Waylander Family Orlando/Disney trip Write-UP

[Waylander]

I was prevaricating whether I should do this or not.I appreciate shed loads of you have been.

As I was asked to give a "trip report" by some mates I figured I should then, to give my experience of the whole getting there/being there process.

I hope it is helpful to some and in turn I am happy to field questions if I can help.

I need to start with a BIG thumbs up to Shao_Khan for all the advice and help he gave me when I planning it. It was reassuring and immensely helpful.

Flights: options are direct via Virgin/BA or indirect. US Airways have great reviews connecting via Charlottesville (from LHR) or Philly (from MAN).

Relative cost was ~£700-900 direct vs ~£450 with USAir. For me in was therefore a no-brainer as we saved well over £2k on 5 tickets.

Comfortable seats, excellent choice of movies.

Tip: DO NOT order vegetarian (milk/egg) meals unless you are vegan - they are all vegan meals and pretty vile; th USAir standard meals always appeared to have a meal or pasta/cheese option and it was much more palatable. Sympathetic hostess took pity on us looking at the veg food and swapped out!

For most people the other advantage of going indirect is you have a 2 hour stopover and do Customs there so that you enter MCO on a domestic flight and sail straight out.

For most people...

for the 4th out of 6 visits to the US (and 3rd time straight) I was flagged for extra security checks.

Not even the people interviewing me knew why I keep getting flagged (he asked me if I might have a clue as he didn't; when I told him what the guy said to be last time "we just like your company" he was apparently riled enough to give me some form or other I should fill in to request review and being removed).

THEN of course there is TSA at Security. Utter redneck kn0b-ends. I am usually extremely calm here. This time I was a little jittery as it was already time for the flight to go; the wife/kids were getting a little upset. Did the usual checks and then he spots my 8yr old son and said he should be called to have his hands and bags swabbed too. His colleague challenged him and they had a stand-up row so colleague tells him to check the books to justify his position and when he goes he passes me my stuff and tells me to go as it is simply not needed.

Sod's law though is that the gate on the boarding pass was incorrect so we had to walk passed the Security area again and this time for the first time ever I lost it when Redneck gripped my son and pulled him to swab him.

If we were not already incredibly late I would have dug my heels in and called for a supervisor and sod the consequences but in the circumstances I simply felt I could do no more than use choice language and get out of there.

Raced to the gate and made the flight.....just

Accomodation: We seriously looked at staying onsight at Animal Kingdom Lodge (where James did) but in the end decided that as there may be other family members coming a big villa in a nice nearby area with a pool and gameroom was the way to go. We stayed in Indian Creek which is a nice area. Drive to Parking Lot for Animal Kingdom 10mins. LOADS of eateries on i192. It was well nigh perfect and on the really hot days when the kids flagged we came back a few times for a dip in the pool to relax.

DO get advice about suitable villa location if you do this as some parts of Kissimmee are....well...a dump.

Villa is also a damned sight cheaper than staying at a resort - by at least £1k in my experience. Indeed had I wanted a slightly smaller villa this could have been had for under £1k....

Travel: if you live off site you need a car. Hertz were doing a 30% off deal at the time we booked so I got a 7 seater for 2 weeks for £240 which was fantastic. Regular goers seem to recommend "Brit Alamo"

This was also useful as we made trips to Kennedy Space Centre, Seaworld, Universal, Malls etc etc

I filled twice when there and it cost $50 (at a time) to fill a Grand Caravan twice that did 15mpg!

Money They don't seem to have the concept of Travel exchange. The couple we found gave poorer exchange rates than in UK (eg 1.40 vs 1.49) and my Nationwide card was MUCH better (rate of ~1.52 all in) so we took a mixture of dollars from UK, some pounds (which we didn't convert) and said visa.

All told we spent £1.7k in 2 weeks for 3 adults and 2 kids and that includes shopping, eating etc.

Food: those of you who don't eat meat, resign yourself to cheese pizza and fries as a stapple diet during the day and seafood in the evening. The days soon get annoying (except for the kids!) and a few days we food small picnics in a backpack to break the monotony which was a welcome change.

Tickets: UK visitors get excellent deals for 7 and 14 days multipark tickets. Buy here DO NOT buy when there as it is much more expensive. For example 14 day ultimate disney ticket for unlimited visits to all 4 Disney parks and both water parks is £250 vs $250 for 5 day ticket to Disney one park a day only.

Ditto for Universal.

Incidently they finger scan all entrants now. Even so people in "cheap tickets" booths will offer to buy any usused portions of your tickets for ~$10/day/ticket. Universal has clamped right down so they won't risk buying those.

But I flogged my otherwise for the bin 5 used Seaworld tickets for $50 on the penultimate day

My itinerary is on the other planning thread - it worked really well and I do advise a little research and help planning a schedule of which park to visit which day so you go on relatively less busy days.

How crowded a park is does affect your perception of the day. Magic Kingdom on our first day was HEAVING.

Rain - there are flash storms so you may need to switch around.

Hollywood Studios and Epcot are both excellent places to switch to if it rains.

Other tips?

hhhmmm:

Having queued for 90mins for a go on the Harry Potter ride you come out and head to the free locker area to collect your belongings. The same free locker area you go to before getting on the ride....so yep we walked straight back round again for another go.

I don't advise it.

Once was great fun but twice one after the other on that rise made us feel sick.

HP is an excellent ride.

Our unquestionable favourite though was Spiderman also at Island Of Adventures. It is AWESOME.

Honourable mentions also go to:

Simpsons - Universal Studios

Hulk - IoA

Mummy's Revenge - Universal

Expedition Everest - Animal Kingdom

Soarin and Mission Earth - Epcot

The shows at all the places are incredible but especially the ones at Seaworld and Hollywood Studios.

Fireworks: the shows at Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Wishes at Magic Kingdom and simply stunning and well worth going more than once.

By the way even though it is $14 a day parking in Disney (one ticket can be used at any park), if for example you have a spare evening and didn't go to Disney, we found after 8pm there are no manned ticket booths so you can drive straight in to park for free to watch the fireworks.

Water parks: on a hot day and as a chilled day they are fantastic. We went to Aquatica twice and once to Typhoon Lagoon.

uuummmmm....oh yeah.

Universal do a $40 Photoconnect package that gets you professional pix at both parks free to download, 1 free print is included and a personalised photocard. Well worth it.

Wife has uploaded them all to FB, I might get round to popping a few on as well.

Disney do a package that is much more comprehensive but it is $149.

HOWEVER if you are so inclined you can have as many photocards as you want on one account and then have ALL the pix sent to you on CDs so you can consider pooling the cost.

I found a few people going around the same time I was so we pooled an account and have LOADS of professional Disney pix (they have photographers at all character places and around the parks) for the princely sum of £7......

I think this is long enough!

Happy to answer any questions.

Last one I guess: was it worth it, especially if your kids don't do rides etc?

Well mine don't either but "simulators" is the new fad so no worries re coasters.

Let me answer with an annecdote:

Last day, Magic Kingdom. 3 pm. BAKING hot.

A Parade was going by which we had seen before but me and Miss Waylander stood to watch again (it is excellent!). Wife and sister had long retreated to the shade during it.

I looked down to see my daughter clapping with joy, waving and high-fiving the characters and they came by and only 1 phrased passed through my mind at the time: This is what it is all about.

It is a knackering trip to fully enjoy everything on offer but we loved it.

[Cuprabob]

What did you think of the KSC and in particular the Saturn V?

[Waylander]

It was a humbling experience.

I well and truly loved that day and wife/sister came back saying they were really glad I dragged them along.

Kids of course loved the Angry Birds Exhibit.

What might sound a bit of a strange contradiciton is that VAB was MASSIVE but for some reason I thought it would be bigger....

[fizzbitt]

Sounds like you had an excellent time out there!

You have to love the 'random' checks... last time i went out to Italy, me and my 4 Asian mates (1 pakistani, 1 Bangladeshi and 2 indian) were the only non whites on the plane and we were the only ones who got stopped upon landing in Italy (Pescara) for spot checks.

[burble]

My girlfriend and I are planning to go in September for a couple of weeks, I've been twice before but this will be her first trip. I'm really looking forward to it.

[Waylander]

When we came back my dad gave daughter a bit of a pep talk - you worked hard and now you got your reward etc.

He then turned to son and said see if you work hard you will get an excellent surprise too.

To which it was gratifying to hear his say straight back - I want to do to Disney World again as well.

By the the awesome looking Transformers Ride will be open.....and Cars World

[Tipex]

Are they building a Cars world at Disney in Florida then?

They've got one at the other US Disney, but it's in the ar5e end of nowhere, and they also have live appearances and concerts with Sharky and Bones (if you have kids and the Disney channel you'll know who they are), which both my eldest would really like, it's just a shame it's not really a family destination like Florida.

[Waylander]

Yep - not sure when but nearly ready I understand

The Transformer is due to open in Summer and we had pix with Optimus who was strolling about (really well done it was!)

The atmosphere around that huge transformers complex was excellent - gave me goosebumps

[Cuprabob]

It was a humbling experience.

I well and truly loved that day and wife/sister came back saying they were really glad I dragged them along.

Kids of course loved the Angry Birds Exhibit.

What might sound a bit of a strange contradiciton is that VAB was MASSIVE but for some reason I thought it would be bigger....

I know exactly what you mean about the VAB.

I just think the contrast between Disney / Universal where it's all fantasy and the KSC where they are doing it for real is fantastic.

I take it you never visited Daytona.

[burble]

I take it you never visited Daytona.

I did once, never again. Aside from Daytona Beach and the area around the Raceway it's a complete and utter toilet.

[Cuprabob]

I did once, never again. Aside from Daytona Beach and the area around the Raceway it's a complete and utter toilet.

I know exactly what you mean. The raceway is very impressive.

Last time I was there it was bikeweek and it certainly was an experience:-)

[burble]

I know exactly what you mean. The raceway is very impressive.

Last time I was there it was bikeweek and it certainly was an experience:-)

Oh yeah, Bikeweek, I forgot about that So I've been there twice, the second visit being specifically for Bikeweek.

[Dave]

Glad you had a good time bud, It's an amazing place and it's difficult to take it all in on a first trip.

It sounds like you had a fun time.. did you make any of the water parcs?

[Waylander]

Thanks Dave and thanks for the last minute tips.

Yep we went to Aquatica (twice as we loved the Rao Rapids!) and Typhoon Lagoon

I agree it was a little overwhelming at times and I don't think we would be at all jaded going back - would love to in fact

[Dave]

It's a bit like that and actually more enjoyable on subsequent visits.. on your first visit the temptation is to fit in as much as is humanly possible... others visits tend to be at a much more relaxed pace and funnily enough you take in more of your surroundings

Here's to saving for the next one :D

[burble]

This thread has prompted me to book the time off work in September just to save any potential problems. We're aiming to book stuff this weekend. Can't wait.

[shao_khan]

Glad you had a good time. I totally agree about TSA - they are the adult versions of the kids that shoot other kids in schools, they are bell ends of the highest order. My case last time had all the zips cut off because it was easier to cut the zip that cut the lose fitting cable tie.... Idiots.

Anyway, let me know if you feel I missed anything and I'll update my notes, always good to keep current :D

Would you go again?

[Waylander]

Your help when discussing locations of Villa was vital

I think any community down Formosa Blvd is fine and in a good region. Further out is just a little too far IMO but prices are better.

Of all the many many parks the one I was really excited about but which was the one I was least mesmerised by was Animal Kingdom. The Tree of Life is excellent and shows fantastic but it just felt a bit like Knowsley Safari Park tacked onto a cheesy old theme park....

I would still love to consider staying at the Lodge though!

Would I go again? Definitely.

It would have to be a special occasion again though as I weigh up the ~£8k this cost me in total (I did decide I wouldn't really let cost influence my decisions for this trip anyway) vs that paying for 2-3 good holidays elsewhere in the world...