help with planning

[chipndale1977]

hi all im new this is my 3rd post ! well i hope im in the right place.
I am trying to organise a trip to florida for 10 adults, we have a 3 grand per person budget (thanks mr lottery) this will be everyones first trip.

here is what we would like

to stay in a disney hotel
to fly direct
to visit sea world
possibly have use of a pool
we need a larger seat pitch (3 guys over 6 foot tall)
help with tickets (have seen so many different ones am totally confused)
do we need a car ? or is there transportation?
what to pack smart formal or casual all the time?
fly from manchester (its the middle of us all!)
all help would be appreciated

[Grammiepo]

Wow! what fun. you need fla guide on Disney and make your plans from how much money you want to spend.

[MystikPiglit]

Your first trip, how wonderful!

The best thing to do first is read about all of the Disney Resorts and perhaps pick 2 or 3 favourites to choose from.

There is masses of info on here, on the DisneyWorld official site and in several WDW books.

[Slowhand]

hi all im new this is my 3rd post ! well i hope im in the right place.
I am trying to organise a trip to florida for 10 adults, we have a 3 grand per person budget (thanks mr lottery) this will be everyones first trip.

here is what we would like

to stay in a disney hotel
to fly direct
to visit sea world
possibly have use of a pool
we need a larger seat pitch (3 guys over 6 foot tall)
help with tickets (have seen so many different ones am totally confused)
do we need a car ? or is there transportation?
what to pack smart formal or casual all the time?
fly from manchester (its the middle of us all!)
all help would be appreciated

£3000 per person does sound a lot of money BUT please remember that if you fly with Virgin say, in order to get that extra legroom on the plane, the return airfare could well be in the order of £1000 per person, depending on the time of your visit.
If you stay at a Disney resort [hotel], then they all have swimming pools that you can use.
If you are staying on site then in order to get around WDW you could rely totally on the Disney Transportation system. Many folks on this site have visited WDW many times and never bothered to hire a car although I always do for the added convenience when travelling further afield.
If this is your first trip then maybe you could decide whether or not to hire a car after you have been there for a while?
As for clothes, well it`s a lot more relaxed "over there" and smart casual clothing will get you into even the more "classy" restaurants.
It may be worth looking at the cost of package holidays which you could include flight upgrades as required, and many of them will include passes for the WDW parks for the duration of your stay.

[Tink]

OK. Obviously ten people are going to need more than one room, eh?

You can book a DVC resort (WDW resort) that features a grand villa that sleeps 12. Some of the locations for these will be Old Key West, Boardwalk Villas, Saratoga Springs Resort... there may be others, but not all DVC resorts have grand villas.

Or, you can choose to stay at a resort and book multiple rooms. Most sleep four adults, but some will do so with more comfort than others. It really depends upon how much you want to spend.

All locations on WDW property are as good as the next, so it really is down to personal preference for the aesthetics of the resort.

There are value resorts which will be the lowest rates, moderates, then deluxes. All have pools that you can use, and all are within the WDW transport system.

You will need other transport if you choose to leave WDW property (Sea World, although not far from WDW, requires independent transport). You'll want to decide if you will take a taxi, or rent a car large enough for all of you.

Packing will be dictated somewhat by the time of year you plan to visit. For the most part, causual or smart casual is all you will need. If you want to have a very formal and elegant dinner at Victoria and Albert's then you will need a jacket and tie for the men, and something rather dressy for the women. Children under 10 are not allowed. There are other WDW restaurants that expect a smarter form of dress, such as no tank tops, collared shirts on men, decent trousers and the like, but for the most part all are good with casual.

Tickets are a huge issue, complex as you've seen! Take a look at the many types and try to determine what you want to do. Do you want the option of going between parks (WDW) in a given day? Or, do you want to plan just one park per day (revisiting certain parks will be a must to see and do all they have to offer)?

Other than Sea World, do you want to visit Universal Studios and or Islands of Adventure? They are also near WDW and many people visit all WDW parks, Sea World, US/IOA and sometime Busch Gardens (in Tampa) during their visit.

How long do you plan to stay?

See how that happens? You ask a simple question and get twenty in return!

[chipndale1977]

we normally book suites when we go away as a big group.do they disney hotels have this facility? the 3 grand would need to cover fligths and tickets and accomidation per person. what are they popular hotels ? is there one near magic kingdom? i am trying to find my way round the site but theres a lot to read !!!

[Slowhand]

we normally book suites when we go away as a big group.do they disney hotels have this facility? the 3 grand would need to cover fligths and tickets and accomidation per person. what are they popular hotels ? is there one near magic kingdom? i am trying to find my way round the site but theres a lot to read !!!

The hotels nearest to the MK are the Grand Floridian, The Poynesian and the Contemporary, all of which are just a short monorail ride away.
I know that the GF have suites but be prepared as they cost $$$`s I reckon.

[Jodie]

I think All Star Movies has suites or was that just a rumour? There are alot of suites available away from Disney and on-site, does it have to be onsite? Either way I don't think there's a hotel in Orlando without a pool!

£3k sounds like a bundle per person but I doubt you will have any problems spending it!

Manchester do alot of flights for Orlando but the bargains are in-direct or from a London airport

For me a car is a must but that's me, is Seaworld the only off site park you'll be going to? If it is then you propably won't need to bother with a car but if you set your sights on spending a few more days away from Disney then a car could work out cheaper than airport transfers and taxi's back and forth. Disney provide buses, monorail and boats as transportion between parks and hotels.

Park touring attire is welcome everywhere in Orlando but if you were gonna pay $$££$$££ for a meal then dressing up a little would be nice

Tickets wise attraction tickets direct do price match but before you pay you need to decide what you need, in order to do that you need to figure out which parks you're gonna visit!

[chipndale1977]

thanks for the help , we all want to stay in a disney hotel and do the disney parks ,a couple want to do seaworld as they like whales ,i can take them or leave them.we are not wanting to go cheap as we dont really like to slum it :p and now we have the money its like why should we!! we want to use the transport system so we can have a cocktail or 2 id seen on here something called the floridian but not sure where it is ?

[Johnie]

The Grand Floridian is a Disney resort. It is in the Magic Kingdom area. It is rather lovely.

Everyone in the party is an adult? Are there a variety of ages? Do you plan to do everything together or split up? What time of year do you want to go?