Time for DLRP and time for WDW

[marcus.ka]

Thank you for all your answers!

No I don't have children. We would be 2 adults if we should go! And if we should go someday it would definetly not be xmas or summer during school holidays. As we have no children we could choose any time we want!

And once again: If we should book a holiday in the US we only want to do one amusement park! So we don't think about going to Kennedy Space Center or Bush Gardens!

I could imagine going 14 days. So maybe 3 or 4 days New York, or Yosemite Valey or San Francisco. And then ... days at WDW!

But it should definetly not be a "only-Disney-trip"!

 

[UKDEB]

There are four parks at WDW and, as you're obviously a Disney fan, you really should do them all. Even without all the other great attractions in Orlando, there is plenty you can find to do on WDW property besides the parks - Water Parks, DisneyQuest, Cirque du Soleil, Downtown Disney, the BoardWalk, Wide World of Sports, mini-golf, resorts and their restaurants...

Let's ignore all the peripheral stuff, though, and focus on the parks. You need a day each for MK, MGM and AK, and two for Epcot, PLUS another day to re-visit your favourite(s). That way, you'll get to visit all the headline attractions without rushing around (and thus coming away feeling that it's all gone by in a whirl). You'll also be able to take in the evening shows (Wishes at MK, Fantasmic at MGM and IllumiNations at Epcot).

As far as hotels go, if you can afford it, you should consider one of the Epcot resorts (BoardWalk, Yacht Club or Beach Club) or one of the MK resorts (Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Polynesian or Wilderness Lodge). Epcot is my favourite park and the resorts there are within easy walking distance of the park. It's also possible to walk to MGM (albeit, it's a bit further - about 15 minutes). There is also a water-taxi option to both parks. The GF, Cont and Poly all have direct access to MK via the monorail. WL is accessible via water-taxi. Transportation between the parks and all the other resorts takes longer - you're talking Disney bus, taxi or hire car.

 

[UKDEB]

I could imagine going 14 days. So maybe 3 or 4 days New York, or Yosemite Valey or San Francisco. And then ... days at WDW!

If you're thinking West Coast (Yosemite, San Francisco), you'd be far better off including Disneyland California. New York is certainly do-able with WDW, albeit you'd need to take an internal flight, or be prepared for a very long drive (we're talking several days).

 

[mikki.young]

I did 5 days in New York and then flew down to WDW. I also flew in to San Francisco and drove down the coast road before hitting the original Disneyland. I would say 3 to 4 days is plenty for Disneyland but you would need longet in Florida.

 

[BrenR]

We have been to both! 4 times to WDW - first time in 1996 and the last time for Christmas 2005. My 2 daughters are now 18 and 20 so we have been from when they were quite small up to adult. I have lost count (I am afraid to say) of how many times I have been to DLP and at the moment have an annual passport. We went the first year they opened and then again for Christmas the following year (only the main park then) and did 8 days there in Hotel Cheyenne. I cannot believe we spent 8 days there! It snowed REAL snow on Christmas Day and was fabulous. We woke to find a Mickey Mouse snowman outside our room. Our latest trip was October 2006 - all four of us (now all adults). We have stayed in Santa Fe, Cheyenne and Newport Bay on our trips but when we want to go for a cheaper holiday we stay in a bog standard Formule 1 that is 5 minutes drive away. After all, all we do then is sleep there!

I have never stayed in a Disney Hotel in Florida - we always use a timeshare exchange that we have and have stayed in Sheritan Vistana twice, Orange Lake Country Club once and Hilton Grand Vacations Club. We could not afford to stay in a Disney Hotel and so the timeshare exchage is brilliant for us. If you have never been before and you want to really get to know the place you will need several days! 2 in MK, 2 in Epcot and at least one each in MGM and AK. This will give you the feel of the place but you will probably miss out on lots of things. We always spend a day at Universal Studios and I find this a fabulous park. IOA is good to see once and more than once if you like rides.

The rides in MK are different to DLP - Space Mountain has a smaller height restriction in Florida as it does not corkscrew or loop. Pirates has some different stuff in it too and there are other differences in some of the rides as well. WDW has to be done I think but I am glad that DLP is so close that we can just drive there.

Bren

 

[Debbied]

Totally agree with U.K Deb..must be the great name! But as much as I love Disney I can't imagine a holiday in Orlando without the rest of the parks..Universal, Seaworld, Busch and Kennedy. Some I thought sounded boring and I would hate but not so, (confession Busch is probably my fave park..I think?)
7 days is a good ammount of time to allocate to disney. Obviously you enjoy this type of holiday, why do you not want to go to the other parks?
Whatever you decide, enjoy
Debbie x

 

[marcus.ka]

We don't want to go to the other parks because we would only be 12 days in the US. And I don't want to do only parks while we are there!

 

[Groovee]

To be honest we find it cheaper to do 2 weeks in WDW. For 14 days in a disney hotel you can pay around £3000 including car hire.. Yet DLP for 3 nights and 4 days cost us nearly £2000. I would say we always find it more expensive to do Paris, but it's good for a disney catch up and is closer to home. But WDW is a holiday to relax as well as getting a disney fix.

 

[BONITATIME]

We have been to both! 4 times to WDW - first time in 1996 and the last time for Christmas 2005. My 2 daughters are now 18 and 20 so we have been from when they were quite small up to adult. I have lost count (I am afraid to say) of how many times I have been to DLP and at the moment have an annual passport. We went the first year they opened and then again for Christmas the following year (only the main park then) and did 8 days there in Hotel Cheyenne. I cannot believe we spent 8 days there! It snowed REAL snow on Christmas Day and was fabulous. We woke to find a Mickey Mouse snowman outside our room. Our latest trip was October 2006 - all four of us (now all adults). We have stayed in Santa Fe, Cheyenne and Newport Bay on our trips but when we want to go for a cheaper holiday we stay in a bog standard Formule 1 that is 5 minutes drive away. After all, all we do then is sleep there!

I have never stayed in a Disney Hotel in Florida - we always use a timeshare exchange that we have and have stayed in Sheritan Vistana twice, Orange Lake Country Club once and Hilton Grand Vacations Club. We could not afford to stay in a Disney Hotel and so the timeshare exchage is brilliant for us. If you have never been before and you want to really get to know the place you will need several days! 2 in MK, 2 in Epcot and at least one each in MGM and AK. This will give you the feel of the place but you will probably miss out on lots of things. We always spend a day at Universal Studios and I find this a fabulous park. IOA is good to see once and more than once if you like rides.

The rides in MK are different to DLP - Space Mountain has a smaller height restriction in Florida as it does not corkscrew or loop. Pirates has some different stuff in it too and there are other differences in some of the rides as well. WDW has to be done I think but I am glad that DLP is so close that we can just drive there.

Bren

Hi Bren,
it's good to see you here.

 

[BrenR]

It's good to be here Nikki!

Thanks

Bren

 

[BrenR]

To be honest we find it cheaper to do 2 weeks in WDW. For 14 days in a disney hotel you can pay around £3000 including car hire.. Yet DLP for 3 nights and 4 days cost us nearly £2000. I would say we always find it more expensive to do Paris, but it's good for a disney catch up and is closer to home. But WDW is a holiday to relax as well as getting a disney fix.

Wow - that is VERY expensive. We went over in half term (October). Cost us £100 on the ferry for the car. Cost of fuel (cheaper than in UK) plus the toll on the road to Paris. 4 nights at the hotel including breakfast (for 5 of us) was £200. We bought 3 annual passes plus tickets for two extra people. That cost us £420 in total. The annual passes gave us at least 10% off all food and merchandise. Not including food we spent around £750 for 5 of us to spend 3 days in Disney during the peak time of school holidays and we now have free entry for a year for 3 of us!

 

[wayneg]

Wow - that is VERY expensive. We went over in half term (October). Cost us £100 on the ferry for the car. Cost of fuel (cheaper than in UK) plus the toll on the road to Paris. 4 nights at the hotel including breakfast (for 5 of us) was £200. We bought 3 annual passes plus tickets for two extra people. That cost us £420 in total. The annual passes gave us at least 10% off all food and merchandise. Not including food we spent around £750 for 5 of us to spend 3 days in Disney during the peak time of school holidays and we now have free entry for a year for 3 of us!

This is one of the main reasons we have never been to Paris, I priced up for 4 nights at Easter Hotel and passes for 3 of us £897.99 flights £195 total £1092.00.
Compared to Florida we have 3 Virgin flights £873, hotel £308 total £1181, ok no tickets as we have annual passes, but Florida is for 14 nights not 4.
Paris just seems so expensive for us everytime I price it up. And its cold

 

[Groovee]

Wow - that is VERY expensive. We went over in half term (October). Cost us £100 on the ferry for the car. Cost of fuel (cheaper than in UK) plus the toll on the road to Paris. 4 nights at the hotel including breakfast (for 5 of us) was £200. We bought 3 annual passes plus tickets for two extra people. That cost us £420 in total. The annual passes gave us at least 10% off all food and merchandise. Not including food we spent around £750 for 5 of us to spend 3 days in Disney during the peak time of school holidays and we now have free entry for a year for 3 of us!

We tried to give our son the same holiday as we gave dd for her 4th birthday but it being the october holiday and the supplements to fly from Edinburgh boosted everything up to nearly £2000. Whereas we've got our florida holiday for July for £3000 so would prefer to give the kids 2 weeks holiday with rest breaks than what we went thru last october doing everything and late nights.

 

[BrenR]

Comparing day for day, Orlando does work out much cheaper but the cost of flying during the school holidays is far outside our budget and there is no way I would want to go to Florida in the heat of the summer in order to get a holiday long enough to justify the airfare. We like to take family holidays every year, rather than save up for one big one and we don't just go to Disney - we have managed to afford Florida 4 times in 10 years but I am sure we could have gone more often if we had cut back on other trips - not something we wanted to do. We also happen to love Paris though, so whenever we go for a week or so, we can visit Disney for a day or two while we are there. Paris in itself is a place to be visited many times as like Disney, there are new things that you discover each time you go. I love being able to combine the two - the thrill of Disney with the more relaxed atmosphere of sitting at a cafe watching the world go by. We have also used Tesco vouchers to get to Paris on Eurostar for £25 from London so in my eyes having Disney in Paris is brilliant. It of course, depends on where in the UK you live and we are lucky to live an hour outside London!

It is a good job we are all different in our likes and dislikes or the world would be very tedious. If I won the pools I would visit Florida much more frequently, but I would still go to DLP for Space Mountain which I much prefer over WDW, and to see how it is constantly changing over the years.

 

[wayneg]

My costings are in Easter school holidays would not take DS out of school now he is 12, prices are based on 3 adult flights.
Our next trip after Easter is in school summer hols, for 3 Virgin flights and 25 nights hotel £1,834, How much would Paris be for 25 nights?
If Paris works for you thats good but we always see better value in Florida.

 

[Groovee]

Comparing day for day, Orlando does work out much cheaper but the cost of flying during the school holidays is far outside our budget and there is no way I would want to go to Florida in the heat of the summer in order to get a holiday long enough to justify the airfare. We like to take family holidays every year, rather than save up for one big one and we don't just go to Disney - we have managed to afford Florida 4 times in 10 years but I am sure we could have gone more often if we had cut back on other trips - not something we wanted to do. We also happen to love Paris though, so whenever we go for a week or so, we can visit Disney for a day or two while we are there. Paris in itself is a place to be visited many times as like Disney, there are new things that you discover each time you go. I love being able to combine the two - the thrill of Disney with the more relaxed atmosphere of sitting at a cafe watching the world go by. We have also used Tesco vouchers to get to Paris on Eurostar for £25 from London so in my eyes having Disney in Paris is brilliant. It of course, depends on where in the UK you live and we are lucky to live an hour outside London!

It is a good job we are all different in our likes and dislikes or the world would be very tedious. If I won the pools I would visit Florida much more frequently, but I would still go to DLP for Space Mountain which I much prefer over WDW, and to see how it is constantly changing over the years.

My children are in School and we are going during the summer holidays. But I shopped around before booking my holiday and the travel agent matched the internet price I found. MUst be great to live so close to Paris but it doesn't work for us living in Edinburgh. We've not done Florida in 6 years so it is a big deal for us this year being able to experience it with both our children and at an age where they both will have some memories of it. Next year we plan to do NY as we have family there but it's taken 6 years to save up to make the most of this holiday. We don't manage term time holidays as my job is term time only so I am restricted to the holidays anyway. Not sure why you are so against someone going to Florida. In my mind both parks have their place, I just find DLP for 4 days is as expensive as our half board holiday to spain.

 

[AlanUK]

Getting back to the original topic....

I think you have had some good advice already on this thread, particularly from UKDeb who broke down a minimal WDW break very well.

As you are looking to do other parts of the US as well as Disney but don't seem interested in visiting the other parks I think 7 out of your 12 days is a reasonable target for spending time in WDW and will give you what you are looking for, a knowledge of what WDW has to offer.

Having said that I think you will probably find the pace quite hectic if you are planning on taking in most of the major highlights available even just sticking to WDW and like most people here I think you will be missing out on a lot not taking in some of the other attractions that Orlando has to offer.

Of course once you have been you will have to go back so you can always do it the next time

 

[BrenR]

Not sure why you are so against someone going to Florida. In my mind both parks have their place, I just find DLP for 4 days is as expensive as our half board holiday to spain.

I don't think you have understood what I have been saying if you think I am against someone going to Florida! Absolutely the total opposite of that - if I could afford it I would go to Florida far more often than I have been - I love all of Florida that I have seen. I have been to Venice, Boca Raton, Bradenton and Anna Maria Island in addition to Orlando and LOVE the place! All I was trying to point out was that Paris CAN be done cheaply and if you only have a couple of days to spare then you can do DLP in that time whereas you might have to wait a few years to do WDW.

I didn't want people who have never been to DLP to think that you have to stay in expensive hotels, pay expensive flights etc because you don't. I agree that Disney for 4 days would be dearer than a holiday in Spain but so would 4 days in Orlando surely.

I think I have caused enough of a stir on this! I will shut up from now on and go back to lurking

 

[tartangirl]

Hi Marcus,

I suspect you've got what you needed from your question but just to add my opinion.

We used to do DLRP and loved it but we found WDW to be better value although it is much further away (sorry for stating the obvious) so you wouldn't want do do it for 2 nights. Off season I reckon you can do WDW in 4 days - but it would be a shame to only spend 4 days in the Orlando area as there is so much to do.

We stayed on-site in DLRP but I have to say we prefer staying off-site due to the cost savings (although we have a couple of children in tow).

I think you will find 2 week in the US is not long as there is lots of travelling between places if you want to see different areas.

Florida is not just Disney (or other theme parks). There are the beaches on both coasts, Miami, the keys, the everglades, St Augustine, Silver Springs and I have to mention Kennedy as I'm blown away every time I go there. To me it's not a theme park, but then I love the whole space thing.

Splitting between Florida & New York is easy as New York is pretty much en-route.

 

[marcus.ka]

Thank you for all your answers! I think if we should think about visiting WDW in the future we will reserve at least 7 days. That should give us enough time to do every park at least one day.

Thank you very much for all your help!