Orlando on a Budget advise

Laura147

Hi Guys,

We're looking to book a family holiday to Orlando this July. There is one family of 2 adults and 3 children, and another family of 3 adults and one child.

We've looked through all of the different websites looking for the best deal but it's very difficult to decide where the best area to stay is and also which hotel would be best. As we are travelling with children we want to make sure that where we end up staying is not a dive...

Any advise or suggestions that anyone has would be much appreciated..

Thanks

macca1983

Laura147 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

We're looking to book a family holiday to Orlando this July. There is one family of 2 adults and 3 children, and another family of 3 adults and one child.

We've looked through all of the different websites looking for the best deal but it's very difficult to decide where the best area to stay is and also which hotel would be best. As we are travelling with children we want to make sure that where we end up staying is not a dive...

Any advise or suggestions that anyone has would be much appreciated..

Thanks

Orlando can be broken down into two main areas so to speak - the International Drive Area and the Disney Area. Where you stay depends really on which theme parks you plan to see - the International Drive area consists of more adult theme parks so to speak - Busch Gardens, Universal Studios, Sea World, etc. whereas the Disney Area has 4 Disney theme parks which are very much for children.

Orlando is impossible to do on a budget - each theme park is about 100 bucks for a day, plus getting a fast pass will cost an extra 30 bucks.

Go to tripadisor.com and search for hotels - have a look at what hotels are rated highly and work it from there.

Don't stay near the city - nothing there really other than dodgy, homeless people.

Obviously to get around the place you simply have to rent out a car - Orlando is impossibly to tackle without a car.

gerrymadden1

We stayed in Orlando last year... hired a villa a few miles away from the main drag... as the previous poster said, you'll need transport in Orlando, no matter where you stay.

http://www.suntangolfvilla.com/ This villa is owned by a Canadian-Irish couple. 4 bedrooms, 2 ensuite, all with flatscreen TVs. It's also got a decent pool and a games room.

Plane Mad

as said you deffo need a car you can do it on a budget just do your homework on it book everything seperate and haggle with the hotel ring them and they will help you i have done it for years

pooldbest

I booked a holiday for friends (2 Adults and 2 kids) through www.bestattravel.co.uk travelling with BA from London to Orlando. They stayed at a 3 bedroom villa with pool and it cost less than booking through an Irish travel agent and staying at a standard hotel in the area ( I've been there a few times and the hotels can be a bit dingy, especially on a budget holiday).
You would have to book a Ryanair flight to a London airport ( they flew from Shannon to Gatwick and stayed overnight in a Premier Travel Inn at the airport, which is walking distance for £69stg).
Overall they saved money and had a far better direct flight with BA and superior accomodation.
And by the way, don't even think of going withiut renting a car, it's an absolute neccessity.
Hope this helps.

Fries-With-That

Laura147 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

We're looking to book a family holiday to Orlando this July. There is one family of 2 adults and 3 children, and another family of 3 adults and one child.

We've looked through all of the different websites looking for the best deal but it's very difficult to decide where the best area to stay is and also which hotel would be best. As we are travelling with children we want to make sure that where we end up staying is not a dive...

Any advise or suggestions that anyone has would be much appreciated..

Thanks

Hi,

The only simple way to do Florida on a budget is Plan Plan Plan.

We've been there several times, your family groupings are to your advantage becaue you can loan one of the children to the other couple to take advantage of 2 adults 2 children deals.

Rent a Villa, with a pool, most villas will accomadate you all, last year we went with sister in laws family, so that made 4 adults and 6 children. The villa was large enough for us all, as the lounge doubled as another bedroom (2 bedrooms were en-suite) and also had a family bathroom.
We got the Villa for 17 nights for 800 euro.

Car hire is a must for a large group like yours you can rent one large people carrier /mini bus, if someone is confident enoough to drive it.

We hired 2 cars chrysler PT cruisers, excellent fuel economy, air con and plenty of room for luggage including 2 large child strollers. there is 3 different grades of petrol available at the pumps, 3 different prices.

I would advise you to buy Disney park hopper tickets( you can visit any park as many times as you like over 5/7/10 days).

As a group we bought the 5 day hopper and used it for 2.5 days per family.

Bush gardens etc are excellent days out.

There are plenty of places that do adults pay children eat free, or do all you can eat buffet for a fixed price.

When you arrive the first thing you should invest in is a large cooler bag, on any day you plan on visiting a park or whatever take your own lunch and plenty of drinks.

Bottle of coke in a theme park will cost you 2.50 dollars, a 24 pack of coke will cost you 7 dollars in a supermarket.

You cannot take alcoholic drink into theme parks , don't try they search your bags, if they take it off you you'll be annoyed and it could ruin your day.

Buy you gifts in supermarkets target.walmart.or any of the large flea(bootsales) markets, most of the stuff at the flea markets is knock off imitations, seconds/ or last years must have.....who cares most people just love the cheap and tacky junk with florida painted on or a pair of mouses ears added to an aligator head

You can avail of discounts by buying your tickets at bad bobs and places like that.

Its a great holiday and you can do it on a reasonable budget if you shop around before you fly.

Car hire.. book for airport pick up.
Tickets.. buy online
Villa.. Plenty of bargains available, the roads are so good and disney so well signposted you can afford that 35/40 minute drive. ( we have always found Davenport to be excellent to get in and oout of)


Hope some of this helps.

Tripzy

Laura147 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

We're looking to book a family holiday to Orlando this July. There is one family of 2 adults and 3 children, and another family of 3 adults and one child.

We've looked through all of the different websites looking for the best deal but it's very difficult to decide where the best area to stay is and also which hotel would be best. As we are travelling with children we want to make sure that where we end up staying is not a dive...

Any advise or suggestions that anyone has would be much appreciated..

Thanks

Laura147, We did just what you're about to do in Oct 08. Two families each of 2 ad + 3 children.
It takes a load of planning, talking about each others expectations, priorities, etc.
We booked flights with Delta - phoned for offers - Dublin-Atlanta-Orlando.
We booked a villa online in Highland Reserve, Davenport. 5 bed, games room, private pool and Hot Tub.
We booked 2 vehicles 1x15 seater (Dodge Ram,manual) and 1 x Dodge Caliber (automatic)
We booked Disney Theme Park Tickets though Keith Prowse (Call centre was based in Buncrana!! lol, google Keith Prowse for current offers/prices/etc)
We had a schedule done beforehand so that everybody knew where we would be on any day (scheduled a day between the Theme park days for R&R, Retail therapy, etc..)
Spend time on the planning and you'll have a fab holiday/vacation! We did.:D

Laura147

Thanks a million for all yer tips Guys.. I'll be sure to check out all of the things suggested.

We've booked flights and hotel last week. We got a great deal on the flights with continental and after spending days on end on trip-advisor (mostly by my sister in-laws lol) settled on a hotel and got a really good deal on that too. The hotel we've booked is extended stay suites orlando. Has good reviews on Tripadvisor and was right on budget, so we're happy about that.

October seems to have been a good idea from what I've read. It was obviously cheaper than the summer months, but also in terms of the heat for the kids.

We've moved onto searching for best deals on parks now. We're veering towards a 14 day pass to Disney and related parks and the same for Universal and their parks. Looks like you can't combine the 2 on the one ticket.
Expensive Business but really looking forward to it!
At least we still have loads of time to plan everthing!

Thanks again Lads :-)