Florida For Family Of 3 - October
Discussion
Matt Harper said:
bakerstreet said:
Now if someone could just point me to somewhere I can purchase the insurance for the hire car then that would be really useful. Like most people I hate a hard sell and I know I will be very tired and cranky (9hrs on a plane with a toddler) and I want to get in and out of the car hire place as quickly as possible. IE, I dont want to be told I have to be more insurance etc etc.
Presumably you are booking your rental car (and insurance to a level you are comfortable with) from the UK, right?If so, just tell the desk clerk you don't need ANY extras, thank-you. End of discussion. They will try to convince you that your world could come to an end if someone's hat blows off and you drive over it, but as long as you are comfortable with the coverage you bought during booking, reiterate - "I DON'T NEED ANY EXTRA COVERAGE, OK?"
They are paid commissions to up-sell insurances, GPS, SunPass etc.etc., which is why they are persistent.
surveyor said:
Sorry. Could not resist - but if its an option its a bloody convenient one.
No sweat - they've all cottoned on to this (well, the mainstream rental co's at least), but you have to enroll - during which you need to state what your insurance criteria are. Mine is nil, because rental cars are covered by my personal auto policy - but I assume it isn't quite so simple if you are just visiting for a vacation.As a holidaymaker, I'd want to do it via the desk clerk, because wangling an upgrade is always a possibility.
Matt Harper said:
Sheepshanks said:
These places aren't my cup of tea at all, but the poster who originally asked wanted triple D so I thought Bubbalou's would fit the bill. I think it's a plastic plate place. I've certainly also seen rave comments about Yellow Dog Eats but didn't realise it was relatively close.
I've been to Winter Park (from WDW) and don't remember it as a huge trek - and from the Universal area it's surely not far at all? Is it really impacted by the university - that looks a good few miles away?
ETA: I just looked and there is a 4 Rivers Smokehouse at the University too - I was referring to their original Winter Park location.
By the way, not quite the same sort of place, but do you know Teak Neighborhood Grill - any good?
Yellow Dod Eats is between Widermere and Ocoee, so the route would be west on Sand Lake Rd to Apopka Vineland and then head north. 10-15mins drive from I-Drive.I've been to Winter Park (from WDW) and don't remember it as a huge trek - and from the Universal area it's surely not far at all? Is it really impacted by the university - that looks a good few miles away?
ETA: I just looked and there is a 4 Rivers Smokehouse at the University too - I was referring to their original Winter Park location.
By the way, not quite the same sort of place, but do you know Teak Neighborhood Grill - any good?
Edited by Sheepshanks on Wednesday 3rd February 18:53
You are correct, Winter Park is a short drive eastbound on Interstate 4 and lies just to the north of downtown Orlando.
Universal and University are very different.
Teak Neighborhood Grill has been called so many other things over the years that I've kind of lost track. I first used it as a Friday evening after work venue for my co-workers in 2003 when it first opened. Back then, MetroWest was a pretty decent apartment-complex oriented neighborhood. It's a bit sketchy these days. I started avoiding the place after two friends got their cars broken into in the middle of the afternoon. All of that area on Kirkman, north of Conroy Road is dubious - too close to the ghetto and experiencing increasing incidence of street crime.
http://www.wesh.com/news/2-men-found-shot-to-death...
Definitely go for the 'straight to the car park option'. No upgrade could compensate for the 2 hours we had to ensure at MCO queuing the old fashioned way when we weren't aware of this option. Queue was down to lack of staff, rather than number of customers. Staff really didn't seem happy that I wanted none of the insurance upgrades and you'll skip all that too if you head straight for the car park
gl20 said:
Definitely go for the 'straight to the car park option'. No upgrade could compensate for the 2 hours we had to ensure at MCO queuing the old fashioned way when we weren't aware of this option. Queue was down to lack of staff, rather than number of customers. Staff really didn't seem happy that I wanted none of the insurance upgrades and you'll skip all that too if you head straight for the car park
Hertz just added it on anyway on one past trip. Then on another they billed me for someone's else's rental and fuel.Got it sorted after medium sized email battles. I only booked with them as they gave me an Escalade first time, but messing it up twice in a row was too much.
Used Alamo last year and that worked fine, but it's a bit of bun-fight in the garage as you choose your own vehicle from your booked group - quite stressful with lots of people arriving at once!
Right just to update the thread, 2 weeks on Tuesday we will be off and away. I decided to hire a car, went with a Mustang (unfortunately "or similar" as we wanted to collect the car from or close to the Hard Rock Hotel and choice from anywhere other than the airport was fairly limited) for a few days. Going to put together a bit of a itinerary but basically it will revolve round doing the theme parks early morning before returning back to the hotel pool for the afternoon and then parks again most evenings. Still thinking about doing the dolphin thing at discovery cove.
Got ourselves one of the Landry cards for a cheap meal or 2, and seen as it's my birthday when over there we get another $25 added to the card so it's a bit silly to not have one. If nothing else we can use it at Bubba Gumps.
Planning on doing a bit of shopping, not a great deal, and the Orlando International Premium outlet seems to be the best one given what shops/brands we want. Managed to get lucky and buy my dollars off a mate who came back from Vegas and dropped $3k on his last night and didnt want the hassle of selling them back or taking a poor rate, and seen as it was pre Brexit we've got a fair few dollars for our spends.
Anybody have any last minute tips that a family with a 10 year old boy should make sure they don't miss? We have all tickets, bar Disney for the full 10 days.
thanks
Got ourselves one of the Landry cards for a cheap meal or 2, and seen as it's my birthday when over there we get another $25 added to the card so it's a bit silly to not have one. If nothing else we can use it at Bubba Gumps.
Planning on doing a bit of shopping, not a great deal, and the Orlando International Premium outlet seems to be the best one given what shops/brands we want. Managed to get lucky and buy my dollars off a mate who came back from Vegas and dropped $3k on his last night and didnt want the hassle of selling them back or taking a poor rate, and seen as it was pre Brexit we've got a fair few dollars for our spends.
Anybody have any last minute tips that a family with a 10 year old boy should make sure they don't miss? We have all tickets, bar Disney for the full 10 days.
thanks
Excellent stuff.
The outlets you refer to are very good, they cover an enormous area and it's easy to spend a day there. Prior to visiting register on the site and you'll get plenty of VIP offers.
The Dolphin swim (a day at Discovery cove) might well turn out to be the highlight of your holiday, you need to book in advance but it is a great day. A lot more too it than a Dolphin swim and it is really good value for a memorable day.
My brother has just got back from LA, he has two boys aged 9 and 12 and they absolutely LOVED Dave and Busters, there is one on International drive. It's a theme restaurant and arcade game venues, worth a visit I'd think.
If they still do the evening Shamu show at seaworld, it combines music, lights and the orcas. Good fun, as is Aquatica, the SeaWorld water park, kids and adults love it and one visit isn't enough.
If you are staying at the Hard rock you've made a good choice.
Have a great time.
The outlets you refer to are very good, they cover an enormous area and it's easy to spend a day there. Prior to visiting register on the site and you'll get plenty of VIP offers.
The Dolphin swim (a day at Discovery cove) might well turn out to be the highlight of your holiday, you need to book in advance but it is a great day. A lot more too it than a Dolphin swim and it is really good value for a memorable day.
My brother has just got back from LA, he has two boys aged 9 and 12 and they absolutely LOVED Dave and Busters, there is one on International drive. It's a theme restaurant and arcade game venues, worth a visit I'd think.
If they still do the evening Shamu show at seaworld, it combines music, lights and the orcas. Good fun, as is Aquatica, the SeaWorld water park, kids and adults love it and one visit isn't enough.
If you are staying at the Hard rock you've made a good choice.
Have a great time.
Edited by Thankyou4calling on Thursday 15th September 12:21
Tony Angelino said:
Right just to update the thread, 2 weeks on Tuesday we will be off and away. I decided to hire a car, went with a Mustang (unfortunately "or similar" as we wanted to collect the car from or close to the Hard Rock Hotel and choice from anywhere other than the airport was fairly limited) for a few days. Going to put together a bit of a itinerary but basically it will revolve round doing the theme parks early morning before returning back to the hotel pool for the afternoon and then parks again most evenings. Still thinking about doing the dolphin thing at discovery cove.
Got ourselves one of the Landry cards for a cheap meal or 2, and seen as it's my birthday when over there we get another $25 added to the card so it's a bit silly to not have one. If nothing else we can use it at Bubba Gumps.
Planning on doing a bit of shopping, not a great deal, and the Orlando International Premium outlet seems to be the best one given what shops/brands we want. Managed to get lucky and buy my dollars off a mate who came back from Vegas and dropped $3k on his last night and didnt want the hassle of selling them back or taking a poor rate, and seen as it was pre Brexit we've got a fair few dollars for our spends.
Anybody have any last minute tips that a family with a 10 year old boy should make sure they don't miss? We have all tickets, bar Disney for the full 10 days.
thanks
A visit to Kennedy Space Centre, not far to drive and an opportunity to see a Saturn V and the space shuttle Atlantis up close.Got ourselves one of the Landry cards for a cheap meal or 2, and seen as it's my birthday when over there we get another $25 added to the card so it's a bit silly to not have one. If nothing else we can use it at Bubba Gumps.
Planning on doing a bit of shopping, not a great deal, and the Orlando International Premium outlet seems to be the best one given what shops/brands we want. Managed to get lucky and buy my dollars off a mate who came back from Vegas and dropped $3k on his last night and didnt want the hassle of selling them back or taking a poor rate, and seen as it was pre Brexit we've got a fair few dollars for our spends.
Anybody have any last minute tips that a family with a 10 year old boy should make sure they don't miss? We have all tickets, bar Disney for the full 10 days.
thanks
Thanks lads, been a long time since we've been away and it's taken for ever to save so really looking forward to it now.
Regarding the Dolphin Swim we're probably going to go for it, not really looked very deeply but I'm struggling to find pricing - even the Virgin site doesnt show it as far as I can see.
The gaming place looks good, may also check out the Kennedy space things too.
Regarding the Dolphin Swim we're probably going to go for it, not really looked very deeply but I'm struggling to find pricing - even the Virgin site doesnt show it as far as I can see.
The gaming place looks good, may also check out the Kennedy space things too.
Tony Angelino said:
Thanks lads, been a long time since we've been away and it's taken for ever to save so really looking forward to it now.
Regarding the Dolphin Swim we're probably going to go for it, not really looked very deeply but I'm struggling to find pricing - even the Virgin site doesnt show it as far as I can see.
The gaming place looks good, may also check out the Kennedy space things too.
Go on the Sea world site and it comes up at £175 for the day.Regarding the Dolphin Swim we're probably going to go for it, not really looked very deeply but I'm struggling to find pricing - even the Virgin site doesnt show it as far as I can see.
The gaming place looks good, may also check out the Kennedy space things too.
Do remember it includes full park access, Dolphin swim, Food, Beer, Swimming gear etc.
It's a great day albeit a lot to spend.
A tip from me would be if you wan't the photos they take of you with flipper DO NOT PAY THE ASKING PRICE.
Make them a silly offer and they may well take it :-)
Tony Angelino said:
Anybody have any last minute tips that a family with a 10 year old boy should make sure they don't miss? We have all tickets, bar Disney for the full 10 days.
thanks
What about kayaking? We are also away in 4 weeks and plan trying this out http://www.grandelakes.com/resort-activities/Eco-T...
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