Hi, I went to Florida in 2006 with my boyfriend and his parents and I can tell you getting there isnt cheap. His parents payed for my flight and the villa in Orlando and the flight alone cost just over £700. His parents have bought a villa in Orlando now and we planned to go this August so we would only have flights to pay for but we soon changed our minds when we saw flight prices. It was going to cost us about £680 each. It would probably be better to try and get a fly drive holiday they work out cheaper and you can get them on the internet cheaper than most travel agents. Florida is amazing though, I went to Discovery Cove and swam with a dolphin called Rose it was a dream come true so I do recommend going. We are now going to Icmeler, Turkey this May so cant wait.

Hi Fitzmum

Try Travel City Direct, we have just booked a fly drive for Florida (Feb 2009) it was £489 each including car hire and insurance for a 7 seater van.
We are looking for a villa now and have had quotes between £600 & £900 for 2 weeks. May could be more expensive.

If you are going for the Hotel option we have stayed at the Best Western Movieland and The Ramada Inn Lakeside and they are both in a really good location on International Drive.

Personally if you are going for the hotel option I/Drive is the best location to stay at, Villas I would go for Kissimee.
Either way you will have a fantastic time. Your theme park tickets will be around £300 for Adults and £250 for children, that is if you want to do all the Disney and Universal Studios, Islands Of Adventure, Sea world, Busch Gardens parks.

Any more advice just ask

Liz.

Hi
I,ve booked with Broadway travel and found them to be the most reasonably priced, compared to travel city direct and the other major companies. There's 4 adults and 1 child flying from gatwick to sanford, including a 7 seven seater vehicle, and a 3 bedroom villa all for £3200. thats for Oct 2007 and after trawling round it was the cheapest. they also have 3 week options.
Shaz150

Hi, we have just booked our fly drive to florida for 30th april 2009 with travel city direct. We have 3 kids. We paid £3873 for the lot, that includes flight, 7 seater + insurance , and 5x 14 day ultimate disney ticket and 5x orlando flex ticket. Also i checked alot of villa rental sites and i mean alot and found a superb 5 bed villa with all the luxuries you could want for, for a price of £1150.

Thanks for your replies all!!

Well, just rang Virgin and was quoted £4700 for a flight from Gatwick to Orlando - 2 weeks in a standard 3 bed villa, a standard car, then 1 week at the Riu Florida Beach in Miami and then flights back from Miami to Heathrow. (2 adults & 2 children for 1st March - which is now another optional date for us to go) No park passes included

This seems a bit steep so I think I'll go down the route of trying to book everything separately to see if I can save a bit on that price. It seems that the bargains are the 2 week holidays as they are sold as a package.....

Hi
We have just booked for Nov 09! so your not that early we cant book our flights yet but we have booked our villa we wanted, i know Virgin are expensive, but i have priced a flydrive with them for Nov 08 and for 4 adults car insurance its £1,780.

I want to do Halloween again and had thought to do it Oct 09. When they announced the Harry Potter land in universal it was supposed to open late 09. Great i though we can see that to. Now i notice that some universal sites say opening early 2010. Now i dont know what to do, as if i want to include half term week then i have to be thinking about booking soon

I hate it when my well thought out plans dont work out! How can i get more definite infomation. I looked at the universal site but could not see a contact email address!

Hi there

We are considering going to florida in april 2009,there are 7 adults and 2 children we have priced a few villas coming in at around 1000 for 2 weeks.

I am wondering if anyone has any advice on flights etc from glasgow?

Also if anyone has been in april is it really busy?

Sorry can't help re Glasgow flights.

The week before and the week after Easter are incredibly busy. Other weeks in April will be OK. We first went in Easter school hols 12 years ago and have returned several times since at Easter. Every time it has been busier than before. The last time I swore never to go at that time again. Easter and the Xmas/New Year period are the two busiest times at WDW. We have also been twice the last two weeks of August, which were much less busy, but the humidity and heat were bad.

On re-reading my message above, it sounds a bit negative! You will have a great holiday whenever you go to Florida, but I just wanted to make you aware of the crowd problem. You can get round it, but only with careful planning. You must make use of 'fastpass' and always be at the parks before they open. This is not difficult with the time difference. Buy the 'Unofficial Guide' and follow the touring plans religiously. See http://www.touringplans.com

If you stay in one of the universal hotels, we stayed in the Royal Pacific, you show your door key ( card) and to the front of the fast track, no waiting. Its a lovely hotel, you get a free water bus to City walk and the parks. It was well worth it.

We will stay there again when we go next time

Royal Pacific (and other) reviews HERE

Pippy

Hi Fitzmum

We went to Florida in 2001 for our honeymoon and again in 2003. We booked a fly-drive through our local travel agent who was able to find us the best deal for our budget. They advised us not to book any accomodation (except for the first night) as we could get a good ´walk-in´ rate at the numerous hotels and motels. Do not stay at any of the Howard Johnson motels - we stayed at one and we were kept awake by prostitutes walking up and down the corridors all night!

We did the parks for a week and then spent two weeks touring - Miami, The Keys, Gulf coast. We actually took quite a few dollars home and didn´t skimp on our spending!

Howard Johnson apart, our experience both times was fabulous and we´re now looking to return in 2009 with some friends.

Whatever you choose to do, have a great time and don`t forget to post some photos!

I'm also planning Florida in August 2009. My "kids" will be 15 and 18 and this is likely to be our last holiday as a family of four so we want something special. We've been to Florida twice before but never stayed on site at Disney World. My question is probably the same as everybody else; is it cheaper to book this separately or go for a package with someone like Virgin? I've always gone for packages before but would like to save some £££s if possible.

Hi Dangerman

I have been in the same boat as you, had the "last family holiday with the 15 & 18 year old and it lasted 1 year (this year they are not coming on holiday) but next year they are back with us 16 and 19 years old!

We have booked Florida D.I.Y. I personally wouldn't go for on site at Disney as you are restricted to 1 or 2 hotel rooms that are very pricey room only's!

We have been 4 x and stayed at Kissimee once and I/Drive 3x, the holiday I have booked for next year is a Villa near I/Drive as I find on day offs from the Theme Parks its great for their age.

Plus think of all the extra shopping you can do if you cut down on holiday costs!!

We booked flights with Travel City Direct and car hire with them. We booked a Villa independantly on a reputable site, and theme park tickets from Mapleleaf and Keith Prowse on Internet.

Have a great time.
Liz.

Thanks for that, liz mc. Your comment about the extra shopping I could do is enough to convince me that it would be a very bad idea to cut down on holiday costs!

Seriously though, I'll look at DIY to see how easy/cost effective it is. I'm not keen on driving in the US and have always booked hotels providing shuttles to the theme parks in the past. This is another reason we fancied staying at Disney for a change, but if the costs are too high I may have to think again.

I have booked a villa a "WDW Executive Plus Home", i cannot find any real details.
As anyone any experience of these or any feed back.

Thanks

Mike

I think May is the best time to go, we have been to florida at this time of year 3 times and it has always been great weather and the parks are not too busy. We done package the fist time and since have booked it all seperate. Flights have been with first choice and direct holidays (going from Scotland) or flyglobespan. Villa booked with villas2000.com and car with uscarhire.co.uk.
Hope this info helps, if you need to know more just ask.

Hi, just to tell you how we have done it for August 08, we booked our flights last September with First Choice £3000 for Husband,19 year old son and 16 year old son and myself. First Choice has great seating and flight entertainment. Villa in Davenport area 6 bedrooms, pool and spa (all luxurious) for £1000 (2 weeks). Rental Car top of the range plus full insurance £350. Buy your park tickets prior to going on the internet. There is a good deal on for Universal at the moment 7 unlimited days for 2 parks $81!! Thats cheap. Its also very good value for food etc so I am sure you will have loads of spare cash for the Malls Have a fabulous time.