Help me plan!

[Spencerfamily]

Hi all,
I need your help! We're at that very exciting but frustratingly early stage of being able to plan for our 2015 trip.
All we have so far is that we will need to be in Miami to do 5 night disney cruise on 12th April 2015. We would most likely want to fly straight home from there to give us a day or two back at home before work and school (no wriggle room after 19th April as I'm a teacher ).

I am trying to think of options- where should we fly to? Into MCO and out of Miami (never having flown one way, any advice on best sites to look at for these flights when they are released). In and out of Miami and drive somewhere for our first week?

Any recommendations for what to do for the first week? Where to stay?

When is best to book?
Only prices I can get so far are obviously packages and Fly Drive. Cheapest Flydrive I have found is through TravelCityDirect Manchester- Miami (Virgin flights but have to change at HRow) £2636. Manchester - Orlando is £3365 (although a package hol including basic hotel is £3056 ). I don't know what flight prices are generally like in school Easter holidays- does anyone have experience of this?

A bit more about us is that there's me, DH and DD, who will be 5. We have just spent Christmas 2013 on the Disney Dream followed by a week at POFQ where we did all the parks and were on Deluxe Dining Plan so ate at many of the places we desperately have wanted to since having DD. We know we will get our Disney fix on the cruise so are debating if we need to do any Disney parks (but could I really fly into Orlando and not do Magic Kingdom?!). Would other parks be up a 5 year old's- likely to still be Princess-mad but easily scared (even on Peter Pans Flight!)- street?! We are also hoping to keep costs lower than we did at Christmas as I am trying to convince DH to take a Med Cruise too in Aug 2015 when DCL release the Summer 2015 dates!

All ideas and suggestions gratefully received- I love being able to research all options and know that there are some real experts out there!

 

[WiganTony]

Hi,

If you are planning to "DIY" your visit, then airline fares will not be available until around 11-12 months in advance (so approx. May for when you are planning to travel in April 2015).

What you can do on a lot of airline and flight-sellers websites is book a "multi-city" flight, so you can enter the outbound flight as UK-MCO (also try Tampa as this can be cheaper), then the return flight as MIA-UK.

I often use this site to check for prices (although you cannot book direct from it), as it will allow you to include multiple airports to check prices. Have a play with the site to get familiar with it.

For example, from the UK you can have LON (all London Airports), BHX (Birmingham), MAN (Manchester) as the departing airport, and ORL (Orlando-both International and Sanford) and TPA (Tampa). Returning, it may be worth checking MIA (Miami), FLL (Fort Lauderdale) and MCO/TPA to try and get the best prices.

Also may be worth checking the Norwegian Airlines website as they had some really good prices for this summer from Gatwick into Fort Lauderdale, but not sure if they are planning to operate in April next year.

All that said, on the one occasion we visited Florida at Easter (back in 2009), it was cheaper booking with Virgin Holidays for a flight/hotel rather than flight only (in fact it was slightly cheaper!!), so keep checking all options.

HTH.

 

[wayneg]

I would wait until flights are released then start looking. For Easter 2013 I booked on Sept 1st 2012. We flew into Miami out of Tampa. Its just a matter of watching flight prices every day until you are happy with the price. I usually set up a price watch on Kayak.co.uk, it emails you every morning with latest price.

 

[Spencerfamily]

Thank you both for your replies. The sites that you recommend for flights look brilliant and I hadn't really factored Tampa in but it will be 5 years since we last did that coast so well over-due and therefore def worth a look!

Wayne, would you mind sharing how much you roughly paid to fly Easter- are flights as high as Christmas or more manageable?!

Does anyone have experience of how long it takes to drive from Tampa to Miami?
Come on flights- can't wait to start looking!! Then I can have a better idea of where to look to stay!

 

[wayneg]

Thank you both for your replies. The sites that you recommend for flights look brilliant and I hadn't really factored Tampa in but it will be 5 years since we last did that coast so well over-due and therefore def worth a look!

Wayne, would you mind sharing how much you roughly paid to fly Easter- are flights as high as Christmas or more manageable?!

Does anyone have experience of how long it takes to drive from Tampa to Miami?
Come on flights- can't wait to start looking!! Then I can have a better idea of where to look to stay!

We paid £477.22pp (less Quidco) They were with Delta from Manchester via Atlanta. Not been at Xmas for a few years now so out of touch with prices. We flew out Easter Monday for 2 weeks rather than Easter Saturday, delaying it 2 days saved us £200pp IIRC.

Google maps is quite accurate, it says 278 miles & 4 hrs. https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sadd...OTbfZiDHh-KLL4NqfmA&oq=Miami+a&t=h&mra=ls&z=7

 

[Woodview]

Here is what I would do.

You have done Disney . ( 6 weeks ago )

This Time

Now fly to Miami .. Do your 1st week going towards The Gulf Coast and go as far as Naples & Fort Myers area.

Go that way via Hwy 41 & call into Shark Valley .... there is a small tourist

train to do the guided tour your daughter will have fun .. then go to Everglades City & do the 1,000 Isles boat tour & an Airboat trip.

And on to Naples.

Return to Miami via Hwy 75. to join your cruise .

 

[Spencerfamily]

Thanks for your reply. Your ideas sound great. I think we will definitely look to fly to Miami- still direct from manchester and usually cheaper than orlando. Hotels seem more expensive on the gulf coast so I need to research them further- want to stay somewhere nice but prices seem high compared to orlando.

My planning book can soon begin!

 

[WiganTony]

Thanks for your reply. Your ideas sound great. I think we will definitely look to fly to Miami- still direct from manchester and usually cheaper than orlando. Hotels seem more expensive on the gulf coast so I need to research them further- want to stay somewhere nice but prices seem high compared to orlando.!

Unfortunately, I'm 99% sure that there are no direct flights from Manchester into Miami (or Tampa), you would have to connect somewhere (be it in the UK at Heathrow or through a US hub such as JFK or Chicago with BA/AA, Washington or Newark with United, or Philadelphia or Charlotte with US Airways).

If planning on visiting the Gulf Coast, Tampa would be a good option as it's around 2-1/2 hours from Naples, and Miami airport is around 2 hours from Naples.

 

[Spencerfamily]

Agghh- thank you Tony. I do believe you are correct. Shoot!! We got married in Miami 8 years ago and I'd somehow forgotten that we did indeed fly into MCO and drive down and then did an indirect back.
Oh, the good old days before DD arrived and I started to always look for the quickest way to travel anywhere, ever!! I have always been tied by school holidays as a teacher and direct helps there too but I think it will have to be indirect this time.
Would you (or anyone else) recommend a uk change or US - and any particular one?
Sorry to ask so many questions- I am going to set searches up so I can get email alerts on kayak etc and then I can stop asking here!

Wayne, noticed you're in Dewsbury- I used to teach there and live in Leeds. Your TA cruise sounds amazing- I totally want to do it but am back at work

 

[wayneg]

Wayne, noticed you're in Dewsbury- I used to teach there and live in Leeds. Your TA cruise sounds amazing- I totally want to do it but am back at work

 

[Spencerfamily]

Thanks Wayne. We live in Horsforth (LS18). My parents live in a Gildersome so I know Morley quite well.
You lucky things now being free of school holidays- think when DD (who is only 4) hits the age when we can travel out of school hols I will have to give up teaching so I can too!!! There's an aim for early retirement!
Have a great day- will no doubt be picking your brains more when flights start to be released!

 

[Spencerfamily]

Excuse random smiley- am on my iPhone and it just added it in instead of a number eight!

 

[wayneg]

We goto Gildersome quite often, Friday will be the next time for an Uncles 70th Birthday at the Gildersome Arms. We also call for drinks at the Brickworks with Cousins a few times a year. Can't say I have ever been to Horsforth though.

 

[Spencerfamily]

Enjoy- Friday sounds like it could be good fun!