Back again and need help!

[wilki32]

Well its been 3 months since we got back and over a month since i was last here, a certain retailer decided to keep my pc for an extended holiday.
We've got the bug back already but this time it's going to be just my daughter, wife and me so no outside influences, as the last and only 2 trips we have gone with family with last years being a party of nine...too many.
Anyway we have a dilemma, do we stay in a villa for the 3rd time, do we stay in a disney resort and if so which one and who do we book thru. We have flown and used Virgin and must say we had a good service, except not knowing where we were going to stay until 2 weeks before, or are there cheaper but as good companies out there as well?
Well thats enough for now hopefully everyone is as helpful as before and look forward to some replies.

Anthony

 

[Janice]

Hi Anthony

Nice to see you again - and glad that your planning again!

It is difficult to know what to suggest, obviously a lot depends on your budget.

How old is your DD?

If she is at that stage where she wants her own space, then perhaps a villa would be the best option. If she is still young then staying on site and experiencing the 'whole' Disney Magic would be very special.

For staying on site, there are lots of options and I am sure there will be plenty of help and advice to follow - how about giving Dreams Unlimited a try? They will get you the best price possible and keep checking for discounts etc for you.

Will you want a car? Perhaps look at a FlyDrive only then your accommodation could be booked separately.

If you are not bothered about a car, then you'll need to think of transfers...........I have used Tiffany Towncards and found them excellent.

Hope this helps - I am sure you'll get a lot more suggestions too

 

[Astrid]

Goodness - where to start!! As Janice asks, how old is your daughter?

Booking independently certainly can work out a lot cheaper, even a bit of shopping around can get a Virgin package cheaper than Virgin offer (I've used the Jetlife brochure in the past and they were very good), booking with Virgin on-line can also mean a saving.

How about trying Travel City Direct

or Bon Voyage

As for staying on-site versus staying at a villa, I can't really comment as I have only ever stayed at hotels both on and off-site, however, I would have thought that if your daughter was younger then staying at a hotel may be more fun for her, and my two absolutely loved All Star when we went there last year.

Any more questions, ask away.

Astrid

 

[wilki32]

Thanks again for the replies, this time I can act on all the advice and not listen to the people I won't be going with, does that sound like I didn't enjoy it? I did but there was so much more we could have seen and done, so now we are going as a family, my daughter is eight and this is the first time, exceptfor weekends, that we've been on our own and I want it to be special.
We stayed in villas the two previous times and enjoyed the freedom but then we like the idea of the full Disney experience.
As I said we went through virgin and enjoyed having their rep close but unsure whether other companies do the same and do we really need it.

Anthony getting happier

 

[vernon]

If you're going for 2 weeks, why not split it . A week on Disney, to do most of the "Disney stuff" and a week off site, in a villa or a suite type hotel to cover the other attractions in Orlando. To stay on Disney is very convenient, but you do pay extra for the convenience, IMHO, if you're planning to cover things like SW, IOA, Universal or BG then to pay for the privilage of being on Disney property, then travel off is a waste of money. It can also work out expensive to stay fully immersed in the Disney experience from a food point of view. In a villa you have the option of toast and cereal for brekkie, where as in a hotel you end up eating in a restaurant each time. When coupled with eating in the evenings either in the parks, at the hotel or at DTD it can easily add an extra £1000 to your overall bill.

IMHO if you've been twice, it's unlikely the rep will have much useful to offer you. Disney has some great hotels for all budgets. The All Stars are great fun for kids, for a family of four they might feel a little tight for a 2 week stay but for three of you space shouldn't be too big an issue. Of the Moderates, IMHO Coronado Springs is the newest and has the best pool, of the other two I prefer Port Orleans but you'll find equal numbers of fans for the Caribean Beach. All the delux and DVC resorts are top notch, non are cheap but all offer different themes, facilities and levels of access to the parks. I think my favourite is the Y+B club because of it's great pool area, themeing and location but the Animal Kingdom Lodge has that something special with being able to look out your balcony and see the animals walking around the grounds just a few yards away.

This is a personal thing, plus 1) my kids are older and 2) I only meet up with Jana (my girlfriend) usually on vacations so sharing a bedroom with kids isn't an option but I really don't enjoy sharing a room with kids these days (other than a few nights). There is an obvious reason that I won't go into but also it can get a little fraught all sharing a bathroom and (in your case) it does tie mum and dad to going to bed the same time as the kids. This might be the case most of the time, but in a hotel it's almost impossible to even be able to sit up for half an hour, share a bottle of wine and enjoy your partners company away from the usual trials and tribulations of "normal" ( is there such a thing LOL) family life. I hate that "padding around in the dark" thing when the kids are shattered, but you're not ready to call it a night. It's worth taking those thoughts on board before nailing yourself into 2 weeks all in the same room.

 

[Astrid]

Hi Anthony!

I've never really bothered with reps whenever I've been away, however, I can understand that it's nice to know someone's about if you need them.

Jetlife had a visiting rep when we stayed off site and Travel City Direct have reps as well who are available if necessary.

I think if I were you I'd want to stay at a hotel. I travel with my two kids aged 7 and 10 this year and they love all the things that the hotel offers, especially the Disney ones, they adore being a part of the 'Disney experience'. However, I also take the point that many people of here have stayed in villas (which as I said earlier I haven't) and will look at things differently.

I suppose things to bear in mind are - distance from the Parks you want to be, what you want to do/visit whilst there and, of course, also cost!!

HTH

Astrid

 

[BevS97]

Well, I tend to agree with vernon, I have stayed on-site and in a villa. I love the atmosphere onsite, and the space of a villa.
We have taken to splitting our stay, a week to 10 days offsite, and then finishing up onsite for a bit of extra magic. You do lose about 1/2 day when you move though, so you need to decide if it's worth it. If you are more organised than we are, then you may not lose as much time.

I must say though, that we don't eat breakfast in restaurants when we are onsite, we either have cereal/donuts in the room, or grab a pastry at our first park. I found that the shops in the WDW hotels all sell boxes of donuts which are very reasonably priced, a much better deal than getting donuts or danishes from the food court.

Bev

 

[banjo]

hi anthony, just thought i'd put my tuppence in also, if i were in your situation i would either opt for a suite with seperate bedroom and living area with sofa bed which gives you both a bit of privacy and also means that your daughter can meet some friends round the pool ect. or if you were to opt for the villa i would make sure it was in a gated community with some communal facilities ie pool ect . as i stayed in a villa last year only for a few days as i was staying with my sis gefore she went back home, all i can say is i was glad to get booked into the suite that we organised as the villa was too far away from anything and it was about a 40 min drive before we got onto the 192 and my son would have been bored stiff if we had spent the whole duration at the villa, as we didnt do the parks every day and like too chill at the hotel a couple of days and therefor my son could meet some friends of his own age hope this helps
margaret

 

[BevS97]

and it was about a 40 min drive before we got onto the 192

this is a really valid point - i wouldn't book a villa if I didn't know exactly where it was before I booked. We where about 15 minutes from the gates of Disney and that was perfect - I would not want to be stuck 40 minutes off the 192...

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

We've never bothered staying in a villa as there's usually only three of us - me, DH and DD (ever so very nearly 10!), so hotels always work out cheaper.

I agree it can be a nuisance to have to cater bedtime around Katie's, but she tends to stay the distance. If she doesn't- well, we always try to go for a hotel with a balcony . . . she sleeps, we sit and sup our drinkies on the balcony until we're ready for bed. Given Katie sleeps like the dead, nothing disturbs her once she's gone so we can even go back in and put the TV on without fear of waking her

This year we stayed at both Hard Rock (no balconies!) and Animal Kingdom Lodge - our first onsite hotel as a family. AKL was superb. We ALL loved every second and wished we had booked there for longer, but we had a busy holiday visiting other places in Florida after our week in Orlando. AKL is superb for children and adults. Pool great (HRH pool got the best score for pools this holiday, mind you ), rooms lovely - we had a savannah view room and we all so enjoyed watching the animals, no matter time day or night.

I think a lot of it depends on how much time you will be spending at Disney. We split our stay because we wanted 2 days at Universal and to stay onsite at Universal really is something special, worth the money in their Front of Line Access pass alone. Just gotta do it - we didn't hardly queue for anything at all with this pass. On Spiderman and MIB we just kept walking straight back round to priviledge access and on we went. At night we went to City Walk Universal - 10 mins walk to either park and City Walk from HRH, fantastic

Happy planning - keep us up to date with your decisions

 

[wilki32]

Thankyou Everyone
So much info but very useful, we seem to have decided on one of three, the favourite being The Swan, second All Stars and then Coronado. Any input on these would again be appreciated and one other question, well this time anyway, do you tip in the Disney resort hotel never got the whole tipping thing.
We have as you can see we have decided to dive into the Disney experience then the next time we go we can explore splits etc.
Thankyou again and sorry its taken a while to thankyou all but the pc is still a little temperamental.

Anthony