London Calling
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2005
- Messages
- 199
This will be more of a practical nature with the intention of informing others about issues pertinent to their holidays as opposed to a long yarn about how much I enjoyed my trip.
Travelled to Orlando last 2 weeks in may with Virgin, staying first week at All Star Movies, and 2nd week at Holiday Inn International Drive, with wife and two kids both aged under 4, without the use of a car.
Virgin - Everything to do with the flight was excellent. Used their DIY check in on the outward flight which meant that we didnt have to queue ( I hate queuing), had chosen seats myself which worked very well, and best of all was the check-in facility at Downtown Disney which meant that we avoided all the hassle at the airports.
worst thing about Virgin were the reps who were only interested in selling tickets and excursions to you and when they found out we had all our tickets they were very unhelpful. Looked decidedly peeved that we even asked for free meal tickets ( not that we used them) for Hard Rock cafe. Will not be bothering going to that meeting again, although admittedly we did arrive after the meeting had ended.
Accommodation - had chosen two different hotels because we had decided not to drive, and thought that this would give us the best option.
All Star Movies - perfect for kids, huge disney figures which the kids loved, rooms not bad at all, was worried from other reports that they were very small but our kids are quite young so wasnt an issue. Rooms were clean, and we got the rooms that we wanted in Toy Storu block. Major gripe with the report was the standard and cost of the food court which makwe school dinners here look good and healthy. Wouldnt be that much of an issue if we had access to a car as we would have bought bread, milk etc etc but a disadvantage without a car, and we didnt want to spend first few days buying groceries - perhaps a mistake in hindsight.
Would I stay on-site again, definitely. Advantages are huge especially around transportation and extra magic hours which was a huge plus as far as we were concerned, so would def stay on - site,however, would not stay at ASM as it wasnt upmarket enough for me.
Holiday Inn Int Drive - a lot of people are have booked this hotel and are awaiting my comments so please pm me for specifics. Stayed in the tower on the 5th floor, and the room was a good size which meant that my young kids could run around. Didnt eat at the hotel or take part in any entertainment they had organised, so cant comment on this aspect. Hotel is def not a 4 star and three star at best, lobby in the tower is shabby, although like i said I had a good room. Worse thing about this hotel I found was housekeeping and room cleaning in particular, which didnt happen until late afternoon, early evening on occasions. Best thing was location. would i stay here again, this is an issue as I prefer this side of I Drive ( i have heard it called sleazy), but I prefer to have a walk on an eveing and browse around some of the shops of which there are many unlike the south side which has the better hotels. There is a Trolly stop outside the hotel as there is a lynx bus too. However, the kids pool was too small to use which meant that kids couldnt really have as much fun in the pool as they would have liked. At the same time this seems to be the best hotel around in this area, so although I would prefer to go upmarket, it would depend on what else was available.
We did all the parks and had great fun, but there are plenty of people around who know far more about disney than I ever will, and I shall leave it to them to offer advice and tips on this aspect, but suffice to say that we had a great time, loved wishes, and thought Magic Kingdom was best park.
One notable thing to mention is that we were not able to use new <agic Express service whuilst travelling with Disney, but to be honest it didnt matter as Virgin transfers were excellent.
Please ask if tyhere any questions - we did all disney parks, plus the others at Universal and sea world. Spent too much money shopping at outlets, and not looking forward to going back to work !!
Travelled to Orlando last 2 weeks in may with Virgin, staying first week at All Star Movies, and 2nd week at Holiday Inn International Drive, with wife and two kids both aged under 4, without the use of a car.
Virgin - Everything to do with the flight was excellent. Used their DIY check in on the outward flight which meant that we didnt have to queue ( I hate queuing), had chosen seats myself which worked very well, and best of all was the check-in facility at Downtown Disney which meant that we avoided all the hassle at the airports.
worst thing about Virgin were the reps who were only interested in selling tickets and excursions to you and when they found out we had all our tickets they were very unhelpful. Looked decidedly peeved that we even asked for free meal tickets ( not that we used them) for Hard Rock cafe. Will not be bothering going to that meeting again, although admittedly we did arrive after the meeting had ended.
Accommodation - had chosen two different hotels because we had decided not to drive, and thought that this would give us the best option.
All Star Movies - perfect for kids, huge disney figures which the kids loved, rooms not bad at all, was worried from other reports that they were very small but our kids are quite young so wasnt an issue. Rooms were clean, and we got the rooms that we wanted in Toy Storu block. Major gripe with the report was the standard and cost of the food court which makwe school dinners here look good and healthy. Wouldnt be that much of an issue if we had access to a car as we would have bought bread, milk etc etc but a disadvantage without a car, and we didnt want to spend first few days buying groceries - perhaps a mistake in hindsight.
Would I stay on-site again, definitely. Advantages are huge especially around transportation and extra magic hours which was a huge plus as far as we were concerned, so would def stay on - site,however, would not stay at ASM as it wasnt upmarket enough for me.
Holiday Inn Int Drive - a lot of people are have booked this hotel and are awaiting my comments so please pm me for specifics. Stayed in the tower on the 5th floor, and the room was a good size which meant that my young kids could run around. Didnt eat at the hotel or take part in any entertainment they had organised, so cant comment on this aspect. Hotel is def not a 4 star and three star at best, lobby in the tower is shabby, although like i said I had a good room. Worse thing about this hotel I found was housekeeping and room cleaning in particular, which didnt happen until late afternoon, early evening on occasions. Best thing was location. would i stay here again, this is an issue as I prefer this side of I Drive ( i have heard it called sleazy), but I prefer to have a walk on an eveing and browse around some of the shops of which there are many unlike the south side which has the better hotels. There is a Trolly stop outside the hotel as there is a lynx bus too. However, the kids pool was too small to use which meant that kids couldnt really have as much fun in the pool as they would have liked. At the same time this seems to be the best hotel around in this area, so although I would prefer to go upmarket, it would depend on what else was available.
We did all the parks and had great fun, but there are plenty of people around who know far more about disney than I ever will, and I shall leave it to them to offer advice and tips on this aspect, but suffice to say that we had a great time, loved wishes, and thought Magic Kingdom was best park.
One notable thing to mention is that we were not able to use new <agic Express service whuilst travelling with Disney, but to be honest it didnt matter as Virgin transfers were excellent.
Please ask if tyhere any questions - we did all disney parks, plus the others at Universal and sea world. Spent too much money shopping at outlets, and not looking forward to going back to work !!
and although the entertainment was on one loop (all starting at once) I think there was usually something for the kids right through as there was a choice of movies (including at least 2 Disney ones) plus a channel with lots of kids shows (e.g. Balamorey) which i think was timed to be as long as the adult programmes. However, younger DS just watched Spongebob Squarepants four times and channel-hopped as it finished so I'm not sure. 
). Make sure you order the kids meals - there was loads more than the adult meal (which DH and I did tidy up 
just so as not to offend the nice Virgin ladies 
) and includes all sorts of nibbly things. The kids also get a nice bag with some goodies in with Virgin as well as the amenity kit (socks, eye-mask etc.) but there's not much for very little ones.
) but didn't need them on the flight. They did come in useful when we were delayed 4 hours on the way back though
