Orlando, any tips for someone who has never been with a reluctant dh in tow!!

[Fimbo]

My kids will be 14 & 9 by then. Dh is going slightly under duress, as he doesn't want to spend 2 weeks wandering around a disney resort (sort of get his point and want to do other stuff too). What is the best way to book? Separately, all together as a package, how do you book park tix in advance? We can fly from any of the London airports.

Also I think we would prefer to stay in a hotel or some such thing, where there is stuff going on for the kids at night, but the biggest stipulation is that I need something with 2 bedrooms. As much as I love my children I do not want to spend every moment with them 24/7 over 2 weeks.

Help!!! Oh and we are going next Easter. Thank You.

For next Easter you'd better get your skates on because the flights for these days went on sale some time ago.

Both BA and Virgin fly to Orlando from Gatwick airport; other airlines use Sanford which is about an extra hour's travel time from Orlando. Fares for Easter on both airlines can be, well are steep because this is a prime family route and therefore there is money to be made!!.

Tell your DH that Orlando is not just Disney; there are other places and attractions to visit. Kennedy Space Centre for instance is about an hour's travel time east of Orlando.

You can purchase Disney and tickets for Universal (your 14 year old may well prefer Universal to Disney as Universal is more aimed at the teens upwards market) in advance. Bear in mind that once your youngest child hits the age of 10, then adult prices for admittance to all the theme parks apply.

It currently costs $14 US (about £9 sterling) for each of you to make an ESTA application online (this is mandatory for all visitors to the US so all four of you will need an ESTA) so this is another cost to be factored in.

What sort of thing were you thinking of for the children at night?. I ask this as American hotels as a rule do not lay on any childrens entertainment in the evenings.

American hotel rooms basically are 1 king sized bed or two queen (uk size would be double) sized beds so you asking for two bedrooms in a hotel may well be problematic. Would have a look instead at villas rather than a hotel particularly if you are going to hire a car. Suite based hotels like the Embassy Suites would only do one of the above with a sofabed in the other part of the room. Also hotel rooms in the US are room only; breakfast is not included in many places.

The Dibb is a good website to look at as well.

Hi we have just booked our flights for next Easter and I have booked a 2 bed condo which is 10 mins drive from Disney and has a shuttle bus laid on.
If you check on owners direct or similar you will find lots of similar accomodation - and its cheaper than a hotel, £600 for 13 nights which I think is excellent! Our one has a water park on site so I'm very excited about it.

DH was a bit anti Disney too until my American cousins mentioned Kennedy Space centre then he was right on for the idea.

We managed to get good prices for the flights by being a bit flexible on departure dates - we are going for 13 rather than 14 nights, but you might find it hard to get flights on their own as most of the travel agents tend to bundle up flights and car hire. I would check out sky scanner in the first instance to try to find good(ish) deals on the flights.

Ahhh so much information to read and digest, thank you both so very much. Dh is away at the moment so hopefully we will start to look at getting something booked by the weekend. Thank you.

Take a look a website called thedibb.co.uk. It is where you need to go for every single bit of information you could ever need or want about Orlando.

Flights at a reasonable price are the most difficult thing to come by. Look for either Orlando International (BA or virgin) or Sanford (Cosmos, Thomson etc). Remember if you book with Virgin Holidays you will get months to pay. If you book through Virgin Atlantic you will have to pay upfront but check both websites as prices will differ.

The rest can be booked separately (car, villa, park tickets). You might also like to look at any packages Disney are offering with regard to free dining. Disney offer free transport to the parks. Personally our favourite Disney resort is Old Key West for its huge rooms and boat to Down Town Disney (a huge retail and restaurant area).

I can recommend you stay anywhere in the Formosa Gardens area. Look at villas with pools (go for a 4 bed so you get a full size pool). Look at resorts less than 3 miles to Disney (do NOT look at anything that says 10 minutes to Disney. You want to know the mileage).

Agree you need to get on with it and book flights asap if you want to go at Easter. We normally fly BA into Orlando but this next trip we are flying into Tampa as it is 1.5k cheaper (for 6 of us). It will only be an extra 15 mins drive to where our villa is.

Agree with comment above about 'minutes to Disney'. We own a place there that really is minutes away, just 4 miles to Disney but I've seen other owners advertising 'minutes to Disney' and I know their villas are 45 mins away. If you decide against the hotel and want a villa, have a look at Loyalty Homes a company owned by an english lady who only manages luxury properties with 4 miles of Disney. www.loyalty.usa.com They have a few condos as well as villas.

Oh, and if your DH likes cars or bikes, tell him to look at Old Town. Its on the 192 near Disney and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings have classic car and bike nights.