Help From Scotland

[freddykrueger]

Hi Folks!

Myself and my wife (both 35) are visiting Orlando for the 2nd time at the end of September/beginning October with our 7year old son and feel it is now a good time to take him. We were there in 1992 so I understand a lot will have changed since then.

There is not much I can do about the flights but we wanted to make the accomodation something special so planned to perhaps split resorts between Disney and Universal is possible. I seem to be able to get a good rate at Disney resorts up until the 30th September and then I get a bit lost....

So the plan is perhaps to stay at a Disney resort (probably all stars movie as he loves Toy Story etc) and then go to maybe a Universal resort but I am looking at ways of getting the best deals. Should I invest in an annual pass for both Disney and Universal or something else.

Next I am in 2 minds about hiring a car - it intimidates me to be honest as we didn't use a car last time (insurance was prohibitive as I was under 25). If I stay at Disney should I arrange a transfer from the airport and then get a car for the 2nd week or something else? We will be staying in Orlando for 14 days.

To sum up I am really just looking at getting the best deal if possible and any help is very much appreciated - I find these boards helpful but bewildering in the volume of info available talking about rack, aph, aaa, fan rates etc........please help!!!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

If I were you, I would just use a town car service. You can get a quote from the airport-WDW, WDW-US, US-airport. The same company will arrange all the legs of your journey and it will probably be cheaper than you renting a car. Especially if you need to get extra liability coverage due to you being from another country.

As for the hotels, there are some really great rates available that don't require an AP. A good source is www.mousesavers.com

Good luck with your plans. Don't be shy about asking more specific questions. We all love to help and think we're experts on everything!

 

[freddykrueger]

Thes best way to explain I suppose is to details the parks that I would like to go to and try and figure out how to get to them *without* a car We plan to visit Disney, Universal, Sea World, Busch Gardens and perhaps Kennedy so do anywhere offer shuttle services to all these places?

I understand it will be easy to get around Disney with their transport system but then it starts to get a little hazy I'm afraid

 

[oogieboogie]

If you're wanting to go to all those places, your best bet would be to rent a car. The directions are pretty straightforward and if you stay on the highways you should be fine.

Are you planning to stay at Disney while visiting the other places too? How were you planning on dividing the times? 7 days at Disney, 2 days at Universal, 1 day at Sea World, etc? I think when you know that, figuring out where to stay might be easier.

You could always stay off-site for the entire 14 days. That's another option.

Before coming to the states, you could always mapquest your routes and that way you'll have a better picture of how long it would take to get from place to place.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

WDW, Universal, and Seaworld shouldn't be too much of a problem with transportation. Kennedy & Busch Gardens is where the trouble would come in due to the distance involved. You may still want to use a towncar for the Orlando portion and just rent a car for a few days to hit the out of town locations.

We could probably help you a little more once you decide for sure what your itinerary will be.

 

[freddykrueger]

Thanks guys - these boards never fail to amaze me The only sure thing is that we will be going for 6 days to stay at a Disney resort (probably all stars) and spend that time at the Disney parks - after that we plan to move on to perhaps a Universal resort or maybe something like Radisson Parkway (think that is what it is called) and do the rest from there.

I understand that I can get a shuttle from Seaworld to Busch Gardens so that shouldn't be too much of a problem but as I said after the 1st 6 days I can't really decide what is the best thing to do - I might even go off site for 4 days and then back to Disney for the final 4 days.

I am really sorry to be so vague but there is so much information to digest about deals that I am set on overload at the moment!

 

[mel&me]

You will need to figure out your hotel plans before you get a car. If for your first 6 days you are at Disney, you would not need a rental car there. If you then go to say universal for 2 days and stay onsite, you would not need a car for that part either. Make you plans on hotels after that you will be able to figure rental car needs without a problem.

 

[mel&me]

Also, if you are into the Horror movies or your son likes them. If you are at univeral and have time, Halloween Horror Nights is great. Your sons age is border line on how scared it would make him. It is very scarey for younger children. But I have seen younger children there last year and they loved it. You also have MNSSHP at disney. These are events that are in october only at disney and universal.

 

[LMC]

Halloween Horror Nights and Mickeys Not So Scary Hallowen Party (MNSSHP) both require additional ticket purchases. You do not have to use a regular park ticket to get into these particular night-time events nor do you have to be at the parks at all that day but you will have to purchase a separate ticket to get in to either of these events on whatever night they happen to be scheduled at Universal or Magic Kingdom.
If you go to the MNSSHP you can get into the park around 4pm although your MNSSHP ticket will have an admission time of around 6pm. We did this last year. I think the MNSSHP ticket was about $25 each which I thought was a bargain for 8 hours of park entry when a single day admission is about $50