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The following are tips submitted from UK WDW fans. If you have
any tips or comments to submit on things like booking your holiday,
your favourite company, good or bad experiences, etc, please email
me.
"been to florida 9 times and everytime is different.i would
choose virgin atlantic premium for comfort although it was the most
expensive its the best way to travel but flying to sanford is easier
as getting out of the airport is quicker when you go through custom's
imigration and collecting your baggage(at orlando int you collect
your case they take it back and you have to get off another carousel)
and your car they give you a key and the lot number which is just
outside the door this cancels out the drive time. if you book your
holiday with virgin holidays hire a car with them as they have a
dedicated dollar desk you will see the difference and save 30-60
mins not queueing up.
goto beltz mall for trainers reebok do 3 for 2 plus discount vouchers
that can be used on top of any special offers (why bring back cheap
t-shirt for a pressie when you can get their shoe size and get 3
pairs of trainers for $80)wal-mart sell kids levis jeans for $9
and adults for $19 about £12, £50 over here." (9/04)
"With help
from www.wdisneyw.co.uk I've been able to 'phone in advance (of
our August WDW visit) to book places on 'Magic Behind the Steam
Trains'. I successfully booked but I was warned that my 10 year
old son would need some form of photo id, to prove his age. Please
put something somewhere on your delightful site so that UK visitors
can be prepared for this. Our son does not yet have an individual
passport, like many other youngsters I suspect. In the UK CitizenCards
are available from www.citizencard.net, free of charge to under
18's. We are now obtaining one for our son, ready to take with us."
(6/03) Sandra
"Pack some
clothes for every person in each suitcase you take. This way, if
one gets lost evey person still has clothes. Put a peice of paper
with your name and address on an inside pocket of the case in event
of it becoming lost. If your on your trip with Virgin Holidays then
join their Frequent Virgin club. You will get 10% off all tickets
in resort, get a free car upgrade (after going to the front of the
queue of course) at the airport and maybe at the hotel." (4/03)
Trevor
"Flying indirect
can work out much cheaper - we saved at least £150 per person by
flying via New York both ways. We even had enough money left over
for a four-night stopover in New York!" (3/03)
"We booked
our Disney package with Disney UK 2001 for a week at WDW then a
cruise for 7 days. We tried to change some of our details with Disney
and were meet with a brick wall! We then cancled with Disney UK
and rebooked with Disney cruise line. What a delite they are on
the ball and NO requeist is to small. Pay the extra on a phone call
and book Disney US or use the internet. It works out cheaper."
(8/02) Ed
" wish i had
known about that American Expresss Insurances covers car hire CDW
etc ,I etimate it would have saved me around £400." John
"A great tip
for getting over jet lag- once you get there it will be about 3/4
in the afternoon local (10 boby time!) most people want to go straight
to sleep...But dont!! you will wake up super early and it will take
you longer to adjust to normal time. Instead we suggest collecting
loads of disney brochures (easily available from airport/hotel)
and then going for a nice meal in Downtown Disney to look over them
and do a bit of planning. Then we go to the cinema. We got back
to our h o tel at nine (AND completely exhausted!!!)but we slept
well. However, YOU WILL STILL WAKE UP EARLY!!! about 5/6 am is norm
for us, instead of just getting bored trying to get back to sleep
we use this as an advantage to get to the Animal Kingdom for opening
and ride the Kilimanjaro Safari with no line. Then for the rest
of the day we relax at typhoon lagoon.Zzzzzzz."
"It's always
cheaper to phone Disney accomodation direct and book your rooms
yourself, consider staying in two or three resorts and Disney will
even move your luggage for you for free. Also there are saving on
Disney rooms in mousavers.com advertised on the net which you can
quote by phone to get big discounts. It's always cheaper if there
are more than two in your room to book direct."
"This is a
good financial trick: The Virgin price for three adults sharing
one standard room for two weeks at Disney's All Stars Music was
about £3300 including Flights, Rooms, and the Unlimited Park Hopper
Plus. The Virgin price for the same, at Disney's Carribbean Beach
was in excess of £4200. So when we got out there, about the second
day, we phoned front desk and asked if we could transfer from DASM
to DCB for the remainder of our stay.
They charged us a flat rate of $40 dollars extra per night - which
if we had done it for all 14 nights would be $560 plus the 11% percent
Orange County Hotel tax (different from the 6% sales tax), total
$621 = (@ 1.4 $/£) £440
Compare £440 with the extra £900 and that's an extra £460 quid to
spend on mickey mouse ears, Eeyores etc.
Obviously there is no absolute guarantee that the upgrades will
be available but it is quite likely that one of the moderate resorts
has rooms availiable
Discounts/Offers
Also: if you travel with Virgin Holidays (the tour operator, not
the airline, virgin atlantic), you can become part of their Humorously
titled: Frequent Virgins club.
benifits include 10% of your holiday, and if availiable free room
upgrades (within the same resort - All Stars / Pop Century (when
it opens) only have standard rooms, so this is useless here!, and
also free car upgrades if available (remember you will still have
to pay the sales tax on the upgrade, and the insurance premium (particularly
for drivers 21 - 25) will probably be more pricey too.
A word about the flights - assume this applies to most airlines
but i've only flown with virgin: If you check in early enough, and
have no mobility problems, you can request emergency exit seats
(although you are chillingly told at check-in "in the event of an
emergency, you would be expected to help, you won't get to just
jump off" - Thanks, i'll bear that in mind...) ,
which basically have about three rows worth of empty space in front
of you. This sounds great - but here's the bit they don't tell you:
The arm rests are fixed down, whereas normal seats have movable
armrests: I am of the "larger persuasion", and I found that at the
end of the flight I was left with actual bruises on my hips where
i'd been 'squished' between armrests. If you are a 38" waist / size
22 or bigger i strongly suggest that you don't get these seats,
or you sit on the floor in front during the flight. Instead, if
there are a few empty seats on the plane, ask the check-in staff
if you can arrange to have one of the empty seats between you or
next to you, and ask him to block that seat from being allocated
so you can 'stretch out' a bit - normally they'll be reluctant to
block a seat if it's in the window rows (A thru C or H thru J on
a Jumbo), so you may end up in the middle column.
Upgrades to premium economy are £699(!) if you reserve them, or
£199 per flight if you take a chance and buy them at check in -
again this is virgin's prices - it'll be different on other airlines,
and may change.
By the way -if you are offered a dish with their pureed carrot in
it - it's horrible - don't eat it!" Ant (tigger)
"We have just
booked to go to Carribian Beach Hotel and found that the Disney
Travel Company were about 10% cheeper than anyone else!" Nigel
C.
"A new international
information center has opened in Downtown Disney's West Side across
from Forty Thirst Street. The center is designed to assist guests
from all over the world."
"We do a fly-drive
and upgrade the car to full size 4 door (2 adults and 1 child).
We always hire a house with a pool somewhere around Indian Wells
area."
"Before you
visit a travel agent, use the Internet to get information on the
hotel you want to stay at or what events are happening at Disney,
get information on the airlines, find out other peoples comments
on airline seating plans, what the best and worst seats - then go
to the travel agent, ready to tell them what you want.
I normally book through a travel agent, but this year I'm actually
booking my trip on-line - making a saving at present. If you decide
to go the independant route, make a check list so that you don't
forget anything. I would recommend, that you book your hotel first,
If staying on-site, rooms come and go pretty quickly. There is always
a flight going to the US (Eg fly KLM via Holland). If hiring a car,
booking on-line can save you some money. But be aware, you can't
pre-pay CDW, EP or PP. Otherwise, book a fly drive - this will also
get you a higher rate of protection (Liability insurance).
If you find that to can't get a direct flight to Orlando (Mco),
ensure that you ensure that you have a plenty of time to make you
connecting flight in both directions. On the outbound flight, you
need to clear customs & Immigration, this can sometimes take a long
time. On the return flight, flights out of Orlando (Mco) can be
delayed if there is a thunderstorm around. For an example, on one
trip I had to fly from Orlando (Mco) to Dallas to Gatwick. The connecting
time in Dallas was Fifty minutes, my flight from Orlando was delayed
Forty-Five minutes due to a thunderstorm. I always try and purchase
a upgrade on my flights to the US. It allows you get there in a
more relaxed way.
If you have hired a car, there are some tolls around the airport
(Mco). Heading West along Beeline there are two sets of tolls, and
heading east there is one. Therefore it is best to have some one
dollar bills on you, These would be also handy for tipping (in the
airport, If collecting a car from a off-airport location - the driver,
bellboys & valet parking) and using the trolleys in the airport.
Best Hotel - Wilderness Lodge (but will be staying at Grand Floridan),
Most Relaxing Hotel - Disney Inn (Now Shades of Green - US Military
hotel) / Wilderness Lodge, Crash at night Hotel - Port Orleans,
Childrens Hotel - All-Stars & Caribbean Beach, Best Meal - Artist
Point (Wilderness Lodge), Worst Meal - Food Court (Caribbean Beach
- trying to get something for Five family members and be able to
sit down and eat together), Best purchase - A Length of Stay pass
(can be cheaper if purchased in the UK, but depends on when you
are staying), Worst Purchase - The yellow poncho." Cliff
"Top-up car
insurance for UK visitors to WDW can be very expensive, especially
the type which is sold alongside package holidays and fly- drive
tickets. American Express premium annual travel insurance includes
Collision Damage Waiver and Supplementary Liability Insurance when
you hire cars in North America. Although the Amex holiday insurance
is quite expensive compared to other companies (£238 for two people,
taken out in August 1999), I find that it was worth paying the extra
for the car hire.
Are you a real Disney-aholic? If you think that you might visit
Florida two years in succession consider buying an Annual Pass for
WDW. My first trip to WDW was at the end of August 1998, the second
trip at the beginning of August 1999. Both trips were covered by
the same Annual Pass. AP holders also get certain discounts around
the park, including large discounts on Disney hotels during off-peak
periods if you book directly with WDW. Spread over the cost of two
holidays, the APs worked out far cheaper than other types of ticket."
Rob
"Disney World
and Florida in general is the best holiday ever ,once you've been
people who have not think you're obsessed, which i suppose i am
! I stayed in a 4 bedroom property with pool outside of Disney but
would like to try Disney properties also."
"Have stayed
at most of the Disney hotels. I would never book thru a TA other
than flights. One year we had a large party and booked a Vacation
home, we never looked back we prefer the extra space and privacy.
Also had 2 nasty experiences while onsite, a young girl was assualted
at the GF and we were mugged at the contempory. Apparently it is
quite common. Security is very lax and anyone can go anywhere without
being questioned. It has not put us off though we all love Disney
World."
"Take as much spending
money as you possible can, Orlando is a shoppers paradise and you
will see plenty of goodies you'll want to buy.Another reason is
Disney tickets don't come cheap, expect to pay about $190 for a
five day pass, expensive for a family of four or five. Don't believe
your travel agents who tell you to buy your tickets before you go,
you'll save yourself money if you buy them on site, honest!
Eating out in Florida can be as cheap or expensive as you make
it, but expect to have better quality and quantity than in the UK.
In your hotel you will almost certainly come across Orlando tourist
magazines. In these you will find discount coupons for just about
everything that's going on in Orlando. While a lot of these are
rubbish, you can save money on admission fees and discounts on meals,
so take a look and pick the ones to suit you.
If you like a drop of the hard stuff, don't waste your money on
duty free, on International Drive there is a place called The Liquor
Store, here you will find spirits much cheaper than back home, but
don't forget you have to stick to your allowance.
If on the way to your hotel you come across a K-Mart or Publix
store, go on in and stock up on juice, milk, cokes, snacks and anything
else you might need. These are excellent stores that have nearly
always got what you want, at value for money prices. One of the
best things you'll buy, could be a styrofoam cooler for around four
dollars. Put this in the boot of your car, filled with cokes and
ice and your drinks will stay cold for at least half the day in
the Florida heat. Believe me, after walking around a car park the
size of a small town, looking for your car, you'll need to cool
down!
Talking about the car, you WILL save money if you pay for the
various insurances and taxes at the airport, again don't listen
to travel agents who tell you it's cheaper to pre-pay before you
go it's not! If it suits you to do it that way then do it, but you
can save money paying locally, but lets face it, either way we're
all getting ripped off with the cost of LDW and SLI. The best way
to look at it is, there's no such thing as a free car and you do
have to pay for it. Car insurance aside, you will find that nearly
everything you buy in Orlando is good value for money.Florida is
not the cheapest of holidays for us Brits, but I've yet to meet
someone who didn't enjoy their holiday to the Sunshine State or
think they didn't get value for money."
A big thankyou to Peter Thomas for sending the above tips.
"If there are
6 or more of you Rent a vacation home. You will get first class
accomodation, your own pool and quick access to the parks. Kids
will have there own bedrooms -wonderful."
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