the flights you want. You can wait until nearer the time to book the accomodation/park tickets etc.

Hope this helps you.

Pooky23

I too have just returned from an Easter break in Orlando.

We booked 14 months in advance on a Virgin Holidays (VH) flydrive. I was not impressed with VH and in future if we go again, I'd definately book the flights and villa/car separately.

I would recommend you shop around and book everything separately:

1. Check airlines own websites for flights. Easter 09 will go on sale any day now.
2. If you do book a package with VH, DO NOT pay extra for the insurance. It's a rip off!
3. Airline Network does competitive rates for cars with platinum package for insurance at LESS than the VH insurance costs alone.
4. Do lots of research before you book accom. I read loads on disboards.com and then picked a villa at Windsor Hills which is 5 mins from the Animal Kingdom Park. If you only want 3-4 days near Disney then you will want to be close to the parks.
5. Consider other airlines other than VA. I was expecting better tbh. I've flown with them many times and this time was probably the worst. BA is better imho at the moment.
6. Most importantly PLAN PLAN PLAN! It may seem a bit over the top but really think about what you want to do each day and work out a way of fitting it all in.
7. Dine with Shamu at Seaworld. Book this if you can as it is a lovely up close experience with a killer whale with buffet included. Brilliant!

Good luck and happy planning!

JulieH

Thanks both of you - you've given some really good advice there!

So would you recommend going in Easter? Most people seem to think it will be too busy that time of year.

fiscalfreckles

It is busy the Easter weekend itself, but i was there last year and it wasn't too horrendous, as long as you get to the parks early as they get busier as the day goes on. You can get more done in the first couple of hours than the rest of the day sometimes, if there are long queues.

It hasn't put us off going back, we are intending to go next Easter too.

BTW, although I believe a lot of Virgin Holiday Packages have sold out, the flight only flights haven't all been released yet (its usually 11 months before) so if you are doing villa & flight separately, you haven't missed the boat (plane)!

I'd also recommend looking at the Jetsave brochure (not out yet but due anytime) - they use virgin flights but are slightly cheaper than V.Holidays. Sometimes booking a flydrive package and not using the accommodation is cheaper than flight only, so check that out. Or they do villa holidays too.