Florida holiday tips and hints

[D7PNY]

Looking to potentially book a holiday for october next year for the wife's 30th and with our youngest being nearly 4 and our eldest nearly 7 we thought that was a good age for them.

Any handy tips and do's/don'ts from folk that have done the trip before?

We are thinking potentially a few days in Vegas etc whilst we are over there to. Say, 2 week holiday with a few days to take in Vegas (the wife is still jealous of my trip there last year for a friends stag do!)

I think the wife thinks it is going to be cheaper than I do but would appreciate any pointers as to what to budget for the trip (even just an idea on the Disney bit would be useful).

Cheers,

Dave

[SootySport]

Las Vegas is a long way from Florida so a another air fare to pay for.    Las Vegas is very expensive for food and drink, typically a beer will cost you $7 to $20 depending on which hotel you stay at. If you want to eat cheap you'll be reduced to pizzas and burger bars only.  No matter which hotel or restaurant you  go to there is no dress code, so shorts, tee shirt and flip flops are ok.  Rooms can be really cheap and there are some agencies that deal with the hotels on a daily basis but they cannot be booked in advance.  Booking  a room does not entitle you to use of the pool and some other leisure facilities in most hotels, that is an extra which costs, don't shoot the messenger.   LV is a great place for entertainment though, plenty of family daytrips available from Hotel reception. The Strip is good for evening walks and free entertainment. 

 

Florida is cheaper for reasonable food and drink to keep us Brits happy as we are the largest group of visitors there.  You can arrange your own itinery on the internet, lots of searching and comparing required, will take you days to sort something out. You can buy the Disney and other park tickets on line as well.  There are height restrictions on some rides so your 4 year old may be disappointed for the big rides.  UK travel companies offer hotel/park/flight packages of course and have special offers for families  (your family of 2 adults and 2 children is perfect cost wise).     My favourite way of booking is with Virgin, phoning them and telling what you want and they get back to you with an all in  price which happened to be no more expensive than booking myself.  Remember doing it this way gives you full ABTA insurance on the whole cost of the holiday  (you still need the standard travel insurance of course).  

We went once in November and October which is in their stormy season so be aware of that, ok  when we were there though and not as hot and humid, just nice.

Americans in the service industry are very friendly and go out of their way to help you, especially the little uns.

If your family are all UK citizens and passport holders, you don't need Visas but you do need to register on ESTA and that can be done on line, thankfully it's an easy process.

[Stuart]

If you don't intend to spend the bulk of your Florida holiday in Disney then stay on the Gulf Coast, hire a car and travel to Disney.  Don't book a package just fly drive then book a condo directly with a Florida realtor it's usually hugely cheaper.  I've used this one several times and they've been good.  Take out your car hire excess insurance here and then just keep saying no at the car hire desk when you get there.  Watch for the full tank/bring back empty ploy.  And go to Shells seafood restaurant in Redington Beach it's one of my favourites ever....

[SootySport]

Just to add to my bit-----Children will need their OWN passport, they can't travel to the US on yours,

[D7PNY]

Thanks guys.

Knew about the esta bit as I had to do that for Vega last year.

I told the wife Vegas was too far but she's adamant its 'only' a 4 hour drive so including it in possibilities just now.

A friend has just informed me that used virgin to so will try and pop in to see them at some point.

Cheers,

Dave

[SootySport]

4 hour drive?        It's a 4 hour flight.

[D7PNY]

Haha...I have just raised it again and she has finally realised the error of her ways!

I think she must have checked from the Californian Disney as she was not for agreeing with me earlier.

[SootySport]

   yep, women have no concept of distance.  My wife doesn't know how many miles it is to her workplace even though she's been going the same route for 11years.   I know it's about 3 miles but she seems to think it's 30 miles by the fact she cruises at about 30mph

[jeff oakley]

Florida is a big place and it all depends on when you go and what you want to do. We have friends who live in Tampa and have been many times.

If you want theme parks, then Orlando area as they are all there with Busch Gardens about an hour away. From that base you can do Kennedy Space centre for a day and well worth it. There is also Don Garlits drag racing museum and not to be missed is Kissimmee Old Town car show on the Saturday evening.

 

From there Daytona beach and the race track. Get on the web and see what races are on in the area Nascar does race all over Florida and Drag racing is every Wednesday night for fun racers, but still serious cars to watch.

 

If you want a bit more out of Florida, fly into Miami and then drive down the Keys and spend a couple of days in Keywest, eat Key Lime pie there and drink in one of the many music bars there.

 

Then drive up the Gulf Coast, call in the Everglades and do an airboat ride. Then up to Naples, best hotel there is Naples Golf Resort, Dick Chenney was there the week before us and if it is before October, it is their out of season so very cheap accomadation. The food there is some of the best but not so cheap, but you are on holiday. Then up to St Pete's. Relax on the Beach etc.

 

Fort Lauderdale is worth a trip where you can take a boat ride and see the decadence of huge home, huge motor boats.

 

We usually do 2 and a half weeks there to do that holiday ending up in Orlando. Only downside is to fly to Miami you leave Heathrow, back from Orlando it is into Gatwick. Not sure about Manchester.

 

One of my staff is flying to Florida on Norwegian Air which is half the price of Virgin.

 

Car hire is best booked in the UK and there idea of a compact is a Fiat 500 so boot space is get a decent car, with all up collision cover as well.

 

And for your wife, tell her to take an empty suitcase as the shopping is great and cheap. The millennium mall is my wife and daughters favourite place and whilst there eat in the cheesecake factory.

 

Hope that is some help but any questions just ask

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

I will add more when I get a bit more time - we went the year before last and then two years before that - with three kids of similar age to yours

 

Book a villa (don't do a hotel) - that way you can take the odd day out to chill by the pool and if anyone is unwell you have a comfortable base - most villas for rent are in a gated estate which gives you a bit of peace of mind

 

if you google "peak park times disney florida" you will be able to check best time of year to go (our last visits were between end of Feb and April) parks are much quieter than peak summer months (weather was still plenty warm enough for me - you wouldn't want much hotter clumping around the parks all day)

 

Even if you go when it is quieter I would avoid the parks at the weekends when they are busier (we had various days out at the weekends - Coco Beach for instance, which was fantastic)

 

Hire a car bigger than you think you will need (maybe a minivan)

 

We found that chilling in the morning in the villa and then hitting the parks mid afternoon/evening worked best as the kids could re-energise in the morning (the parks really come alive in the evening)

 

Epcot is fantastic - probably my favourite

 

All the Disney Parks are fantastic

 

Seaworld was also enjoyable

 

Boggy creak is also a nice morning/afternoon out

 

Kennedy is also worth a trip (not sure if your four year old would enjoy at that age)

 

Legoland was disappointing (it wasn't sufficiently any better than the UK version) - we wish we hadn't of bothered

 

We didn't do Bush gardens as we felt that was more for bigger kids, due to the time of year we have been we have not done any of the water parks (although many of the days we were there it was up in the 70's)

 

More to follow