Cancelled Virgin Excursions

[LorraineH]

We booked our Oct 04 trip last August 2003 as we wanted specific departure dates and hotel as we are getting married out there.

In our naivety, we also booked our excursion tickets last Aug at the same time through Virgin Holidays.

3 x Adult Disney 5 Park Hopper Plus (although how my 10 year old is an adult is beyond me!!!!!!)
1 x Child 5 Disney 5 Park Hopper Plus
3 x Adult 5 Park Orlando Flex Ticket
1 x Child 5 Park Orlando Flex Ticket

The above tickets totalled £1249 on our invoice.

Since reading these excellent threads and boards, and getting so much advice (thank you all!), I have found www.themeparkland.co.uk.

I can get:
4 x 10 Day Disney World Tickets
4 x 2/day 2/Park Universal Orlando tickets (with 5 days free!)
4 x Adventure Passport tickets (including $10 voucher with child's ticket for use in the gift shop!)
4 x Gatorland Tickets

AND STILL SAVE OVER £80 ON WHAT I OWE VIRGIN!!!

I GET DOUBLE MY DISNEY TICKETS, TICKETS TO GATORLAND, 4 X CHARACTER BREAKFASTS, ENTRANCE TO DISNEYQUEST AND A $10 VOUCHER!! (The only park we wont get tickets for is Wet 'n' Wild which we would have got before with the Flex Ticket).

Anyway, my point is, that without you lot out there, I would have paid Virgin, got vouchers (not tickets), attended their Welcome Briefing and have been none the wiser!!!

One further query though, in the 10 Day World Ticket part it says you get a free Character Breakfast, but its only available at the Garden Grill in Epcot, or the Restaurantaurus in AK. Looking through this site, it says there is NO Garden Grill breakfast! So does this mean that the only free CB we are offered is the AK one?

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL THE TIPS AND ADVICE!

 

[signtalker]

I think you'll find that the 10 days ticket, allows you to eat at most of the onsite hotels

We went to 1900 park fare grand floridian, it does actually tell you on the back of the ticket where you can use it, and I think you'll find its definatelty more than the 2 you have mentioned.

There is a garden grill breakfast but IMHO there are better ones to be had than this.
jules

 

[kazzie]

Hi Lorraine

Don't forget that any unsed days on the hopper tickets never expire,but the 10 day ticket expires about 20 days after it is first used.

Work out how much use you will get from the 10 day ticket if it's a lot then it will probabaly be best.I went for the hopper ticket last time after first booking the 10 day ticket as we only went to Disney twice and I still have the unexpired days for another holiday.

Will Virgin let you cancel the tickets?

 

[LorraineH]

Karen - I didnt really feel the need for the 10 day pass when I first booked, as we will be in Orlando for 17 days, but that includes other theme parks that we want to go to, plus a day off getting married. I didnt want to "over-buy" too many tickets.

So we went for the 5 Park Hopper Plus, which seemed realistic with the time we had. But then we heard that we could check-in for our return flight with Virgin at DTD at 8am on the day of departure, but would have no days left to spend in Disney with our 5 Park Pass.

So we could have gone for the 7 Day Pass, but that works out more expensive than the 10 Day one! I know we wont physically go all 10 days, but we will be going for at least 7.

And Virgin have been absolute sweeties about me cancelling.

They did say that there may well be a "£25 per person admin fee" which would have cost me £100, but the girl checked with her supervisor and came straight back and said they would take off our Excursion Tickets off the bill at no charge at all! They were brilliant! They must realise that there are far better tickets out there!

Lorraine

 

[kazzie]

Lorraine that's a result if Virgin will take the tickets off with no admin fee,you can't go wrong as you can now 'shop around' for your tickets.

It does sound as if the 10 day ticket is best for you as you'll be getting loads of use from it.

When and where are you getting married? Will any friends/relatives be oput there for the wedding?

I think most people ,me included, tend to 'over buy' tickets for their first trips!

The child being an adult at 10 is a con but what can you do! I have noticed over here some places strating this adult at 10 thing as well

 

[LorraineH]

Hi Kaz!

I know what you mean about over-buying tickets! Ive read Simon's book, and want to see EVERYTHING!!!

And Im trying to plan where we are gonna be each day! But it is so difficult to do, because my DD(8) is desperate for breakfast at CRT, and we cant book our PS until 90 days before, and we have to give ourselves a few dates! I want to book the Fantasmic package, but again, I cant book it until 90 days before.

We also want to go up in a hot air balloon as this is our wedding/honeymoon rolled into one. And so we might book a good date, only to have it cancelled as the wind isnt right!!

My DS's birthday is when we are out there too, and he will turn 11, and is more into the Universal stuff than Disney so thats his birthday taken up with IOA and US.

So its hard to plan each day, until after July really, when I've sorted out all my PS's!!! And I HAVE to get the CRT one!! I told my DD all about it, before realising it could well be a nightmare to book!

We are getting married in Cypress Grove Park three days after arriving (at least that day's sorted!!!!). But the day before we have to get our marriage licence, but Ive decided now that after getting the licence, we will spend the afternoon at Gatorland. So bit by bit, I'm getting there! There will only be the 4 of us at the wedding (this is second time round for me and I wanted to do what I wanted this time - not what the in-laws wanted!!!!)

I didnt realise there was so much planning to do, and I thought I was starting it all too early!!!

But its great fun!!!

Lorraine

 

[kazzie]

In the back of Simon's book is a page that you can fill in with an itinerary.I photocopy a few of these.If you fill one in you can kind of see a plan coming together,though as you said there will always need to be changes made.It has the days on and morning and afternoon,very helpful!

If there are lots of different things you all want to do,this happened my first time,a mistake can be to try to do ALL those things but realistically you won't be able to!Don't know if you're old enough to remember Sgt. Bilko on TV,but my DH still has this nickname for me given on our first trip

A good idea is for each person to say one or two things they REALLY want to do,make sure each person gets thto do these things and everything else will be doing what you have enough time/money/energy to do!Like your DS will probably find IOA and Universal unmissable!

As you said you can't tie things down until you know what date you get the breakfast and Fantasmic package.Just call for the earliest date you can do and keep trying, for the following days until you get it ,Good Luck!

The wedding will be lovely,could you post a photo here when you get back?

 

[LorraineH]

Hi again Kaz, thanks for all the tips and advice!

I have used the diary at the back of Simon's book, in conjunction with his "Busy Day Guide" so I'm trying to do all the main parks on their "lightest" days. And trying to fit in "free" days is hard! I seem to have a couple of free days at the weekends, which is when I thought we'd hit the water parks, but Simon says avoid them at all costs at the weekend! We are going in October, so I dont know whether the water parks will be busy then.

As a rough guide (and my third attempt at an itinary!!) have a look and see what you think:

Sun 10th -Arrive Orlando 15:25. (nothing planned for evening)!
Mon 11th - (COLUMBUS DAY) Seaworld
Tues 12th - Court house for marriage licence AM, Gatorland PM, DTD & DisneyQuest EVE
Weds 13th - Wedding at Cypress Grove, Pirates Dinner Adventure
Thurs 14th - Animal Kingdom
Fri 15th - Universal Studios
Sat 16th - Magic Kingdom (and hopefully breakfast at CRT)
Sun 17th - FREE!!
Mon 18th - Island of Adventure
Tues 19th - Busch Gardens
Weds 20th - Hopefully balloon flight/shopping day
Thurs 21st - DS 11th Birthday - Both US/IOA (2nd visits)
Fri 22nd - Magic Kingdom (another chance for CRT)!!!
Sat 23rd - FREE
Sun 24th - Epcot
Mon 25th - Disney-MGM & Fantasmic
Tues 26th - Leaving day - check in Virgin DTD early - Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom - Flight leaves MCO 20:30!!

What do you think?! Havent used Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach yet!!

AND I AM OLD ENOUGH FOR BILKO!!!

Lorraine

 

[kazzie]

Hi Lorraine,

That looks really good to me.I'm impressed the girl done good!!

Your son will LOVE DQ and I'm sure your daughter will too.Allow to be in there longer than you think you will

The14th,15th and 16th then 18th and 19th are tiring theme park days but you have a non theme park day breaking them up.

You must go to at least Typhoon Lagoon there is nothing to compare to the water parks in Europe you will all really love them.If you are going over the weekend make sure you are there before they open at 10am to get a spot to put your stuff! I didn't go to BG until my 4th trip to Orlando there was always more things to do in Orlando.If you ask kids after an Orlando holiday they frequently say it was the swimming pool and water parks they enjoyed the most.

Do you think it might be worth going to say Blizzard Beach if you've been to Typhoon Lagoon ,than going all the way to BG when already everything you are seeing there theme aprk wise is new to you all?

Have you heard of Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party at MK that is on in October?

I'm there October 14th to 27th so we'll be there the same time!

What do you think?

 

[LorraineH]

Hi again Kaz!

Ive only just read about the "MNSSHP" through these boards, and it is something we're considering, but it seems that these tickets also have to be booked in advance! And somewhere on these boards Ive read that you can start booking at the end of April-ish.

But Im reluctant to book tickets, when its the CRT that I REALLY have to get!! Its gonna mess up my schedule BIG-TIME if we get tickets for MNSSHP on one day, and the CRT on another as they're both at MK!!! Aaarrgh!!!!

I think I'm gonna wait until the end of July, and see how I get on with CRT, before I go for MNSSHP!

With regards to the Water Parks, we've got the Virgin Planner Video (which we've watched countless times already!!!), and both my kids want to go to BB, but I like the look of TL more!! Which is why I'm trying to fit in both!!

Im following with interest Mike's thread on pre-booking the Virgin seats on the plane (and I see you've had a bad experience with this!!). Our 180-day window opens up soon and we're not really sure what to do. Ive seen links to Virgin Atlantic's website, but without knowing the exact plane we're gonna fly on its all a bit bewildering!!

It seems the best thing for us, to ensure the four of us sit together, would be to go for the four "middle" seats in a plane, as opposed to the window ones where theyre in rows of three.

Also, another quick question, you seem to go an awful lot, and have lots of experience with Virgin, do you know whether the Gatwick-Orlando planes have Nintendo on them? Ive seen their website which says "some" planes have them but not all. This is another thing my DS is asking for!!! But at least I havent promised him it - unlike my daughter's breakfast at CRT!!!!!

Thanks again for all your tips!

Lorraine

 

[jean88]

Hi Lorraine
Remember you don't have to spend a full day when you've got a 10 day dicket, we used up some of the day's by just going in at night to the park's, or a free morning at Typhoon Lagoon before going shopping.

Jean

 

[Korbs]

Can the balloon flight be done on a weekend day? How about swapping the Balloon /shopping day to sat 23rd and doing a water park on wed 20th?

 

[kazzie]

Korbs,that's a good idea,it would mean Lorraine can do something at the weekend that won't be affected by crowds and leave the water park for mid week?

Lorraine in 7 trips to Orlando (so 14 flights) we've had Nintendo on ONE occasion,so you did right not to let the kids expect it!The Virgin brochure for years said there was Nintendo on board,so mine were expecting it on our first trip and were disappointed not to have it.They have now re-worded it in the brochure I think to say 'May have Nintendo'?

The aircraft you'll be on will almost certainly be a 747-400.There are 2 configurations of this on the Virgin Atlantic website,it will be the one that has the Premium economy upstairs in an upper deck.

I'm not sure but maybe MNSSHP is only a sell-out on the weekends and actual Halloween night,maybe you could book that at a later date if you have the time/money!That again might be something you can do on another trip

The 4 seats in the middle sound the best bet.It is only a request not a gurantee but it is still worth pre-booking,you have nothing to lose!

 

[Korbs]

wed 20th is also sandwitched in between some very busy theme park days. IOA and BG the two days before and US/IOA and MK the two days after. You'll probably need a break that day or you'll be knackered. I know i would be!

 

[LorraineH]

Thank you all again so much for your advice!

The balloon flight CAN be done at the weekend, which is a good idea! I hadnt thought of that!! The only worry is that if the "wind isnt good" on that particular morning it will be cancelled, so it limits my available time left to re-book another.

We really want to do BG. Three of us are big coaster fans, and we are doing all we can to get my DD8 ready too! (We have annual passes here for Thorpe Park/Chessington/Alton Towers and just love big rides!!!). Plus the animal factor really appeals.
Simon says its a big Chessington World of Adventures and that sounds superb!

"Simon Says"!!!!! Thats all I'm saying at the moment! "Simon Says this...." and "Simon Says that.....". Simon is law in my house at the moment!!!

Thanks for the advice re the plane, Karen. If we get Nintendo, then it'll be a bonus!

Thank you all again.

Lorraine.