Travelling from the UK

[jonty666]

I've been to wdw a few times before, travelled cheaply, staying on I drive, and also been with Virgin and stayed at the all stars.

I am in the process of booking my trip for October 2009 and am wondering what is the best option. I loved travelling with Virgin, but it seems the expensive option. When I flew to Stanford on one trip I hated it, so would definitely want to fly to Orlando Int.

We definitely want to stay in Disney, so any ideas?

 

[The Millies]

My husband and I have been to Orlando several times and the best option by far for us has been as follows:
Flying with Virgin as you can then pick and choose your day and any length of stay, we then transfer to an I-Drive hotel - the Rodeway is our fav. for 6 or 7 nights and we then transfer via a taxi to a Disney hotel for the rest of our stay usually around 10 days or so.
We never hire a car, we use the trolly bus on I-Drive and Disney transport when staying at the World.
Hope this helps?

 

[Princess Clayre]

Do you usually book with Virgin Holidays, If so have you thought about booking the flights separate to the hotel? My hubby and I prefer to stay onsite disney and find that we usually save money by booking are Virgin Flights either through their website or a travel agent. This usually requires keep checking the fares to see what offers they are doing. They always charge more for travel on a Fri, Sat or Sun so travel in the week if you can.

We then book our disney hotel thought the disney website. As disney now offer the free Magical Express transfers from the airport you no longer have to worry about needing taxi's etc. We can usually save ourself around £300 or so on a 2 week stay at the value resorts, enough to cover some towards the park passes!

 

[Princess Clayre]

One other thing is that Virgin will not release there flight only fares yet for Oct 09 for a while. If think they only only up to Jan 09 at present. We are travelling in May this year and have only just managed to pick up a good airfare a few week ago so might require a bit of patience.

 

[Damian31]

We always fly with virgin to orlando. Once you have flown with them so many times (I think it was three) you can apply to become a frequent virgin flyer and get 20% off subseqent flights, free upgrades on hire cars, and front of line access to queues for the cars. We are flying in September to Orlando and will be staying in the contemporary. We usually stay on Idrive but over recent years we have found this becoming increasingly tacky!!:dazzle:

There is a deal on at the moment that when you book you get a £100 Tesco voucher to spend when you get back.

I think Virgin are a great company. We got stuck in Orlando when a hurricae grounded all flights a couple of years ago and we had to stay for three weeks rather than two (oh dear!!). They payed for the extra accomodation and food!

 

[Mand]

Hi

I would agree with most, Virgin have got the whole package spot on! I personally only stay in WDW resort hotels because I dont want to drive (I have enough of that at home!) and if we go outside of Disney we get Mears trips or Taxis which are great.

By the time you weigh up costs of staying off property with parking, car insurance etc it does not work out too much more to stay on property and the All Stars are great. If you love Disney its worth the slight bit more for the extra magic hours, service etc.

If you go to Virgin Atlantics website you can join the flying club for free which then entitles you to 10% off Virgin Holiday packages and if you prefer to book with a travel agent most UK mainstream travel agents seem to offer a price match so may offer you the equivalent discount to get your business or just book direct with Virgin.

Finally I would agree that Virgin are really good in difficult times, I too was there when the hurricanes were bad in Orlando and they were really helpful and kept us informed and safe and secure.

Hope I havent gone on too much and you find this of use :wave:

 

[jonty666]

Thanks for all your replies, it all points to Virgin I think! Can you get your 10% virgin atlantic discount as well as the online discount?

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

You'll find that booking flights only and booking a fly/drive or package has a different "not bookable before" date (if that makes sense)

We booked oue last two trips (both through Virgin) a minimum of 15 months ahead of departure. Flight only are available at less than 11 months to departure date

 

[SIMONRTAYLOR]

Hi

We have been the last 3 years with virgin and booked it as a package, this year we have done it different as the price increases made our 17 day trip cost nearly 2500 (including disney tickets)

This year we shopped aorund for a cheaper option and saved £500 byu booking a virgin flight but with Continental airways (continental was cheaper on the same virgin flight by about £100 per person), also continental using the virgin flight (vs075 and vs076) give you exactly the same benefits of luggage allowance, I tried many airlines and most only offered between 15kg-20kg not very good fo all that shoppinh comapred to virgins 2 bags at 23kg each - a whopping 46kg!!!

We then booked the accomadation with - www.attractionsdirect.co.uk

They were very helpful and book the accomadation on disney at all star sports and the magical express transport for you, and all from a free phoen number in the uk, we also had the 14 day ticket from them for only £164


hope this helps:animwink::animwink:

 

[disney dude]

Hi, I am a travel agent in the UK, Hope I can help, I wouldn't strictly follow the Virgin route. Always keep an eye on both British Airways or Virgin as both have a sale from time to time. I would always suggest hiring a car as then you have the freedom to do as you please, for example the buses became extremely busy and we have 3 young children so drove to the parks each day. We flew over in October to Tampa with British Airways then drove upto Orlando a few days later & stayed at POR which was fantastic. Would have no qualms about flying into Tampa again as not as busy as Orlando or Miami. I would also suggest staying on Property as you cannot beat that Disney exprience, and what you save in time without having to drive to I-drive each day.

I hope this helps, also being a travel agent I get alot of discounts on flights, hotels, car hire, park tickets, etc....I know that doesn't help you, but is great fo me:ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

also being a travel agent I get alot of discounts on flights, hotels, car hire, park tickets, etc....I know that doesn't help you, but is great fo me:ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

And I thought you were going to share these with your fellow British Disneyites :fork:

 

[coulty]

I've been to wdw a few times before, travelled cheaply, staying on I drive, and also been with Virgin and stayed at the all stars.

I am in the process of booking my trip for October 2009 and am wondering what is the best option. I loved travelling with Virgin, but it seems the expensive option. When I flew to Stanford on one trip I hated it, so would definitely want to fly to Orlando Int.

We definitely want to stay in Disney, so any ideas?

we recently went to florida(jan14-28) and we booked with virgin we have been with them afew times because we have found they work out cheaper than a lot of other firms who seem to add transfers and other sorts of "extras"".also we dont like flying into sanford, and the extra luggage allowance especially when you"ve been to florida is great. you can also check in at downtown disney nowfor virgin but our experience of that the other week wasnt very good so i think i would go with the magical express if you stop in the world. i think next time we would stay out of the world{international drive) but stiill go with virgin.

 

[eroyee]

Can I suggest looking into POP for the same prices? Its a wonderful value resort. the busses are great, food court is great and the theming is great. Just an idea........

 

[kirst_al UK]

One other thing is that Virgin will not release there flight only fares yet for Oct 09 for a while. If think they only only up to Jan 09 at present. We are travelling in May this year and have only just managed to pick up a good airfare a few week ago so might require a bit of patience.

On their website, prices for May have come up in the last week or so - not many hotels at the min but they said the next brochure is due mid April. (We're looking for May next year).

We too go with virgin - we've also gone with Jetsave who actually use Virgin flights. Everything's just about the same.

Tradewinds & thomas cook use virgin flights. I'd try jetsave - they also have different hotels on offer then virgin and can be way cheaper.

 

[maryszhi]

im not from the uk, but on a flight home from the world there was an english fam. sitting next to us. we starting chatting and we asked why most of the people from the Uk were on our flight......to chicago. they said you can fly cheaper if you fly to an american city, then connect to florida. she says it works every time.
HOPE THIS HELPS

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

im not from the uk, but on a flight home from the world there was an english fam. sitting next to us. we starting chatting and we asked why most of the people from the Uk were on our flight......to chicago. they said you can fly cheaper if you fly to an american city, then connect to florida. she says it works every time.

It is cheaper - but the downside is sitting in an airport for goodness knows how many hours waiting for your connection home. It can be anything up to 7 or 8 hours, thats why - its for the inconvenience

 

[maryszhi]

It is cheaper - but the downside is sitting in an airport for goodness knows how many hours waiting for your connection home. It can be anything up to 7 or 8 hours, thats why - its for the inconvenience

i never thought of that. Sorry



i hope i can to to england some time, i heard its beautifull and all the brits are nice, same with the irish and italians
The Brits who visit and work at the world are soooo nice

 

[Damian31]

i never thought of that. Sorry



i hope i can to to england some time, i heard its beautifull and all the brits are nice, same with the irish and italians

You should come to England it is a beautiful place. But we also have our not so nice areas (just like anyone else I suppose) and our not so nice people!:dazzle:! London is VERY expensive to stay in and eat etc. We have some beautiful countryside, amazing history, great castles and museums, art galleries and some truly great cities outside of our capital. Our market towns are something to behold and are like stepping back in time.

The downside to England compared with America is we lack the choice you guys have in stores. We also do not have anything like your customer service skills. Dont be surprised if come across, bored disinterested employees who cannot be bothered to do anything for you!! Its part of our hertiage!!:lol:

 

[morgan22]

I too am a UK travel agent and I agree with all that DisneyDude above had to say.

But, I am a great advocate for in-direct flights..... I know there is the added hassle of plane changes and sitting around in other airports and the extra flight time but sometimes the financial benefits can be tremendous.

Don't get me wrong, if I had unlimited funds then yes, i'd choose to fly Virgin, Upper Class and stay at the Grand Florid for 3 weeks - but I don't - and I like to try and visit every year. This year, for example, we are travelling over half term in May - Thomson's (albeit direct to Sanford) want £770.00 per person for the dates we chose (flew with them last year, last minute for £175.00 per person and I wish we hadn't bothered....never again) .... our flights on US Airways via Philadelphia are £478.00 per person, Virgin want £934.00 flight only. For our party of 4 and a baby, we are saving almost £2000.00 ... I would rather fly scheduled, via Philly, to save that kind of money.

Plane changes in the US can be really straightforward and connections are usually made within 2 hours so there is really only a small delay.... I have flown with Virgin, and yes, they're great and direct, but personally, not great enough to spend all that extra cash....

 

[nicnic]

I too agree with booking virgin as a package. We are looking to book also for oct 09 and based on this years prices, i have found vigin cheaper as a package than getting flights and accommodation sepp. Also we priced Thomson holidays flying into sanford and they worked out about £300 more for our family as you had to add pre-booked seats (book free with virgin) add transfers as we dont drive the 1st week (free with virgin) add extra baggage allowance (more with virgin), you see where this is going.
I am not booking yet though, I will keep checking as I notice that they often bring deals out throughout the year.
And also if you have a virgin credit card and book and pay via the card you get 10% discount.