Walt Disney World

Booked to go in October with Thomas Cook and have car hire included in the package with Alamo however the included insurance seems to be 3rd party only and they suggest upgrading to full insurance package for nearly £300 which seems a ludicrous price. Has anyone used Alamo before and bought general car hire insurance from the UK instead before you went?

I bought car hire excess cover in the UK previously for a car I hired in Portugal before I went a lot cheaper than the rental company would have charged but I am not sure if you can do this to upgrade insurance for a hire car in the US. Any help would be appreciated.
 
We just got back two weeks ago. Stayed at Marriott Cypress Harbour for two weeks, an incredibly good place to stay for us, it's a peaceful place and we've always stayed there, depends really if you intend to spend most of your time in Disney or other parts of Orlando aswell though. As for Disney hotels, we've never stayed in them, but know numerous people who have. The expensive ones are supposedly very good, but that's the thing isn't it? It's pricey. Though I suppose everything in Disney is, it was unreal how much we spent on merely food and drink in there for just one day.


Not sure we were as well planned as the parks were heaving, only found out when we got over there that kids in the US were off for school holidays. We're booked for next year in April and as someone above has already pointed out, next time round we'll be booking our fast passes in advance aswell.

You do really have to have some sort of idea of what you're doing when you get in there, my family had been going for well over twenty years, sometimes even twice a year, but this time we hadn't visited Orlando in six years, so we sort of just went not knowing what to expect.


Soarin' in Epcot was about 2 and half hours if I remember right and that was the jist of it for most of the good rides. Though we did spend a lot of our time outside Disney really. Mostly shopping.

With a lot of building work going on it was busy everywhere, Downtown Disney was certainly hell getting into. We do hope it was just a "one off" due to school holidays and the construction going on. That massive multi storage car park taints the memory of it abit but I can understand why they've done it.

Still loved every minute, should be even better next time as we're more familiar of what to expect.
April wont be the monsoon season like it was 2 weeks ago too!
 
We spent an hour in that downtown disney roadwork hell just to go for a meal.

Disney itself is shit compared to the other parks. Twee, packed, not many water fountains and full of little hitlers telling you to move over the white line. Universal was far better, as was Sea World and Busch Gardens. Less queues, better rides and a better atmosphere.
Glad you mentioned Busch Gardens - people seem to ignore Tampa and stay in Orlando. It is well worth booking at least 2 of your nights in the Tampa area, one day for Busch Gardens and one day (minimum) at Clearwater or St Pete's beaches. Tampa is 70 miles from Disney
 
Booked to go in October with Thomas Cook and have car hire included in the package with Alamo however the included insurance seems to be 3rd party only and they suggest upgrading to full insurance package for nearly £300 which seems a ludicrous price. Has anyone used Alamo before and bought general car hire insurance from the UK instead before you went?

I bought car hire excess cover in the UK previously for a car I hired in Portugal before I went a lot cheaper than the rental company would have charged but I am not sure if you can do this to upgrade insurance for a hire car in the US. Any help would be appreciated.
I would ask yourself how many days do you need the car for. Every hotel in the area has free shuttles to and from each theme park and parking when I went to Disney last year was $25 each day. Plan in advance what days you don't need a car and then how many you do (like if you want to spend a day at the beach - both coasts are less than 90 mins away.)
Check online how much Enterprise are per day and with insurance. You will need a credit card to book, not a debit card.
Take lots of change for the tolls around the airport (there are none on Interstate 4 or around Disney.)
Anything else you want to know just ask me :)
 
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Anyone coming to Orlando, please also consider this as a day out - Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space Centre - about 40 miles from Orlando airport.
I went on Saturday, brilliant trip for all ages. $57 for adults and $45 for kids but you can be in there all day. Look on their website and try and come on a day when there is a rocket launch.... saw one Sunday night / Monday morning and it was fantastic!
Stay at nearby Cocoa Beach over night, great beach to chill on and surf on too.
 
We had a car service from the airport to the Parks. We stayed at the Swan & Dolphin (can't remember which). We asked the driver to stop at a supermarket.

Loaded up on bread, milk, peanut butter and jam, beer, and orange juice, etc. Made the kids lunches to take to the park during the day and they'd have cold cereal for breakfast. Saved us loads to all enjoy a nice evening meal (and dad a few extra pops at Epcot in the evening. :) )

If you plan on eating tea/dinner/supper out in the Parks, make reservations NOW. Same goes for Princess lunches, other character meals or Cinderella's Castle makeovers for daughters.
 
Met an American lady at Disneyland Paris she told me Paris beats it in every way.
Whats to love about the 10hr flight, queing for hours.
An experience I give you but the Paris option that I as a sceptic enjoyed.
 
Met an American lady at Disneyland Paris she told me Paris beats it in every way.
Whats to love about the 10hr flight, queing for hours.
An experience I give you but the Paris option that I as a sceptic enjoyed.
Never been, but of course, everyone has different opinions. Some love NYC, some love Los Angeles. And we have those in our country who think everything in France is better than everything in America.

Long story short, make up your own mind as to whY you like. Don't take someone else's opinion and make it your own.
 
Met an American lady at Disneyland Paris she told me Paris beats it in every way.
Whats to love about the 10hr flight, queing for hours.
An experience I give you but the Paris option that I as a sceptic enjoyed.
The rides in Paris may beat Orlando or LA.... but you are also booking the weather too - wouldn't fancy Paris in October to April although I would urge folk not to come to Orlando June to end of September as it is too humid (June - August) with a monsoon / thunder & lightning every afternoon and possible hurricane in September
 
The rides in Paris may beat Orlando or LA.... but you are also booking the weather too - wouldn't fancy Paris in October to April although I would urge folk not to come to Orlando June to end of September as it is too humid (June - August) with a monsoon / thunder & lightning every afternoon and possible hurricane in September
November is ace!! Weather is good and the parks aren't very crowded because schools aren't out. Longest we waited was maybe 15-30 minutes at most for rides.
 

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