Looking for a bit of advice. Fancy taking the family to Florida. (Going to be a tough couple of years if Wife gets a uni place, so nice hol while we can etc). 2 adults & 2 kids (aged 3 & 5). Thinking maybe late May/early June, & ideally self catering to save money. Just wondering whats the best way to do it ? Source own flights & accomodation seperately, package deal ?
Also, what parks to visit & how many days worth of passes etc to get ? Also, anything thats a must do, & anything that should be avoided...
Cheers.
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Florida for family hol ?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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Some good deals on at the moment to do the package thing. Parkwise it depends on the family. The Disney Parks are great with younger children, if extreme rides are more your thing then the other parks are better.
Lot of good self catering villas in the area. Go out to the Kennedy space centre as well while you're there, worth a visit.
Food in the Disney parks was bad when we went.
Posted 1 year ago # -
We go most years, for the last 4 years at the end of May beginning of June, its normally extremely humid and can be uncomfortable at times)
We have tried searching our own packages/flights etc, but always find that Virgin holidays comes back at very little extra.
DONT stay on Disney, its a rip off, Thisplace has always done us well, its near everything (disney, food, shops etc), has bus transfers to everywhere and is clean, comfortable and has decent pools.
You spend nearly all of your time out and about so you dont need much other than a room!I would buy the 14 Unlimited disney pass so you can use all the facilities as much as you want (Its only £20 more than a 7 day pass) then you can go between parks etc.
I would also get the Orlando ultimate flex ticket for Universal, seaworld, busch garden etc.
A villa is nice (we are doing this again this year) but works out more expensive for a family of 4.
As for Kennedy its amazing,( we have been lucky enough to see a couple of launches over the years) but my kids (6 &12) went for the first time 2 years ago and were bored after an hour.( we loved it when the bro & sis in law had them so we could go!)
Anything else, ask away.
Posted 1 year ago # -
try Virgin complete packages - i'm sure theres a further 10% online booking reduction this weekend. You can stay on Disney and buy 14 day disney tickets at a good price either from them, or get em separately online. Buy, or borrow a copy of the Brits guide to Florida from a library - lots of advice in them ,and they are updated each year.
We've been 3 time @ christmas and it's ace....
You only need the value Disney place - the all star places are all you need. Free buses around Disney, and you can get to Universal and Seaworld easy enough...
We did universal and Islands of Adventure Christmas 09 and didn't rate them i'm afraid, but that's probably just us....
Posted 1 year ago # -
I had a job their last year in June at Epcot and found the combination of heat and humidity pretty unpleasant. The local techs I was working with all reckoned it was best to avoid June July and August.
Posted 1 year ago # -
We've been three times, once as a package (Travel City Direct, pre collapse/Virgin rebirth) and twice independent. Three kids, ages similar to yours and older. I'd try to get in between Easter and June as later is more humid, and you won't be short of heat earlier.
I'd not bother at all with parks and attractions other than Disney with children that age, the Universal and other attractions are much more grown up and less kid friendly. Disney tickets are cheaper at the gate than you can buy in the UK in advance, for example adult 10 day with water park option is currently £212 on the gate, and you can get (small) discounts. The "Ultimate" 14 dayer is £232, basically a ticket designed to get UK to buy in advance of travel. By the time you've had 10 visits to the main parks and four to water parks you'll be wrecked anyway. Park hopper options offer no real benefit unless you're on a tight timescale like the yanks are with short breaks.
Accommodation wise I don't like hotels much, and there are tons of villas. VRBO can be good as can random internet searching. Places along Rt27 near the junction with 192 are usually easy to get to and more modern than around the Kissimmee area. Loads of supermarkets to keep food cost down, and the Sizzler on 192 is awesome for excellent cheap food and really good service. If you get flights into Sanford it's a much more relaxed small airport but adds 40 mins drive to your accommodation. Mousesavers.com is worth a look for ticket prices as it doesn't redirect you to the UK site like Disney does. Oh and Disney really is awesome, much much better than I thought it could be, but you can't really do it for cheapness, you can cut the cost, but it's still going to cost you.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I've been 10 times in the past 20 years, A car is a must, don't think about buses.
Stay in a villa with a pool the kids will love it, you need to take days off to chill & a pool lets you do that & keeps the kids amused at the same time, maybe do a bit of shopping later on in the day, the parks drain you.
Stay anywhere round the west end of the 192, the past twice I have stayed round the Davenport area on the, the East end is getting run down & shops closing all over the place.
Busch gardens, Seaworld, Disney & Universal are all great for adults & kids, Space centre may not be of interest to the youngsters. If you want a waterpark Typhoon Lagoon is better than Blizzard beach.
I always source my own villa & get a flight & car separate, I have always found that works for me best.
I've been there in Dec, Jan, June, July, Aug & Sept & like June the best & the queues in the parks shorter, I think all the prices for flights & villas rise round mid June time. It's all to do with school holidays.
Ask in the parks about child swap, you get to jump the queues if you know how to work it.
child swapPosted 1 year ago #
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