O/T Flights/holidays to Florida

[Lady Whistledown]

While you're in Orlando, don't miss THIS theme park, will you? For that authentic, Florida Jesus experience..

Home - The Holy Land Experience

 

[Lord Bamber]

I have flown twice in two years to the states both Virgin & BA and I found both to be excellent, couldnt fault either of them. Oh apart from the fact the inflight entertainment broke on the BA flight coming home, that was frigging annoying. Maybe stick with Virgin!

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Another Florida regular here. Virgin Atlantic are pretty average with service getting worse each year but, if you do book with them, try to get the extra legroom seats. These aren't particularly well advertised but they are normal seats in the middle of the aircraft with an extra 2-3 inches of legroom (note, these are not exit row seats). We booked these last year for £30 each way and the little extra legroom made the flight so much more comfortbale, especially as I am over 6' tall.

I like the BA flights into Orlando and prefer them to Virgin if the price is the same. I have also used the BA flights into Tampa as an alternative as it can save you a fair amount of cash for a family of four. Tampa airport is much quicker to get through than Orlando International. If you don't mind the journey being longer, booking an indirect flight can also save you a fair amount of cash for the sake of an extra few hours travelling.

As for accommodation, although it's not a villa we stayed at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort for a few days last year. It is a Wyndham Vacation Club resort (i.e. timeshare) situated within the boundaries of Walt Disney World. We had a two bedroom deluxe room that was very spacious for our family and the facilites in both the room and resort were great value for money. I booked through these people who were recommended to me http://vacationupgrades.com/index.htm and there were no problems at all.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Flew Virgin in and out of Orlando a few months ago. Flights were ok and on time but agree the interior of the Virgin planes look a bit tired and not quite in keeping with the image they promote. The in-flight service was fine.

Orlando airport did struggle with the volume of tired punters arriving off inbound flights when we last flew in. We are fairly used to the heightened security in the US since 9/11 and know there can be a short wait in getting processed thru immigration. There were some overbearing security staff but they were needlessly provoked by unco-operative, tired and impatient punters doing silly things to annoy them. Plus it was unbelievable how some travellers into the US appeared not to have taken the completion of their ESTA visa waiver seriously and inflicted unnecessary grief on themselves (and created delays for others) at the begining of their holiday. To be honest it said a lot about a minority of dickhead Brits and no wonder the US staff get pissed off with us.

Anyway I would recommend doing all you can to smooth your return flight out of Orlando, i.e. check in online, pre-book seats asap and use their 'check in/chill out' facility at the hotel (if on offer) or the morning bag drop service at Downtown Disney (think there is a small charge for the latter) to avoid the baggage queues at Orlando. We witnessed some fairly chaotic scenes at the Economy check-in as there were 3 Virgin flights departing around the same time. Fortunately we had already forked out to upgrade for bigger seats/legroom on the overnight return flight and got thru quickly, even so the check in area was shambolic with many tired and hot punters looking very stressed which is a shame at the end of a holiday. To be fair the Virgin groundstaff were very helpful in challenging circumstances.

Miami and Sanford were ok in the past and would seriously consider using Tampa next time. Have a great trip whichever route you choose.

 

[Uridium]

Another vote for Tampa here. Much smaller, friendlier airport. We've used BA the past couple of years and found them to be very good. New ish 777s with great inflight entertainment. Off again in October. Can't wait to get back to Universal IOA and Busch Gardens.

 

[Nick Rowles]

I'm currently living in Tampa and recommend the area - if it's good enough for Wardy etc. Only 30 mins from Clearwater and Busch Gardens and less than 2hrs to Orlando. If you are looking for a good hotel on the beach try The St Pete Beach Plaza which is ideal for families ie a couple of twin beds and a sofa bed with a kitchenette on the beach front. Weather is great from Nov - May then it gets a bit sticky, mind you we are currently 'enjoying' a cold spell of only 55F today!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

To be fair the Virgin groundstaff were very helpful in challenging circumstances.

This is an area where Virgin excel in my opinion. I was late for a flight to NYC and the ground staff whisked me through VIP to ensure I got on, and I once missed a flight but they stuck me on the next flight without any problems. I was also due to fly to NY two days after 9/11 and again Virgin handled this brilliantly and got me out to Toronto the following day. When things are not going well it's nice to know someone is on your side and this wins hands down for me especially when I'm tired from travelling and want to get home.

I have had similar issues when flying BA and have found them unhelpful, snooty and very quick to blame everyone else.

 

[JJ McClure]

We were thinking of doing Florida next year rather than this. Haven't got kids so was plan would be a fly-drive to Miami, Keys and the gulf coast areas. Any advise on where to go and best time of year to visit?

 

[Chief Wiggum]

My sister owns a house in Florida and runs a car hire company. Sure she will do you a deal. Just mention her Brighton supporting brother!
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