Yeah, although there was plenty available up until few days before. Plus things change through the day, previously unavailable ones often come up.
Wifi was pretty solid in most places
By the way Thomas cool now fly Orlando and Miami. One of our friends is a cabin manager with them so we got a bit of a discount to Orlando. We flew back from Miami and had a night there, cost difference was massive. Without discount 2 adults and one child was £444 total Miami to Manchester
Been a few times to Orlando the last being 2015 and now planning for next Easter with friends.We've always booked to stay offsite because of costs and also the freedom of staying in Villa with pool etc... We've stayed in Lake Davenport before and the drive to the parks isn't too bad, last time we rented a Villa in Windsor Hill (gated community in Kissimmee) and more than likely will return next year.For the ease of getting to parks, local restaurants, Downtown Disney etc... I really don't think you can beat it.
Universal Vs Disney - it really depends, is this holiday going to be a once in a lifetime thing? If so then you have no option but to cram it all in, you'll need a holiday once you've finished but at least you can mark it off the bucket list.Personally don't think you can go to Orlando and not do the Disney Park.Also depends if your kids into Rollercoasters, our son "White Knuckle Ride Fanatic" now 11 whose philosophy is scarier the better, means that we will possibly give Disney a miss next year and will go to Universal and Busch Gardens etc...Don't get me wrong Disney has some great rides but in my view would say Universal is geared a bit more for older kids/adults.
There is also plenty of other non theme park related thing's to do in Florida and each time we've been we always made a point of taking a few days out from theme parks (trust me you'll need it) and in the past have gone to the beaches, airboat ride, state parks (Blue Spring great place). I would also highly recommend Discovery Cove, it's expensive but probably the best day we had last time we went.So car hire is must to allow you to explore and tbh driving out there is a piece of cake.
With regards to flights these usually aren't available until 12 months in advance well at least with Virgin (the wife can get 15% off Virgin flights through work) haven't looked at other operators.
It's sounding like the villa/house option is going to get me the best value and then shopping around for flights and tickets to get a deal.
Lot's of good advice here and I think we'd want to do a few things while there. Plus a teenager will be wanting to get some "branded" clothing so being near shops will probably suit him.
The holiday is basically a chance to take the kids here before they start getting too old to want to go to these places, and a better option than the Mrs suggesting just doing Paris .... data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Premium Outlets is the only place you need to go for clothing shopping. It has every brand name you could wish for and a load of places to eat too. There are couple in the immediate area. Good prices too.
First off, Paris is great but not even on the same page as the whole experience of Florida, so would definitely agree it's worth it.......
For Disney we don't really bother staying on-site anymore - you still have to travel to the parks, the hotels are over priced and the perks you get (mostly the extra "magic" hours) result in trips to the busiest parks at the wrong times. The theaming is good but for us it just didn't justify the negatives.
I know a lot like the villa option, but for us we still wanted that hotel feel and convenience so went for a "suite" hotel. These are often pretty cheap - we got a large 3 bed apartment with all the facilities but also had a large communal pool, bar and all of those things that made it not feel just like we were at home but in a different county. Last year I think we stayed at
Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa a staySky Hotel/Resort in Orlando - Hotels.com
and was really good. Still needed a car but was very central and made the stay a lot better. Was even opposite one the the outlets (was a smaller one though).
For universal though, I think it's massively different and can't recommend enough staying on-site. They are expensive but it's such a difference maker.
First up the hotels themselves are actually pretty good. Not great rooms but much better than other paces but the 2 we have been to (royal Pacific and the Hard Rock) have fantastic pools and we were more than happy to spend a lot of time there - we always enjoyed the evenings around the pool the best and they have pool side "dive in movies" and stuff going on after dark so lots of atmosphere and a really good time to wind down after the day.
they are also 10-15 walk to the park gates which is not only good for the morning, but also means that it's actually doable to nip back to the hotel - we would spend some time int eh parks, going back to the pool for an hour or two then go back to the parks later. If you are out you can't really do this and you feel like you have to spend all day in the parks which can take some of the shine away, especially doing it day after day.
The big one, at least for 3 of the 4 on site hotels, is that your room key can be used to go through the "express" line in almost all the big rides (apart form Happry Potter). It means that you only have to queue for about 10-15 min for most rides and some not at all. Even if you are not big on rides I can't stress just how much more enjoyable this makes the day though. As well as going on all the rides you want it just frees up so much more time to see and do all of the other stuff and makes everything go at a much better pace. We could go on loads of rides in a couple of hours, back to the hotel and chill and do the same in the evening so easily.
They are expensive but you get use of the room express pass on both check-in and check out days, so for a 2 night stay you could have 3 full days which is more that enough to do the 2 parks there. Personally we always try for about a 3-4 night stay there then move out to somewhere cheaper for all the other parks inc Disney.
Loads of tips on here so feel free to ask and am sure you will be inundated, but make sure you at least do some research before you go. Will make a big difference (especially for Disney - that place is a minefield). My personal favourite in Orlando is Discovery Cove - very expensive and some people don't really "get" it but if you do it's an amazing place.
We've got our villa (Windsor Hills too) for 21 nights but we're actually staying at Universal for 1 night in the middle purely to get two whole days of express passes. Costs about £50 per head to do but worth it
Totally agree on this, better than the main malls, wife picked up a michael kors handbag (apparently thats a popular design?!?) for about half what she would have paid in the UK. Saw plenty of other bits there too
Wife and I fly out two weeks on Monday and we cannot wait.
Idea :
I don't know how long the kids get off in October where you live, but if they do get a fortnight, then do go at this time.
- Less crowded
- Cooler and more importantly, far less humid.
- Better skies and much less rain, storm season over ( as a season )
- Cheaper air fare ( I think, probably )
- Leaves the summer free when its nice here anyway to enjoy with family, mates and local stuff.
Only downside I can see is shorter operating hours and maybe not all shows running. But then, could you last a 14 hour day at a park. day after day, in the Florida summer anyway ? Hmmm.
IF your kids get a fortnight for the October break, DO use this window of opportunity for the Florida parks. It is the smart choice !