florida 2003

[ester]

Help and advice required.
I hope to take my husband and two children to disney Sept/Oct next year. I know this is a long way off, but by then we will have saved for 5 yrs and can afford it (just). Ive started to cast about for info, and thought that i might pay a deposit in Oct this year to fly with Virgin next year, to All Stars, with a hire car. My kids will be 8 and 6. We thought that staying here will allow us to sleep/rest when needed and keep to minimum driving. Though i know this is not the cheapest option, it may be the one with the least hassle. All in all virgin seems ok, (debates about quality of meals and distraction packs aside) but i need to be sure as they require a hefty 130.00 pp deposit. Any thoughts out there?
As this may well be the only time we go, i do want to go to discovery cove and sea world, should i pay for this in advance?
Is it true that early entries have been stopped for disney resort guests?
If this is not too personal how much money have other families of two adults and two kids needed for a fortnight.
Also how havce they coped sleeping in the same room as two kids, hav the kids slept ok.
Thanking you in anticipation.

 

[DisneyBB]

If you wait until after the 26th October, the airfares go down from £599 to £399 per adult. This is a big saving. We booked for the 28th, a flydrive and saved over £500. If you want to do it all separately then you could book the hotel direct with disney. We did that last year, for two nights in the All stars and then when the special deals came out, we switched over and got it for $49 per night. Also if you book through the virgin travel store they are currently giving 10% off the price.

 

[caroley]

It's certainly not too soon to be thinking about next year. I already have our flydrive booked for December 2003.
If you're going with Virgin, I'd recommend booking as soon as you can to make sure you get the flights that you want. We've been three times with Virgin so far and we've been very pleased with them.
Staying on Disney is a great idea. For all the reasons you mentioned, plus loads of others.
Do look for alternatives to Virgin's car insurance, you don't have to pay their prices.
I believe you'll need to book for Discovery cove in plenty of time as well.
October/November is a great time to go. Not only for those cheaper flights, but the weather is more stable (less of the afternoon rainshowers) and the crowds are thinner. Plus you get to see the Halloween festivities. I'd suggest you think about taking the kids to Mickey's not so scary Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom. You'll all love it

 

[chris16]

Hello ester

Hope you enjoy he planning - thats half the fun

In answer to your points
1. early entry has ended
2. I would agree that staying on site has a lot advantages especially if this will be the trip of a lifetime
3. Sharinga room, I expect your kids will be so exhausted they will sleep easily - mine always do
4. Money - hard to say, if you have pre-bought your passes the main expense will be food.
If you eat in McDonalds you may pay $15 for a meal, if you eat in onsite sit down restaurant you could easily spend $60-100 or more for the family.
We usually do a bit of both and find that we spend about £1200 - mostly treats, food, gifts. Passes will be extra aswell shopping if you are into that. However what you spend may be completely different. One thing that will be cheap is petrol, not much more than a dollar per gallon from memory!
5. You can buy your passes before you go - this can be a good way of budgeting in advance.

Enjoy your planning.

Chris

 

[SpottyDog]

Hiya Ester, excitin eh?

Haven't a clue about the money - if i did I probably wouldn't go but All Stars is great. Like you said just somwhere to lay yer head and with the transport saves on the drivin. Shame Early Entry's gone but with the age of your two, i'm sure you'll be up early enough to beat the rush anyway - ours always were.

We've always stayed in AllStars and haven't found the kids sharin to be a problem. Like Chris said, they're too tired to care who they're sleepin with!

Hope yer gonna give us loads of questions to help plan yer trip.

 

[Silver]

Hi there

We went with Virgin last year in October and found them great. We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott in Downtown Disney and have booked to go again the same time next year.

I would advise booking as soon as you can if you know your dates, especially if you want to tie in with school holidays.

Don't worry about sharing a room with the kids. Unless you are a particularly bad sleeper I can guarantee that you will be so busy during the day you will all be asleep as soon as your heads touch the pillow.

Be prepared for the early nights and early starts too as this worked great for us. I have never been on holiday before where we have all been tucked up in bed fast asleep by about 10.00 pm most nights !!. Just too exhausted to carry on any longer.

We spent about $100 dollars/day on food, drinks, ice creams etc but didn't particulary have any expensive meals. We were happy eating in places like Perkins and Ponderosa as we didn't want to waste time eating fancy meals LOL !!!!