Florida & Disney
Discussion
Trustmeimadoctor said:
What are you after as there really isn't a need to use an agent
At a guess if you book certain Disney centric packages from the UK for 2024 at the moment you get a lot of extras thrown in that you dont get as part of unbundling it and doing it yourself. The value if which in fairness is questionable, as (IIRC) its around $x to spend at Disney and Giftcards (also limited to Disney)x5tuu said:
Trustmeimadoctor said:
What are you after as there really isn't a need to use an agent
At a guess if you book certain Disney centric packages from the UK for 2024 at the moment you get a lot of extras thrown in that you dont get as part of unbundling it and doing it yourself. The value if which in fairness is questionable, as (IIRC) its around $x to spend at Disney and Giftcards (also limited to Disney)Let us know what your after and maybe we can advise
Trustmeimadoctor said:
It's is an option but it isn't as fast as the times make it sound especially getting to the stops from the resort rooms etc
I write this from The Magic Kindom opposite the big castle thing, and it took 28 minutes on the bus, plus a 5 minute walk from Contemporary resort where the bus dropped us off...yes, I timed it. Saving $30.By car driving I guess it would have been 20 minutes all in. Then you have the faff of the traffic come closing time, which the bus goes straight past.
Again, I'm just throwing the option out there for anyone looking for an easy save.
We've saved $150 in car parking charges alone doing this and we're here for another week
Timothy Bucktu said:
Trustmeimadoctor said:
It's is an option but it isn't as fast as the times make it sound especially getting to the stops from the resort rooms etc
I write this from The Magic Kindom opposite the big castle thing, and it took 28 minutes on the bus, plus a 5 minute walk from Contemporary resort where the bus dropped us off...yes, I timed it. Saving $30.By car driving I guess it would have been 20 minutes all in. Then you have the faff of the traffic come closing time, which the bus goes straight past.
Again, I'm just throwing the option out there for anyone looking for an easy save.
We've saved $150 in car parking charges alone doing this and we're here for another week
Magic Kingdom is a funny one as if you come by car you have to get the boat or monorail so it takes time to get there
I was also talking about getting to and from springs.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/list-of-travel-t...
This is a great list of the times involved
Personally I'd pay pretty much anything to avoid using a bus and for me we wouldn't do 5 days at Disney (parks) but I know some would
Timothy Bucktu said:
I'll post this here before I forget...I've found a way to avoid the $30 Disney car parking charge. If you park in Disney Springs for free (a shopping mall that only complete fools would shop in), you can then get on a courtesy bus to the nearest corresponding park resort and walk into the park. It's a bit of a faff sure, but the parking charges quickly ramp up! Busses run until at least midnight back to Springs so there's no chance of getting stranded. The bus journey is usually around 30 mins or so, and they run almost one after the other.
As for food...Golden Corral is probably considered a riff raff's buffet restaurant, but the food and service is better than anything I've experienced in the UK...its really good and one of the cheapest.
OK, you don't like Disney Springs....but As for food...Golden Corral is probably considered a riff raff's buffet restaurant, but the food and service is better than anything I've experienced in the UK...its really good and one of the cheapest.
IME the Disney shop there is quieter than the ones on Main Street which can get uncomfortably busy.
The Coke Shop is brilliant. I like a bit of Coke-Cola house hold tat or souvenirs so I will happily go there just for the Disney and Coke Shop.
Golden Coral? So you are saying that its better than restaurants in the UK? The best local Chinese Take away in my Home Town is named the Station cCafe. 30 cars queue up every day its open to park and get food. I can assure you thats considerably better that the slop they serve up at Golden Coral. My shoes stuck to the floors in that place. Maybe there are better ones, but I'm not rushing back to try them. I'd rather eat at iHop.
We went this year, flew into Tampa, drove across to our hotel in Kissimee.
Apart from when we landed we had a huge thunderstorm - but the GMC Yukon we had, had 6 miles on the clock, we were limited to about 20mph on a large stretch of highway. So it took us 2.5 hours from Tampa airport to our hotel (including a McDonalds stop).
Overall, yes expensive, but thats disney - and for me its a one off, I like disney, but would go universal next.
We stayed off site and paid for parking each day, we never got stuck in a q to get out the car park even after fireworks. We went 20th July to 3rd August. Didn't get everything done even though we went nearly everyday. Part of that was because of the heat, my wife struggled with it, I didn't so much, kids were not too bad, odd day got grumpy but generally pretty good (9 and 4).
Eating out, well I think even if you ate out in the UK every day it would be expensive. Food was a bit more hit and miss this time compared to 2017 when we last went. TGI Fridays was s
t, waitress couldn't care less, so she got a low tip. Our favourites were Cheesecake factory, Olive Garden, Chilli's, Ford restaurant (worth going just for the two old cars and toilets), we ate at Cici's pizza one night which was ok, had pizza hut in the room one night, tried KFC etc.
To me a lot of the takeaway food just didn't taste as good as home, the pizza hut we had wasn't great, but was $30 for us all, we had drinks already purchased in the fridge in the room. Chick-fil-a or whatever its called was a huge dissapointment - my daughter after seeing youtube videos of it really wanted it, not great at all tbh.
I would like to do a villa next time tbh, with universal, and maybe just hop over to disney springs one night so the kids can get the disney fix they need.
Shopping wise, a few things we got cheaper, got some vapourmax nikes, were £98 in america, over here about £140 in the sale, didn't actually get much, few t shirts, jeans, thats all I got this time, prices risen a lot, quality gone down but thats the same here now too.
Apart from when we landed we had a huge thunderstorm - but the GMC Yukon we had, had 6 miles on the clock, we were limited to about 20mph on a large stretch of highway. So it took us 2.5 hours from Tampa airport to our hotel (including a McDonalds stop).
Overall, yes expensive, but thats disney - and for me its a one off, I like disney, but would go universal next.
We stayed off site and paid for parking each day, we never got stuck in a q to get out the car park even after fireworks. We went 20th July to 3rd August. Didn't get everything done even though we went nearly everyday. Part of that was because of the heat, my wife struggled with it, I didn't so much, kids were not too bad, odd day got grumpy but generally pretty good (9 and 4).
Eating out, well I think even if you ate out in the UK every day it would be expensive. Food was a bit more hit and miss this time compared to 2017 when we last went. TGI Fridays was s
t, waitress couldn't care less, so she got a low tip. Our favourites were Cheesecake factory, Olive Garden, Chilli's, Ford restaurant (worth going just for the two old cars and toilets), we ate at Cici's pizza one night which was ok, had pizza hut in the room one night, tried KFC etc.To me a lot of the takeaway food just didn't taste as good as home, the pizza hut we had wasn't great, but was $30 for us all, we had drinks already purchased in the fridge in the room. Chick-fil-a or whatever its called was a huge dissapointment - my daughter after seeing youtube videos of it really wanted it, not great at all tbh.
I would like to do a villa next time tbh, with universal, and maybe just hop over to disney springs one night so the kids can get the disney fix they need.
Shopping wise, a few things we got cheaper, got some vapourmax nikes, were £98 in america, over here about £140 in the sale, didn't actually get much, few t shirts, jeans, thats all I got this time, prices risen a lot, quality gone down but thats the same here now too.
Sheepshanks said:
Years ago I remember Ponderosa Steakhouse used to be a pretty decent low-cost buffet place but they've had something of a chequered history - I think a few remain in the Orlando area (there were many hundreds of them across the US) but I just had a quick look at Trip Advisor and the reviews are very mixed.
I remember Ponderosa from my first visit back in 2008. Their breakfast buffet was less than $10 per head. It may even have been $5.We met a guy from Belfast who turned his nose up at it - "Muck in a truck" he used to say, insisting that he'd only eat breakfast at Denny's.
But we found it perfectly OK for breakfast which is, after all, a fairly simple meal to arrange. We would load up there on eggs, pancakes, whatever meaning we only needed a light lunch in the park.
Muzzer79 said:
Sheepshanks said:
Years ago I remember Ponderosa Steakhouse used to be a pretty decent low-cost buffet place but they've had something of a chequered history - I think a few remain in the Orlando area (there were many hundreds of them across the US) but I just had a quick look at Trip Advisor and the reviews are very mixed.
I remember Ponderosa from my first visit back in 2008. Their breakfast buffet was less than $10 per head. It may even have been $5.We met a guy from Belfast who turned his nose up at it - "Muck in a truck" he used to say, insisting that he'd only eat breakfast at Denny's.
But we found it perfectly OK for breakfast which is, after all, a fairly simple meal to arrange. We would load up there on eggs, pancakes, whatever meaning we only needed a light lunch in the park.
We've been about a dozen times over the last 30 years, before kids and with kids.
Before the kids were bigger we went in September, when the parks are really quiet. It also usually rains in the afternoon for about an hour, which clears the parks further. Once when we were at Busch Gardens and got in early, we did one of the big rollercoasters (Montu?) for 6 rides without even having to get out of our seats, as there was not a single person waiting. We just rode the front, then when it stopped moved to the back, tried the middle etc without even leaving the boarding area. It's also a generally good temperature then.
By comparison our last visit was mid August and it totally changed the experience. It was baking hot and we queued for everything. The shops were rammed and all the restaurants were full/queuing, whereas in Sept we just walked in. The whole 'Disney/Orlando' experience was literally about half as enjoyable with all the hassle.
We always stayed in Villas and had a car, as it provides so much more flexibility, more room/privacy especially with kids and it's great to be able to jump into a pool whenever you want. We did stay once in Animal Kingdom Lodge for a few days, which was fun.
In terms of shopping we always used to buy tons of clothes out there in years past and would take a spare massive bag and come back with dozens of tops/Levis/shoes (for a decade or more we only bought clothes in Florida), but the last trips to Florida/elsewhere in the USA we've barely bought anything as it's rarely cheaper.
Breakfast at Denny's was always a good start to the day......
Before the kids were bigger we went in September, when the parks are really quiet. It also usually rains in the afternoon for about an hour, which clears the parks further. Once when we were at Busch Gardens and got in early, we did one of the big rollercoasters (Montu?) for 6 rides without even having to get out of our seats, as there was not a single person waiting. We just rode the front, then when it stopped moved to the back, tried the middle etc without even leaving the boarding area. It's also a generally good temperature then.
By comparison our last visit was mid August and it totally changed the experience. It was baking hot and we queued for everything. The shops were rammed and all the restaurants were full/queuing, whereas in Sept we just walked in. The whole 'Disney/Orlando' experience was literally about half as enjoyable with all the hassle.
We always stayed in Villas and had a car, as it provides so much more flexibility, more room/privacy especially with kids and it's great to be able to jump into a pool whenever you want. We did stay once in Animal Kingdom Lodge for a few days, which was fun.
In terms of shopping we always used to buy tons of clothes out there in years past and would take a spare massive bag and come back with dozens of tops/Levis/shoes (for a decade or more we only bought clothes in Florida), but the last trips to Florida/elsewhere in the USA we've barely bought anything as it's rarely cheaper.
Breakfast at Denny's was always a good start to the day......
Edited by Guyr on Wednesday 13th September 10:55
Edited by Guyr on Wednesday 13th September 10:56
When we did it for our honeymoon in 2019 we did a day at Disney and the space museum, both well worth visiting and I'm not a Disney fan at all, the difference between American Disney and euro disney was profound.
We actually did about 3 weeks over there, spent a day at each of those where we stayed in the local area, visited celebration one night too, well worth a visit. Did the Everglades (I'm not convinced I'd recommend it to most people) Naples and Venice, both nice, then spent some time touring and hit Atlanta, Kentucky for the corvette museum, Charleston and a general drive round north and south Carolina, then back down to key West for a few days to finish the holiday off. I seem to recall we put about 5-6k on the Camaro SS we had. It will likely have been sent straight off rental when we delivered it back (stunning car incidentally).
High points of the holiday for me were key West, Venice and Georgia/the Carolinas. Florida is fine but I'd honestly struggle to say most of Florida is nice. Get out of Florida though and it's an amazing country with the most lovely people generally. Key West is the exception it's as much like Florida as the south of France is like France, it may as well be a different country.
The space centre was great, I thought it was small till we got on to the bus and it took us on the tour and brought us to the second part!
Disney was exhausting, because it needs to be a full day as things like the parade and fireworks are part of it.
We actually did about 3 weeks over there, spent a day at each of those where we stayed in the local area, visited celebration one night too, well worth a visit. Did the Everglades (I'm not convinced I'd recommend it to most people) Naples and Venice, both nice, then spent some time touring and hit Atlanta, Kentucky for the corvette museum, Charleston and a general drive round north and south Carolina, then back down to key West for a few days to finish the holiday off. I seem to recall we put about 5-6k on the Camaro SS we had. It will likely have been sent straight off rental when we delivered it back (stunning car incidentally).
High points of the holiday for me were key West, Venice and Georgia/the Carolinas. Florida is fine but I'd honestly struggle to say most of Florida is nice. Get out of Florida though and it's an amazing country with the most lovely people generally. Key West is the exception it's as much like Florida as the south of France is like France, it may as well be a different country.
The space centre was great, I thought it was small till we got on to the bus and it took us on the tour and brought us to the second part!
Disney was exhausting, because it needs to be a full day as things like the parade and fireworks are part of it.
gazza5 said:
We went this year, flew into Tampa, drove across to our hotel in Kissimee.
Apart from when we landed we had a huge thunderstorm - but the GMC Yukon we had, had 6 miles on the clock, we were limited to about 20mph on a large stretch of highway. So it took us 2.5 hours from Tampa airport to our hotel (including a McDonalds stop).
.
This is PH, so I feel its my duty to ask about the Yukon. We have booked the large SUV despite only being a family of four but my man maths thought it was necessary due to four large suitcases. Apart from when we landed we had a huge thunderstorm - but the GMC Yukon we had, had 6 miles on the clock, we were limited to about 20mph on a large stretch of highway. So it took us 2.5 hours from Tampa airport to our hotel (including a McDonalds stop).
.
What rental company did you use? I'm booked with Alamo through Virgin. I'm expecting a Yukon / Ford Expedition or a Dodge Journey. All look pretty good inside tbf and certainly in another league to my 2007 Range Rover.
bakerstreet said:
This is PH, so I feel its my duty to ask about the Yukon. We have booked the large SUV despite only being a family of four but my man maths thought it was necessary due to four large suitcases.
What rental company did you use? I'm booked with Alamo through Virgin. I'm expecting a Yukon / Ford Expedition or a Dodge Journey. All look pretty good inside tbf and certainly in another league to my 2007 Range Rover.
We had an Expedition, and was reasonably impressed.What rental company did you use? I'm booked with Alamo through Virgin. I'm expecting a Yukon / Ford Expedition or a Dodge Journey. All look pretty good inside tbf and certainly in another league to my 2007 Range Rover.
1500 miles at an average of 15mpg though
bakerstreet said:
This is PH, so I feel its my duty to ask about the Yukon. We have booked the large SUV despite only being a family of four but my man maths thought it was necessary due to four large suitcases.
What rental company did you use? I'm booked with Alamo through Virgin. I'm expecting a Yukon / Ford Expedition or a Dodge Journey. All look pretty good inside tbf and certainly in another league to my 2007 Range Rover.
Kids loved it, wanted to bring it home. We averaged 20 US MPG according to computer - some days we saw 12mpg, other days more, what helped was the nice journey to and from Tampa, I didn't hoon it much as had the kids etc. Hence the better mpg.What rental company did you use? I'm booked with Alamo through Virgin. I'm expecting a Yukon / Ford Expedition or a Dodge Journey. All look pretty good inside tbf and certainly in another league to my 2007 Range Rover.
Dodge journey is rubbish - had one before - not in the same league as the others mentioned.
Kids loved the "captain chairs" - individual chairs. Although they also liked sitting at the back.
We used Avis - it was a ll in package with BA.
Bit of a thread revival.
It's been fascinating reading all the replies, suggestions and experiences.
A friend recommended a local travel agent as the lady there is a bit of a Florida expert.
We have booked two weeks in August flying BA World Traveller Plus. The first 5 nights are at Disney Carribean Beach in a 5th Sleeper room. We then have the rest of the holiday in a villa with a large pool, jacuzzi and games room equidistant from Disney and Universal with car hire. Also we are going to Kennedy Space Center and meeting an astronaut and having a day at Discovery Cove swimming with dolphins. There is also Universal tickets for when we need them.
All this was only slightly more than two weeks in a normal room at a Disney hotel with TUI, so can't complain.
She will also book droid making and any other experiences we want.
I don't know who is more excited me or the kids!
It's been fascinating reading all the replies, suggestions and experiences.
A friend recommended a local travel agent as the lady there is a bit of a Florida expert.
We have booked two weeks in August flying BA World Traveller Plus. The first 5 nights are at Disney Carribean Beach in a 5th Sleeper room. We then have the rest of the holiday in a villa with a large pool, jacuzzi and games room equidistant from Disney and Universal with car hire. Also we are going to Kennedy Space Center and meeting an astronaut and having a day at Discovery Cove swimming with dolphins. There is also Universal tickets for when we need them.
All this was only slightly more than two weeks in a normal room at a Disney hotel with TUI, so can't complain.
She will also book droid making and any other experiences we want.
I don't know who is more excited me or the kids!
Edited by RosscoPCole on Friday 22 December 18:18
Flying out tomorrow with the family for our first ever visit. Kids are besides themselves, and the adults. Question for the experienced, do we need to hire a car to survive? We are staying in kissimmee and will be in Disney World most days, so near but having doubts whether Uber will be sufficient to get by.
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