Can’t believe it but we‘ve booked Florida!

[ChoccyJules]

After years of reading threads (and goggling at the prices paid), DH decided we ought to take the kids further afield and spend a bit more than usual on a holiday. Usually we have a week in a seaside caravan or a cottage in an interesting bit of the country.

So we’re going at Easter and am so excited, even though it was him who wanted the theme parks, I can take them or leave them.

We are having 8 nights in a townhouse in Kissimmee (shared pool and clubhouse), 3 nights on the gulf coast in a villa with pool and 3 nights in Washington DC.

I have already started getting embroiled in tickets etc. Think we will do the 3 Universal parks as DD11 loves Harry Potter and we all enjoy water parks. Then 1 day at Magic Kingdom for DD7. Any advice, do say!

I have found that there’s an After Hours event at MK while we are there, so 6 hours in the park 7pm-1am with free snacks from 10pm and far less people. I really fancy it but realistically imagine the kids would fade after about 10.30pm. I hate the crowds etc. Tempting.

Does anyone recommend any of the other parks as ‚must-do‘s‘? We are going to go to the Space Centre and also have some down-time.

On the gulf coast we will enjoy the beaches and exploring (I once had a day in Clearwater and driving the coastline and loved it) and in DC we‘ll do the Mall and a couple of museums.

If there’s an obvious thing to keep in mind, can the experts let me know? Thanks!

I am desperate to go to Florida...just reading this makes me excited!
Looking forward to reading all about it when you come home! Have the best time!

You mentioned 1 of your DC had additional needs have you looked up getting a pass for them at all?

We won’t need a pass for MK as we are going to the After Hours event.

At Universal you have to ask on the day, it’s down to the person on the desk as to whether they will issue one or not and I believe it gives you the option of ‘virtual queueing’ for one ride at a time. We will certainly ask for one.

Re cost, it’s more than we envisaged but we have tried to keep it down by self-catering in villas rather than booking hotels. The park tickets are pricey. For flights we are going indirect to save money (but that gave DH the idea to also do the few days in DC, so I guess we swapped a saving for an extra payment there). It’s going to be more than 5K and less than 10K. Our usual holidays are usually around £500 so this is quite a big deal, and now there’s a huge worry that Corona virus will mess it up, eh if flights are cancelled or parks are shut.

@ChoccyJules I remember your first post on this. My SIL and family were also due to be going to Florida at Easter. What happened with your trip, have you been able to move to new dates?

I'm so sad to read this

I saw this pop up and started to read thinking op was talking about next Easter and I was thinking blimey for lots of reasons not least no mention of cv or insurance or anything. It felt like a fantasy fiction thread.then noticed the dates. Really upsetting for op. It was like a glimpse Back to what things were like so very recently. Really brought me down with a thud.
Hope op sorted out rearrangement/refund.

I just saw this. We’re booked for August but no idea what’ll happen now. It’s booked as a Virgin package in a universal hotel so ideally I’m hoping to postpone a year but I’m trying to get my head round it potentially happening but all wearing masks. Or it’ll be cancelled and next year’s prices inflated beyond our budget.

We had just booked florida for next year (October) a few days before disney shut!!

Flying virgin as it stands... but suppose its watch and wait.

I am pretty hopeful things will be back up and running by october next year but who knows...if cancelled its evident i booked prior to the covid crisis so my insurance (might) pay out for the initial outlay (?)

Op hope you have managed to rearrange!

I think parks will be open again by August. You are likely to be caught by requirement to quarantine when you get back though.

Hello everyone, I got an email to say this thread was busy again.

Unfortunately we have not yet been able to reclaim everything and I don’t know if we will.

The insurance we used was one we always use due to covering existing medical matters but amazingly (and yes we missed it when we excitedly booked at New Year, having always used them) it mentions no cover for pandemics.

So no help there at all. At some point I am going to ask them to refund the premium because the Govt would not let us go on holiday and we cannot use the insurance (and never will again).

Accommodation-wise, one villa did a full refund, the other did 50% (including 50% of cleaning fee and local taxes!!) and that seems to be that with them.

The theme park ticket agents are offering 80% back and I am going to fight that.

The flights will refund after a calendar year IF the airline is still solvent by then. This is maddening, we can only have a voucher that lasts 12 months or wait for a refund, not have one now.

So all in all, not good but I am afraid dealing with it stresss me out. I found a link to a consumer rights page on another thread and plan to email all of these people with quotes from that over the weekend.

Sorry for long update! Thanks for your concern

Thanks for update op. I got a real jolt of upset for you. Lots are in similar and worse positions. Sounds as though you’ve done a good job so far dealing with all of the mess. Good luck with the rest.

Which airline is telling you this re refunding after a calendar year?. Tell them direct it’s not good enough and you want a full refund.

Did you pay by credit card, I would talk to the credit card company about obtaining a full refund for all this rather than vouchers and or part payment.

We’ve just heard from virgin that holidays booked up to 30 Sept can be re scheduled. No idea re inflated price yet but we’re hoping to postpone to summer 2021. 9 of us though so concerned re availability. Will just have to see how it pans out.