Any advice for first timers?

[themurrayfamily]

Hi There,

My family and I are looking to go to Florida next year to visit WDW and I have some questions, if anyone could offer advice that would be great!

This site has already provided valuable information, and please forgive me if I'm asking any that have been asked before......

- Is two weeks enough for first timers?, we're planning three weeks, a bit frightened we won't have enough time to unwind before coming home...

- I'm thinking about booking everything via Virgin Holidays, flights/villa/car, park tickets. Has anyone here used Virgin and if so do they provide a good service?

- Would anyone recommend buying theme park tickets from the U.K.. or wait until we go out? would the prices be better in the U.S.?

Regards & Thanks

themurrayfamily

 

[Muppet]

If you can go for three weeks it would be excellent. That way you could have some rest days and wouldn't find so much pressure to fit it all in 14 days.

As for booking then many people book independently, DIY. I do as you do and whack it all through Virgin ( I think is partly because I'm lazy and partly because there is no flexibility in our schedule).

With tickets many people buy from an american company www.ticketmania.com they seem good and have good reports. Other people will give you their recommendations. There are always deals on the go.

Wow going to florida for the first time is amazing, a feeling that will need to be repeated year after year!!!

Any more questions ask away.

 

[signtalker]

Welcome to the boards

I always book my flights and car hire through virgin, although these arent the cheapest option, I like the feeling that theres no extra's to pay on the other end with the car. Twilight checkin is a BIG bonus on your flight, being able to drop your luggage off the day before and turn up 50 mins before the flight is a godsend.So YES virgin get my vote

Seeing as you are going for 3 weeks, perhaps you would be better off purchasing annaul passes, giving you the flexability of hitting the parks whenever you want, failing this the 10 day WDW pass is a very good option to. Will you be visiting Universal/and Islands of adventure?, there is so much to do, you will probaly have trouble fitting it into 3 weeks, we know we did!!!!.

The other thing that is a must, is buying " Abrits guide to orlando and walt disney world, by our own Simon Veness". One piece of advice im sure many others will give you is PLAN!!!!, its never to early, and by making a rough plan now, you will start to see what tickets you are likely to need for the parks.

Jules

 

[BevS97]

- I'm thinking about booking everything via Virgin Holidays, flights/villa/car, park tickets. Has anyone here used Virgin and if so do they provide a good service?

Do some research first, in fact, do lots of research first, so you at least know if you are getting ripped off or not.

I suspect that for flights/carhire then Virgin Holidays will be fairly reasonable, you could probably save a few pounds if you seriously shopped around, but it may not be enough to worry about.
BUT, for the villa and the tickets I would seriously consider booking them independently, most holiday companys charge a fortune for villas, especially if you don't fill them, they have massive under-occupancy supplements, AND, you are often allocated on arrival and have no idea where your villa will be.
I would recommend booking your own villa, either independently or through a specialist villa company who will charge you by the week for the entire villa regardless of how full it is, and who will let you chose the location of your villa (either the estate, or quite often the exact villa). I have booked with www.statesideuk.com who appear to be quite competive, once I have traveled in December I will be able to say more about them, but so far we have been quite happy.

I also agree with Jules that for a 3 week stay I would seriously consider an Annual Pass, you can also get excellent prices on Annual Passes at IOA/Universal and Seaworld which are a much better deal than the 4 or 5 park pass which the travel agents tend to recommend. I like to have all my passes arranged before I go, that way I don't have to worry about paying for them out there and I know exactly where I stand.

Bev

 

[KayleeUK]

**Welcome to the Dis**

We have used ticketmania before and recommend them. It might be worth looking into the cost of Annual Passes here is a link about tickets

 

[edie w]

Booking a package is certainly easiest, but not the cheapest and you don't always know where you will be staying. And there's the dire welcome meeting to endure....!

This year we've opted for a scheduled Virgin flight and Alamo car hire, which have been booked through Thomas Cook Signature. On the ball and friendly so far.

Webites worth a look at are 1stfororlando.com and orlandovillas.co.uk. I feel safer booking with British owners and management companies as you have protection in UK/EU law, rather than US law.

We've bought tickest through attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk who were brilliant and gave us a good deal as we were spending so much money!! Real tickets too.

A quick calculation of our holiday (5 adults, 3 over 9s, 2 children flying Virgin, hiring a car and a minivan, renting a 6 bed pool villa 5 mins from AK, with 10 day Hopper + and 5 park Flex tickets) gives about £1,150 per adult/over 9 and £800 per child. Not cheap, but much better than the brochure prices

I can also recommend The Brit's Guide, and also The Unofficial Guide. However I've learned just as much lurking around these parts, asking the odd question and reading everything!

Happy planning.

 

[Dimplenose]

The best advice I was given before my first trip was don't expect to see everything and don't forget to spend some time relaxing.

Libby

 

[chuckDcheese]

I have to agree with Ticketmania.com - Excellent customer service and tickets arrived very quickly.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them again - they were recommended by the good folk on these boards, as we have always bought our tickets whilst we were there.

Chucky

 

[themurrayfamily]

Many thanks to everyone for their valuable advice! I am looking into all the good suggestions now, although this will take some time I can already see potential savings of £300 + just by booking the villa/tickets else where as suggested compared with an all in from Virgin + you get to choose villa location.....

My family and I can't wait to book this for next year and are really looking forward to the trip....

We are planning on going in August and I have heard it mentioned before that this time of year can be a bit hot and busy... has anyone here travelled this time of year before? and can you offer any advice? we can't make it any other time as our son starts secondary school Sep 04 and we don't want to be taking him out of school....

Thanks

themurrayfamily

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Hello, the Murray family - welcome
We too always use Virgin - out of habit and also being Frequent Virgins now gives us 10% off for the last few years - every little helps.

Three weeks is a great time, you'll be able to leisurely visit all the main attractions. Just don't expect to do EVERYTHING Orlando has to offer - you'll need a holiday when you come back. Go with everyone having an idea of what they'd like to do/visit, there'll always be parks you want to revisit once you've got the bug.

We bought our tickets from attraction tickets direct.co.uk also this year - fantastic service, great prices. Check out their website, this company together with Ticketmania.com seem to do the cheapest offers, and also have special offers on as well.

We're a little different from most people on here in that we only spend one week in Orlando and then the rest of our time down on the Gulf Coast. It's lovely and relaxing after a frantic week - but because we've been a few times now we know which parks we want to visit. I would highly recommend a nights stopover down at St Pete's or another gulf coast location - it's 1.5 hours from Orlando and well worth the visit. The beaches are fantastic, loads of different restaurants to choose from and there's always Busch Gardens if you've not had your fill of theme parks (BG is one of our faves).

One recommendation would be to join Virgin Atlantic's Frequent Flying Club if you're going to be flying with them. You can do this over the internet. You never know if you might use them again and it's worthwhile doing.

Happy planning

 

[themurrayfamily]

Thanks Annie,

Looks like our three weeks has now became two My wife's employer won't let her go for three..... We will be part parks/part relaxing/shopping during the break, working out different alternatives at the moment, looks like Virgin for flights/car and other for villa.... Ticketmania looks the best deal at the moment for Tickets... I guess the exchange rate has a lot to do with that at the moment, although we need to wait for the boss (our son) to return from his 4-week break in Scotland before we confirm what tickets to buy........ Here’s the difference according to the current x-change rate...

Ticket Mania

Disney Tickets 5 day h/plus £474.50
Discovery Cove £366.00
Kenedy Space Centre £51.00

Total £891.50

Attraction Tickets Online

Disney Tickets 5 day h/plus £507.00
Discovery Cove £425.00
Kenedy Space Centre £138.00

Total £1,070.00

A bit of a difference... My better half has always wanted to swim with Dolphins, hence the reason for Discovery Cove, plus you get unlimited access to Orlando Seaworld for 7 days....

 

[Melcatfish]

If you can bear to hold off for a bit longer the Florida Fun in the Sun pass is MUCH better value providing they reissue it. It was $310 USD this year and we are hoping to get them for next year. Trouble is the current issue runs til March 04 and they wont reissue til early next year. Basically it gives you 30 days consecutive unlimited access to disney parks \ atractions, admission to space center and many other smaller attractions and a character breakfast.

It will be our first time in Disney and we are really looking forward to being able to pop in and out without feeling that we have to be there from dawn til dusk because we are using one of our ticket days.

You wont find this listed on website prices as it is only available for UK visitors but if you e mail Rosa at paramount she will e mail you full details.

Her e mail address is... rosana@pit-email.com

Regards
Mel
xx

 

[themurrayfamily]

Hi Mel,

Many thanks for this information I'll certainly drop Rosa an email.

Regards

themurrayfamily

 

[vernon]

Because August is so humid it can be quite tiring, but you seem to have planned an itinerary that won't be too busy. With a DC ticket ( and another 6 days use of SW with it) and a 5 day hopper plus for Disney you're going to have plenty of entertainment, although I would probably look at a day at either Universal or IOA depending on what your kids like. It's an option you can leave until you get there and see if you have time or the energy but both are wonderful parks and offer a slightly different experience to Disney. IOA has the better thrill rides if you find that's what your group likes, Universal has what would be termed better "themeing" and more closely related to the movies you may have seen over the years.

For flights and car hire it's worth checking on Expedia, Ebookers and British Airways all have specials and decent deals on at various stages, although in August the prices do tend to get ramped up. It's worth keeping an open mind on the idea of flying into alternate airports ( Tampa is 90 minutes drive, Miami about 3.5 hours) and also taking indirect flights. Obviously a direct flight to Orlando is the easiest option, but there is an "£ aggro value" to either option and if it saves you £100+ per flight I'd look at the other options quite seriously.

There are a number of Villa options, from booking with a UK agent (generally the most expensive) to using a local well respected agent (offers similar protection to using a UK agent but is cheaper) to booking direct from an owner (usually the cheapest option, but does carry some inherent risks of dealing with an individual as opposed to a company)

 

[themurrayfamily]

Hi vernon,

Thanks very much for this information, I've had a look at Expedia, Ebookers and British Airways but their websites don't seem to go into August 2004 yet, I would need to wait a couple of months before they can give quotes.... we're still a bit undecided on what parks to visit yet? we need to let our son Liam help us out there, and he's on holiday at the moment, although there isn't a great rush to book the tickets for the parks...

Thanks for the additional park recommendations, we'll certainly look into these.... Can you recommend a local respected Agent(s)? any help would be appreciated...

Thanks

themurrayfamily

 

[vernon]

Simon's book, A Brit's guide to Orlando recommends three or four companies, the one I had most dealings with was http://www.pr-vacation.com when I owned a house there, they managed it and I was always happy with the way they did their various jobs.

If your son is getting to changing school age and is the only child on the trip I think he'll love IOA.

 

[themurrayfamily]

Hi vernon,

I'll be buying Simons book from amazon.com, couldn't find his 2003 book on amazon.co.uk?

Liam will be 12 when we go next year and is our only child, he loves everything theme park... and when we told him we were going to Florida he was over the moon... we'll be booking flights/car/villa first and then decide on park tickets when Liam comes down from Scotland after his Summer holidays....

Many thanks for your kind advice

Regards

themurrayfamily

 

[gingernick]

I'm sure I'd read Simons book (2003) will be out Oct - Nov time.

 

[julieannbabe]

hello!

I went for my first time in March this year for only a week.

That is no time at all - if i had the time and money i would have gone for two weeks.

All i can say is that you do not realise just how big Walt Disney World is until you get there - you will know what i mean when you drive into Walt Disney World.

Do all the reading you can get your hands on and take your time when you are there.

PLAN and ENJOY!

I booked a package deal with Virgin and found them to be very good.

Welcome to the boards!

 

[julieannbabe]

how could i forget...

get a copy of simon veness's book - 'Brits guide to WDW.'

It will be the best £12 on planning that you ever spend.