Questions on Disney Florida.

[Goldfish]

We are off in July for 2 weeks in Disney. WE want to get tickets for unlimited access to Walt Disney and Universal. I have looked at different web sites and the 7 day and 14 day passes don't seem to have much difference in price so I thought I may as well get 14 day passes fo Disney and Unversal ( 2 passes each) in case we want to visit more than one park in one day. With 2 adults and 2 children I worked it out at £948. Is this about right or is it cheaper to buy them over there. BTW we got a really good deal by booking with Travelcity direct over the internet, who came highly recommended. My friend works in a travel agent and usually gets us a good discount but even she could not match their price. Has anyone else booked through them?

hi
We allways book with Travelcity Direct For our flights, thay are realy cheap and we never had any problems with the flights. We have had Villas of them but would not recommend them to any one, not very clean and miles away form any wear and dont work out very cheap if there is only for of you. We have found a villa that we think is Fantastic, right next to Disney, modern very clean and south facing on the pool area( a must if you want some sun)Platinum Villas .As for the Disney tickets i would go for the 7 day Hopper pass and the 3 day Universal. These passes never run out so you could use them in ten years time if you dont use every day. Lets face it you dont want to go to a parks every day or you will need a holiday when you get back, and then there is the shopping, two days at least.It is much better to do one day at the park and the next day relax, i think you will enjoy the holiday much better and you children wont be tired.

we got 10 day passes for Disney when we went to Florida in Oct and struggled to use them - there's a lot of other things to do and see - Kenndey Space Center and Seaworld, shopping, chilling by the pool at the apartment, going to the beach - agree with Sallyme that you don't want to do a park every day - or maybe you do?

How old are your children - mine are 5 and 3, so have limited stamina

we went sept '03 - had 10 day pass for disney and 5 day pass for universal. managed to use them not a problem! deffo get them before you go - stalls selling them over there sell out of date ones!

We are going back to Orlando for the 3rd time at Easter. Last time we went was for 10 days & we got the 5 Park Flex ticket for Universal (only). We don't do shopping, or anything like that & only had 1 day off. TBH we were bored with the whole thing by the time we went home.

The first time we went we didn't take the kids & only had a week. We had 3 days at Universal, 2 days at Disney (MGM & Animal Kingdom) & 1 day at Discovery Cove, with a couple of short trips (1-2 hours) to Seaworld. That was enough

In answer to your question though, that does sound about right for the price, or even on the cheap side, considering that a 7 day Disney ticket is about £150. Had you remembered that "children" are only up to & including 9 years old? 10 year olds are "adults".

Disney have changed their ticket structure and now operate a system called "Magic your way" (details below),

Disney World has announced a new ticket plan called "Magic Your Way" allowing guests to create their own ticket. Magic Your Way ticketing will start January 2, 2005. Guests to Walt Disney World Resort can begin purchasing "Magic Your Way" tickets to the various theme parks, attractions and other entertainment offerings that are tailored to the length of their vacatin and the interests of their group ? and save more per day based on their length of stay.
Creating a custom ticket is easy, just choose the number of days wanted on a base ticket (that allows a visit to one theme park each day)and then select from a menu of ticket options that includes: Park Hopper Option, Magic Plus Pack Option, No Expiration Option, "Magic Your Way" Premium Pass or Advance Purchase Savings.

Ticket Glossary
One-Day - Valid for admission to one park only ? Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, or Disney's Animal Kingdom. The one-day ticket does not allow park-hopping or use of the Disney transportation system.
Base Ticket - Admits guest to one theme park per day's use. Park choices are: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Park Hopper - This option added to your ticket can be used at all theme parks ? Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, or Disney's Animal Kingdom ? on the same day and also includes use of the Disney transportation system. It is available for either two, three, four, five, six or seven days. Add $35 to each ticket for this option.

Magic Plus Pack - This option entitles guest to a specified number of visits (between 2 and 5) to a choice of entertainment and recreation venues. Choices are Disney's Blizzard Beach water park, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park, DisneyQuest, Pleasure Island, Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. Add $45 to each ticket for this option.

Premium Ticket - This option combines the benefits of Park Hopper and Magic Plus Pack options. Advance Purchase Premium Ticket reflects savings available if ticket option is purchased prior to arrival at Walt Disney World Resort.

No Expiration - Add this one-time fee so that unused admissions on a ticket have no expiration date.

*All tickets expire 14 days after first use unless the No Expiration option is purchased.

The Universal ticket you purchase should be valid for both parks. Would advise you though to do one park each day rather than park swap.
If you use the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant you will need to get your hand stamped to get back into the park. You will need to also show them your admission ticket.

Hope this helps

We went to Florida last eyar also with Travel City Direct. The journey there was excellent, and the villa was a in a fab location only 2 miles max from Disney. Cars were great too. We did have some problems with their customer service - had ants in villa (hundreds, one night all over DD in bed ) They kept trying to blame the hurrican - not true at all. But once my dad really went for it and told them that DH (he's a solicitor) was with us and would take action on return home - they upgraded us and moved us Flight home was a bit dodgy but only because of an airline issue which was not their fault. We also got compensation of £200 per person (there were 7 of us, not including DD) on return too.

We got tickets through Travel City and they costs £330 per person (for last August, so without these new tickets that are out):

• 14 days Universal (paid normal 2 days price and got 14 days for same amount)
• 10 day park hopper for Disney, which includes extra days in the two water parks
• 1 day Space Centre
• 1 day for Sea World (got a free second day on arrival at Sea World, which is pretty common apparantly)

There were 7 of us: me and DH, DD who was 2y 3m, my parents, and my brother and sister (all adults).

We did do something everyday - either a park, water park, or space centre. No days off for us - and we were generally in the parks from morning to night

DD, even at that age, loved the whole thing and was on the go, trying every ride she could, the whole time. She even refused to nap most days as she was so scaared of missing out and was not impressed if we suggested going home before the fireworks!

Have a fab time; it was so magical when we wnet. I'll never forget that look of utter delight and wonder of DD's face. It was there morning till night every single day

Thanks so much for all your answers. I have just had a quick read through them but I am now going to read them all properly . My 2 boys will be 10 and 11 btw, so I do know I will need adult tickets. It all seems really confusing, there seem to be so many options. We have actually booked the whole thing bar the tickets with Travelcity Direct, car villa and flights. We have been abroad often before but never managed to to the Florida thing, we are actually off to Lanzarote in half term. There just seems to be so much to choose from. I would imagine we would go to a park most days. Even if we had a lazy day by the pool in our villa, I would think we would go somewhere in the evening. I am about to read your posts in detail. Thanks so much all of you for answering. I really appreciate it.

I have my own 3 bed villa with pool over there so go out quite a bit.
With the pound/dollar rate the way it is you will be much better off buying your tickets in the states, most places will deliver to your villa when you get there, or to your home here before you go out.
There are a few to choose from
here
and here
email me if you want any more :-)

Thanks Jordylass. Your villa is gorgeous. You lucky thing. I did look at renting private villas but every one I looked up was booked up, so I just did the whole thing in one go. I bet our villa won't be anywhere near as good as yours though!

Thank you
When we first went we had the all in package through a travel agent.
The next time we searched around the net and booked private, and then we bought our own.
Our first trip was supposed to be a one off trip of a lifetime but we fell in love with it.
You do get a few extra touches going direct with the owner, but we had a lovely house with the travel agent as well.
I found travel city direct worked out very expensive when the car insurance was added on and it made more sense to get all the components seperately when we were more confident about it.
It is an amazing place, with many lovely things to do away from the parks as well if you get the chance.

It doesn't seem as 2 weeks will be long enough!
We are actually in the process of selling a property here, one which we rent out as flats. We have considered buying abroad but I don't know if I would have the guts to do it. We would be making an excellent profit on our property if it did all go ahead. We have tentatively looked at Spanish properties but that is it so far.
Yours seems like a success story though - good for you