First Time Florida Planning Advice

[ryan.stephens]

Hi to everyone at DISBoards!

It's been a long time since I was last here, it would have been when I was planning my first ever Disney trip to DLRP in April 2007...I know, that's a looooong time ago

Well, my partner and I have been having discussions about going to Florida sometime in 2010 (his third time, my first ) and I am completely clueless with regards to where to begin planning (my partner used to use "Travel City Direct" before XL Airlines went into liquidation).

This is what we have talked about so far...

Flights: London Gatwick (or Heathrow) -> Orlando Sanford (or International)
Accomodation: Villa/House
Length: 14 Nights
Travellers: Adults (4) - Partner and I are staying 14 nights, the other two will be staying 7 nights either at beginning or end (sharing or own room depending on accomodation)
Parks: All Disney, All Universal, SeaWorld, Discovery Cove and Busch Gardens
Extras: Rental Car

OK, question time...

1. Would I be right in presumming the cheapest way would be to book a package holiday for my partner and I, then arrange a seperate flight on same plane and park tickets for the additonal travellers?

2. Should I book a package or seperates, if so, which agent is recommended?

3. I've never booked a villa/house before, any suggestions/recommendations?

4. I've had a look at park tickets and there seems to be so many different packages, of which I've noticed that some offer access to the same park...so, which tickets are the best to cover all the ones mentioned above, without overlapping too much?

5. Any recommendations on rental cars, my partner will be driving as I've never driven abroad (and I would have to pay young driver supplement)?

I think that's the contents of my head empty for now, and I look forward reading your responses.

Thanks!

 

[WiganTony]

Will try to help as far as I can (disclaimer - all info below IMHO only!!).

1. Would I be right in presumming the cheapest way would be to book a package holiday for my partner and I, then arrange a seperate flight on same plane and park tickets for the additonal travellers?
2. Should I book a package or seperates, if so, which agent is recommended?

Not necessarily. You may be able to get agood deal on a package holiday for the two of you, and your friends DIYing. If booking a package, you probably wouldn't be able to add your friends on for part of the holiday.

Equally, by DIYing it, this could be cheaper for all of you. Check out some of the flight websites (Opodo, Expedia, Kayak, Travelzoo etc etc) for flight prices for your dates. Indirect flights are generally cheaper, and as ever, it's usually cheaper and less crowded if you can avoid the UK school holidays and USA Spring Break/Summer Holidays.

Generally if you book accommodation separately, you will pay per accommodation unit which could be split between the two couples, and not per person as per a package deal (plus under occupancy supplements).

I would suggest pricing up your flights, add on around £500 per week on top for a villa (regardless of occupancy level), then get to a travel agent(s) and see if they can find you a similar deal. However, be aware that if they offer you a "free" hire car as an incentive, you will usually end up paying anything up to £400 in additional taxes, insurances etc. May also be worth checking Virgin and Travel City Direct on-line.

3. I've never booked a villa/house before, any suggestions/recommendations?
Sorry - can't help with this as we've always stayed in a hotel. (May be worth checking some of the holiday brochures to have a look - you'll probably find that you can get it cheaper via one of the hotel booking websites.) Hopefully others may be able to help.

4. I've had a look at park tickets and there seems to be so many different packages, of which I've noticed that some offer access to the same park...so, which tickets are the best to cover all the ones mentioned above, without overlapping too much?

It really depends on how many days you are planning for each park. If you take out Discovery Cove (1 day), Busch Gardens (1 day) and Seaworld (1 or 2 days), and a couple of rest days, you are left with 8 days for Universal, Disney and "other" things.

If you buy the Discovey Cove Ultimate package, this gives 14 days unlimited admission to Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica. You could visit Aquatica instead of the Disney Water parks.

There is a 2 park 7 day unlimited Universal ticket available for $99 on the Universal website (expires 7 days after first use, valid for Studios and IoA) or around £80 for 14 day 2 Park unlimited from some UK ticket sellers.

For Disney tickets, you can buy in the UK (5 or 7 day access plus same no of days to Water Parks and other Disney attractions, or 14 Day unlimited access, both allowing hopping between parks on the same day). Generally these are around the £220 and £240 price range. However, if you could manage to visit only one Disney park per day without wanting to visit another on the same day, and could use Aquatica instead of the Disney Water parks, some US ticket sellers are offering a 3 Day Magic Your Way Base Ticket plus 3 days free for around US$220. It would cost an additional $50 to add on the Water park option for the equivalent number of days if needed.

5. Any recommendations on rental cars, my partner will be driving as I've never driven abroad (and I would have to pay young driver supplement)?

Check a couple of the car hire "broker" websites to get a comparison. I have previously used travelsupermarket.co.uk to get prices. As I noted before, it will probably cost much less renting the car yourself than paying for the insurances as part of a package. If the package does work out cheaper than flights/accommodation for you, you can always book your own car and just not take the one in the package.

Hope that will get you started!!! Any more questions, ask away.

 

[ryan.stephens]

Thanks so much for the response, will take your suggestions onboard!

 

[WiganTony]

Forgot to add that if you are thinking of going between August and November 2010, Disney UK have free Disney Dining Plan over that period if you stay on-site at Disney and book a hotel/ticket package.

 

[ryan.stephens]

Armed with the advice from WiganTony, we have started comparing packages vs DIY and have found that we could get a better deal DIYing, it also allows us to balance what we want by upgrading/downgrading here and there.

Originally we were looking at staying 1st - 14th June, but after some research and speaking to friends in the US, we realised that the Schools in Florida finished on the 8th June (half-way through our holiday) and it was bound to start getting busier in the parks.

So, we're now looking at staying maybe 25th May - 8th June which allows us to save a little bit of money on the cost of renting a villa (most class May as "Mid Season" and June as "High Season"), and apparently June - November is Hurricane season (not sure how exact that is) so in theory we would be leaving before the weather really starts to change.

The flights with Virgin Atlantic come out at around £462 per person for May - June, we could get them £330 with some other airlines if we were prepared to make a stop, but we don't fancy the additional 5hrs.

The park tickets are still being looked into, it seems Undercover Tourist and American Attractions are the cheapest though still going to be about £500(one issues vouchers, not sure which, but partners says it wasn't an issue last time).

The rental car is going to be about £400 for the two weeks I think, we could have downsized but at one point in the holiday there is going to be four people plus luggage so we need the larger vehicle.

It's hard to put a final price per person at the moment, as some of the costs will be shared between two and some between four, but can anyone recommend a good target price for DIYing?

Thanks in advance!

 

[orangetiggs]

we are staying for 2 weeks next week- staying at disney port orleans resort, we paid

£1513 for 15 nights, disney tickets and free dining
£635 for 2 virgin atlantic flights
£365 for intermediate 4x4 with dollar via usrentacar

based on the same thing booked as a package with virgin holidays its around £700 more

Next year we are booking Saratoga springs again all seperate as virgin holidays want £1800 per person just for hotel and flights yet disney uk want £1800 for the hotel and tickets for 2 adults and 2 babies

 

[bazzanoid]

A good target price - everybody will be different as every holiday is different circumstances - flights, accommodation, events, tickets needed etc. Find a package that offers close to what you need to book (dates, car class, flights, etc) and use this as a guide maximum price. Realistically i would expect to shave at least 10-20% off a package price.

With regards to villas, as you've got a hire car life is a little easier. Use www.lastminutevillas.net to find something suitable.

Every villa is within it's own Community - the map here is quite useful.

When hunting, have a list of criteria, for example ours was

unoverlooked pool
secluded
quiet community

You may well have different needs - our villa is about 25mins drive from the main entrance to disney's road network (known as Maingate - bear in mind that the parks are about 5 minutes drive from Maingate), and this is fine because it's also a quiet mostly residential community, we're surrounded by woodland etc. But if you've got kids a 30 minute trip each way each day might be a bit much, or you just might not want the long drive full stop.

A lot of the villa communities have communal facilities including pools, courts, some have mini-markets, etc. Know what you want in and around your accommodation for a trouble free holiday.

There's a big Walmart for all your main food supplies along the US-192, along with various take-aways, restaurants and cheap crap (sorry, gift) shops.

Baz

 

[ryan.stephens]

Thanks for the responses, it's good to see how much we should roughly be paying.

 

[ryan.stephens]

I forgot to mention, partner and I were disussing the holiday last night and partner wants to visit NASA again. We checked the NASA website and it states that there is a shuttle launch scheduled for the 14th May, so we've changed our dates to 10th - 24th May for hopes in seeing it launch

The price of the flights aren't affected by the change of dates, but the price for the Villas drop as well as Discovery Cove being slightly cheaper too, great!

 

[doverfox]

Ryan
dont try and do too much the parks are huge and its a holiday not aroute march think about haveing every third day as a rest day. there are 9 parks plus water parks and depending whattime of year you are going may not get to do all the rides in one day.
you need to work out what the people who are only there for 7 days want to do so you can work out which tickets would be best for them.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi,

We have stayed in many villas over the years and can recommend 2 good websites:

www.villas2000.com
www.vr360homes.co.uk

Kissimmee we find offers a good base and is close to Disney, the I4 , supermarkets and restaurants closeby.
There are 2 main areas Formosa Gardens and Poinciana Boulevard.

It would be usesful to have an idea of a number of things, how many bedrooms, do you want a games room, internet access, gated resort, south facing pool, not overlooked pool area, also DVD/VCR players, TV in bedrooms and allsorts really - just depends on what you are looking for.
Often the more bedrooms the more the cost is, you wouldn't ideally be looking at a 6 bedroomed home if there are just the 3 of you for example.
Gated 'resorts' that have community clubhouse/pool, internet access etc are a big plus point as you can sometimes fell a bit isolated in a villa.
South facing not overlooked, or fenced pool means you get the sun all day and privacy too.