Disneyworld - and/or websites that are good for holidays?

[robinw]

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Don't go to Euro Disney - french arrogant and slow, the queues were horrendous and nothing to do/watch whilst you wait, you're not allowed to picnic and the weather is foul. I lost count of how many sleeping kids I saw in the queues.

helenmc - would that be ALL the French were arrogant and slow or was it just the staff that you came across, who may well have not been French anyway?

The trouble with Eurodisney is you can't guarantee the weather, I suspect helenmc the weather being bad for you spoilt the whole experience. We were extremely lucky we went Bank holiday August and the weather was fantastic, even a little too hot at times, but it made the whole thing much better.

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The weather was good for france just not the same as sunny Florida, I guess I was eing a it dramatic on the foul I mean it only rained once on the saturday, and sunday was dry.I guess we had a bad time and it didn't live up to our expectations. It started by queuing for over an hour to check in at 11pm at night, and that wasn't just ecause a coach had come in. It was equally as bad whenever we went past the reception. We missed the queues at breckfast by going in the exit. The french are just incredibly slow and when its your you don't get any extra attention. In the Disney shop I got told to go to another checkout in the shop as they were talking (hows that for french arrogance). DH spent 6 months working in Paris and he says all french are arrogant. They were polite but just disinterested. The whole place was disappointing, there was no entertainment, no costume characters walking around, no music, nothing to keep the kids amused. Although clean it was in need of a paint, and things needed repairing. In 6 hours we managed 4 rides and the carousel we only waited 10 mins because it was the end of the day. The final straw was that some-one stole the buggy we hired (yes you pay in France to hire). I wrote a letter making suggestions as to how to improve out visit, I've found you get much more back than writing a snotty letter, and I got a standard letter saying well what do you expect, this is Disney and with so many people wanting to go there will be queues. Its sounds so Anglophile, but I was expecting an almost American 'have a good day' feel and we got a very disinterested attitude from both the French and non-french.

You might need to add a few B in my previous message to make sense - I'm asking Santa for a new keyboard. And for the record, we're thinking of going to the Florida Disney next time.

Oh well, I guess they must be then!

Robinw, we went in August last year and I was dreading it (hate crowds & refuse to queue) but we had a really good time. We went to Euro Disney on a 2 noghts, 3 days pass, but in the end only went into the park for 2 days (it was enough). There are some websites giving more info, but I can't remember what they were.
My sister went to America during Easter. Apparently the weather is a lot better then than during August, when you can get a lot of rain. And someon at work went recently and said because of all the troubles it was really quiet, so January may be a good time.

We went to disney world in florida at easter and it was one of the best holidays we have had. My husband was very reluctant and I managed to persuade him with a trip to kennedy space centre where we saw a shuttle launch. He now admits that he had a wonderful time in orlando. We went to all the disney parks including the water parks. We went to sea world.It is worth seeing the other side of Orlando. There is a wonderful area called winter park which is very relaxing. Dont miss the fireworks at epcot.There is so much to see and do. We tended to get to the main parks before the advertised opening times. It is very tiring so build in some rest time. There is a great book called Brits Guide to Orlando. Also a wonderful website where you can post questions and they are all helepful. www.wdwinfo.co.uk. The secret is to plan but also be flexible. Any questions please ask. I havent been to Euro disney

We went to Euro Disney July time for a 4 day break and it was good. I had never been to Florida so didn't know what to expect - my husband had been to Florida 3 times so could do a pretty good comparison - we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and would happily go again on a short cheap break. NOT for any longer.

We then went to Florida for 2 weeks February time (not in the same year!)and it WAS FANTASTIC!!
GO, GO, GO, I can't wait to go again.

Cheers
Noisy

Forgot to say, if going to Floride I would highly reccomend Virgin - you can see their website and also get their travel brochure. They charge more than some of the cheaper package deals you can get but I can tell yout this - 3 people I know when cheaper airlines and regretted it. 2 people I know went Virgin and they say it was great. If you can pay the extra - especially with kids as it will make the flight less like a cattle market. Also, we booked everything through virgin and it was so easy we didn't have to worry about anything at all. (We didn't stay in a Disney Hotel as it was out of our price range but there are loads of others - my husband always suggests staying somewhere on International Drive. If you get the virgin brochure you can look at the maps. Hope that helps you a bit.
Cheers Noisy

We went to DW Florida last September and had a very good time. We stayed in a Disney hotel (Wilderness Lodge) which was very nicely done up. The transport to the parks was really good - frequent, virtually empty coaches. Queues were no problem (especially as we had fast passes as part of staying at a Disney hotel), my main gripe is that food tended to be of poor quality (unless you went to a proper restaurant)and horrendously expensive. I didn't get to go on many of the rides (14 weeks pregnant - found out just after booking! :-0) but the ones I did go on were usually good fun. The staff were all really friendly (whether genuine or not, I don't care ;-) ). We had hired a car and also went to Bush Gardens, which was well worth a visit. Lots of water rides where you get to cool off and virtually no queues.
We had booked with Virgin, and were generally satisfied with them.
The guide book we used is called 'Brit's Guide to Disney World' or something like that. It was pretty useful as it tells you the quietest days for each of the parks.
This summer we went to DL Paris (to please our Disney-obsessed toddler). It was very poor - I'd never seen such crowds, many people were extremely rude and it generally seemed like a big waste of money.

Remember at WDW after you've parked the car you will still be 30 minutes away from the park. So add that in to your timings. To avoid the crush get to the park at 2.30pm in time for the 3pm parade and get a place by the entrance. After the 3pm parade the park empties considerably and you can then stay till late.

Bear in mind that it's complete hell trying to get out of the park after the 10pm fireworks. Stay for the electrical parade which is wonderful but watch the fireworks from the carpark as we waited nearly an hour just to get out at 10pm with 2 v. tired kids.

For a first visit I would recommend WDW, Sea World, Animal Kingdom and Busch Gardens (Tampa). If your kids are older take them to Universal Studios, MGM and Epcot.

Don't try and do too much, it's too hot and exhausing and you'll come home needing a holiday.

Definitely go for International Drive or Lake Buena Vista for accommodation. Kissimmee is a long way out (no matter what the brochure says) and they have had roadworks on the 192 for over 2 years now and the traffic is appalling.

There's a great Super Walmart on the 192 though! Its by Wild Bills dinner show. And it's 24 hours!
R.

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We did take food into the parks and nobody said anything. It is worth buying one of the drink holders that double up as fans. Another tip if you have time is to have a big breakfast. There are tons of places serving buffet breakfasts very reasonably. We stayed in Lake buena vista and there were lots of reasonable places to eat outside the parks. Simon Venness s book "Brits Guide to Orlando " has lots of recommendations

Rhiannon et co. what is the youngest age it is worth taking to disney. Do you think a toddler would be bored? I mean is there enough rides - would he appreciate it?

Lil, our daughter was 15 months old. Far too young really but she did enjoy herself - she liked the open spaces, seeing the animals at Busch Gardens and Animal Kingdom and got very excited whenever we spotted Winnie the Pooh & Co., as long a they didn't come too close (our character breakfast with Winnie ended in hysteria!). Also, all the Disney hotels have very good swimming pools and the water parks have toddler sections.
We're planning on going again when our kids are 4 and 5.
Picnicing in the parks is no problem - lots of people do it.
I would really recommend staying at a Disney hotel if your main aim is to do WDW. Our second week (which we were meant to spend at the Gulf Coast but a hurricane changed our travel plans) we stayed on International Drive, and it wasn't anywhere near as nice, there wasn't really anywhere to walk to with a push chair and the hotel lacked character.

If you can afford to stay in Lake Buena Vista that would be my first choice. Some of the hotels are official Disney hotels and some are within walking distance of the Disney Marketplace.

There's a great new designer outlet centre opened just of junction 27 of the I-4.

Some of the parks do souvenir cups for about $10 and you can get them filled up for free all day long.

The youngest I took mine was 5 months, but my Dad came with us to hold the pushchair whilst we went on the rides.

My little boy loved it all at 18 months, there are a lot of rides that are unsuitable though but they do do a baby changeover so you don't have to queue twice. Better still go with another family so you can go on the rides as a couple.

Definitely go to Animal Kingdom, do not miss The Lion King Show, Kali River Rapids, Safari Ride or It's a Bugs Life. Also go to Sea World and WDW. Also get over to Busch Gardens in Tampa if you can. R.

Look on the WDW website - it tells you the height restrictions for the rides, I was surprised to find that my 4yo was tall enough for all but approx 2 or 3.

We were hoping to go sometime in the next 12 months, but dh works for Consignia so we're waiting to see what happens.

DH and I went to Orlando in 1993 - pre kids - and had a great time - 3 weeks and still didn't see everything we wanted to. Went to Busch Gardens, but rather than do it all in one day we booked a hotel room for a couple of nights, did BG on 2nd day, on 3rd day went to Clearwater, & St. Petersburg to visit the Salvador Dali museum.

Tip - pick up some of the free magazines available from outside most shops, they are great for discount vouchers. We used one for our stay in the Holiday Inn, Tampa Bay - got 2 nights for 2 people for about $40, (don't forget this was '93).