We are now thinking about Florida and Disney, would be grateful for any advice (-:

[christmosschops30]

So I might have persuaded dh that we need something special next year and I quite fancy disney and beach but just want to know a few things and if anyone could post their recommendations that would be great

1. We can only go in July/August, will the temp be unbearable?
2. Is 3 1/2 too young to go (dh thinks so)
3. is the renting of a house a good idea, it seems a lot cheaper but there must be a catch.
4. Do we definately need a car
5. Is food as cheap as everyone makes out?
6. Is 5 days enough to spend at the disney parks, dh hates parks so I have to compromise, I know you could spend 3 weeks there but theres no way he will go for that

Think thats it but will probably think of loads more

Has anyone been to Clearwater or St Petersburg? which would you recommend?

Having been to both I would say that St Petes is better for families.

Comapre flight prices carefully for the weeks you travel - Virgin are more expensive to fly with than BA on some weeks. Only BA and Virgin do direct flights into Orlando.

scrummymummy - re your comment on Discovery Cove if you go to Discovery Cove you MUST bring photo ID with you for entry. They won't let you in otherwise. Would also suggest you book this well in advance and read the tripadvisor reviews.

Attila - Thanks for comment on Discovery Cove - DH was looking at it last night and we will be booking this weekend.

I have been to Clearwater and stopped at the Sheraton. Clearwater is lovely and we took a boat trip out looking for dolphins which we did see.

DISCOVERY COVE WAS AMAZING!!!

It was the best day of our holiday- we went there the day before we flew home to just have a complete day of relaxing - I would have payed to have visited it everyday if I could afford it!! the food there was of a very high quality also.

I cant wait to go back to Florida

There is another place to swim with dolphins isn't there ? dd would love it .

LIZS - yep think you could do an organised bus excursion to swim with dolphins - is it MIAMI?

Have spoken to Virgin and going on 4th August for 4 of us would cost £3800 which I think is really good, this includes flights from MAN, car hire for 2 weeks, car insurance, and 7 nights in kissimee and 7 nights in St.Petes.

However just looked at the two hotels (Best Western Lakeside in Kissimee and Holiday Inn Sunspree in Marina Cove, St Petes and they have awful reports

Dont know what to do now

Why don't you see if you can get in to the Sheraton Vistana Villages where we stay - it is in the virgin brochures.

By the way £3800 sounds bloody good!

Thought it was in Orlando area still. Friend did it but am sure it wasn't Discovery Cove.

Is that post at me LIZS? Thought what was in Orlando?

Yes scrummymummy I thought it was very good too, we did try and price a villa but was over £6k , this is apparently so good because the car comes as some sort of deal with the hotels, am very tempted to book. The Kissimee hotel wasnt too bad but the Holiday Inn in St Petes had shocking reviews

sorry no that was to scrummymummy re dolphins

scrummy the vistana villages look lovely but infinately more expensive than the best western

I dont know what to do now, is it worth spending all that money and staying somewhere shit or should we go closer to home in a posher hotel??

How come holidays are so stressful to book

doesnt take much to confuse me today LIZS

If you join the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (free) you can get up to 10% off at Virgin Holidays by quoting your membership number.

I think the reason why the Sheraton Vistana Villages is more expensive is because they are apartments rather than hotel rooms.

The first year we went booking the whole lot through virgin going on the 10th July 2006 it cost us £3600.

The boys have their own bedroom with their own double bed and bathroom and tv etc. We have a bedroom with bathroom and a separate spa tub.

It is beautiful and the surroundings are lovely also. It depends what you want. We do not spend all our time at the parks, so having a lovely apartment to use on our days chilling is great. On the other hand, if you are using your place to stay as just a base - does it really matter if the reviews are not so good?

I always look at trip advisor and someone can complain about the least little thing which might not bother you so you gotta bear that in mind - your priorities might not be theirs and vice versa.

Well we will want somewhere nice for St. Petes as will be chilling, using pool, beach etc and that one has the worst reviews.
The Best Western is not so bad.
Think I may price up the vistana anyway just to compare, it does look lovely.

Just looked at the reviews, I knew it would be the americans that did all the complaining. They always do. These are the ones that when they go the malls, they don't park and then walk around the shops, the park outside one shop go in and then move the car onto the next shop.

Forgot to say that this is a timeshare resort we stay at. It does not bother us or a lot of other people that stay there. They do not hound you or anything like that. If you get asked if you would like to go to one of their presentations - just say no if you don't want to.

We went 'cos they gave us $150 and we told them at the outset we would not buy - this was ok.

A lot of resorts in Orlando are timeshare.

I am booking my flights today - do dah do dah

I am booking my flights today - do dah do dah day!

Christmoss - have you booked anything yet?

lol see other thread about dh unreasonable behaviour
Looks like its back to the holiday drawing board for us

Awww. I would just book something you like the look of and then tell him nearer the time.