[Albion] Disneyland questions

[Bozza]

Just me and the wife going and meeting family there.
Been to Kissieemee before and had a hire car but not bothering this time.
Want a 14 day pass at the Parks as well.
Just flight , transfer, 14 day pass and accommodation for September 2025

I'm a big advocate of staying onsite for the time that I'm visiting the parks...

- No need for a car
- Proximity/ease of getting to the parks
- If you both like to have a drink or two, noone needs to drive home
- Easy to head back to the resort for a chill/swim in the afternoon before heading back out after dark when the parks are lit up and looking great.

The good news for a 2025 visit is free dining is finally back, meaning if you book a Disney resort + ticket package then you will get some form of included dining. What dining package you get depends on the grade of resort you choose - there are essentially three bands - value, moderate and deluxe.

You can book these with Disney direct, but also with the likes of Virgin Holidays, BA Holiday, TUI and Attraction Tickets. Maybe do a search across those and see what aligns with your budget.

I think having a resort with Skyliner access is a big plus for ease of getting around, which would mean I'd likely favour:

Value: Pop Century or Art of Animation
Moderate: Caribbean Beach

In the deluxe category, which are pricey, I favour the Beach Club/Boardwalk resort area as you can walk to two parks, and I love Epcot.

You don't mention Universal, which could be a consideration, maybe 10 nights Disney / 4 nights Universal. The downside is having to buy another set of tickets. If this is something you are thinking of doing, Universal's Aventura is a great hotel at the price point - more adult-focused, with a great rooftop bar, and walkable to the parks.

Flights I'd probably look to buy separately. There are released 11 months in advance for most airlines, so you'd still need to wait a bit until your return date is 11 months away. September is a good time for decently-priced direct flights. BA and Norse fly direct out of Gatwick, although I have slight reservations over both.

BA have been cancelling flights on that route at short notice a fair bit and Norse may or may not have financial problems.

Virgin are out of Heathrow only at the moment.

Consider Tampa with both Virgin and BA. Often a fair bit cheaper and it's a lovely quiet airport. You can Uber up to Orlando for c$100 if you don't want to drive.

 

[Albion 4ever]

We went in the summer. Stayed in a hotel about 10-15 mins outside Disney.

Didn’t hire a car as it costs €30 just to park in Disney!

We grabbed an Uber or Lyft for less than that for the each way journey.

 

[Neil]

thanks BOZZA

 

[Giraffe]

I echo quite a lot of what @Bozza has said. The one thing I would add is that in the 15 years since you last went it has got very expensive. Not just inflationary, but they are charging for stuff they didn’t used to, including the much hated genie+ which replaced the old fast pass but now pretty much gives you same as a fast pass. And you have to buy this daily, or may do depending on the time of the year and your plans.

Disney want you to stay on site and the benefits are decent for doing so. I used to be very much in the private villa camp but having done both on the last two years I’m pretty bought into staying in Disney hotel for location, general feeling of being at Disney. There are also some great perks of doing so, including dining credit, merch credit and you can book stuff earlier than those that don’t. There are also extra park hours at most parks on most days for those that stay onsite. This, sometimes, mitigates the need to buy Genie +.

 

[Weststander]

I'm a big advocate of staying onsite for the time that I'm visiting the parks...

- No need for a car
- Proximity/ease of getting to the parks
- If you both like to have a drink or two, noone needs to drive home
- Easy to head back to the resort for a chill/swim in the afternoon before heading back out after dark when the parks are lit up and looking great.

The good news for a 2025 visit is free dining is finally back, meaning if you book a Disney resort + ticket package then you will get some form of included dining. What dining package you get depends on the grade of resort you choose - there are essentially three bands - value, moderate and deluxe.

You can book these with Disney direct, but also with the likes of Virgin Holidays, BA Holiday, TUI and Attraction Tickets. Maybe do a search across those and see what aligns with your budget.

I think having a resort with Skyliner access is a big plus for ease of getting around, which would mean I'd likely favour:

Value: Pop Century or Art of Animation
Moderate: Caribbean Beach

In the deluxe category, which are pricey, I favour the Beach Club/Boardwalk resort area as you can walk to two parks, and I love Epcot.

You don't mention Universal, which could be a consideration, maybe 10 nights Disney / 4 nights Universal. The downside is having to buy another set of tickets. If this is something you are thinking of doing, Universal's Aventura is a great hotel at the price point - more adult-focused, with a great rooftop bar, and walkable to the parks.

Flights I'd probably look to buy separately. There are released 11 months in advance for most airlines, so you'd still need to wait a bit until your return date is 11 months away. September is a good time for decently-priced direct flights. BA and Norse fly direct out of Gatwick, although I have slight reservations over both.

BA have been cancelling flights on that route at short notice a fair bit and Norse may or may not have financial problems.

Virgin are out of Heathrow only at the moment.

Consider Tampa with both Virgin and BA. Often a fair bit cheaper and it's a lovely quiet airport. You can Uber up to Orlando for c$100 if you don't want to drive.

Yes, we’ve been recent victims of BA cancelling a flight on another route.

I’ve a question, what did you guys think of Soarin’? We thought it incredible, still gets talked about fondly. Not to be missed.

 

[Bozza]

Yes, we’ve been recent victims of BA cancelling a flight on another route.

I’ve a question, what did you guys think of Soarin’? We thought it incredible, still gets talked about fondly. Not to be missed.

It's a firm family favourite.

There might be some debate about whether the OG, Soarin' Over California is better or not, but it's a lovely ride.

Given the last six months, I think back fondly to taking my mum to WDW for her 70th birthday - repaying her for taking me about 35 years prior to that. Soarin' was the ride that absolutely gobsmacked her.

There aren't many days when a Patrick "nice work pal" isn't used at home.

I'd have paid good money (unlike Keir Starmer) to be on this ride...