Where to start?!?!

[suw33]

We've always said we would like to take the children to Florida and hubby text me today saying "Florida 21014, Start saving. I'll be 40!".

So it may well be two years away BUT it's hardly pocket change to go and make the most of it.

DD will be almost 11 and DS will be 6½. We are thinking about going May half-term as the school tags on 2 professional days making less time for them to take off school. It's also good to get it in before DD starts secondary school.

Don't really know where to start so I've got some questions (have some friends who've been in the past but we're not broadcasting it yet).

1. Is end of May a good time to go?
2. Villa or hotel? We're swaying towards villa so we have our own pool and have a bit of space to ourselves.
3. Is it worth booking with someone like Virgin so you get flights, villa and car hire all included?
4. Park tickets - what's the MUST SEE parks for first time visit. We're hoping DS will be able to go on a lot of things with his age but haven't looked in detail.
5. We're thinking a couple of days in the park then a day at a water park, pool day or shopping. Does anyone do this?

Thanks so much for any help or advice that you can give. It's a bit of a minefield knowing where to start...

Su

[wayneg]

Originally Posted by suw33

We've always said we would like to take the children to Florida and hubby text me today saying "Florida 21014, Start saving. I'll be 40!".

So it may well be two years away BUT it's hardly pocket change to go and make the most of it.

DD will be almost 11 and DS will be 6½. We are thinking about going May half-term as the school tags on 2 professional days making less time for them to take off school. It's also good to get it in before DD starts secondary school.

Don't really know where to start so I've got some questions (have some friends who've been in the past but we're not broadcasting it yet).

1. Is end of May a good time to go?
2. Villa or hotel? We're swaying towards villa so we have our own pool and have a bit of space to ourselves.
3. Is it worth booking with someone like Virgin so you get flights, villa and car hire all included?
4. Park tickets - what's the MUST SEE parks for first time visit. We're hoping DS will be able to go on a lot of things with his age but haven't looked in detail.
5. We're thinking a couple of days in the park then a day at a water park, pool day or shopping. Does anyone do this?

Thanks so much for any help or advice that you can give. It's a bit of a minefield knowing where to start...

Su

1, May is not a bad time, although last time we were there at end of May there was a lot of rain but that can happen anytime in the summer.
2, You know your own family, we are a family of 3 adults (17 year old Son) hotel everytime for us, we don't enjoy villa holidays, others don't enjoy hotels. Also price up Disney with free dining options.
3, Price up all options, you might have seen another thread running with prices we have paid this year, I booked DIY(using some airmiles) about £4,500 compared to VH who wanted about £12,000. Offpeak there are somtimes package deals but more often than not its cheaper to do DIY, downside is its very time consuming and you need to know how much to pay, I booked end of last year to get prices to £4,500 to book now would cost me £11,700 so you have to book at the right times.
4, Are you saying just over a week you want to go for? I wouldn't do much more than Disney unless you are into Happy Potter visit Islands of Adventure or Sealife visit Seaworld, if not then leave them until your next trip.
5, Rather than do full days in the parks many of us prefer to get in them for opening when they are quieter (avoid Extra Magic Hours for onsite guests) then come out when they are getting busy mid afternoon, then we have an afternoon rest, swim, shop etc. Or goto a waterpark in the morning then shop in afternoon, we rarely spend a whole day anywhere, the heat gets to you. Answer to this could depend on the type of tickets you buy, get unlimited admission tickets and you can come and go as you please, get Magic you way tickets with no hopping you might want to spend all day in a park.
6, There is no right and no wrong way to do a trip to Florida, its all about finding the right way for your family, what we enjoy the next family might not.
7, ask as many questions you want, we are all very happy to help.

[dixonsontour]

A good place to start is with a book called Brit's Guide to Orlando by Simon Veness.

Explains all the parks and options. I've lent it to friends considering their first trips and they have all found it helpful.

I've never been end of May but it seems popular with families. My only note of caution would be SATS for your eldest - will school be ok with time off. There is a US bank holiday memorial day end of May which can be busy. There are also some special events at disney - star wars weekend and the unofficial gay days which can bump crowds a bit.

I like touringplans.com. Costs a few dollars to subscribe but has a crowd calendar so you can see how busy each day is out of 10. May help you decide when to go.

If you are thinking about a villa maybe look into renting one - thedibb forum has a section with nice properties on. Then you know exactly what you are getting. Then book flights and a car or a flydrive package.

Your DS will be fine on most rides.

Must do's disney - the 4 parks and both water parks, universal and I of adventure parks and maybe seaworld. Don't overbuy tickets - ask on here first - there are usually cheaper options than what a Uk travel agent has.

[WiganTony]

Just to add to the above:

Originally Posted by suw33

2. Villa or hotel? We're swaying towards villa so we have our own pool and have a bit of space to ourselves.

If you do decide to go in May (or indeed later in the year), you may find Disney are offering free Disney Dining when you book accommodation and tickets with them. This year you can book studios or 1 or 2 bed apartments at several locations, which give you the Disney Dining Plan with one counter service and one table service meal per day. I guess how you plan to eat would to some degree influence this decision - if you are planning on eating in Disney a lot, then it would be worth it. However, if you were planning not doing too many days in Disney and eating elsewhere, go for the villa.

Originally Posted by suw33

1. 3. Is it worth booking with someone like Virgin so you get flights, villa and car hire all included?

Worth it for peace of mind but it does come at a price. As an example, our holiday this August booking DIY with indirect flights, car rental, 2 weeks at Old Key West with free dining, 14 day Disney Tickets and 3 nights at the Sheraton Safar is coming in at around £4,300 for 3 of us. When I priced up with Virgin before booking our flights, cost of hotel, flights and car rental was more than this.

Originally Posted by suw33

5. We're thinking a couple of days in the park then a day at a water park, pool day or shopping. Does anyone do this?

Yes - this is the same advice we were given before we first went in 2005, and we still keep to this. There's no point in flogging yourself and making things unenjoyable!! We sometimes have a couple of half days at a water park with a late afternoon/evening at one of the theme parks, which also works for us.

[Julia Ann]

How wonderful for you and if you enjoying planning and being organised then you're gonna have a great time on the lead up to your magical holiday. Definately get the Brits Guide, some libraries have it if you don't wanna buy a copy and also the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is fantastic, it's meatier with less photos and quite "american", but it was my first read before my first trip, (before this fab forum of course) and I don't know what I would have done with out the book. You can fit as much or as little into your trip as possible, as it was just me and hubby before we went on the view of jam as much into the 2 weeks as possible. But next time will be first time with daughter, so we will be kiddie driven, to avoid any overtiredness. Apart from all the obvious booking of the essentials which there are people on this site with loads of advise, get yourself a draft plan of what you want to do each day and then you can get the passes to suit. have fun

[beautifullily]

We're going at the end of May this year (and over half term) so I'll let you know! I'm hoping to get away from the rain not find more

Memorial Day is the weekend before we go. I think crowds start to ramp up again Mid June. Star Wars weekend is on so that crowds as Hollywood Studios are busier - we've used touringplans.com to organise ourselves.

The school should be able to tell you when KS2 SATs will be finished as they're set nationwide I think. DD2 will have just finished her KS1 SATS when we do but as they're controlled by the school when they're completed it wasn't a problem for us.

This is my first trip so can only tell you what we went through when planning the trip we have two girls 9 & 7)

- are going for 12 days and focusing purely on Disney Parks (except for one day to Seaworld)
- decided to stay onsite with free Disney Dining to make the most of the parks and travel. We knew we'd want to take breaks during the day but didn't want to travel offsite to a villa for these. Also didn't want the added expense of a car (and it stops me from wanting to discover all the other shops!!)
- booked flights direct with Virgin and everything else (hotel, tickets, dining) with Disney
- over the 12 days we have 4 water park days planned plus exploring Downtown Disney/Boardwalk etc to take breaks from the main parks.

We have the Unofficial Guide To Disney, bought after we'd booked the trip but would have been very handy beforehand though.

Have fun planning.

[stubb]

We have always bought the non expiry Disney tkts as them come with the water park add ons. In fact we still have about 40 water park visits left as over the years we have bought ap for seaworld/aquatic so have not needed to use the water park .

However if you want to stay on Disney property and make use of the free dining then you would have to buy the Disney tickets that do expire.

Wdw is fantastic but you do have to do your home work as it is nothing like your regular package holiday. The dis is fantastic for ideas and you will notice that no one has the exact same holiday.

But one thing tends to be true it is very rarely a once in a life time holiday!

As Wayne said every family is different and you don't have to do every park. It may be a good idea to set a budget and then start looking at the different options. Talk to your local travel agent, get some brouchures and look at the dis.

[zippy99]

On our first trip when DD & DS were 9&7 we focused mainly on Disney - staying on site with a day at sea world and a trip to premium outlets (Vineland ave)

There was more than enough to occupy us - we stayed at POP, since then we have done further on site trips to POrt Orleans French quarter and old key west - last year was our first villa trip - a bit like Wayne not for us - we are on holiday and don't want the 'comforts of home' per say. DH is a chef and last thing he EVER wants to do is cook on holiday.

With young ones you can't go wrong with staying at Disney - and if you have the dining plan and spend a day at sea world or somewhere else offsite you won't lose out on dining as you can use you credits in any combination so can opt for some signature bookings (taking 2 TS credits) or do a character breakfast for 1 Table Service and then another Table Service for dinner. It is also great to spend 3 hours at a park in the morning then go back to your resort to chill/swim/sleep before heading back out for a couple of rides, dinner and then fireworks!

As others have said - ask away with questions we all love to help!!

[suw33]

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies. We went to Disneyland Paris coming up two years ago and this site was my "bible" for getting advice, knowing where to eat, etc.. Everyone was so friendly then and it definitely hasn't changed

There can't be many more fun things than planning a trip to Disney so we'll have lots of fun doing it. We don't plan on telling the children yet otherwise they will never stop talking about it and it's a long way off for a 4 and 8 year old!

We had been thinking a villa as we go to a villa in Spain every year and enjoy the bit of freedom it offers compared to a hotel but I can definitely see the plus points for a hotel if you get free dining.

I definitely want to do some shopping over there (maybe a spare suitcase full;-) )

I'll be ordering the book everyone talks about and also talking to a friend who is a travel agent and hiding the brochures and book from the children.

Getting excited just thinking about it

Thanks again everyone!!

Su

[thestevied]

Originally Posted by WiganTony

Worth it for peace of mind but it does come at a price. As an example, our holiday this August booking DIY with indirect flights, car rental, 2 weeks at Old Key West with free dining, 14 day Disney Tickets and 3 nights at the Sheraton Safar is coming in at around £4,300 for 3 of us. When I priced up with Virgin before booking our flights, cost of hotel, flights and car rental was more than this.

Worth looking around. We've just booked 2 weeks in September next year, at the yacht club, 14 day Disney tickets, $200 spending money when we get there and flight transfers (car hire was also available for free) through virgin for £4900.

[wayneg]

Originally Posted by thestevied

Worth looking around. We've just booked 2 weeks in September next year, at the yacht club, 14 day Disney tickets, $200 spending money when we get there and flight transfers (car hire was also available for free) through virgin for £4900.

In August that jumps up to £6,460
DIY for the same I would expect to do Sept for about £4500, approx £400 saving(about 10%) August under £5,500, approx £1,000 saving(about 20%)
Just shows in school hols VH load their profit, you will more than likely save more doing DIY in a school holiday.

[flortlebap]

Another end of may visitor here. Gay days and SWW can impact crowd levels, but it still looks a nice time to go. I usually do late sept/early oct which is VERY quiet.