I did this a few years a go now, two weeks in Orlando followed be one week on the Gulf Coast (we chose Naples).

I booked through Virgin who I have been with three times and I thought were great but others take a different view.

I dont know if you have a preference for which way round you do it, but for some bizzare reason the price can be different so check all ways ie. beach then Orlando,
v. Orlando then beach.

The last time we went I did beach first and then Orlando, by being flexible it was about 300 pounds cheaper.

Doe

try jetsave they give you prices using charter airlines and scheduled airlines and are one of the bigger Florida tour operaters, probably only behind Virgin Holidays.

As for beach resort, Clearwater has my vote, although its changed a lot lately. Sarasota might be worth looking into.

A few years we got an absolute bargin doing Gatwick-Orlando-Miami-Heathrow with Virgin so you could have a week in the Florida Key's like we did and they have some of the best beaches in the world.

Gatwick wont be too bad in May. Birmingham is your best bet, better facilities than BRS, more geared up to Long haul too, And you dont feel the need to sit in a dark room with a several large G&T's after 2 hours in the airport like Heathrow can leave you feeling.

I am searching for similar for this May!
We need to fly out of UK on Friday 2nd May as have booked 7 day Disney cruise from 3/5 (yay! )
Prefer to do our own hotel booking for the rest of the trip etc and leave Orlando 25th to land Uk on 26th.
As previously noted by previous post, only BA and Virgin do daily scheduled direct flights (Gatwick for both ..Manchester for Virgin)
Prices around £460-£490 for any of those

We can only get convoluted flights from Birmingham..our local and preferred airport..using all the USA carriers, via Philadelphia/Atlanta/New York etc ...and with poor write ups for the carriers.

Charter is a no no from Brum...only Thompsons and only for 14 nights

Charters for 21 days from London/Manchester are pricing at £475 plus. May just as well go for the BA/Virgin 23 nights scheduled.
Have priced flydrive holiday packages and no advantages price wise as they load the car hire insurance costs.

Now...have I missed any other alternative? Are there likely to be any cheaper offers if I hang on in there? Or should I just go for Virgin/BA anyway?

Sorry for the long post, but I have done loads research...so might help someone else as well as me if anything I have missed!

Thanks for listening!
Regards
Lyn

At the weekend we booked an Expedia special web fare to fly from Glasgow via Gatwick to Tampa with BA for £388 pp . Departing 31st May for 2 weeks . Thought this was a good price so snapped it up after weeks of searching . We used to wait nearer the time for bargains but not so sure if there will be many of them around this year ...............and I certainly won't be sneeking a peak , lol.

I find it unbelievable that people are booking flights to Florida and they do'nt depart until next year!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been going to Florida for over 25 years and can honestly say that 75% of the time i book 3 weeks approx before i leave. We went this Christmas [07] Rang travel City Direct for a flydrive, 2 adults 1 child, They quoted £2200 approx for 2 weeks..... I said i would get back to them after i'd tried to find something cheaper.Half an hour later they call me back........Hey presto its now £375 cheaper.
The moral of the story is............DONT BOOK UNTIL A FEW WEEKS FROM DEPARTURE!!!!!
There are tons of flights going to florida everyday, These travel companies are always experiencing people who cancel there holidays because when its time to pay they probably have,nt got the money.

fitzmum

There are different ways to do this, You will prob get a cheap-ish flight on continental our of Bristol or Birmingham, if you do it this way you could buy an openjaw ticket where you fly in to Orlando and back from Tampa as an example, then hire a car with the likes of Alamo or Dollar and as you are staying in Florida you wont get any one-way drop off charges.

Personally id keep away for the bigger tour operators ie Virgin Hols, Jetsave, Kuoni and go with an agent specialising in Florida if you want to go down the tour op route.

lyn9856
Direct flights from the midlands are limited to Thomsonfly from Birmingham or First Choice from East Midlands although these are unlikely to be that cheap on flight only. Thomas Cook have a Cardiff charter on Monarch but fares for florida are higher this year for some reason.

If you can look at London you may get a good deal on a charter airline ie Monarch, XL Airways, Thomas Cook, First Choice or Thomsonfly. Virgin and BA may have good fares but i suspect you may be a bit late in booking to get there really low fares.
I think looking at Continental with a change from Brimingham may be your best bet, remember and look at openjaws as these can reduce your fares, also look at flying to an alternative airport to Orlando ie Tampa or Daytona Beach as these are ususally lower in fares at busier times of the years.

Thanks to you all for your kind replies!!

Have decided to wait until after xmas next year to book flights. Hopefully will be a bit cheaper that way - I guessed that theres bound to be many flights about, especially as we are not limited to booking a package.

Villa is sorted & it should be easy to book beach hotel accomodation & hire car a few weeks before.