Summer holiday before starting uni

[FlibbertyJibbet55]

Planning for a 2025 once in a lifetime type holiday to Orlando and we are undecided on when is best to go, so I am hoping for a little advice please

Option 1 - straight after the last A level contingency day. The slight issue with this date is that there may be a school trip scheduled which DD will want to go on. Only a slight chance.

Option 2 - around the 21st August. Results are out on the 14th then I thought a week confirming uni arrangements etc would be fine, but maybe I am so out of touch that longer will be needed? DD is wanting to move away to uni so will a holiday 14n nights from the 21st fit in with that?

What will you do if DD doesn’t get the grades? You would really struggle to manage this long distance if she wants to go through Clearing, which can take up to 4/5 days waiting for confirmation.

Sorry I misread - so you’d allow a week for Clearing- probably ok, but there might be some issues around accommodation

Option 1. We are off end June which means DD misses prom but she’d rather go on holiday with us. Like you, it’s a special
one.

You do NOT want to be away the second half of August, IME. If your DC ends up in clearing, this can easily take a few weeks to sort what with visiting unis, sorting accommodation and swapping over student finance etc.

I would do the late June option. Depending on what uni she is going to and how likely it is to get her offer grades I wouldn't want to risk accommodation sorting from another time zone. Clearing takes time too if that may happen. Don't think it will be all done and dusted in a week. It is a chaotic and busy time so some things take longer than you think. There are threads up from results day from last year which show how late some accommodation is sorted. Some unis terms start mid September too.

When you say Orlando if you are looking at Disney/Universal know that the schools are out for summer so crowd levels will be moderate to high. It is also hot and humid and June has a lot of rain. The PR people did a great job calling it the sunshine state, it is tropical and it rains a lot. Look at historic weather for when you are going. The rain is heavy but short lived and it dries fast. Just be prepared. You can see the rain clouds moving in.

Do your research. The Dibb is an incredible forum, this is like a military campaign it is not the same as turning up to a UK theme park. We love it, have been a lot, never in June but have done April, May, July and our favourite August.

Thanks all, I think you've confirmed our thinking that June is probably best!

Yes thinking of Disney, but reading the Disney Hell thread has made me have serious second thoughts. There is only one serious Disney fan in our family, and I worry that it will just be too much to deal with as we all have health/disability issues going on. So now just trying to think of somewhere special we could go for a relaxing holiday late June that is wheelchair accessible.

Middle of July is when we are going for our after A Levels fortnight.

I’m not sure re Orlando, it’s hot swampy weather there and will be busy at Disney type stuff in summer

fwiw, imo Universal is far more relaxed than Disney and, if any of your party like Harry Potter, they'll really appreciate that sector of it.

And, like other PP have said, very hot, humid and thundery in the summer (as is all of the East of the US).

I'd go to Boston and the Cape. No amusement parks (not appealing to me anyway) but you get the history and culture of the city plus beaches and quaintness of the Cape (Provincetown is fun) and the temperature will be hot but not as stifling as Florida. I went to Disney (some time ago now admittedly) and found it out of date and overrated and expensive. Every corner was an opportunity to spend more money.

Cape Cod probably quite a bit more expensive than Orlando though @mondaytosunday

We're going on holiday 1st September. Most Freshers weeks don't start until the last week of September and all of the post results stuff should be done by then.

@Turmerictolly there's quite a few freshers weeks start mid September - Liverpool and Exeter are two I know of where the arrival weekend is 14/15 September, but there are others too

We had a curveball as DC ended up in Clearing and went to Scotland. Which none of us foresaw.

Freshers started around 9 Sept!

Both Bristol and Edinburgh have freshers starting 9th September this year.

i believe Disney is very disability friendly, but you need some sort of pass / registration. Check out in advance what proof you are likely to need. We went in July / early August and loved it. We did the parks early and late and went back to the hotel after lunch and spent the afternoon at the pool.

Thanks all. DD is applying for a couple of Scottish unis so don’t want to do September in case of early freshers.

June it is. I just need to do an awful lot of research but as things stand I think we’ll go for a week at Disney then a week at Universal.

@FlibbertyJibbet55 we have similar plans but are opting for July due to younger sibling (special school have ok'd time off already but at end of term). If you end up going over end on June and over 4th July be aware this is one of the most busiest times at the parks and they may reach capacity. I didn't bother with the Disney he'll thread as it's been spring break there so is notoriously busy.

The two week passes for Disney are usually the same cost as one week. If staying onsite at Disney they'll probably release an offer in two or three weeks which includes dining credit or dining plan so worth waiting for that. There are lots of Facebook groups for advice. Universal are set to open their new park next year too.

If the disabilities the people in your group have are all mobility based Disney won't give you a DAS pass for that as all their lines accommodate mobility aids and they'll say you should use one of those. If other type of disability you can either apply when you're there at guest services or before you go. The benefit of applying before you go is that in addition to DAS pass you get to choose two rides a day where they give you an hour block that you can just turn up to the ride and go into the das queue while your pass can countdown on another ride. You need a vpn to do this.

Universal have their own version of the DAS but thst does have to be applied for in advance (if you're familiar with the nimbus access card, you have to apply for a similar thing).

We went to Orlando to visit Universal studios and go on an airboat and then we had a day at Port Canaveral before going on a Caribbean cruise around 8th July and that worked well.

@Turmerictolly both mine were freshers last September, twins at different unis, and both started freshers mid September.

Thanks @Perzival thays very helpful. Yes we have the Nimbus access cards and from what I can make out, DD1 will qualify for DAS as non-mobility issues where as I won’t (purely mobility issues). That’s fine although the system does look very complicated!

@FlibbertyJibbet55 once you get it set up it's a really easy system. You pick the ride then wait for the timer to count down and scan in. You can pick the next ride to start counting down once you've fully scanned in to one ride (a bit like legoland if you've ever used that system only much smoother). You only need one DAS for the group if you're all sticking together. If ds1 has a buggy which doesn't look like a wheelchair you can get it labelled up so you can rake it right to the rides with you rather than leaving it outside too. Honestly it's a doddle once it's sorted and if you book the extra two rides a day you can go on one of these while waiting for one of the longer queues to count down. The DAS is miles better than what UK theme parks offer. Hope you all have a great time. Definitely join some Facebook groups ot makes it miles easier.