Anyone got a Disney World/Florida holiday planned? Part 3

[McKayz]

I thought I'd start a new thread as number 2 is nearly full.

Links to old threads:

thread 1

thread 2

We haven't got ours booked yet. But we are planning on going August 2016. DH and I both turn 30 in the next 11 months so it's like a big birthday holiday.

Looking-

That should be doable. I'm not sure if Easter is more expensive but I've booked the following package with Thomas cook-

Mid July family of four for 14 nights (kids aged 11&9)
Thomas cook flights with free pre booked seats
Car with gold insurance
Quick service Disney dining plan
Port Orleans riverside (Disney hotel)
Free memory maker
$150 gift card for Disney
Kids eat free cards for Orlando
14 days Disney tickets

All for £6500 so add on universals will be £7k

That's school holidays. I was pleased with that.

I booked that last August for this july

Buttercups - thanks, that's reassuring! Looks like a great deal - will definitely look at Thomas Cook.

Wonder - I don't see how they can be sold out already but that's what she said... Am going to try Expedia in a couple of weeks when it's possible to search for those dates and see what comes up.

Buttercups - that's an amazing deal, hats off!

wonderstuff I don't want to let you down gently, but try Wayne Bailey at dial a flight for flight advice. He might be able to welcome you to the cheap seats without your bill being the size of a cow. Hopefully it won't be unbearable and might even make you grin. His service is truly extraordinary, but ultimately it's yer money he's after, baby.

No seriously, Wayne at dial a flight. He's brilliant, can't say enough good things about his service.

thanks hermione
Buttercups I just looked again at the Virgin Atlantic site and they've got flights available in summer holidays so I'm pretty sure they just haven't released seats for easter. It's a whole year off they can't have sold through!

I'm back!

Booked again today for our 3rd once in a life time trip

580 sleeps to go!

Looking Virgin flights go on general release 11 months before - so beginning of May for April. However, Virgin holidays get hold of a small number of flights pre general release for sale as holidays. In other words, Virgin holidays have sold out of their pre-allocated Virgin flights. The rest of the flights will go on sale next month.

At the moment skyscanner is showing flights for Easter 2017 at about £1000 per person for direct (Thomas Cook). You should be able to get that for £500 for indirect flights

Thomas Cook flights went on sale for Easter 2017 in January this year (they are released quite early). They have been rising in price ever since, but they may fall again.

We are going with our children who will also be 10 and 7. After much deliberating, reading blogs and reviews we have decided not to do Disney. Everyone looks at us a bit when we say this. We are doing Discovery Cove (not cheap but includes tickets to Busch Gardens, Seaworld and Aquatica) and the Universal parks. We're also going to do Kennedy and an airboat trip.

Looking

Our budget is:

Flights £3000
Villa (4 bedroom with private pool so OTT for our needs) £1400
Park tickets (not Disney) £1600
Car £500

So £6500 plus food and travel insurance.

THat's 1st - 15th April

ZedWoman Thanks for that - that makes sense! Annoying that the travel agent didn't tell me that though - she made it sound like they were sold out and that was it. Probably trying to get me to panic and book for the available dates there and then. Helpful to get an idea of someone else's budget too - thank you!

We booked last month for our first time to disney. Going in August/ summer holidays next year. Cant wait

Need to deal with my porky self ready for the walking and swimming. Couldn't give a toss how I look, just need the stamina to last the long parks days grin.

Me too, Kinky! By Day 5 or 6 I am usually taking painkillers at the end of the day to cope with all the walking! 10 miles a day is quite common, apparently! Seems like we are going to be there at the same time as you, btw! I'm not sure that we'll be doing quite as much walking in August as we do when it's cooler though - I'm imagine a few hours before collapsing in a sweaty heap.

I'm also getting mentally prepared for FP booking. Is it 60 days before? I might have asked this already... Also, how many can you book at a time?

Depends where you are staying - if onsite you can book FPs at 60 days out but offsite is 30. You can book 3 per day. Then when you've used that up you can book further individual FPs, one at a time (get the app and book via your pone rather than going to a kiosk). Though there isn't usually much left by then.

Can someone talk me through the memory maker like I'm an idiot?

There are photographers everywhere. Just get them to take your photo and then they will scan either your entry ticket, Memoy Maker card if you have one, or your magic band - all 3 work the same but magic bands are by far the easiest. Similarly, when you get off a ride and see your photo at the exit, just scan either of these things under your photo. These pics will then all magically appear on your My Disney Experience account. You then have a limited amout of time to download the pictures (I can't remember how long you get but you'll have time to wait until you get home and do it). Biggest tip I can give is to get yourself a magic band though - if you are staying onsite you will get them automatically but if onsite you can buy them quite cheaply. With a band, your ride photos will automatically appear on your account, without you having to scan anything. There are also two on-ride videos which you can ONLY get with a band, not with a ticket or card. Don't forget to ask for magic shots too - some are cheesy but some are really fun!

Fab info, thanks Lucas. I'm still not sure what to do about flights. We are going Easter 2017, when is best to book? What are different carriers like? I went Delta to new York a couple of years ago and would want to avoid them and any other American carriers, I was thinking BA or Virgin but I don't have experience of other British carriers.

So what shoes would you recommend then? Decent trainers? Walking sandals?

We are heading to Florida in June with our son who will be 4.5 months old! Holiday was booked before we knew he would be travelling with us

Is there anything worth doing in the parks (Disney, Universal or otherwise) with him? I'm conscious of how hot and humid it will be and keen to avoid him being out in the sun and heat. We have rented a villa with a pool.

Any suggestions or tips for a baby-friendly trip? We are unsure whether to take a buggy/car seat or rent one. We can take the buggy and car seat for free as luggage but it's the hassle of carrying it I'm not sure about, plus I don't want to rent one and when I turn up its horrible or falling apart.

Also we are flying business on BA with a bassinet so if anyone has experienced that let me know! Thanks

Wonderstuff, I'm not sure what to say about flights I'm afraid as I don't have much experience in that. It's the one part of Florida booking that I hate - do you book straightaway to guarantee a seat or do you wait it out and try and get a cheap flight later? With it being easter (the 2nd busiest time of the year) I'd be tempted to say book it as soon as you can in case the flights sell out. Ask on The Dibb? (Google it - they know everything!) If you are hapyp to fly indirect it can be significantly cheaper. We love Virgin but their price are crazy lately.

Lyndie, I would recommend walking sandals. Loads of people wear trainers but I don't fancy the idea of walking round in wet shoes (lots of water rides plus Florida rain!) Everyone on The Dibb recommends Skechers Go Walks but they look too hot/sweaty for my liking (not to mention gross!) Whatever you buy, you have to make sure they are well worn in before you go - Florida isn't the place to break in new shoes!

TheKingSits, there are several of water areas where little ones can play - but then at 4.5 months old I guess he wont even be crawling. There are a couple of very gentle rides he could go on where there are nice things to look at. Not sure about car seat but YES, TAKE THE BUGGY!!! Much easier than carrying him around and you can hang all your bags off the buggy. Do you know about Rider Switch (sometimes called Child Swap)? It's brilliant - it means that adults with kids can go on rides without having to queue twice. Parent 1 queues for the ride whilst Parent 2 waits with the child. When Parent 1 gets off the ride, they look after the child and Parent 2 goes straight on the ride without having to queue again. It's not well advertised (there no signs telling you where to go) so just tell the staff member at the ride entrance that you want to do Child Swap and they'll tell you what to do.

I just had a quick Google and there are loads of sites with great tips for taking babies to Disney. They can do far more rides than I remembered...

One example here. Though I'm not sure I'd take a tiny baby on the Teacups!

Thank you Lucas.

TheKingSits We've taken our buggy once and also hired one. You'll definitely need one but we found hiring one very handy - didn't have to cart it through airport (you may need a carrier for baby though!) and didn't have to worry about it getting damaged in hold (it happened previously!). However, with a baby so young you may be more comfortable with a pram you (and he!) are comfortable with. And, our hire buggy was in great condition

www.maximisethemagic.com/review/pre-review-kingdom-strollers/

Id also recommend looking into one of those fans you can attach to the pram to help keep him cool during the days!

Each Disney theme park also has a baby care centre filled with nappies, wipes, food (anything you may have forgotten!). But they also have sofas, a TV and A/C and are great for a bit of a time out from the heat and madness of it all! And baby can go on basically anything without a height restriction or health warning. And rider switch is brilliant!

any recommendations for a travel agent as I want to book a couple of different hotels and flights to work around a cruise already booked

Lucas I'm beach club this time, so 60 days then.

I'm currently waiting for the 90 days return mark to book the flight seats. I'm more bothered by that than anything, I think. DD is Aspie so we all need to be together. I can do without additional panic.

3 months to go .

Kinky, who are you flying with, is it Virgin? If so I think they will book seats for free if you're in the Flying Club (free to join). I'm sure you'll be fine - lots of people wait to get the free seat bookings a few days before the flight so at 90 days out I'm sure there will be lot of choice. 101 days for me!

I am getting fed up because my Florida diet isn't going well :( I need to be fitter!!

We're Thomson, but PE so get to pick seats as part of that. We should be fine. I'll feel much better once they're done.

Mine is going okay this week, but only because I had the depo jab and put on 8lbs of biscuit weight in about 3 weeks, I kid you not!!! It was truly disgusting (but good fun). Anyway, 6 days of paleo down and I've dropped 5lbs of the bloat already. I'm not sure I'll lose vast amounts, but the way I was going I would have been a good couple of stone heavier. Panic is a good motivator .

Fitter is certainly tough though as the cold puts me off doing anything. Hoping for warmer weather to inspire me to do more.

We are going 18th August for 2 weeks. Staying onsite at the Port Orleans French Quarter.
All very excited but totally confused by all the fast passes etc! I know I hould be planning but the enormity of it all is putting me off as I dont really know where to start!

Have you registered for My Disney Experience Pigley? This sets up your itinerary and will add things like your dining and fast passes as you book them.

You need to do that and if you know you want to eat in certain places, I'd be booking your advance dining reservations through that, especially for character dining. You can do this now (it starts at 180 days before your holiday.)

I do a spreadsheet and block in breakfast, morning, lunch, afternoon, dinner, evening and come up with a rough plan of what we want to do each day. I tend not to book any table dining through the day in case we change our minds and want to go somewhere else.

Once I've got a rough plan, I can then figure out which rides we might want FP for.

It is a mammoth task. Doing everything in advance saves queues and disappointments later but it is hard work!! Make sure you have some chocolate to hand.

I hope this is helpful .