View Full Version : Never Been Before - Need advice please
Hi
We have never been before so please bear with me.
We are going Orlando and staying at the Travelodge International Drive on 26th August for 2 weeks. There are loads of things that we are unsure of.
Firstly we have got a free hire car in the price of the holiday (which is £2084 in total) The car has basic insurance included but we have been told to upgrade the insurance if we choose to take the car. Rather than take the car we said we will probably just have transfers which are £29 per person. Is it worth having a car? I have had conflicting advice from travel agents saying we should or shouldnt.
Secondly how much spending money roughly would we require? I know that it depends on person to person but a rough guide? We are thinking to save about £2000. We have 2 adults (23 years old) a 16 year old and a 5 year old going. We want to spend quite a bit on clothes.
Also (sorry to go on) We want to cram in all the parks and all the things you should do. We are going MK, Wet and Wild, Universal, Epcot and Busch Gardens. Am i missing something?
Thank you in advance for any help. it would be brilliant.
Madabouttigger
27-06-2005, 00:08
Hi and welcolme to the site. 1st of all you have come to the right place, if you take time to read through the various posts you will find loads of information on Orlando.
As far as the car - I would say it is a must. Orlando is huge and the parks are spread over a large area. Have a look at the links at the top of this page and it will give you some idea of rental prices. The car option you get "free" with a holiday booking is usually very basic and you will need to upgrade the insurance and possibly the size of the car.
If you want to cram all of the parks in, you have missed out Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios, Both Disney water parks and Sea World. Again look to the links at the top of the page and you will find some very good prices for tickets.
In a 2 week period you can fit in all the parks and some shopping but it does get very tiring.
Have a fantastic holiday, the 1st visit is always the best and from there on you just keep going back for more. I'm sure we will chatt some more soon!
Diane.
PS - Have you also considered going to the beaches at Daytona, or Coco Beach, and of course Kennedy Space Centre....[msnwink]
E. Cosgrove
27-06-2005, 00:15
The upgraded car insurance is usually very expensive and you may find it is a cheaper option not to take the "free" car but to hire one independantly. Check out the link above for car hire, you may find a package with fully inclusive insurance for less than you will pay for insurance alone on you "free" car. Many people who are booking fly drive holidays choose this option.
In my opinion a car is an absolute essential as public transport is nothing like it is over here.
One quick thought though.....is the oldest person in your party 23? If this is the case you will end up paying a hefty surcharge on your car insurance for drivers under 25.
50sumtng
27-06-2005, 00:21
Don't even think of going without a car.
You will never get to Busch Gardens without.
You have missed SeaWorld off your list - one of the best theme parks.
Also Kennedy space centre is a must
Have a great time
LiesaAnna
27-06-2005, 00:32
dont know where to begin with this!!
firstly you must like the others have said have a car!!
and take out a better insurance, better to be safe then sorry,
then the parks sort out what you like best of all, some parks are a bit quieter with rides so to speak then others, if you want lots of rollercoasters then Busch Gardens is a must!!
i would do so many and then come back another time[msnwink] there is always an excuse to come back, i know people who "crammed " it all into one holiday and then needed a holiday to recover from it, as said above its very tiring when trying to do "everything"
hope you have a great time!!!
steph_goodrum
27-06-2005, 00:43
"Don't even think of going without a car.
You will never get to Busch Gardens without."
You can get a shuttle bus to Bush gardens which picks up at Sea World and various other places for around $7 return per person.
Staying where you are then it is feasible not to have a car as the I ride trolley is only a couple of dollars and I suspect you may have shuttles to the parks from your hotel. By the time you add up the extra cost of car hire it may not be too bad and you could possibly use a taxi for a change.
I have guests staying at the moment on their first trip for just under 3 weeks and for medical reasons they are doing a day at the parks and a day at the malls, villa etc as they found very quickly that if they tried to do it all then the effect of the holiday would be spoilt and said they would rather save up and go back than feel it had all gone past in such a blur they hadn't had chance to enjoy it.
Ray&Sarah
27-06-2005, 01:17
Personally we would not be without a car it gives you so much more freedom to come and go as you please. Having said that staying on I-Drive the public transport will get you to the Disnay & Universal Parks and to some of the malls. There are four of us in our family and we usually budget about the amount you are taking, presuming you have bought your tickets up front. You will have a great time with or without a car.[msnsmile2]
Andy & Arlene
27-06-2005, 02:12
You can certainly do without a car staying on I Drive. Many hotels offer free shuttle buses to the parks, and you can get the bus from Sea World to Busch Gardens at a small cost each. As has been mentioned, the trolley runs up and down I Drive and is easy to hop on and off. Friends of ours arrived in Florida yesterday for their third trip and have chosen not to have a car. They didn't have a car second time round either, although they did the first time, but didn't feel confident on the roads. They are staying in a hotel on I Drive and will just get the hotel bus to all the parks.
You should look at the ticket link also from here as that would save you a lot of money on the gate prices. Have a great holiday
dolphinv
27-06-2005, 02:50
Try to do 2 or 3 days parks and have a rest day, we always sit down and to a rough day by day guide of what we want to do before we go. We found if we didn't it takes half the morning to decide what we are doing. We start with seaworld the day after we arrive as its more relaxing and only 2 rides but lots of shows, then we do a couple of days Disney parks and then rest day by the pool and light shopping on I drive.....i'm sure you will have a great time but more resticted if you rely on public transport...but not impossible:D
Thank you all for your advice. Its been brilliant, topic only started a few hours ago and amazing response already.
I will take a good few hours following all the links on here but i will be starting that tonight. I am taking our 4 year old daughter - she has been on the Disney site all afternoon, clicking on various links and is so so excited, i really cannot wait to see her face when we get there. She has seen some of the photos on here from the gallery and to say that she is excited about meeting the charecters is an understatement.
Another couple of things, someone has mentioned hurricane season is when i will be there? 26th august to 9th of sept? Is this true?
I will also be there on my daughters 6th birthday. What would be the best thing to do to make this very special? She wants to eat with Cinderella so i was perhaps going to save it for this day, is that a good thing?
Thank you all, brilliant
To get value for money when buying park tickets decide on exactly which parks you definatley want to visit. Then check out the tickets available to save yourselves money. eg for universal, sea world and wet n wild the Orlando flex ticket gives you entry to all these parks for 14 days with one ticket. Disney do a similar deal with different numbers of admission days available.
All the info. can be found on the park tickets link on this forum.
Have a fantastic time!
Hope you realise once you have been once you'll want to keep going back!
Magical Dreams
27-06-2005, 05:05
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by burbs
Hi
We have never been before so please bear with me.
We are going Orlando and staying at the Travelodge International Drive on 26th August for 2 weeks. There are loads of things that we are unsure of.
Firstly we have got a free hire car in the price of the holiday (which is £2084 in total) The car has basic insurance included but we have been told to upgrade the insurance if we choose to take the car. Rather than take the car we said we will probably just have transfers which are £29 per person. Is it worth having a car? I have had conflicting advice from travel agents saying we should or shouldnt.
Secondly how much spending money roughly would we require? I know that it depends on person to person but a rough guide? We are thinking to save about £2000. We have 2 adults (23 years old) a 16 year old and a 5 year old going. We want to spend quite a bit on clothes.
Also (sorry to go on) We want to cram in all the parks and all the things you should do. We are going MK, Wet and Wild, Universal, Epcot and Busch Gardens. Am i missing something?
Thank you in advance for any help. it would be brilliant.
[/quote]
Welcome to the forum
We have all been in your position.
First trip etc
You need to plan your trip very carefully, read the threads on here about the parks etc, Ask as many questions as you like.
The more the better.
You will only make the most of your trip by planning very carefully.
You will be surprised how much you can do in your time in Orlando, but you will find you will get more done if you have a car as you can venture out and about.
For Park Tickets http://www.park-tickets.com/
For Car Hire http://www.floridahire.com/
For Park Info http://www.onlinefloridavillas.com/orlando_guide/
Everyone on here will help you make the most of your holiday.
The customs Limit is £145 per person for bringing goods back in to the country, so please be careful. Although there are whispers about this changing!
Make a planner for everyday, this way you will know what you are doing in the days to come.
I can remember the first time we went!
You are so going to Love Florida!!
[lucky][lucky][lucky][lucky][lucky]
sundowner
27-06-2005, 14:04
Hello the burbs. How exciting, your first trip and things can seem very confusing with so much to see and do. We stayed on I-Drive for a few days last year and did not use the car, we used the trolley bus that others have mentioned. They run frequently and are cheap.
With your age group, I would say it is a must that you include Universal I guarantee you will have a good time, and the little one will love meeting all the characters there too. Sea World is another place we cannot do without - you can feed the dolphins and watch the shows.
Whatever you do, we can all guarantee you will have a great time and will want to go back.
bluebirds
27-06-2005, 18:40
Hiya we went for the first time in May this year. We packed alot in two weeks. We did not go to Busch Gardens. We went to NASA and it was fantastic. Seaworld is another good park to go to. We have just had the credit card bill in and because of the good exchange rate and it was a Nationwide one (Thanks for the tip)we did not pay that much. We took £500 out in dollars and then put the rest on the plastic.
Shopping is brilliant lots of places to go to. Another good trip out is Boggy Creek. An experience to do. Hope you have loads of planning your holiday i know we all did. And we want to go back.:D
Thank you all again for your advice. Booked it this morning with direct holidays, going on the 26th August 2006 and returning on the 9th of Sept. At least now we have booked it we can spend our time looking into the tickets etc.
LiesaAnna
27-06-2005, 19:30
a little girl eating with cinderella on her 6th birthday, sounds like a wow!! to me!!
i would save it for her birthday!! she'll love it!!
hope you have a lovely time!!
Madabouttigger
27-06-2005, 20:43
Regarding you daughters birthday - if you go to Disney Park on her Birthday and pop into guest relations, tell them that its her birthday and they will find a "Suprise" for her, and I think she will also get a badge to wear and all the cast members will make a fuss of her too. Consider booking a Character Meal and possibly ordeing a birthday cake too, this will make it a special day to remember.[msnsmile2]
we did all the disney parks and universal but we didn't do busch gardens as there was enough to do in the 2 weeks we was there,what we did for rest days was spend them at the water parks personally if your upto the challenge then you can do it we manage ok and wasn't tired when we got back its all down to how your body can cope,we are in our 30's and the kids are 8 and 10 and they managed ok with everything,this was our 1st trip and we ARE going back again for sure[msnwink]
Definitely take a car. I just can't imagine how you could do it without one. How would you be able to visit all the malls and where would you put your new purchases etc? Hopping on and off buses with bags of shopping and a tired 5 year old in tow would not be great in my opinion. Do the buses allow you to "cruise" while looking for a restaurant that's a bit different? We have always found that you find lots of other things to do which you spot while driving round.
Tonish
Hi Guys
Bet you are excited.
My advice would be always, always have a car. Especially if you want to hit the shops, Florida Mail is about l5 minutes drive from I.Drive and you may well want to go over to Old Town or Celebration one evening to get away from I.Drive.
Dont try to do too much in one visit. I know the temptation is great to cram as many parks in as you can, but try to have a rest day in between, especially with the little one. It will give you time to sit back and talk about the day before and look forward to tomorrow.
Believe me when you have been once you will want to go back time and time again, so leave something for the next time.
Have a fantastic holiday, but then again you are going to Orlando so you cant miss.
Steve and Dawn
30-06-2005, 19:43
I'm sure you will have a great time whatever choice you make. I personaly like the driving over there I think it is better than over here once you are used to it. So I wouldn't be without a car. It will be Hurricane season when you are there but that is no need to cause you any worries. Hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th and the amount of activity throughout this time is quite limited, with the exception of last year. So don't let that bother you. Treat this trip as a taster and do all the priority things first and then come back another year, and I'm sure you will, and next time come and stay in one of the beautiful villas listed on this site[msnwink][msnsmile2]
Hi we will be at thee travelodge 03 september till 17 september maybe bump into you. I will be the one with red hair and a twin as my sister is coming with me have a great time[8D]
Hi Burbs, have a great first time in Florida, we all agree you "will be back" for a second one.
If you want to organise a character breakfast or dining experience for your little ones birthday you have to book in advance. They get really busy and can be booked up to 2 months in advance. Heres the number to do it from the UK WDW Dining 001 407 939 3463.
I too would recommend a car if only to help with all the shopping and to save time on waiting for trolleys on I Drive.
Have a good time. Gill
We made our first trip in 2003, stopping two weeks. Following advice from the 'professionals' here we made sure we built in rest days. In fact, we enjoyed the days at the villa around the pool just as much as the parks (my daughter spent so much time in the pool she nearly turned into a dolphin!). Have a rough plan but don't be afraid to change it to suit your stamina - those early starts can take their toll! We are going back this year (three weeks this time [msnsmile2]) and plan to do some of the things we couldn't fit in last year. But again, we intend to take a steady pace.
First time around we did Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, MGM, Universal Studios, Island of Adventure, Seaworld, Epcot, Typhoon Lagoon and Kennedy. However, in trying to do all that we did 'rush' some of the parks. This time we hope to do Busch Gardens, Clearwater and Boggy Creek. And if we don't fit it all in, great! - we'll have to go back again [msnsmile2][msnsmile2][msnsmile2]
As for the car, we found it invaluable. You can plan your own timetable and the driving is so much more enjoyable.
Have a great time!
Rooster
upgraded car insurance may cost you more than just hire the car.