Florida & Disney with a 3 year old and a 5.5 year old

[ChestnutsRoastingonanOpenFlier]

Am I mad to even consider going?

Can anyone give me any tips an where to stay, where not to stay or go, should I take a buggy for 3 year old?

I have the virgin brochure but there is so much info and choice, I just don't know where to start!

Also, teh longest flight my DCs have been on is around 4 hours - How do you cope with your energetic DCs on the flight?

The flight should be fine. They will have a film to watch or take a portable dvd player. Flights are usually full of families so nobody minds kids wandering up and down. I took a small gift for my lot eg crayons and colouring in book, stickers and pad, etc. They were allowed to open something every hour and this would keep them amused for part of the next hour.This year my 3 year old played with stickers, polly pockets, play doh, coloured in, magic painting and was no bother.

Okay, thanks Meadow6, thats some good ideas for the flight.

Are the hotels corny, or would the dcs really like them? and how long is too long to stay? ie Sometimes I think that 2 weeks is too long but would a week be long enough to see everything we wanted to?

have you thought about Euro disney? much easier to get to and I thought it was better than Florida for littler kids

I thought of it, but with Floridas you're pretty much guaranteed the weather. We went to The Algarve last summer and weather was pretty terrible don't want that to happen again, although I know you can't always plan for the weather

true cant plan for the weather but with Disney it doesnt really matter and if you stay ina disney resot hotel, they are so catered for kids its even fun staying in!

If you are going to florida go for two weeks. We go for 3! A week is way too short for what you will want to do .Sorry but for me, I wouldn't go to Paris instead . The weather is so important. I can't comment on the disney hotels as there are too many of us for this to be an option. Plus I don't like sharing with my kids on holiday!

Not all mad; it;ll be fab.

We have taken DD at 2y4m and 4y2m, and we are thinking of gong again next summer when DD will be 7y4m.

We have always stayed in a villa and really liked that option. The private pool has always been a great bonus.

The flights were fine. DD slept on and off, and played with toys, etc. Virgin were fine. Travel City Direct were a poor comparison, but were cheap at the time.

3 year old will need a buggy even if they don't normally use one. Your 5 year old might even like a ride sometimes, esp if going when very hot.

The days are long and busy, but great fun. DD adored it and speaks of her holidays there all the time with so much animation. She was a huge ride fan and we ended up in parks every day both times, and normally for the full day and evening. We couldn;t get her out, lol!

The Paris park are not as good, def. They are far busy and have much longer rides, ad the weather is much more likely to be variable and cold!

However DLP is fine for shorter breaks. We did 5 days in term time and it was fine. School holidays the queues can be sooooo long!

I agree 5 day is enough in paris, i just found florida queues were hours and it did actually rain, also gave up trying to meet the characters because of queues, we stayed in holiday inn resoert hotel but not actually a disney one but it was great and food was great, swimming pool loads for kids to do in the hotel and free transport to and from disney and euro tunnel, everyday, all day. I guess it all goes on your experiences, obviously florida itself is far more exciting

If you are going in school summer holidays go late August as US schools have gone back and the parks will not be as busy, still busy though. August will be extremely hot and humid - it is hurricane season. You will probably get some thunderstorms late afternoon, possibly even a full blown hurricane. We were in a villa for hurricane Charley in 2004 and "lost" 2 days of our holiday (not moaning though!).

With younger children I would look to stay in a condo - something like Floridays where you have the flexibility of self catering but the benefits of hotel facilities unless you want to stay in a Disney hotel.

You will have more choice and probably save money (not always though) if you book everything independently. Start with flights, then hotel, then car. Buy your park tickets before you go.

Your children will love it and so will you. We love Florida although we don't do Disney any more - there's so much more to Florida than Mickey Mouse.

We were there for Charley too - but luckily it only made us made half a day of the parks. Our villa wasn't affected at all. Disney was open next day.

Have been in June and August. Both very hot and humid. We did have rain most afternoon but you can see it coming and your can plan meals around it. We did. And as it is so warm everything dries up really quickly after. We generally only lost an hour each day, bar one where it lasted most of afternoon.

Our villa was ok too, Hula but what we hadn't anticipated was the difficulty in getting petrol for several days after the hurricane passed. Thunder and lightening storms are quite magnificent if you like that sort of thing (we do).

We went in the October half term this year and had the coldest October temperatures on record but I still got burnt! Have also been in February and been in the (heated!) pool at 10pm.

Definitely go for at least 2 weeks if you can. We went for 6 nights once as a late booking. I mean, people do NYC for a weekend and Florida's only about 3 hours further.

We have stayed here at the Sheraton Vistana Villages the last three years running - a two bed apartment.

At the real quiet end of I Drive, 10/15 mins away from all the major attractions. Actually, Seaworld/Discovery Cove/Aquatica 2 minute drive away.

The parks at disney/mgm etc do have their own buggy hire and its industrial twin buggys with fab one handed stearing, so you can put both kids in there quite happily, I had an 18mth old in one side and a 7 year old in the other side! defo take the buggy for the 3 year old though, as they won't want to walk in the evening, if your planning on going anywhere other than the theme parks. Have always found Virgin great to fly with, especially with the kids, order the kids meals with them too, as they come 1st and have lots of nibbly bits that they will graze on for hours. We stayed at the holiday inn, at a bargin $25 per night incl breakfast, (the cheap one on international drive) which was ok, but I think next time we go, it'll be a villa, as we hired a car for ease anyway!

Bella I saw those, they look lovely

They are lovely Frizbe and the entertainment they put on for the kids is brilliant (on your pool days).

The staff are fab too.

We always fly with Virgin - they don't mind the kids helping themselves to drinks etc.

thanks everyone allyour comments are very much appreciated.

So, unless we stay in one of the disney hotels, would yousay the car hire is a definite must have?

Car is a must imo.

If you end up staying on I Drive, then there is the I Trolley which you can catch but it literally goes to every destination and can take forever. Last year we decided to get it one evening so I could have a drink (I am the driver and DH navigates) and we only wanted to go to the other end of I Drive, it took about an hour and 15 mins.

This year we took a taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal (about 15 mins away) and it was $25 dollars for one way, so when you factor a tip into that then for a return journey you have already spent $60 plus.

But, you could factor the costs of the taxis into your spending money.

We always use Dollar Car Rental - think it cost just a little under £200 for 2 weeks.

thanks bella.

Disney hotels are expensive, but you are "on property" which means you can travel round the parks easily, and pop back for naps, rests, swims with no hassle.

We always stay in Disney hotels, as they are fantastic. It just makes the whole holiday, and I'd rather scrimp in other areas and fully enjoy the experience.

I would go on "The Dis" website if I were you. Tons of info and tips. Also buy an UNofficial guide to Disneyworld which explains all the procedures. A trip to Disneyworld is more of a military campaign than a holiday, because if you don't plan properly it can be a bit overwhelming.

Disneyworld is fantastic, but you really need to put in your homework before you go.

By the way, it's brilliant for any age.

thanks fircone. can you tell me which website you mean? and where can I buy the unofficial guide to disneyworld?

fircone - on our flight back this year there was a family of mum, dad and two teenage daughters on the row in front of us.

They obviously had not done their homework as they said going to Florida was a huge cultural shock and hated the humidity (was July/August),hated the queuing for rides, hated the busyiness of it all and the food.

The mum said to the daughters - I will never put you through that again, I am really sorry, we will do our normal holiday in Wales next year (not that there is anything wrong with Wales) but I just could not believe that someone could spend all that money and not realise what it entailed.

I went with two 2 yos, a 5yo and an 7yo. I'd def get a villa and a car. It's so much easier with children to have your own place to do laundry, cook, pack up picnics, sit in the evening and order a take out with the kids in bed when you need a break. Villa rental is also quite cheap there, we had our own with a pool and it was lovely, and I think about £700 for the fortnight, but there was 9 of us. Our villa was in kissimee, which isn't too far from I-Drive. Kissimee has a lovely lake too with a kids park which is great when you want a bit of peace and a break from the parks.

The flight was hard work, but if you fly late at night it tends to be easier as they will sleep. Ours had stouch screens where the kids could choose their own movies. We flew with air canada and stopped off in canada. I think the break helped too.

I'd def take the buggy, the parks are so big and it's better than having to pay for stroller rental each time. If you want to go round the shopping outlets, a buggy is essential really.

we went for two weeks, did 3 parks, a few days shopping, the beach and drove down to miami and the keys. We stopped off one night at a hotel in between miami and the keys. I think a week would be too short.

I think october is supposed to be the quietest time for disney, but going at christmas was lovely and the queues were bearable.

Fly direct into Orlando. The two UK based carriers that fly direct into Orlando are BA and Virgin. Having used both airlines I would have to say that BA's service was better overall. Many of Virgin's aircrew seem more interested in talking to each other loudly about their exploits rather than in serving pax. They only do one drinks run throughout the flight and the rest of the time you have to go to the galley.

Two weeks is fine and you can factor in some rest days as well; a week is too short.

You can purchase the Unofficial Guide to WDW in any bookshop like WHSmiths or Waterstones or online.

I Drive is a VERY long road, if you stay on I Drive you want to be somewhere ideally between south of of the junction of I Drive and Sandlake Road and the convention centres.
If you go for a villa ensure that the pool is fenced off properly.

Would also suggest you collect your hire car if you choose to hire one the day after arriving at the resort. You will be more rested.

Also look at www.tripadvisor.com to read reviews and photos of the resort.

If you take a buggy tie something cheap and colourful to the handle so it can be easily recognised.

I recommend "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" by Bob Sehlinger. I think I got ours in Smiths, but you would be able to get it from Amazon.

I would say don't bother with outlets, especially with young children. A) the exchange rate is not good at the moment and B) they are full of British people looking for 'designer gear'. Ugggghhhhhhhhh.