Help - splitting between DVC and Caribbean and stuck!

[Cinderella]

We are splitting our October honeymoon between an Aruba exchange and a week in WDW, flying from the uk. Has anyone done this, because I am struggling to work out the transportation.

I have looked at some flight possibilities - and we are wondering if we would be better off doing a direct flight to MCO and getting a charter to Aruba. Would this be best and where is the best place to book, or which airline do we use?

Also, is it best to do Aruba first then Disney, or the other way round? My fiance thinks Disney would be best to do second because he would rather do the exciting bit last!

Please help me figure out how to get there. Thanks.

 

[Dean]

I don't know much about how to get to Aruba from Europe. Check into direct flights where you could go to Aruba, then to Orlando. Another option might be get separate tickets. You could fly to Orlando with a stay over of 2 weeks or so, then have a separate ticket to Aruba and back to Orlando.

 

[SoThisIsLove]

Hi,

First of all I want to say congrats on your upcpming wedding. Enjoy every moment of it because it goes by sooooooo fast!
As far as your Disney/Aruba honeymoon my husband and I did the same honeymoon in July 2004 and it was great! We sailed on the Magic and then spent 2 days in Disney then flew to Aruba and stayed at the Wyndham.
We are from NY so it may be different for you but as of 2004 there were no direct flights to Aruba from Orlandoand vice versa. We flew from NY to Orlando first to do the cruise and Disney then from Orlando we had to fly to Miami then Miami to Aruba. It was kind of a pain but our only choices were to connect thru Miami or Puerto Rico. (Miami had better layover times) We were able to get a direct flight home from Aruba to NY. We flew American and since we bought all of our legs thru them they discounted their fare for us (we called and asked the resveration agent if they could beat the internet price and they did).
In my experience with my own wedding I would have done Aruba first then Disney. We were soooooo exhausted after the wedding from the Pre wedding jitters to the excitement of the day and all of the "partying and dancing" at the reception that we would have liked to relax more before Disney. (The cruise was realxing but we felt like we had to see everything on each island). Aruba was awesome! So realxing......nothing beats the crystal blue water and a pina colada....lol.
I would suggest that you look at American Airlines (Im sure they have direct flights to the UK) and try to get a mutli trip ticket discount. The other big carriers are US Air and Delta and Contiental. I'm not sure which ones go to Aruba though.
Where are you staying in Aruba? If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know! There are so many nice and romantic resturaunts in Aruba that are "must do's"!

Hope this helps!

Heather

 

[Cinderella]

Thanks Dean and Heather. I didn't expect anyone to have done more or less the same honeymoon. After searching, American Airlines seem to be the only ones who do the multi-trip, and they do fly to the uk, so that is great. Heather, I will call them as you suggested, to see if we can get it cheaper. On most of the flights going via Miami, you seem to have to do an over nighter there. I have never been to Miami - would it be best to stay over near the airport, and are there any nice hotels?

We are staying at the Marriott Aruba Surf Club, and i think it is on a beach called Palm Beach. I would love to know about any nice restaurants in that area. I did find a website for a restaurant right on the beach - I think it was called the Flying Fishbones or something - did you go there? How was it?

 

[disney4me4ever]

Don't know if this would help at all, but a couple yrs ago we flew from our home, to Paradise Island where we stayed for 4 nights, then flew to Orlando to WDW. I used Travelocity or Expedia, and there is an option for "multiple flights". When you click on that link, it takes you to a second page and you just enter the to/from info for each segment. It then comes back with an itinerary of flights and the total cost. Good luck!

 

[SoThisIsLove]

Hi,

How did it go with American? When we flew from Orlando to Miami we had an early morning flight then an hour or so layover in Miami before boarding the plane to Aruba. Miami is nice but it can be expensive to stay there. I don't know how much hotels are near the airport but here's a thought......maybe you can rent a car and drive to or from Miami instead of flying and having to stay overnight. I know that many car rental places have 1 day rentals and you can return the car to a different location and some are located right in Disney themselves. This may be cheaper then paying for a hotel room and the flight to Miami. The drive is about 5 hours and is all highway when you get out of Orlando.
As far as Aruba goes... it is wonderful. We stayed at the Wyndham and did the all inclusive package but traveled down to the Marriott and its beautiful....definately a good choice. The Wyndham is at one end of Palm Beach and the Marriott is at the other end. The bus transportation is great there and cheap too. There are alot of places to eat. I have heard that the Flying Fishbone is great....very romantic but did not eat there. Instead we ate at Azul which is at the Wyndham and is set up like the Fying Fishbone. We had a table on the beach and they set up chairs so we can watch the sunset and served us champagne. Then we ate by "torch light" and they had strolling musicians......very very romantic .....oh and you had to be barefoot too! There are only 8-10 couples at a time here too so its very intimate. This experience made the whole trip! If I were you I'd make resverations at either place before you go as they sell out fast. Pago Pago in the Wyndham is excellent too....probably the best meal we ate in Aruba. Twinkletones was a lot of fun. Its not too far from the hotels and the food was good (this was the only outside resturaunt we ate at). As you are being served dinner the owners and family put on a show for you woth singing and dancing. They even got my husband up to do the cha cha slide (he will never live that down....Ive got great pictures.... ). I have heard Amazonia (an Argentaian grill where its all you can eat meat....some exotic) is great as well as Papimientos.
We did 2 tours when we were there too. We Did the Island tour to the California Lighthouse, Natural Bridge, caves, a church and snorkelng at Baby Beach. It was really nice and you got to see a lot of the island. We also did the Kuku Kanuku Bus. That was ALOT of fun!!!!!!!! Its a painted school bus that blasts music and takes you bar hopping to local "watering holes" We had the best time and went with other newlyweds we met at the hotel. Another good thing to do is to find out the days that the cruise ships will be coming into Orenjastad. It gets very very crowded in the city when the ships are there....especially if there is more then one. So you may want to plan your "shoping days" around that too. We actually left the city one day it was so crowded.
Lastly....my last bit of advice.......pack a bathing siut and a full change of clothes in your carry on bag. My husband's luggage was lost between Miami and Aruba and they were very relaxed about finding it. Turns out that American sent it back to Orlando and it was sitting in the airport for a day before he got his sutcase back. So for 2 days in Aruba he had NOTHING but the clothes on his back. He is 6'5'' and it was very hard and very funny trying to find hm clothes to fit in the local dept. stores (which are very small to begin with). Everyone in Aruba is pretty short compared to my husband and the shorts and shirts he was trying on looked like something Britney Spears my wear.....lol We can laugh at it now...esp. after seeing pictures of how he looked (couldnt let that Kodak moment go by.... ) But just thought I'd give you the warning!
Well I hope this helped and if there is anything else I can help you with please let me know. We bout the pocket Frommers guide to Aruba which was helpful. It gave descriptions of all the resturaunts and tours to take.

Heather