DH wants to go to Disney in Florida next year!

[saltire]

So I thought all my lovely MN friends could advise. We have never been overseas before, don't know where to start. Is it self catering I should go for, or half board, any recommendations who to book with and what to look for, and rough idea of costs. I'm assuming I don't need to pay the whole lot now!

My friend has just got back from a fortnight there...herself, DH and 2 dcs. £6000 inc park passes. This was staying in a hotel.

I think there are loads of villas within a few mins drive from the parks if you prefer that.

We went in sept 2001 for our honeymoon. We went with Thomas Cook.

We just had flight,room in a hotel with 3 pools and car hire. We where glad we didn't go for half board as we found food to very inexpensive breakfast were a buffet with cereals, fruit and cooked, free refills on drinks, were about 4 dollars for as much as you liked, evening meals where about 10 - 15 dollars.

The one mistake we made is we didn't check at reception for any special offers because we thought they would be more expensive then buying at the door, we were wrong.

Meant to say we will have DS who will be 10 and DS2 who will be 8 when we go.
Mto3,who did your friend book with? Was that full board? The ILs go a lot and they always seem to go self catering, but I don't want to ask them in case they want to come with us

I have looked online but can't seem to be able to book for next year - well I can if i want to go to Europe or somewhere, but not Florida!!

Try www.Jamesvillas.co.uk I thin they do them in Florida and you can get flight included. ( Not saying it's best deal but it will give you an idea). I'll ask my friend ( and yesshe did go all inclusive)

i tried Virgin today and their 2008 brochure for florida is out now,worth trying them. from what i gather most agents wait until april before they can give you a price for the following year.

Try The Dibb for a friendly forum which gives tons of information. You have plenty of time to read and plan, so I'd read up on options before jumping in and booking something! Definitely read up on what is available.

The big draws are the theme parks (8 in total, incl Universal etc), waterparks (3 big ones), shopping, Kenedy Space Centre, and venturing further afield in Florida. Of course, depending on the time of year you also have the benefit of nice weather and some beaches. But choose the wrong time and you get thunderstorms or even hurricanes!

I'm off to Florida tomorrow, but if I was planning again I would look at 2+ weeks. I would spend 5 or more days at one of the Disney resorts. This gives you a number of benefits including longer admission hours at the parks on certain days. I would also spend one or two days at one of the universal hotels in order to get the perk of Express tickets (which effectively lets you queue-jump a lot of the main rides). I would also get a villa for a week or so, which can be your base for shopping, Seaworld etc, as well as letting you revisit any parks you want.

Almost everyone I know eats out as it is very cheap, uness they have very young children where being able to give them pasta or cheese on toast is a priority. But the main perk of a villa is the space you get - everyone can have their own room, and you get a pool and a games room. The villas are located on a variety of "resorts" and you will want to think about what sort of resort you want - lively, quiet, communal pool etc, as well as distance from the parks.

In terms of costs, we have managed to get flights (BA direct) and car for £1400 (in totoal for 4 of us), a 4 bed villa for £644 per week, and park passes cost us around £800. Our main "luxury" this trip is that we're staying at the Disney Polynesian resort which is costing almost £300 per night in peak season, but you can get Disney accomodation for much less. At certain times of the year guests at a Disney resort can get their Disney Dining Plan for free. For 2 weeks you probably won't get a whole lot of change from £4,000, but you may find deals for less.

Am in Florida at the moment. If you need to book school holidays, book accommodation early so you get a good choice.

I would recommend you book a villa, there are 1000's. Just remember your villa needs to be in Kissimmee NOT Davenport. Davenport villas are cheap because they are not close to Disney, I spoke to a family in Blizzard Beach yesterday who are staying at Great Groves i think it was called and they took an hour to get there yesterday because of the traffic.

Resorts very close to Disney are
Windsor Hills
Windsor Palms
Emerald Isle

These have communal pools as well as a private pool and other facilities like a gym and shop and gated entrance.

Other housing areas close to Disney but not a resort (so you just get a house). Are Indian Ridge and Indian something else, Rolling Hills and Formosa Gardens. These houses are likely to be a bit cheaper than the resort homes.

If you are still unsure where a house is you need to be near Marker 5 of the 192 (main road in Kissimmee).

When renting a villa, ask for late check out as your flight home is likely to be late. Check pool heat is included in the cost. Many villas have games rooms and Disney bedrooms now so it is well worth looking at a few websites. Many owners are English too so you don't have to worry about sending dollars.

If your kids are young then go to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Sea World and Busch Gardens (in Tampa). If they are older go to MGM, Universal and Epcot.

When you book a car don't be misled by offers of a 'free' car. Any car is likely to cost between £300-£500 depending on the size for 2 weeks as you have to take out additional insurance.

BA and Virgin fly into Orlando international, these are scheduled flights.

Charter holiday companies fly into Sanford airport which is a longer drive to Kissimmee.

Restaurants and super markets are everywhere so don't worry about food.

SHR

Me again, take a look at www.vrbo.com , you can search individual resorts in Kissimmee. Don't look at small homes as large ones tend to be just as affordable.

Also www.windsorhillsrent.com

There is a direct Windsor Palms site too, don't know it but googling should bring it up.

These are 3 sites where you book direct from the owners so you aren't paying extra to management companies.

We have a villa on Windsor Hills, I am biased but it is a lovely resort.

We went last easter which was a nice time of year to go. We had been advised to fly with virgin as they are meant to be great, but when we booked they only had first class flights left which we couldn't afford so we went with my travel are they were fine, we spent abount £6000 inc passes and a dolphin swim. We stayed on International drive, but we are planning on going back in 2008 or 2009 and will probably stay in one of the disney hotels. Our hotel was room only, eating out is really cheap so I'm glad we didn't go for half board.

Hi,
We took our trio in 2004 and 2006, October time. We have always booked Virgin flights with Charter Travel, they are based in Surrey and very good on price and we have been able to book more than a year in advance with them. We had villas both times and loved them, the first was in Rolling Hills, Formosa Gardens, took 15-20mins to Disney, the second was at Lake Davenport, but we were literaly just off the 192, on the 27, it took us just 5 mins more, but there is now a very good short cut we found which saves you going down the 192! Holla if you need more info!

I booked yesterday for 2008 with Virgin, through Going Places. Staff really helpful and got us great price for 4 at the beginning of the school holidays with a direct flight from Glasgow. I only had to pay £100 deposit.

sammac, sorry to be nosey but as I'm in Glasgow can I ask how much your holiday will cost?

ds desperate to go, can't afford it without massive loan

Try Travelbag & Dialaflight. They offer hotels as well, but the flights are pretty reasonable. I'm not going to Florida but booked my US trip with Travelbag - although both companies were VERY helpful!

Also for a trip to Europe the flights were cheaper on Travelbag than direct with the airline. Didn't look at direct for the US trip as the stopover made it more complicated!

I would probably go self catering or to a hotel with just breakfast included then you're not tied to getting back & the food is pretty cheap once you're there.

Usually pay a deposit now but it depends on the company.

Just got back on Sunday!
It is totally out of this world!
We started to book stuff about 12 months prior to going to spread the cost.
We hired an apartment from a friend who has one, a great base as you just sleep there really, you are out all day every day.
We booked the flights on line, did a search for a month or so for the best deals.
I would highly recommend a direct flight as we were travelling for 20 hours in total with a change in between...awful with kids.
We booked all our passes over the year and payed for them as we went along.
Food is cheep, petrol is even cheeper (hire a car, its a must)
Kids absolutely love it.

The only down side is the quwing, 170mins for one ride, it was heaving, absolutely chock a block every where we went, even in the evenings. 2 hour wait for a table at a restraunt.

Highly recommend it still though, its a fab place.

Leass then £3000- don't have the paperwork but posting it on- 2700 for 3 weeks- 2 in hotel and last one without - will stay with my cousin further south. Thought that was a great price, have annual insurance so didn't take theirs.

It was in the going places in bishopbriggs- worth a call maybe.

We couldnt book flights until 11-12 months in advance as i recall, we just waited.

i booked a last minute with First Choice last week,got a fab deal cheaper than spain!
it was £1100 for 4 of us for 2 weeks at one of the travel inns on international drive.thats with free travel ins,and a hire car.just had to pay extra for car insurance which was £315 then of course you have your theme park tickets and spending money after that but it definately worked out cheaper to get a last minute.not entirely last minute-12th may.