Disney Holiday Florida

JRJ

JRJ

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I've done a quick forum search but can't find anything recent.

Me and the wife are looking at going to Florida July 2019, our daughters will be 3 and 6. We're looking at staying out there for around 3 weeks, anybody done similar trips? Any advice on booking Disney holidays? Where to look? Prices seem to differ massively between tour operators.
 
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Went last Christmas, was great. Stayed in a 6 bed villa about 4 miles from all the disney guff in Kissimee, small private pool, jacuzzi, bbq, large communal pool.

Booked with some tour operator, cant remember the name off the top of my head, came with car hire included. Booked park tickets separately, included all the Disney ones, plus Legoland(dont go there its crap) and all the water parks.
 
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Book everything separately
Driving is easy over there and a hire car will make your holiday miles better (Alamo I think I booked with)
Disneyland is overrated
Universal is awesome

We did 2 weeks in Orlando and a week in Clearwater to recover and relax. 3 weeks in Orlando would have been too much for me.
 
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Book everything separately
Driving is easy over there and a hire car will make your holiday miles better (Alamo I think I booked with)
Disneyland is overrated
Universal is awesome

We did 2 weeks in Orlando and a week in Clearwater to recover and relax. 3 weeks in Orlando would have been too much for me.

Universal is much better, but I think little kids would prefer Disney.
 
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Disney World ;) Universal is much better for older kids (and adults...) but the Disney parks are pretty cool too.

As others have said - book separately. Don't book an allocated on arrival villa - it will likely be in the middle of nowhere.

July will be hot and sticky and expensive for flights etc (school holidays).
 
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We did 5 weeks this year in Orlando (we tend to do at least a month every couple of years)

As others have mentioned :

-Book everything seperately (no need for a package unless you CAN get it cheaper)
-Rental car all the way. Driving in the US and expecially Florida is easy and you will want the flexibility at the parks.
-I am going to disagree with VincentHanna here but Disneyworld is not overrated, the parks (remember there are 4 of them and 2 water parks)are the best by a clear mile in respect of the WHOLE experience. With the 5 weeks we were there, most of it was at one of the 6 Disney parks. I have an 8 year old son and a 4 year old daughter.
-Use the Disney fast pass system like a demon, and book in advance, and ideally all of your 3 early in the day to allow you to do it on the fly.
-Lots of websites with great deails for theme park tickets. We use https://www.orlandoattractiontickets.co.uk/. They are usually the cheapest (marginally) and they have never let us down.
-Universal Islands of Adventure and Busch Gardens are great for white knuckle rides
-Universal....the original park is over rated. The only reason to go is to experience Harry Potter's Diagon Alley
-Legoland is the poor cousin over there and no better than the Windsor offer. Only go if you can get the 25 quid offer.
-Unless you REALLY want to go, avoid Seaworld. Its nothing like it was. The only reason to go would be if you did the Dolphin experience at Discovery Cove and they bolt Seaworld and Busch Gardens 14 days entry onto that pass with the price
-Don't miss out on Disney Springs. Apart from the shopping there are lots of hidden gems there.
-We never stay at Disney hotels. Villas are generally cheaper, larger, have a private pool and allow you to ear healthily by cooking yourself. Championsgate is a great place to stay. Its like 15 minutes from Disney and 20 from Universal
-Evening shows.....pirates, medieval times.....both brilliant
-Allow a budget for shopping. a lot of outlet shopping there and my missus went crazy and spent like $3000 on bags!
-Take sun block and lots of it....In the summer the heat isnt bareable. Its also especially humid.
 
Soldato
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Have been a few times for 3 week stints - agree with ^^^^

But get a villa and rental car - gives you much more freedom to go where you want when you want and get a pool to yourself as part of the deal
 
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Epcot was a bit pants though.

Epcot is the weakest, with the weakest firework show as well.

Its due a complete overhaul in the next few years, after Hollywood Studios gets its over the next two.

However with kids its necessary because there are TONNES of character meet and greets and interactions there, and also.....well for my daughter.....the Frozen ride.

We are due to go again 2019, but I am considering holding out till 2020 which will mean that HW Studios is 100% completed and Star Wars Land is open. Apparently it opens late 2019.
 
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Epcot is the weakest, with the weakest firework show as well.

Its due a complete overhaul in the next few years, after Hollywood Studios gets its over the next two.

However with kids its necessary because there are TONNES of character meet and greets and interactions there, and also.....well for my daughter.....the Frozen ride.

We are due to go again 2019, but I am considering holding out till 2020 which will mean that HW Studios is 100% completed and Star Wars Land is open. Apparently it opens late 2019.

we're aiming to go just before SW opens - in the hope that people are waiting til after so it's quiet (wishful thinking probably!).
 
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DisneyWorld is not overrated if you have little ones. its absolutely for them, whereas Universal is much more grown up.
Also with a three year old you may want to consider a package deal, sure you will pay more but that is often worth it for the significantly less hassle come meal times.
 
Soldato
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Buy the park tickets online
Book your flights through Skyscanner
Book your hotel on Booking.com
Hire a car if you can drive
3 weeks might be a long time for just Disney imo. If you want to do Universal and some other attractions then 3 weeks would be great. I would say 2 weeks is enough for Disney.
 
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Just booked to go this year in March/April for 2 weeks with the family.

Booked direct flights using travelup with virgin. (Sister and her lot are doing a multi stop flight and saving a fortune)
Booked a villa via Air BnB
Booking a car through Virgin direct, they use Alamo but seemed to have saved £500 per car booking through virgin compared to Alamo direct.
I'm only getting universal tickets, but the rest of the family are doing the lot will be bought online.
Halifax clarity card plus some cash for tips.
Waze on phone navigation.
 
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Love me an Orlando holiday. The most expensive part tends to be the tickets (as accommodation ranges from expensive to super cheap). I'm off in September and looking at ticket options. I'm sensing that there is a type of disneyworld ticket that isn't readily available from UK resellers - 4 day hopper type tickets. You can only seem to get the 7 day unlimited passes easily the UK. Depending on which parks your planning on hitting (and for how long) the 4 day passes may be the best value (some include the waterparks others don't).

Last time I stayed at Universal Studios - the food in the parks (inc. the restaurants) is expensive and you will probably spend more than you anticipating unless you hunt for bargains. In particularly the food and drinks at the Hard Rock Hotel were almost prohibitively expensive (as in very expensive London prices... pre-Brexit referendum!), which I was not expecting.

Random bits and bobs:

Universal hotel queue skip pass is excellent.

Universal studios really needs to stop having simulators!!! Avoid the Shrek cinema that is dreadful.

Diagon Alley is sensational.

Seaworld is very skippable.

Busche Gardens is worth the detour.

I'd skip on the shopping. You can shop anywhere.

The halloween nights are really good fun.
 

JRJ

JRJ

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Wow some fantastic advice it's all much appreciated, for some reason multi quotes don't seem to work on my mobile.

I've been doing a bit more searching, some sites don't seem to have 2019 out yet where as others do so it's a little difficult to compare accurately. Booking everything separately seems to be coming in considerably cheaper I'll explore this a little more with some of the mentioned sites above.

The reason for 3 weeks is to get some down time between parks, I've not come across the 4 day pass but this would probably suit us better, I only seem to be finding 7 day passes with 7 days free.
 
Soldato
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We went as a family of 4 in October. My daughters were 14 and 10 which was a good age to enjoy things. Personally I wouldn't go with such young children because they are too young to appreciate it imo and no matter how you do it, its a lot of money. Clearly that depends on how much money you have in the first place.

- We booked everything separately
- skyscanner to find flights and then booked Virgin via Gotogate
- 3 bed condo in Windsor Hills booked direct with owner - Gated community like many - very nice
- 4 nights in Universal Hotel via Booking.com
- Rental car via Rentalcars.com - NOTE: We ended up with Dollar and I felt they scammed us with retrospective toll charges. Many of the Florida roads have tolls that cannot be avoided. The rental cars are equipped with the Express lane passes but they don't explain any of this to you at the desk. This ended up stinging me about an extra $100
- Booked park tickets via Floridatix.com

- Climate at end October was perfect for us. Summer it gets bloody hot!
- Ride queues are also less of an issue.

- self catering is fine but it seems expensive vs the UK - partly due to exchange rate but also I recommend that you shop for groceries at a large walmart vs one of the supermarkets on close to the tourist/hotel areas.

-eating out is ok - we used IHOP, Denny's for breakfast/dinner a few times

Our itinerary included
Busch Gardens - decent enough zoo, good for rollercoasters and 1 hour drive from Orlando to Tampa
Discovery Cove - this was one of the best days. Wife and youngest did Dolphin swim which was fantastic. Its a very chilled day, all inclusive and so well done. Not cheap but worth it
Kennedy Space Centre - Amazing for adults, not so good for our kids. Prob a waste of time for your kids. 1 hr 15 mins drive from Orlando but so worth it. Tickets good value and can be bought via FLoridatix. You see eagles, wild dolphins, armadillo's on the way there
Wild Florida - Wild animal park. Small scale but a good half day out albeit 45 minute drive. Feed gators. Boat trip will be too noisy for your little ones I think
Seaworld - Its a little bit tired but the animal performances are still great. Coasters are decent too especially Manta.
Universal - Staying onsite at one of the official hotels is a good. You can get priority access to parks but to be fair in October the parks arent as busy. We also did Halloween Horror Nights which was fun but not for toddlers!!
FLorida Mall - just like a UK shopping centre and a little run down
Millenium Mall - more upmarket and home of the Cheesecake Factory which is excellent for a meal out.

There are also lots of mini golf courses which are good for bit of entertainment.

A few other tips - check out Weswap for setting up a prepaid debit card. Decent rates, free cash withdrawals and easy to top up/ swap back to £
Don't pay for a Sat Nav - Use your phone and download WAZE - its amazing.
Don't pay to reserve seats on the flight its a rip off with Virgin. You can check in within 24 hours of departure and we got 4 in a row no probs. Saved £200

We went for 11 nights. I haven't added up exactly what it cost but ballpark
Flights £2800
Park Tickets £1300
Condo - £800
Hotel - £550
Spending - £1500
Car - £310
 

JRJ

JRJ

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Oh and we're only planning on doing Disney and the water parks, we think the girls are too young for Universal, gives us a reason to come back when they're older.
 
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