The Great 'Disney Cost Cutting' Hunt

KarenG

FL wrote: »

any you would recommend in particular? I keep reading tripadvisor and have nightmares after reading some stories from different people.

Cypress Pointe is excellent. It's minutes to Disney and a lovely apartment /condo place.

I booked through www.hotelopia.co.uk and had a massive 3 bedroom condo for £33 per night

traceya89

buy a tracfone in walmart and top it up with $20 credit. is cheaper than using mobile phones to keep track of your party in a park and more reliable than walkie talkies if any of your party goes missing.

buy shampoos and suntan lotions in the USA rather than buy in Uk as they are much cheaper.

if you are a regular visitor to Florida fill in guest surveys relating to any meals you get and if you make a negative comment they will send you gift vouchers to go towards your next visit! these are better than the money off coupon books you get in the malls!

go to universal and disney outlets rather than buying souveniers in the parks as these are considerably cheaper and authentic universal or disney stuff.

cher31e

hi there,my family (me,hubby,4 children) planning on doing the great escape to florida next November. My eldest will be 14 with autism,doesnt like queses,etc any notes on help or ideas to keep occupied while visiting,waiting etc.Also need to rent a car, any tips on best way around,also small ones will be 3 and 7,do i need car seats???Greatful for any tips or help.Thankyou

Jahjah_2

I go back to Florida (for the 6th time) in 6 weeks time and this timeI searched for cheap theme park tickets but was very dubious about buying on line. My fears are over and I would highly recimmend floridatix.com, tickets are posted within 4 days and arrive special delivery at no extra cost... brilliant. Ordered mine and recieved them all within 4 days and they are all real tickets; WDW 21 day ultimate cost £175 while Universal 3Park cost £71.
check it out @ http://floridatix.com

Also remember to be safe with your money.. consider a cash passporrt from thomas cook. I got a good rate for transfer of Sterling to USD of 1.929 which is very good and there are no charges other that $2 when you cash withdraw and you can take out upto $800 in 24 hours. check it out @ http://www.cashpassport.com/uk

spaceman5

92 days for me until I visit the Mouse .. come on!! :beer:[/quote]

37 days till we visit the mouse :T :beer: :T

Edinburghlass_2

cher31e wrote: »

hi there,my family (me,hubby,4 children) planning on doing the great escape to florida next November. My eldest will be 14 with autism,doesnt like queses,etc any notes on help or ideas to keep occupied while visiting,waiting etc.Also need to rent a car, any tips on best way around,also small ones will be 3 and 7,do i need car seats???Greatful for any tips or help.Thankyou

Before you go get a letter from the Dr about your daughter and if you take it to Customer Relations you might get a pass that will allow you to bypass queues, its a GAC (Guest Assistance Card)

Check out the Disability Board on www.disboards.com

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

Have a read of this particular thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1848729

edited again to add this thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=595713

CSI:Jude

teddyco wrote: »

For those in the UK with Costco memberships, there is a Costco USA branch south of Orlando that sells food by the ton including milk, bread, produce, etc.

I have a costco membership in the UK so does that mean i'll be able to just walk into Costco Orlando and get stuff?
This is our first trip to Orlando, we're going for our honeymoon... only 52 days to go. We are having to go on school holiday times because we couldn't avoid it as we wanted a summer wedding. Hopefully the last two weeks of August isn't as busy as i've heard it gets in July. (let me dream :rotfl:)
How expensive is it to drink alcohol in Orlando? Last time i went stateside i was too young to drink. :beer:
I got 14 day disney and flex tickets. I know it may seem overkill however we weren't sure what to do and we managed to get a travel agent to knock the prices down to internet prices and it gave us a chance to just pay a deposit and pay the rest later. If you can get a travel agent to price match this i recommend it as your deposit normally secures your price. Also price travel insurance with Swift cover (the advert with the chicken on the phone) we found them reasonable to say the least and have used them before for egypt as they provide standard diving cover. (we priced it and paid for it through money supermarket it was £15 cheaper than their website charged!)
A friend of ours brought us back HUNDREDS of leaflets for loads of stuff that she picked up in Orlando for us so the planning has been udnerway for quite some time. We even have restaurant menu's. If someone you know is going out ask them to pick up some leaflets and booklets for you. We even have vouchers that aren't past their expiry by the time we go.

Jude x

modgit

Can anyone recommend a car hire company. We have booked transfers to the hotel (don't fancy driving straight off flight!) we need a 7 seater and are staying in Lake Buena Vista. Have searched and it just seems a minefield of companies, so would be grateful for any help.

I will post this on the florida thread as well, in case it's more suitable there.

Thanks.

vivatifosi

CSI:Jude wrote: »

I have a costco membership in the UK so does that mean i'll be able to just walk into Costco Orlando and get stuff?

Yep, just make sure that you haven't let your membership lapse. The payment rules are different at Costco. Here you use debit cards or cash, there you use Amex or cash.

You can also get cheaper petrol at Costco (its only a bit cheaper so not going out of your way for) but make sure there's someone on the pumps to help (they are self serve and self pay) as they don't recognise UK cards.

GentleGiant_2

modgit wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a car hire company. We have booked transfers to the hotel (don't fancy driving straight off flight!) we need a 7 seater and are staying in Lake Buena Vista. Have searched and it just seems a minefield of companies, so would be grateful for any help.

I will post this on the florida thread as well, in case it's more suitable there.

Thanks.

Try http://www.airline-network.co.uk/ - they use Dollar in Florida and are cheaper then dollar.co.uk