Anyone like to share their experience with us? It would be interesting to hear of any "inside" Tips for travelling between villas and attractions, shops etc
Anyone like to share their experience with us? It would be interesting to hear of any "inside" Tips for travelling between villas and attractions, shops etc
Keep a polystyrene cool box in car especially is you don't have a boot. Put frozens water bottles inside to keep drinks cool for when you come out of parks. If you decide to go shopping afterwards then valuables (cameras etc can be hidden in there out of view)
Take a small towel and change of underwear if planning to go on wet rides, or wear swim wear.
Take large plastic bags to put your shoes in on wet rides, saves squelching round afterwards.
Keep larger towels and change of clothes inside car.
If you're looking for specific items to buy then either search for stores on line or ask in shopping thread for advice.
If you're a shopper for bargains then my favourite shop is Ross Dress for Less, loads of stores opening up now, similar to T K Max in UK.
Food shopping is a matter of preference, some say WalMart as it has a high turn over whilst others will say Target or Publix. I use DollarTree as well for household items are smaller sizes, ideal for short stays.
WallMart and Target also have travel sizes for items you may have forgotten to pack, Dollartree could also have the same but in larger sizes.
If your hire car has an ariel attach something from it to help you find it when returning from car park, it's amazing how many hire cars are the same colour. If you have a key fob that might help you find it.
Take your sat nav or hire one, it's easy to get lost in Disney, the roads are similar to the entry to each ride. Cleverly disguised to avoid traffic jams!
Finally visualise the map of Florida, travelling around the roads are similar to a grid system. You will have to decide to either go North/South on odd number roads and East/West on even numbers. You'll see for eg I4 West to Orlando and East to Tampa after driving from airport, Kissimmee is below Orlando so would need to go East.
Realise most villa renters will receive guidance to get to villas but this simple advice took me years to understand. When you've been travelling for over 12 hours the more preparation before hand the better.
I was trying to remember the best snippets we've learnt over the years. We rarely do the parks now but vividly remember that feeling of being soaked from the water rides. Still have trouble finding the car in Walmart after spending a hour browsing the store, sometimes have to unlock the car to see the lights blink or set the alarm off to find it.
We got caught out in a thunderstorm this Febuary on the journey from airport to villa. If the skies are really dark and you're in a park find somewhere to shelter, same when driving, pull into a parking lot as it can be difficult to see where you're going.
Your tip about identifying your car made me smile. On our first ever day in Orlando more than 25yrs ago we arrived at our first park, universal Studios, very early due to jet lag. We were one of the first cars in the car park, we duly parked and skipped off to the park entrance without giving it a thought, it was long before the multi storey car park was built and I don't remember the parking lots having a name. When we had been in the park for about an hour or so my husband won a huge Bart Simpson doll at one of the fairground type stalls, not wanting to carry it round all day he decided to take it back to the car. He was gone for over an hour and I was there with two small children, very little money no credit card or car keys and was imagining all sorts of things from him being taken ill to being abducted! When he finally arrived back I blew my top, I was so anxious, and he said, "do you know how many gold coloured toyotas there are out there?" It was a lesson well learned, we have always taken careful note of where we have parked and tell our guests to do the same!
We always freeze small bottles of water to take out with us. I find most water fountains are slightly warm in the parks but if you still have some ice left in the bottle they aren't too bad to top up the bottle.
If we are doing the same park twice we choose 1 day for water rides and tend to wear some swimwear that day. Never wear trainers as these are awful once wet, we all wear sandals. This is all days when we visit theme parks as those downpours do leave very large puddles to squelch through.
We like to visit a few nicer restaurants but build these into our rest days - find I dont appreciate a nice meal after a theme park day.
If you have an american credit card - Red box DVD rental is a real bargain for lazy evenings or quiet days
Christine
Red box DVDs rentals ---you can use a uk Credit card I do every holiday,I thing you only need to know the zip code.
Last edited by stephen williams; 20-09-2014 at 06:35.
http://www.orlandovillas.com/Villas/625.aspx
I can confirm the use of Red Box DVDs with a UK credit card - yes, just put in the villa Zip Code
A tip for the ladies, don't over pack, I know it's your holiday as well but you'll find you'll wake early and washing doesn't seem such a chore there. I always do it on cold with a colour catcher, use the tumble dryer in the evening.
Friends went to Florida with their 2 teenagers, I could see she didn't think much of this piece of advice but she agreed later that she should have listened. She packed as normal for 2 weeks away and most items didn't get used.
Less clothes means more room in case to bring back "stuff" back.
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