Never Been Before - Need advice please

[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.

[Madabouttigger]

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]

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]

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]

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]

"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]

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]

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.

[Steviek]

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]

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