Florida

[hemel07]

Planning a holiday to Disney next year. Trying to weigh up pros and cons for either a Disney hotel (meals included, free shuttles etc), or a villa or condo type accommodation. Neither of us particularly want to drive so somewhere with some kind of bus/shuttle to the parks would be ideal. All advice much appreciated.

Is that for 5 of you? I think that's ok

Check out floridatix for rough prices on the park. Does your Universal accommodation entitle you to queue jumping tickets?

It's tricky as flights are released 330 days in advance so the flight prices on Skyscanner etc won't all be out yet.

Flying out with Thomas Cook/TUI direct August 10th-24th 2019 from Gatwick is £4537. This gets into Sanford not International however so you would need transfers for about $100 all in.

10 nights Port Orleans for 5 of you in August is £4325 including quikc service dining.

Royal Pacific in Universal (generally the cheapest one with Express Pass included) is around £815 through Expedia.

That makes their quote around £600 cheaper but that's flying indirect, which is currently only available to book through agents. You could probably get it for around £8500-9000 when all flights are out, which wouldn't be a massive saving.

Hope that helps in some way. I'm not at all jealous that I have agreed to postpone trips until the children are older

I would add that if you can get a similar deal flying direct, do so. I thought it would be fine, but it was a real hassle (I flew through NY) and 3 hours was only just long enough to get us through immigration, customs then back to the gate for the connecting flight. And JFK staff were the rudest I've ever come across!

Good point about indirect, I think JFK and Newark are among the worst offenders for connecting flights though. Atlanta is huge but has lots of flights to Orlando that they'll stick you on if there's room in case of delays. We were delayed due to a hurricane in Miami but stuck on a plane an hour later with no trouble. This thread on TheDibb should help: www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1050463

On the point about weather, we were there during a Tropical Storm that came directly over Central Florida and it was like October in the UK but still about 16 degrees. Best to pack two or three pairs of trousers/jeans just in case but it wouldn't last any longer than that really.

Major hurricanes don't tend to go near Orlando with much force, but last year's was a bad year with Irma. Have a read of some people's accounts of their trips during early September last year to get an idea of the "worst" of it on TheDibb or DISBoards. The National Hurricane Center make predictions on the seasons every year to give an idea of how likely it is to be a bad year. The NHC website will provide updates on storm paths several times a day and the Weather Channel will be available on resort TVs so just stay updated whilst you're there just in case.

It is hard to know whether to sit it out and wait for flights to be released (when would that by in terms of month?) or just to go for it. The universal hotel does include the express pass thing. I think having done 10 days in Disney we might be happy to just do the Harry Potter part (is that Islands of Adventure?), would we be able to just buy a one day ticket when we're there? Or from here? Can only find combination tickets. Has anyone done the quick service dining plan?

It's 11 months before so you'll be looking at September for August flights. I would take their quote to Thomson/Thomas Cook/whatever they call themselves now! and see if they can do it with direct flights.

1 day in each Universal park is enough with Express passes, so two day park to park tickets are best. Harry Potter is in both parks with the Hogwarts Express linking them, requiring park to park admission to do the ride (never one to miss a money making opportunity!) You get Express passes from hotel check in so you can take advantage of them from park opening to closing on any day you're booked in to the hotel. Both parks will have plenty for children your age, but Disney is (IMO) more immersive and "magical"

I have only done the regular plan with table service but have eaten at most counter services onsite. There's plenty of help online to help you make the most of the plan, like this article for example www.disneytouristblog.com/dining-plan-counter-service-best-values/

You could always upgrade at a later date if you have a lottery win along the way

I'd say Op you should certainly do both parks at universal there's HP on each site 2 days or 1 really long one is enough to see most of both parks.

I've done quick dining, food ample heaps of snacks left to use on last day, but make sure your hotel has quick dining restaurants all up and running.

We found quick dining fine as time just ran away with us and we would never have made all the reservations. We just had a couple of lovely dinners out the rest of the time QD was fab.

You can use your snacks in Starbucks too, if you like all the frappes smoothies and coffees you save a fortune.

Here's a link to a US site that tend to have good Universal only ticket deals. They also have a monthly newsletter you can sign up to with extra discounts sometimes: www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/universal-orlando-resort/
(I still receive the emails and it just makes me depressed!)

Come with us Unihorn! Could probably do with a tour guide.

I found that it was good to revisit the parks if possible (much easier if staying on site too). We did both sides of HP world and it was pretty good, but we didn't do all the rides in one day and staggered it a bit. And it means you can go on again if you really enjoyed them

Don't underestimate the waterparks either - we found them great for some downtime either side of full-on park days. I believe that if you buy a Universal ticket that covers both parks it also includes their water park. We couldn't get into this waterpark as the people staying on site were there from 730am and it was full!

Been following with interest. Was interested to see the suggestion of doing a week at Disney and a week by the coast. Is a week really long enough to do all the Disney parks? Where's a good 'beach' resort to investigate? Apologies for hijacking!

I would love to! My family would be less impressed unfortunately.

You can see the highlights of the parks in 7 days but not everything, especially not two water parks and Disney Springs. It does vary a bit dependent on the age of your children and the time of year you visit though. We've done 10 days in September (one of the quietest times) and still missed one or two things. We've done 14 days in August with a 4 year old, only spending about 11 days in Disney parks, and covered most things.

Husband now questioning why we need the 4 days in a different hotel. Does he have a point? Perhaps we should just stay at Disney and venture out to Universal? Would be easier I suppose, not sure why I thought a change would be nice really . Its the port orleans riverside resort if that means anything to anyone?

Universal hotel is a good thing as it gets you queue jumping tickets - these are very expensive if bought separately (& you can be queuing for hours without them).

I would do 2-3 nights at universal, which should get you a decent amount of queue jumping tickets, early start passes and will get you into their water park (we didn't get in at all as all the space was taken by those staying off site).

Next time I will definitely have a few nights at the universal resort accommodation for these reasons.

We book one night at Universal within our Disney stay, so possibly see a travel agent's price for two weeks at Port Orleans and then book a night at Universal separately? It'll be about £200-300 through Expedia or someone and gives you a much more stress-free Universal visit with Express passes.

I haven't stayed at Port Orleans but my parents are big fans. There's a nice riverboat to Disney Springs and there's a good bar where Yeeha Bob the piano man plays!

Def stay at a universal hotel. It is so worth it to be able to get in early. ESP if it’s the HP stuff you want.

I've stayed at PO recently French quarter though.

Nice to get boat to DS of an eve and we did day at Universal just had a car for a few days.

If we just did one night in Universal, would we be able to do 2 days in the park?

Yep, you check in at 7am and get your Express pass photos taken. You then get early entry and access both days of your one night stay.

Thanks

Argghhhhhh. Its all gone pear shaped. That deal is now all sold out. New deal is 14 nights at World Quest Resort on Lake BuenaVista, in a 2 bedroom suite (with a washing machine! )which has some shuttles to Disney, including tickets its £8,025. So it sounds ok although not Disney and no meal plan.

Sorry if you've already said Hemel, what year are you booking for?

August 2019.

Well with my pricing above its £9700 including the perks of Disney and Universal, food and direct flights. You are likely to spend about £1000 on food for 5 of you in two weeks so it's what you'd prefer as a family really. We prefer not having to worry about budgeting for food on top of everything else. If it was me I would wait until September but try out different travel agents in the meantime using my findings above as a guide.

I should probably wait for the flights to come out. I'm just worried that everything will be sold out and I'll have to go to Scotland as previously planned. When I first started looking, the Lake Buena Vista would have been ideal but now I do have my heart set on full on Disney Magic! Can you go through those costings with me again Unihorn?