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Old 8 Apr 21, 05:40 PM  
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#11
Lullington
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We’re having a totally different holiday with no Disney this time so have hired a car. Looking forward to getting out and about more although I am a bit panicky about it as it’s been 13 years since we last had a car!
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Old 8 Apr 21, 05:43 PM  
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#12
mick
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Originally Posted by Lullington View Post
We’re having a totally different holiday with no Disney this time so have hired a car. Looking forward to getting out and about more although I am a bit panicky about it as it’s been 13 years since we last had a car!
It's just like riding a bike - 5 minutes down the road and it will all seem normal again.

Mick

PS

Having said that I don't think I've ridden a bike for over 25 years.
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Edited at 05:45 PM.
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Old 8 Apr 21, 05:55 PM  
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steve@mac155.f
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Take a look at the planning section on the Dibb Guide book it might help you with some of your planning the Guide book is a great source of info.

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/Planning-c-68.html

If you have any questions you can not find answer to just ask the question and someone will be able to help you out.

Happy planning

Steve
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Old 8 Apr 21, 06:41 PM  
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cornishfrogboy
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Having read your opening post, I would look at this.

Like Mick and Joan, I am no great fan of Disney, have only stayed on site once and haven’t even visited a Disney Park in my last 5 Orlando visits. That does not mean that there is anything wrong with Disney, merely that there are many, many alternative attractions in the area that are of equal quality and arguably better value. It is imho, simply not the be all and end all of a Florida vacation. It does not even have to figure at all.

There are three primary groups that dominate the Orlando attraction business, plus some other peripheral activities that you may also consider.. or not. I strongly suggest that you get park maps for all of the big three, peruse the activities and tube those that interest you.
1. Disney, with Parks Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios. They also have two water parks, namely Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. Parking is around $25 a day and they have on site Hotels.
2. Universal Studios with Universal, Islands of Adventure plus water park, Volcano Bay. Parking is around $25 a day and they have on site hotels.
3. Annhauser Busch with the fantastic Discovery Cove, Seaworld, Busch Gardens and water park, Aquatica. Parking is free with a Discovery Cove ultimates and they do not have on site hotels.

With all of the above, your son’s age may count against him as it comes with height. Most of the good rides have a height requirement of 54 inches. I do not know your budget or your family interests, but you clearly have to decide how many parks and which will be visited. For 3, you are looking at very app £1300 for Disney, £900 for Universal and £450 for Annhauser Busch if you do not swim with the Discovery Cove dolphins.

Having decided upon the above, you then have to make a plan. You could dummy book October 2022 in order to have an insight on a real booking for October 2022, commencing with the flights in late November of 2021, when the prices will have hopefully stabilised a few weeks after release of the return leg of your flight deal. This will initially release at 355 on British Airways own website and 330 days for pretty much all other airline and search engine sites..
There are elements to a vacation and having decided on a general plan, I would always seek to book in this order..
1. Always flights as this is a huge outlay and the price varies considerably if you play with departure and arrival airports as well as dates. I regard a good working knowledge of the tabs on Google flights as essential. I simply find it the best research tool. That does not necessarily mean that I will find the best price, merely the cheapest route and dates. I then try the same criteria on all other sites including that of the airline in question.. Hint.. may find that flying out of Heathrow and into and out of Tampa may save you a fortune, whilst still being direct.

2. Accommodation. That is down to you, on site, Villa, hotel suite or resort condo. With what you have said, I would be considering Lake Buena Vista Village Resort and Spa.. or similar as this is a first trip and social interaction in the evenings May pay dividends. This is a very large resort and many know it for the pirate galleon in the pool.
They have spacious 2 and 3 bedroom suites.
They are near to Disney and Annhauser whilst not too far from Universal via the I4.
The pool is decent and with a Poolside bar.
There is free parking underneath the blocks (thus cool).
There is a Walmart very nearby and a gas station.
There is a (smallish) outlet Mall next door.
There are complimentary shuttles should you tire of driving.
Whilst self catering, there is also an Irish Bar/ Restaurant.
There are pretty much all the most popular restaurants nearby.

The above is simply a suggestion. We are rather more experienced and this experience has decided us that as family of four we prefer Villas these days, but with villas comes isolation.

3. Car hire. I would, as a new visitor only consider going through Andy at DFCH. He is very unbiased, very competitive and very, very helpful. This is undoubtably why he is so popular with Dibbers.

4. Tickets. Tickets for Disney and Universal stay pretty stable on price, whilst Discovery Cove ultimates can give great deals on Black Fridays.

That should give you something to think about. I am very aware that you may get overloaded with info in your early days of planning. With this in mind, I have kept things very simple indeed, yet hopefully effective. With experience, you can make things far more complex, yet easily achievable as you fine tune things, multi accommodations, multi centres, multi states, regional flights, AMTRAC, the list is endless.. but for the future (possibly)
These vacations are actually very easy to plan and from your second visit onwards, you will find it very simple. You will also find your own best practice.
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2005 onwards.. lots of times!

Index of all my Trip and Pretrip reports..https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...6#post15662196

Edited at 10:29 AM.
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Old 8 Apr 21, 09:41 PM  
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Gill H
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There are family suites available onsite - look at Art of Animation.

The thing about WDW is that it is absolutely massive, and all the resorts (ie hotels) are large too. So if you stay onsite, you can walk around, go jogging, they have sports and activities like campfires, movies by the pool, all sorts of things. I've known people stay at a Disney resort for a few days and not even go to the parks every day. Plus there are all the other areas to explore such as Disney Springs and the Boardwalk. Also, you can visit all the resorts even if you aren't staying there, and many of them have great restaurants and lots of things to do.
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WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14
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Old 10 Apr 21, 03:17 PM  
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HFJohnson
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I know you were considering two rooms but if you want to focus primarily on Disney (and there is more than enough there to keep you busy for two weeks or more) then my recommendation would be to stay onsite in a Disney hotel. As you have only one child you shouldn't be as tight on space as bigger families can be and, as Gill mentioned above, there is a lot to do, places to sit, get food etc at the resorts outside of your hotel room. That way you won't have to worry about car hire or parking charges as we found the Disney transport pretty good on the whole.

Having said, my recommendation for onsite hotels usually takes into account the free dining that's been offered in the past. if that's not on the table this year then you might need to price up offsite vs onsite to see if its worth it.

There is a LOT to do in and around Orlando but I would avoid trying to do it all in one visit as you could end up being overwhelmed. I think Disney alone is a great place to start, with maybe two or three days at Universal if your budget allows.
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