Anyone planning a trip to Orlando? Join in the excitement here!

[ArtyFartyQueen]

I'm in the midst of planning a trip to Orlando, Florida - our 3rd trip and last time there was a chat with others planning which was nice to be part of!

Anyone want to share their plans?

We stayed at St. Pete beach last time and it was idyllic. We are going again to Disney next year, taking our kids and their partners and staying in a nice villa, but I'm eyeing up Madeira beach for a couple of nights too. It's so bloody expensive though and I'd have paid for 2 weeks Disney passes already.

We have a brilliant Disney planning excel spreadsheet if anyone wants it, it's a masterpiece 😬 pm me !

This is my first Mumsnet post! I came across your thread whilst researching for our holiday ;) We're heading to Florida next week and after time at the Keys, Miami, Everglades and Sanibel Island, are staying in Orlando for a week (self catering so that we can take our own packed meals into the parks). I'm trying to work out which parks to go to as kids are 6, 10 and 11. We thought we'd go do 3 or 4 parks with days off in between but the cheapest way is to get a 7 day Disney OR 5 day Universal pass so am not sure if we should do that, or pay daily and go to both.

We did EuroDisney last year and they all loved it - so I'm tempted by the 7 day Disney Pass and perhaps get a one day ticket to Universal...but I guess if we have that we won't be having our days off!!

Any advice gratefully received, thank you!

Thanks all for replying - it's so exciting to hear everyones plans! @thisisthelaststraw - I love Tim Tracker, they did a review of the hotel we're hoping to stay for the first 3 or 4 nights and we've loved watching their new volcano bay videos too - this was being built when we were last out there and could see it being built from our hotel window so DS particularly, is very excited!

@jambalaya - your plans sound great, we loved going to Kennedy space centre, DH and oldest DS did the extra paid for tour and said it was definitely worth it but it was a long day! I hear Clearwater is stunning so that might be worth a visit in your third week? The other idea, if you have the budget is a cruise, you can cruise quite cheaply from Port Canvaeral - the last two times we've been, we finished with a 3 or 4 night Disney cruise round the Bahamas which was fab and the perfect way to end the holiday!

@KitnCaboodle, absolutely - I'm excited for you! Hope you're prepared for the hot weather! Thats such a sweet idea making bags, I really wanted to keep it a secret from the kids but I'm just too excited and want to talk to them about it all the time! Have you been on Etsy? There's so many amazing personalised things on there, I got a lovely autograph personalised book for DS last time.

Thanks for the tip @musicalstatues - I'm obsessed with the Dibb and wake up in the middle of the night to read trip reports! I'm already following dixonsontour and have listed all her suggestions on my Florida spreadsheet!

@glenthebattleostrich - excited for you too. Where are you staying? I love a Disney hotel but truth be told DH can take it or leave it and much prefers Cabana Bay at Universal!

No experience of QSDP @goldenhour, we had the DDP last time which was amazing and particularly loved the restaurants at Animal Kingdom and in the hotel.

@Awks, I'd love to compare spreadsheets, so please do PM me if you don't mind sharing! My friends were shocked at my obsessiveness with my spreadsheet!

I'm excited for you @moonmilly. Who have you booked with? You can get joint Disney and universal tickets which most of the time work out cheaper. Better to get them sooner rather later and then you can book fast passes for Disney to hopefully avoid some of the queues! Would definitely suggest joining the Dibb and reading some trip reports and also joining some of the facebook groups such as it's Orlando time etc as you will pick up lots of tips. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions - always happy to talk about Florida!

Our virgin holiday rep emailed us today with an even better deal, so hoping that once DH has done some sums, we can put a deposit down this weekend! I think he'll do it just to stop me going on about it!

I am! Really would like to go back summer hols 2020 but holding out with everything crossed for the free dining offer to come out...

We went in April 17 for our 'once in a lifetime trip' and stayed on International Drive, with 1 night in Royal Pacific at Universal and had the best time. Ever since we came back we've wanted to go again so trying to make it happen for next year. Would love to do 10 nights at disney and 4 at universal this time with the QSDP at disney and be completely immersed for 2 weeks.

I love the dibb and Orlando TIme on facebook...think I'm slightly obssessed!

Yes! Looking to go next Spring and already stupidly excited! Just us two grown ups (no DCs).

It'll be our fourth time in 10 years. We never stay on Disney property either. We always rent villas around Kissimmee and the last one we had was only a 15 minute drive to Disney. We always book lakefront properties with private pools so get to chill out and watch the wildlife, which in one case included an alligator watching us from the lake! I was very glad of the pool surround!

For those looking to do Airboat rides around the area I can highly recommend Spirit of the Swamp. And for Manatee swims, definitely Manatees in Paradise in Crystal River. Just amazing.

DP is a huge Star Wars fan, so we'll be doing early rope drop entries at Hollywood Studios and also at AK for the Avatar rides as I doubt we'll get fastpasses not staying on Disney property.

By then the new Harry Potter area at Universal will be open too and they've also had a lot of changes since we went last.

I absolutely cannot bloody wait!

I'm waiting for flights to open up. At the moment, it looks like we can get Thomas Cook Premium seat flights very reasonably. Has anyone used them before? We've only ever flown Virgin.

We're going after Boxing Day for 2 weeks, can't wait. It's been 3 yrs since we last went, the DDs are super excited.

We went March 13 for a once in a lifetime trip.....have our 5 th trip booked for November and hoping for free DDP to book for next year!

Staying at AKL this year. Stayed for first time at Disney hotel last year for half of holiday and other half on IDrive.

Love the parks at Christmas

I’m literally counting the days until free dining is released for next year.

I can’t imagine them getting rid of it. I know we probably wouldn’t go and stay on site if they got rid. The food is too overpriced to justify staying on site otherwise.

I keep saying this is our last time as DD is getting older and we’ll start going to more cities etc. However I am tempted to go back when she is 16.

@AFQ, I have been looking on Etsy and Facebook for inspiration. I’ve ordered personalised autograph books from someone on facebook and waiting for them to come through. Next on the list to get is T-shirts and bags for MNSSHP

WRT the heat, we are buying spray fans and have been recommended cooling towels too.

Our youngest has been out of a buggy for more than 2 years now but we have got him another one second hand for the trip. That way he can hop in if he’s tired.

We go in 3 days - 6 days at Disney (staying at Port Orleans Riverside), 2 at Universal (staying at Hard Rock hotel for express passes) and then a week in Clearwater. Kids (12, 10 and 5) are beyond excited. Agree with the dibb as my bible of all things Disney. Have also been reading Brits guidebooks and unofficial guidebooks for tips on things to do.

Hi! We are hoping to go in January/February (home educators so can go off peak, plus we don't like the heat too much) next year. 4yo, 7yo, 2 adults (maybe 3 if my mum comes too).

Will be flying from Scotland to Orlando, probably via Gatwick and then on Delta - that seems to be cheapest.

Like the look of a few Virgin packages, but I'm not sure we'd want to stay in Orlando the full two weeks. Can you buy flights and a week's accommodation through a company like them but do your own thing for the second week?

Like the idea of staying in an apartment within a complex with swimming pools etc so there is stuff to do on site - anyone have experience of any of these?

Would like to do Disney for probably 2 or 3 days (it's so expensive though, OMG!), then a day at legoland (kids really want to stay at the hotel there but idk) and also the Kennedy space centre.

What is driving there like? Is it scary?! And what do you do about car seats?

@LegoPeopleEverywhere I can't answer much of your post I'm afraid, but I can reply on the driving.

It's really, really easy! Biggest challenge is finding your way on to the right road out of the airport when your sat nav doesn't work in an underground carpark, but once you're out it's really simple.

There are a few toll roads around, so make sure your car either has a pass where you can pay as you go, or that you have some single dollar bills available.

The Brit Guide to Orlando book is a must buy for anyone visiting Orlando. The tips are brilliant and there's an excellent section on driving that teaches you everything you'll need to know (turning right on red lights, etc). If you find the book on Amazon Link Hopefully you can "look inside" the book and section 3 covers driving. Pages 48-50 particularly will be useful to you.

When we go to the USA I use an old phone with a 3 PAYG sim card in it.

For £20 you get unlimited calls, texts and 12gb of data, which is perfect for using Waze as a sat nav, and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying or renting a sat nav. It also has live traffic on it.

It's also handy in the parks when their wifi is a bit patchy.

We’re going for two weeks in October! My big planning decision this time is Universal/IoA. DD(will be 14) is desperate to do their Halloween Horror Nights. I have absolutely no desire to go, nor to Universal in general this time. DH has said he’ll take her, probably stay overnight at a Universal hotel, and DS(will be 17) says he’ll stay at WDW with me- though I suspect he might change his mind.

At the moment, the tickets on sale are just the BOGOF ones, but it looks like in previous years you could buy single night tickets for a bit less after the BOGOF stops. So I’m hoping I’m best not buying tickets now and holding off! We’ve never done HHN and the ticket options are confusing.

Oh, and we’re not renting a car this time so we’ll see how that goes.

Just come searching for a thread as we (just me and dp, no kids yet) are in the early stages of planning to go May 2020. I've been before in 2011 and it took a lot of convincing him but think he's more excited than me now!!
Want to try and do 7 days in Orlando and considering 3 days by the beach but not sure whether we should just do 10 days in Orlando with a couple more quieter days, Daytona seems to be the closest (loved Naples where I stayed for a week last time but it's too far this time) can anyone recommend Daytona?
Also not going to bother with Disney, so thinking of staying at one of the new universal hotels, probably the one opening in July which will mean we have free transport around universal so considering not hiring a car like you wicked unless we go away for 3 nights at the end. Just need to do a bit more research into getting to the malls etc without a car although hoping it won't be too bad being close to I-drive at universal?? But then there's getting to KSC, a must for DP...arghhh so many things to think about!! Going to crack on with a spreadsheet tonight!

We’re going to use Uber to get to the outlets and for DH/DD to get to Universal and back. I’m figuring it’ll work out rather cheaper than renting a car, especially when I add in the parking charges at the Universal hotel!

dessingdowndonna Have you considered the beaches on the West coast, past Tampa (Clearwater etc)? My personal opinion is that they are nicer than Daytona, but that might just be because I am old and when I grew up in the US, Daytona had a bit of a reputation- might be completely changed now, of course. I’m going back 30 years with my view.

We're going tomorrow! Still packing!

Just pricing up Disney tickets, OMG. I think 3 days would suit us, then we can do Magic Kimgdom and Epcot then am extra day at whichever we love best. But for a family of 4 that seems to be about £500 A DAY even with a deal! Is anything worth that much?! Tbh our kids are more into Lego, so I wonder if we should just skip Disney and spend more time/money on other attractions there.

Currently looking at a weekish in Orlando and then some time in Tampa and St Petersburg.

Thank you @FunnyHappyGirl for your advice on the driving!

if you really want to post with excited Disney freaksi mean nuts
www.thedibb.co.uk

I'll amend my earlier moan - I found a place where it looks more like £1k altogether for 3 days, though I'm not sure if they ship tickets to the UK. Still, sooooo much ££ and my kids are only 4 and 7, so quickly get tired or hungry and I'm not sure I can take that sort of "omg this cost so much you'd better ENJOY EVERY SECOND" pressure to have a good time

@LegoPeopleEverywhere

Best thing you can do with kids of those ages is get up early, go to a park, go back to your hotel/villa at lunchtime and chill out for a few hours by the pool then go back to a park in the evening.

We tend to do full on days but it's just the two of us adults and we do a park every other day for 2 weeks with a couple of doubled up days.

Also, have a look at Gatorland. Your kids will love it!

We want to do KSC and Busch Gardens again next time we go.