What's the attraction for Brits for WDW and Florida?

[iankh]

First off, let me explain that I lived in the UK for 4 years, living in Bath and London. I left for England a single person and came back a couple. That was 18 years ago.

We have been going to WDW as a couple for many many times in the past 18 years. The first time was in 1988 I think, when we were still living in Bath. All I heard before the trip was, "I can't believe we're going to Disney World for a holiday, how naff!" That was the first and last time I ever heard that. Now it's, "Don't you think it might be time to visit Mickey again?"

Next year, the step kids and step grand kids are supposed to join us for a holiday in WDW.

I keep wondering, but have never asked anyone, what is the attraction for Brits to Florida and WDW, especially in light of DL Paris being so close?

This is really just a point of curiousity. What is it that attracts you? What is it that you enjoy? What keeps you coming back?

 

[heatherbelle]

America is so clean, they speak English, the food is good, the locals are friendly. Need I say more. The magic is not the same in the cold

 

[KayleeUK]

DLP is very different to WDW

There is so much to do at WDW, standards are brilliant, people are friendly, the exchange rate is good. My DVC helps me to keep returning LOL

 

[tartangirl]

DL Paris is good for a few days but there's not enough to do for a 3 week holiday

Florida has the weather, the entertainment, it's cheap to go, stay, eat. It's got the customer service and most of all, the shopping is fantastic

 

[mandymouse]

I have been to both DLP and WDW, and can honestly say that DLP is NO way as good as WDW. The main reasons are first the wonderful weather, as heatherbelle said WDW is so clean, the people are very friendly, the Castmembers are very well organised, on my only trip to DLP people were literally pushing children out of the way to get to the characters whereas in WDW they have organised lines (I know very British - eh?), the food and quantities of it are outstanding. Of course in Orlando there is so much more to do with Universal, IOA, Seaworld and all the shopping too.

mandymouse

 

[Miffy2003]

Great question!

I love Florida (the bits I've seen which is limited to various places on the Gulf coast mainly) and WDW in particular.

The reasons are:

The welcoming and very friendly attitiude of most people there
Fantastic shopping with great value for money
A multitude of things to do
Fantastic choice for meals and again the value for money
Wondrous beaches
The weather

The reasons I will always go back to WDW are all the above and more, LOL.

Why I choose Florida over say the Med (a typical holiday destination for us Brits):
The accommodations are very inferior compared with what I get in Florida (for less $$$)
After a few days we found there was little to do in the resort and we aren't people who enjoy sitting round a pool for extended periods of time
I really dislike the attitude of some people which is to start drinking very early in the morning and collapse unconscious later and we found this prevalent in Ibiza and most offputting (and the constant football on the TVs in the bars got on my nerves too )
Very little dining choice compared with Florida
No shopping! Need I say more?
The locals were not all that pleased to see us (not all of them)
It was extremely expensive and there were lots of "cons" such as banning you from taking drinks to the pool so you had to buy the bar ones (which were not cheap); I'm talking about non alcoholic beverages here.

I won't go on any more! But I would prefer to go on holiday less often than return to the Med, but we may have just been unlucky.

Oh and I do love DLP but it isn't on the same scale as WDW. But that's another thread entirely!

 

[vernon]

IMHO there is so much more to Florida than just WDW, but even saying that WDW is a vastly superior destination to DLP. I would guess that a 3 day stay at DLP runs to be about 35% of the cost of a 14 day stay in Florida. Value for money, Florida wins by a mile.

For Florida the benefits are language, service, facilities, shopping, ease of driving,accommodation and weather. Food is a little closer, if you want "higher end" food then Europe generally has better quality/selection, but it costs more (there are some excellent high end restaurants in the high end range in the US, but they are a litle harder to find and IMHO their range of offerings is a little more limited. America wins handsdown in the mid/low end price range.

The only real "downside" of Florida is that it's a 8/9 hour flight as opposed to 2/3 to europe, but in my experience the total journey for an 8 hour flight is about 13 hours ( 8 hour flying, hour to the airport,3 hours check in, hour from the airport). Travelling to Europe it's 8 hours (2 hours flying,hour drive to the airport, 3 hour check in, most European resorts its a couple of hours coach journey at the other end). Either way it's pretty much a whole day travelling.

 

[gilld]

I agree with pretty much everything that has been said. We wouldn't go on holiday to Europe other than for the weekend, which we do occasionally. We don't visit WDW as often as some on these boards as we are now travelling without children and we like beach holidays as well, so every couple of years is fine. Having said that we do own at DVC.

We like to visit the Caribbean, Australia and Asia and we love cruising. But we still come back to WDW/USA every so often for our Disney/America fix.

 

[AndRu]

The average rainfall in the area around DLP is higher than that of Manchester. Americans vs French in the friendliness stakes? No contest!. The French treat visitors (not just the English) as something they'd scrape off their shoes whilst Americans bend over backwards to be helpfull.

Florida is a warm, welcoming place with a fantastic climate and some of the best attractions in the world. It's not just about Disney - Universal, Busch Gardens, Sea World, the beaches and golf courses etc are all in such close proximity means that you can get the holiday you want. Central Florida caters for almost any type of break. As for shopping and great value, well, I think that America is hard to beat on those scores, especially with such a great exchange rate at the moment.

In the end, its a matter of choice and mine is to spend my money on taking my family to Florida, havig a great time at the parks, shopping and on the beach. I'd rather do that than be ripped off/abused on the other side of the channel!

 

[iankh]

Some good and interesting points. Thanks for replying.

I know why we go to WDW. It seems like one of the few places that we can truely switch off for the the week. We're not really beach holiday people. We can't sit still long enough!

What we love is that we can swim in the pool, go to the water parks, go to the theme parks, be completely occupied the whole time. Mind you, we do sit and relax, but we know that when we're ready, there'll be plenty to do.

Obviously for us, it is not quite as cheap. I imagine that with the exchange rate these days WDW is quite a bargain though!

The food is good, but we're spoiled, as Chicago is a wonderful restaurant city, though we don't get the theming that is available in WDW.

It seems like we split our holidays every other year going for at least one week back to England, Bath, to see family, an occassional trip to Paris to see friends, and in the off years going to WDW.

I've wanted to go to DLP but this has been vetoed at home. I was told in no uncertain terms that that was out of the question. For many reasons others have sited here.

Looking forward to next year and WDW with the step-kids and grand kids. It will be their first visit to the US and will be split between Chicago and WDW. From the Windy City to the Magic Kingdom.

 

[daveyoghurt]

Florida has it all, entertainment, climate and most of all, value for money. Too many of our European cousins see our holiday as an opportunity to rip us off, be it with overpriced food/drinks, or the attitude that we should actually want some sort of quality service for our cash. Plus Florida also has the Hulk roller-coaster!

 

[Cochise]

I grew up wishing i could go to WDW, but we never went abroad as a family, i was 15 when i went to Paris with the school and that was the first time outside the uk.

I have been to DLP twice and have to agree about the attitudes of some of the people there, Q pushing is the norm and is allowed to occur due to the fact the cast members actually ignore the fact that they have done this if they are French. I have really had to hold myself back in there a couple of times. We were thinking of going to DLP this March and taking along a good friend and his daughter (he is seperated from the mother) but the mother has refused any visiting rights for the last 9 months for no apparent reason. When this happened we decided to just go and book Orlando and here we are still 270 days from going!!!

Visiting America is still a sort of a magical goal that i am going to finally acheive this year

 

[daipp]

Two words -

The weather.