Recommendations for our 2018 Trip

[Guest]

Hi

We went to Orlando in 2014 and promised ds that we'd go again after his GCSEs this summer. Boy have the exchanged rates made a difference ... anyway we've booked VA flights and hotel and sorted out the ESTAs already but based on what we enjoyed more/less from our last visit wondered what everyone thoughts would be best for plans. Apologies as I'm sure most of my questions have been raised a million times before.

Car Hire from Orlando airport - there are only 3 of us and I'd prefer something small like a Fiesta as I'm going to be the driver. Any recommendations on car hire companies.

Disney - don't really want to visit all of these parks again and my son really isn't a lover of swimming so definitely not the waterparks. Based on our experiences last time we are probably looking at realistically revisiting Animal Kingdom and the Disney Studios (unless any new parks opening). What ticket combos would you recommend and suppliers please?

Universal - we all absolutely loved these parks so happy to spend at least a couple of days in each park - again recommendations for ticket combos.

Last time we didn't visit any other parks preferring to rest by the pool every other day but I would definitely like to visit Kennedy Space and the boys are talking about Busch Gardens in Tampa, and maybe the pirate show one the evening if it's still running. Any recommendations for when you would factor these in, good ticket prices, etc. Any others we should give a go?

Thanks in advance Dibbers for your help. Jo

[FloridaFairy]

Can't really answer the car question other than we book with whoever gives us the best deal.

We will be booking US, IOA and Volcano Bay on 1 ticket for about £222 per person and SW, BG and Aquatica on 1 ticket for about £96 per person. These tickets last for 14 days each. You don't say how long you're going for (we're going for 21 days so these last us by staggering the start times)
The bundles are 3 for 2 so the 2 pRk tickets are the same price in you get VB included etc.
There's free parking at SW and AQ with this ticket too

This is with Theme Park Tickets Direct. There's a thread on here today which gives a discount

Hope this helps and have a fabby time.

Xx Ff xx

[mick]

As we haven't been to any parks since 2010 the only bit I can help on maybe is the car hire question.

Andy at Discount Florida Car Hire has been on the DIBB for just over a year but I do read the Car Forum regularly and he is constantly providing help on car hire questions even if Dibbers haven't hired through him. In addition to this he was by far the most competitive quote for our upcoming April trip.

One of the companies he offers is Alamo. The really good thing about Alamo (at MCO anyway) is that you can "skip the counter" and pick whatever car you like from the range that you have chosen. STC means that you can avoid the counter in the terminal and the associated "upselling".

Think a bit more about car size though. We are only two but we always hire an intermediate or full size. Something like a Mazda 6. You need to think about luggage to and from the airport as well as passengers. Often only a few pounds difference in price as well.

Mick