DisneyWorld newbie

[Countdown]

mattman said:

Telecat - we find it cheaper to book virgin fly drive and not bother extending the car, in fact we don't even pick it up. Hiring a car through usrentacar.com or similar is cheaper for the whole stay than the cost to extend the virgin car. Just don't tell virgin this or they'll charge you 70 quid to remove it from your booking

Matt - the quotes I've had from usrentacar are £557 for 10 days. If I take the Virhin car I'm paying £410 for the full insurance for 10 days. Surely I'm better off taking the Virgin car? It will be an 8seater MPV btw.

[telecat]

Countdown said:

mattman said:

Telecat - we find it cheaper to book virgin fly drive and not bother extending the car, in fact we don't even pick it up. Hiring a car through usrentacar.com or similar is cheaper for the whole stay than the cost to extend the virgin car. Just don't tell virgin this or they'll charge you 70 quid to remove it from your booking

Matt - the quotes I've had from usrentacar are £557 for 10 days. If I take the Virhin car I'm paying £410 for the full insurance for 10 days. Surely I'm better off taking the Virgin car? It will be an 8seater MPV btw.

It really depends on what you are after. In this case the Virgin Deal works out better. On what I am looking at it doesn't.

[mattman]

Agree with telecat - you've got to put some leg work in to get the best deal. We're off in march next year, virgin wanted 360 all in for 2 weeks for a typical saloon, I've booked a SUV through Avis for 265 all in. Not massive savings, but all add up. Also booked a 5 bed villa for 2 weeks at 1100. We really don't need 5 beds as there are only 4 of us, but it was similar prices to 3 beds, has a larger south facing pool and good communal area. Don't think we'd survive 2 weeks sharing a typical hotel room with 2 king sized beds - son and daughter would kill each other in the end!

[Deva Link]

mattman said:

I've booked a SUV through Avis for 265 all in.

That seems very low - what route did you use to get that price?

[mattman]

Hi deva - the missus is a keen dibber and got a voucher code for a hefty discount, think it helped we booked so far in advance as well. I just pay for it.....

[Deva Link]

Thanks - I picked up "glitch" pricing with Hertz through Expedia a couple of years that was highlighted on TheDibb and got a a deal that I thought all along would get cancelled, but it didn't. Ended up with an Escalade!

[Countdown]

Still at Stage 2 (Accommodation)………

Right –apologies if this is stating the “bleedin’ obvious” but it seems that a Villa offers both better value and better enjoyment than a Hotel.

That being the case can people recommend an area/resort (or even Villa if they are Disney regulars) which is convenient for WDW? Needs to be a minimum 4 bedroom.

Also what’s the best way of having satnav over there? I’m thinking NavFree for Iphone. Anybody have any opinions?

Cheers

[mattman]

Back to the dibb - lots of uk owners on there and decent prices too - stay around the 192, not too far away down the 27.

We stayed in high grove last time and that was really nice - dibb villa, this time we are staying at paradise palms a relatively new community

[Crafty_]

There are loads of little estates of villas - just look at the sites and you'll find most will mention the name and how far away it is.
Last year we stayed at the "glenbrook resort" - just google "glenbrook resort villas" that and a whole bunch will appear at various different sites.

Glenbrook is just at the western end of the 192, there are other villa estates down near the 27 as the poster above said. In fact there are villa estates all over the place.

Look here: http://goo.gl/maps/mtC9o. the 192 (West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway) runs along the bottom of this map and meets US 27. Glenbrook is a mile or so north on US 27.
You can see disney slap bang in the middle.

For reference International Drive is top right, just above where the I4 (running north/south) meets US 528.

Edited by Crafty_ on Wednesday 17th October 22:00

[Countdown]

Cheers both

[mattman]

Countdown - what size villa do you need? A guy I work with has a 5 bed off the 27 - I can send you his contact details if you like

[Countdown]

Hi Matt

Minimum 4 bed. Might be more if other family members decide to tag along.

Has your friend got a website?

[mattman]

Here you go -no link to him other than a work colleague so not making any momney out of passing it on!

www.vrbo.com/215356

If you want to contact him direct, PM me and I'll send you his contact details

[FiF]

OP meant to post this when you started your thread but forgot, sorry.

My usual advice to Florida noobs is to purchase the Bible

[FiF]

Countdown said:

Hadn't realised there were so many other Parks tbh. We "may" not stay just at Disney.

The KSC thing - whilst me and my son would love it my 3 daughters would be bored rigid.

Right, when we went as a family I'd already been several times working.

On the holiday each person had a day where they could choose the agenda for the day.

My choice was Kennedy Space Center, and both Mrs and Miss FiF pulled huge faces, "why that? You've been, seen more than the tourists see, been up close on the launch pad, bla di bla." Talk about wet blankets but they had to go along as them were the rules and I thought they shouldn't miss it.

The staff virtually had to kick the pair of them out at closing time! Post holiday verdict they'd both go back to KSC in a shot.

If they still do the Up Close and Personal tour, recommended. If you are still out there when it starts to get dark, have some strong mossie repellant.

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mattman said:

Here you go -no link to him other than a work colleague so not making any momney out of passing it on!

www.vrbo.com/215356

If you want to contact him direct, PM me and I'll send you his contact details

Cheers - that looks fantastic.

Just received a quote from Thomsons - it's for one of their "Gold Choice" villas, includes car hire and works out pretty close to "Flights-Car Hire - Villa" if I do it independently. It's also about 30% less than their website price which I can't figure out?

Most flights seem to be ITRO £800pp return. Am I looking in the wrong place?

[Countdown]

FiF said:

OP meant to post this when you started your thread but forgot, sorry.

My usual advice to Florida noobs is to purchase the Bible

Cheers - on preorder

[telecat]

Couple of pointers. When Going to the Big Parks make sure you have at Least $15 for parking. Yes after charging you all that money for tickets they charge you to park. Make sure you know where you are as well. It's amazing how many Cars similar to yours there are in those Car Parks. On Entering if anybody is carrying bags make them available to search ASAP. Saves time. I'd also make yourself familar with the major roads and Which COMPASS point they go in to get to your destination. I-4 might look as if it goes north south but it actually goes east west and if you know which way you are going you can get to the exit quicker. Main Roads to remember are Sand Lake Road, Orange Blossom Trail, 192 or the Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy, US27 and I-95. Then there are the Toll Roads. Make sure you have change if you want to use them. the 528 from the Airport is the first one you come across but you only need to stay on it for one tool route if you don't fancy taking the Back road off the Airport. The others you can avoid unless you plan on going to KSC in which case the 528 to I-95 is the way you want to go and that's East by the way.

[Countdown]

Thanks.

Any suggestions about satnavs? AFAICS my options are

Get a US SIM card with data allowance and use Google maps on my IPhone

Use NavFree on IPhone which apparently doesnt need a data connection

Buy or rent a TomTom

[Tophatron]

Countdown said:

Thanks.

Any suggestions about satnavs? AFAICS my options are

Get a US SIM card with data allowance and use Google maps on my IPhone

Use NavFree on IPhone which apparently doesnt need a data connection

Buy or rent a TomTom

GPS wise I have a Tomtom like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOM-TOM-GO-4V00-710-Sat-...

And have an SD card with Euro maps and another with the US maps. It's been invaluable when I've been over there. It's a little out of date now but does the job well.