jackbauer24 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Have been looking at relatively late deals to Orlando for the end of this month/ early August but, never having been to the US before, I'm getting a little confused by what you really need/ scale of area. In summary we want to go for 14 days, we want to go to Universal mostly but have a maybe a day at one Disney Park (so expensive) and see if we can get a day or two at a beach area like Daytona perhaps? We've got a budget of approximately £3k for two of us but flights and hotel look like taking up two thirds of that. I can't go any other time of the year as I'm a teacher!! Do we need a car as well? Having looked around and all the different permutations, taxes, costs of food etc are we not going to have enough money? Flights/ Hotel (RO) - £2k (Thomson) Theme Parks - £400 Transport? Food? General spending money? I'm well short aren't I?! Any advice? Or should I just give up and go to Spain... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Can you get cheaper flights to say New York and then take an internal flight down... I dropped Orlando from my trip but in the end but I was seeing £70 for Washington to Orlando flights when I looked... New York is a cheap hub so should be able to get something Not sure why you want to focus so much on theme parks ... Go to crystal river and you can jump in the water and swim with Manatees and also go out on an air boat across the Everglades... And without queuing for 3 hours either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackbauer24 Posted July 8, 2012 Author Share Posted July 8, 2012 I'll look at the New York thing, be nice if I could break up the holiday a little as 14 days at a Theme park seems a little much!! We had thought about visiting Daytona Beach and Kennedy Space Centre if possible too but know nothing of US at all. Theme Parks are purely because it's big brash America and relatively 'safe'. For our first trip we wanted relatively easy experience on a main tourist trail. Last year I camped around 14 countries in Europe over three weeks so, whilst I appreciate the cultural side of life, my other half in particular wanted a mainstream simple holiday... with four walls rather than a tent!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usvilla Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 you can rent a condo/villa cheaper & you will need a car ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Have been looking at relatively late deals to Orlando for the end of this month/ early August but, never having been to the US before, I'm getting a little confused by what you really need/ scale of area. In summary we want to go for 14 days, we want to go to Universal mostly but have a maybe a day at one Disney Park (so expensive) and see if we can get a day or two at a beach area like Daytona perhaps? We've got a budget of approximately £3k for two of us but flights and hotel look like taking up two thirds of that. I can't go any other time of the year as I'm a teacher!! Do we need a car as well? Having looked around and all the different permutations, taxes, costs of food etc are we not going to have enough money? Flights/ Hotel (RO) - £2k (Thomson) Theme Parks - £400 Transport? Food? General spending money? I'm well short aren't I?! Any advice? Or should I just give up and go to Spain... You don't want to go to Florida in the summertime. The heat and humidity make it unbearable. You should consider Martha's Vineyard/Nantucket/Cape Cod/Coastal Maine....less sleazy and ridiculous Americana bullshit, and better weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usvilla Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/Disney-Area-Florida.html this will help - i stayed at a 3 bed condo 10 mins from parks $600 a week i went in winter though - weather is bearable then ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 11, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 11, 2012 Would echo the renting a VIlla idea. I can't say how much it cost, but when I went a few years back with my family, my parents rented a Villa because it was so much cheaper than a hotel. Indian Creek was the name of the area if you fancy giving it a look. Easily close enough to everything. But you will definitely need a car. Even if you stayed at one of the parks, you'd need a car to get to the other places. As for theme parks. We got our disney tickets while we were over there. Before we went my parents found this time share presentation where at the end you got discounted theme park tickets. So we had to sit through an hour presentation by some bloke and resist the ver very hard sell that they give you. But we got a free breakfast and a discount on our disney tickets so was worth it., Might be worth having a google for something like that. Also, try and buy your park tickets in bundles. Excluding the Disney tickets, we got ours before we went and got tickets for all the universal parks, a water park called wet and wild, and Busch Gardens in one bundle, which made it much cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 11, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 11, 2012 Oh, and go to Ponderosa for lots of food really cheap! You by a steak as you go in, but then to go with it you get an all you can eat buffet. With everything on it, including stuff like burgers and pizzas etc. So a whole meal realy. So buy the cheapest steak you can find at the door, and pig out on the rest of it. **** loved that place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 11, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 11, 2012 Oh, and final post from me, if you could delay until September it might be an idea. That's when we went, Less heat, less tourists, quieter theme parks. generally very pleasant. Most we queued for a ride was 45 minutes, and that's because it broke down while we were queueing. Had a friend who went literally the July before we went. She said she queued for nearly 3 hours to get on "Shrek 4D" We walked straight in, zero queue. So might be worth the delay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peever Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Well you dont need a car per say but it will make things much much easier for you to get around and rentals are pretty reasonable. Depending where you are Ale House on the 535 just off the I4 is a fantastic spot for drink deals and food. If your looking for a few good spots to go out on the town I know a few spots as I lived there for a year. Now I cant garuntee these are all still happening but... Weds- Chillers $1 slushie drinks and bottle beer on first floor (3 floor club) Sun- Howl at the Moon, 5 bucks for 3 drinks.....great deal Saturday- Cowboys (country bar duh) is 10 bucks to get in and its ALL YOU CAN DRINK! But as I said...its a country bar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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