Where do I begin planning?

[AngelAli]

Thank you all for your excellent advice. I am unable to discuss it with the kids because it’ll hopefully be a surprise once I have it all booked. As long as they are in Florida, I’m sure they’ll be delighted. Onsite, means they can go as a group and leave the real grown ups to suits ourselves. The villa may well be the best option though as it’ll give us more living space and and cheaper dining options. It’s been a while since we’ve driven on holiday (even in Europe) so that’ll be a challenge! I think I may start with flights and then look at the rest once I’ve got my head round it all. There’s too much to organise! LOL x

[doah mum]

Originally Posted by AngelAli

Thank you all for your excellent advice. I am unable to discuss it with the kids because it’ll hopefully be a surprise once I have it all booked. As long as they are in Florida, I’m sure they’ll be delighted. Onsite, means they can go as a group and leave the real grown ups to suits ourselves. The villa may well be the best option though as it’ll give us more living space and and cheaper dining options. It’s been a while since we’ve driven on holiday (even in Europe) so that’ll be a challenge! I think I may start with flights and then look at the rest once I’ve got my head round it all. There’s too much to organise! LOL x

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AngelAli you are definitely in the right place here on the Dibb for help x

[JP81]

Originally Posted by coggie

Airlines consider children over the age of 12 as adults.

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Virgin consider a child as 0-17

Thomas Cook 0-17

TUI 0-17
BA, slightly different with
Infant under 2
Child 2-11
Young Adult 12-15
Adult 16+


No airline classes a 12 year old as an adult, as they can't travel alone.

[JP81]

Originally Posted by Claudette

They will be considered adults for everything.

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No, No they won't.

Virgin consider a child as 0-17

Thomas Cook 0-17

TUI 0-17
BA, slightly different with
Infant under 2
Child 2-11
Young Adult 12-15
Adult 16+


No airline classes a 12 year old as an adult, as they can't travel alone.

[JP81]

Originally Posted by AngelAli

Thank you all for your excellent advice. I am unable to discuss it with the kids because it’ll hopefully be a surprise once I have it all booked. As long as they are in Florida, I’m sure they’ll be delighted. Onsite, means they can go as a group and leave the real grown ups to suits ourselves. The villa may well be the best option though as it’ll give us more living space and and cheaper dining options. It’s been a while since we’ve driven on holiday (even in Europe) so that’ll be a challenge! I think I may start with flights and then look at the rest once I’ve got my head round it all. There’s too much to organise! LOL x

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Please don't take my response as cheeky or rude.
I would happily do Disney with the Mrs. What I meant as my my kids have got older they have not found it as appealing.

Also without mentioning holiday, you could try dropping things into conversation about characters. Get a feel if the are more Disney/Marvel. Just an idea.

Whatever you choose, Happy Planning and have a magnificent Holiday!

[coggie]

Originally Posted by JP81

Virgin consider a child as 0-17

Thomas Cook 0-17

TUI 0-17
BA, slightly different with
Infant under 2
Child 2-11
Young Adult 12-15
Adult 16+


No airline classes a 12 year old as an adult, as they can't travel alone.

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Virgin Atlantic consider 12 year olds as adults price wise so as this is a family trip then the travelling alone isn' t relevant.

a 12 year old can travel alone with assistance from the airport /airline either side of flight.. So in reality alone and pay the full adult fare

[bunts]

We are a family of 4 and have booked for next October 2020ours kids will be 19 and 16, they still want to Disney, universal and sea world plus the water parks they never really grow up. We stay in a hotel in Kissimmee on highway 192 next to old town lots of eateries around there for all budgets and old town does a classic car drive through/parked on Friday/Saturday nights for a bit of a change.

[AngelAli]

Originally Posted by JP81

Please don't take my response as cheeky or rude.
I would happily do Disney with the Mrs. What I meant as my my kids have got older they have not found it as appealing.

Also without mentioning holiday, you could try dropping things into conversation about characters. Get a feel if the are more Disney/Marvel. Just an idea.

Whatever you choose, Happy Planning and have a magnificent Holiday!

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Thank you and I don’t see your response as rude at all. I don’t need to drop it into the conversation as they talk about Florida A LOT! I think that they’ll be delighted no matter what we choose to do but I’d like for it to be a good balance for all involved (tough, I know)

[cornishfrogboy]

We were in Florida for 12 days this summer as part of a longer, 21 day US vacation involving Boston, NY, Dayton OH, Cincinatti... Orlando, Naples and the Tamiami before flying out of Miami.

We did not go near the Mouse and only lightly used our DC ultimates and Universal 3 parks. There were many, many other things that the family, in their final conclusions and discussion of best days said that they preferred.

1 Lazy H ranch Kissimmee for a Horse Ride. (Boys had never previously ridden).
2. Drifting the Rainbow River at Dunellon.
3. Airboat ride with Buffalo Tiger on the Tamiami. (utterly and totally different to what we now regard as the tame, sanitised offerings around Orlando.
4. Delnor Wiggins State Park in Naples.

In addition, previous trips have thrown up the following that have worked brill with our family in the area. Some would require a dual centre and drive).
1. Casperson beach below Venice with its fossilised Sharks teeth in the sand.
2. Valiant Air Command Museum at Titusville.
3. KSC!
4. Daytona Beach, it’s promenade and amazing speedway.
5. Pensacola.. besides the massive Navy Aviation museum, this brings in the USS Alabama memorial in Mobile, Crab Island at Destin and some of the very best beaches that I have ever seen.

My recent finds can be found with summary and images on my trip report.. currently titled ‘Conclusions. Planes Trains and Automobiles’. The whole report is on a single thread and is on page 2 of the reports. It is easiest found as it is the only one with over 10,000 views in the right hand column.

I am trying to help by mentioning ‘wider Florida’ as well as the obvious attractions of the Theme Parks. We try to mix it up between the two.

[BevS97]

There are as many ways to do a Florida as there are members of the dibb.

We love Disney and have no trouble spending 2 weeks just just at Disney. my kids are 16 and 21 now.

However we also enjoy Universal and think the Harry Potter stuff is pretty cool.


If you want to try all the parks then that expensive as you need 3 lots of tickets and generally you are paying for 14 day access to all 3 brands but obviously you can’t be in 3 parks at once. However, until you’ve tried them all you can’t tell which will be your favourite.



Accommodation wise. On site at Disney is my favourite. For a family of 6 you have a few options. None of them particularly cheap.

2 rooms at a value / moderate resort.

A suite at Art of Animation or All Stars.

Wilderness Cabin (a bit like a caravan)

2 bed villa at a DVC resort such as OKW or SSR.

Some of these will come with free dining. None will come with as much space as you’d get in a villa.

I’d have no qualms letting my kids travel around WDW using the buses if they stuck together. But they have been going since they were tiny and know their way around.


Another option would be too book 5 nights onsite. You’d get your 14 day park tickets and some free dining. Do a lot of Disney. Some character meals. And nicer meals. And then move to a villa for the space and concentrate on the other parks.