Can I have some advice re Florida please?

[chocoLit]

We're considering going to Florida next October. I know it's 12 months away but DH has weird holiday entitlement and for once he actually has time off during DCs school holiday.

Florida is tempting us but I'm finding it all rather overwhelming looking at all the options. Whilst I'm aware the disney thing is a must, I'd like to see the florida keys etc.

As a family of 5 we're open to villa/hotel any option really as lond as it makes good sense financially.

This will probably be a once in a lifetime due to pricing and would be extremely grateful for any advice anyone has! It is always left to me to sort out plans etc and DH just tags along. I'd be horrified if I mucked this one up!

We got flights, car and accommodation for £3.5 k last year for mum dad and three kids.

Try cheapest flights.co.uk and aske them to price caribe cove

They are a Manchester number and I think I dealt with Charles/ Charlie but they were all very good.

Watching this thread with interest. We may do Disney/Florida next year, finances depending. We went to California Disney in Feb and it was just great.

00100001 Will you do me a spreadsheet please I am crap at techno stuff like that.

To be fair, it does seem ridiculously complicated looking at the Disney site. Well, too complicated for my brain anyhow. So many different deals, different configurations etc. I'd worry I would be thinking I'd booked one thing (like the meal deals) and end up with another.

I've looked at travelcity, bahama bay, sister resort to caribe cove , oct 21- nov 4 With car hire comes in at £4721 from Manchester . . One room self catering. Have t stayed at bahama bay but it's very nice.

I am sure we can do better than that . Travelcity were taken over by virgin. Are the dates a out right. I was taking a stab at half term dates.

Here's Thomas cook. Oct14 for two weeks. Couldn't get same dates, it's a three bed villa probably allocated on arrival and car

£5,731

I think you can do better than that.

It might be a bit early for nov return flights.

This is super guys thank you! We're a tad earlier date wise looking from oct 1st

You might do even better that time of the year.

Nice time to go, plenty hot and the summer storms should be over.

We always went may and oct ( and other times as well.)

I meant to post that phone number for you for cheapest flights but we jetted off abroad yesterday and I do t think it's on my phone.

It's a manchesTer number. If I can find it I'll post it. I know they were a lot cheaper than travelcity.

Btw...my daughters holiday plus
Tickets, food, spend came I. Around £6- £6.5k last October just to give you an idea of what to budget.

Flights are coming up expensive for October.

Ive just costed 10 nights at disney and 4 nights at universal over half term plus universal tickets, disney tickets and free dining.

£7500 for 4.

Thanks dowser.

Atticus who is that with and where from?

Thats doing it separately booking accommodation and tickets with disney to get the free dining, snacks and spending money, booking flights separately with Thomson (only thomson and thomas cook have their flights up for october) and then booking universal directly with universal in the us.

That costing is staying at saratoga springs which is one of the higher end disney resorts and staying at the hard rock at universal.

It would be cheaper if you didn't do universal but if you are doing universal you should always stay on site since its cheaper than booking the express passes (you get free express passes if you stay on site) and never do universal without express passes unless you like standing in queues.

Beginning of october comes up about a grand cheaper.

We booked a Virgin Package holiday in October 2012. I wanted some luxury in the Keys so opted to do a 'cheaper' international drive hotel for the first 10 nights. On reflection I wish we had booked a Villa.

We stayed for 10 nights in Orlando and then 4 Nights on Duck Key (one of the middle keys) in a beautiful hotel.
www.hawkscay.com/

The restaurants on duck key are just lovely- low key but amazing menus.
We flew back from Miami.
Drive down from Orlando was about 5.5 hours but its literally a straight road. We drove 'through' Hurricane Sandy on our way down which made driving over the highway on the keys interesting!!

Would really recommend the Keys- beautiful.

I tried to do the Virgin holiday online 'chat' thing. It was torture!!

We are hopefully off to florida next Summer. Doing Orlando staying in a villa for 7 nights, then the keys and finally ending up at st Petersburg/Clearwater for 3 night.

Tiredemma the hotel you stayed at in keys is the one we are looking at. It looks fab, please tell me its as good as the website suggests! What did you do whilst down there?

gardeningsarah- - we did very little other than chill by the the pool and eat out to be honest, however that was what we had planned due to wanting some 'downtime' from the chaos of Orlando.

We drove to a few lovely beaches, drove to Key West etc.
The hotel is just lovely, staff amazingly helpful- excellent service. We would go back in a heartbeat.

Thanks for the informationtiredemma. Well today we have booked the holiday!

Ah- A bit

Did you book Hawks Cay?

OP, try Norwegian airlines for prices. They are usually quite good.

Oooooh that's exciting!! I sat last night determined to book before free Disney dining ran out but just couldn't make up my mind & the Virgin 'chat' thing is utter rubbish!!

Use this site for all things Disney:

www.mousesavers.com/disney-discounts-for-uk-and-ireland-visitors/

(I have linked to the page with the current UK/Ireland discounts)

I know people really like renting villas in Orlando, but I think staying "on property" is a little more magic . I'd rather have a shorter Disney holiday on property and just stay a 5-7 days and then rent a villa on the coast. Two weeks in Orlando would not be for me.

The Florida Keys are lots of fun, particularly Key West, but they are more pitched to adults than children. Because of the reefs there aren't many sandy beaches, just a few shabby, man-made ones. So the keys are really for scuba diving, drinking and adult "partying."

For a beach holiday I would recommend the South West coast of Florida. So much nicer than the Atlantic coast. Look for villas on:

Siesta Key (pure white sugar sand beaches)
Long Boat Key
Anna Maria Island
(All drivable and near Sarasota)
www.mustdo.com/fl/sarasota-gulf-islands-venice-bradenton/beaches

For something more rustic:
Cabbage Key
cabbagekey.com

A bit further south:
Sanibel Island
Captiva Island
sanibel-captiva.org

Also fun is to see some of the "old Florida." If you do spend the whole two weeks in a villa in the Orlando area, you can get away to some of the natural springs which are stunning and usually state parks so very cheap.

www.weather.com/science/nature/news/stunning-florida-springs-20140902#/1

Theres a website called www.thedibb.co.uk which is a guide to Brits booking a Florida holiday. It has info on which days are the quietest at each park and is essential for planning your park visiting. We did a similar two centre stay, and visited a park every other day whilst in Orlando. Dont forget the Kennedy Space Centre - well worth a visit. Don't eat the theme park food, it is GRIM. (And I'll eat amything normally, I'm not at all fussy, but even I have limits!)

Tiredemma Yes we have booked Hawks Cay!