Anyone got a Disneyworld / Florida holiday planned - Part 4

[ChippyMinton]

Hope no-one minds if I start another thread as the old one is full?

Or are you all in Orlando now?

DD is hoping we can go again next year. She'll be 16y so I am aware that our family holidays may be on the way out in the coming years.

Had originally thought of going in October '18 as DD would love to do the Halloween Horror Nights with DH, Then plans came up to do a family break with in laws so it was put off, and we were looking at trying over Christmas/New Year that year. But just seen half term dates don't match anyway - so back to considering October again.

Cant get flights via the Disneyworld website at the moment - think we need to wait another week for the flights home to be available to view. Have been pricing up on Virgin Holidays but looks like the prices have gone up again this year.

Ideally we'd like 4 nights at Disney and 3 nights at Universal (because of the HHN) so some planning required. Especially as some of the Disney hotels say min 5 nights.

My friends and I are planning 2 weeks at the end of April 2019, booking early next year. I have never been and most of the group went as children, very excited :D

Great thread!

We've booked a Caribbean cruise for October 18 but we've decided to add on a week in Orlando the week before.

Is there a MUST DO list that we should abide by? We have kids aged 5,9 & 13.

Really like the look of the Animal Lodge so think we will book that.... looks like a good location?!

Ooo glad I've found this thread we go for two weeks next month.

Hulababy I would never suggest booking flights with Disney as they are far more expensive than booking DIY flights, same goes with Virgin. We book direct with the airline. Most flights are released 330 days in advance but scheduled airlines like Thomas Cook will have theirs out now. Also don't be so sure about an end to family holidays - I'm 27 and still holiday to Florida with my parents with my family. My parents go every year now with or without me though!

Sodaface Animal Kingdom Lodge is a lovely hotel but location-wise is the farthest away from all parks but Animal Kingdom (obviously). That's not a huge minus but Epcot area resorts are better for quicker transfers.

For anybody looking for touring plans or must-do lists easyWDW is an excellent website for planning. The best book is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. The website gives you insanely accurate touring plans that help you maximise your days.

Thanks Jade, I'll take a look at that now!

Ah that's a shame as the kids really like it. We won't be driving so somewhere a bit handier might be better.

It's not hugely far away, but about 20-25 minutes to Magic Kingdom once on board a bus. It's about 15-20 minutes to Epcot and the Studios. Obviously I'm not sure of your budget but generally for the price of AKL you could do Saratoga Springs or Old Key West, or Coronado Springs or Port Orleans for slightly less, but a tad more central.

I would have a look at some rough plans though and see where you want to spend more time. I'm a big Studios fan (well before they closed it all) so like being within 10 minutes of it. Animal Kingdom has a lot more to offer now with Pandora so you may find it's good for your family to be closer!

Flights - we got a decent deal in the BA sale (September last year).

Animal kingdom was my absolute favourite park, so I'd happily stay at the hotel there

Jade - did it this February and last as the same flights with Virgin (they were VA with Disney too) were dearer. As I said before it seems to vary each time we go. We just look at the different options and go with the cheapest options for the same thing. I won't compromise on flights though - has to be direct and I prefer VA or BA.

I'm hoping Dd will still holiday with us for a while but I know it's not a given anymore

We are staying in Oct at Port Orleans French quarter. Very excited as first timers, a little at all the planning involved.

Any thoughts on water park? do you prefer BB or TL just one dc 7

Blizzard Beach is a bit more thrilling than Typhoon Lagoon. We prefer the latter as we find it more relaxing. Maybe look at both park maps/attractions and see what would suit your family.

We enjoyed Aquatica waterpark the most (owned by Seaworld company)
As other poster has said, BB has more exciting water slides but TL has the massive wave and is more relaxed

Thanks all

This morn we watched you tube footage of the water parks and they do indeed both look great.

Euphemia that's great to know, getting excited now. I've virtual fast passed us into oblivion

We head to Disney for 12 days next month. Cant wait - more so as it will be our first long holiday all year and desperate for a break - more so than being excited about Disney itself! This is our third visit however - although my youngest is now at an age where he will remember it (he turns 5 while we are there) and my oldest has been asking to go again for ages. We haven't told them we are going - will tell them the day before. I just cant face the constant "how many sleeps" question if I tell them now!!

We have booked a villa offsite and purchased the two week Disney tickets. Will just come and go as we want and be very relaxed about it. Last time we did that, my daughter was 3 and son was 6 months and we could get away with a day at home - although I am not sure we will manage that this time! We have stayed onsite before - only for a couple of night at the Animal Kingdom - which was amazing but the food was dreadful can couldn't face it for two weeks. Just my preference.

A few meals have been booked and next is to do fast passes and car hire - then we are good to go!

Ohana at the Polynesian Hotel for dinner is amazing, plus you can wander out into the hotel grounds afterwards and sit on the beach and see the Magic Kingdom fireworks - just incredible.
We also had a great meal at Teppan Edo in Japan in Epcot.
Cafe May at the Beach Club do an excellent buffet breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, Donald & Goofy.
They would be my three main must go to places to eat.
Oh, and the Rainforest Cafe at Disney Springs!

Hi I've been reading though the many pages of advice on this thread which is extremely helpful, but would be grateful if anyone could help me with some specific queries. They may have been answered elsewhere in the thread but there's so much info it's hard to keep track!

We (me, DH, 10yo DS and 6yo DD) are hoping to go to Florida next October half term, taking an additional week off school either the week before or week after, so either 20/10/18 to 3/11/18 or 27/10/18 to 10/11/18. Could anyone tell me if this is likely to clash with US holidays? I gather that Halloween would likely by busy at WDW but other than that do you I think it may be relatively (!) quiet (I do understand that it will never be quiet!).

After reading through various discussions about the type of accommodation to go for, I think we'd like to stay on site for one week and do the parks, then hire a villa (and a car) for a week and do other things off site (inc Universal). We don't fancy two weeks of Disney (Dh certainly doesn't!) but while we do Disney I would like to be on site in a hotel with all the benefits that offers. We went on a fly drive to Florida about 13 years ago, staying in motels, so we're fairly comfortable with staying off site and taking advantage of some of the non Disney attractions on offer.

I'm just not sure how best to book. Would you recommend booking flights, Disney hotel, villa and car hire all separately? If we were just looking to stay in a hotel for two weeks. Think some of the deals with operators such as Thomson look relatively good value, but the week in a villa seems to complicate matters. I expect tour operators could offer twin centre holidays but they may work out far pricier than booking direct? There seems to be loads of villas and apartments available on sites such as ownersdirect or airbnb that i amgine are much cheaper than those offered via Virgin etc. But I guess it's more hassle to organise everything directly.

If we do book separately am I right in thinking that we would have free transport from the airport to the hotel (included in the hotel booking) then we would just need to hire a car from somewhere nearest the hotel that we would return to the airport at the end of our second week?

One thing I did want to ask was about the free dining packages at the Disney hotels. Does anyone know when this offer is likely to expire? One website says the offer is only avail on bookings made by 19th Oct but is this likely to be available longer in other sites? I don't think we'll be ready to book quite so soon!

Also please could anyone recommend a resort hotel to stay in? Probably in the moderate price band. Or recommend a website that ranks/reviews them all? There's just too much choice and they all sound good in one way or another, I just need some help in narrowing down the choice!

Sorry for all the questions, I have tried to do some research but there's just soooo much info and at this early stage in the process I need some help with focus!

(Please excuse typos and crap grammar! My keyboard keeps freezing which makes typing tricky!)

@Notname
Just a brief response for now but try allears.net/acc/faq_hot.htm#moderate for detailed resort information. If going moderate I would recommend Coronado Springs personally. It's also worth considering that Old Key West and Saratoga Springs are deluxe villa resorts but often available at 40% off and include the regular dining plan, which is better (ie
includes more) than the quick service included with moderates. Dining Plan offers are only available until the same date with every travel agent as the offer is dictated by Disney. It has run every year for at least 10 years (roughly) and is normally available for the same dates.

For an incredibly specific crowd calendar (and my fave website ever) go here www.easywdw.com/easy/calendars/october-2016-walt-disney-world-crowd-calendar/ this is 2016's one. It breaks it down day by day. Halloween parties and Food and Wine festival increases crowds and October has been increasing in popularity the past few years. But still nothing major to affect you.

We book our package with Disney (we are on-siters) and flights separately through Skyscanner or another comparison site.

Any questions please ask, Disney planning is my unofficial role in life.

Thanks v much Unihorn! All v helpful advice.

Since I posted I've done some more research, as if the free dining plan offer ends 19th Oct I need to get on with booking soon!

I'm thinking of going 23/10/18 to 6/11/18 as I've found reasonably cheap flights with Thomas Cook for those dates (c£2,300 for the four of us) but will check the crowd calendar before fixing dates. Will also look on skyscanner for flights, tho I've found that some airlines haven't released prices for late oct 2018 yet.

I've currently thinking that the Old Key West resort would be best for us, as it's £1610 for a week including the full dining package. There doesn't seem to be much availability in moderate resorts anyway for the dates I'm looking at and some are coming out as more expensive.

I'm thinking of booking the flights and Disney hotel soon (before 19th) and then sort a villa and car hire for the second week when I've had time to do more research. I am going to an travel agents tho on thurs to see how package prices compare.

One thing that I will need advice on is whereabouts to stay the second week. We would prob go to Kennedy Space Centre, Universal, and maybe the Coast and Daytona if Dh gets his way, which I know is quite a lot of driving around but we're ok with that. I'm not sure where would be best to be based, so if anyone has any suggestions they'd be gratefully received!

Thanks.

Okay, so can I please join the party? We are going to WDW and Universal in July 2018, 2 weeks for both. We have been to Disneyland (on a once in a lifetime visit), but loved it so much, we are now doing 2 weeks in Florida (exclusively at the parks - no car, and already struggling to work out how to fit it all in to two (very hot humid) weeks!). We will be at SSR - I think that we probably got one of their deals, because when we booked for that it was cheaper to upgrade to SSR than to go to POR - riverside and upgrade to the DDP. The great thing is that I can obsess about not only rides, but also restaurants!

I am SO ridiculously over excited. I'm trying to plan everything, even though I have no idea what opening hours will be. Patience is not one of my virtues.

I am loving all of the tips and advice. I'm a little worried we will plan too much, but not worried enough not to do it. I am trying to work out what people think we can leave out at Disney (since we won't be able to do everything). I had hoped it could be water parks, but my kids are adamant they are included. But they also want to include EVERYTHING. So, any planning tips would be fantastic (what do you HAVE to fast pass in July? What don't you have to? What are the best times to eat at table services? How does that fit in with fast passes?...and many many more!). And generally, just very pleased to get over excited with anyone who is similarly over excited (my family don't seem to be able to get overly excited about the details with almost 9 months to go and no opportunity to book for another three months - and even there they will let me do it all).

Hotels for large families, 3 adults, 4children? Do they exist? Would be my fourth visit to Orlando and first visit with the kids, would we be better booking a villa? Always stayed in the Disney hotels in the past as have loved the magic hours and the Disney shuttle system transporting us to parks, no need to drive, etc.. but not found any that cater for a large family.. not ones in our price range anyway, did see a Disney apartment like 30k, wtf!!! Would need about 4bedrooms, min, any ideas welcomed, probably not going until late next year but good to research x

Your only option affordable option for Disney would probably be two connecting or adjoining rooms. Or a Treehouse Villa which sleeps 8. But they would be stupidly expensive still!

Ruthie, I'd look at one of the DVC resorts so old key west or Saratoga Springs. Both offer two bed apartments onsite.