Lots of questions probably been answered, this could be long :(

[jesuslovesyou]

I could do with a list of answers that will help us on our way, please help

First things first , We are planning to go to Orlando Nov/Dec 12 (low season)
We will take the children out of school and we want to go for 2 weeks.
The reason its 2012 is so we can save up !

I want to start to save in 2 months time (got to pay for a new fancy fridge freezer and washing machine first )
I want to save for 2 to 3 months so I have a big deposit to put down.
We are 2 adults and 3 children (3,9,15)
We dont drive so it will be transfers/buses/taxi's.

Questions to answer

1, Its our first time and we dont drive is it better to stay onsite becasue of this ? I would have no problems personally to navigate idrive if we stayed offsite.

Prices at the moment are around £2k more to stay onsite BUT thant includes park tickets and free dinning plan.
If we were to stay onsite we would still want to go out of Disney to look around.

2, Budget if we stayed offsite would be $160 dollers a day be enough for food and treats for the 5 of us? 3 of us eat well.

3, If we stayed offsite on idrive would it matter what end of idrive we were? We would want to do Disney 7-9 days when we are there.

4, How long on a bus from Universal end to Disney parks take?

5, Off peak season is it better to book flights then hotel or as a package? I would want best value

6, Are the best deals to be found on the internet? not in a high street travel agent?

7, Where is the best place to book?


Probably be more questions later , thanks for helping.

Jesus loves you x

 

[torsie24]

Reply in purple below

Questions to answer

1, Its our first time and we dont drive is it better to stay onsite becasue of this ? I would have no problems personally to navigate idrive if we stayed offsite.

We've not yet driven in FL, and really like staying on site for the ease of transport.

Prices at the moment are around £2k more to stay onsite BUT thant includes park tickets and free dinning plan.
If we were to stay onsite we would still want to go out of Disney to look around.

2, Budget if we stayed offsite would be $160 dollers a day be enough for food and treats for the 5 of us? 3 of us eat well.

This is a how long is a piece of string question, we went the two of us last trip, some meals were $200 some were $25, it really depends where and how you want to eat, but I'm sure if you were careful you could probably get by on $160 if you had a grocery delivery to your room to cover one meal a day. Other wise you;re limiting yourself to no more than $10pp/per meal, which would get very tiresome after 2 weeks.

3, If we stayed offsite on idrive would it matter what end of idrive we were? We would want to do Disney 7-9 days when we are there.

I'm not an Idrive expert, but I personally wouldn't want to spend 9 days travelling it's entire length twice a day to go to and from WDW.

4, How long on a bus from Universal end to Disney parks take?

We got a transfer from the Boardwalk to Universal, that took around an hour without traffic. It would depend on if there was traffic, how many stops. I;d say anything between 45 minutes and 2 hours.

5, Off peak season is it better to book flights then hotel or as a package? I would want best value

I've always booked them separately online as have never seen a package even close to the prices we've paid.

6, Are the best deals to be found on the internet? not in a high street travel agent?

Same as answer above.

7, Where is the best place to book?

Flights direct with the carrier, hotel direct with Disney.

 

[Twilight Terror]

Wow, that is a lot of questions you have there! I'll see what I can answer for you.

1, Its our first time and we dont drive is it better to stay onsite becasue of this ? I would have no problems personally to navigate idrive if we stayed offsite.
That is very personal to your family, your circumstances and your plans. I know that's not very helpful, but it's true. We have tried all combinations: offsite no car; onsite no car; onsite with car. All have their pros and cons.

Most hotels offer shuttles (at specific times, and usually an additional cost) to and from WDW, and sometimes Universal because it's not directly on I-Drive. Thanks to the I-Ride trolley, it is pretty easy to navigate up and down I-Drive, and then the Lynx buses help you connect with everywhere else. The I-Ride will connect you directly with SeaWorld (Discovery Cove and Aquatica are walkable from SeaWorld), Wet n Wild and the shopping outlets.

For Universal, you get off at the Wet n Wild stop and can either catch the Lynx bus down to US, or you can walk it, but it is about 10-15mins walk. We normally walk, but we like walking anyway. Again, that's a personal decision.

For WDW, you head down to the SeaWorld area (not SeaWorld directly), and there is a Lynx bus stop that will then take you from there to the Ticket and Transportation Center at Magic Kingdom. The only trouble with this is the bus stop is out in the open, and you sometimes have to wait for the next bus as a lot of people do this. You are also restricted to the times of the buses. Hotel shuttles or taxi cabs might be a better option for WDW.

2, Budget if we stayed offsite would be $160 dollers a day be enough for food and treats for the 5 of us? 3 of us eat well.
Depends where, when and what you are going to eat! Most offsite places will have offers like 'kids eat free' or 'all you can eat buffets for $9.99'. If you can get those kinds of meals, then yes, that will be plenty. If you are thinking of eating in the parks (any park), then that will probably be tight.

Your other option for offsite would be to go to the local Walgreens and purchase breakfast and lunch. Take the lunches to the parks with you and eat those there, then come home from the parks and enjoy places like Pondarosa, Wendys, etc where they offer the good 'all you can eat buffets'.

If you all eat very well, I would bear in mind that the DDP TS meals now include a lot less than they originally did, years ago. I would try and stick to the buffet meals where you can get the most for your money and eat until you are satisfied.

3, If we stayed offsite on idrive would it matter what end of idrive we were? We would want to do Disney 7-9 days when we are there.
It wouldn't matter really, since the I-Ride goes up and down all day, from early in the morning til late at night. My concern would be that if you wanted to spend more than half your holiday in Disney, that you might actually be better off staying onsite and taking those few trips away from Disney by bus or taxi when you need them, as opposed to continually travelling to Disney and loosing a lot of your time in the parks through travel.

4, How long on a bus from Universal end to Disney parks take?
Universal isn't on I-Drive, its a 15mins walk or 5mins bus ride off I-Drive. It is also roughly in the middle of I-Drive by Wet n Wild. We staying in the Holiday Inn Express (it's now called something else), which was opposite WnW and we would just walk to Universal or catch the I-Ride down to SW for the Lynx. If you are no further than Universal Bouldavard/WnW, then it's about a 20min trip on the I-Ride to SW direction, and then about another 20mins to WDW. However, the trolleys are only every 20 or 30mins (depending on line) and the Lynx are about the same. If you have just missed one, or have to wait for the next, you can add another hour to your travel time.

5, Off peak season is it better to book flights then hotel or as a package? I would want best value
I would generally say it's better to book everything separately, rather than a package. That said, there can be some brilliant packages out there. Once you've decided what you want to do and where to stay, it's best to cost everything up - DIY and package, then go with the cheapest!

6, Are the best deals to be found on the internet? not in a high street travel agent?
Direct with the companies is normally better. But again, pop into the high street agent and get a costing from them. They might be cheaper, especially if you can find an independent one, but they might not.

7, Where is the best place to book?
Generally, flights direct with the airline; onsite direct with Disney and offsite either direct with hotel or through someone like Hotels.com. If you want the best possible deal, you will have to do a bit of research and fare calculations in order to get what you want.

 

[jesuslovesyou]

Thanks for the replys so far

Talking about booking direct with the hotels that seems to be more expensive?
Priced 'the Point' hotel on complete Orlando website for Nov 11 (nov 12 not up yet) and it was coming in at £800 for 14 nights seems cheap to me !
Go on the ' The Point' website and its buckets more money !

If going my Nov 11 prices on the complete Orlando website then we can go for £3400 inc flights and the hotel (if prices roughly the same ) That looks a good price to me?

Link to hotel review.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...The_Point_Orlando_Resort-Orlando_Florida.html

 

[Zeebs]

Do you not actually drive or do you not want to drive?

We stayed offsite on our first trip and are about to do it again this time. BUT if I didn't drive I would stay on site, just for the ease of it all.

Can't help too much with the other questions as I haven't been enough to have good knowledge on them.

Kirsten

 

[Daysleeper40]

I am actually typing this from the Sheraton Four Points on I-Drive which is just oposite Wet n Wild. We have stayed here once before too and used the hotel shuttle transport to Disney on both trips. We only go to Disney for 3 to 4 days each trip and TBH if we wanted to do it 9+ days then I wouldn't recommend staying off site. The shuttle from here only takes about 20 minutes to actually drive to Disney but it only drops off at Epcot (can't speak for other hotels obviously) so you then need to use Disney transport to get to any other park. This can take quite a while depending on where you are going and when the buses arrive.

Basically it is fine for us for a few days - we know what to expect and then we are done with Disney. If we were doing that for the majority of the holiday it would wear very thin.

I also think your food budget is a bit low. It sounds like you would be better off staying onsite.

 

[wayneg]

If you go for offsite then post what you are looking for and best price you have, I will look and see if there is a better price around.
Personally we prefer Lake Buena Vista area to Idrive, plenty of places to eat & drink, easy access to Disney, short trip up Turkey Lake rd to Seaworld or Universal. Still a little early but hotels start from around £400 for 2 weeks.

 

[jesuslovesyou]

If you go for offsite then post what you are looking for and best price you have, I will look and see if there is a better price around.
Personally we prefer Lake Buena Vista area to Idrive, plenty of places to eat & drink, easy access to Disney, short trip up Turkey Lake rd to Seaworld or Universal. Still a little early but hotels start from around £400 for 2 weeks.

Thanks for the tips , so what hotels can I get for £400 for 2 weeks sounds very cheap!
Is there easy transport links to the parks from Lake Buena Vista?
So far we have had a very close look at The Point on idrive, Nov 11 prices are £820 from complete Orland so expevt them to be similar for Nov 12.

 

[wayneg]

Thanks for the tips , so what hotels can I get for £400 for 2 weeks sounds very cheap!
Is there easy transport links to the parks from Lake Buena Vista?
So far we have had a very close look at The Point on idrive, Nov 11 prices are £820 from complete Orland so expevt them to be similar for Nov 12.

Depends what you want, just checked CO, looks like you are looking at a 2 bed apart, Monarch.co.uk have the same room at £812 less 5% Quidco =£772.
I was looking at a standard room at £400, you can get prices now for Nov 2012, prices start from £258.94(less 5% Quidco) but not the best of places so cheap. I think it was Extended stay deluxe at £412 I saw. For 2 bed they have the very popular Cypress Pointe Grandevillas Lake Buena Vista for £630(2 bed apart)
Sorry can't help with transport, I wouldn't go without a car, others manage OK but I wouldn't know where to start.

 

[jesuslovesyou]

Depends what you want, just checked CO, looks like you are looking at a 2 bed apart, Monarch.co.uk have the same room at £812 less 5% Quidco =£772.
I was looking at a standard room at £400, you can get prices now for Nov 2012, prices start from £258.94(less 5% Quidco) but not the best of places so cheap. I think it was Extended stay deluxe at £412 I saw. For 2 bed they have the very popular Cypress Pointe Grandevillas Lake Buena Vista for £630(2 bed apart)
Sorry can't help with transport, I wouldn't go without a car, others manage OK but I wouldn't know where to start.

£258 ?? Where di you find that !
Thanks for all the help by the way

 

[wayneg]

£258 ?? Where di you find that !
Thanks for all the help by the way

http://www.monarch.co.uk/
Just searched a random 2 week from 5th Nov 2012
It was at Days Inn Orlando Convention Center, gets mixed reviews.

Look for yourself, easy to search their site. They are usually very competative with the 5% off but possibly cheaper elsewhere.

 

[jesuslovesyou]

http://www.monarch.co.uk/
Just searched a random 2 week from 5th Nov 2012
It was at Days Inn Orlando Convention Center, gets mixed reviews.

Look for yourself, easy to search their site. They are usually very competative with the 5% off but possibly cheaper elsewhere.

Yeah we just looking ,seem good prices but cant see the £250 one thats crazy cheap !

 

[wayneg]

Yeah we just looking ,seem good prices but cant see the £250 one thats crazy cheap !

Double or Twin GUEST ROOM RO 14 5 Nov 2012 Room x 14 nights x £18.50 = £259.00 £258.94

Sorry I was searching 2 children, doesn't show for 3 children.

 

[katytrott]

Hi Jesuslovesyou,

I agree staying offsite is so much cheaper, however my suggestion is to stay at villa. You will get some really good prices that time of year and although I've never stayed in a hotel offsite, I'm guessing it would be similar price with a lot more perks. Having seperate rooms from the kids, washing machine, fridge, our own pool, our own transportation freedom all help to make our trip the most relaxing it could be.

You will need to get car, but again , I do recommend that. To have that freedom is so valuable and I know my brother and SIL stay onsite and hire a car for transpot ease. To have transporation stress AND be offsite would spoil the trip for us. It really is so easy driving around - not like driving on the other side of the road on the continent, in fact it's much easier/quieter than England.

Thinking about it, if you were to stay at a villa, the only extra cost to staying offsite in a hotel, would be the car rental. Again, you can get some great deals and everyone on here can help you find some (they're fab!). My belief is as you will be spending a fair bit on a Florida holiday, you may as well spend a bit extra to ensure you enjoy the holiday!

 

[jesuslovesyou]

Hi Jesuslovesyou,

I agree staying offsite is so much cheaper, however my suggestion is to stay at villa. You will get some really good prices that time of year and although I've never stayed in a hotel offsite, I'm guessing it would be similar price with a lot more perks. Having seperate rooms from the kids, washing machine, fridge, our own pool, our own transportation freedom all help to make our trip the most relaxing it could be.

You will need to get car, but again , I do recommend that. To have that freedom is so valuable and I know my brother and SIL stay onsite and hire a car for transpot ease. To have transporation stress AND be offsite would spoil the trip for us. It really is so easy driving around - not like driving on the other side of the road on the continent, in fact it's much easier/quieter than England.

Thinking about it, if you were to stay at a villa, the only extra cost to staying offsite in a hotel, would be the car rental. Again, you can get some great deals and everyone on here can help you find some (they're fab!). My belief is as you will be spending a fair bit on a Florida holiday, you may as well spend a bit extra to ensure you enjoy the holiday!

We dont drive full stop thats the problem !
It looks like we should stay at Lake BV if we are planing to spend the most days at Disney - Hope thats correct