Starting to get excited now!!!!

[jg22524]

Hi,

It's been a while since I've been on the site for a while (ds been in hospital ... all good now thank goodness) but the balance of our trip is due soon so have gone back into planning mode and starting to get excited. When I first joined there were some offers of planning help so I thought I'd post where we are at.

Car, flights, accommodation all booked but that is about it.

Have finally submitted the ESTAs for us all and held my breath while it decided whether we were eligible ... scary! Anyway, we are all clear (not that I expected any problems) but it I didn't want a "computer says no!" (fans of the show Little Britain will know what I mean). One question I do have is my son has a passport issued in 2005 that doesn't have a chip. However, it has the new style photo and I believe is machine readable. Has anybody else used a passport that was issued in 2005 before the chip to enter the US?

So, starting to plan and decide what tickets to buy. Someone recommended the 14 day pass for disney plus the Orlando flex. We are there for two weeks but are trying to work out the best deal so any advice more than welcome.

Have bought the unofficial guide to Walt Disney World so I have a lot of reading to do! Has anyone else found it useful?

Just seen the post re: the McDonalds event happening in July which is a bit of a bummer.

Anyway, off to finish sorting out the Sunday roast.

Jo.

[Britchick]

glad your son is a better

our passports were done in the summer of 2005 and they are fine.

the unofficial guide was the first guide i bought and i learnt tonnes of stuff, of course you can always ask us lot of questions

[mumof2]

oooh how exciting!

sorry your son's been poorly but glad to hear he's better.

[jg22524]

Thanks britchick and mumof2. My son is loads better now but it has been a hell of a month! We have told him where we are going for our holidays and he is soooooooo excited!

Thanks britchick re: the passport question. Would be awful to get there and for my son not to be allowed in, so I'm glad I don't have to sort out a new passport .

[minnie-me]

Sounds like you really do need a good holiday. Glad to hear your son is better & looking forward to the holiday.

We have only bought 14 day ultimate ticket - decided we to have a relaxing holiday as well & the girls love disney so much. Not worth getting universal tickets for us as they do not like the rides xx

[jg22524]

Thanks minnie-me. Yes a good holiday is certainly in order. As this is our first time we are not entirely sure what is going to suit us best. Obviously we will go to the main parks but DH loves films so Universal was on the drawing list.

You mention that your girls didn't like the rides at Universal. Was it an age thing or are the rides just not as good as the ones in the main WDW parks? DS will be 7 when we go, are the rides suitable for someone his age or are they better for older children/adults?

Hope you have a great time with your girls.

[Mari]

Im glad your son is better!

I think you have the most important things done...

now for the tickets.... I think you should get park hoppers... that way you can "hop" form park to park within the same day... say.. you can visit Magic Kingdom, then go to Epcot for lunch and finally visit the Studios for Fantasmic...a park hopper will give you lots of flexibility

Since this is your first time going, I think you SHOULD go to Universal and Sea World ...Not sure about Islands of Adventure though, i think its rides are mostly for teenagers/young adults.... lots of roller coasters....

[jg22524]

Thanks Mari. DS has us rather worried for a while but he is a tough cookie thank goodness.

I think that the Ultimate ticket should allow us to go to more than one park in a day but as a complete novice I may have it wrong ... someone please correct me if I have.

Thanks for the info on Islands of Adventure. I really should try and check out height restrictions for the rides on the parks. He is just over 4ft so I am guessing he should be ok for some of the kids rides.

[minnie-me]

The ultimate tickets are great. You can go in as many parks as you want per day, it also includes water parks & Disney Quest.

We have not yet been to universal & so can't really help you. I have been advised by lots of friends that if your time / money is limited, & kids do not really like rides then for budget reasons & for what the girls like it is better to get the Disney ultimate.

I would like to do Universal one day, but we will decide this when we go & pay for a day on the door!

Must admit that we are into a relaxing holiday. We do the parks mainly in mornings or until we are tired, back to hotel for pm & then we can go back to parks in evening if we all want to. We do not push ourselves to the state of exhaustion as I know that if the girls are tired, it will make the holiday miserable for all of us!

Good luck in deciding what tickets you are going to buy x

[jg22524]

Thanks Helen. Do you know how much the Universal tickets are at the gate?