Florida & Disney
Discussion
FishAndChips said:
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.
We used Uber and had a car so that we could split the group. Both were fine. Parking in Disney was about $20 which I don’t think the Uber has to pay as there’s drop offs. FishAndChips said:
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.
If you're only going to the parks then that should be fine. My brother only uses taxis as he hates driving abroad.Personally we rent villas so a car is a no brainer. We like to be able to do other stuff, and car hire is very very cheap.
How many of you are going and how are you getting from the airport to your accommodation? You could rent a compact car for very little and have a choice of car or uber to the parks.
I'm flying out boxing day, PH meet for a breakfast with Mickey? 
We've been a couple of times as childless adults and always done the villa/flydrive thing. Love Kennedy but I'm a big space geek, I can see how it doesn't appeal to others.
I also love the general atmosphere around international drive etc, just walking up and down playing hours of mini golf, eating crap and street entertainment etc.
I'd recommend staying off site as there is a lot to see, and even the basic chain restaurants/bars are all just a bit "extra" in Orlando compared to most other places in the US. You can't go far wrong.
All that said, we now have a four year old and she's completely and utterly Disney Princess obsessed, so we're tripling down on the Disney this time with a resort stay (Beach Club) and no car. Any trips will be Uber and we really don't have much planned, just casual short trips in/around the parks and enjoy the resort. I'm fairly sure it will be the only time we do it, and we'll return when she's older to do the Universal, BG, etc stuff later.
If we're all princessed out by week 1, we always have the option of bending over for some universal tickets.
We've been a couple of times as childless adults and always done the villa/flydrive thing. Love Kennedy but I'm a big space geek, I can see how it doesn't appeal to others.
I also love the general atmosphere around international drive etc, just walking up and down playing hours of mini golf, eating crap and street entertainment etc.
I'd recommend staying off site as there is a lot to see, and even the basic chain restaurants/bars are all just a bit "extra" in Orlando compared to most other places in the US. You can't go far wrong.
All that said, we now have a four year old and she's completely and utterly Disney Princess obsessed, so we're tripling down on the Disney this time with a resort stay (Beach Club) and no car. Any trips will be Uber and we really don't have much planned, just casual short trips in/around the parks and enjoy the resort. I'm fairly sure it will be the only time we do it, and we'll return when she's older to do the Universal, BG, etc stuff later.
If we're all princessed out by week 1, we always have the option of bending over for some universal tickets.
We’re looking to book for September.
Last went in July 2019 when the kids were 6 & 7yrs old. Done all the Disney parks with the 14 day ticket. Some of the larger parks were done over 2 days. Opted for half days mostly to keep the kids happy. Morning to afternoon in the park then back to the villa/pool or villa pool morning then afternoon to evening at the park for fireworks etc. Me & wife done 2 universal parks in 1 day with the fast passes (grandparents were there for a few days where our holidays crossed over and took the kids that day). Stayed in a villa for the fortnight and done sea world as well.
This time we’re just doing 2x universal, volcano bay, Hollywood studios (star wars) seaworld maybe bush gardens and also a Bahamas cruise for 4 days. Much more relaxed approach this time, glad we stomped round all the Disney parks last time but it’s not worth repeating for us. Kids are 10/11 now so not too bothered about Disney, they want rollercoasters !
Hopefully September is a bit quieter and less hot.
Unsure where to stay for the 1st few days to hit universal, I’ve priced the Loews royal pacific but it’s over £2k we can get somewhere nice for around 1/3 of that and then buy fast passes for island of adventure. It’s crap they only give the fast passes with one single hotel now. I think our plan is to do volcano, universal studios and island of adventure over 3 days, then the cruise then a villa for a week.
Last went in July 2019 when the kids were 6 & 7yrs old. Done all the Disney parks with the 14 day ticket. Some of the larger parks were done over 2 days. Opted for half days mostly to keep the kids happy. Morning to afternoon in the park then back to the villa/pool or villa pool morning then afternoon to evening at the park for fireworks etc. Me & wife done 2 universal parks in 1 day with the fast passes (grandparents were there for a few days where our holidays crossed over and took the kids that day). Stayed in a villa for the fortnight and done sea world as well.
This time we’re just doing 2x universal, volcano bay, Hollywood studios (star wars) seaworld maybe bush gardens and also a Bahamas cruise for 4 days. Much more relaxed approach this time, glad we stomped round all the Disney parks last time but it’s not worth repeating for us. Kids are 10/11 now so not too bothered about Disney, they want rollercoasters !
Hopefully September is a bit quieter and less hot.
Unsure where to stay for the 1st few days to hit universal, I’ve priced the Loews royal pacific but it’s over £2k we can get somewhere nice for around 1/3 of that and then buy fast passes for island of adventure. It’s crap they only give the fast passes with one single hotel now. I think our plan is to do volcano, universal studios and island of adventure over 3 days, then the cruise then a villa for a week.
Edited by Edible Roadkill on Wednesday 27th December 13:19
Edible Roadkill said:
Hopefully September is a bit quieter and less hot.
September is the best month in my opinion, we've been to Disney seven times in Sept. It's much cooler than August (which can be hell) and the queues are about the lowest of the year.The only thing is that it usually rains mid-afternoon in Sept, but that has the benefit of emptying all the parks.
Trustmeimadoctor said:
September is one of the worst times for hurricanes there have been 24 major ones it seems in September
Without looking I imagine that's probably over the last 100 years in Florida as a whole -over the last 20 years or so I guess probably only half a dozen or so but as you say its more about whether they are major or not - 3 on the scale and above.I cannot recall how many affected Disney but has to be few.
That said even downgraded Hurricane's which hit as say Tropical Storms can still ruin a holiday there !
alscar said:
Trustmeimadoctor said:
September is one of the worst times for hurricanes there have been 24 major ones it seems in September
Without looking I imagine that's probably over the last 100 years in Florida as a whole -over the last 20 years or so I guess probably only half a dozen or so but as you say its more about whether they are major or not - 3 on the scale and above.I cannot recall how many affected Disney but has to be few.
That said even downgraded Hurricane's which hit as say Tropical Storms can still ruin a holiday there !
But some people can't so you take your choices
We were there for a pretty major hurricane in around 2004ish. It hit Orlando unusually hard, tipped light aircraft over at the airport, massive billboards bent over double etc.
All the people from the coast evacuated into places like Orlando, and still got absolutely battered.
International Drive was carnage, golf buggies everywhere on their roofs, trees down, houses half demolished.
Theme parks were open about 24 hours later as if nothing had happened!
All the people from the coast evacuated into places like Orlando, and still got absolutely battered.
International Drive was carnage, golf buggies everywhere on their roofs, trees down, houses half demolished.
Theme parks were open about 24 hours later as if nothing had happened!
Disneyworld has only shut 7 times in it's 52 year history:
Hurricane Floyd on September 14, 1999
September 11, 2001, due to the terrorist attacks
Hurricane Charley on August 13, 2004
Hurricane Frances on September 4 and 5, 2004
Hurricane Jeanne on September 26, 2005
Hurricane Matthew on October 7, 2016
Hurricane Irma on September 9, 2017
COVID Pandemic- March 15, 2020 – July 11, 2020
Hurricane Ian- September 28 -29
So Covid aside, they're mainly single day closures with a very small chance of being during any specific week/year when you're there.
Oddly I hadn't realised until now that we managed to be affected by all of the first three.
- We were there for Floyd and they shut the parks and had a curfew, but the storm missed Orlando.
- We avoided the tragic day on 9/11, but flew into Orlando on the very first commercial plane out of the UK on 14th Sept 2001 and it was incredibly quiet everywhere the entire holiday (as most US visitors fly to Florida and simply stopped doing so).
- Charley started arriving the evening we were due to depart, so they moved all the flights forward a few hours, to get most aircraft out of Orlando airport. It was a massive queue of planes taking off back-to-back to beat the storm.
Hurricane Floyd on September 14, 1999
September 11, 2001, due to the terrorist attacks
Hurricane Charley on August 13, 2004
Hurricane Frances on September 4 and 5, 2004
Hurricane Jeanne on September 26, 2005
Hurricane Matthew on October 7, 2016
Hurricane Irma on September 9, 2017
COVID Pandemic- March 15, 2020 – July 11, 2020
Hurricane Ian- September 28 -29
So Covid aside, they're mainly single day closures with a very small chance of being during any specific week/year when you're there.
Oddly I hadn't realised until now that we managed to be affected by all of the first three.
- We were there for Floyd and they shut the parks and had a curfew, but the storm missed Orlando.
- We avoided the tragic day on 9/11, but flew into Orlando on the very first commercial plane out of the UK on 14th Sept 2001 and it was incredibly quiet everywhere the entire holiday (as most US visitors fly to Florida and simply stopped doing so).
- Charley started arriving the evening we were due to depart, so they moved all the flights forward a few hours, to get most aircraft out of Orlando airport. It was a massive queue of planes taking off back-to-back to beat the storm.
Edited by Guyr on Thursday 28th December 16:41
Matthew was 'ours', the HRH at Universal was full to busting of those escaping the coast and we had a 36 hour curfew that in a weird way made the holiday. The staff were brilliant, they turned conference rooms into cinemas and had a band playing, it had a real sense of community about the place. Looking back now post Covid restrictions, being stuck indoors for 36 hours is absolutely nothing but during the event it felt a huge amount of time to spend in such conditions.
The parks closed early on the Friday and reopened pretty much as normal on the Sunday.
The parks closed early on the Friday and reopened pretty much as normal on the Sunday.
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