Florida - time for an updated thread for 2017

[Bozza]

I agree, we did exactly this a few weeks ago, stayed at the Hard Rock for 1 night, checked in at around 7, got our fast passes sorted and then straight to the park. If you're family are into Harry Potter it's definitely worth getting tickets for the 2 universal parks, which will also enable you to ride the Hogwarts Express.

It's interesting to hear that you enjoyed Volcano Bay Bozza, we read such bad reviews that we gave it a miss and stuck to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon for our water based fun.

Agreed - reviews have been mixed, primarily due to it getting full to capacity, sometimes not long after 9, primarily due to on-site guests having early entry.

As a family we're not great at getting into parks early so we didn't take advantage of the early entry, even though we had 4 mornings to give it a go.

Instead we headed over one day around 4ish and stayed there until closing at 9. We got on a fair bit of stuff in that time, and the tapu tapu things work well.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Agreed - reviews have been mixed, primarily due to it getting full to capacity, sometimes not long after 9, primarily due to on-site guests having early entry.

As a family we're not great at getting into parks early so we didn't take advantage of the early entry, even though we had 4 mornings to give it a go.

Instead we headed over one day around 4ish and stayed there until closing at 9. We got on a fair bit of stuff in that time, and the tapu tapu things work well.

If you are pretty flexible on times etc the general feedback at work is go in the evening for 2/3 hours - it's emptied out.

Also getting a Cabana means they have to let you in. I believe there is a fast track entrance.

 

[LockStock]

We have just booked for the 2 weeks extended half term in October. Never been before so looking for lots of advise, so far have flights and park tickets.

Kids aged 3, 4 and 8. Looking ideally to stay in a villa so we are not cramped into a hotel room/suite. Any advise on areas to stay/avoid.

We have so far only booked a Disney/universal combo ticket. Guess we will also need car hire?

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

We have just booked for the 2 weeks extended half term in October. Never been before so looking for lots of advise, so far have flights and park tickets.

Kids aged 3, 4 and 8. Looking ideally to stay in a villa so we are not cramped into a hotel room/suite. Any advise on areas to stay/avoid.

We have so far only booked a Disney/universal combo ticket. Guess we will also need car hire?

Plenty of expertise on here including Bozza who has been even more times than I have. Recently we have used this sit http://vacationupgrades.com/resorts.html to book into Wyndham Vacation Club. It is within Disney boundaries, you don't get all the perks but are close to the action and you can get great rooms and facilities for much less that the official Disney resorts. We usually book the two bedroom deluxe which has two double bedrooms (separate by the big lounge so you can get some grown up privacy) as well as full seized kitchen.

 

[Bozza]

We have just booked for the 2 weeks extended half term in October. Never been before so looking for lots of advise, so far have flights and park tickets.

Kids aged 3, 4 and 8. Looking ideally to stay in a villa so we are not cramped into a hotel room/suite. Any advise on areas to stay/avoid.

We have so far only booked a Disney/universal combo ticket. Guess we will also need car hire?

On a two week first trip, I'd say be careful of not trying to cram too much into it. The temptation is that WE MUST SEE IT ALL. Don't try as:

a) You'll overdo it to the point of not enjoying it.
b) You will be back (whether you believe that or not now)

My main tip is that regardless of what you do with accommodation for the trip, say a house for 2 weeks, when you go to Universal, book one of the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino Bay hotels, for one or two nights. Take an overnight bag with you from your main accommodation early in the morning on Day 1 and checkin. Go straight off and enjoy the park(s). On Day 2 do the same, and again on Day 3 if you do 2 nights.

You do this to get Express access to the attractions which will save you standing in queues. You can buy the Express Pass if you're not staying in one of these three hotels but they cost $85 per person per day. If you are staying in a house, then for most of your stay you'll be driving to and from parks, so you'll probably appreciate not having to do that for a few days, which also means you can both have a drink when you fancy it.

We're very much a Disney resort family so I can't offer too much advice on houses. We like the 1BR villas at Old Key West (or other Disney Vacation Club resorts) as you get a lot of space. You'd save a lot of money being off-site though.

If you're in a house, you'll almost certainly need a car, yes. Try:

https://www.alamo.co.uk/partners/members/brits/
http://www.usrentacar.co.uk/

 

[dazzer6666]

On a two week first trip, I'd say be careful of not trying to cram too much into it. The temptation is that WE MUST SEE IT ALL. Don't try as:

a) You'll overdo it to the point of not enjoying it.
b) You will be back (whether you believe that or not now)

My main tip is that regardless of what you do with accommodation for the trip, say a house for 2 weeks, when you go to Universal, book one of the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock or Portofino Bay hotels, for one or two nights. Take an overnight bag with you from your main accommodation early in the morning on Day 1 and checkin. Go straight off and enjoy the park(s). On Day 2 do the same, and again on Day 3 if you do 2 nights.

You do this to get Express access to the attractions which will save you standing in queues. You can buy the Express Pass if you're not staying in one of these three hotels but they cost $85 per person per day. If you are staying in a house, then for most of your stay you'll be driving to and from parks, so you'll probably appreciate not having to do that for a few days, which also means you can both have a drink when you fancy it.

We're very much a Disney resort family so I can't offer too much advice on houses. We like the 1BR villas at Old Key West (or other Disney Vacation Club resorts) as you get a lot of space. You'd save a lot of money being off-site though.

If you're in a house, you'll almost certainly need a car, yes. Try:

https://www.alamo.co.uk/partners/members/brits/
http://www.usrentacar.co.uk/

Tip top advice there.

We’ve always rented houses, literally thousands available in the area, great places and very good value too, usually in gated communities. Last one had 4 huge bedrooms, swimming pool and jacuzzi, games room with table tennis and a pool table and two lakes for bass fishing. All within 20 mins easy drive or so of Disney/Universal.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Just 10 more days until we'll be back in our 2nd home for Christmas....just sayin'. ;o)

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Bouncing this as off to Florida next Easter and starting to book things up. Like everything with too much choice it's difficult to know where to start given I've never been before other than to sit in Hurricane Katrina on the Florida Keyes for my honeymoon.

1. I like [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] s idea of staying in a Universal hotel for a night or 2 to bag the Universal passes. The Cabana Bay looks the best bet for my cheapskate tastes albeit the Hard Rock looks better. Is it a case of ALL Universal hotels get you the jump passes or specific packages within each hotel that facilitate this? We are obviously going to need 'normal' passes on top.
2. We will in all likelihood stay in a villa for the bulk of the time we are there which is our normal holiday MO. As [MENTION=27279]dazzer6666[/MENTION] points out the choice is almost endless. Does anyone have any personal experience of anything ideally close to the action (Disney) walkable to the odd restaurant I can get smashed occasionally without the need to drive all the time, for a family of 4 and a pool? The iceing on the cake - but by no means essential - would be a multitude of chrome so the wife will look at the pictures and say 'Oh That's nice'
3. We are flying into Tampa and will stay in Clearwater for a couple of nights or so to recover from Jet lag and have a beachey holiday before we go to Orlando. Any recommendations for here? I'm assuming the beach is the place to go.
4. On the way back we are probably going to stay in Tampa for a night or 2. Is there anything other than Busch Gardens which is worth going here for and therefore stay here for the minimum amount of time? Any better ideas in this vicinity?

 

[backson]

Re: point 1, not all Universal hotels get you the Unlimited Express, there's a chart here.

https://www.universalorlando.co.uk/Hotels/On-site-Hotels-Comparison.aspx

We've also taken up Bozza's idea, we're off this Saturday, with the middle weekend at Royal Pacific.

 

[Bozza]

Bouncing this as off to Florida next Easter and starting to book things up. Like everything with too much choice it's difficult to know where to start given I've never been before other than to sit in Hurricane Katrina on the Florida Keyes for my honeymoon.

1. I like [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] s idea of staying in a Universal hotel for a night or 2 to bag the Universal passes. The Cabana Bay looks the best bet for my cheapskate tastes albeit the Hard Rock looks better. Is it a case of ALL Universal hotels get you the jump passes or specific packages within each hotel that facilitate this? We are obviously going to need 'normal' passes on top.

No. You only get queue-jumping at the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock and Portofino Bay. They can be pricey, but you can get by with just the one night to get two days' access. I'd recommend staying at one of these if you possibly can. If you can't, Cabana Bay looks great, although I've not stayed there myself.

2. We will in all likelihood stay in a villa for the bulk of the time we are there which is our normal holiday MO. As [MENTION=27279]dazzer6666[/MENTION] points out the choice is almost endless. Does anyone have any personal experience of anything ideally close to the action (Disney) walkable to the odd restaurant I can get smashed occasionally without the need to drive all the time, for a family of 4 and a pool? The iceing on the cake - but by no means essential - would be a multitude of chrome so the wife will look at the pictures and say 'Oh That's nice'

I've not stayed in a villa in the Orlando area but, as you say, there are zillions. When I have taken a look, it doesn't seem that too many are walkable to restaurant areas, although I'm sure some must be. Ubers are very, very cheap however, so I'd not let it be a deal breaker.

3. We are flying into Tampa and will stay in Clearwater for a couple of nights or so to recover from Jet lag and have a beachey holiday before we go to Orlando. Any recommendations for here? I'm assuming the beach is the place to go.

We've not been to the Gulf beaches for a long time, but you really can't go wrong down there. However, my suggestion, if you are planning on doing theme parks is to head to Orlando straight away and take advantage of your body clock adjustment to get into theme parks early, to do big attractions before the bulk of the crowds arrive.

4. On the way back we are probably going to stay in Tampa for a night or 2. Is there anything other than Busch Gardens which is worth going here for and therefore stay here for the minimum amount of time? Any better ideas in this vicinity?

Continuing from the above, perhaps make it a longer stay at the end of the holiday to chill out after theme park madness, and slot a day at Busch into there somewhere. Busch Gardens doesn't tend to be as busy and as manic as the Orlando parks.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

No. You only get queue-jumping at the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock and Portofino Bay. They can be pricey, but you can get by with just the one night to get two days' access. I'd recommend staying at one of these if you possibly can. If you can't, Cabana Bay looks great, although I've not stayed there myself.



I've not stayed in a villa in the Orlando area but, as you say, there are zillions. When I have taken a look, it doesn't seem that too many are walkable to restaurant areas, although I'm sure some must be. Ubers are very, very cheap however, so I'd not let it be a deal breaker.



We've not been to the Gulf beaches for a long time, but you really can't go wrong down there. However, my suggestion, if you are planning on doing theme parks is to head to Orlando straight away and take advantage of your body clock adjustment to get into theme parks early, to do big attractions before the bulk of the crowds arrive.



Continuing from the above, perhaps make it a longer stay at the end of the holiday to chill out after theme park madness, and slot a day at Busch into there somewhere. Busch Gardens doesn't tend to be as busy and as manic as the Orlando parks.

Top advice. Thankyou. I'll dust off the AMEX for one of the pricey hotels. I knew the Cabana Bay was too cheap to be true including passes.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Bouncing this as off to Florida next Easter and starting to book things up. Like everything with too much choice it's difficult to know where to start given I've never been before other than to sit in Hurricane Katrina on the Florida Keyes for my honeymoon.

1. I like [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] s idea of staying in a Universal hotel for a night or 2 to bag the Universal passes. The Cabana Bay looks the best bet for my cheapskate tastes albeit the Hard Rock looks better. Is it a case of ALL Universal hotels get you the jump passes or specific packages within each hotel that facilitate this? We are obviously going to need 'normal' passes on top.
2. We will in all likelihood stay in a villa for the bulk of the time we are there which is our normal holiday MO. As [MENTION=27279]dazzer6666[/MENTION] points out the choice is almost endless. Does anyone have any personal experience of anything ideally close to the action (Disney) walkable to the odd restaurant I can get smashed occasionally without the need to drive all the time, for a family of 4 and a pool? The iceing on the cake - but by no means essential - would be a multitude of chrome so the wife will look at the pictures and say 'Oh That's nice'
3. We are flying into Tampa and will stay in Clearwater for a couple of nights or so to recover from Jet lag and have a beachey holiday before we go to Orlando. Any recommendations for here? I'm assuming the beach is the place to go.
4. On the way back we are probably going to stay in Tampa for a night or 2. Is there anything other than Busch Gardens which is worth going here for and therefore stay here for the minimum amount of time? Any better ideas in this vicinity?

2 - Not a villa but if you want to be really close to the action see my post above about Bonnet Creek Resort - a Wyndham Vacation Club resort.

3 - Tampa is great to fly into with smaller hire car queues than Orlando. Not sure if it is still the same but hire car office was across the road from baggage reclaim so to beat the queues, hire a red cap to help the other half with the luggage while you go across the road to get the car keys. In Clearwater, I can recommend Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise (sic). Provides a harbour/dolphin cruise but instead of a being on a boring boat it is a replica pirate ship with fun games for all the family. I stayed at Redington Beach last time which is just south of Clearwater - very nice but not as busy as Clearwater.

4 - I would go back to the beach rather than stay in Tampa. Busch Gardens is not in the nicest part of the city (it used to be a working brewery) so better to stay somewhere nice and travel in.

 

[Roadrunner]

We stayed at the Hard Rock for 4 nights a few weeks ago, it's well worth the expense in my opinion (and it's a nice hotel with a great pool anyway). The early hours park entry is particularly valuable - we were in Volcano Bay (water park) for 8am and did all of the rides before the park was busy. Queues were upwards of two hours from 10am onwards. Likewise for the two Universal Parks - arrive early, tick off some rides, back to the hotel pool whilst the parks are busy, return for the evening shift once the queues have died down. One thing I would say is that although you would have Express Passes included, they're not as good as the Disney equivalent as far more people seem to have them. On some occasions the 'Express' queues were longer than the regular ones!

 

[dazzer6666]

Bouncing this as off to Florida next Easter and starting to book things up. Like everything with too much choice it's difficult to know where to start given I've never been before other than to sit in Hurricane Katrina on the Florida Keyes for my honeymoon.

1. I like [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] s idea of staying in a Universal hotel for a night or 2 to bag the Universal passes. The Cabana Bay looks the best bet for my cheapskate tastes albeit the Hard Rock looks better. Is it a case of ALL Universal hotels get you the jump passes or specific packages within each hotel that facilitate this? We are obviously going to need 'normal' passes on top.
2. We will in all likelihood stay in a villa for the bulk of the time we are there which is our normal holiday MO. As [MENTION=27279]dazzer6666[/MENTION] points out the choice is almost endless. Does anyone have any personal experience of anything ideally close to the action (Disney) walkable to the odd restaurant I can get smashed occasionally without the need to drive all the time, for a family of 4 and a pool? The iceing on the cake - but by no means essential - would be a multitude of chrome so the wife will look at the pictures and say 'Oh That's nice'
3. We are flying into Tampa and will stay in Clearwater for a couple of nights or so to recover from Jet lag and have a beachey holiday before we go to Orlando. Any recommendations for here? I'm assuming the beach is the place to go.
4. On the way back we are probably going to stay in Tampa for a night or 2. Is there anything other than Busch Gardens which is worth going here for and therefore stay here for the minimum amount of time? Any better ideas in this vicinity?

Clearwater is awesome......despite multiple Orlando, Miami, Naples, Sarasota and Key Largo holidays, our family choice for the next Florida trip would be a return to Clearwater. Small enough to be able to walk around, fantastic beach and just so chilled out. We loved it. Had a couple of fantastic fishing trips and a brilliant jet ski tour last time we were there. Rented a massive apartment yards from the beach.

Very easy trip from Tampa too. We usually spend the last day of the trip shopping at the large mall next to the airport.

 

[ditchy]

Not to put a downer on this thread and i have not read all so it may be mentioned , but check out the Red Tide . The Gulf coast has had problems with Algae from waters released into the sea from lake Okechobee (spelling ) it has killed lots of fish widelife etc . The locals are up in arms about it as its having an affect on tourism.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=f...rome..69i57.6567j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Not to put a downer on this thread and i have not read all so it may be mentioned , but check out the Red Tide . The Gulf coast has had problems with Algae from waters released into the sea from lake Okechobee (spelling ) it has killed lots of fish widelife etc . The locals are up in arms about it as its having an affect on tourism.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=f...rome..69i57.6567j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

A dead whale and sea turtle is a positive improvement to what I saw at Great Yarmouth a few weeks back.

 

[casbom]

It is a great idea about staying at Universal (higher end Hotel) to get the express passes, especially makes sense if there's more than two of you. If only two of you, it isn't any cheaper. There are 5 of us and we're going in May 2020 and I'm thinking of booking up one night for the 5 of us in a room, saves us a few hundred dollars! You still get early entry if staying at the lower end Hotels but not worth paying the extra dollars for that.

Flying into Tampa from Gatwick is a great alternative to flying into Orlando, a quieter airport with less hassle queuing to get out and get to the car, I think I was in the car within 20 min from walking off the plane. From there it's an easy drive on I4 all the way to Orlando, takes around an hour to do. It's a good way to acclimatize to driving on the wrong side of the road and get used to their signs.

There is a lot of change at the parks going on at the moment and over the next year. Big changes at Disney Studios with all of the new Star Wars stuff, and even Sea World are adding a new Water ride which looks quite scary!

If you haven't planned your days (as in when to visit each park) then you have to, there is nothing worse then doing a park everyday as after a few days you will be absolutely shattered. Try and do a park and then take a rest day (or visit a waterpark), then another Park day and so on.

Anyway, a lot of good info can be found here: https://www.thedibb.co.uk/

 

[Iggle Piggle]

2 - Not a villa but if you want to be really close to the action see my post above about Bonnet Creek Resort - a Wyndham Vacation Club resort.

3 - Tampa is great to fly into with smaller hire car queues than Orlando. Not sure if it is still the same but hire car office was across the road from baggage reclaim so to beat the queues, hire a red cap to help the other half with the luggage while you go across the road to get the car keys. In Clearwater, I can recommend Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise (sic). Provides a harbour/dolphin cruise but instead of a being on a boring boat it is a replica pirate ship with fun games for all the family. I stayed at Redington Beach last time which is just south of Clearwater - very nice but not as busy as Clearwater.

4 - I would go back to the beach rather than stay in Tampa. Busch Gardens is not in the nicest part of the city (it used to be a working brewery) so better to stay somewhere nice and travel in.

Had a look at the website for Bonnet Creek and the pricing is superb in comparison to other ones for the same site. If we go Disney as opposed to Universal, it looks like a great bet.

 

[Bozza]

Just searched back over my emails.

We stayed at the “Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek” in 2016 - we moved there for a few days at the end of our holiday after two weeks at the Disney Old Key West resort.

I’ll be honest, I can’t remember too much about it other than it was nice inside and it’s very large.

It will certainly be significantly cheaper than equivalently specced Disney properties.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Thought I'd bounce this seeing as I'm currently sat in the rain - almost a typically English Bank Holiday - with extreme winds to boot. A few points in no particular order.

- the fast pass system just takes the hassle out of queuing notwithstanding a wild goose chase to get the bloody things. Short bursts using them seems to work for us rather than getting there for park opening or whatever.
- The Americans like their rules. Every Disney official seems to be little a Floridian Keith Lard. The whistle at our hotel pool is a constant for the most minor of infractions.
- I could murder a curry.
- I never realised Hooters still existed.
- There are some serious Disney wierdos here. If there is a Yank Operation yewtree I'd make HQ at Magic Kingdom.

The kids love it. At least they won't want to go to legoland again.

A.lot of advice on here has come in handy. Cheers.