Florida - unprepared much?

[Greenoes]

We've booked the "holiday of a lifetime" to Florida in August (the only time we can travel due to DS's contact agreement with his DF) and I'm just trying to ensure I'm completely prepared!

DS's passport expires in January 2016 - will I need to renew prior to the trip as there won't be 6 months left on it?

Also, do we need to buy visas? Different websites giving different advice! £27.50 each seems to be the consensus but it's a website not run by the travel agent we're booked with.

Really starting to wish I'd booked a weekend in Rhyl!

Thanks in advance lovely mumsnetters

The official ETSA site is esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/esta.html

It is $14 each.
I recommend doing it via this official one only.

Allow plenty of time to get your passport - now if possible. Unused time on your passport (top to about 9 months iirr) will be forwarded onto your new passports. Do not leave it much later - remember the passport nightmares last year?

Thankyou for the link - that's very useful!

I remember reading the threads last year horrified! I'll get a form ASAP

Where does five years go? It's about 12 seconds since I applied for his last passport

Also

Register on the disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/ website. Do it soon. Then set reminders on your calendar to book your FastPass Plus rides and your restaurant bookings. And download the My Disney Experience app. The parks now have free wifi so you can use this whilst there too.

Are you staying on site? This makes a difference as to how far in advance you can book things? See below...

Have you bought your theme park tickets yet? When you have you cn link them to your Disney Experience account. Sooner you get them, sooner you can start booking FP+

FastPass Plus

If you have park tickets, you can choose FastPass+ experiences up to 30 days in advance. If you have a Disney Resort hotel stay, you can make selections up to 60 days prior to check-in.

Advanced Restaurant Reservationss

You may make a dining reservation at most Disney World restaurants up to 180 days in advance of your meal there.

It is worth reading their planning pages, or using a website such as The Dibb for more information.

In school holidays it really is necessary to use FP+ for popular rides, and to use ADR. This is especially the case for character meals, but also for a lot of the other restaurants. There are also other outlets in the parks where you can take away or just turn up, though these tend to be more burger/fast food joints.

It means planning your days ahead of going, and not having as much flexibility as you may normally have on holiday. However, FP+ don't have to be used and you can also add another one when you are there - after you have used your first one (do it as a FP booth or online.) Likewise, you can cancel resturant bookings up to 24 hours before with no financial loss, and can make more when there though you will be more limited to which restaurants and/or times available.

Its worth doing the passport online if you can - was all very easy. You then just print off the form and post it off.

You don't need 6 months extra on your passport - this happened to me last summer, we booked a last minute holiday to Florida and I only had about a month left, but it was fine. I checked on every website I could find, UK customs, USA customs, and they all said that you do not need the extra six months.

You don't need to buy visas, but you do need an ESTA each, definitely from the official site, as Hulababy said above.

If you're planning to go to Disney, you can book your park tickets in advance and then book your fast passes for each day, which is really worth doing, especially if you're going in August! You can also book Disney restaurants from six months out, which you will need to do if you want to go to the very popular ones. That's worth doing, if you have the dining plan, not essential otherwise.

Ok...I am a complete dinosaur! Passports online? What is this witchcraft? A post office (and a cheque book) was all you used to require!!

Park tickets were part of the package price - free bus from our hotel on International Drive.

I think a trip to Thomson's is in order to work out what on earth I've booked!!

Do you go every year? Does it get easier?

You do not need 6 months validity on UK passport for your trip to USA

Taken from www.gov.uk page on USA
"Entry requirements
Passport validity

Your passport should be valid for the proposed duration of your stay. You don’t need any additional period of validity on your passport beyond this."

Also the ONLY site you should use for your ESTA is the official one stated above and it's $14 per person. Do NOT pay more than this through any 3rd party site, they are ripping you off.

Thankyou all for the advice and links - feeling less overwhelmed now!

Now, I just need to source a reasonably priced hypnotherapist to hold my hand on the flight

Hi my sons passport has already expired and we go to Florida next year (May) am I right in thinking that I'll have to get his passport earlier ( was planning on getting it in new year) or do I get it asap and then apply for our visa's? Thanks

I would renew it now, there is no harm in doing so.

When you get his new passport back you can then apply for the ESTA (each person must have an ESTA). As Hulababy writes, only use the official US Government website as she has written to apply for one of these; other sites are non official and are simply there to rip off the unwary or uninformed traveller.

Thanks for that, ill get him a new one sorted soon.