Cheapest time and way to fly to Florida

[mulranno]

Was thinking that we should do the Disney thing once and for all so have looked at renting nice villa on gulf coast for a week or so as payback for enduring Disney...have 4 kids so need to budget this trip was thinking 2 weeks either xmas, easter or summer any suggestions as to cheapest time to fly (happy to sneak off few days early from school) -- and if direct is best/cheapest or if we should route thru somewhere else and then get an internal flight?

Enduring disney?? are you kidding it is fantastic. real cynic here wrong side of 40 who went Dec 2011 and i have to go back. not only disney but lots of water parks and universal studios which is ideal for older kids. we stayed for 2 weeks near disney and other than kennedy space centre didnt go anywhere else and still there is loads we didnt do. would thoroughly recommend going outside school holidays completely if possible. we went middle two weeks of dec returning christmas eve. the 12 days before the hoards arrived was fab. not so when the schools broke up - pre christmas rush 10 mins wait for a ride post schools breaking up for xmas and 180 mins wait for a ride. we stayed at sunset lakes in a villa with pool, had 2 week flexi tickets for all of us for disney and universal, flew premium economy and the whole lot was around £7K. Fly direct as you don't want to be hanging about on the plane longer than you have to with DC's. pm me if you want any more details. Oh and buy the book - unofficial guide to disney with kids and unofficial guide to beyond disney. they are brilliant. Phew (pauses for breath)

How old are the children?. Any child over 10 will be subject to paying full adult prices at the theme parks. Children 12 or over will pay adult airfares.

Another expense that will be incurred if you go to the USA will be the ESTA (electronic travel authorisation) demanded by the Americans which all travellers need. The fee is $14 (about £9) per application made.

What with Air Passenger Duty and all the taxes incurred these days flying longhaul is not cheap. Christmas and Easter are by far the busiest times to visit the parks; summer is not quite as busy but the weather in Orlando at that time of year can bring daily thunderstorms and high humidity levels.

Do fly direct if at all possible into Orlando or Sanford (which is about 90 minutes further east of Orlando). Same day internal transfers within US airports are not to be recommended. Also US internal flights can be expensive with no discounted fares for children applied.

I definitely would avoid the parks over Christmas and Easter, summer will be quite busy but bearable. It tends to quieten down a little towards the end of August, and lots of the schools there go back mid-August.

If you look at a fly drive with a tour operator such as Thomson or Cosmos you might actually find it cheaper than Virgin or BA but you don't have the flexability of days .

November half term is a good time to go, if you can make use of both weekends. Can your children take an extra Thursday and Friday off school before half-term or is that not possible?

I usually find booking 11 months ahead, as soon as flights have been released works out cheapest.
I went to Disney in L.A a couple of years ago in Feb half term and my friend went to Disney Florida Feb the year after and we both found flights quite reasonable then. So you could consider squeezing in a 10 day break during Feb half term. Lovely weather and less crowds.

when we we went several years ago, flying direct was much more expensive. We went via Philadelphia with the added bonus that immigration was much quicker there than other friends found in Orlando.

Someone recommended "The Brits Guide to Orlando" - and it was excellent, gave advice on which were the quieter days in which parks and it seemed to be spot on. Would suggest you buy a recent copy as things will change. Not sure if it's still available, or if others have found it useful, we certainly did.