OWNER'S RECOMMENDATIONS

If you are planning a holiday to Florida and have little or no previous experience of the sunshine state, I hope you find these recommendations useful.

The information supplied is from our own personal family experience. 

The first consideration is booking your holiday.

Flights, accommodation, car hire and travel insurance.

All of these can be booked as a package through a tour operator, which may appear to be the easiest, but can also work out to be the most expensive option.
The first time we went to Orlando, about 18 years ago, we booked through a travel agent and it was the most expensive holiday we ever had.
If you choose to go this route, make sure that you know exactly what you are getting for your money!
Does the rental car have all the necessary insurances or will you be liable for additional charges on collection?
Can you choose specific accommodation or is it allocated on arrival?
How much is the travel insurance costing in comparison to buying it independantly?
Will there be additional costs added to the flight price - i.e. meals, drinks, entertainment system?

Before comitting to a package, why not check out the cost of booking everything yourself?
Using the internet, you can work out the cost of compiling your own holiday package!

Flights

Scheduled or charter?

Scheduled flights (possible advantages).

Flights do not have to be in multiples of 7 days as they do with charter flights.
Flights can be booked for departure/return on any day of the week. This can be an advantage if you can travel mid-week (Mon to Thurs) as flights are cheaper than at weekends.
The luggage allowance is often more generous and you are not charged extra for golf clubs.
You are less likely to suffer delays on a scheduled flight than on a charter flight.
You can usually allocate your own seats when you book.
Check-in online 24 hours before departure.
Fly in to Orlando International (MCO), Tampa(TPA) or Miami (MIA).

Charter flights

Often appear cheaper than scheduled, but check all the possible additions to the base price which are included in the scheduled airline price!
Arrive at Sanford International airport (SFB).

Direct or Indirect flights?

Indirect flights can sometimes work out to be cheaper than direct flight.
The direct flight time from London to Orlando is about 9 hours (less on the return from Orlando to London!), but is obviously considerably longer if you fly indirect.
Slight risk of missing your connecting flight if your departure from the U.K. is delayed.

Accommodation - Hotel or villa?

As a villa owner I am obviously biased, but will point out the advantages of staying in a villa. These are benefits we discovered long before buying our own Florida home.

Lots of space - not all stuck in one room and having to pay to go out just to escape! You can save money by spending some of your holiday time at the villa enjoying the pool.

Food/meals - again you can make a considerable saving by keeping soft drinks, ice creams, ice lollies, fruit and snacks in your home. Make tea, coffee or meals whenerver you choose.

Laundry facilities - wash/dry your clothes as often as you like during your holiday and therefore pack less to take out, leaving more room in your suitcase to bring home the wonderful bargains that you will find in the Florida stores.
Take all your clothes home already washed and avoid having to spend the first couple of days back faced with a pile of dirty laundry.

Noise - no problem with noisy hotel guests shouting or banging doors and disturbing your sleep.

Sunbeds - you get your own and don't have to rush out early to reserve them!

Pool - your own private pool to enjoy whenever you want - luxury!

Entertainment - many villas have games rooms, more than one TV, DVD players and films, family board games... all to keep you entertained at no extra cost!

Extras included in the rental cost (this is a sample of what our home offers, but will vary with individual villas).

All bedding, towels, pool towels, hair driers, safe, PC, wifi connection, baby equipment, phone calls (including international).

Car hire

I have found the following company to offer excellent service and good value for money (I do not earn commission from these recommendations). 

Car rental (Dollar/Alamo/Budget)

No nasty surprises with this company! There are two options - silver and gold. The Silver rate includes 2 drivers with Dollar and Budget (1 driver with Alamo) whereas the Gold rate includes extra drivers and a full tank of fuel.
Both rates include all necessary tax and fully comprehensive insurance (CDW, SLI, UMP). We always choose the Gold option as we know that there will be nothing more to pay when we collect/drop off the car. They don't even take a credit card swipe! With the Silver option, you will be charged for a tank of fuel.

We also rent our car with Dollar because we have a Dollar Express Card, which means we don't have to spend long queueing!

Dollar and Alamo are both located on airport at Orlando International and Sanford. Budget is off airport at Sanford. This is something worth considering when you choose your car rental company. From past experience, there is nothing worse than arriving at the airport after a long trip and then having to wait for a shuttle bus to take you to the car rental depot!

Attraction tickets

With this company you have the option of having your park tickets delivered to your holiday accomodation for an extra $5.00. This saves worrying about packing/losing your tickets! Also, when the tickets are delivered, you receive the park information brochure and so are able to plan your day(s) in advance. During peak season, when the parks are busy. it is really useful to have a plan of which rides you are going to visit first! It might be an idea, when entering the park, to head off in the opposite direction from everyone else!

Holiday insurance

Excellent service and extremely competitive prices.

Check out the family cover with this company as they include any number of dependant children up to 19 years of age or up to 23 if they are in full time education!

Parks

The Disney parks are, of course, familiar to everyone, but our personal favourite is Busch Gardens at Tampa - well worth a visit! We would also recommend Cypress Gardens for a good day out. It is especially suitable for groups with very young children as there are quite a few rides catering for them.  There are also shows and a new water park.  If you go early on in your holiday you can take advantage of the second day free offer (must be used within 6 days of the original visit).  The queues for the rides are either very short or non-existent!  

If you want to see the manatee in their natural surroundings and are visiting Florida in the winter months (mid November to March) then a visit to Blue Springs Park is well worth adding to your agenda. We really enjoyed the boat trip along the river. 

If you are members of the AA (AAA in the U.S.), take your membership card with you, as some parks will give you a discount.

Dining

Eating out is a real pleasure in Florida too!  There are so many restaurants to try.  Popular family restaurants include Denny’s, Perkins and Shoney’s, but our family favourite is Manny’s Chop House (conveniently located near to our home!). 

The clubhouse at Southern Dunes also has an excellent restaurant for breakfast, lunch and some evening meals (currently Friday, but this is due to be extended to Wednesday and Thursday too!). 

If you appreciate a good steak ,then you should try Charley's Steakhouse. Maybe best kept for a special occasion as it is comparatively expensive!

There are lots of bargains to be bought – trainers, clothing, cosmetics, PC software… are all considerably cheaper in the U.S. than they are in the U.K.  We are very lucky to have a 24 hour WalMart superstore just outside the gates of our community.  Popular shopping malls worth a visit are – The Florida Mall (large and busy - good range of stores), The Mall at Millenia (very up-market, but with a couple of great gadget stores!), Eagle Ridge Mall (a smaller, less busy mall, but still has good stores including Sears, JC Penney and Dillards).  There is also a cinema at Eagle Ridge and a carousel for the little ones!

Macy's offer international visitors a discount of 11% on all purchases for 30 days.  Just go to the gift wrap counter with your passport and collect an International Savings Card.  The offer applies to all goods, even those in a sale!!

Driving

Again, for your convenience, I have compiled some useful information about driving in Florida in a pdf.file.  I recommend that you take a few minutes to read it, or preferably print it out and take it with you.  If you are concerned about finding your way around, why not consider hiring a satellite navigation system  It will be delivered to your U.K. home before your departure and comes pre-programmed with your accommodation address and all the main Florida attractions.

If there are young children in your party, I strongly advise taking their own car seats with you.  The rental cost from the car hire companies is quite high and the seats provided are not always as clean as you might like!  The rental company will provide you with an instruction sheet on fitting the seat, but will not assist in any way should you have a problem with the fitting.  Some airlines will provide a bag for your car seat(s).  I know that Virgin Atlantic do!

If there is anything I have not covered which you would like advice on, please don’t hesitate to get in touch either by Email or phone 01903 240892.