Vacationing With Family From The UK

[iankh]

Hi everyone! I thought I'd start here on the UK DVC board to ask a few questions from fellow DVCers.

I have a big trip planned for October 2007 and have my DDIL, DDSIL and grandson coming over from the UK (Bristol to be precise) for their very first Disney trip of any kind.

We are going to be meeting them in Orlando and taking them on a 4-night DCL cruise followed by 8-nights in WDW in a 2-bedroom at VWL.

They have LOTS of questions for me and I don't have many answers ... yet.

My first question is park tickets. What is the best option for someone coming from the UK? We have APs ourself, but what's the best deal for them?

I've looked at the Disney UK site for price tickets, but when I do the math, it appears that with the strong pound, buying an MYW pass is a better deal, and they could get an 8-day. Am I wrong? Are there any ticket discounters there? That might be better? In the past before we had APs, we bought passes from a good discounter here. I'm wondering if that is the best bet and they should do it while the poiund is still strong?

Next is flights - normally they fly into Chicago and take Air India who is the cheapest. What are the choices from the UK to Orlando? Heathrow is probably the closest (relatively) to Bristol and the easiest to get to via coach, or at least is was when I was living in Bath about 1000 years ago (I don't think they'd be driving and parking. They didn't do that when they were here in Chicago this past Thanksgiving).

Also, I'm trying to figure out how to prepare them for the trip. I mean they know absolutely NOTHING about WDW. I think they are expecting Alton Towers, what would be a good way to get them prepared? Does Disney do a PAL equivilent of the holiday planning video they do here? Any good books from a UK perspective?

Thanks for any help or suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated. One of the reasons for our having DVC is to be able to have these sorts of family holidays, so I really want this experience to be a hit for them.

 

[mikki.young]

What a wonderful trip you are planning! A good guide book to help them realise just what there is out there is A Brit's guide to WDW. There are lots of other good ones but for a first timer from the UK that one would be the most help (and besides Simon is a moderator on the UK boards).

Ticket wise there are good bargains for longer says over here but I think you may be right about the options for 8 days.

You can fly direct to MCO from Gatwick and Manchester via scheduled flights (BA and Virgin). There may be direct flights to Sanford on charter flight from a more local airport. Flying into Tampa is another option and I think you can do that from Heathrow.

Disney do do a planning DVD but it is very slow to come - seems to be anything from 2 - 10 MONTHS. Maybe someone can send them one of this years if that would help.

 

[Lesleyluvsdisney]

HI IanKH

I am a travel agent from the UK and have quite a few planning DVDs if you want i can post you one?

or get your family to go on to Disney.co.uk and order from there

Good Luck!

 

[UKDEB]

Hi Ian

Your family can get a Holiday Planning Kit, including DVD, from Disney's Official UK website. The ticket options available for the UK market are tailored to take into account our tendency to visit for longer periods, so the 21 and 14 day Ultimates offer the best value, but clearly these aren't appropriate. As you say, the 8 day MYW will probably work out better given the current exchange rate, although the 7 day Premium also includes 6 'plus' options, so if you intend to take in any water parks and/or PI, that could be worth considering. There are several operators here which offer discounts on the official prices, but it's such a long time since we bought anything other than Annual Passes that I'm not up to speed with them all. Can I suggest you also post this on the UK Trip Planning board which sees much more traffic?

We live in Gloucester which, as I'm sure you know, is just north of Bristol. BA and Virgin are the only scheduled airlines to fly directly to MCO from the UK and, frustratingly, neither do so from Heathrow. We always fly Virgin from Gatwick, but getting there is a bit of an ordeal. It is possible to do it by train, but there are a couple of changes involved. Often we hire a car because the drop-off and collection point is right next to the entrance for the terminal. We've also driven our own car and stayed overnight the night before at the airport. Many hotels offer free parking for up to 15 nights, but the car parks are a shuttle ride away. The buses run approximately every 15 minutes. Either way, the 2 1/2 hour drive after the Transatlantic homebound flight is never much fun. There is a Hilton connected to the South Terminal (from which the Orlando flights leave), but we prefer the Sofitel in the North Terminal which is just a short tram ride away. There are cheaper options offsite which provide transportation to the airport. We've never tried taking the coach, but I'm sure you can get a quote from National Express.

Many charter airlines fly directly to Orlando from the UK, but into Sanford, not Orlando International. That's not too big a deal, though - Sanford is a 45 minute drive from WDW on the relatively quiet 417 Central Florida Greeneway toll road. The advantage of charters is that, as well as Heathrow and Gatwick, they operate from regional airports. First Choice flies from Bristol, but I'm pretty sure on a limited basis only. Last time we looked, for example, I think they were only operating on Saturdays, but I don't know whether or not that's a year-round thing.

The first time I visited Orlando (back in 1992) I bought Fodor's and Bob Sehlinger's Unofficial Guide. Since then, I've bought virtually every Orlando guide book known to man, but it was several visits before I discovered Simon and Susan Veness's A Brit's Guide to Orlando and Walt Disney World. This really is the best option for a first-time visitor from the UK because, apart from all the usual information, it includes lots of useful stuff written from a Brit's perspective. There is detailed information on both airports, including layouts and what to expect and even a chapter on driving in the US. And, of course, you should also provide them with a link to the DIS.

 

[Hilary]

Also, I'm trying to figure out how to prepare them for the trip. I mean they know absolutely NOTHING about WDW.

As Deb says, visiting these boards is definitely going to be a good start! Also, having you with them will be a huge plus factor in making sure they get to do and see the main attractions in the time available.

When we were planning for our first trip, I remember friends giving us advice about how to approach WDW when you don't really know what's there. I thought we'd got a pretty good idea of what to expect ... until we arrived and it was just so much MORE of everything we'd imagined (and a lot of what we hadn't even begun to imagine!).

I think the latest Unofficial Guide still has my quote in it that "Visiting WDW is a bit like childbirth - you never really believe what people tell you but, once you've been through it yourself, you know exactly what they were saying!"

If your trip includes the UK half term school holidays (usually second half of October) flights sell quickly, so I'd suggest trying to get those booked fairly soon.

 

[iankh]

Wow! Thanks for all the replies!

I think it's funny that you guys know the Florida airports and roads better than I do, and I'm the American (the only one on this trip)!

It's also funny because from my perspective (and my employer) this planned vacation is exceptionally long. A two week vacation? Unheard of!

This holiday was planned around the October school break (grandson is being taken out of school for an extra week). Thanks for the advice on starting to look at booking now. That had never occurred to me.

The logistics are going to be crazy. I was planning that we all arrive in Orlando on Saturday, the day before the cruise and spend the night an an MCO area hotel. I think that arriving in MCO is the best bet, because we could just meet up at the airport. We could book our flights from Chicago, based in their arrival time into Orlando. Stanford and Tampa introduce their own challenges.

For the night before the cruise, I had considered POP, but then thought that they would be too wiped out to enjoy it, or even take it in. I'll probably try and get the Wingate Inn near MCO again through Hotwire. We stayed there the night before our December 10th cruise and they were great, had a free shuttle, included breakfast and only cost $47 for the night.

I'm going to have DDIL order the Disney planning video and will probably order the Brit's Guide from Amazon UK and have it sent to them. I'm also going to tell DDIL to start looking at flights, as I had not considered the impact of half-term.

 

[mikki.young]

I know the Virgin flights to Gatwick are already booked up for Saturday 27th as we are renting points to a friend and had to get him an extra couple of days because there were no seats available on any flight!

 

[UKDEB]

I know the Virgin flights to Gatwick are already booked up for Saturday 27th as we are renting points to a friend and had to get him an extra couple of days because there were no seats available on any flight!

I'm guessing that's through Virgin Holidays, Mikki, which has an allocation on Virgin Atlantic flights. The flights themselves aren't necessarily full, but VH's allocation may be sold out.

 

[mikki.young]

I'm guessing that's through Virgin Holidays, Mikki, which has an allocation on Virgin Atlantic flights. The flights themselves aren't necessarily full, but VH's allocation may be sold out.

Just the flight as he was staying at DVC and wasn't getting a car or anything.

 

[Sue's Mum]

Can you get hold of any of the leaflets from the parks, the ones you can get as you enter the parks which give maps and details of rides, eateries etc. etc? If so, you could send these to you family. Also I think the Dibb may have maps to print off, although I don't think that anything can prepare a new visitor for the sheer size of WDW as a whole.

 

[iankh]

First of all, a big thank you to everyone, for helping out a panic stricken American. So, I thought I'd report back on the progress I've made.

Well, I probably did TOO good a job at getting my point across to DDIL and DDSIL because they became absolutely panic stricken about the trip and FINALLY realized that they were not going to Alton Towers.

I managed to talk them down off the ceiling and we arrived a few ideas.

They are MUCH more comfortable flying to Chicago first and staying a night or two here before the trip. Air India is rather cheap from London to Chicago, about 300 pounds per person. I'll find us some cheap flights (maybe Southwest) from Chicago to Orlando.

That solved the problem of what would I do if they flew to Sanford. To be honest, that is a big relief, because while I know how to drive from Bristol to Gatwick, I haven't a clue on how to get from Sanford to MCO. To be honest, Floridia is something I pass through on my way from MCO to WDW.

They have also decided to leave the park ticket planning and the itinerary in my hands (they are innocents, aren't they?).

We did agree that they would have to take some responsibility for arranging their excursions on for the Disney Cruise, booking our grandson into the Oceaneers Club and making their own Palo reservation (let's be honest, I'm NOT staying up until the wee hours of the morning to grab Palo reservations for them, when it will be the sane middle of the morning in the UK).

So, we are making progress. DDIL is beginning to sound VERY excited about this trip. I mean REALLY excited, which has me in a state of shock. I've known her for 20 years and have never heard her be enthusastic about anything!

 

[Sue's Mum]

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear that it's beginning to pan out.