Just a few Questions !

[The Lost Boy]

Firstly hi everybody.

Myself and she who must be adored and obeyed (The Wife) together with "Are we there yet" (Ben 5yrs) and "No" (Matt 2yrs) are embarking on a trip to see the mouse with big ears.

D-Day April 6th '03 Virgin Holidays, Premium Econonmy, staying at the Vistana Resort for 2 whole lovely weeks. (Research carried out on this website, very much looking forward to it.)

If anyone could help with the following it would be much appreciated

1. Car Hire
Virgin use Dollar I beleive. Whats the process in collecting the car and would it be better to take the boys car seats with us ?

2. Ben is on his mums passport where as Matt has his own. Is it acceptable to the good old US of A if Ben is on his mums passport and does not have his own ?

3. We are pretty laid back about "Doing Disney" but what are the not to be missed experiences/rides ?

4. Budget - I know this is very subjective but ball park figure 2 adults and 2 kids eating in the park (cheap and cheerful, a bit like my kind self) Vague ideas of cost ? What are other mouse lovers experiences ?

Many thanks
Mac.

 

[The Lost Boy]

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So thats how it works !

 

[vernon]

Hi Mac, well Vistana have full kitchens so you can keep the food costs down a hell of a lot by having breakfast (cereal, bagels and toast is what I usually stick to) in your unit. With two quite young ones, there are bound to be a few days where they just "flake out" and are asleep by the time you leave the parks, having a few things like frozen pizzas etc in the freezer is going to be less traumatic than taking flopped out kids into a restaurant to get fed. Either they sleep in an uncomfortable position, or they wake up and are in a tetchy mood. Whichever it is, it doesn't make much of an experience for mum and dad. The type of rooms you have mean you can get back, stick em in their beds and enjoy a beer/glass of wine and a quick snack together without having to worry about them.

1) If Dollar are at the airport, their desk will be one floor down from baggage collection where you will complete the paperwork ( if you have a new "ID style" licence you should take the paper part as well just to be 100% certain. You shouldn't need it but you never know ) The cars are in the parking lot just accross the road. Youll be given the key and the bay number your car is in. (You'll need to show your paperwork as you exit the Dollar part of the parking lot, so don't pack it away in the trunk ). They will supply you with child seats AT A COST, but in my experience the car seats were not very good quality, and with a daily charge 2 weeks for 2 seats ( both will need em) it'll work out costly. If you need a new car seat, I'd advise buying one in Fl as they are pretty cheap, but you'll need to be covered for your first journey as it is a legal requirement the kids have them.

2) I'm certain it's ok to travel on his mum's passport. But you do have potential problems IF for any reason she had to travel outside of the US without him going as well. Unlikely I know, but not impossible. If you have enough time to get him his own now, it does avoid those type of problems for the future.

3) For kids, there is SO MUCH to do, that just "take your time" is the most important, otherwise much of it can pass you by in a blur. Plenty of film in the camera as the first trip ( particularly with the youngest) is going to be full of wonder for him. OK here are a couple of "quieter things" that are easy to miss but for a first trip worth doing. First trip to Magic Kingdom, take the ferry NOT THE MONORAIL from Ticket and transportation. The monorail is quicker, but having the park come slowly into view, particularly seing Cinders castle and Space mountain come into view psyches them up into a frenzy. With the monorail, you go through the contemp hotel and the park is just THERE in front of you. 3d shows it's worth doing twice ( first time watch the kids, 2nd time watch the show LOL) sometimes the effects can be a little intense for them so that's another reason for watching them first LOL. Smaller kids usually love the parades, so it's worth taking the time to "snag" a good spot, in the front row. If you and your wife take turns to go visit a shop,loo drinks or popcorn breaks the time shouldn't drag too much. Similar with fireworks, it's worth taking the time to get good places because when you're that small it's easy to get your view blocked ( which kinda takes the edge off things. For MK I favour the "rose garden" area that is (from the entrance) to the right and before Cinder's Castle. You also get a good view of Tinkerbell's flight if she's taking to the air. At Epcot we recently watched from the bridge between France and England which worked well. There is also a good spot on the front of the lake ( with SpaceshipEarth AKA the big golf ball directly behind you) but this is kept roped off until about 30 minutes before the show. You need to be inthe area before the ropes a good while before they "drop em" and it's still a bit of a scramble for the best spot. There are lots of things like the Dino dig, that boys particularly seem to enjoy, so dont get too tied up in the "we must do the big rides" mindset.

4)For eating "out and about" Disney can work out expensive BUT I would strongly recommend looking at at least one character meal. My favourites are the breakfasts at Crystal Palace in MK, Cape May Cafe in the Beach club Hotel or Park Fare 1900 in the G.Floridian, but I know the Garden Grill in Epcot and Breakfastasaurus in AK are both popular. This is a relatively painless ( for parents) way to get to see a lot of the top characters without having to queue up ALL DAY to do so. Have cameras, pens and autograph books ready LOL. Good places outside of the parks that I can recommend are Jungle Jims (burgers,ribs Nsteaks) , Olive Garden ( Italian) , Bahama Breeze ( little more expensive, but big portions and nice food) , Tony Roma's (steaks and ribs) TGIFriday ( same as in the UK but prices are the same in $s as they are here in £). All of those are in the Crossroads area ( which I think you'll be near, depending on which Vistana you're in) they all, I think, have branches on I-Drive as well. The 192, is pretty close to you as well and there are HUNDREDS of restaurants along that road, you'll recognise many of the "brand names" I'm sure

 

[BevS97]

HI mac

1. Car Hire
I can't help with this as I haven't used Virgin, but yes, I would take your own car seats - they can be checked through and don't count towards your baggage allowance, and I think the kids are more comfortable in their own seats, and more importantly you know how to operate them.

2. Ben is on his mums passport where as Matt has his own.
This is not a problem, Katie is on my passport = we keep meaning to get her her own, but have never got around to it. Noone has every questioned it.

3. We are pretty laid back about "Doing Disney" but what are the not to be missed experiences/rides ?

My dd is 5, and loves Its a Small World (which will drive you bonkers), Bear in the Big Blue House, and quite a few others. However, on our first trip when she was just 3 she was very very nervous on a lot of rides and we had to be sure to ask how scary the ride was- most of the CMs were really great and would explain to Katie exactly what would happen - this seemed to reassure her a great deal.

4. Budget -
Its definitely a personal thing, but we took $150/day and found that we had plenty of money when we where eating off site, and probably not quite enough when we where on-site, However, we do like to eat at the sit-down restaurants in Disney which are more expensive than grabbing a burger from a counter service place.

Bev

 

[BevS97]

LOL - it looks like vernon types faster than me!

I would just issue a word of caution on all the 3-d movies - Katie has only seen the Muppets 3-d one, and she was ok with that, but not very happy - I have seen Honey I shrunk the audience and there is no way Katie would have sat through that. I would suggest trying anything you are unsure about by yourself first before taking the kids in, because one scary ride can put them off trying anything new for the rest of the day.

I don't want to put you off- there is plenty that the kids will enjoy, but it's just worth being aware that some kids (well my daughter anyway) can be spooked by something that you think is pretty tame - in our case it was the Cat in the Hat ride at IOA which scared her quite badly, and it took 3 or 4 rides on Its a Small World before I could get her to try anything at all after that

Now she is an old hand and loves Goofys Barnstormer and even Splash Mountain (which she is just tall enough for), but it took us a while to build her confidence back up again.

Bev

 

[Scotfan]

Hi there I just thought I'd say how great Vistana is. We Stayed there in 2000 then bought in as we liked it so much.
If your boys flake out early as ours do you can get take out or room service from the on site restaurants. Its a bit pricier than eating out but its very stress free!
You are just 2 right turns from Disney property and can get to the parks very quickly, we often go back for a rest in the pm then back to the park for the evening, our 2 boys are 5 and 8 now so can last a bit longer now but my Dad who is 66 needs the rest!!!

 

[The Lost Boy]

Many thanks for the replies

Mo - Im really looking forward to staying at the Vistana. We chose it because of its location and facilities. The 2 bed apt should mean the boys can sleep whilst mummy and daddy can relax.
I would be interested to know the cost of buying into the Vistana and how this timeshare option works out.

As far as the boys being scared - I guess we will suck it and see. Both Mrs Mac and I have both agreed that we will go with the flow and take our time - We plan to make this our first trip of many and I guess as the kids grow up the parks will take on a different meaning. This time round it will be all about the magic, but as they get older the rides and thrills will take on more importance.

We have been to Disneyland Paris at Xmas time for the past four years, and if you dress for the cold its great and both the kids have really enjoyed the experience. Year before last it snowed quite a bit (during the electric light parade one night which was truly magical) and boys loved it.
But, two hours on the Eurostar is very different to 9+ hours on the plane. That is one of the reasons I upgraded to PE on Virgin, so that it might make the journey a little easier (extravagant I know, but hey you cant take it with you and life is not a rehearsal etc)
Again thanks for the great tips
Regards
Mac

 

[vernon]

If you want Orlando to be you're "home" timeshare then do check out Disney's version DVC , there is a mass of information on the DVC on this site. It is a slightly costlier option than other "regular" timeshares, but there are a lot of plusses that, IMHO, make DVC the better choice.

 

[MKLOVER]

Hi Mac

You and your family will totally love WDW. You will feel that you have died and gone to heaven.

I would recommend that you buy Simon Veness' book a Brit's guide to Orlando which you can get from book shops aswell as WHSMITH on line and (there is one out for each year). It is very informative.

I will post more later - I have got to finish a document.

 

[BevS97]

if your kids have been to Disneyland Paris before, then you will probably be ok with them not being too scared - my dd hadn't been to any parks before we tried the Cat in the Hat (which is a bit wilder than I expected) and so she was quite surprised and that put her off.

I have to say there is so much to see and do at Disney that even when she was feeling very timid and not keen on doing rides we still found there was plenty to see and do.

Bev

 

[MKLOVER]

Hi Mac

Unless you are going to every park I would personally say that the ages of your two, miss Epcot.

Magic Kingdom is great for small children and a majority of the rides that they will like are in Fantasyland which is behind the castle.

They will also like the afternoon parade which is really nice.

Another park that I think they would like is Seaworld as they can see the whales, seals, dolphins.

I can not recommend buying the brits guide any higher. I buy this book everytime that I go to Orlando - it has so much information in it. Also Simon Veness (author) does go on this chat area a lot.

With regard to dollar car hire - there is a telephone number in this country that you can ring to make sure you are ok with taking the car seats - I have never done this so I don't know. I will find the number out and put it on this thread on Monday.