Booking our 2008 Orlando hols soon. Advice please!

[OrlandoMagic]

Hi everyone,

first of all,as I am new here, just wanted to say a big hello to you all! I have been browsing these forums and it seems a fun and helpful place to be! :goodvibes

OK, me and my girlfriend have decided we want to go to Orlando next year for 14 nights and we are looking to put a deposit down at the end of this month. Neither of us can drive out there so we will be staying on I-Drive and using that as our base.

We are looking at booking our holiday with a company called Broadway Travel, they seem very cheap so I was wondering if anyone had booked with them before? They let you mix and match your flight and accommodation so all you need to sort out are the transfers. The flight we are looking at is with My Travel (is this part of the Thomas Cook group)) and is only £289 each including all taxes and other charges. What are the flights with My Travel like? It worrys me because they seem so cheap!

We have not decided on the accommodation yet but all we want is a cheap clean room to use as a base, we have been looking at Best Western Plaza International and The Orlando Metropolitan Express (both in I-Drive area) as they both offer free shuttles to most of the parks and more importantly WDW as it is furthest away! Has anyone been to either of these? Im not expecting the Ritz, but are they clean and comfy?

We are on a very tight budget as we are not very rich! And we have worked out that the flight and accommodation shoud cost us about £450-£470 each.

So does this seem ok? Is Broadway Travel an ok company to book with? Is My Travel good to fly with? And what are good places (and not good places!) to stay on I-Drive?

Sorry for all the questions! And many thanks for your answers! :yay:

[ScottishDisMam]

WELCOME:banana:
What time of year were you looking to go?

Lisa

[penlanspice]

Hi and welcome to the dis :yay:

We have used broadway travel and had no issues with them although it was to spain I think. When are you looking to travel? there are many companys you can use that offer flights and hotels separate.
We have stayed a few nights at the best western on I drive and it was fine. Like you say it's a base and don't need anything fancy.

I drive is the best place to stay if you don't drive (apart from disney) there are tons of resturants etc.

My travel are OK, I travelled with them around 5 years ago long haul and found these to be my least fav, but if the price was cheap enough I would again.

[OrlandoMagic]

Thanks for the replies so far! :)

We were looking at the first 2 weeks of June 2008. The flight I mentioned departs Saturday 31st May.

The flight is really cheap, cant find many nearly as cheap as that. If you guys know of any other good companys like Broadway then I would love to know!

Thanks! :yay:

[Goofysmate]

:welcome: to you and hello :wave: :wave: :wave: :wave:

[Andrew DEREK UK]

:welcome: to you and hello :wave: :wave: :wave: :wave:

I-drive is good, if you are on a budget, I would personally recommend that if anyone does not drive to stay onsite, say a week at Universal and a week at WDW. Both have transport to everything, there are value resort such as pop century and All stars but are more expensive than I-drive.

I find the best time in the parks is early morning so travel without a car Early is difficult from I-Drive, not impossible but difficult.

[DISWolves]

:thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 Welcome to the Forum :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2

Our first 3 visits in the early 90's was on I-Drive. We stayed at Quality Inn Plaza , not far from the convention centre. This was basic, clean with 3 swimming pools. There is another Quality Inn at the north end of I-Drive (Quality Inn International). I find hotels south of Sand Lake Road, much quieter than those at the northern end. Both offer courtesy transport to WDW

Hope you have a great time :thumbsup2

[misskrystal]

I stayed at the Best Western PI about 5 years ago and it was quite basic, but nice with a good pool area. The location's really great too (we always stay at the convention centre end of I-Drive as it's a little quieter) and you'll be right by the newly revamped Pointe Orlando Mall which is really nice.

We flew this year with MyTravel, but upgraded to Premier Gold. Their economy class looked a little small, but to be able to fly to Orlando at such a low price is definitely worth it.

You should look into buying a couple of guide books before you go, which will make the planning really easy, particularly as you'll be going at a busy time of year.

It all sounds really exciting though. Hope you have a great trip.

[Jakey Rowling]

Prices seem good for that time, I drive is pretty predictable in terms of what you'll get.
Only issue I would ask you to consider is that you understand the possible restrictions of the hotel shuttles to the parks and how they may fit in with your plans for the trip.
You may find yourself getting to the parks later and leaving earlier than you expected for example.
Worthwhile making sure of so you know what you are getting before you travel.

[OrlandoMagic]

Many thanks for all the replies so far guys, they are really useful and certainly giving me some food for thought!

Does anyone have any ideas what a taxi costs from both WDW and US back to I-Drive late at night? My thinking is that we use the free transport and on some nights when we want to stay late and watch fire works at WDW or maybe eat out in City Walk and get a taxi back to the hotel.

Thanks,
Simon.

[misskrystal]

Universal should be between $12 and $15 and Disney should be about $25-$30.

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

When you say "neither of us can drive out there", do you mean because of you age?
If so there are people on this board who know of car hire companies who allow under 21's to hire.

If you are stuck using the busses, the days can be quite long

[OrlandoMagic]

I will be 28 by the time we travel and my girlfriend will be 22.

I wont be able to drive out there due to having drink driving offence on my licence (fortunately I didn't hurt anyone else or my self, but the shame of it will be with me for the rest of my life :guilty: ) and because of my girlfriends age we havent found a car rental company that wont charge loads exrtra for being young!

Does anyone know of any that I can look at?

Thanks,
Simon.

[ScottishDisMam]

Hello,
I can't help but feel you would be better staying onsite - maybe All stars or Pop Century?. I know you have to budget, but maybe even if you chose a different time of year such as February or november you might get a good deal:confused3
As Obi pointed out you would have to work around limited bus schedules for hotels outwith the resorts, and it would take away a bit of time and spontenaety.
Good luck anyway, and I hope you get something.

ps don't rule out Virgin or Ba Holidays. we have always found their prices competetive, and of course they have better baggage allowances than some of the charters, and they are very helpful if you give them a call.

Lisa

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I will be 28 by the time we travel and my girlfriend will be 22.

I wont be able to drive out there due to having drink driving offence on my licence (fortunately I didn't hurt anyone else or my self, but the shame of it will be with me for the rest of my life :guilty: ) and because of my girlfriends age we havent found a car rental company that wont charge loads exrtra for being young!

Does anyone know of any that I can look at?

Thanks,
Simon.

Every time I have collected the car I have obnly showed the photo part of my licence (I do take the paper part, but have never had to show it)

Can I suggest that you start a thread asking for car hire co's for the younger person? I know that some on here have had that problem resolved by Dissers :goodvibes

[angel659]

Hiya

Have a look at Expedia and travelsupermarket for flights and hotels. The flight seems cheap. I flew with them in May 2004 economy for the similar price. When I checked in I realised that flight was literally flight only no food. Althought it would not be a problem for me it would be for my 4 year old girl. After going to customer services I was advised to buy some sandwhiches in case the plane didnt have any spare food. Luckily both ways the cabin crew were excellent and had spare dinners. Check out what the price includes as well.

Sometimes Expedia offer certain nights free at All Stars or Pop. It might be worth checking this out. What you spend on taxi and transportation you might be better off paying a little more and staying on site. You can always get Mears Transportation from Disney to US.

I have worked out staying at All Star Sports and your current flight would be £734.00 per adult. This is for 14 nights stay. It's more expensive, but thats booking direct with Walt Disney World. I know you can get discounts from other companies. Have you considered last two weeks of August or September 08. I think they are still offering this if you stay on property you get free dining. This can save you alot of money. Basically your food bill has gone before you have even started your holiday. My friends saved lots of money doing this. Might be worth checking this out.

[penlanspice]

We both had points on our licence for speeding offences when we first started visiting the US and never had a problem, they didn't even open the paper out. Since we've had the card licence they only look at the card part. Never even pass them the paper part.

The company we have used a couple of times this year are www.usrentacar.co.uk they don't charge for under 25's. We're not under 25 (wish I was) and I find them great to deal with, no isuues and you only have to make a 50 pound deposit.

[PudseyChancer]

Hi, just posting to re-assure you that if driving's not an option, or too expensive, staying on the i-drive and using the free transport is fine. Have travelled three times previously and the buses start early enough to get you to Disney for opening, and I believe the last bus back to the i-drive was between 9.30 and 10.30pm, if we wanted to stay later, a taxi back from Disney was an inexpensive option.

Just to let you know I did a budget trip to Orlando and paid something similar to what you've mentioned - and had an awesome trip!

[major]

Hi,
We also do Orlando without a car and have never had any problems.
One of the times we have been we stayed at the Hawthorn Suites. They have a free shuttles but also free breakfast and a cocktail hour at night. At this you got free snacks (i think 1 night a week a meal was provided) and alcoholic & soft drinks. This might be an option to help with the budget...also as it is a suite you can cook some of your meals which would also help you on a tight budget.

Another thing we have done is booked a hotel through priceline to stay near disney - this enables you to stay later at disney and get a nice hotel at a cheap price.
We have used mytravel a few times and have always found them to be fine...for some people the seat pitch is an issue but we are all small in our family so this isn't a problem for us
Enjoy your hol.:thumbsup2

ps we have also booked with Broadway...I haven't heard any bad reports about them so fingers crossed they are ok.

[OrlandoMagic]

Many thanks all for your replies. So glad to hear that the non-driving option wont effect our holiday too much! :cool1:

Now all we have to do is choose which airline and where to stay. At the moment I think we will go with BA for flights and stay at Best Western Plaza :)

[Daysleeper40]

We have recently returned from Florida and stayed on I-Drive at the Sheraton Studio City without a car. We found this location perfect as actually we prefer the other parks (Universal Studios / IOA / Busch Gardens / Seaworld) to the Disney Parks. HOWEVER - if your itinerary is planned mostly around Disney I think you would be better off staying onsite.

We used the free shuttles from our Hotel to Disney and they were fine but would probably wear a bit thin and become a hassle if we had gone to Disney everyday (we only spent three days there). They left at 8.10am and 10.30am and came back at 6.15pm and 9.45pm. We used all of them apart from the 10.30am morning shuttle. We we dropped off and picked up at Epcot taxi rank so obviously you also have to factor in time getting to and from the other disney parks.

There is also a Lynx 50 bus that goes to the Disney ticket and transportation centre. We saw plenty of people waiting for this bus (I-Drive trolly stop 32 I think) but did not use it ourselves - it would be the cheapest option other than a free shuttle.