My wife and I will be taking 2 small children to Walt Disney World in Florida in 2 weeks. I get to go as a bonus thru my work. We are staying at the Hilton. My question is what is the weather like down there in January? Any good ideas on what to see and do with twins that are 2 years old? I am kind of looking forward to it. A chance to get out of Iowa in January. Oh well, enought blabbing. Any responses are greatly appreciated. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Amnorix:
I'm not adamantly against it. I was toying with it because perhaps the family would like to see some of the other stuff Orlando has to offer...
For us, it made the whole vacation very relaxing. We still did everything we wanted to do, but being able to come "home" and relax...or swim....in our own area so to speak just made the trip for us.
We're actually doing it again out in California this summer. Nice house with a pool. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Amnorix:
I'm not adamantly against it. I was toying with it because perhaps the family would like to see some of the other stuff Orlando has to offer...
Originally Posted by Mr. Plow:
For us, it made the whole vacation very relaxing. We still did everything we wanted to do, but being able to come "home" and relax...or swim....in our own area so to speak just made the trip for us.
We're actually doing it again out in California this summer. Nice house with a pool.
Vacation rentals are great. We did it the first time on a trip to Chicago and ended up with a great condo overlooking Grant Park at a very reasonable price. We rented another condo in Belize last year and again it was much cheaper than a hotel. We'll consider one for any vacation going forward. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Dartgod:
Vacation rentals are great. We did it the first time on a trip to Chicago and ended up with a great condo overlooking Grant Park at a very reasonable price. We rented another condo in Belize last year and again it was much cheaper than a hotel. We'll consider one for any vacation going forward.
For us, we can't get a big enough hotel room to cram 6 of us in....so we are always renting 2 rooms. The rental prices for the houses is way cheaper than renting 2 rooms. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Amnorix:
We are considering booking our next trip to Disney. The kids are clamoring for it, and I'm thinking we "owe" them one presumably last trip there. Frankly, there's alot more of the world I need to go see, but whatever.
The key thing here is that we're likely going early in the summer, in June, so swimming/pools are suddenly an important consideration, and somethign I know NOTHING about at Disney. So a few questions:
1. is it worth it to add the water park package to the base tickets. Basically, the 8 day magic pass gets you into one park per day. Add park hopper for $234. Add water parks for another $234, and it's like "holy crap, that's $500 more just on tickets?!"
2. alternative to water parks is to stay at a lodge (we will be staying at the park unless more experienced heads on here give us a better plan) that has a great pool. Which resorts have the best pools? Our general rule is to cheap out on accomodations -- as long as it's clean and functional, we're fine. We don't loiter in the room -- we're too busy being out and about, so springing extra for rooms isn't our usual plan. But if a park has a fantastic pool with several slides, etc., maybe...?
Thoughts? I'll take referrals to websites for more insight. Glad to do my own legwork.
If you're open to staying off property another option are some of the timeshare/vacation rentals in the Orlando area. Marriott has a few locations. You can rent a villa (as large as a 3BR/2BA with full kitchen) and some of them have great pools and other activities/amenities to enjoy while not at the parks. Additionally, if you're willing to listen to a 1-2hr sales pitch you can get a discount or some extras (park tickets, rewards points, gift cards, etc.).
I'll be taking the family down there in a couple of months just before summer break hits. I would love to go back to Disney World but all they want to do is go to Universal. I would much rather go back to DW. We're also renting a house, I hate hotels. [Reply]
We were actually planning a family vacation to Orlando for next Thanksgiving until one of the nephews couldn't get away from work.
We found an 8 bedroom house 5 minutes from WDW for $2500 total, inc. taxes for 7 nights. Really nice place with a pool, gameroom, etc. It would have been perfect for our group of 15 adults.
The only drawback is transportation, so if you are going this route you need to factor in the cost of a rental car.
Even still, we were looking at over $5,000 at minimum for hotel rooms. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Dartgod:
We were actually planning a family vacation to Orlando for next Thanksgiving until one of the nephews couldn't get away from work.
We found an 8 bedroom house 5 minutes from WDW for $2500 total, inc. taxes for 7 nights. Really nice place with a pool, gameroom, etc. It would have been perfect for our group of 15 adults.
The only drawback is transportation, so if you are going this route you need to factor in the cost of a rental car.
Even still, we were looking at over $5,000 at minimum for hotel rooms.
I spent 5 seconds on vrbo and started thinking about inviting my bro/sis-in-law and their kids. There is a 2,700 sq.ft. 5 bedroom house in Orlando with indoor, heated pool, for like $1,000 for the week. :-O [Reply]
Originally Posted by KILLER_CLOWN:
Where is the cheapest place to get 2 week passes to Universal?
I don't think they sell 2 week passes. I think they do up to 4 days or annual. You can get a 2-park Annual Pass from AAA for $253 (non-FL residents) or $193 (FL residents) which has zero blackout dates and free parking after your 1st visit. If you're going during dates where there are no blackouts than you can get a power pass instead of the preferred for $185 (non-FL residents) or $150 (FL residents). [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP:
I don't think they sell 2 week passes. I think they do up to 4 days or annual. You can get a 2-park Annual Pass from AAA for $253 (non-FL residents) or $193 (FL residents) which has zero blackout dates and free parking after your 1st visit. If you're going during dates where there are no blackouts than you can get a power pass instead of the preferred for $185 (non-FL residents) or $150 (FL residents).
Appreciate the info, So i wonder if the 2 week 175per deal is a scam? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Amnorix:
I spent 5 seconds on vrbo and started thinking about inviting my bro/sis-in-law and their kids. There is a 2,700 sq.ft. 5 bedroom house in Orlando with indoor, heated pool, for like $1,000 for the week. :-O
Just do your research. I always booked places that had multiple (obviously positive) reviews. I also contacted the owner with questions prior to booking. If you do your diligence you shouldn't have any problems. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Amnorix:
I spent 5 seconds on vrbo and started thinking about inviting my bro/sis-in-law and their kids. There is a 2,700 sq.ft. 5 bedroom house in Orlando with indoor, heated pool, for like $1,000 for the week. :-O
We found a 4 br place for $600 a week with pool/hot tub/gameroom and it's been reviewed. My sister stayed there last year. :-) [Reply]
