Prices for Florida 2012

[stacy87]

Hi everyone!

It's been a long time since I've been on here - it made me feel awful coming on here when I realised I couldn't go back to Florida for a long time!

But......I'm trying to look into Florida holidays for 2012 (still need to confirm dates, but not in the height of summer this time!) Either earlier in the year (Easter time) or around September time.

Can anyone please point me in the direction to get the best deals? We are looking to stay on I-Drive this time around since we did Disney last year, and already know what tickets we would be going for, so that's all fine. It's more a case of getting a really good price for hotel & flights.

Is it cheaper to book them separately or together?

Any help would be much appreciated!!!

Thanks!!

Stacy

 

[Kath2003]

DIY. It'll save you hundreds.

If you're staying on I-Drive, consider whether you want or need a car. It'll save you the cost of car rental, gas and parking ($14/day!). I've done my last 4 trips to Florida on I-Drive without a car no problems (5th coming up in the Easter holidays). Between the I-Ride trolley and the Lynx buses, plus the occasional hotel shuttle, we've never found it to be difficult to get to where we want to be.

Fly indirect for approx. 50% of the price of direct.

We've been at Easter twice in the last 3 years and it's lovely. 25-30 degrees most days. BUSY but if you arrive early you won't notice it (we've not waited more than 20 minutes for anything during our last 2 Easter trips).

 

[wayneg]

Hi Stacy.

You will probably find Easter far more expensive and busier than Sept, Easter is Peak time for both UK and US travellers, Sept low season.

Will you totally avoid Disney? Sept there is free dining if you stay in Disney, 3 or 4 travelling it can be as cheap to stay at OKW or SSR and get all food included as it is staying in a budget hotel offsite, only 2 in the room the offsite usually works out cheaper and buy food.

You need to decide dates and get some prices, for us DIY is almost always cheaper but we can only go in school hols, off peak(Sept) then a package might be cheaper but you need to either go into a TA or trawl the websites unfortunately.

A bit early for getting flight prices yet unless you go with a charter airline, you should find prices now, Scheduled won't be out for another month yet.

Good luck.

 

[Bonnie151]

I've been tracking Edinburgh-Orlando for September (round about the 18th) and if you want to be brave and wait until the last month or so it's been £550pp (BA via London) for this year's flights. There's been plenty of seats available up until the week before. Before then the prices have been more expensive, though Glasgow is generally cheaper than Edinburgh if you want to book earlier.

 

[stacy87]

Thank you for the responses everyone - sorry I haven't been on here for a wee while again! So busy right now with college and work stuff!

Date-wise, I can't say exactly what date because I hope to start uni next year - I know we get 2 weeks off for Easter - normally holidays are around the middle of April. And we would be looking to go for 7-10 nights. Our holidays include 2 weeks for Easter, 3 weeks for summer, and 2 weeks at Christmas. So no time off in between to catch the Sept time that you are talking about Wayne I would like to go around that time though!

We would be looking to just do Universal, IOA and Seaworld parks this time around, since we did all the parks on our first visit! We feel that we could go for a week or 10 days and enjoy more time in a small selection of parks, and actually enjoy some of the nightlife this time around!! When we went last year, we only spent one evening in a park, and one evening eating out at DTD, simply because we were so tired and hot! Don't know if I said, but it would just be me and my best friend going!

So I thought Easter may be a better time for us.

I would prefer not to drive - as I would be the only one who could drive over there - and to be honest it scares me!!!

Are there any website you would recommend looking at to get an idea of prices for us? We obviously want to start saving and planning ASAP

Thanks again everyone!! x

 

[merlin307]

We always book independently. It's cheaper.
For april I will start looking in January. It will take a few weeks before I find the rigt prices but it's worth it, have saved about £180 by waiting Until the price is right)
I use:
Kayak.com
Ba.com
Continental.com
Fly.com

For hotels try
Expedia
Travelrepublic
Rooms net.

Let me know if you need any help.........

 

[wayneg]

Always check the packages but we almost always book everything separately.
First sort your exact dates then start looking, post best deals you can find and then we can let you know if there are any better offers around.

 

[stacy87]

We always book independently. It's cheaper.
For april I will start looking in January. It will take a few weeks before I find the rigt prices but it's worth it, have saved about £180 by waiting Until the price is right)
I use:
Kayak.com
Ba.com
Continental.com
Fly.com

For hotels try
Expedia
Travelrepublic
Rooms net.

Let me know if you need any help.........

Thanks for that! Will take a wee look at those sites and see how the prices compare! Will give you a shout if I get stuck!

 

[stacy87]

Always check the packages but we almost always book everything separately.
First sort your exact dates then start looking, post best deals you can find and then we can let you know if there are any better offers around.

Thanks Wayne - I will do

 

[merlin307]

Have fun.

If you find good prices then let me know (at the moment the best I can get is £558 each from Edinburgh to Orlando via fat wick in mon 16th April coming back on 10th may ( its my partners 40th so we're going for 3 weeks with a few days in the Bahamas to split it up a bit )

 

[jen_uk]

Thank you for the responses everyone - sorry I haven't been on here for a wee while again! So busy right now with college and work stuff!

Date-wise, I can't say exactly what date because I hope to start uni next year - I know we get 2 weeks off for Easter - normally holidays are around the middle of April. And we would be looking to go for 7-10 nights. Our holidays include 2 weeks for Easter, 3 weeks for summer, and 2 weeks at Christmas. So no time off in between to catch the Sept time that you are talking about Wayne I would like to go around that time though!


Thanks again everyone!! x

I may have misunderstood you but uni normally starts in October so could you not go in September?

 

[stacy87]

I may have misunderstood you but uni normally starts in October so could you not go in September?

Hi Jen - sorry I didn't get a notification about your post! The uni's I'm applying to both start first couple of weeks in September!

And my friend is currently in her last year at uni!

We're now considering the possibility of delaying the next trip until Easter 2013 - to give us lots of time to save up the money we would need and gives us lots of time to organise everything! But I don't know when we would be able to start getting prices for 2013 - so will prob be quite a way off

 

[2Tiggies]

But I don't know when we would be able to start getting prices for 2013 - so will prob be quite a way off

Not really. It is a bit soon now and you won't get flight quotes until May next year at the earliest, but late April is usually when the prices come out for the following year so not too bad. I fully understand now with you and your friend both being at Uni and not being able to just skip it - especially if your friend is in her final year!

Nothing wrong with saving up. We were going to do the same and wait a year - well not quite a year, but an extra 6 months. There are merits to it. I mean if you can get flights for next year to suit your times though, I would go for it.

 

[stacy87]

Not really. It is a bit soon now and you won't get flight quotes until May next year at the earliest, but late April is usually when the prices come out for the following year so not too bad. I fully understand now with you and your friend both being at Uni and not being able to just skip it - especially if your friend is in her final year!

Nothing wrong with saving up. We were going to do the same and wait a year - well not quite a year, but an extra 6 months. There are merits to it. I mean if you can get flights for next year to suit your times though, I would go for it.

We can only keep our fingers crossed for next year But I'm meeting up with her tomorrow and we're going to discuss holiday plans and see what we can come up with!

I just desperately want to go back! We've been thinking of going on just cheapy holidays next year, like Spain etc, but to be honest, I don't want to go anywhere else - last year in Florida was my best holiday ever, and I can't imagine going anywhere else for a while!!

 

[gillybeaaan]

Date-wise, I can't say exactly what date because I hope to start uni next year - I know we get 2 weeks off for Easter - normally holidays are around the middle of April. And we would be looking to go for 7-10 nights. Our holidays include 2 weeks for Easter, 3 weeks for summer, and 2 weeks at Christmas. So no time off in between to catch the Sept time that you are talking about Wayne I would like to go around that time though!

Hey

I'm starting university next year too (well, hopefully!) and most universities, if any, don't start the first week of September. Last year I didn't hear of anyone going before the 18th of September!

For this reason I've booked a holiday coming back on the 8th of September 2012 so i have a few days to get ready and go to uni when I'm home! You could always contact the unis you want to go to and ask if they have their start dates for 2012 set yet if it worries you?


ETA : I totally skim read this and didn't read your post about already knowing the courses start at the start of September, which makes my post pretty useless! haha

x