Notices
Trip Planning Florida Florida Holiday Planning Questions, Suggestions and Tips.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 16 Apr 21, 08:31 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
DanniC
Excited about Disney
 
DanniC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 16
Location: North west
August 2022 different approach

Hi all... we have been to Disney twice and have fell in love with the magic. We are desperate to go back, but will the unlikely offer of free dining for next year and no fast passes it does feel like the staying onsite magic is fading...

We are wondering whether to do it totally different next year... staying offsite, booking flights separate, maybe do our favour parks with day passes ? Would like to discovery cove this time... maybe universal/bush again? See a bit more of Florida!

What have other Dibbers done?
__________________
——————————

Port Orleans French Quarters April 2017
Coronado Springs here we come May 2019 !
DanniC is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Apr 21, 09:47 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
jengibbo
Excited about Disney
 
Join Date: Feb 11
We have done various holiday styles and all have been great.
All have been DIY though.
2011- offsite week in Orlando just did Disney with DH, DS (2) and my parents. 2nd week in Jensen Beach
2014- offsite week in villa in Orlando and week at AMI. Just did Disney
2017- 5 days onsite and a week on AMI. Disney only

2018- Key west and rotunda. No theme parks at all.

2020- postponed until this summer. No Disney in the plans just Seaworld ticket.
Loved all of the holidays. Villas are great due to space, privacy and own pool. We like having breakfast by the pool and making sandwiches for the beach etc.
On-site is great due to convenience and the buses but space in a hotel room is limited.
My dream would be a week onsite and two weeks on the coast in a villa.
jengibbo is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Apr 21, 09:53 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
gjdjud
GEORGE
 
gjdjud's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 11
Location: Surrey

gjdjud's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 3
Restaurant Reviews: 26
I think free dining is unlikely but I think it’s wrong to say no fastpasses for 2022. I think once capacity starts rising then they will be back

We do split stays to get the best of everything. We are flying to Miami, driving up to Orlando, a week at Universal, 5 days onsite at Disney to get our fix and 9 nights offsite.
gjdjud is online now Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Apr 21, 09:57 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
DanniC
Thread Starter
Excited about Disney
 
DanniC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 16
Location: North west
Originally Posted by gjdjud View Post
I think free dining is unlikely but I think it’s wrong to say no fastpasses for 2022. I think once capacity starts rising then they will be back

We do split stays to get the best of everything. We are flying to Miami, driving up to Orlando, a week at Universal, 5 days onsite at Disney to get our fix and 9 nights offsite.
How do you go about organising all the different stays? Do you been direct with hotels ?
__________________
——————————

Port Orleans French Quarters April 2017
Coronado Springs here we come May 2019 !
DanniC is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Apr 21, 09:58 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
DanniC
Thread Starter
Excited about Disney
 
DanniC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 16
Location: North west
Originally Posted by jengibbo View Post
We have done various holiday styles and all have been great.
All have been DIY though.
2011- offsite week in Orlando just did Disney with DH, DS (2) and my parents. 2nd week in Jensen Beach
2014- offsite week in villa in Orlando and week at AMI. Just did Disney
2017- 5 days onsite and a week on AMI. Disney only

2018- Key west and rotunda. No theme parks at all.

2020- postponed until this summer. No Disney in the plans just Seaworld ticket.
Loved all of the holidays. Villas are great due to space, privacy and own pool. We like having breakfast by the pool and making sandwiches for the beach etc.
On-site is great due to convenience and the buses but space in a hotel room is limited.
My dream would be a week onsite and two weeks on the coast in a villa.
Thank you... I’m worried it will be hard to go all that way and not seen any Disney... not sure I could cope... 🙄
__________________
——————————

Port Orleans French Quarters April 2017
Coronado Springs here we come May 2019 !
DanniC is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Apr 21, 10:14 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
cornishfrogboy
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Location: Falmouth
You asked about planning...

I always now do multi state, multi city, multi travel means (cars trains and regional flights), multi disparate attractions throughout... in other words rather complex.

I am a totally uncomputer trained moron having been born in 1960 and have therefore only rather basic skills... this is how I execute these vacations successfully and it would equally apply to you.

I have an A5 ring binder containing lots of ‘slippery fish’ (plastic wallets). I decorate the front with my plans etc .

I go on word and create a table. The top line has Date, Activities, Cost, Paid yes/no , I.e 4 columns and I set them up to reflect how much text will go in each.
The horizontal rows correspond to the number of days in the vacation including travel to airport days etc etc.

I then simply work from this table whilst inserting the relevant paperwork printouts in my A5 folder with stickies on the front of each sleeve stating what is in each one. The front sleeve of the A5 book will contain a print out of my table.

This has never let me down on any vacation as it is so simple. You can change print types to separate facts and bookings from ideas. You can use colour coding. You can do exactly as you wish.

Before I leave, the table and all important documents are photographed onto my iPhone .. just in case I lose the book.

How do I book things? As much as possible directly with the supplier, although I do have a loyalty of sorts to ebookers where I get an 8% cash back by using my employer portal.

Flights I research on all search engines including airline ones, with a preference for direct contact to the airline. There is a certain airline that is ‘off limits’ to me following its awful performance through Covid.

Car hire. Many try Andy at DFCH and it can only be with good reason!

Edited at 10:28 PM.
cornishfrogboy is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 16 Apr 21, 10:16 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
gjdjud
GEORGE
 
gjdjud's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 11
Location: Surrey

gjdjud's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 3
Restaurant Reviews: 26
Originally Posted by DanniC View Post
How do you go about organising all the different stays? Do you been direct with hotels ?

I haven’t booked our Miami hotel yet but will probably book direct with the hotel, I’ve booked Universal with Orlandoattractions.com, Disney is booked directly with them and for our offsite stay I’ve booked a townhouse direct with the owner. I pretty much do everything DIY. Car will be with BA using my Avios points and flights with Virgin using some miles and flying club discount to lower the price.
gjdjud is online now Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 17 Apr 21, 11:12 AM  
Link to this Post
#8
NewtoOrlando
VIP Dibber
 
NewtoOrlando's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 14
Location: Middlesex

NewtoOrlando's Reviews
DIBB Villa Reviews: 1
Mobile

We always break it up. Do a mixture of onsite and offsite, fly into Miami instead of orlando.

2016 - 1 night Miami, 5 nights Disney, 11 nights offsite in a condo and 1 night universal

2018 - 1 night Miami, 2 universal, 5 nights Disney, 10 nights Villa

2019 - 5 nights Disney, 8 nights Villa, 1 night Miami

2020 - 14 nights Villa, 2 nights Lauderdale by the sea (this is obv cancelled)

2022 - 1 night Miami, 2 nights universal, 2 nights Disney, 11 nights Villa

We like to mix it up, so much to see and do, I could spend the whole time in one place. It’s easy to piece the whole thing together, just takes a bit of time and searching for what you want. I like to be in control of where we stay and what we do, and like the flexibility of booking it myself.
__________________
Rachael - x -


Miami/CBR/RPR/Bahama Bay Aug 16
Deerfield Beach/HRH/POFQ/Contemporary/Westridge - Aug 18
New York - Westin Grand Central - Nov 18
Disneyland Paris - Hotel Cheyenne - Dec 18
All Star Sport/POFQ/Aylesbury Villa/Deerfield Beach - Oct 19
Miami/Hard Rock hotel/Pop Century/Legacy Park Dibb Villa - Aug 2022

Saratoga Springs/Rosen Plaza - Dec 2024
NewtoOrlando is online now Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Apr 21, 07:19 AM  
Link to this Post
#9
DanniC
Thread Starter
Excited about Disney
 
DanniC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 16
Location: North west
Originally Posted by NewtoOrlando View Post
We always break it up. Do a mixture of onsite and offsite, fly into Miami instead of orlando.

2016 - 1 night Miami, 5 nights Disney, 11 nights offsite in a condo and 1 night universal

2018 - 1 night Miami, 2 universal, 5 nights Disney, 10 nights Villa

2019 - 5 nights Disney, 8 nights Villa, 1 night Miami

2020 - 14 nights Villa, 2 nights Lauderdale by the sea (this is obv cancelled)

2022 - 1 night Miami, 2 nights universal, 2 nights Disney, 11 nights Villa

We like to mix it up, so much to see and do, I could spend the whole time in one place. It’s easy to piece the whole thing together, just takes a bit of time and searching for what you want. I like to be in control of where we stay and what we do, and like the flexibility of booking it myself.
Thank you... wow you do it so differently... can I ask is there a benefit of staying on Disney for 2 nights then moving into a villa ?
Do you have Disney tickets for the whole time on Disney and villa ?
I’m going to start looking at this...
__________________
——————————

Port Orleans French Quarters April 2017
Coronado Springs here we come May 2019 !
DanniC is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Apr 21, 07:37 AM  
Link to this Post
#10
amy56
VIP Dibber
 
amy56's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 09
Originally Posted by DanniC View Post
Thank you... wow you do it so differently... can I ask is there a benefit of staying on Disney for 2 nights then moving into a villa ?
Do you have Disney tickets for the whole time on Disney and villa ?
I’m going to start looking at this...
I think it’s a very personal choice and comes down to what everyone prefers.

I’ve been visiting for 40 years and have done a mixture of all of the above with my parents, my husband and now my own family.

For the vast majority of trips, and certainly for the last 20 years we have done exclusively DIY trips -planned and executed in much the same way as CFB above, even down to the Word documents - I love my Word docs! 😂.

One thing for us that differs from many is that we find the draw for being onsite is literally that - being onsite. I just love the resorts and being in the bubble. So much so that 12 years ago when we were on a really varied trip (onsite stay at Polynesian, a Disney cruise, hard rock hotel and then a villa) we actually packed up the villa two days early and checked into Animal kingdom lodge as I really missed staying onsite. That was the deciding factor into buying into DVC for us and we have never looked back.

I think it’s a case of trying different ways and knowing what works for you - I’m not remotely interested in the dining plan as we always have a car and much prefer eating offsite - that’s a very big part of our trip - so free dining has never been a consideration for us, for others it’s the only thing they like about onsite stays & so is a dealbreaker for them. There are no right or wrong ways to do Florida, just your preferred way, and it is fun working out what that way is! 👍
amy56 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:30 PM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2348
CaxtonFX  $1.2297
Covent Garden FX  $1.2493
FAIRFX  $1.2365
John Lewis  $1.2398
M&S  $1.2191
Sainsburys  $1.2343
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2361
Updated: 12:30 29/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1441
CaxtonFX  €1.1403
Covent Garden FX  €1.1512
FAIRFX  €1.1468
John Lewis  €1.1477
M&S  €1.1289
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1469
Updated: 12:30 29/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X