Disneyland Florida

[sillybeans]

I recently posted on here about Disneyland Paris but when I mentioned to family we were thinking of taking our DD next year, it has quickly exploded into 10 adults and 7 children wanting to go and we're now talking Florida!!

So .... more questions!

1. Has anyone been in a big group and did you use an agent to sort it or do it yourself?
2. Any tips on saving money etc?
3. Any advice in general?

Thanks

[Hayley102]

Hi We went 2 years ago. 6 adults and 5 children (3 years - 8 years). We got a villa outside of disney through a travel agent. As an after thought I would recommend going in the disney complex as you are able to come and go without having to park and ride. (the carparks are that big you need to get a bus to take you to the entrance to the park. If you stay within disney there are free buses between the accomodation and the park. We were there in May. It was very hot and we needed to be out of the sun midday. But by the time we were ready to go we were often arriving at the parks at 11am(after parking and riding!) Fireworks really well worth seeing. Spent a lot of time getting autographs of characters and photos taken with them. Parades are good too. Rides can be very busy. Get fast pass with your tickets. But you can only use 1 fast pass per set period so you cant line up the rides as you arrive. If we got to a park late all fast passes had gone for popular rides. Shows are great too. Oh and we got our disney tickets online - good value. Watar parks are great too. I could go on forever - we had a great time and I am sure you will too. pm me if you want any specific info. We spent the 2nd week of our holiday o the coast - lovely!

[Angela234]

Hi sillybeans I am keeping an eye on this post we are looking at doing either paris or florida with 7 adults and 7 children either next year or year after

Anyone know roughly the cost?

[AgentTink]

We booked last month to go next April/may. It is me, partner and our little girl who is 3. We are staying in port Orleans which is a Disney hotel, and the cost including flights, and park tickets was £3500 (we only booked the ultimate 14 day Disney park hopper, as we are not going to universal)

Because we booked it before July we also all got free 14 day dining passes, which means that we can have lunch, dinner, and 2 snacks each day from the quick dining restaurants which are in all the parks and attractions

I searched for ages and his was the best deal for a moderate resort hotel.

[sandy64]

hi weve been to florida this easter as a family had a fab time bought disney tickets before we went if you need any advice let me no

[LauraS]

We went for Christmas 2010, two adults and three chidren. We have been before as a big group, though, in 2001 as a group of six adults and three kids.

We stayed in a villa in 2010 through virgin, had tickets for disney, universal and seaworld, and swam with the dolphins at discovery cove. Villa was obviously self catering, total cost for flights, villa, tickets, car hire and spendy buttons was just over £10000. We didn't go mad in the shops either, spent roughly £500 on souvenirs and £2500 on petrol/food.

We have been tempted to book again using the disney hotels and free dining plan offers, but we have struggled to find accomodation that we are happy with that way. The hotels mostly take four people to a room - some take five (port orleans riverside rooms have a cot bed for a fifth person, i beleive) and the new art of animation resort takes six to a room. Other options are the treetop villas or cabins at davy crocketts for bigger families, but these are pretty pricey. The free dining plan is attractive, but the food is quite limited - there is a lot of burger/chicken tenders type meals.

If you do stay onsite, don't forget to explore further afield - florida has loads to offer other than the parks and some of the stuff we did offsite were the highlights of our trip. Shopping is excellent, the beaches are amazing if you fancy a drive down the coast. The fishing is meant to be excellent. The national parks are beautiful and totally devoid of tourists - if you go at the right time you can swim with manatees in the wild, or canoe/swim/hike/ride in the parks.

Going at Christmas is amazing - there are lots of extra things going on.

When we went, we intended that it would be a once in a lifetime holiday. We started talking about booking the next one during the first week we were there. . Fingers crossed we will go again in August 2013

[pinky33]

Your best bet for accurate advice is from http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=45
It's like here but for Disney lol, it's my other forum home.
14 trips in and I still use it everyday

[charleyfarley]

We booked last month to go next April/may. It is me, partner and our little girl who is 3. We are staying in port Orleans which is a Disney hotel, and the cost including flights, and park tickets was £3500 (we only booked the ultimate 14 day Disney park hopper, as we are not going to universal)

Because we booked it before July we also all got free 14 day dining passes, which means that we can have lunch, dinner, and 2 snacks each day from the quick dining restaurants which are in all the parks and attractions

I searched for ages and his was the best deal for a moderate resort hotel.

Port Orleans is where we are going in August this year, it does look fab doesn't it I'll let you know exactly what it is like when we get back so look out for the photos

Ours cost over £6500 for 2 adults and 2 children but then we bought the Universal passes separate so that was another £800 on top Not a cheap holiday for us but it's our first hol in 6 years so making the most of it. We are terrible though as we didn't look around so probably could have got it cheaper.

I really can't wait

Carol xx

[pinky33]

If any of you guys want to know stuff about port Orleans then just yell, I have stayed a few times and again in September this year.

[charleyfarley]

If any of you guys want to know stuff about port Orleans then just yell, I have stayed a few times and again in September this year.

So you like it then

Carol xx

[Debster]

Your best bet for accurate advice is from http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=45
It's like here but for Disney lol, it's my other forum home.
14 trips in and I still use it everyday

I second that I went last yr and the Dibb helped me no end. All will say is you need to plan plan plan. Its the best place I have ever been

[JCrakers]

I would recommend Jetsave as we got our 2 week holiday in a town house just outside of Disney (great location) with car hire for £4300 (2 adults and 2 children) although that was 2009 so prices have probably gone up. Think they were called Disney Bronze villas and they were very large. The Americans tend to have large houses and the whole of the downstairs was like a mansion

We didn't want to stay in a hotel room as we preferred our children to have a separate room from us. Previous experiences from staying in a hotel room is the kids fight and have nowhere to go to chill...and for 2 weeks this was a definite life saver Misbehaving children = go to your room

Picked up the large Jeep from the airport with a free satnav.
Bought out tickets online beforehand and managed to shop around for a discount.
So I would definitely recommend getting a quote from Jetsave

[AgentTink]

charleyfarley and pinky33 I would love to know any hints and tips in relation to staying in port orleans and the Disney Parks so any knowledge you have now or gain in September I will happily accept.

I am so excited I cannot wait. It is funny how suddenly April 2013 doesnt feel that far off when you have something exciting to look forward to

[pinky33]

Yes I love port Orleans. We stay at riverside and it's just sooo relaxing.
You must watch piano bob doing his little show in the bar it's so much fun. Also would reccomend doing the horse drawn carriage ride around the resort, it's good value and a nice way to see the resort.

We always stay in magnolia terrace as the mansion buildings and it makes us feel posh lol.
The boat to downtown Disney is a really nice trip and if you get a friendly captain you can learn a lot as well.

I will think of more later, anything you need to know???

[sandy64]

We booked last month to go next April/may. It is me, partner and our little girl who is 3. We are staying in port Orleans which is a Disney hotel, and the cost including flights, and park tickets was £3500 (we only booked the ultimate 14 day Disney park hopper, as we are not going to universal)

Because we booked it before July we also all got free 14 day dining passes, which means that we can have lunch, dinner, and 2 snacks each day from the quick dining restaurants which are in all the parks and attractions

I searched for ages and his was the best deal for a moderate resort hotel.

hi who have you booked with thats a great price would love to go back next year but prices coming over £7000 just flight and hotel we had a look at port orleabs when we went this easter its amazing would love to stay there

[charleyfarley]

Yes I love port Orleans. We stay at riverside and it's just sooo relaxing.
You must watch piano bob doing his little show in the bar it's so much fun. Also would reccomend doing the horse drawn carriage ride around the resort, it's good value and a nice way to see the resort.

We always stay in magnolia terrace as the mansion buildings and it makes us feel posh lol.
The boat to downtown Disney is a really nice trip and if you get a friendly captain you can learn a lot as well.

I will think of more later, anything you need to know???

All hubby wants to know is where are the best places to eat and is there a supermarket close by to stock up the fridge

I'll have a think about what I need to know and no doubt will be asking you loads. Who have you flown with? We're going with Virgin, never flown with them before, we're so excited already

Carol xx

[SYLVIA]

Port Orleans boatwrights restaurant has the most amazing cornbread served with meals. a drive down the 192 will take you to 2 big super markets. Try booking meals in Epcots canadian restaurant, Yatchsman Steak house in The Yatch and beach club hotel. The Irish pub downtown disney, Raglan Road has nice meals and is on the disney dining plan. And if you can get it booked a meal at the Rose and Crown pub in Epcot is good, especially if you get it booked in time for the fireworks. I am so jealous! This is the second year that we are not going, but saving like mad to go next year.

[winstonian]

We went Easter 2007 -8 adults and 5 children including our 10 week old who was our surprise!!!! after we'd booked the holiday!!
Loved it
Hoping to go back next year around Halloween time as we've heard the Halloween celebrations are fab!

[AgentTink]

Sandy64 we ended up booking through thompsons as they were really good at price matching. I initally got the price from them of 4600 and after 3 days of intensive searching on my part and lots of phone calls they eventually price matched. Always search around because with a bit of work you will be amazed what you can find. I looked at the prices last week and they were closer to 4000 for the same deal. I think we got such a good deal as the minute the new brouchures came out in April I was phoning around, and so we got given early bird discount.

[madison]

We've just returned from Florida yesterday, we didnt stay on site but in a villa but if u got any questions about parks ect let me know this was our 4th visit